The Triumph of Cleopatra is an oil painting by the English artist William Etty, depicting a scene from Plutarch's Life of Antony and Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, in which Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, voyages to Tarsus to cement an alliance with the Roman general Mark Antony. The painting shows a large group of people in various states of nudity, watching her ship's arrival. First exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in 1821, the painting was an immediate success and made the then-obscure Etty famous almost overnight. Although some commentators considered it offensive and indecent, the painting's success prompted Etty to spend the next decade painting further history paintings containing nude figures, becoming well known for combining these with moral messages.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Triumph_of_Cleopatra

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1857:

Lefort, a Russian ship of the line, sank in the Gulf of Finland during a sudden squall with the loss of all 826 people on board. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_ship_of_the_line_Lefort

1948:

Led by Gail Halvorsen, the U.S. Army Air Forces began Operation "Little Vittles", delivering candy to children as part of the Berlin Airlift. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gail_Halvorsen

1957:

François "Papa Doc" Duvalier was elected President of Haiti as a populist before consolidating power and ruling as a dictator for the rest of his life. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Duvalier

2014:

The NASA spacecraft MAVEN entered into orbit around Mars to study the planet's atmosphere. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAVEN

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

mercurial: 1. (comparable) Having a lively or volatile character; animated, changeable, quick-witted. 2. (not comparable, astrology) Pertaining to the astrological influence of the planet Mercury; having the characteristics of a person under such influence (see adjective sense 1). 3. (not comparable, astronomy) Pertaining to the planet Mercury. 4. (not comparable, chemistry) Of or pertaining to the element mercury or quicksilver; containing mercury. 5. (not comparable, medicine) Caused by the action of mercury or a mercury compound. 6. (not comparable, Roman mythology) Pertaining to Mercury, the Roman god of, among other things, commerce, financial gain, communication, and thieves and trickery; hence (comparable), money-making; crafty. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mercurial

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Advice is seldom welcome; and those who want it the most always like it the least.   --Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philip_Stanhope,_4th_Earl_of_Chesterfield