The Crucifixion and Last Judgement diptych consists of two small painted
panels attributed to the Early Netherlandish artist Jan van Eyck,
completed c. 1430–40. The left hand Crucifixion wing (part pictured)
shows Christ's followers grieving in the foreground, soldiers and
spectators in the mid-ground and a brutally physical portrayal of three
crucified bodies in the upper-ground, all framed against an azure sky
with a view of Jerusalem in the distance. The right hand Last Judgment
wing contains imagery associated with the resurrection of the dead: a
hellscape at its base, the lost awaiting judgement in the centre-ground,
and a representation of Christ in Majesty flanked by a Great Deësis of
saints, apostles, clergy, virgins and nobility in the upper section. The
diptych is one of the early master-pieces of the Northern Renaissance,
renowned for its unusually complex and detailed iconography. Portions of
the work contain Greek, Latin and Hebrew inscriptions while the original
gilt frames contain excerpts from biblical passages inscribed in Latin
and drawn from the books of Isaiah, Deutoronomy and Revelation. The
panels were acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1933 while
attributed to Jan's brother Hubert.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crucifixion_and_Last_Judgement_diptych>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1638:
Swedish settlers founded New Sweden near Delaware Bay, the
first Swedish colony in America.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Sweden>
1871:
The Royal Albert Hall in Albertopolis, London, was officially
opened by Queen Victoria.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Albert_Hall>
1945:
World War II: The German 4th Army was almost completely
destroyed by the Soviet Red Army at the Heiligenbeil Pocket in East
Prussia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heiligenbeil_Pocket>
1973:
Vietnam War: The United States ended Operation Barrel Roll, a
covert bombing campaign in Laos to help stem an increasing tide of
People's Army of Vietnam and Pathet Lao offensives.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Barrel_Roll>
2010:
Islamist Chechen separatists set off two bombs on the Moscow
Metro, killing at least 40 and injuring over 100 others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Moscow_Metro_bombings>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
otorhinolaryngology:
(medicine) The study of diseases of the ear, nose and throat.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/otorhinolaryngology>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
The power of the imagination is a unifying power, hence the force
of metaphor; and the poet is the supreme manipulator of metaphor... the
world needs the unifying power of the imagination. The two things that
give it best are poetry and religion.
--R. S. Thomas
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/R._S._Thomas>