Swimming was initially one of the seven agilities of knights during the Middle Ages, including swimming with armour. However, as swimming was done in a state of undress, it became less popular as society became more conservative in the early Modern period. For example, in the 16th century, a German court document in the Vechta prohibited the naked public swimming of children.

Leonardo da Vinci made early sketches of lifebelts.

It was quite normal for both sexes to swim naked, even together - just as it was also normal for men and women to take a bath together; nudity wasn’t actually that big a deal in the Middle Ages. However, one chronicler records that a lady called Petronilla, the wife of a 12th-century Flemish count called Arnold of Ardres, surprised and charmed people of all classes by her habit of swimming in the castle fishpond to cool off on hot days, wearing a shift (chemise).

image: August, from Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry (detail)

(via ratak-monodosico)

Anne Lindberg, drawn pink (2012), Egyptian cotton thread, staples, 72 x 408 x 120”

Anne Lindberg, drawn pink (2012), Egyptian cotton thread, staples, 72 x 408 x 120”

Christophe de Menil →

pix-original:

「2012.03.11」/「pai」のイラスト [pixiv]

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vineetkaur:

Palm shoes . Ionna Vautrin . Camper 2003

(Source: kleidersachen, via mociun)

gretchenjonesnyc:

i mean…really.

(Source: on-the-moonlit-path)

thingsorganizedneatly:

SUBMISSION: Gemasolar solar power plant, near Seville in Spain.

(Source: punica-granatum-nana, via weirdfriends)

eve gulick