Wikipedia:Main Page history/2020 September 20

the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

From today's featured article

Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele is a large oil-on-oak panel painting completed around 1434–1436 by the Early Netherlandish painter Jan van Eyck. It shows the painting's donor, Joris van der Paele, within an apparition of saints. Van der Paele was then elderly and gravely ill, and intended the work as his memorial. The Virgin Mary is enthroned at the centre of the semicircular space, which likely represents a church interior, with the Christ Child on her lap. Saint Donatian stands to her right, Saint George to her left. The saints are identifiable from Latin inscriptions lining the borders of the imitation bronze frame. The Virgin's throne is decorated with carved representations of Adam and Eve, prefigurations of the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus, and scenes from the Old Testament. The panel is considered one of van Eyck's most fully realised and ambitious works, and has been described as a "masterpiece of masterpieces". (Full article...)

Recently featured:

Did you know ...

Geraldine Ferraro

... that the Hollywood Women's Political Committee was formed in 1984 to help elect Geraldine Ferraro (pictured), the first U.S. woman vice-presidential candidate for a major party?
... that during the Victorian-era London garotting panics, some citizens wore studded leather collars to protect themselves from attack?
... that William Bowery, who co-wrote two songs on Taylor Swift's album Folklore, appeared to have no online presence, and is possibly a pseudonym?
... that Zolotarev polynomials were introduced in 1868, but not applied to Zolotarev filters until 1970?
... that Len Lanzi was legally fired by the Boy Scouts of America after coming out as gay?
... that the 1997 Polish box-office-hit comedy Szczęśliwego Nowego Jorku criticizes Polish and American myths such as the American Dream?
... that Vinmont Veteran Park traces its name to Robert Weinberg, whose German surname translates to Vinmont in French?
... that the colour of the blackstreak surgeonfish changes according to its mood?

In the news

COVID-19 pandemic: Disease; Virus; By location; Impact; Portal

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Ruth Bader Ginsburg (pictured), Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and advocate for women's rights, dies at the age of 87.
Yoshihide Suga becomes Prime Minister of Japan, replacing Shinzo Abe.
Astronomers report the detection of phosphine, a possible signature of organic life, in the atmosphere of Venus.
In tennis, Naomi Osaka wins the Women's Singles and Dominic Thiem wins the Men's Singles at the US Open.

On this day

September 20: Battle of Britain Day in Canada (2020)

Great Buddha of Kamakura

1498 – A tsunami caused by the Nankai earthquake washed away the building housing the statue of the Great Buddha (pictured) at Kōtoku-in in Kamakura, Japan.
1643 – First English Civil War: The First Battle of Newbury was fought in Berkshire; Parliamentarian forces were allowed to pass Royalist troops to retreat the next morning.
1920 – Irish War of Independence: British police officers known as Black and Tans went on a rampage in Balbriggan as revenge for the shooting of two officers.
1977 – A series of celestial phenomena of disputed nature was observed in the western Soviet Union, Finland and Denmark.
2000 – The Real Irish Republican Army carried out a rocket-launcher attack on the MI6 headquarters in London, with no casualties and minimal damage recorded.

Gozbald (d. 855)
Enrico Mizzi (b. 1885)
Dennis Viollet (b. 1933)

More anniversaries:

Today's featured picture

The Lady's Death is the last of a series of six oil-on-canvas paintings by English painter and pictorial satirist William Hogarth, created around 1743. The series, entitled Marriage A-la-Mode, depicts an arranged marriage and its disastrous consequences in a satire of 18th-century society, and is now in the collection of the National Gallery in London.

In this painting, the countess has poisoned herself in her grief and poverty-stricken widowhood after her lover is hanged at Tyburn for murdering her husband. An old woman carrying the countess's infant daughter allows her to give her mother a kiss, but the mark on the child's cheek and the caliper on her leg suggest that syphilis has been passed on to the next generation. The countess's father, whose miserly lifestyle is evident in the bare house, removes the wedding ring from her finger.

Painting credit: William Hogarth

Recently featured:

Other areas of Wikipedia

Community portal – Bulletin board, projects, resources and activities covering a wide range of Wikipedia areas.
Help desk – Ask questions about using Wikipedia.
Local embassy – For Wikipedia-related communication in languages other than English.
Reference desk – Serving as virtual librarians, Wikipedia volunteers tackle your questions on a wide range of subjects.
Site news – Announcements, updates, articles and press releases on Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation.
Village pump – For discussions about Wikipedia itself, including areas for technical issues and policies.