The Dresden Triptych is a very small hinged-triptych altarpiece signed and dated 1437 by the Early Netherlandish painter Jan van Eyck. It consists of five paintings: one central and four on two double-sided wings. It may have been intended as a portable altarpiece, and is his only extant non-portrait painting signed with his personal motto ALC IXH XAN ("I Do as I Can"). The outer wings show the Virgin Mary and the Archangel Gabriel in an Annunciation scene in grisaille. The inner panels are set in an ecclesiastical interior. In the central inner panel Mary holds the Christ Child; in the left-hand outer wing the Archangel Michael presents a kneeling donor; on the right Saint Catherine of Alexandria reads a prayer book (depicted). The triptych's frames are the originals; richly decorated with Latin inscriptions, they indicate that the donor, whose identity is now lost, was highly educated. The coats of arms on the interior borders are associated with the Giustiniani of Genoa – an influential albergo active from 1362.

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

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1861:

British chemist William Crookes published his discovery of thallium using flame spectroscopy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thallium

1918:

Four days of inter-ethnic clashes broke out in Baku, Azerbaijan, resulting in about 12,000 deaths. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_Days

1981:

John Hinckley Jr. shot and wounded U.S. president Ronald Reagan and three others outside the Washington Hilton (immediate aftermath pictured). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attempted_assassination_of_Ronald_Reagan

2009:

The Manawan Police Academy in Lahore, Pakistan, was attacked and held for several hours by 12 gunmen, resulting in 16 deaths and 95 injuries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Lahore_police_academy_attack

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

what the doctor ordered: (idiomatic) Exactly what is necessary or useful in a given situation; something very beneficial or desirable. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/what_the_doctor_ordered

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

The thing has already taken form in my mind before I start it. The first attempts are absolutely unbearable. I say this because I want you to know that if you see something worthwhile in what I am doing, it is not by accident but because of real direction and purpose.   --Vincent Van Gogh https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Vincent_Van_Gogh