- Art - Culture - Tourism
- Dec 18, 2025
- 7 min read
by Barjis Chohan, London
19th December, 2025
Some cities impress you with grandeur, some with their utter simplicity. Some welcome you with fresh air, while some cities quietly stay with you through the years. Nottingham, for us, was the latter; its simplicity, along with the grand history and architecture it has to offer, will forever remain as a cherished memory. From its renowned universities to its famed Lace industry, from art to culture, Nottingham is known for many things, but when we visited this place, it had so much more to offer. Nottingham welcomed us with open arms and emotions, leaving behind textures, scents, and stories that feel like threads woven into our memories. What stood out for us was the slower pace of life compared to London. People we walked past were smiling and looked happy. It is an old city known for its lace and bicycles, and the legendary Robin Hood. Our friend Marysia, who very kindly guided us through the beautiful lanes of Nottingham, to explore the land of tales from the philanthropic nature of the famous Robin Hood, and to its rich historical roots. One thing that I was excited for was to get to know Nottingham’s fashion scene, especially with its lace empire. The famous Fashion designer Sir Paul Smith also started his very first store here, named ‘Paul Smith Vêtements Pour Homme’ was a highlight we loved to learn about. Nottingham, here is a love letter to you.
On a bright Sunday morning, my daughters and I made our way to the heart of Nottingham, a city that hums with layers of history, innovation, and art. From the winding cobbled streets to its lively independent cafés and heroic stories of Robin Hood, Nottingham revealed itself as more than just a destination; it was a living narrative. As we arrived, we could feel a sense of ease in the leafy suburbs, a calming wind pushing us towards the city trail to explore.
We began our day with a visit to Nottingham Castle, a mighty structure of beauty that has stood the passage of time. Looking at these majestic, structured buildings made us realise that architecture is not just about designing spaces, it's about creating history with each structure we build. The magnanimity of the structure and its semi-decayed walls remind us to create pieces that will stand the test of time - building a legacy for the future generations to nurture. Not just this, the castle, once a powerhouse for war and housing the military, then a ducal palace, and now a relic that stands as a pillar of art, history and architecture, reminds us that designs and structures contextually change over time, and designing spaces keeping in mind that they can house that flexibility, is the future of architecture - something borrowed from the past. As this castle was built on soft sandstone, we found many cave-like structures with massive arched openings here. We then learnt that these caves were used for multiple purposes, from tanneries to shelter and for storage purposes. After exploring the mighty outside, I was happy to see one of my favourite things to do in any new city - visit their galleries/museums. One can learn so much more from these places than any video/online search.
Nothing beats the authenticity of seeing relics and objects from the past to know about the people, culture, and environment of a place. While others might find it boring, as connoisseurs of tradition, art, and History, it is upon us to value these places of knowledge. The gallery had quite an exquisite showcase of quirky and unique pieces from paintings to mannequins, depicting a rich history of the time when Nottingham was flourishing with lace factories, the heroic story of Robin Hood, and art installations that evoked the artist inside all of us.
The models of lace gowns, elegantly draped onto mannequins, gave us a glimpse of the opulence they carried and the intricacies of art that the weavers then used to perfect their art of lace making. Nottingham’s lace production had shaped the global fashion industry from the 1700's, making it the epicentre for lace artistry.
Behind these beautiful lace crafts lie gruesome images from the past of grim work conditions, along with the crumbling workers' health conditions and exploitation in the 1700's. While we respect art and history, this prompts us to reconsider the pain behind the creation of beauty and question the origins of what we choose to wear and how it’s made. This leaves us with the responsibility to make and choose conscious fashion. Watching this beautiful legacy of carefully crafted pieces of art and fashion reminded us to take pride in their bravery and artistry. The thought-provoking art pieces prompted us all to put on our thinking caps, allowing us to take a close look at the diverse forms and mediums of art used throughout time by many distinguished artists.
L-'Gypsy Splendour' by Dame Laura Knight, 1939.
After exploring the beautiful landscape of the castle, we took a walk to see the city’s iconic lace market district, where one could feel the pain in the air, the wind carrying thousands of unheard stories of the workers, their lives hidden in the walls of the mighty factories, few of which stand erect but weary, as if worn out by their tormented past.. One could hear the echoes of Nottingham’s famed lace industry still lingering in the architecture and archives. Standing in those spaces, knowing that generations of artisans had once created works of intricate beauty by hand, was deeply moving. For us at Barjis London, who hold craftsmanship and heritage close to our ethos, it was a moment of recognition of how creativity can become a city’s identity, and how artistry outlives time.
As we wandered further, we reached St. Peter’s Church at St. Peter’s Square, one of Nottingham's three original medieval parish churches, along with St. Mary's and St. Nicholas.
The church was destroyed twice around the 12th Century. The church shows traces of many stages of construction from about 1180 onwards (the original church of around 1100 was destroyed by fire). The church was rebuilt between 1180 and 1220, with a south aisle; some of this building remains in use today. Major parts of the church that are accessible today, especially the west end of the churchyard, have been rebuilt and restored from the joint efforts of many during different centuries. The church had a calming stillness inside, with high stone arches and stained - glass windows filtering in soft coloured light. It was lovely to visit a church so steeped in history and read of the continuity of its ministry over 900 years. Nottingham so far, unfolded in unexpected ways, modernity rubbing shoulders with tradition, quiet green corners opening between striking historic buildings.
After a blast from the past, we moved to the other side of Nottingham to the Creative Quarter Street art in Hockley, freshly brewing with modern art and creativity - extending the feeling that in Nottingham, creativity feels ever present, then and now. Buildings and cafes covered with vibrant coloured graffiti wall art made the entire neighbourhood feel like a window into the house of an artist.
We then moved ahead to take a stroll on the bustling streets of Nottingham, grasping the history in the tiny winding lanes, fully embracing the art and culture the place had to offer. The bright colours and contemporary designs, from the walls to the cafes to the buildings-everything painted in a hue of every colour you could think of.
Bridlesmith Gate
This confirmed to me why art plays such an important role in building places - it acts as a catalyst for changes in your perspective and environment - giving you the space and time to break free from your normal ways of thinking. My daughters and I loved walking through these lanes, clicking amazing pictures, reliving the story of these artists..made me wonder about the duality of a place, much like the duality of human life.
Our day ended with conversations over tea, laughter echoing across streets, and an overwhelming sense of gratitude. Every city has so much to offer if we only take the time, effort, and patience to welcome the city as it welcomes us. The best way to explore culturally and heritage-rich places is to travel on foot or by local transport, engulfing the local experience.
We left Nottingham with more than just photographs; we carried with us impressions of the historical legacy and art. Nottingham, thank you for welcoming us, inspiring us, and reminding us that beauty lies not only in what is seen but also in what is remembered. Barjis Chohan
London
Barjis Chohan is a celebrated British-Pakistani designer and social entrepreneur. She is the founder and CEO of Barjis London - a fashion and lifestyle brand known for its high-end fashion pieces, accessories, and bespoke carpets and rugs. Her journey is one of resilience and grace: from almost choosing a career in medicine, to discovering her love for design, apprenticing under Vivienne Westwood, and establishing her own luxury fashion and carpets brand. What began as an idea built from her kitchen table while she was pregnant has evolved into a brand that ties craftsmanship, culture, and diaspora. A passionate traveller, Barjis draws her creative inspiration from the diverse styles, textures, and
stories she encounters across her travels. She strongly believes that travelling is a powerful way to understand the essence of design and fashion. Through The Barjis Initiative, she champions inclusion and accessibility within the arts and fashion industry, breaking class barriers and empowering underrepresented creatives.
Barjis has been ACT Advisor since 2020. (see ACT website Meet the Board).
Useful Links:
For Nottingham City Centre:
City Centre Trails: Explore landmarks with guides from Visit Nottinghamshire or use the Go Jauntly app for suggested routes near tram stops.
Green Spaces: Discover parks and open spaces on the Green Map of Nottingham.
This article is published by Marysia Zipser, Founder & Ambassador of Art Culture Tourism & Keynote Speaker, Beeston, Nottingham. https://www.artculturetourism.co.uk/ https://www.artculturetourism.co.uk/blog E: artculturetourism@gmail.com
Please feel free to write your feedback remarks/reactions to Barjis in the Comments box below to which she will respond, and to share/forward this article/blog link via email to friends, colleagues and to socials as you wish. Thank you.
- Art - Culture - Tourism
- Dec 3, 2025
- 11 min read
Updated: Dec 5, 2025
An investigation by Italian art historian Flavio Caroli and the parallel destiny of Lord Byron
by Patrizia Poggi, Ravenna 5 December 2025
I caress the book’s cover, feeling the papery weight beneath my fingers. On the dust jacket, a title stands out in a bold, modern font, split in two like a destiny: TRENTASETTE THIRTY-SEVEN on a red background, and immediately below, almost merging into a single, hypnotic compound -word, ILMISTERO DELGENIO ADOLESCENTE.-THE MYSTERY OF THE ADOLESCENT GENIUS. At the top, the author’s name: Flavio Caroli, historian of modern and contemporary art.
It is a volume of austere elegance, a concentrate of paper and symbol. That number: thirty-seven so simple and anonymous in appearance, stares back at me. And then, it happens. Suddenly, like a short-circuit of destiny, the number on the cover lights up with a new, blinding light and finds its target in another name, another number: Lord Byron. Died at thirty-six.
The thought explodes in my mind with the force of an epiphany. This is no simple biographical coincidence. The poet’s lightning-fast life, his energy dissipated in a flash, his refusal to fade into the dull normality of adulthood, everything suddenly makes a terrible, fascinating sense. That figure ceases to be a mere datum and comes a symbol, a magical and fatal threshold beyond which certain elect spirits simply refuse to pass.
This personal shock of recognition, however, was not my first encounter with Caroli's captivating thesis. It vividly brought me back to a singular evening on September 18, 2000, at the Teatro Alighieri in Ravenna, where I had orchestrated a theatrical performance dedicated to these very "divine children". On stage, the acclaimed actress Patrizia Zappa Mulas gave voice to their tormented souls and fleeting lives, breathing raw, human emotion to their legends. Alongside her, Flavio Caroli himself was not merely a narrator but a visionary guide. With poetic and evocative language, he wove together their stories, transforming historical figures into timeless archetypes of beauty and tragedy.
The mystery takes the stage: A Ravenna night between history and performance
That night, the mystery was not a concept confined to pages; it became a living, breathing presence felt by the entire audience. Therefore Caroli's written work did not just present a theory to me; it resonated with the echo of his own voice from that stage, deepening a mystery I had already felt in its most powerful, performative form.
It is from this flash of recognition, sparked by the book and reinforced by memory, that I wish to take you on a journey. An investigation into the heart of art's most poignant mystery: why do the purest geniuses, the divine children, seem condemned to burn out at the peak of their splendour? Why did Byron, like so many other elect spirits, die just one step away from that fateful threshold of thirty-seven years?
This very question, so laden with pathos, guides Caroli's work and will be our compass. It transforms a historical account into a vivid and immediate experience. His use of the present tense is not a mere stylistic choice but a genius intuition, allowing us to experience art history not as a dusty relic but as a pulsating enigma that concerns us directly, immensely heightening the emotional impact and our connection to each artist.
Lord Byron by Thomas Phillips, c. 1813–1814.
Nottingham City museums, Newstead Abbey
They brush against perfection only to vanish in their own splendour. In Thirty-Seven - The Mystery of the Adolescent Genius, Flavio Caroli explores this timeless enigma: why are Raphael, Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec,, and other souls so different united by the same tragic destiny?
The Author’s confession: the crisis at thirty-seven and the two models of genius
Our journey begins with the author's own personal confession. Caroli reveals that, precisely at thirty-seven, he himself felt a profound desire to die. He describes that age as the “extreme ridge of youth,” a moment of exhaustion when all potential seems depleted and the energy to refine and mature it vanishes. He intuited then that for the creative spirit, there are only two models: the divine children who die young, or the superhuman old masters like Titian or Michelangelo, who possess the strength to push beyond fulfilment to express the ineffable.
Michelangelo, The Last Judgement (Detail), Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museums
He survived that crisis. His energy returned. And to his great wonder, he realised that the age of thirty-seven years was the bar on which almost all the “divine children” of art history had fallen. Thus began his exploration was born: does a vital law exist whereby, for these geniuses, the cycle of grace and the intoxication of potential closes at thirty-seven years? Having been “divine,” their energy flees due to an inability, or a refusal, to cross the threshold into adulthood. Becoming a Titian is, after all, an excessive toil.
The British Divine Children: a flame that knows no threshold
But what of the British divine children? Caroli’s list, though long, is not exhaustive. The British Isles have their own tragic heroes who resonate powerfully with this theme, even if they did not always reach the age threshold.
Thomas Chatterton (1752–1770): The romantic archetype of the young, doomed genius. A poet and forger of medieval poetry, he took his life with arsenic at the tender age of seventeen, desperate from poverty and lack of recognition, becoming a symbol of neglected genius for the Romantics.
John Keats (1795–1821): Though he died of tuberculosis at 25, Keats’s entire monumental body of work was produced in an extraordinary burst of creativity spanning just a few years. His own epitaph: “Here lies one whose name was writ in water”, speaks to the fragility and tragic potential of a genius extinguished too soon.
Robert Burns (1759-1796): The "divine child" of Scotland burned through a lightning-fast life. His masterpieces, Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (1786), elevated the Scots vernacular to a language of high poetry, transforming his work into the authentic and revolutionary voice of a people.
George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824): The archetypal "cursed" poet, whose life and work merged into a single, grand romantic drama. He died of a fever at thirty-six in Greece, fighting for independence, transforming his end into the perfect heroic and literary act.
Aubrey Beardsley (1872–1898): The dazzling, decadent illustrator, a master of line and black ink , defined an era with his provocative work before succumbing to tuberculosis at twenty-five.
Although these British figures died before reaching thirty-seven, they embody the very essence of Caroli’s “adolescent genius”: a brilliant, intense flame that burns too fiercely to be sustained, leaving behind a perfect, immaculate potential that never had to face the excessive toil of becoming an old master.
Guided by his pen, let us meet these souls who stopped on this mysterious threshold.
Beyond the threshold: the final days of the Elect
Raphael (1483-1520): The Choice of Perfection
During Holy Week of 1520, Raphael, the prince of light, discovers “the dark side of Being.” Consumed by two fevers of the body, and for the elusive Lucrezia, he walks the Roman night under a “pale, sparkling orange" sky. He has an illumination: he must shatter “the mechanism of the two,” of doubt. He must choose between the chaos of the heart and the fever of the body, which “leads to death and Nothingness, that is, to Perfection.” And he chooses Perfection. On Good Friday, dying on his thirty-seventh birthday, the divine child of the Renaissance “delivers his soul to Perfection, in which he believed all his life”.
Raphael, The Stanza della Segnatura (Room of the Signature) Vatican Museums
Valentin de Boulogne (1594?-1632): Death by Anarchy
Valentin de Boulogne, Reunion dans un Cabaret, Musée de Louvre
He died perhaps at thirty-eight, perhaps not. For Caroli, the symbol matters: like a high jumper, Valentin cleared the bar of thirty-seven only to knock it down with the tip of his shoe. He left on a torrid August night in 1632, dead drunk, seeking coolness in a Roman fountain. The cold water “reconcentrated the heat”, and a malignant fever extinguished him in days. The French painter who chose heroic solitude died for having despised “the other snobbery”.
Antoine Watteau (1684-1721): The Pyre of Desire
Antoine Watteau, Nymph and Satyr, 1715 ca., Musée de Louvre
In July 1721, Watteau was a “heap of wrinkles” consumed by consumption in Nogent-sur-Marne. He watches silently as his studies of nudes, incarnations of the “demon of desire” are cast to the flames. In that pyre, Watteau sees “the perfection of Nothingness.” But in the forty-eight hours of agony that follow, “deliciously” excited by fever, he takes his revenge. The painter of fêtes galantes had hidden his truest Eros not in the nudes, but in the statues in the parks, "sex bombs" painted white that the hypocritical world could accept. He died on July 18th, having saved in art all the women of his life.
Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890): The Collapse of Truth
Vincent van Gogh, Wheatfield with Crows, 1890, collection Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
In an ideal letter to his brother Theo, Vincent recounts three feverish months in Auvers. In a “manic phase,” he painted over eighty canvases, feeling like “a glowing oak trunk.”, believing he had defeated depression forever. But on the morning of July 27, 1890, he raised his eyes to the mirror: “I saw it. It was still there. The monkey, the depression. The energy was gone.” He felt like “a worm shrivelled up in space.” He took the pistol, feeling his body was no longer his own. “It was inevitable to abolish that sack of shit with little destiny that I was.” His final, lucid truth was to recognise himself, still and forever, a depressed man.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901): The Curse of the Bones
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Seule, 1896, Don Fondation Florence J. Gould, 1984 © RMN-Grand Palais
(Musée d’Orsay) / Thierry Le Mage
On September 5, 1901, in his final delirium, Henri’s mind returned to lifelong obsession: perfect lines and bones. He relives the childhood trauma of first recognising himself in a mirror as a “monster”. His life, he understands, has been “the intolerable sweetness of the curse”: being devoted to everything he could not reach. Flesh had granted him his only joys, but now he knows it will rot. What remains, “cursed, lasting forever,” will be his bones, that “deformed little skeleton.” His last words are an insult to his father, but his final prayer is an invocation to make the traces “of the scandal and the shame" disappear.
The Farewell to Perfection
After encountering these final hours, the circle closes the most desperate and aware voice: that of the Russian poet Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893-1930).
It is he, in a text written just before taking his own life at thirty-six, who provides us the most lucid and tragic conclusion to Caroli's mystery. Mayakovsky begins with the magical threshold: “Soon I should have turned thirty-seven, which I never turn.” Having read of the great painters who died at that age and feels “there must be a magic.” His energy, his vital balance, is broken. He felt the hole, the strength slipping away, and now it’s gone.
His analysis becomes universal. He traverses the deaths of Rimbaud: “Just nemesis! Right there (in a leg) he had to be hit!”, Byron: “Vitalism, in fact, is tiring. Living is work. And work tires”, and Mozart, guilty of having unspooled “madly the thread” of his adolescent energy, exhausting it too soon.
Vladimir Majakovskij, Russian poet, playwright and painter (1893-1930)
But it is on himself that Mayakovsky concentrates his desperate lucidity. He defines himself as a “vitalist", whose energy was exploited and squandered by politics, the “field where the cunning and the many, that is, exploit the intelligent and the seducers.” He understands he is not like Rossini, the “cunning vitalist” who at thirty-seven stopped composing for the theatre, saving his own life. “I am not Rossini”, he writes. “They have squandered me. I have squandered myself".
The last, heart-wrenching conflict is between the abstract, the Revolution, politics and the concrete love. After a final, exhausting nocturnal duel with his beloved, he understands there is nothing left to do. His conclusion is the perfect synthesis of death of potentiality. "I wasted energy, and none remains”.
The choice is inevitable. Active, rational, desperate. Like an actor concluding his performance, he shoots himself in the heart. His last written words are an epigram on his own life:
"AS THEY SAY, / THE INCIDENT IS CLOSED. / Let’s not speak of it anymore.”
In Mayakovsky, the “divine child” becomes fully aware. He does not die from madness or by chance. He dies because, having exhausted his pure, adolescent energy, he refuses the prospect of an adult existence of compromises and mediocrity. His is an extreme choice of coherence, an epitaph for all divine children: the tragic, shining awareness that for some elect, the only way to preserve the purity of their potential is to never betray it, even at the cost of their life.
Vladimir Majakovskij, advertisement poster for spices, private collection. Copyright: photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images
Vladimir Mayakovsky, 1930. The incident is closed.
The truth of the Agave: to blossom in order to fulfil, to die in order not to betray
And so, the circle closes by returning to its most powerful and primordial image. Like the agave, which for years silently accumulates sap in a perpetual, feverish wait, these elect spirits live in constant tension toward their one, fatal moment of glory. But it is crucial to grasp its deepest meaning: the agave does not flower to die; it blooms because it must, and in that extreme gesture fulfils its destiny, which includes death.
Flavio Caroli, with poetic intuition, writes:
“You have entered the truth of the agave, marvellous metaphor of the adolescent genius […] then one day, it no longer throws out and raises at the centre of its tuft one stem, just one, several meters high, rich with flowers clustered in bunches—an extraordinary vision of beauty, of intoxicating solitude—of ascesis. And it is in that instant, while its flowers turn gold, that it dies, around forty years of age. Nature, too, you see, has its divine child.”
The agave and the flower
This is the ultimate truth that unites the Raphaels, the Van Goghs, the Mayakovskys, and the many others: they were not merely unlucky geniuses cut down by chance. They were, like the agave, ascents. Their entire existence, feverish, concentrated, unrepeatable, was one single, magnificent, thrust toward that “stem” of eternal works. And at the very moment their flowers turned golden, aware or not, they chose not to survive that perfection. They chose not to age, not to become dull, not to betray the dazzling purity of their vision. Nature has its divine child, and art has its own.
And thus, that number on the cover -thirty-seven- ceases to be a mere mystery. It becomes a law of the heart, a biological truth of inspiration.
Patrizia Poggi
Ravenna
Flavio Caroli is a preeminent Italian art historian, critic, and public intellectual whose work has profoundly shaped the discourse on modern and contemporary art. He is celebrated for uniquely blending rigorous scholarship with profound psychological insight and compelling narrative. A former professor at Milan's Polytechnic University, his teachings have influenced generations.
His pioneering research focuses on the themes of physiognomy, expressionism, and the dialogue between artistic form and the inner self from the Renaissance to today. As a curator and author of a vast body of essential works, Caroli is known for constructing groundbreaking thematic journeys and writing with a literary flourish that elevates scholarly analysis. His studies range from European Expressionism to the history of the portrait, all characterized by philosophical reflection and lyrical clarity.
His latest 2025 publication, "Come in uno specchio. Il diario segreto di Sofonisba Anguissola", perfectly embodies his distinctive method. The book is a diary, discovered at the artist's burial place in San Giorgio dei Genovesi, Palermo, on the 400th anniversary of her death. Caroli delivers his deep admiration for the painter from Cremona, narrating Sofonisba's life in the first person as if in a novel. It is a captivating account of the thoughts on art, family, the Spanish court, adventures, travels, and loves of a nonconformist woman and painter navigating the 16th and 17th centuries. This work exemplifies a masterful blend of intimate reconstruction and rigorous scholarship.
Caroli's enduring legacy lies in his broader ability to reveal the human drama and philosophical depth of art, making it resonate with both specialists and the wider public.
Flavio Caroli, c. Festivaleletteratura
Patrizia Poggi is ACT Advisor, a native of Ravenna and has 30 years in the forefront to enhance the Italian heritage, art and culture sector, she is an art consultant and gallerist, formerly resident manager of the Relais Villa Roncuzzi, member of the Association of Social Promotion “Taste Italy Aps”, Ambassador of Knowledge and Flavors of Italy for Italy&Friends in Florence.
For further blogs on the cultural significance of Ravenna – please read Patrizia’s last ACT pieces. https://www.artculturetourism.co.uk/post/ravenna-oscar-wilde-s-byzantine-refuge-mosaics-speak-and-poets-listen
This article is published by Marysia Zipser, Founder of Art Culture Tourism & ACT Ambassador,
Beeston, Nottingham, UK. https://www.artculturetourism.co.uk/ https://www.artculturetourism.co.uk/blog E: artculturetourism@gmail.com
Please feel free to write your feedback remarks/reactions to Patrizia in the Comments box below to which she will respond, and to share/forward this article/blog link via email to friends, colleagues and to socials as you wish. Thank you.