|
These featured pictures, as scheduled below, appeared as the picture of the day (POTD) on the English Wikipedia's Main Page in the last 30 days.
You can add an automatically updating POTD template to your user page using {{Pic of the day}}
(version with blurb) or {{POTD}}
(version without blurb). For instructions on how to make custom POTD layouts, see Wikipedia:Picture of the day.Purge server cache
August 16
Destruction is the fourth in a series of five oil-on-canvas paintings entitled The Course of Empire, created by the American artist Thomas Cole between 1833 and 1836. The series, now in the collection of the New-York Historical Society, depicts the growth and fall of an imaginary city, situated at the lower end of a river valley. In this painting, a fleet of enemy vessels have sailed up the river, bringing warriors who have overthrown the city's defenses and are ransacking the city and killing and raping its inhabitants. Painting credit: Thomas Cole
Recently featured:
|
August 15
Le Juif polonais (The Polish Jew) is an opera in three acts by Camille Erlanger composed to a French libretto by Henri Caïn. This poster, which advertised the opera's 1900 premiere at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, depicts the innkeeper Mathias, on the occasion of his daughter's wedding, remembering the Jew he had murdered fifteen years earlier. In the third act, he dreams that he is being tried for the murder, he confesses to the attack and admits to the disposal of the body, and dies of a heart attack. Poster credit: Henri C. R. Presseq; restored by Adam Cuerden
Recently featured:
|
August 14
George Holdich (14 August 1816 – 30 July 1896) was a British organist and organ builder based in London. In 1851, he produced a pipe organ that was exhibited at the Great Exhibition. This photograph shows Holdich's best-known achievement, the new organ for Lichfield Cathedral, installed in 1861. The instrument, which has 52 stops, was the first in England to have a full pedal specification of stops as was customary among organs in continental Europe. Photograph credit: David Iliff
Recently featured:
|
August 13
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is one of five extant species in the genus Panthera, a member of the cat family, Felidae. This photograph shows a leopard devouring an impala in Kruger National Park, South Africa. Compared to other wild cats, the leopard has a relatively large skull with powerful jaws, a long body and short legs. It can climb trees very skilfully, often rests on tree branches and can descend to the ground head first. An adult leopard is strong enough to drag a carcass heavier than itself up into a tree, where the prey may be eaten straight away or cached to be consumed later. Photograph credit: Diego Delso
Recently featured:
|
August 12
The Salvadoran peso was the currency of El Salvador between 1877 and 1919. This gold coin with a value of twenty pesos was minted in 1892, the year in which the Salvadoran mint was established and the production of gold and silver coins began in the country. Only 300 such twenty-peso gold coins were ever minted. This coin is part of the National Numismatic Collection at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. Coin design credit: El Salvador; photographed by the National Numismatic Collection
Recently featured:
|
August 11
The oriental hornet (Vespa orientalis) is a social insect in the family Vespidae, found in southern Europe, northeastern Africa, and western Asia. This worker, photographed in Sha'ar Poleg Reserve in Israel, is gathering nectar from a sea squill; adults will also feed on honeydew and fruit. They also capture insects such as grasshoppers, flies and honey bees to provide a diet high in protein for the colony's brood. Photograph credit: Gideon Pisanty
Recently featured:
|
August 10
The Bank War was a political struggle that developed over the issue of rechartering the Second Bank of the United States during the presidency of Andrew Jackson (1829–1837). The affair resulted in the shutdown of the Second Bank and its replacement by state banks. Louis McLane, then Secretary of the Treasury, was a prominent figure during the Bank War. This portrait is a line engraving of McLane, produced around 1902 by the Department of the Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) as part of a BEP presentation album of the first 42 secretaries of the treasury. Engraving credit: Bureau of Engraving and Printing; restored by Andrew Shiva
Recently featured:
|
August 9
The sapphire-throated hummingbird (Chrysuronia coeruleogularis) is a shiny, metallic-green hummingbird found in Panama, Colombia, and Costa Rica. During flight, hummingbirds have one of the highest metabolic rates among small birds and therefore need to eat more than their own weight of nectar each day to avoid starvation; insects and spiders are also consumed for added protein. Males are polygamous, and after mating play no part in nest-building or rearing the young. This male sapphire-throated hummingbird was photographed in the gardens of Biomuseo, a natural-history museum in Panama City designed by Frank Gehry. Photograph credit: Charles James Sharp
Recently featured:
|
August 8
Portrait of Wally is a 1912 oil-on-canvas painting by the Austrian artist Egon Schiele, depicting the young model Walburga Neuzil. Although little is known about the subject, she might have been one of his mistresses, and died tragically at a very young age. The painting had been owned by Lea Bondi, a Jewish art dealer who was fleeing the German annexation of Austria and had to sell it in 1939. The work was restituted to the owners only in 2010, it now forms part of the collection of the Leopold Museum in Vienna. Painting credit: Egon Schiele
Recently featured:
|
August 7
Heinrich C. Berann (1915–1999) was an Austrian painter and cartographer. He achieved world fame with his panoramic maps that combined modern cartography with classical painting. Towards the end of his life, he created four panoramic posters of national parks which were published by the U.S. National Park Service. This 1994 panorama shows Denali National Park and Preserve in central Alaska, with Denali, the highest mountain on the continent, and the glaciers on its southern flanks. Painting credit: Heinrich C. Berann
Recently featured:
|
August 6
Jean Augustin Daiwaille (6 August 1786 – 11 April 1850) was a Dutch portrait painter. Born in Cologne, he travelled to Amsterdam as a young man, where he studied under Adriaan de Lelie. He was the director of the Rijksakademie from 1820 to 1826, where he was instrumental in obtaining a lithographic press and instructing students in its use and technique. This self-portrait of Daiwaille, executed in pastel on parchment, is in the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Painting credit: Jean Augustin Daiwaille
Recently featured:
|
August 5
Don César de Bazan is an opéra comique in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Adolphe d'Ennery, Dumanoir and Jules Chantepie, based on a play by d'Ennery and Dumanoir first performed in 1844. This in turn drew on the popular character of Don César de Bazan from the 1838 drama Ruy Blas by Victor Hugo, despite having little connection with the plot of Hugo's drama. This poster, engraved by Célestin Nanteuil, advertised the opera's premiere, which took place at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 30 November 1872. Engraving credit: Célestin Nanteuil; restored by Adam Cuerden
Recently featured:
|
August 4
Brachysomophis cirrocheilos, the stargazer snake eel, is a marine fish belonging to the family Ophichthidae. It is native to shallow tropical and subtropical waters in the western Indo-Pacific region. It hunts at night for crustaceans and small fish, after which it submerges itself into the sediment tail first and remains there all day, with just its eyes and the top of its head projecting, as seen here in Batangas Bay in the Philippines. Photograph credit: Rickard Zerpe
Recently featured:
|
August 3
Wheat Fields is a series of dozens of paintings by the Dutch Post-Impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh borne out of his religious studies and sermons, connection to nature, appreciation of manual laborers and desire to provide a means of offering comfort to others. This 1888 work, titled Corn Harvest in Provence, is one of many oil-on-canvas paintings he created that included them. This harvest scene was painted just outside Arles, and exemplifies Van Gogh's use of colour in full brilliance to depict the "burning brightness of the heat wave". The painting is in the collection of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Painting credit: Vincent van Gogh
Recently featured:
|
August 2
Bertha Lutz (August 2, 1894 – September 16, 1976) was a Brazilian zoologist, politician, and diplomat. She became a leading figure in the Pan-American feminist and human rights movements, and was instrumental in gaining women's suffrage in Brazil. In addition to her political work, she was a naturalist at the National Museum of Brazil, specializing in poison dart frogs. Her collections were destroyed in September 2018, when a fire devastated most of the museum's collections. Photograph credit: unknown; restored by Adam Cuerden
Recently featured:
|
August 1
This historical depiction of the coat of arms of Tennessee was illustrated by the American engraver Henry Mitchell in State Arms of the Union, published in 1876 by Louis Prang. The coat of arms includes the Roman numeral "XVI", referring to Tennessee being the 16th state to join the Union. The plough, wheat sheaf, and cotton plant in the top half of the shield illustrate the importance of agriculture to the state's economy, while the flat-bottomed riverboat in the bottom half represents the importance of commerce. This design also appears on the Tennessee state seal. Illustration credit: Henry Mitchell; restored by Andrew Shiva
Recently featured:
|
July 31
Coprinellus micaceus is a common species of fungus in the family Psathyrellaceae with a cosmopolitan distribution. It is a saprotrophic species, deriving nutrients from dead and decomposing wood. The fruiting body grows in clusters and is commonly known as the mica cap or shiny cap because of the fine layer of reflective mica-like cells on the cap surface. The fungus is edible soon after collection, but after a few hours, the gills begin to slowly dissolve into a black, inky, spore-laden liquid. These C. micaceus mushrooms were photographed near Erbach an der Donau, Germany. Photograph credit: Holger Krisp
Recently featured:
|
July 30
Nebotičnik is a high-rise building located in the centre of Ljubljana, Slovenia. On completion in 1933, it was the tallest building in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and the ninth-tallest in Europe. There are shops on the ground and first floors, and offices on floors two to five. The sixth to ninth floors are private residences, and a café, bar and observation deck are located on the top three floors. The entrance on the ground floor leads to a lobby from which the upper storeys are accessible by elevator or by this Art Deco spiral stairway at the centre of the building. Photograph credit: Petar Milošević
Recently featured:
|
July 29
The Palestine sunbird (Cinnyris osea) is a small passerine bird of the sunbird family, Nectariniidae, found in parts of the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa. Its long, downward-curving beak and the brush-tipped tongue are adapted for sipping nectar from flowers. The Palestinian Authority adopted the species as a national bird in 2015. This male Palestine sunbird in breeding plumage was photographed in the Dana Biosphere Reserve in Jordan. Photograph credit: Charles James Sharp |
July 28
Carmen is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet, with a libretto written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy based on a novella by Prosper Mérimée. This lithographic poster, illustrated by Prudent-Louis Leray, advertised the opera's premiere, which took place in Paris on 3 March 1875. It was not initially a success; the audience at the Opéra-Comique was shocked by the drastic realism of the action and by the low standing and immorality of most of the characters. However, later that year, after Bizet's unexpected death, an adaptation by Ernest Guiraud performed by the Vienna Court Opera became a great success with the public, and Guiraud's version went on to achieve worldwide fame. Poster credit: Prudent-Louis Leray; restored by Adam Cuerden |
July 27
The 1934 Swissair Tuttlingen accident occurred on 27 July 1934 when a Curtiss T-32 Condor II aircraft operated by Swissair crashed near Tuttlingen, Germany, while flying through a thunderstorm, killing all twelve people on board. This 1934 photograph shows Nelly Diener, the first air stewardess in Europe, standing in front of the aircraft in which she would lose her life that same year. Photograph credit: Swissair; retouched by PawełMM and Brandmeister |
July 26
Subpage 1
The Japanese government-issued dollar was a form of currency issued between 1942 and 1945 for use within the territories of Singapore, Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Brunei, under occupation by Imperial Japan during World War II. The currency, informally referred to as "banana money", was released solely in the form of banknotes, as metals were considered essential to the war effort. The languages used on the notes were reduced to English and Japanese. Each note bears a different obverse and reverse design, but all have a similar layout, and were marked with stamped block letters that begin with "M" for "Malaya". This 1942 one-cent Japanese-issued banknote is part of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution. Banknote design credit: Empire of Japan; photographed by Andrew Shiva
Recently featured:
|
Subpage 2
The Japanese government-issued dollar was a form of currency issued between 1942 and 1945 for use within the territories of Singapore, Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Brunei, under occupation by Imperial Japan during World War II. The currency, informally referred to as "banana money", was released solely in the form of banknotes, as metals were considered essential to the war effort. The languages used on the notes were reduced to English and Japanese. Each note bears a different obverse and reverse design, but all have a similar layout, and were marked with stamped block letters that begin with "M" for "Malaya". This 1942 five-cent Japanese-issued banknote is part of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution. Banknote design credit: Empire of Japan; photographed by Andrew Shiva
Recently featured:
|
Subpage 3
The Japanese government-issued dollar was a form of currency issued between 1942 and 1945 for use within the territories of Singapore, Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Brunei, under occupation by Imperial Japan during World War II. The currency, informally referred to as "banana money", was released solely in the form of banknotes, as metals were considered essential to the war effort. The languages used on the notes were reduced to English and Japanese. Each note bears a different obverse and reverse design, but all have a similar layout, and were marked with stamped block letters that begin with "M" for "Malaya". This 1942 ten-cent Japanese-issued banknote is part of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution. Banknote design credit: Empire of Japan; photographed by Andrew Shiva
Recently featured:
|
Subpage 4
The Japanese government-issued dollar was a form of currency issued between 1942 and 1945 for use within the territories of Singapore, Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Brunei, under occupation by Imperial Japan during World War II. The currency, informally referred to as "banana money", was released solely in the form of banknotes, as metals were considered essential to the war effort. The languages used on the notes were reduced to English and Japanese. Each note bears a different obverse and reverse design, but all have a similar layout, and were marked with stamped block letters that begin with "M" for "Malaya". This 1942 fifty-cent Japanese-issued banknote, depicting a traveller's palm on the obverse, is part of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution. Banknote design credit: Empire of Japan; photographed by Andrew Shiva
Recently featured:
|
Subpage 5
The Japanese government-issued dollar was a form of currency issued between 1942 and 1945 for use within the territories of Singapore, Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Brunei, under occupation by Imperial Japan during World War II. The currency, informally referred to as "banana money", was released solely in the form of banknotes, as metals were considered essential to the war effort. The languages used on the notes were reduced to English and Japanese. Each note bears a different obverse and reverse design, but all have a similar layout, and were marked with stamped block letters that begin with "M" for "Malaya". This 1942 one-dollar Japanese-issued banknote, depicting breadfruit and coconut trees on the obverse, is part of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution. Banknote design credit: Empire of Japan; photographed by Andrew Shiva
Recently featured:
|
Subpage 6
The Japanese government-issued dollar was a form of currency issued between 1942 and 1945 for use within the territories of Singapore, Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Brunei, under occupation by Imperial Japan during World War II. The currency, informally referred to as "banana money", was released solely in the form of banknotes, as metals were considered essential to the war effort. The languages used on the notes were reduced to English and Japanese. Each note bears a different obverse and reverse design, but all have a similar layout, and were marked with stamped block letters that begin with "M" for "Malaya". This 1942 five-dollar Japanese-issued banknote, depicting coconut and pawpaw trees on the obverse, is part of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution. Banknote design credit: Empire of Japan; photographed by Andrew Shiva
Recently featured:
|
Subpage 7
The Japanese government-issued dollar was a form of currency issued between 1942 and 1945 for use within the territories of Singapore, Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Brunei, under occupation by Imperial Japan during World War II. The currency, informally referred to as "banana money", was released solely in the form of banknotes, as metals were considered essential to the war effort. The languages used on the notes were reduced to English and Japanese. Each note bears a different obverse and reverse design, but all have a similar layout, and were marked with stamped block letters that begin with "M" for "Malaya". This 1944 ten-dollar Japanese-issued banknote, depicting guava and coconut trees flanked by banana and pineapple plants on the obverse, and a seascape on the reverse, is part of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution. Banknote design credit: Empire of Japan; photographed by Andrew Shiva
Recently featured:
|
Subpage 8
The Japanese government-issued dollar was a form of currency issued between 1942 and 1945 for use within the territories of Singapore, Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Brunei, under occupation by Imperial Japan during World War II. The currency, informally referred to as "banana money", was released solely in the form of banknotes, as metals were considered essential to the war effort. The languages used on the notes were reduced to English and Japanese. Each note bears a different obverse and reverse design, but all have a similar layout, and were marked with stamped block letters that begin with "M" for "Malaya". This 1944 one-hundred-dollar Japanese-issued banknote, depicting a Malay house with palm trees on the obverse, and a man with water buffaloes in a stream on the reverse, is part of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution. Banknote design credit: Empire of Japan; photographed by Andrew Shiva
Recently featured:
|
Subpage 9
The Japanese government-issued dollar was a form of currency issued between 1942 and 1945 for use within the territories of Singapore, Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Brunei, under occupation by Imperial Japan during World War II. The currency, informally referred to as "banana money", was released solely in the form of banknotes, as metals were considered essential to the war effort. The languages used on the notes were reduced to English and Japanese. Each note bears a different obverse and reverse design, but all have a similar layout, and were marked with stamped block letters that begin with "M" for "Malaya". This 1945 one-hundred-dollar Japanese-issued banknote, depicting labourers in a rubber plantation on the obverse, and stilted Malay houses on the reverse, is part of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution. Banknote design credit: Empire of Japan; photographed by Andrew Shiva
Recently featured:
|
Subpage 10
The Japanese government-issued dollar was a form of currency issued between 1942 and 1945 for use within the territories of Singapore, Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Brunei, under occupation by Imperial Japan during World War II. The currency, informally referred to as "banana money", was released solely in the form of banknotes, as metals were considered essential to the war effort. The languages used on the notes were reduced to English and Japanese. Each note bears a different obverse and reverse design, but all have a similar layout, and were marked with stamped block letters that begin with "M" for "Malaya". This 1945 one-thousand-dollar Japanese-issued banknote, depicting a bullock cart on the obverse and a man with water buffaloes in a stream on the reverse, is part of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution. Banknote design credit: Empire of Japan; photographed by Andrew Shiva
Recently featured:
|
July 25
The Castle of St John the Baptist, also called the Black Castle, is a circular fort in Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands. It is located in the heart of the city, near the Parque Marítimo César Manrique and behind the Auditorio de Tenerife. Construction began in 1641 and was completed in 1644. The structure was later rebuilt in 1765 with the addition of a cylindrical tower facing the sea. It served as a military fort until 1924 and was converted to a military museum in 1948. A re-enactment of the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife takes place annually at the castle, commemorating the unsuccessful attempt by the British admiral Horatio Nelson to invade the city and archipelago on 25 July 1797. Photograph credit: Thomas Wolf
Recently featured:
|
July 24
John Adams Dix (July 24, 1798 – April 21, 1879) was Secretary of the Treasury, Governor of New York and a major general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was notable for arresting the pro-Southern Maryland General Assembly, preventing that divided border state from seceding, and for arranging a system for prisoner exchange via the Dix–Hill Cartel, concluded in partnership with Confederate Major General Daniel Harvey Hill. This line engraving of Dix was produced around 1902 by the Department of the Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) as part of a BEP presentation album of the first 42 secretaries of the treasury. Engraving credit: Bureau of Engraving and Printing; restored by Andrew Shiva
Recently featured:
|
July 23
Leptosia nina, known as the psyche, is a species of butterfly in the family Pieridae (the sulphurs, yellows and whites), found in the Indian subcontinent, southeastern Asia, and Australia. It has a small wingspan of 2.5 to 5 cm (1 to 2 in). The upper side of the otherwise white forewing has a large, somewhat pear-shaped, black spot; this spot is also present on the underside which is scattered with greenish dots and speckles, sometimes arranged in bands. This L. nina butterfly was photographed in Kerala, India. Photograph credit: Jeevan Jose
Recently featured:
|
July 22
Artists producing art and engraving on United States banknotes began experimenting with copper plates as an alternative to wood engraving in the early 18th century. Applied to the production of paper currency, copper-plate engraving, and later steel engraving, enabled banknote design and printing to rapidly advance during the 19th century. This vignette, engraved by W. W. Rice, appeared on certain United States fifty-dollar bills issued in 1875. Produced for the Department of the Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the engraving is of Robert Walter Weir's painting Embarkation of the Pilgrims, which hangs in the United States Capitol rotunda. It depicts the Pilgrims on the deck of the ship Speedwell as they depart Delfshaven in South Holland on July 22, 1620. They met additional colonists at Southampton, England, and transferred to the Mayflower before sailing to the New World. Engraving credit: W. W. Rice, after Robert Walter Weir; restored by Andrew Shiva
Recently featured:
|
July 21
The Alcázar of Seville is a royal palace in Seville, Spain, built for the Christian king Peter of Castile in 1364–1366. It was built by Castilian Christians on the site of an Abbadid Muslim alcázar, or residential fortress, destroyed after the Christian reconquest of Seville. The palace is a prime example of Mudéjar architecture in the Iberian Peninsula, but also features elements of Gothic, Renaissance and Romanesque architecture from previous stages of construction. This photograph depicts the domed ceiling of the Hall of Ambassadors in the Alcázar of Seville. Photograph credit: Joaquim Alves Gaspar
Recently featured:
|
July 20
Tranquility Base is the landing site of the Apollo 11 mission on the Moon where, on July 20, 1969, humans first landed and walked on a celestial body other than the Earth. This photograph was taken at Tranquility Base by Neil Armstrong, the Apollo 11 commander, and depicts crewmember Buzz Aldrin with scientific equipment he had just deployed on the lunar surface. In the background on the right of the image is the lunar module, Eagle; the United States flag planted at the site during the mission was blown over the next day by the exhaust of the ascent rocket. Photograph credit: Neil Armstrong
Recently featured:
|
July 19
Robert J. Walker (July 19, 1801 – November 11, 1869) was an American lawyer, economist and politician. He served as a member of the United States Senate representing the state of Mississippi from 1835 until 1845, and as Secretary of the Treasury from 1845 to 1849 during the administration of President James K. Polk. This line engraving of Walker was produced by the Department of the Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) as part of a BEP presentation album of treasury secretaries. The portrait appeared on the fifth issue of 25-cent fractional-currency notes, issued in 1874. Engraving credit: Bureau of Engraving and Printing; restored by Andrew Shiva
Recently featured:
|
July 18
The bar-tailed godwit (Limosa lapponica) is a large wading bird in the family Scolopacidae. Breeding takes place each summer in the Arctic, and the bird then makes a long-distance migration southwards to overwinter in more temperate areas, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere. This photograph, taken in March, shows a bird in non-breeding plumage at Taren Point in New South Wales, Australia. Photograph credit: John Harrison
Recently featured:
|