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Nella piccola cittadina di Ceregnano, non lontano da Rovigo nel XVIII secolo venne costruita la chiesa parrocchiale di San Martino.1 I testi delle visite pastorali del vescovo di Adria Giovanni Soffietti (1733 - 1747) riportano che il vecchio edificio sacro era troppo piccolo per poter accogliere il crescente numero di abitanti e per tale motivo si decise per la costruzione di una nuova chiesa che nel 1739 però non era ancora terminata.2 La relazione della visita pastorale, compiuta a fine secolo nel 1792, dal vescovo Arnaldo Speroni degli Alvarotti (1766 - 1800), riferisce che l’altare maggiore era intitolato al Santissimo Sacramento, i quattro altari laterali erano dedicati alla Santa Croce, alla Madonna del Rosario, a Sant’Antonio e alla Madonna del Carmelo. La chiesa a navata unica e con l’abside a pianta semicircolare fu radicalmente rinnovata sia nel corso del XIX che del XX secolo. Tra le decorazioni scultoree della lineare facciata ad intonaco si evidenziano due statue in pietra collocate in nicchia. A sinistra San Bellino di Padova, vescovo dell’omonima città e patrono della diocesi di Adria e Rovigo, a destra la statua di San Martino vescovo di Tours cui è intitolata la chiesa. Entrambe le opere sono senza dubbio da attribuire a Giovanni Bonazza (Venezia 1654 – 1736, Padova) e lo stile esecutivo le colloca cronologicamente attorno al 1700.3 Ciò indicherebbe che molto verosimilmente vennero prese dalla vecchia parrocchiale e collocate sulla facciata del nuovo edificio.

> ‘If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them with which to hang him.’ > > (Cardinal Richelieu, 1585–1642) > ‘We are pathetically eager to believe that if human affairs are managed right, nothing unpleasant need happen to anyone.’ > > (Sir Max Hastings, 1945-) Much of the world is anxiously stymied by COVID-19. Our assumptions of contemporary living simultaneously and shockingly unravelled and impassed. ‘Unprecedented’ is a common contemporary adjective. In the UK, our NHS was, early on, lionised and eulogised in heroic terms. Like religious icons or Soviet State art, its practitioners were referred to as saviours and martyrs. But this is very different from most of their experiences in recent years. At its start, this COVID crisis has, as emergencies do, galvanised a new cooperative and collegial motivation in many of our professionals as they have been — albeit transiently — again trusted to do their best to stem the alien tide. But although our enduring serious problems are temporarily out of sight we should beware: they remain, like perilous rocks, just beneath the water’s surface. The warm mist of adoration has — until it mostly passes — obscured a serious problem that has grown increasingly erosive to our NHS for several years: the destabilising demoralisation of much of our workforce. What has happened to our working culture? And what can we do about it? It is crucial that we ask this question in anticipation (hopefully) of a post-COVID national recovery as we will otherwise then return an exhausted, even more vulnerable, NHS to these enduring and gathering imperilments. Our healthcare headlines and news items in recent pre-COVID times were frequently about a service labouring under a regime riven by accusations and disputes about finances, territory, and responsibility. While still, often, providing satisfactory technology-dependent treatments well …

W niniejszym artykule została podjęta refleksja nad teraźniejszością dziewic konsekrowanych. Po przedstawieniu specyfiki dziewic konsekrowanych żyjących w świecie została ukazana charakterystyka duchowości monastycznej, ze szczególnym zwróceniem uwagi na brak drugorzędnego celu, uprzywilejowane miejsce modlitwy w życiu mniszym, realizowanej w dwóch formach: modlitwy liturgicznej oraz modlitwy prywatnej, stałość życia we wspólnocie i utrzymywanie się z własnej pracy. Zostało jeszcze zasygnalizowane zagadnienie teologii monastycznej. Wszystkie te aspekty były rozpatrywane w kontekście dziewic konsekrowanych.W części poświęconej modlitwie dziewic konsekrowanych została omówiona modlitwa liturgiczna (msza święta, spowiedź i kierownictwo duchowe, liturgia godzin) i modlitwa prywatna (adoracja Najświętszego Sakramentu, czytanie Pisma Świętego i rozmyślanie, specjalne nabożeństwo do Maryi).Całość artykułu kończą sugestie dla dziewic konsekrowanych inspirowane duchowością monastyczną.

This article will shed new light on the already crowded area of Marco Polo research, by examining the perspective of Polo, his direct observation of Kublai Khan and Yuan China, as revealed inThe Travels of Marco Polo.The paper analyses the sources of Polo’s perspective on the people he encountered on his travels in foreign lands. It argues that Polo’s ideas were shaped by his cultural background, personal experience and his own interests. Then it examines how the work presents Kublai Khan himself, as well as the Yuan empire’s monetary system, its waterway trade and its ethnic policy. The result of this investigation shows that Polo was an acute observer; he pointed out occasions of misrule despite his adoration of Kublai Khan.

This paper presents the results of analyses carried out on three decorative phases of the presbytery of the church of Santa Maria Antiqua al Foro Romano in Rome: the fourth-century ad mosaics setting bed; the Adoration of the Cross, dated to the papacy of John VII (ad 705–7); and the paintings in the apse of the Pope Paul I (ad 757–68) phase. The research allowed the characterization of the painting techniques, pigments, organic compounds and degradation products by means of a video microscope, optical microscopy, and μ-Raman and FT–IR spectroscopy, contributing to a better understanding of the changes in the techniques and materials used throughout the centuries in one of the most relevant medieval Christian monuments in Western Europe.

Sister Thea Bowman, a member of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration of La Crosse, Wisconsin, believed that the justice of God includes racial justice for her people—African-Americans in the United States and persons of African descent around the world. She advocated for racial justice both within and beyond U.S. Black Catholic communities. This advocacy extended to the inclusion of Black historical and cultural traditions within liturgical gatherings. One aspect of Black Catholic liturgical-cultural inculturation, as researched, taught, and championed by Bowman, was the liturgical use of historic Black sacred song—the spirituals. The challenge and gifts Bowman presented to the Catholic Church of her time included her work on the first edition of the groundbreaking Black Catholic hymnal, Lead Me, Guide Me (1987). Her efforts for racial justice reverberate to the present in the liturgical and musical scholarship, compositions, and practices of Catholic scholars, musicians, composers, and communities.

In the writings of St. Augustine, the Latin word cor occurs more than8,000 times, being one of the most important, though ambiguous, terms ofhis anthropology and spirituality. As a synonym for the inner man (homointerior) it encompasses the whole life: affective, intellectual, moral andreligious. In this sense, it is the privileged place for a personal encounterwith God.Analysis of Augustine’s writings reveals a link between the concept ofthe Trinity and indications concerning the spiritual life of man. Reflectionson the “heart” can be put into a kind of triptych: creation “in the imageof God”, enlightenment by Christ, and expansion by the Holy Spirit. Theimpact of God on the human heart should find their completion in a voluntarilyadopted attitude of adoration, humility and love.

Leonardo’s Adoration of the Magi’s (Galleria degli Uffizi) belongs to an iconographic and semantic tradition, which beneficed of an extraordinary evolution during the second half of the fifteenth century. In such representations the poor wooden construction described by the Bible is combined with the ruins of splendid classical buildings and mean the beginning of Christianity on one hand and the submitted pagan era on the other. A comparison of the two drawings of Leonardo, held in the Louvre and the Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe of the Uffizi, and the unfinished painting reveals the various steps of the development of the architectural background. Recent ultraviolet studies identified different solutions, conceived and then abandoned by Leonardo, which allow to reconstruct the ruins and architectural fragments in a more detailed manner. In the first version, the Holy family is placed before a heterogeneous structure of wood and stone, while an antique ruin with two flights of stairs raises on the right side. The drawing of the Uffizi focuses its attention on this ruin now shifted to the left side, while the stairs advance strongly toward the centre. On the right side a fragment of a classical order completes the feature, which evokes an antique forum. In the painting the Holy family is situated is the foreground, without any wooden construction to protect them, and the ruin, whose structure and position is slightly changed, is linked to it by the moving of figures and animals. Like in the drawing of the Uffizi many busy craftsmen reveal that the ruin is intended as a building site. The parallel flights remind us of the church of San Sebastiano in Mantua, built according to Leon Battista Alberti’s project, and seems to have been inspired by the Roman temple of Claudius. In Lorenzo de’ Medici’s villa of Poggio a Caiano, begun in 1485, such a pattern had been adopted for the first time in a private building, introducing a complete metamorphosis of this type. Vasari records that several architects proposed drawings for this villa and if such a competition had taken place before Leonardo left Florence in 1482, the latter could have seen sketches or models, like those of Giuliano da Sangallo, and perhaps even proposed his own project. This could explain his interest for architectural features in his Adoration, a concern less present in his other paintings. No document confirms the hypothesis of a direct link between Lorenzo’s villa and the ruin of the Adoration, but it is sure that the latter one is nearly connected to the entourage of Lorenzo de’ Medici who promoted in this years a renewal of architectural typologies and idioms, founded on the principles of Leon Battista Alberti, the spiritus rector of Lorenzo’s youth. When Perugino finished in 1496 another Adoration for the Augustans of San Scopeto he privileged the poor stable conformingly to the biblical tradition, perhaps as required by the monks. Leonardo’s ruin as building-site, as an original metaphor of the new Christian religion, had only little Nachleben. A significant testimony is however an Adoration about 1522/1523 attributed to Sebastiano Serlio, who could have known Leonardo’s bold architectural background through his master Baldassarre Peruzzi.

Alessandro Bonvicino (c. 1498–1554), commonly known as Il Moretto da Brescia, was an Italian Renaissance painter. In his “The Adoration of Shepherds” (1539–1540), a shepherd shows a bi-lobar goiter. The painter was active in a geographical area, where inhabitants often suffered from endemic goiter due to dietary iodine deficiency and could have influenced Moretto.

The teaching of bhakti yoga is a teaching that examines how or how to connect and unite with God. Bhakti yoga emphasizes the path of developing deep compassion, reverence, service and devotion towards God in all His manifestations. The teaching of bhakti yoga is expressed in several ways, including: carrying out prayers / worship, having a heart full of gratitude, respecting anyone, and carrying out social activities.

This article introduces the French philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy to theologians by placing him in critical dialogue with Karl Rahner. It examines how Nancy's deconstruction of Christianity accuses Western reason, including Christianity, of forgetting the body and supporting an ethos of disembodiment. Nancy proposes a new opening of reason (déclosion, “dis-closure”) and a corresponding praxis (“adoration”). This reason and praxis involve an exit from Christianity. Rahnerian essays on matter, spirit, and sacramentality demonstrate that while Christianity has, historically, fallen prey to the pathologies Nancy identifies, it also has thought in terms of something like dis-closed reason and has practiced something like “adoration.” While Nancy's insistence on the need for an exit from Christianity is not necessarily well posed, his deconstruction of Christianity can help Christian theologians as they develop thinking that supports an ethos sensitive to the body—or that keeps the body's sense open.

Contemporary Christian worship is based largely on praise and adoration. When disaster strikes and we are angry towards God, Christians feel guilty, accused of lack of faith, finding no vent for their emotions. The psalms of lament provide a means of praying honestly and brutally to God demanding that he responds. Regardless of specific circumstances, the emotions expressed in the psalms are relevant to the emotions experienced by modern readers. They help them pray with equal bold frankness and relate to the movement in the psalms of lament towards a restored relationship with God.

The Czech post-war avant-garde is split between collective enthusiasm, the adoration of the masses, and the depiction of the lone individual in crisis. Interpretations of this period have until now...

For over two decades, survivors of Japanese military sexual slavery during the Asia-Pacific War, euphemistically called ‘comfort women’ ( ianfu), have been demanding the Japanese government take responsibility for past atrocities to restore their dignity. They have yet to obtain a satisfactory response; indeed, their demands have frequently been met with verbal attacks from the right-wing, including influential politicians. This article seeks to identify and explain some of the reasons why the problem has remained a highly controversial, but stubbornly unresolved issue. It begins by offering a brief history of the issue and then maps out the contemporary controversy. It shows that right-wing attacks should be understood as stemming from a systemic and deeply embedded bifurcation of women in Japanese society that allows the adoration of some women to comfortably coexist with misogyny, powerful rape myths, and a porn culture. These deeply permeate many areas of society, including its courts.

In 1672, the Jesuit superior general Gian Paolo Oliva commissioned from Baciccio a lavish cycle of ceiling frescoes for Rome’s Il Gesù after earmarking the tribune vault for Giacomo Cortese to decorate with a representation of Joshua Stopping the Sun. Oliva also planned to translate Ignatius of Loyola’s remains to the high altar. Pope Gregory xv had explicitly likened Ignatius to the Old Testament general Joshua during the Jesuit founder’s canonization in 1622, and it may be inferred that Oliva intended to promote a hagiographic connection between the two figures through the prominent juxtaposition of Cortese’s fresco with the saint’s relics. However, the Ignatius-Joshua connection remained uncelebrated: the plan to translate the relics did not come to fruition, Cortese passed away in 1676, and the apse vault was eventually decorated by Baciccio with the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb. Cortese’s demise has heretofore been considered the decisive factor leading to the change in subject of the tribune fresco, but the clandestine correspondence of Lazzero Sorba, S.J., indicates another important factor was at play. These documents evidence an unusually strained relationship between the Society and Pope Innocent xi Odescalchi, elected in 1676. They suggest that the Society’s discomfiture vis-à-vis Innocent xi influenced its decision to replace the self-aggrandizing Joshua Stopping the Sun with the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb.

This study examined the reproducibility of the hierarchical semantic structure of respect-related emotions and the prototypical meaning of sonkei (respect) in modern Japanese people. Participants, ages 20-79, rated the semantic similarity of 153 pairs of 18 respect-related words used in previously published work. Hierarchical cluster analysis (n = 515) showed almost the same semantic organization as the previous study. The highest level of abstraction consisted of "person-focus respect, emotional attitude" and "action-focus respect, emotional state." The basic-level consisted of (a) respect mingled with mild love; (b) ought-respect (respect as moral duty); (c) idolatry (worship and adoration); (d) awe mingled with fear; (e) admiration; and (f) wonder. The word sonkei was included in category (a). Additional analyses were conducted according to age. The results revealed that the basic categories seen in adults ages 60-79 differed from those in the whole sample and that sonkei was included in the category which could be considered as, ought-respect. These findings suggest that the semantic organization of respect-related emotions is gradually changing under the influence of modern culture.

During production the italics that distinguish m for modules from m for meters were inadvertently suppressed.

The article discusses the Spanish masterpieces (paintings and sculptures) housed in the Prague National Gallery. The artistic unity is worth special attention, since very few examples of this type exist in Czechoslovakia. Six panels (Virgin and Child, Enthroned Virgin, Adoration of the Child, Christ appearing to Mary, Ecce Homo, Calvary) and three sculptures, two of which represent the enthroned Virgin and one the Calvary. The author describes and comments meticulously on each of these works, accompanying the text with twenty-four illustrations. L'article traite des chefs-d'oeuvre espagnols (peintures et sculptures) conservés a la Galerie Nationale de Prague. L'ensemble artistique mérite une attention spéciale, étant donné la rareté des pièces de ce genre que l'on peut trouver en Tchécoslovaquie. Il s'agit de six tableaux (Vierge assise avec l'Enfant Jésus, Vierge intronisée, Adoration de l'Enfant Jésus, Christ apparaîssant à Marie, Ecce Homo, Calvaire) et de trois sculptures done deux représentent la Vierge intronisée et une la Vierge sur le Calvaire. L'auteur décrit et commente minutieusement chacune de ces oeuvres et les accompagne de vingt-quatre illustrations.

The article is devoted to the memory of the outstanding American rock musician, singer, poet, charity man, frontman of Linkin Park – Chester Charles Bennington. The text is the first attempt to consider the phenomenon of creativity and personality of Bennington as a media hero on a global scale, aesthetically, mentally and ethically influenced on the mental health of several generations in the first two decades of the new century. Using the fragments from the huge stream of comments in the Network for the musician's departure, the author analyzes some semantic blocks of these messages, revealing in them functional and typological coincidences with the heroes from traditional myths. In particular, the analysis of some semantic blocks of intertext on the death of Chester Bennington, suggests that similar to the heroes of traditional myths, Chester as a media hero performed paternalistic and soteriological functions, acted as an object of adoration (idol), was a role model, his departure marked for millions of fans keen sense of the passage of time. Also in the article, an attempt was made identify the specific features of the media hero, which are due to the special sphere of its existence, namely, media reality. Short, full of incredible turns, hard work, harmful tragic passions, love and compassion, the fate of Chester Bennington during his life began to acquire legendary features.

The One Nation Party’s unmistakable resemblances to historical “populist” parties have placed the defenders of democracy on alert. The party’s official statement Principles and Objectives announces the name “Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party” and the ownership by the Leader unmistakably draws it into line with some notorious examples of “right wing” populism, where adoration of the leader became a cult. The statement promises “to speak for the voiceless and the powerless” against the established forces of the Australian party system, deliberately setting One Nation against the mainstream of Australian politics, while yet clamoring to influence it. This chapter asks whether activities of One Nation deserve the attention of a defensive democracy and seeks to examine in particular two of the claims of the “Principles”: That One Nation aims “To protect our sovereignty and democracy”, and that it repeatedly acclaims Australia as a “Christian country”.

[Graphic][1] What do James Brown and ghost knifefish ( Apteronotus ) have in common? They've both harnessed the power of electric organs in order to deliver declarations of adoration. As close relatives of the electric eel ( Electrophorus electricus ), it's probably not too shocking that

Indian judiciary has been one of the finest examples of justice dispensed without fear or favour. Ever since judicial standards were codified and the Indian judiciary set up (by the British), it has proved itself worthy of admiration, adoration and appreciation. The Indian judiciary has stepped in to help the people get justice whenever and wherever possible. The Indian judiciary has been a pioneer of judicial innovations and reforms, Public interest Litigations (PIL) being a case in point. Recently, due to a number of reasons, dispensation of justice in India has become difficult leading to the situation 'justice delayed is justice denied'. This paper deals with establishing of Jurisdictional Supreme Court Benches across India and its possible impact on the dispensation of Justice.

This article examines the likability of hip-hop star Kanye West and The Voice champion Jordan Smith to explain the colonial terms for our pop culture taste. The writings of David Chidester establish the tie between religion and colonialism as an axiomatic one; he also argues that popular culture is a rich site for formations of religion. West and Smith offer an opportunity to argue the connection between these two strands of scholarly observance, showing the fractal effects of colonialism in Africa on the preferences of pop culture consumption in America. The attraction to West’s unlikability is the other side of the easy adoration for Jordan Smith: like those colonists who gave religion to those colonized subjects they dominated, pop consumers refuse to admit their intimate and needful connection to those idols who resist their control. Although organized by particular instances, this article seeks to encourage those in pop culture studies to see the erotic work of dislike; it seeks to encourage those in religious studies to see how pop subjects carry forward the classificatory imprints of colonial frontiers.Keywords: colonialism, hate crime, hate watching, Jordan Smith, Kanye West, popular culture, religion, whiteness

This chapter supplements the Manami Oka’s essay in Chapter 6. She explores how the Eastern intellectual trends developed historically while situating the role of Kyoto culture in a global context. Oka investigates how the city as a whole confronted and adapted to continental influence. Throughout its history, Kyoto has benefited from its natural surroundings. Much of its cultural development was born out of the wisdom that people gained through their adoration of nature. In sharing their natural resources, the people of Kyoto have tried to consider what they should and should not do.

Cet article traite de la restauration d’une peinture sur panneau avec cadre qui date de la deuxieme moitie du XVI siecle, qui est actuellement conserve a la Galleria Regionale della Sicilia di Palazzo Palazzo Abatellis (Palerme, Italie). Une attentive etude historique et artistique a precede la restauration qui avait pour but de retablir une bonne lecture de l’œuvre. Cette etude se concentre sur la possibilite de reintegrer un element manquant du cadre avec des materiaux utilises dans l’imprimante 3D pour retablir sa fonction de «connexion spatiale» entre l’œuvre et l’espace d’exposition. Le resultat de l’experience a consiste dans la creation de deux elements, imprimes grâce a l’ingenierie inverse et a une imprimante 3D apres avoir essaye trois differents types de filaments.

Hawai`i occupies a special place in the imaginations of Japanese people. Ever since the end of World War II, Japanese media have portrayed Hawai`i as a paradisical dreamland. This does not mean the cultural meanings attributed to Hawai`i have remained constant over the past 70 years. Both the notion of ‘paradise’ and the content of the Hawaiian ‘dream’ have transformed along with changing socio-economic conditions and ideas about how Japanese people view themselves in relation to the outside world. This article examines Japanese films from the early postwar period to the present that portray Hawai`i as a ‘paradise’ in which ‘adoration’ and ‘yearning’ play out and ‘dreams’ are fulfilled. These cinematic discourses of ‘paradise’ and ‘dream’ first portrayed Japanese individuals as modern, wealthy national subjects during the postwar economic boom period that ended in the 1980s. In response to changing socio-economic conditions in the early twenty-first century, the dream of Hawai`i came to represent a more r...

IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY , Italian pictorial representations of the Adoration of the Magi genre began to change as classical architecture—in particular ruins—played an increasingly prominent role. Earlier, for example, the shelter of the Holy Family in Domenico Veneziano’s Adoration of the Magi, dated 1439–43, is but a simple wooden hut (fig. 1). Some two decades prior, in Gentile Fabriano’s sumptuous rendering (fig. 2), the biblical manger is an inconspicuous part of a larger composition: amid the abundance of wealth and opulence, the facade is simple and monochromatic, although there is a hint of a fracture in its top right corner. In the trecento nativity panel of Duccio di Buoninsegna’s Maesta altarpiece (1308–11), there is even less emphasis on architectural features (fig. 3). Mary and the infant Jesus are enveloped within a manger, itself enfolded within a grotto, the former motif typical of the northern European Gothic style, and the latter found in Byzantine manuscript illuminations. In contrast, Sandro Botticelli in his Adoration of the Magi (1472–73) places an incomplete classical structure in its perspectival center (fig. 4). Occupying the majority of the painting, the once humble manger is transformed into an impressive structure of three rows of smooth rectilinear Doric columns bearing a broken entablature on which a gabled wooden roof rests. Although clearly dominant, this is set within a suite of architectural ensembles that frame the painting: a

Podstawowe założenia Światowych Dni Młodych formowały się na przestrzeni trzech ostatnich pontyfikatów. Idea tego wydarzenia zrodziła się z pasterskiej troski Jana Pawła II o młodych. Rozpoznał on, że entuzjazm młodych jest jednocześnie wspaniałym środkiem budującym jedność między różnymi kulturami. Widział też, że to działanie duszpasterskie musi być kościelne, uniwersalne i młodzież musi być w nim głównym protagonistą. Papież Benedykt, podkreślając katolickość i uniwersalność Światowych Dni Młodzieży, wyakcentował rolę wolontariatu, adoracji i sakramentu pojednania. Papież Franciszek podkreślił braterstwo, święto wiary i misję młodych we współczesnym świecie. ŚDM są zatem wydarzeniem bardzo kompleksowym, ale koniecznym w panoramie życia dzisiejszego Kościoła.

Hanging in the Saint Bavo Cathedral in Ghent, Belgium, is The Ghent Altarpiece, also known as The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb (see Figure 1). According to an inscription on the outer frames, it was painted by brothers Hubert and Jan van Eyck for Joos Vijd and?his wife Elisabeth Borluut in 1432. It is one of the most admired and influential paintings in the history of art and has given rise to many intriguing questions that have been puzzling art historians to date [11]. Moreover, the material history of the panels is very complicated. They were hidden, dismantled, moved away, stolen, and recovered during riots, fires and wars. The recovery of the panels by the U.S. Army in the Nazi hoards deep in the Altaussee salt mines has particularly marked memories. One panel was stolen in 1934 and never recovered. Besides varying conservation conditions, the panels underwent numerous restoration treatments and were even partially painted over.

This paper deals with lesser known works of Mirko Racki (1879-1982) - his monumental paintings with sacred motifs executed in 1926, which were commissioned by Juraj Tarnik, a rich pharmacist from Osijek. Although Racki is best known for his Symbolist and Art Nouveau paintings, the religious paintings Adoration of the Magi, Resurrection and Crucifixion have a distinctly archaic feeling and they betray that Racki was influenced by the masters of the High Renaissance. As the correspondence between the patron, Juraj Tarnik and the artist, Mirko Racki is preserved in the Croatian State Archives in Zagreb, it is possible to follow the process of the work itself as well as the dialogue between the client’s demands and the artist’s choice. The correspondence also reveals Racki’s work on the Last Judgement theme from 1926-1928. Although the monumental oil painting with this subject was never executed, Racki did many sketches and he elaborated in detail many changes that he made in the composition. His extensive ex...

According to imperial writings, the Burmese were too close to animals, both physically and emotionally. It was claimed that some Burmese people had innate connections to animals, notably elephant-drivers with their elephants. British writers were also intrigued but disgusted by what they deemed to be inappropriate interactions with animals, recounting apocryphal tales of women breastfeeding orphaned non-human mammals. But despite these negative portrayals of human-animal relations, imperial texts also betray their authors’ own material and sentimental ties to animals. Their adoration of their pets and their sufferance of pests both served to embed them in the colony. Using insights drawn from animal history, sensory history, postcolonial theory and historical geography, this article explores how these felt encounters with animals were mediated in colonial discourse. I argue that uncovering these hitherto overlooked affective colonial relationships with animals is necessary to contextualize histories that have primarily focused on the emergence of scientific and bureaucratic imperial representations of nature.

The object of this paper is to make known a New Kingdom stela from the Theban necropolis, currently displayed at the Cairo Museum (CG 34045, JE. 4746). The stela belongs to a sdm ‛s n'Imn named Userhat. It has a distinctive shape showing an outer frame with a rounded top surrounding a representation in high relief of a false door mounted by a human head with two hands raised in adoration. With such unusual composition the object, I assume, was intended to fulfill the roles of two important funerary architectural elements: a false door and a stelophorous statue. The twofold function of the object is supported by the arrangement of its textual and iconographical details that are clearly touching on two themes: the endowment of funerary requests, and the facilitation of the deceased's daily resurrection with the rising sun, on two main parts (the false door and the round topped outer frame), so that each part would achieve a function. Cairo Museum (CG 34045) can be assigned a date early in the reign of Thotm...