Mark Gray
@markgray.bsky.social
Deaf, cochlear implant user, annoyed liberal centrist. 18th/19thc art collecting/researching + academic/consultant/government economist. Lots of art.
DMs=block.
#arthistory #19thc #18thc #Britishart #knowledgeexchange
DMs=block.
#arthistory #19thc #18thc #Britishart #knowledgeexchange
Light blue = #Greenland on the Mercator projection, or what #Trump and #MAGA *thinks* he's going to take.
Dark blue= the *actual* size of Greenland and what all that hot air is about.
A bit like the difference between Trump's grandiose claims to intelligence and the pathetic reality, in fact.
Dark blue= the *actual* size of Greenland and what all that hot air is about.
A bit like the difference between Trump's grandiose claims to intelligence and the pathetic reality, in fact.
January 10, 2026 at 12:23 PM
Light blue = #Greenland on the Mercator projection, or what #Trump and #MAGA *thinks* he's going to take.
Dark blue= the *actual* size of Greenland and what all that hot air is about.
A bit like the difference between Trump's grandiose claims to intelligence and the pathetic reality, in fact.
Dark blue= the *actual* size of Greenland and what all that hot air is about.
A bit like the difference between Trump's grandiose claims to intelligence and the pathetic reality, in fact.
This delightful #watercolour is attributed to John Brompton Cuming (1772-1851), who entered the RA Schools in 1790.
#18thcentury
#18thcentury
January 4, 2026 at 10:22 PM
This delightful #watercolour is attributed to John Brompton Cuming (1772-1851), who entered the RA Schools in 1790.
#18thcentury
#18thcentury
Multi-tasking, 19th century style.
January 4, 2026 at 11:47 AM
Multi-tasking, 19th century style.
Watching the #ChristmasUniversityChallenge match between, apparently, UCL and Frank Cottrell-Boyce.
December 31, 2025 at 10:30 PM
Watching the #ChristmasUniversityChallenge match between, apparently, UCL and Frank Cottrell-Boyce.
Cheering on #MiddlesexUniversity in the Christmas #UniversityChallenge!
December 30, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Cheering on #MiddlesexUniversity in the Christmas #UniversityChallenge!
To @royalholloway.bsky.social tonight for @bracknellchoral.bsky.social #Christmas concert. Pure joy.
December 22, 2025 at 12:51 AM
To @royalholloway.bsky.social tonight for @bracknellchoral.bsky.social #Christmas concert. Pure joy.
A small glimpse into a Victorian life in Wales. This Directory is inscribed 'Jas. Devereaux, No. 14 Townhill, Mt. Pleasant, Swanse[a]. If found please return And you will be rewarded'.
December 19, 2025 at 10:00 AM
A small glimpse into a Victorian life in Wales. This Directory is inscribed 'Jas. Devereaux, No. 14 Townhill, Mt. Pleasant, Swanse[a]. If found please return And you will be rewarded'.
That's it. My long love affair with #highereducation ended here at Middlesex University yesterday - with 46 years in between of fun, challenge and periodic sector crises. I'm off now to semi-retirement.
#Universities, you're really very special places. Good wishes from me for your future.
#Universities, you're really very special places. Good wishes from me for your future.
December 18, 2025 at 2:48 PM
That's it. My long love affair with #highereducation ended here at Middlesex University yesterday - with 46 years in between of fun, challenge and periodic sector crises. I'm off now to semi-retirement.
#Universities, you're really very special places. Good wishes from me for your future.
#Universities, you're really very special places. Good wishes from me for your future.
It's #StAndrewsDay dinner in oor hoos, jus' the noo! Predictably we've haggis, neeps and tatties with copius amounts of rich red wine.
If you ever wondered 'why the #Saltire?' wonder no more. Catherine has her wheel, Stephen has his stones and poor old Andrew has...this.
If you ever wondered 'why the #Saltire?' wonder no more. Catherine has her wheel, Stephen has his stones and poor old Andrew has...this.
November 30, 2025 at 7:45 PM
It's #StAndrewsDay dinner in oor hoos, jus' the noo! Predictably we've haggis, neeps and tatties with copius amounts of rich red wine.
If you ever wondered 'why the #Saltire?' wonder no more. Catherine has her wheel, Stephen has his stones and poor old Andrew has...this.
If you ever wondered 'why the #Saltire?' wonder no more. Catherine has her wheel, Stephen has his stones and poor old Andrew has...this.
#Wokingham Winter Carnival was lively, lots of excellent local charities to support - and (middle right) I won a bear, 'brother' of son's old bear we could never part with. He's now got a friend!
November 30, 2025 at 12:50 PM
#Wokingham Winter Carnival was lively, lots of excellent local charities to support - and (middle right) I won a bear, 'brother' of son's old bear we could never part with. He's now got a friend!
I know #quietquitting is a thing in the workplace these days, but our #innovation system's doing it. See the UK slide further down the #GlobalInnovationIndex in 2025.
November 28, 2025 at 8:01 AM
I know #quietquitting is a thing in the workplace these days, but our #innovation system's doing it. See the UK slide further down the #GlobalInnovationIndex in 2025.
Art in galleries doesn't need 'contextual notes' beside it.
November 23, 2025 at 6:52 AM
Art in galleries doesn't need 'contextual notes' beside it.
Re #CovidInquiry, by the way, somebody needs to say it: thank you Baroness Hallett for digesting and synthesizing so much evidence and so many submissions, and producing a thorough 800 page report. The UK needed this, and you delivered for us.
November 20, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Re #CovidInquiry, by the way, somebody needs to say it: thank you Baroness Hallett for digesting and synthesizing so much evidence and so many submissions, and producing a thorough 800 page report. The UK needed this, and you delivered for us.
Coming up on the 25th in France is this sober portrait by Boilly.
www.interencheres.com/en/art-decor...
www.interencheres.com/en/art-decor...
November 18, 2025 at 8:11 AM
Coming up on the 25th in France is this sober portrait by Boilly.
www.interencheres.com/en/art-decor...
www.interencheres.com/en/art-decor...
Revelling in #HaymansWay from #STV - stunning, stirring north of #Scotland landscapes that leave you in awe and wonder. Genuinely beautiful television.
November 14, 2025 at 11:10 PM
Revelling in #HaymansWay from #STV - stunning, stirring north of #Scotland landscapes that leave you in awe and wonder. Genuinely beautiful television.
Watching #TomHanks in #AManCalledOtto - which I missed when it first came out - and it is just brilliant, isn't it? The man's a brilliant actor.
November 8, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Watching #TomHanks in #AManCalledOtto - which I missed when it first came out - and it is just brilliant, isn't it? The man's a brilliant actor.
Received with a bundle of minor prints was this tired old election poster from 1859 from one Thonas Hawkins. The line 'I smote the dogs of faction dumb' is wonderful.
November 7, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Received with a bundle of minor prints was this tired old election poster from 1859 from one Thonas Hawkins. The line 'I smote the dogs of faction dumb' is wonderful.
Go to the BBC website - the big buddies of #Reform - and search for stories about the party. This is what you get. I haven't edited out anything.
It isn't a party. It's a bad joke.
It isn't a party. It's a bad joke.
November 5, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Go to the BBC website - the big buddies of #Reform - and search for stories about the party. This is what you get. I haven't edited out anything.
It isn't a party. It's a bad joke.
It isn't a party. It's a bad joke.
Any thoughts on who signed a pastel drawing like this in 1927? Struggling to read the name - likely a French artist or resident in France.
November 2, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Any thoughts on who signed a pastel drawing like this in 1927? Struggling to read the name - likely a French artist or resident in France.
Col. Robert Goff...but did Robert Goff *really* make etchings of peacocks?
October 14, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Col. Robert Goff...but did Robert Goff *really* make etchings of peacocks?
#Watercolour sketch with a tiny amount of pencil underdrawing attributed to #WilliamLeightonLeitch (1804-1883).
October 13, 2025 at 8:12 AM
#Watercolour sketch with a tiny amount of pencil underdrawing attributed to #WilliamLeightonLeitch (1804-1883).