Diego Velázquez was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary baroque period, important as a portrait artist. His two visits to Italy while part of the Spanish court are well-documented. In addition to numerous renditions of scenes of historical and cultural significance, he created scores of portraits of the Spanish royal family, other notable European figures, and commoners, culminating in the production of his masterpiece, Las Meninas. Starting in the first quarter of the nineteenth century, Velázquez's artwork proved a model for the realist and impressionist painters, in particular Édouard Manet. Since that time, more modern artists, including Spain's Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí, have paid tribute to Velázquez by recreating several of his most famous works.

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1792: La Marseillaise, the national anthem of France, was composed. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Marseillaise)

1913: The opening ceremony of the Woolworth Building was held in New York City. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woolworth_Building)

1916: Easter Rising: The Irish Republican Brotherhood started a rebellion in Ireland. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Rising)

1967: The Soyuz 1 spacecraft crashed in Siberia, killing cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_1)

1990: The space shuttle Discovery lifted off with the Hubble Space Telescope aboard. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_Space_Telescope)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

"Everything seems an echo of something else." -- Robert Penn Warren (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Penn_Warren)