Wikipedia:Main Page history/2020 June 27

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From today's featured article

The Goldfinch is a painting of a chained goldfinch by Carel Fabritius, a Dutch Golden Age artist. Signed and dated 1654, it is now in the collection of the Mauritshuis in The Hague, Netherlands. The work is a trompe-l'œil oil on panel measuring 33.5 by 22.8 centimetres (13.2 in × 9.0 in) that was once part of a larger structure, perhaps a window jamb or a protective cover. A common and colourful bird with a pleasant song, the goldfinch was used in Italian Renaissance painting as a symbol of Christian redemption and the Passion of Jesus. The Goldfinch is unusual for Dutch Golden Age painting in the simplicity of its composition and use of illusionary techniques. After Fabritius was killed in the gunpowder explosion that destroyed much of the city of Delft in 1654, the painting was lost for more than two centuries before its rediscovery in Brussels. It plays a central role in the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt and its film adaptation. (Full article...)

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Tourtière with Canadiens flag

... that Vancouver restaurant St. Lawrence playfully references Quebecois cultural icons by serving tourtière with a miniature Montreal Canadiens flag (pictured), and oreilles de crisse in a maple syrup can?
... that Handala is considered to portray the Palestinian identity "with astounding clarity"?
... that North Carolina Courage teammates Ryan Williams and Cari Roccaro made training videos for other teammates to follow during socially distanced training?
... that the 1949 film Prejudice drives its point home by having characters use many ethnic slurs, including "nigger", "wops", "dagoes", "dirty Jew", and "dumb Swede"?
... that during a 2015 speech at the Oxford Union, Indian politician Shashi Tharoor claimed that Britain owes reparations to India?
... that the former New York City nightclub The Beatrice Inn is now owned by Chopped "Grill Masters" champion Angie Mar?
... that a model featured in the game Cover Girl Strip Poker said that she was not informed what the photoshoot was for, and that several models were not paid for their involvement in the game?
... that Rachel Bitecofer, who closely predicted the 2018 U.S. House election results, contends that elections are decided by negative partisanship rather than swing votes?

In the news

COVID-19 pandemic

Jordan Henderson

In association football, Liverpool F.C. (captain Jordan Henderson pictured) win the Premier League.
A coalition led by President Aleksandar Vučić and his Serbian Progressive Party wins a majority in parliamentary elections boycotted by the main opposition parties.
In horse racing, Tiz the Law wins the Belmont Stakes, which serves as the initial leg of the Triple Crown for the first time.

On this day

June 27

George II at Dettingen

1743 – War of the Austrian Succession: In the last time that a British monarch led troops in battle, Allied forces commanded by George II (depicted) defeated the French army at Dettingen, Bavaria.
1864 – American Civil War: General Sherman's frontal assault against the Confederate Army of Tennessee failed, but did not stop the Union Army from advancing on Atlanta.
1905 – First Russian Revolution: The crew of the Russian battleship Potemkin began a mutiny against their oppressive officers.
1976 – The first identifiable case of Ebola occurred in Sudan.
2015 – Ignition of corn starch caused a dust fire at a water park in New Taipei City, Taiwan, killing 12 people and injuring more than 400 others.

James Smithson (d. 1829)
Frank Rattray Lillie (b. 1870)
Michael Nyqvist (d. 2017)

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Today's featured picture

This montage of nine photographs, ordered from left to right and from top to bottom, shows a cow calving in a garden in Laos. The first photograph shows the restless cow raising her tail and the amniotic sac bulging from the vulva. As she continues to strain, the calf's front feet become visible, and the nose and eventually the whole head emerges; the head is the largest part of the calf, and this part of labour can be protracted. In photographs 3 and 4, the calf's head and forelimbs are visible. The emergence of the body and hind limbs often happens rapidly, either with the cow lying down, as in photograph 6, or when she is standing, as in photograph 7, in which position gravity assists and the calf slithers to the ground. In a normal birth, the calf soon takes its first breaths and the cow starts to lick it.

Photograph credit: Basile Morin

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