27/06/2025

FRIDAY | JUNE 27, 2025

23

LYFE

EU lawmakers vote to bar carry-on fees for planes EUROPEAN lawmakers pushed on Tuesday to ban airlines from charging passengers for small carry-on luggage in a move strongly opposed by the aviation sector. The European Parliament’s transport committee adopted a proposal that would allow travellers to bring a personal item into the cabin, such as a handbag or backpack, and a hand luggage of up to 7kg at no extra fee. The measure sought to spare passengers “unjustified extra costs”, said Matteo Ricci, who is a centre-left lawmaker and the bill’s lead sponsor. Many low-cost air carriers include only one small on-board item in the ticket, charging extra for other hand baggage. Airlines for Europe (A4E), an industry association, condemned the proposal, suggesting it would result in higher flight prices, upping costs for those who travel light. “Forcing a mandatory trolley bag obliges passengers to pay for services they may not want or need,”A4E managing director Ourania Georgoutsakou said ahead of the vote. The measure, which would apply to all flights departing or arriving within the 27-nation European Union, was adopted as part of a package of amendments to passenger rights rules put forward by the European Commission. The transport committee also voted to introduce a common form for compensation and reimbursement requests as well as a defined list of extraordinary circumstances, such as natural disasters or war, under which airlines can deny those. The proposals must next go to a vote by the full parliament. They are subject to change as they will need to be negotiated with and approved by member states before they can enter into force. – AFP

The decorations of Amsterdam’s Royal Palace remain Quellinus’s statement work. – PICS FROM ROYAL PALACE AMSTERDAM

Amsterdam celebrates Baroque sculptor I MPOSING but delicate marble sculptures of Graeco-Roman-style figures grace the vaulted corridors of a huge palace. But, this is not o Dutch capital honours its own Golden Age His style, heavily influenced by Flemish baroque painter Reubens, was a complete novelty for the Protestant Netherlands, used to a more sober style at the time. His subjects – mythological figures, chubby angels and animals – are perhaps a nod to the great masters he would have seen while an apprentice in Rome.

Mythological figures were often subjects of Quellinus’s creations. his best, because I think he is an artist that deserves that. We dare to call him the Bernini of the North and I think this is no exaggeration,” said curator Liesbeth van Noortwijk. The decorations of Amsterdam’s Royal Palace, built as a town hall between 1648 and 1665, remain Quellinus’s statement work, with an iconic figure on the roof of Atlas bearing the world on his shoulders. Now, nearly 400 years on, the city expresses hopes that the show will raise awareness of the hitherto unrecognised “sculptor of Amsterdam”. – AFP

Florence or Rome – this is Amsterdam. As part of celebrations to mark 750 years since the founding of the Dutch capital, the city is hosting an exhibition dedicated to Artus Quellinus, the 17th century “sculptor of Amsterdam”. Virtually unknown outside Flanders in present-day Belgium where he made his name, the city has Quellinus to thank for the decorations on the Royal Palace that dominates the city’s iconic Dam Square. Quellinus “lifted our sculpture to a new level” with a fresh style, said Dutch art historian Bieke van der Mark. Born in Antwerp in 1606, Quellinus sculpted with marble, as well as ivory and clay.

“Like (17th century Italian master Gian Lorenzo) Bernini, he masters the way the flesh looks and hands. “It is really fantastic,” said the 46-year-old Van der Mark, pointing to a statue of the god Saturn devouring his son, whom he holds in his huge veiny hands. Organised by the Amsterdam Royal Palace and the Rijksmuseum, this is the first retrospective devoted to Quellinus, displaying more than 100 of his works from national and international collections. “We spent quite some time to select and to collect, to bring together all these very special works to show Quellinus at

Many low-cost air carriers include only one small on-board item in the ticket, charging extra for other hand baggage. – PEXELSPIC

Stuff of dreams: ‘Art Zoo’ in Dutch capital showcases taxidermy A fearsome stuffed crocodile hangs menacingly from the roof, mouth wide open, sharp teeth ready to strike: welcome to the Art Zoo, the new offbeat museum opening in Amsterdam. enjoyed the varied nature of being an artist.

to great amazement. They were often painted in theatrical poses, wings spread or neck extended, which the artists tried to replicate with their stuffed displays. A stuffed swan with wings deployed in defensive posture is a nod to The Threatened Swan by Golden Age master Jan Asselijn, currently hanging in the Rijksmuseum nearby. “It is a sculpture of a skinless animal but it is still a sculpture and we create the drama, we create the story,” said Van Tongeren. He has been working with colleague Jaap Sinke for more than a decade as taxidermy-artists – a world away from the advertising industry where the two men met more than 20 years ago. Sinke, 52, said he had always

A fearsome stuffed crocodile hangs menacingly from the roof at the Art Zoo. – AFPPIC

“You are a little bit sculptor, you are a little bit surgeon, you are a little bit hairdresser and you are a little bit painter. I think it is nice to combine all those crafts into one,” added Sinke. In other exhibits, majestic tigers are displayed poised to attack, while birds of prey grip long snakes in their claws. To head off criticism from animal lovers, the artists have prominently displayed a sign with their “Golden Rule”. “None of the animals in our taxidermy artworks were taken from the wild or bred specifically for the Art Zoo Museum. All died of natural causes, under the care of zoos and breeders.” Museum director Eva Krook

Aiming to elevate taxidermy to high art, Art Zoo opened last week in the heart of the Dutch capital, in a famous building from the 17th century, a period that inspired the two artists that created the show. “Our work is inspired by 17th century sculptures and painters from the Golden Age, the Dutch painters who painted animal scenes,”said artist Ferry van Tongeren. In that period, Dutch Golden Age painters drew inspiration from brightly coloured parrots, big cats and exotic animals captured in distant colonies and brought back to Europe

described the exhibition as an “aesthetic tribute to nature, wonder, and everything fragile and cherished”. “In a city where everything is becoming bigger, more high-tech and

part of a chain, this museum offers an intimate space in the city centre where the art of taxidermy is celebrated in all its beauty,”said Krook. – AFP