The Beaune Altarpiece is a large polyptych altarpiece by the Early
Netherlandish artist Rogier van der Weyden. It was commissioned in 1443
for the Hospices de Beaune by Nicolas Rolin, Chancellor of the Duchy of
Burgundy, and his wife Guigone de Salins, who was buried in front of the
altarpiece. The polyptych consists of fifteen paintings spread across
nine panels, of which six are painted on both sides. The inner panels
contain scenes from the Last Judgement, with a central image that shows
Christ seated in judgement, and the Archangel Michael holding scales as
he weighs souls. The panel on Christ's far right depicts the gates of
Heaven, that to his far left the entrance to Hell; souls are shown
moving towards each after being judged. The altarpiece is in poor
condition, having suffered from extensive paint loss, darkening of its
colours and accumulations of dirt. .
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_views_on_Hell>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1879:
The Tay Bridge, spanning the Firth of Tay in Scotland between
Dundee and Wormit, collapsed during a violent storm while a train was
passing over it, killing all on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tay_Bridge_disaster>
1907:
The last confirmed sighting of the now-extinct huia
(illustration shown) occurred in the Tararua Range on New Zealand's
North Island.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huia>
1989:
In one of Australia's worst natural disasters, an earthquake
measuring 5.6 ML struck Newcastle, New South Wales, killing 13 people
and injuring more than 160 others, and causing an estimated A$4 billion
in damages.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Newcastle_earthquake>
2009:
A suicide bomber attacked a Shia procession commemorating the
day of Ashura in Karachi, Pakistan, causing 43 deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Karachi_bombing>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
forthcoming:
1. (not comparable) Approaching or about to take place.
2. Available when needed; in place, ready.
3. Willing to co-operate or provide information; candid, frank,
responsive.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/forthcoming>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
The universe is of the nature of a thought or sensation in a
universal Mind … To put the conclusion crudely — the stuff of the
world is mind-stuff. As is often the way with crude statements, I shall
have to explain that by "mind" I do not exactly mean mind and by
"stuff"
I do not at all mean stuff. Still that is about as near as we can get to
the idea in a simple phrase. The mind-stuff of the world is something
more general than our individual conscious minds; but we may think of
its nature as not altogether foreign to feelings in our consciousness
… Having granted this, the mental activity of the part of world
constituting ourselves occasions no great surprise; it is known to us by
direct self-knowledge, and we do not explain it away as something other
than we know it to be — or rather, it knows itself to be.
--Arthur Eddington
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arthur_Eddington>