Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, by the Early Netherlandish painter Petrus
Christus. It was completed between 1465 and 1470, towards the end of the
artist's life, and marks a significant advance in the oeuvres of both
Christus and contemporary portraiture. The girl is set in an airy,
three-dimensional, realistic setting, confronting the viewer with an
expression that is reserved, but alert and intelligent. She reflects the
Gothic ideal of elongated facial features, narrow shoulders, tightly
pinned hair and an almost unnaturally long forehead. The painting is
widely regarded as one of the most exquisite Northern Renaissance
portraits. Art historian Joel Upton describes the sitter as resembling
"a polished pearl, almost opalescent, lying on a cushion of black
velvet." The panel builds on the work of the first generation Northern
Renaissance painters Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden, and was
highly influential in the decades after its completion. Its appeal lies
in part in the intriguing stare, accentuated by the slight misalignment
of her eyes and asymmetry of her eyebrows.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_of_a_Young_Girl_(Christus)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1757:
British Royal Navy Admiral John Byng was court-martialled and
executed by firing squad when he failed to "do his utmost" during the
Battle of Minorca at the start of the Seven Years' War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Byng>
1794:
American inventor Eli Whitney patented the cotton gin, the
first ever machine that quickly and easily separated cotton fibers from
their seedpods.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_gin>
1915:
First World War: British forces cornered and sank the SMS
Dresden, the last remnant of the German East Asia Squadron, near the
Chilean island of Más a Tierra.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_M%C3%A1s_a_Tierra>
1945:
The British Royal Air Force first used the Grand Slam, a 22,000
lb (9.98 t) earthquake bomb, on a strategic railroad viaduct in
Bielefeld, Germany.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Slam_(bomb)>
1972:
Italian publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, known for his
decision to translate and publish Boris Pasternak's novel Doctor Zhivago
after it had been smuggled out of the Soviet Union, was killed in an
explosion.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giangiacomo_Feltrinelli>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
annis Domini:
(of multiple years or of a date range) Taking place a specifed number of
years following the assumed birth of Jesus Christ.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/annis_Domini>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
He does love his numbers And they run, they run, they run him
In a great big circle In a circle of infinity 3.14159 26535897932 3846
264 338 3279...
--Kate Bush
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kate_Bush>
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