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Salvador Dalí, artist

The Colossus of Rhodes is a 1954 oil painting by the Spanish artist Salvador Dalí (pictured). One of a series of seven paintings created for the 1956 film Seven Wonders of the World, it shows the Colossus of Rhodes, the ancient statue of the Greek titan-god of the sun, Helios. Painted two decades after Dalí's heyday with the surrealist movement, The Colossus of Rhodes is emblematic of his transition from the avant-garde to the mainstream. After financial pressures imposed by his move to the United States in 1940, and influenced by his fascination with Hollywood, he shifted focus away from his earlier exploration of the subconscious and perception, and towards historical and scientific themes. His rendering of the Colossus is heavily influenced by a 1953 presentation by Herbert Maryon, a sculptor and conservator at the British Museum. None of the commissioned paintings were ultimately used for the film, and The Colossus of Rhodes was donated in 1981 to the Kunstmuseum Bern. (Full article...)

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Helene Hathaway Britton

... that Helene Hathaway Britton (pictured), the first woman to own a Major League Baseball team, was unsuccessfully pressured by other club owners to sell the team?
... that the Japanese manga Space Family Carlvinson is likely named after an aircraft carrier that is itself named after U.S. congressman Carl Vinson?
... that American cardiologist Michael L. Hess chose to work in that field in exchange for a reduction in his tuition fees?
... that in 1969, the first women's strike for equal pay in the Netherlands was called in a cigar factory in Nieuwe Pekela?
... that Indian politician Pushpaben Mehta was the first speaker of the Saurashtra Legislative Assembly?
... that the Dearborn Street Subway had skip-stop service in 1951 for one morning before it was discontinued?
... that the motet Inviolata, integra et casta es Maria by Josquin des Prez has 144 breves—a reference to the "woman of the apocalypse" in the Book of Revelation?
... that Cane Beds replaced Virgin Bottoms?

In the news

Serdar Berdimuhamedow

Serdar Berdimuhamedow (pictured) is elected president of Turkmenistan.
The Power of the Dog wins Best Film and Best Director at the British Academy Film Awards.
The discovery of the wreck of the Endurance, sunk during Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, is announced.
Yoon Suk-yeol is elected president of South Korea.
Australian cricketer Shane Warne dies at the age of 52.

On this day

March 16: Fast of Esther (Judaism, 2022); Remembrance Day of the Latvian Legionnaires

FA Cup trophy

1322 – Despenser War: A royalist army defeated troops loyal to Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster, in the Battle of Boroughbridge, which allowed King Edward II of England to hold on to power for another five years.
1872 – In the inaugural final of the FA Cup (trophy pictured), the world's oldest association football competition, Wanderers defeated Royal Engineers 1–0 at The Oval in Kennington, London.
1918 – Finnish Civil War: The Whites won the Battle of Länkipohja, after which they executed at least 70 Reds.
1962 – Flying Tiger Line Flight 739, a charter flight carrying U.S. and South Vietnamese soldiers, disappeared without a trace, prompting one of the largest searches in the history of the Pacific.
2014 – Annexation of Crimea: The Autonomous Republic of Crimea held a controversial referendum in which voters overwhelmingly chose to join Russia as a federal subject.

Alaric Alexander Watts (b. 1797)
John Pope (b. 1822)
Manjural Islam Rana (d. 2007)

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Today's featured picture

Ginevra de' Benci is an oil-on-panel portrait painting by Leonardo da Vinci of the 15th-century Florentine aristocrat Ginevra de' Benci, born circa 1458. It was painted between 1474 and 1478 to commemorate her engagement or wedding. The juniper bush that surrounds her head and fills much of the background is a symbol of female virtue, while the Italian word for juniper, ginepro, is a play on Ginevra's name. The work is in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and is the only painting by Leonardo on public view in the Americas.

Painting credit: Leonardo da Vinci

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