Wikipedia:Picture of the day/December 2017
Featured picture tools: |
These featured pictures, as scheduled below, appeared as the picture of the day (POTD) on the English Wikipedia's Main Page in December 2017. Individual sections for each day on this page can be linked to with the day number as the anchor name (e.g. [[Wikipedia:Picture of the day/December 2017#1]]
for December 1).
You can add an automatically updating POTD template to your user page using {{Pic of the day}}
(version with blurb) or {{POTD}}
(version without blurb). For instructions on how to make custom POTD layouts, see Wikipedia:Picture of the day.Purge server cache
December 1
A single-pitch angklung from Bandung, Indonesia. The angklung is a musical instrument made of a varying number of bamboo tubes attached to a bamboo frame. The base of the frame is held in one hand, whilst the other hand shakes the instrument. This causes a repeating note to sound. The tubes are carved to have a resonant pitch when struck and are tuned to octaves. When single-pitch angklung such as this are used in angklung ensemble, each of the performers plays just one note or more, but together they produce complete melodies. Photograph: Chris Woodrich
Recently featured:
|
December 2
Hollister Municipal Airport is a city-owned public-use airport located north of the central business district of Hollister, California. Covering an area of 343 acres (139 ha), in 2007 it saw an average of 200 aircraft operations a day. Photograph: Don Ramey Logan
Recently featured:
|
December 3
Visitors bowing in front of statues of Kim Jong-il at the Mansu Hill Grand Monument in Pyongyang , North Korea. These statues, each 22 metres (72 ft) tall, are central to the complex, which also includes monuments titled Anti-Japanese Revolutionary Struggle and Socialist Revolution. The statue of Kim Il-sung was completed in 1972, in celebration of his 60th birthday. The statue of Kim Jong-il was added in 2011, following his death.
Photograph: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen
Recently featured:
|
December 4
Girl in White is an oil painting on canvas by Vincent van Gogh. Completed in Auvers-sur-Oise, France, in 1890, it depicts a peasant woman dressed in white. The work is held by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Painting: Vincent van Gogh
Recently featured:
|
December 5
An illustration by Sidney Hall for Urania's Mirror, a set of 32 astronomical star chart cards first published in November 1824. These cards, which were based on Alexander Jamieson's A Celestial Atlas, had holes punched allowing them to be held up to the light to see a depiction of the constellation's stars. This card, Plate 28 in the series, depicts six constellations: the defunct Psalterium Georgii ('George's Harp'), Fluvius Eridanus ('the river'), Cetus (also known as 'the whale'), Officina Sculptoris ('sculptor'), Fornax Chemica ('the furnace'), and the defunct Machina Electrica ('the generator'). Illustration: Sidney Hall; restoration: Adam Cuerden
Recently featured:
|
December 6
One of the first issue of coins for the Coin: Empire of Japan (image courtesy of the National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History)
Recently featured:
|
December 7
Anthidium florentinum, a species of bee in the family Megachilidae. Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants that are involved in pollination. There are nearly 20,000 known species of bees in seven recognized biological families. Bees are found on every continent except Antarctica, in every habitat on the planet that contains insect-pollinated flowering plants. Bees range in size from tiny stingless bee species whose workers are less than 2 millimetres (0.08 in) long, to Megachile pluto, whose females can attain a length of 39 millimetres (1.54 in). Photograph: Alvesgaspar
Recently featured:
|
December 8
This painting of Ryckaert as a king was completed by Anthony van Dyck, reportedly a close friend, between 1627 and 1632. It now hangs at the Museo del Prado in Madrid, Spain. Painting: Anthony van Dyck
Recently featured:
|
December 9
A vervain hummingbird (Mellisuga minima) photographed at Strawberry Hill in Jamaica. This species, which can also be found in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, is the second-smallest bird in the world after the bee hummingbird. It has an average length of 6 cm (2.4 in), including the bill, and weight of 2–2.4 g (0.071–0.085 oz). Photograph: Charles J. Sharp
Recently featured:
|
December 10
Photograph: Colin
Recently featured:
|
December 11
Photograph: Michael Gäbler
Recently featured:
|
December 12
Subpage 1
A male Eurasian bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) photographed in Lancashire. This small passerine bird in the finch family was listed in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae. It is breeds across Europe and temperate Asia, where it is mainly resident, though some birds may migrate. Birds of this species feed mainly on seeds and the buds of fruit trees. Photograph: Francis Franklin
Recently featured:
|
Subpage 2
A female Eurasian bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) photographed in Lancashire. This small passerine bird in the finch family was listed in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae. It is breeds across Europe and temperate Asia, where it is mainly resident, though some birds may migrate. Birds of this species feed mainly on seeds and the buds of fruit trees. Photograph: Francis Franklin
Recently featured:
|
December 13
A Daruma doll (Japanese: 達磨) is a hollow, round, traditional Japanese doll modeled after Bodhidharma, the founder of the Zen tradition of Buddhism. These dolls, though typically red and depicting a bearded man (Dharma), vary greatly in color and design depending on region and artist. Though considered an omocha, meaning toy, by some, Daruma has a design that is rich in symbolism and is regarded more as a talisman of good luck to the Japanese. They are seen as symbols of perseverance and good luck, making them a popular gift of encouragement. Photograph: Chris Woodrich
Recently featured:
|
December 14
A witch doctor of the Shona people in Zimbabwe, August 1989. Among the Shona, witch doctors, or n'anga, are known as healers who use a combination of herbs, medical/religious advice, and spiritual guidance to heal people. Traditionally, they are believed to have the religious power to tell fortunes, and to change, heal, bless or even kill people. Photograph: Hans Hillewaert
Recently featured:
|
December 15
Painting: Rosa Bonheur
Recently featured:
|
December 16
A panoramic view of the Gorce Mountains, part of the Western Beskids that spread across southernmost Poland. The Gorce are characterized by numerous ridges reaching in all directions for up to 40 kilometres (25 mi) east–west with a series of higher elevations cut by deep river valleys. The range is dominated by about a dozen gentle peaks; the largest, Turbacz, rises to 1,310 metres (4,300 ft) above sea level. Photograph: Marcin Szala
Recently featured:
|
December 17
Photograph: Iwelam
Recently featured:
|
December 18
A black plastic comb. Toothed devices used for styling, cleaning and managing hair and scalp, combs have been used since prehistoric times, and examples date back to 5,000 years. Combs vary in shape according to function, and can be made out of a number of materials. Most combs are plastic, metal, or wood; ivory combs were also once common. Photograph: Chris Woodrich
Recently featured:
|
December 19
The Umbrellas is an oil painting on canvas by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, painted in two phases in the 1880s. It depicts a busy street scene in Paris, with most of the people depicted using umbrellas against the rain. The principal female figure to the left of the frame, modelled by Renoir's lover and frequent subject Suzanne Valadon, holds up her skirt against the mud and water on the road as she carries a hatbox, but has no hat, raincoat or umbrella. The painting is owned by the National Gallery in London as part of the Lane Bequest. Painting: Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Recently featured:
|
December 20
, with a distinct tip that can be pinched to peel the fruit. Inside the fruit are three edible lobes, which resemble and have the consistency of peeled garlic cloves. The taste is usually sweet and acidic, with a strong astringent edge. Photograph: Chris Woodrich
Recently featured:
|
December 21
Photograph: Andrew Shiva
Recently featured:
|
December 22
Levi Woodbury (1789–1851) was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, a U.S. Senator, the 9th Governor of New Hampshire, and a cabinet member in three U.S. administrations. Over the course of his political career, he was affiliated with the Democratic Party of Andrew Jackson. At the 1848 Democratic National Convention, he received significant support for the presidential nomination, but lost to Lewis Cass. Engraving: Bureau of Engraving and Printing; restoration: Andrew Shiva
Recently featured:
|
December 23
Photograph: Matt and Nayoung Wilson
Recently featured:
|
December 24
An osteosarcoma cell that was stained with phalloidin to visualise actin and imaged using a confocal microscope. The image was then deconvolved using a point spread function and colour coded to better show the position of the filaments. Photograph: Howard Vindin
Recently featured:
|
December 25
Nativity is a devotional mid-1450s oil-on-wood and art panel painting by the Early Netherlandish painter Petrus Christus. It shows a nativity scene—the birth of the Christ Child as narrated in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke—with grisaille archways and trompe-l'œil sculptured reliefs. The panel, which may have once been part of a triptych, was acquired by Andrew Mellon in the 1930s. One of several hundred works from Mellon's personal collection donated to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, Nativity was restored in the early 1990s. Painting: Petrus Christus
Recently featured:
|
December 26
Photograph: Thesupermat
Recently featured:
|
December 27
Painting: Albert Edelfelt
Recently featured:
|
December 28
The yacare caiman (Caiman yacare) is a species of caiman found in central South America. About ten million individuals, such as this one, exist within the Brazilian pantanal, representing what may be the largest single crocodilian population on Earth. This small-to-medium sized species feeds mainly on fish (especially piranha), but also eats birds, reptiles, and small mammals. Photograph: Charles J. Sharp
Recently featured:
|
December 29
An Old Man and his Grandson is a tempera painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Domenico Ghirlandaio completed c. 1490. It portrays an older man in a red robe, embracing a young child whose hand is on his chest. The deformity of the man's nose, evidence of rhinophyma, is at variance with the physiognomic theory of the era, as it is seen not as implying a defect of character but as inviting an appreciation of the man's virtuousness. Critics have noted an emotional undercurrent in the work; according to art historian Bernard Berenson, "There is no more human picture in the entire range of Quattrocento painting, whether in or out of Italy." Painting: Domenico Ghirlandaio
Recently featured:
|
December 30
Photograph: Marcin Szala
Recently featured:
|
December 31
Photograph: United States Navy
Recently featured:
|
Picture of the day archives and future dates