Nicolas de Nicolay was a French soldier, geographer, and artist who traveled to the Ottoman Empire at the behest of King Henry II of France (1519–1559) as both a geographer and a spy. His travelogue/survey of the Ottoman Empire was first published in French in 1567 and, considered the first authoritative source of information about the Ottoman Empire for westerners, was often reprinted. In 1565, he was assigned by Henry II’s widow, Catherine de’ Medici (1519–1589), to survey the provinces of the French kingdom.
This depiction of a Jewish merchant is from a travelogue by French geographer Nicolas Nicolay, who is believed to have also done his own illustrations. Considered at the time a key source of…
La reine de Chypre (The Queen of Cyprus) is a grand opera in five acts, first performed in Paris in 1841. It is regarded as one of the greatest works of the composer Jacques-François-Fromental-Élie…
Cake mold in shape of nude female (replica), Cyprus, ca. 980–500 BCE. The mold, probably dating to the Iron Age II or a century later, emphasizes the nose, breasts, and genital region and likely would…