Wikipedia:Main Page history/2020 April 16

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From today's featured article

Nora Roberts

Vision in White is the first book of the Bride Quartet series of romance novels, written by Nora Roberts (pictured). After its April 2009 release, it spent two weeks atop one of the New York Times bestseller lists and reached number three on the USA Today bestseller list. In her career, Roberts has published more than 225 novels. Vision in White was one of ten Roberts novels published in 2009, including five new releases and five reprints. It marked her return to contemporary romance. Like several other Roberts novels, Vision in White explores how a protagonist balances a successful career with a dysfunctional family environment. The hero is a typical representation of the romance novel archetype of the professor, but in an unusual twist for a romance novel, he is the character who is ready for a commitment but must help the heroine overcome her fears. A downloadable casual-play computer game based on the book was introduced by I-Play in 2010. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Self-portrait by Daulat

... that a Mughal painter described himself in his self-portrait (pictured) as "the lowly, needy, insignificant, Daulat"?
... that unlike most other flagship smartphones in 2020, the Sony Xperia 1 II smartphone includes a 3.5 mm audio jack?
... that soprano and voice teacher Henny Wolff performed lieder by Hermann Reutter at the inaugural Ferienkurse für internationale neue Musik in Darmstadt in 1946, with the composer at the piano?
... that Bishops Pond in Wales is destined to become a meadow?
... that many homes in the neighborhood of Sunset Park were "inexpensive imitations" of upper-class brownstones elsewhere in Brooklyn?
... that Czechoslovak Communist politician Václav Kopecký "distinguished himself with antisemitic diatribes" and stage-managed an antisemitic show trial?
... that after suspected coronavirus patients in Maharashtra, India, started fleeing hospitals, the government directed officials to stamp the left hand of those quarantined at home using indelible ink?
... that 7,000 residents of Brighton, England, ate plum pudding and roast beef and played kiss-in-the-ring at The Level to celebrate Napoleon's defeat in 1814?

In the news

Coronavirus pandemic

Southeastern US severe weather

At least thirty people are killed in a tornado outbreak (satellite image shown) in the Southeastern United States.
The High Court of Australia quashes the conviction of Cardinal George Pell for child sex abuse and orders his acquittal.
Cyclone Harold impacts the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji and Tonga, killing at least thirty people.

On this day

April 16: Feast day of Saint Bernadette Soubirous (Catholicism)

Martin Luther King Jr.

1520 – Citizens of Toledo, Castile, opposed to the rule of the foreign-born Charles I, revolted when the royal government attempted to unseat radical city councilors.
1853 – The first passenger train of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, a predecessor of the modern-day Indian Railways, travelled from Bombay to Tanna.
1963 – In response to an open letter written by white clergymen four days earlier, Martin Luther King Jr. (pictured) wrote the Letter from Birmingham Jail, defending the strategy of nonviolent resistance against racism.
2014 – The ferry MV Sewol sank 1.5 km (0.93 mi) off Donggeochado, South Korea, killing 304 of 476 passengers on board, most of whom were students from Danwon High School.

Fructuosus of Braga (d. 665)
Harry Chauvel (b. 1865)
Joan Bakewell (b. 1933)

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Today's featured picture

Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun (16 April 1755 – 30 March 1842) was a prominent French portrait painter. Her artistic style is generally considered part of the aftermath of Rococo, with elements of an adopted Neoclassical style. She enjoyed the patronage of European aristocrats, actors, and writers, most notably serving as Marie Antoinette's portrait painter, and created some 660 portraits and 200 landscapes, which are now owned by major museums and collections in Europe and the United States.

This oil-on-canvas painting, entitled Self-Portrait in a Straw Hat, was painted by Vigée Le Brun sometime after 1782. She is depicted in the open air against a cloud-dotted sky, wearing a straw hat decorated with an ostrich feather and a posy of rustic flowers. The artwork was a "free imitation" of Portrait of Susanna Lunden by Rubens, in particular the blend of two forms of illumination: natural daylight and the radiance of the sun. Unlike the sitter of Rubens's portrait, who crosses her arms and peers out from below her hat, Vigée Le Brun portrays herself as being friendly and welcoming to the viewer.

Painting credit: Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun

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