The Royal Art of Poison


Book Description

The story of poison is the story of power... For centuries, royal families have feared the gut-roiling, vomit-inducing agony of a little something added to their food or wine by an enemy. To avoid poison, they depended on tasters, unicorn horns and antidotes tested on condemned prisoners. Servants licked the royal family’s spoons, tried on their underpants and tested their chamber pots. Ironically, royals terrified of poison were unknowingly poisoning themselves daily with their cosmetics, medications and filthy living conditions. Women wore makeup made with lead. Men rubbed feces on their bald spots. Physicians prescribed mercury enemas, arsenic skin cream, drinks of lead filings and potions of human fat and skull, fresh from the executioner. Gazing at gorgeous portraits of centuries past, we don’t see what lies beneath the royal robes and the stench of unwashed bodies; the lice feasting on private parts; and worms nesting in the intestines. The Royal Art of Poison is a hugely entertaining work of popular history that traces the use of poison as a political - and cosmetic - tool in the royal courts of Western Europe from the Middle Ages to the Kremlin today.




Royal Art of Benin


Book Description

Tantalizing trivia. this Hitler, spoiling everything?"




The Book on the Royal Art


Book Description

In this beautiful and atmospheric book, Bô Yin Râ sets the tone for concepts he develops in all his future works. Rich in allegory, metaphor, and poetic language, The Book on the Royal Art invites readers to enter the path of the inner journey towards an awakening of their timeless, true self. The path is simple, straightforward, and quiet. At the core of Bô Yin Râ's teaching is the importance of cultivating an inner silence so that one's eternal self can slowly emerge. It is the work of a lifetime, and transcends death. Bô Yin Râ stresses that there is no need to look outside for masters, to renounce the world or engage in unusual practices: We can develop ourselves in our everyday, familiar surroundings. All experiences in life can be of use. Even the most painful grief and sufferings of life can be used to strengthen us and bring us into greater aliveness and joy. The royal art refers to the preparation received by the Luminaries, beings who live among us, almost always in obscurity, who act as mediators of eternal light. The Luminaries form a bridge helping us to receive, in a gradual and gentle way, spiritual light that would otherwise be too powerful to absorb. They function as inner protectors, buoying us up with strength and insights that speak to us in silence and from within. Bô Yin Râ disabuses us of the temptation to think of Luminaries as godlike, emphasizing that they are ordinary people who have been chosen, often to their horror, to bear the burdens and risks of their compassionate task. "Know that on your quest for light," Bô Yin Râ tells us, "your path will be protected by the spirit's luminaries..." The Book on the Royal Art is the first volume of the 32-volume cycle The Gated Garden, in which Bô Yin Râ further develops different aspects of the path towards consciousness of one's eternal self. E.W.S., Publisher The Kober Press's translations of the books of Bô Yin Râ are the only English translations authorized by the Kober Verlag, Switzerland. The Kober Verlag publishes the books of Bô Yin Râ in the original German and has protected their integrity since Bô Yin Râ's lifetime. Contents: PART ONE: The Light from Himavat and the Words of the Masters The Luminary's Self-Disclosure to the Seeking Soul. The Harvest. The One whose Being is Infinity. Know Thyself. On the Masters of the Spirit's World. Pitfalls of Vanity. PART TWO: From the Lands of the Luminaries The Threshold. The King's Question. The Pillar in the Mountains. The Night of Easter. Communion. PART THREE: The Will to Joy To All who Strive Toward Timeless Light. The Teachings on Joy. Epilogue.




The Royal Arts of Africa


Book Description

For use in an undergraduate or graduate course in African Art; also suitable as a supplementary reading for art history surveys. Lavishly illustrated, this historically grounded text draws together key traditions from West, Central, Eastern and Southern Africa to present an informative and captivating survey of the most important royal arts in the great sub-Saharan African kingdoms. Exploring the diverse ways that African rulers employed art and architecture to define individual and state identity, it provides an overview of the major themes in royal African art and discusses what these arts reveal about the nature of kingship.




The Royal Art Lodge


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Ancient As Time


Book Description

A collection of acetates from Lyle Tuttle




Alchemy


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The Royal Portrait


Book Description

Anglophiles and students of portraiture will find that The Royal Portrait fills a surprising void in the literature, as Scott (Royal Collection) presents for the first time a survey of British portraits housed in the various venues of the Royal Collection. The broad scope ranges from Richard II (the first British king portrayed) to Queen Elizabeth II; the latter monarch, along with Queen Victoria, is the subject of an independent chapter, while other chapters focus on images of royals from a particular dynastic house, such as the Stuart and the Hanoverian. Through an interesting selection of diverse media and formats employed in different periods, Scott explores the central question of "what constitutes a royal portrait?" The answers are multifaceted and contingent on such factors as patronage, function, royal control, and artistic intention; nevertheless symbolic visual conventions can still be traced in the representations of British monarchs over the centuries. This is a clearly written, well-illustrated survey; for more in-depth analyses of particular works one will need to turn to specialized sources, e.g., D. Howarth's Images of Rule (1997). Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through researchers/faculty; general readers. General Readers; Lower-division Undergraduates; Upper-division Undergraduates; Graduate Students; Researchers/Faculty. Reviewed by J. K. Dabbs.




The Art of Italy in the Royal Collection


Book Description

This richly illustrated publication brings together 93 paintings and 85 drawings from the Royal Collection, and accompanies an exhibition of international importance.