The Waddesdon Bequest is a collection, left to the British Museum in
Baron Ferdinand Rothschild's will in 1898, taken from his New Smoking
Room at Waddesdon Manor. It includes almost 300 pieces of jewellery,
plate, enamel, carvings, glass and maiolica. Earlier than most objects
is the Holy Thorn Reliquary, probably created in the 1390s in Paris for
John, Duke of Berry. The wide-ranging collection is in the tradition of
a treasure house, such as those owned by the Renaissance princes of
Europe. Most of the objects are from late Renaissance Europe; there are
several important medieval pieces, and outliers from classical antiquity
and medieval Syria. Rothschild selected intricate, superbly executed,
highly decorated and rather ostentatious works of the Late Gothic,
Renaissance and Mannerist periods for this collection. Few of the
objects relied on the Baroque sculptural movement for their effect,
though several come from periods and places where many Baroque pieces
were being made. A new display for the collection, which under the terms
of the bequest must be kept and displayed together, opened in 2015.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waddesdon_Bequest>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1506:
Muscovite–Lithuanian Wars: The Grand Duchy of Lithuania
achieved one of the greatest Lithuanian victories against the Tatars in
the Battle of Kletsk.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kletsk>
1777:
American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Oriskany, one of the
bloodiest battles in the North American theater of the war, was fought
about six miles (10 km) east of Fort Stanwix, New York.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Oriskany>
1806:
The Holy Roman Empire was dissolved by its last emperor,
Francis II, during the aftermath of the War of the Third Coalition.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_II,_Holy_Roman_Emperor>
1956:
DuMont, one of the world's first television networks, aired its
last program.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DuMont_Television_Network>
1996:
NASA announced that the meteorite known as ALH 84001,
discovered in the Allan Hills of Antarctica, may contain evidence of
life on Mars, but further tests were inconclusive.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allan_Hills_84001>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
nudiustertian:
(rare, obsolete, modern uses probably humorous) Of or relating to the
day before yesterday; very recent.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nudiustertian>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Rain, rain, and sun! a rainbow in the sky! A young man will be
wiser by and by; An old man's wit may wander ere he die. Rain, rain, and
sun! a rainbow on the lea! And truth is this to me, and that to thee;
And truth or clothed or naked let it be. Rain, sun, and rain! and the
free blossom blows: Sun, rain, and sun! and where is he who knows? From
the great deep to the great deep he goes.
--Idylls of the King
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Idylls_of_the_King>