Penthesilea
@hansklocker.bsky.social
medievalist / idealist / feminist
Insider memo: Jeffries isn't the best for this role
December 3, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Insider memo: Jeffries isn't the best for this role
Oh! In that case you're thinking of the regular installation. Still there any time you can come back to NYC!
December 3, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Oh! In that case you're thinking of the regular installation. Still there any time you can come back to NYC!
The booklet was supposed to be a special exhibition catalogue; the show itself was scheduled for 2020 and canceled due to the pandemic, but at least the little book was published 🦄
December 3, 2025 at 5:34 PM
The booklet was supposed to be a special exhibition catalogue; the show itself was scheduled for 2020 and canceled due to the pandemic, but at least the little book was published 🦄
They also published this lovely booklet a few years ago, free to download:
www.metmuseum.org/met-publicat...
www.metmuseum.org/met-publicat...
A Blessing of Unicorns: The Paris and Cloisters Tapestries - The Metropolitan Museum of Art
This Bulletin examines the fascinating stories behind the only known sets of unicorn tapestries in the world—one at The Met Cloisters and another at the Musée de Cluny, Paris. The thirteen tapestries ...
www.metmuseum.org
December 3, 2025 at 5:33 PM
They also published this lovely booklet a few years ago, free to download:
www.metmuseum.org/met-publicat...
www.metmuseum.org/met-publicat...
It's both, FWIW -- the original tapestries are in the Cloisters permanent collection and always on view, but they also did a special exhibition on Unicorns in 2013:
www.metmuseum.org/press-releas...
www.metmuseum.org/press-releas...
Exhibition on Unicorns in Medieval and Renaissance Art Marks 75th Anniversary of The Cloisters
May 15–August 18, 2013 - The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Met presents over 5,000 years of art from around the world for everyone to experience and enjoy.
www.metmuseum.org
December 3, 2025 at 5:31 PM
It's both, FWIW -- the original tapestries are in the Cloisters permanent collection and always on view, but they also did a special exhibition on Unicorns in 2013:
www.metmuseum.org/press-releas...
www.metmuseum.org/press-releas...
Right?! And they also seem to believe they couldn't possibly lose political support over this? Or at least they act that way...?
December 1, 2025 at 2:39 AM
Right?! And they also seem to believe they couldn't possibly lose political support over this? Or at least they act that way...?
I grew up in a random American suburb, but was always a medievalist too. Looking back it was all really obvious, from an obsession with Robin Hood to reading Tolkien to begging my AP English teacher not to skip Beowulf. Then I realized how much medieval art has survived and that was that 🦄🏰⚔️
December 1, 2025 at 12:03 AM
I grew up in a random American suburb, but was always a medievalist too. Looking back it was all really obvious, from an obsession with Robin Hood to reading Tolkien to begging my AP English teacher not to skip Beowulf. Then I realized how much medieval art has survived and that was that 🦄🏰⚔️
On one level, I do understand this. On another level, I don't quite know what the process would look like for accountability, what it means that the JAGs are effectively disbanded now, etc., if Trump can just pardon them, etc. etc. Like, okay what are the next steps
November 30, 2025 at 10:23 PM
On one level, I do understand this. On another level, I don't quite know what the process would look like for accountability, what it means that the JAGs are effectively disbanded now, etc., if Trump can just pardon them, etc. etc. Like, okay what are the next steps
I keep seeing an argument that's basically "murder isn't regulated in international waters, because the US doesn't care about the ICC" and it's making my brain melt
November 30, 2025 at 9:43 PM
I keep seeing an argument that's basically "murder isn't regulated in international waters, because the US doesn't care about the ICC" and it's making my brain melt
Came here to say this too. There was a moment in 2022 or so that I stopped doom scrolling, and in hindsight it's around the time that I wasn't anxious about what one particular person might be doing right now, and I generally felt the people in charge of the country were sane
November 30, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Came here to say this too. There was a moment in 2022 or so that I stopped doom scrolling, and in hindsight it's around the time that I wasn't anxious about what one particular person might be doing right now, and I generally felt the people in charge of the country were sane
I mean, when I voted against him I was not specifically thinking "at least Kamala won't randomly kill fishermen" either...but it's mind-boggling that people didn't understand that he's unhinged. (I know there's easy comebacks for this; I am just confessing how hard it is to wrap my mind around it)
November 29, 2025 at 3:24 AM
I mean, when I voted against him I was not specifically thinking "at least Kamala won't randomly kill fishermen" either...but it's mind-boggling that people didn't understand that he's unhinged. (I know there's easy comebacks for this; I am just confessing how hard it is to wrap my mind around it)
But didn't they vote for Trump by a roughly 2-1 margin? How was that not asking for a shitshow?
November 29, 2025 at 3:03 AM
But didn't they vote for Trump by a roughly 2-1 margin? How was that not asking for a shitshow?
Ah, this makes sense -- so the tapestry shows multiple characters, a kind of anthology of figures who are all displaying Fortitude; now that I can see the whole thing, here's Judith, also with her name on her sword. Great stuff.
November 29, 2025 at 1:28 AM
Ah, this makes sense -- so the tapestry shows multiple characters, a kind of anthology of figures who are all displaying Fortitude; now that I can see the whole thing, here's Judith, also with her name on her sword. Great stuff.
The tapestry shows Queen Tomyris with the head of Cyrus (spelled as THAMARIS on her sword), and it's Renaissance rather than medieval. Maybe there's another argument for calling her Fortitude, who is often personified with a sword, but usually these inscriptions are pretty straightforward names.
November 29, 2025 at 12:40 AM
The tapestry shows Queen Tomyris with the head of Cyrus (spelled as THAMARIS on her sword), and it's Renaissance rather than medieval. Maybe there's another argument for calling her Fortitude, who is often personified with a sword, but usually these inscriptions are pretty straightforward names.
And "varieties of human experience" also applies to his supporters -- like, how are they experiencing these moments? How many just never see these quotes? How many see them and think "that's my guy!" How many actually hate it but feel bound by some weird loyalty? Like, WTF people?
November 28, 2025 at 3:03 AM
And "varieties of human experience" also applies to his supporters -- like, how are they experiencing these moments? How many just never see these quotes? How many see them and think "that's my guy!" How many actually hate it but feel bound by some weird loyalty? Like, WTF people?
Stumbled across this while looking for something else... in this case it's a mix of cow bone, deer bone, and deer antler; all three are fairly common in medieval art but often hard to tell apart without testing.
Info here:
www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
Info here:
www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
Saddle - Central European - The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Romantic and erotic imagery adorned not only the pages of late medieval manuscripts and the vessels of a lady’s private dressing table; these themes were equally suited to the public self-fashioning o...
www.metmuseum.org
November 28, 2025 at 12:11 AM
Stumbled across this while looking for something else... in this case it's a mix of cow bone, deer bone, and deer antler; all three are fairly common in medieval art but often hard to tell apart without testing.
Info here:
www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
Info here:
www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
Yeah, fair. I see the logic but I'm not arguing that it's the strongest logic. But the weird part is that the voting patterns on right and left are so different. Democrats who win tend to have optimistic messaging; Republicans actually win on grievance in a way that always astonishes me.
November 22, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Yeah, fair. I see the logic but I'm not arguing that it's the strongest logic. But the weird part is that the voting patterns on right and left are so different. Democrats who win tend to have optimistic messaging; Republicans actually win on grievance in a way that always astonishes me.
Right, but I think the point is that if the primary will be ugly and expensive no matter what, might as well run for Senate, etc. I could see her being a Rand Paul type Republican from here.
November 22, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Right, but I think the point is that if the primary will be ugly and expensive no matter what, might as well run for Senate, etc. I could see her being a Rand Paul type Republican from here.
Yes but Hunter Biden something something
November 19, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Yes but Hunter Biden something something
Is this about Nuzzi?
November 18, 2025 at 1:45 AM
Is this about Nuzzi?
"we definitely don't think Melania is only here for the money"
November 16, 2025 at 10:29 PM
"we definitely don't think Melania is only here for the money"
That's really beautiful. Someone should write a response poem from the perspective of the Met's medieval Islamic galleries, and the presence and absence of European art there. (Not being snarky: it would be a lovely comparison, and those rooms are so beautiful.)
November 15, 2025 at 7:42 PM
That's really beautiful. Someone should write a response poem from the perspective of the Met's medieval Islamic galleries, and the presence and absence of European art there. (Not being snarky: it would be a lovely comparison, and those rooms are so beautiful.)
Three, if we include Virginia. (I genuinely don't know what to believe, but it still haunts me)
November 15, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Three, if we include Virginia. (I genuinely don't know what to believe, but it still haunts me)
(And obviously it's NOT ignored by scholars, and among academics the connections between the different regions are discussed endlessly. There's also blockbuster exhibitions covering this ground, like the Silk Roads at the British Museum last year. But yeah, most people don't know, sadly.)
November 13, 2025 at 10:23 PM
(And obviously it's NOT ignored by scholars, and among academics the connections between the different regions are discussed endlessly. There's also blockbuster exhibitions covering this ground, like the Silk Roads at the British Museum last year. But yeah, most people don't know, sadly.)
Likewise, if you stay in the Mediterranean world, there's a ton of fascinating stuff that happens from 500 to 1500! But it's all Byzantine and Islamic, which isn't taught as part of the "western tradition" and so it gets ignored. But it's great stuff! 10th c. Byzantium was a golden age! (2/2)
November 13, 2025 at 10:21 PM
Likewise, if you stay in the Mediterranean world, there's a ton of fascinating stuff that happens from 500 to 1500! But it's all Byzantine and Islamic, which isn't taught as part of the "western tradition" and so it gets ignored. But it's great stuff! 10th c. Byzantium was a golden age! (2/2)