M.J. Rose

Exciting news: M.J. will be touring the blogosphere for the latest release in her Reincarnationist series, THE BOOK OF LOST FRAGRANCES, from February 20th through April 13th. Tune in to the blog for blog tour updates and links to her delicious posts about lost fragrances. Your senses will thank you!

Here’s an intro…

M.J. Rose writes: I’ve been fascinated with lost fragrances since long before I started writing The Book of Lost Fragrances…since I found a bottle of perfume on my great grandmother’s dresser that had belonged to her mother in Russia. Here is one of those lost fragrances that stirs the senses and the imagination…(researched and described with the help of the perfume writer Dimitrios Dimitriadis) –

And so, M.J.’s February 20th guest post at the TBR Pile is a review of GUERLAIN’S CUIR DE RUSSIE – click here to read it.

THE BOOK OF LOST FRAGRANCES comes out on March 13 from Atria Publishing! I’ve read the book and it’s beautiful and impossible to put down. You will be spellbound as I was.

More goodies:

These Are the Earliest Human Paintings Ever

(Gizmodo.com)

According to new dating tests, these are the first paintings ever made by humans. They are seals painted more than 42,000 years ago, located in the Cave of Nerja, in Málaga, Spain. And they may change our ideas about humanity’s evolution.

Until now, archeologists thought that the oldest art was created during the Aurignacian period, by modern humans. But these are way older, way more primitive than the ones in Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc Cave, the 32,000-year-old paintings featured in Herzog’s Cave of Forgotten Dreams.

According to the latest dating of the charcoal found next to the paintings—used either to make the paintings or illuminate them—these seals may have been made more than 42,300 years ago. In fact, they may be as old as 43,500 years.

For the complete story, click here to go to Gizmodo.

Mona Lisa’s ‘twin sister’ is discovered – 500 years late

The Mona Lisa at the Prado in Madrid was thought to be just

another fine copy, with added eyebrows and an odd black background.

But curators at Spain’s national art museum yesterday announced a

startling discovery: the painting was actually executed by an

artist in Leonardo da Vinci’s workshop at the same time as the

original.

It is the first known copy of the most famous painting in history, and a discovery that curators believe sheds new light on the creation of the masterpiece.

Deputy conservator, Gabriele Finaldi, said: “It’s as if we were standing in the workshop itself, and at the next easel. You can see that the artist was working step by step with Leonardo. When Leonardo made a change, he made a change.”

The copy sits in a dimly-lit room awaiting the finishing touches of a two-year restoration, during which its true origin was revealed….

Click here for the complete story.

An idea! If You Blog:  Why not write a post about the mysteries you have encountered recently?  Send a trackback to this blog and leave a comment below so we can share the mystery!