The Cadaver Tomb of René of Chalon is a Gothic funerary monument in the
church of Saint-Étienne at Bar-le-Duc in northeastern France. It
consists of an altarpiece and a limestone statue of a putrefied and
skinless corpse which stands upright; its left arm is raised as if
gesturing towards heaven. Completed sometime between 1544 and 1557, the
majority of its construction is attributed to the French sculptor Ligier
Richier. Other elements, including the coat of arms and funeral drapery,
were added later. The tomb dates from a period of societal anxiety over
death, as plague, war and religious conflicts ravaged Europe. It was
commissioned as the resting place of René of Chalon, Prince of Orange,
brother-in-law of Duke Antoine of Lorraine. Unusually for contemporary
objects of this type, the skeleton is standing, making it a "living
corpse", an innovation that was to become highly influential. It was
designated a Monument historique on June 18, 1898.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadaver_Tomb_of_Ren%C3%A9_of_Chalon>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1638:
A rebellion by Catholic Japanese peasants in Shimabara over
increased taxes was put down by the Tokugawa shogunate, resulting in
greater enforcement of the policy of national seclusion.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimabara_Rebellion>
1912:
The passenger liner RMS Titanic sank about two hours and forty
minutes after colliding with an iceberg, killing more than 1,500 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_the_RMS_Titanic>
1952:
The B-52 Stratofortress, a long-range, subsonic, jet-powered,
strategic bomber operated by the United States Air Force for most of the
aircraft's history, made its first flight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_B-52_Stratofortress>
1989:
A human crush during an FA Cup semi-final match between
Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield,
England, caused 96 deaths, making it the worst disaster in British
sporting history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillsborough_disaster>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
mummy brown:
1. A brown pigment originally prepared from the ground-up remains of
Egyptian animal or human mummies mixed with bitumen, etc.
2. The colour of this pigment, a variable brown nearly intermediate
between raw umber and burnt umber. mummy brown colour:
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mummy_brown>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
If we pretend to respect the artist at all we must allow him his
freedom of choice, in the face, in particular cases, of innumerable
presumptions that the choice will not fructify. Art derives a
considerable part of its beneficial exercise from flying in the face of
presumptions, and some of the most interesting experiments of which it
is capable are hidden in the bosom of common things.
--Henry James
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henry_James>
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