Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 56m

www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/10/14/f...

From controversy to clarity: how a Philadelphia medical museum is rethinking the display of human remains

In 2023 the Mütter Museum was at the centre of a scandal around the repatriation of Indigenous remains. Now, as the dust begins to settle, a new leadership team is looking to the future

www.theartnewspaper.com

Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 59m

www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/10/13/i...

Indigenous artists transform works at Metropolitan Museum in unsanctioned augmented reality project

The digital interventions by 17 Native artists, launched on Indigenous Peoples’ Day, put pointed twists on works in the museum’s American wing

www.theartnewspaper.com

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Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 4h

#TombTuesday
John, Lord Cheney: Chief Henchman to and knighted by Edw IV, Richard III (whose blow unhorsed him at Bosworth) and Henry VII.
JP for Dorset, MP for Wilts, Privy Councillor. And brother of Dean of @salisburycathedral.bsky.social, where he's buried.
Very generously covered in graffiti.

Sculpted in alabaster, John Cheney lies suppine on a decorated tomb chest, his feet on a lion, his head on a folded cloak. It's a long tomb, fitting for a man who was apparently a very tall 6'8".
He wears long boots, a cloak and clothing of 15th C, with a sword at his sice. He has long hair, his eyes are partly open, and his hands are held in prayer over his chest.
The alabaster has been subjected to carvers of graffiti for centuries

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Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 6h

Quite the experience. Almost too many ms (and frescos, sculpture, tiling, stonework... everywhere in Duomo) to take in - so gorgeous.

Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 7h

Suspect she was quite lovely before she got squashed and mangled in pyroclastic flow and falling debris of Vesuvius.....

Reposted by Becky Wallower

Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 1d

#AllMetalMonday
Silver bust of #Roman Empress Livia 59BC-AD29, found on shore at Herculaneum, likely taken by fugitive from AD79 eruption.
Divorced 1st husband Nero.
2nd, Octavius, became Emperor Augustus.
A key figure - but vile schemer or faithful adviser?
Said to love Prosecco.🥂
In Antiquarium 🏺

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Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 22h

Wonderful stuff.
Hope you got to enjoy the Cathedral (and its Piccolomini Library + manuscripts) today too....?

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Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 1d

Kent is apparently not exactly a bastion of free speech....
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Kent police apologise to protester threatened with arrest for holding Palestine flag

Force agrees to pay damages to Laura Murton, 43, who also had sign saying ‘Israel is committing genocide’

www.theguardian.com

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Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 1d

www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/10/13/s...

Smithsonian museums in Washington and New York close as US government shutdown drags on

The 21 museums, 14 research and education complexes, and one zoo overseen by the Smithsonian closed on Sunday

www.theartnewspaper.com

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Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 1d

Not really - just squashed in the catastrophic eruption and aftermath of Vesuvius. People of Herculaneum headed for coastal docks/beach hoping for rescue, and got buried in metres of solid pyroclastic materials and collapsing buildings. Someone was probably trying to save her.

Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 1d

With that sort of history, she was naturally hugely famous and there are many, many images of her in stone/metal sculptures, and on coins/cameos too. Her two hairstyles especially recognisable.

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Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 1d

#AllMetalMonday
Silver bust of #Roman Empress Livia 59BC-AD29, found on shore at Herculaneum, likely taken by fugitive from AD79 eruption.
Divorced 1st husband Nero.
2nd, Octavius, became Emperor Augustus.
A key figure - but vile schemer or faithful adviser?
Said to love Prosecco.🥂
In Antiquarium 🏺

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Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 1d

Definitely worth the wait. Hope the Cathedral museum also in your plans - wonderful things....

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Reposted by Becky Wallower

Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 1d

Thanks very much for that helpful and fascinating addition.

Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 1d

It's cool because double-sided and likely to be a fragment of a large-scale high-level screen with Christ on one side and a tree-scroll on the other. A great write up of it in @ascorpus.bsky.social vol. 10. chacklepie.com/ascorpus/cat...

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Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 1d

Thanks very much for that helpful and fascinating addition.

Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 1d

It's cool because double-sided and likely to be a fragment of a large-scale high-level screen with Christ on one side and a tree-scroll on the other. A great write up of it in @ascorpus.bsky.social vol. 10. chacklepie.com/ascorpus/cat...

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Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 2d

#StoneworkSunday 🏺
#SundayStonework figure found c. 150 years ago in Bishop's garden @gloucestercathedral.org.uk is possibly sole remnant of #SaxonSunday Abbey founded there 7th C.
Cruciform halo indicates it is Christ, bird pos figure of holy spirit, border may show Byzantine/Carolingian influence.

A worn and damaged image carved in stone. A circle with a decorative motif frames a figure of Jesus Christ, evident from the cruciform halo behind the head. His hair is seen under a stole wrapped round his head and down over his shoulders, but his face is damaged. On the left within the circle looking toward Christ is a large bird, which is thought to represent the Holy Spirit.

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Reposted by Becky Wallower

Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 3d

#CastleSaturday
15th C Aragonese Castle of Otranto: also title of 1st ever Gothic novel.

Horace Walpole's 1764 story played on medievalism + terror, generating a lasting tide of ghosts + ghouls.

He chose name as it was 'well sounding', not even aware of real castle on Puglian coast till 1786.

View of stone built 15th C Castle of Otranto with bridge leading over deep moat to gateway in wall. Huge round towers either side of bridge have bases slanting outwards into moat.

Two round towers of Castle of Otranto, with bases sloping slightly outwards into moat. Only a few horizontal slit windows/openings penetrate the very solid stone walls.

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Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 2d

Lovely! Having a good trip by the looks of it....

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Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 3d

Neither did I - just goes to show: travel does broaden the mind!

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Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 3d

Baroque frou-frou not my favourite style, but...crikey, what a lotta fabric!
www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/10/01/f...

Fit for a king: the drapery bedchamber at Germany's ‘Versailles of Swabia’ presents conservators with a special challenge

Ludwigsburg Palace, a Baroque castle once home to King Friedrich I of Württemberg, is undergoing restoration—which include's the monarch's unique, tent-like bedroom

www.theartnewspaper.com

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Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 3d

#CastleSaturday
15th C Aragonese Castle of Otranto: also title of 1st ever Gothic novel.

Horace Walpole's 1764 story played on medievalism + terror, generating a lasting tide of ghosts + ghouls.

He chose name as it was 'well sounding', not even aware of real castle on Puglian coast till 1786.

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Reposted by Becky Wallower

Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 4d

#FindsFriday 🏺
Bronze chimera: likely emblem (episema) on C6 BC warrior's shield w lion's head on flame-like mane + scaly fierce snake striking from centre.
From high status tomb w arms, tools, ceramics + iron wheels of chariot excavated in Melfi, Basilicata.
Now in Nat Archaeological Museum there.

A large thin bronze decoration probably for a 6th C BC warrior's shield. At the top the head of a beast with a stylised lion's head and snout, on a long neck with incised flame-like mane, emerges from a scaly circle. This serves as the body of a fierce snake (which probably wrapped round the lion's body), which extends to the top right with a long head and open mouth, with wing below lower jaw.

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Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 4d

#FindsFriday 🏺
Bronze chimera: likely emblem (episema) on C6 BC warrior's shield w lion's head on flame-like mane + scaly fierce snake striking from centre.
From high status tomb w arms, tools, ceramics + iron wheels of chariot excavated in Melfi, Basilicata.
Now in Nat Archaeological Museum there.

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Reposted by Becky Wallower

Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 5d

#AdoorableThursday
In fact a false door, painted to left of tablinium, in house of local #Pompeii official C. Iulius Polybius w early style facade.
Like in recent discoveries in the city, owner was in process of upgrading 2C BC property, hence amphorae + heap of lime piled in the corner.
#Roman 🏺

A painted door, included in the layout of the tablinium for symmetry. It's actually plaster, showing four panels within a red and white doorframe.
The four panels have the appearance of being on two doors, white with red borders bounded by darker outlines, and three circles on the section dividing upper and lower panels on each one.
A heap of building material and some broken amphorae are shown to the left of the false door.

A view showing the layout of the tablinium and the painted false door. The room has white painted walls with a red border at the top, a large entrance through the facing wall leading to other parts of the site. The painted false door is to the left of this, and an empty doorway is on the right - clearly intended to hold a 'real' door.
Remains of an upper level are also evident, with five window openings in the wall over the doors/entrance.

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Reposted by Becky Wallower

C20 Society @c20society.bsky.social · 5d

Happy 60th Birthday to the BT Tower!

Built 1961-65 to the designs of Eric Bedford, Chief Architect at the Ministry of Public Works, the 582ft telecommunications tower is one of Britain's most distinctive post-war buildings and after being sold in 2024, is set to be converted to a destination hotel.

BT Tower, Fitzrovia, London - Eric Bedford, Chief Architect at the Ministry of Public Buildings, 1961-65
Image credit: James Burbs (@londonfromtherooftops)

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