Cuddly

Relax ... don't stress ... take it easy

[Cuddly @Pathannen]

@MisschicAsmr Best of luck.

[Cuddly @Pathannen]

@ElenaBee0

[James Lucas @JamesLucasIT]

In 1625, a sculpture was unveiled in Rome that made the people who saw it believe in miracles.

And the man who carved it was just 23 when he started...

The story comes from Ovid's Metamorphoses, written in the year 8 AD. Apollo, struck by Cupid's golden arrow, falls helplessly in love with the nymph Daphne. She, struck by Cupid's arrow of lead, despises him. He chases her through the woods. She runs until her strength gives out, and then she calls to her father, the river god Peneus, to save her.

Peneus answers his daughter the only way he can: he transforms her into a laurel tree. Her feet take root. Bark closes over her skin. Her arms become branches and her fingers become leaves...

Gian Lorenzo Bernini chose to carve the exact moment it begins.

Cardinal Scipione Borghese commissioned the work in 1622 and Bernini bought the block of Carrara marble that August. He worked on it for three years and by the time the sculpture was finished in 1625, he had done something no one had ever done in stone.

Apollo's fingers press into Daphne's side, and the marble gives way under them like flesh. Her toes have become roots, and you can see the bark spiraling up her leg. Her hair fans behind her as if still caught in the wind. And at the tips of her fingers, where her hands are turning into branches, the marble becomes leaves so thin that light passes through them.

When it was unveiled, Bernini's biographer Filippo Baldinucci recorded what happened: "Immediately when it was finished, there arose such a cry that all Rome concurred in seeing it as a miracle."

400 years later, the sculpture has never left the room it was made for. It still stands in the Galleria Borghese, in the same villa, in the same city where it was first called a miracle.

Centuries have come and gone, and Daphne is still mid-transformation, frozen forever in the instant before she disappears...

If you enjoyed this, I write a weekly newsletter read by over 50,000 people who love rediscovering the wonder and beauty of history. You can join us here: https://t.co/bnGG4VVUcO

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[Oaks And Lions 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 @oaksandlions]

The magnificent ceiling of Henry VII’s Chapel in Westminster Abbey is carved entirely from stone.

Completed in 1519, it is one of the finest examples of English Gothic ever built.

• Fan vaulting carved with near-perfect symmetry.
• Pendant bosses hanging from the ceiling, some weighing several tonnes.
• No steel reinforcement, only stone and geometry.

It is not just beautiful.
It is mathematics in stone.

Have you been lucky enough to see this in person?

Want more posts like this? Follow @oaksandlions.

@wabbey @EnglishHeritage #WestminsterAbbey #GothicArchitecture #EnglishHeritage

[DaVinci @BiancoDavinci]

Tiny Dracula statue in Hungary.

[Arik Ring - Energy Engineering Expert @arikring]

@TheRealNumber6 @RisePDX @Schwarzenegger @mzjacobson @Jackthelad1947 @HansLak @seth_leitman @debraruh @charluv2011 @TimGuinee @wernerkeil @pegb_ @ristori @SaleemulHuq @stracma @JeremyMallin @raduede @Tecgale @MarianSmedley @kirillklip @MLCzone @NPSusa @iwantmynbn @enricomolinari @Hal_Good @OlumideIDOWU @lalitapetila @sddphoto @AdamRogers2030 @JukkaPSeppl @lillith6 @luribea68 @climateguyw @markburgerenerg @ineeshadvs @TXsharon @AmandaRay02 @StopAdaniCairns @ClayEngberg @suzlette333 @ken_crichlow @NuovaRealta @KJChalvatzis @lkafle @clarenoone Sail Around The World, w. No #Fuel:

Share if U ❤️#Solar #Enegy!

#EnergyTransition #CleanEnergy #RenewableEnergy #Sustainability #ClimateAction #FridaysForFurture #ClimateCrisis #ClimateStrike #EV
@ProfStrachan @THEnergyNet @SustainergyA @dan613 @Droit_IA

[Cuddly @Pathannen]

@klara_sjo @DanielW_Kiwi Very popular in Australia.

[Nikki 👱‍♀️💋 @NikkiH_21]

Classics 👌

[Spaceballs The X Account @Grunt2A]

Now that Artemis II has launched we have 10 days to get everyone on Earth a Planet of the Apes costume so we can do something hilarious when the astronauts return 😁

[slsandpet 🐨🐨🖤🍉Dr @slsandpet]

This is 😂

[Cuddly @Pathannen]

@MartinMurray_Ag @RaymondaFrancis @simongue6 They are there just in case you need a block of wood, for whatever reason.

[𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗠𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰 ✨🎵 @Hoang_HQ]

She is unbelievable 😱

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

At 93, Dr. Ruth Gottesman donated her late husband David Gottesman's $1 billion fortune to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, making tuition free forever for all students.

[Science girl @sciencegirl]

15 yr old Australian tumbler becoming World Champion with this insane routine

https://t.co/I317HfAmM7

[Rural Chronicles | 守艺中国 @ZiXia85915]

The galloping horse, the spirit of Spring Festival! 🐴🧧 Listen as the erhu brings Chinese New Year to life. Wishing you speed, success, and the thunderous joy of family reunion. #SpringFestival

[𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗠𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰 ✨🎵 @Hoang_HQ]

Pure genius😱 Amazing performance👍👌🔥

[Science girl @sciencegirl]

Truth
https://t.co/pIWr3HuSRo

[Dr. Clown, PhD @DrClownPhD]

This Mongolian version of Jingle Bells might be the best thing to happen to Christmas in years.