Wikipedia:Picture of the day/December 2018

The Princess and the Trolls, by

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Pope Julius II (5 December 1443 – 21 February 1513), born Giuliano della Rovere, was the pope and ruler of the Papal States from 1503 until his death. His papacy was dominated by conflict with the Republic of Venice, which had seized papal territory following the death of Julius's predecessor. This escalated into the War of the League of Cambrai. Julius was also a notable patron of arts and infrastructure. He commissioned the rebuilding of St. Peter's Basilica and Michelangelo's painting of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

This oil painting,

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Camelopardalis is a large but faint constellation of the northern sky. Introduced in 1612 or 1613 by Petrus Plancius, it represents a giraffe. The brightest stars in Camelopardalis are β Cam, a double star 1,000 light-years from Earth with apparent magnitude 4.03; CS Cam, a 4.21-magnitude variable star; and α Cam, a blue-hued supergiant star of magnitude 4.3. At 5,000 light-years from Earth, α Cam is one of the most distant stars easily visible with the naked eye. The constellation is located in the part of the celestial sphere facing away from the galactic plane, which means it has many distant galaxies visible within its borders. This includes the NGC 2403 galaxy in the M81 Group, located approximately 12 million light-years from Earth.

This illustration was produced in around 1823 and comes from Urania's Mirror, a set of 32 astronomical star chart cards. Above the giraffe are the now-abandoned constellations of Tarandus and Custos Messium.

Lithograph: Sidney Hall. Restoration: Adam Cuerden.

The Immaculate Conception is an oil painting by Italian Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. One of seven altarpieces commissioned in 1767 by King Charles III of Spain for the Church of Saint Pascual in Aranjuez, it depicts the Virgin Mary surrounded by angels and crowned with the circle of stars. She is shown trampling a snake, representing her victory over the devil. The painting's subject is the Immaculate Conception, an idea taught by the Catholic Church stating that the Virgin Mary was conceived without original sin. At the time the painting was commissioned, the Immaculate Conception concept was already common in art despite still being developed by theologians. It was declared a dogma of the Catholic Church in 1854 by Pope Pius IX, with the associated feast celebrated on 8 December. The painting is currently held by the Prado Museum in Madrid.

Painting: Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

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Banknote: Bureau of Engraving and Printing

Swallows, together with martins, form a family of passerine birds known as the Hirundinidae. They are found around the world on all continents, including occasionally in Antarctica. There are around 90 species of Hirundinidae, with the greatest diversity found in Africa, which is thought to be where they evolved as hole-nesters. For the most part swallows are insectivorous, taking flying insects on the wing and using foveae in their eyes to help track prey.

This picture shows the pied-winged swallow, which is found in several countries in western Africa.

Photograph: Charles J. Sharp

The Ringling Brothers Circus was founded in the American city of Baraboo, Wisconsin, in 1884 by five of the seven Ringling brothers. In 1907 the brothers acquired the Barnum & Bailey Circus, merging it with their original circus in 1919 to form the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, promoted as The Greatest Show on Earth and operated until 2017.

This is a poster for the circus produced around 1899 by the Coach Lithographic Company of Buffalo, New York.

Poster: Coach Lithographic Co; Restoration: Trialsanderrors and Adam Cuerden

The Sound of Music is a musical play written by Rodgers and Hammerstein, based on Maria von Trapp's memoir The Story of the Trapp Family Singers. Set in Austria on the eve of the Anschluss in 1938, it tells the story of Maria, who takes a job as governess to a large family. She falls in love with the children, and eventually their widowed father, Captain von Trapp, and together they flee from Austria to escape the Nazis. Songs from the musical include "Edelweiss", "My Favorite Things", "Climb Ev'ry Mountain", "Do-Re-Mi", and the title song "The Sound of Music".

This picture shows actress Mary Martin with children in a 1959 publicity photo for the musical. In the movie version, the role was played by Julie Andrews.

Photograph: Toni Frissell, Restoration: Adam Cuerden

Emmeline Pankhurst (née Goulden, 1858–1928) was a British political activist and leader of the British suffragette movement, who helped women win the right to vote. The first election with female voters was the general election of 14 December 1918, one hundred years ago today. In 1999 Time named Pankhurst as one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century, stating "she shaped an idea of women for our time; she shook society into a new pattern from which there could be no going back". She was widely criticised for her militant tactics, and historians disagree about their effectiveness, but her work is recognised as a crucial element in achieving women's suffrage in the United Kingdom.

Photograph: Matzene of Chicago, restoration: Adam Cuerden

Unfortunate events in the front seats of the ring of Madrid, and the death of the mayor of Torrejón is an etching with burnished aquatint, drypoint and burin on paper by the Spanish painter and printmaker Francisco Goya. It is number 21 in a series of 35 etchings making up his Tauromaquia ("art of bullfighting") series, which he produced between 1815 and 1816. The etching details an event from 15 June 1801 when a bull broke through barriers at a bullfight in Madrid, killing two people including the mayor of Torrejón de Ardoz. The plate has been described by art critic Robert Hughes as among the greatest of Goya's graphic output.

Etching: Francisco Goya

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Lady Dorothy Browne and Sir Thomas Browne is an oil-on-panel painting attributed to English painter Joan Carlile and probably completed between 1641 and 1650. It depicts Thomas Browne, the son of a merchant from Cheshire, who eventually became a physician and author in Norwich; and his wife Dorothy Browne (née Mileham), who came from a land-owning family in Norfolk. The two Brownes are portrayed in contrasting styles, with Lady Dorothy looking directly at the viewer with a pleasant expression while Sir Thomas appears to be staring into the distance. The painting is in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Painting: Joan Carlile

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The 720th Special Tactics Group is one of the special operations ground components of the 24th Special Operations Wing, assigned to Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) of the United States Air Force. The group is headquartered at Hurlburt Field, Florida, and has squadrons in five states: Florida, Georgia, New Mexico, North Carolina and Washington.

This picture shows airborne forces of the 720th Special Tactics Group, based at Hurlburt Field, jumping out of a C-130J Hercules aircraft during water rescue training above Choctawhatchee Bay.

Photograph: U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Julianne Showalter

The Battle of Malvern Hill was fought on July 1, 1862, between the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac. It was the final battle of the Seven Days Battles during the American Civil War, taking place on Malvern Hill near the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. Including inactive reserves, more than fifty thousand soldiers from each side took part, using more than two hundred pieces of artillery and three warships. The battle resulted in a tactical victory for the Union side, but the Confederates claimed a strategic victory as the Union failed to go on to capture Richmond.

This is a map of the night's march undertaken by the Union forces after the battle.

Map: Private Robert K. Sneden, mapmaker for Samuel P. Heintzelman's III Corps

Aida is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 December 1871, in a performance conducted by Giovanni Bottesini.

This picture shows the set for a performance of Aida by the Israeli Opera in 2011.

Photograph: Avinoam Michaeli

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The Spanish peseta is a former currency of Spain and, alongside the French franc, a former de facto currency in Andorra. It was introduced in 1868, replacing the peso, at a time when Spain was considering joining the Latin Monetary Union. Spain joined the euro in 1999, and the peseta was replaced by euro notes and coins in 2002.

This picture shows a 1000 peseta banknote from 1957. The obverse depicts the

Banknote: Bank of Spain

Hayley Williams (born December 27, 1988) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and businesswoman. She serves as the lead vocalist, primary songwriter and occasional keyboardist of the rock band Paramore. Born in Meridian, Mississippi, Williams moved to Franklin, Tennessee, at the age of fifteen after her parents divorced. In 2004, she formed Paramore alongside Josh Farro, Zac Farro, and Jeremy Davis. The band currently consists of Williams, Farro and Taylor York. They have released five studio albums: All We Know Is Falling (2005), Riot! (2007), Brand New Eyes (2009), Paramore (2013) and After Laughter (2017).

Photograph: Sven-Sebastian Sajak

The Little Street (Het Straatje) is a painting by the Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer, dating to around 1657–58. An oil-on-canvas work, it is a relatively small painting, being 54.3 centimetres (21.4 in) high by 44.0 centimetres (17.3 in) wide. It depicts a street in Vermeer's hometown of Delft, one of three he painted of the town, the others being View of Delft and the now lost House Standing in Delft. The painting bears the signature "I V MEER", below the left hand corner below the window. The Little Street is now exhibited at the Rijksmuseum of Amsterdam.

Painting: Johannes Vermeer

The Peterhof Palace is a series of palaces and gardens located in the Russian town of Petergof, part of the federal city of Saint Petersburg. The site was commissioned by Peter the Great in 1709 for country habitation, but in 1717 he decided to expand the property as a result of his visit to the Palace of Versailles. The original architect of the buildings was Domenico Trezzini, and the style he used became the foundation for the Petrine Baroque style favored throughout Saint Petersburg. Jean-Baptiste Alexandre Le Blond was chosen to design the gardens, likely due to his previous collaborations with Versailles landscaper André Le Nôtre. Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli completed an expansion from 1747 to 1756 for Elizabeth of Russia. Together with other sites in the Saint Petersburg area, the complex is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Photograph: Godot13

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