Wikipedia:Picture of the day/December 2016

Banquet Still Life, a 1644 oil-on-canvas painting by the Flemish artist Adriaen van Utrecht (1599–1652). Van Utrecht, born in Antwerp, studied under Herman de Neyt before going on a tour of France, Germany and Italy. He focused predominantly on banquet still lifes, showing banquets, game and fruit, garlands, or flowers, as well as market and kitchen scenes.

Painting: Adriaen van Utrecht

A man in a newsagent's shop in Paris, France. Such shops are typically located in busy public places and sell newspapers, magazines, cigarettes, snacks and often items of local interest. These shops may be either freestanding kiosks or part of a larger structure.

Photograph: Florian Plag

The courtyard at the

Léal Souvenir is a small 1432 oil-on-oak panel portrait by the Early Netherlandish painter Jan van Eyck. This painting commemorates an unidentified man, possibly Timotheus of Miletus, who is considered "plain and rustic" yet also thoughtful and inward-looking. The painting is held at the National Gallery, London.

Painting: Jan van Eyck

The

The Municipal Theatre of São Paulo is a theatre and landmark in São Paulo, Brazil. It is significant both for its architectural value as well as its historical importance; the theatre was the venue for the Modern Art Week in 1922, which revolutionised the arts in Brazil. The building now houses the São Paulo Municipal Symphonic Orchestra, the Coral Lírico (Lyric Choir), and the City Ballet of São Paulo.

Photograph:

Still Life: Vase with Pink Roses is an oil painting on canvas completed in 1890 by Vincent van Gogh in Saint-Rémy. At the time the work was painted, Van Gogh was readying himself to leave the Saint-Rémy asylum for the quiet town of Auvers-sur-Oise outside of Paris. The painting reflects the optimism Van Gogh felt at that time about his future, both in his choice of flowers as a subject and the colors used. The painting is owned by the National Gallery of Art of Washington, D.C.

Painting: Vincent van Gogh

Grace Hopper (1906–1992) was an American computer scientist and United States Navy Rear Admiral. She was one of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I computer in 1944, invented the first compiler for a computer programming language, and helped popularize the idea of machine-independent programming languages. This led to the development of COBOL, one of the first high-level programming languages.

In recognition of Hopper's contributions, the destroyer

Photograph: James S. Davis

A mass grave of 26 Republican victims killed by Nationalists in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War. This grave was excavated in Estépar, Burgos, in 2014.

Generally speaking, mass graves contain multiple bodies that may or may not be identified prior to burial. They may be seen after violent conflict or be dug for sanitation reasons after a major famine, epidemic, or natural disaster.

Photograph: Mario Modesto Mata

Lars Kruse (1828–1894) was a fisherman from Skagen in the far north of Jutland, Denmark, who was credited with saving over 200 lives. In one case, on 27 December 1862, he rescued much of the crew of the Swedish brig Daphne when it was stranded during a storm. Kruse also gained fame through his portraits, painted by Michael Ancher, and an account of his mistreatment written by Holger Drachmann in a mixture of poems and prose.

Painting: Michael Ancher

The

A student of Sanata Dharma University's Balinese dance troupe Sekar Jepun performing the condong dance. This type of dance, which is often performed as a preface to legong and accompanied by the semar pangulingan style of gamelan, uses simplified legong movements to depict a palace servant.

Photograph: Chris Woodrich

Queen Victoria visits HMS Resolute prior to the ship being granted to her as a gift. Resolute was a British ship abandoned in the Arctic ice in 1854. She was found adrift by American whalers the following year, refurbished, and returned to the British. As a return favour, when the ship was broken up in 1879, some of its wood was made into a desk and gifted to the US President Rutherford B. Hayes. The Resolute desk remains an iconic part of the American White House furniture.

The

The

A panoramic view of the

Nuremberg is a census-designated place in Schuylkill and Luzerne counties, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 434 at the 2010 census. It occupies a total area of 0.58 square miles (1.5 km²).

Photograph: Jakec

The

The Adoration of the Shepherds is a common subject in the Nativity of Jesus in art. The scene, based on the Biblical account in Luke 2, depicts shepherds as near witnesses to the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, arriving soon after the actual birth. It is often combined in art with the Adoration of the Magi, in which case it is typically just referred to by the latter title. The example here comes from 17th-century Ukraine and is currently held at the Ivan Honchar Museum.

Painting: Unknown

A dancer from

Photograph: Chris Woodrich

Dactylorhiza fuchsii is a common species of orchid found in much of Europe, with the range extending eastward into Siberia, Mongolia and Xinjiang. It is widely variable in colour, and it ranges from 15 to 60 cm in height. This specimen was photographed near Mariazell, Austria.

Photograph: Uoaei1

Painting: Raphael