The Sirens and Ulysses is a very large oil painting by the English artist William Etty, first exhibited in 1837. It depicts the scene from Homer's Odyssey in which Ulysses (Odysseus) resists the bewitching song of the Sirens by having his ship's crew tie him up, while they are ordered to block their own ears to prevent themselves from hearing the song. Traditionally Sirens had been depicted as human–animal chimeras, but Etty portrayed them as naked young women on an island strewn with decaying corpses. The painting divided opinion, with some critics greatly admiring it while others derided it as tasteless and unpleasant. Following the 1857 Art Treasures Exhibition, it was removed from display for about 150 years. In 2010 the painting went on permanent display in the Manchester Art Gallery.

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

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1790:

The first United States census was conducted, with the nation's residential population enumerated to be 3,929,214. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1790_United_States_census

1897:

The Siege of Malakand ended when a relief column was able to reach the British garrison in the Malakand region of colonial India's North West Frontier Province. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Malakand

1920:

Nepalese author Krishna Lal Adhikari was sentenced to nine years in prison for publishing a book about the cultivation of corn. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makaiko_Kheti

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

Raj: 1. Short for British Raj (“the period of colonial rule of the Indian subcontinent by the British Empire between 1858 and 1947”). during the Raj 2. (proscribed) The whole period of British influence or rule in the Indian subcontinent from the 1600s to 1947. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Raj

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

It is as fatal as it is cowardly to blink facts because they are not to our taste.   --John Tyndall https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Tyndall