random stuff

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The Fourteenth Of July Celebration In Paris, 1886, Vincent van Gogh

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The ?Rubens Vase? ca. 400 (Late Antique): Carved in high relief from a single piece of agate, this extraordinary vase was most
likely created in an imperial workshop for a Byzantine emperor.  It made its way to France, probably carried off as treasure
after the sack of Constantinople in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade, where it passed through the hands of some of the most
renowned collectors of western Europe, including the Dukes of Anjou and King Charles V of France. In 1619, the vase was
purchased by the great Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640). A drawing that he made of it is now in Saint
Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum, inv. 5430. The subsequent fate of the vase before the 19th century is obscure.

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