The Dawn of Love is an oil painting by English artist William Etty,
first exhibited in 1828. Loosely based on a passage from John Milton's
1634 Comus, it shows Venus leaning across to wake the sleeping Love by
stroking his wings. It was very poorly received when first exhibited;
the stylised Venus was thought unduly influenced by foreign artists such
as Rubens as well as being overly voluptuous and unrealistically
coloured, while the painting as a whole was considered tasteless and
obscene. The Dawn of Love was omitted from the major 1849 retrospective
exhibition of Etty's works, and its exhibition in Glasgow in 1899 drew
complaints for its supposed obscenity. In 1889 it was bought by Merton
Russell-Cotes, and has remained in the collection of the Russell-Cotes
Art Gallery & Museum ever since.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dawn_of_Love_%28painting%29>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1576:
The cornerstone of Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe's observatory
Uraniborg was laid on the island of Hven.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uraniborg>
1918:
The Battle of Amiens began in Amiens, France, marking the start
of the Allied Powers' Hundred Days Offensive through the German front
lines that ultimately led to the end of World War I.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Amiens_%281918%29>
1988:
A series of marches, demonstrations, protests, and riots, which
became known as the 8888 Uprising, began against the one-party state of
the Burma Socialist Programme Party.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8888_Uprising>
2008:
A EuroCity train en route to Prague struck a part of a motorway
bridge that had fallen onto the track near Studénka station and
derailed, killing 8 people and injuring 64 others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Stud%C3%A9nka_train_wreck>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
pack journalism:
(journalism, derogatory) A tendency of reporting to become homogeneous
due to the reporters' habit of relying on one another for news tips, or
being dependent on a single source for information.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pack_journalism>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
That Action is best which procures the greatest Happiness for the
greatest Numbers; and that worst, which, in like manner, occasions
misery.
--Francis Hutcheson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Francis_Hutcheson>