Wikipedia:Picture of the day/Archive

The black-chested snake eagle (Circaetus pectoralis) is a large African bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It resembles other snake eagles and was formerly considered conspecific with the short-toed and Beaudouin's snake eagles, to which it is closely related. As well as feeding on snakes, which may be swallowed while still alive, it feeds on lizards, small mammals, frogs and insects. It typically perches in an elevated position ready to swoop silently to capture its prey, before returning to its perch to eat.

This picture shows a black-chested snake eagle swallowing a snake, photographed in Awash National Park, Ethiopia.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

Golden Summer, Eaglemont, is an 1889 oil-on-canvas landscape painting by Australian artist Arthur Streeton. Painted en plein air at the height of a summer drought, it depicts a sunlit, undulating plain, stretching away to the distant blue Dandenong Ranges, outside Melbourne. In 1892, it became the first painting by an Australian-born artist to be exhibited at London's Royal Academy of Arts. Regarded as a masterpiece of Australian impressionism, it is currently on display at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra, which acquired the painting in 1995 for A$3.5 million, a record price for an Australian painting at that time.

Painting credit: Arthur Streeton

Samuel Dexter (1761–1816) was an early American statesman who served both in Congress and in the cabinets of Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Dexter served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1793 to 1795, and then in the U.S. Senate from 1799 to 1800, for less than a year. President Adams appointed him secretary of war in 1800, and later as the third secretary of the treasury, serving in the latter role for four and a half months in 1801.

This picture is a line engraving of Dexter, produced around 1902 by the Department of the Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP), as part of a BEP presentation album of the first 42 secretaries of the treasury. This engraving shows him wearing a dark coat over a frilled shirt and cravat, garments that were fashionable during his lifetime.

Engraving credit: Bureau of Engraving and Printing; restored by Andrew Shiva

The Creaking Pagoda or Chinese Summer-House is located in Tsarskoye Selo, outside Saint Petersburg, Russia, between two ponds on the boundary separating the Catherine Park of the Baroque Catherine Palace and the New Garden of the neoclassical Alexander Palace's Alexander Park. The pagoda, designed by Georg von Veldten, is a folly that resulted from the 18th-century taste for Chinoiserie. The walls are decorated with figures of dragons and other stylized Chinese motifs. Construction lasted from 1778 to 1786, and the structure was restored from 1954 to 1956. The name of the structure refers to a characteristic sound produced by a metal weathervane, shaped like a banner, on the top of the structure, which creaks when it is turned by the wind.

Photograph credit: Andrew Shiva

The Hunting of the Snark is a nonsense poem written by English writer Lewis Carroll between 1874 and 1876. The poem describes a ship with a crew of ten trying to find the Snark, an animal which may turn out to be a highly dangerous Boojum. Among the hunters is a lace-making beaver, and a butcher, whose only skill is in butchering beavers. This picture, the third of Henry Holiday's original illustrations for the poem, accompanies the following stanza:

Illustration credit: Henry Holiday; restored by Adam Cuerden

Calliphora vicina is a species in the family Calliphoridae, the blow flies. The species is particularly important in the field of forensic entomology due to its consistent time of arrival and colonization of the body following death.

This picture is a macro photograph of the head of a C. vicina fly. The head is dominated by a pair of large compound eyes, each composed of several thousand light-receiving units known as ommatidia, arranged in a hexagonal pattern. The ommatidia are elongated and rod-shaped, and are oriented perpendicular to the surface of the eye; each has its own lens and photoreceptor cells. The brain combines the points of light from each of the ommatidia to form a mosaic image. Also visible in the picture are various bristles, pedipalps and mouthparts.

Photograph credit: USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Laboratory

Khor Virap is a monastery of the Armenian Apostolic Church, located on the Ararat Plain in Armenia, near the closed border with Turkey, and about 8 kilometres (5 mi) south of the city of Artashat, within the territory of ancient Artaxata. Shown here with Mount Ararat in the background, it is one of the most visited pilgrimage sites in Armenia. Its fame is attributed to the fact that Gregory the Illuminator, the religious leader who converted Armenia from paganism to Christianity in 301, was imprisoned in the location for fourteen years by King Tiridates III. A chapel was initially built in 642 by Nerses III the Builder as a mark of veneration for Saint Gregory. Over the centuries, the monastery was repeatedly rebuilt; the current buildings date from 1662.

Photograph credit: Diego Delso

Dustin Brown (born 8 December 1984) is a Jamaican-German professional tennis player. He rose to fame after beating Rafael Nadal in the 2014 Halle Open and the 2015 Wimbledon Championships, and is known for his technique, speed and entertaining playing style.

This picture of Brown was taken during the third round of the 2015 Wimbledon qualifying tournament. Having earned himself a place in the main championships, he caused a major upset in the second round by defeating Nadal, who had won the men's singles title on two previous occasions, but was beaten by Viktor Troicki in the third round.

Photograph credit: David Iliff

The Savage State is the first in a series of five paintings entitled The Course of Empire, created by American artist Thomas Cole between 1833 and 1836. The series depicts the growth and fall of an imaginary city, situated on the lower end of a river valley. This first painting shows the scenery before the civilizing influence of men change the landscape. A hunter clad in skins runs through the wilderness pursuing a fleeing deer, canoes paddle up the river and a few tipis cluster around a campfire. The visual references are those of aboriginal North American life, and the painting depicts the ideal state of the natural world, serene and unspoiled by humanity.

Painting credit: Thomas Cole

The snowy egret (Egretta thula) is a small member of the heron family, Ardeidae, native to the Americas, where it has a widespread distribution. The bird forages for fish, frogs, crustaceans, insects and worms in marshes and shallow water habitats, applying various techniques to persuade the prey to reveal itself. A sociable species, it often forages in mixed species groups, and nests in the company of other herons and egrets. The bill is specially adapted for probing and stabbing.

This picture shows a snowy egret photographed at Las Gallinas Wildlife Ponds, near San Rafael, California.

Photograph credit: Frank Schulenburg

The Japanese government-issued Philippine peso was a form of fiat money issued in the Philippines by the Japanese government during World War II as part of its occupation of the archipelago. The first issue in 1942 had notes valued at 1, 5, 10 and 50 centavos, and 1, 5 and 10 pesos. A new series of peso denominations were issued in 1943, and hyperinflation resulted in a further issue in 1944, with the higher value notes of 100 and 500 pesos being added.

This picture shows the obverse (top) and reverse (bottom) sides of a 1000-peso note that was issued in 1945, shortly before the country was liberated by Allied troops. The banknote is in the National Numismatic Collection of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.

Banknote credit: Empire of Japan; photographed by Andrew Shiva

Laura Dekker (born 1995) is a New Zealand–born Dutch sailor who completed a solo circumnavigation of the globe in a 12.4-metre (41-foot) two-masted ketch from 2010 to 2012. Dekker was fourteen years old when she set off from Gibraltar rather than the Netherlands, because the Dutch shipping regulations did not permit anyone under the age of sixteen to skipper a boat of that size in Dutch waters. After crossing the Atlantic Ocean, she started her record-breaking attempt from Sint Maarten in the Caribbean, passing through the Panama Canal and traversing the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans before completing her circumnavigation back at Sint Maarten. This picture shows Dekker attending the 2011 Hiswa Boat Show in Amsterdam.

Photograph credit: Savyasachi, retouched by ukexpat

The marsh fritillary (Euphydryas aurinia) is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. Commonly distributed in the Palearctic region, the marsh fritillary's common name is due to its habitat: marshy, damp wetlands and grasslands. The larval stage lasts seven to eight months and includes a period of hibernation over the winter. The larvae are dependent on the host plant, Succisa pratensis, not only for food but also for shelter during the hibernation stage. Females lay eggs in batches on the host plant and are, like other batch-layers, selective about location because offspring survivorship levels for batch-layers are highly dependent on location selection.

This picture shows the underside of a female marsh fritillary, photographed near the English village of Lydlinch, Dorset.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

Alabama, in the southeastern United States, was admitted as the 22nd state of the union in 1819. This picture is a historical depiction of the coat of arms of the state, as illustrated by American engraver Henry Mitchell in State Arms of the Union, published in 1876 by Louis Prang.

The coat of arms is derived from the seal of Alabama, which was adopted on 29 December 1868. It depicts a bald eagle with wings raised, alighting on a national shield with the Stars and Stripes. The eagle's foot grasps three arrows and its beak holds a streamer with the motto "Here we rest", a reference to the state being known as "The land of rest".

Illustration: Henry Mitchell; restoration: Andrew Shiva

Duke Humfrey's Library is the oldest reading room in the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford. It is named after Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, a connoisseur of literature, who donated his collection of 281 books to the University of Oxford at his death in 1447. Books were hand-written at the time and his legacy was considered an extraordinarily generous donation since the university previously had only 20 books. Only three books from the original donation remain, the rest having been removed in 1550 and probably burnt during the Reformation. The library was restored and restocked by Thomas Bodley from 1598 onwards.

The books in the oldest part of the library are accommodated in oak bookcases which are at right angles to the walls on either side, with integral readers' desks. The ceiling consists of panels painted with the arms of the university.

Photograph: David Iliff

Maria I (born 17 December 1734) was Queen of Portugal from 1777 until her death in 1816, the first undisputed queen regnant of the country.

The portrait shows the queen in her boudoir. It was painted in 1783, in oil on canvas, and is usually attributed to Giuseppe Troni, the Italian court painter to the House of Braganza. It hangs in the Palace of Queluz, which became the official and full-time residence of the queen and her court from 1794. At that time the queen was becoming increasingly deranged. In 1807, after Napoleon's conquests in Europe, under the direction of her son, the Prince Regent João, her court moved to Brazil. The Portuguese colony was then elevated to the rank of kingdom, with the consequent formation of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves, of which she was the first monarch.

Painting: Attributed to Giuseppe Troni

The Karin bubble-nest frog (Raorchestes parvulus) is a small bush frog native to tropical southeastern Asia. The male is seen here calling by inflating his vocal sac.

Although the reproductive strategy of this species has not been studied, members of the family typically make a foam nest while mating in vegetation overhanging a stream. They create the foam by beating their legs, and the eggs are deposited into the nest and covered with seminal fluid before the foam hardens into a protective casing. When the eggs hatch, the young push their way out of the nest and fall into the water below.

Photograph: Rushenb

Minnie Maddern Fiske (December 19, 1865 – February 15, 1932) was a celebrated American actress, producer, director and playwright. She started her acting career at the age of three, was taking on leading roles at sixteen, and was widely considered the most important actress on the American stage in the first quarter of the 20th century. She married the journalist and newspaper-owner Harrison Grey Fiske in March 1890, and he directed almost all her plays thereafter.

She is seen here in the leading role of Love Finds the Way, which opened on Broadway on April 11, 1898; she played an unhappy young woman alienated from her family, who sought romance.

Photograph credit: Zaida Ben-Yusuf; restored by Adam Cuerden

Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) was a civilian organization whose members were United States federal civil service employees. Its trained pilots tested and ferried aircraft but had no military standing. Their purpose was to free male pilots for combat roles during World War II. Before they were disbanded on December 20, 1944, they flew over 60 million miles and transported every type of military aircraft. They simulated strafing missions, towed targets for live anti-aircraft gun practice and transported cargo. Thirty-eight WASP members died and one disappeared while on a ferry mission. In 1977, the WASP were granted military veteran status and, in 2009, awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

This short film was part of the Army–Navy Screen Magazine series directed by Frank Capra. It was intended to be viewed by "service men only", prior to a feature film.

Film credit: United States Armed Forces

The shadow of a black hole as captured on 11 April 2017 by the Event Horizon Telescope, a planet-scale array of eight ground-based radio telescopes, a collaborative effort by scientists from over 20 countries. This image is from the black hole in the elliptical galaxy Messier 87 (M87), in the constellation Virgo.

As a black hole is a completely dark object from which no light escapes, the shadow of a black hole is the next best thing to an image of the black hole itself. The hole’s boundary, the event horizon from which the telescope takes its name, is around 2.5 times smaller than the shadow it casts and measures just under 40 billion kilometres (25 billion miles) across.

Photograph credit: Event Horizon Telescope

Teresa Carreño (December 22, 1853 – June 12, 1917) was a Venezuelan pianist, soprano and composer. Her family emigrated to the United States when she was a child, and she made her debut in a piano recital at Irving Hall, New York at the age of eight. After giving concerts across the northeastern and mid-Atlantic United States, she travelled to Europe with her family in 1866, and performed in France, Spain and Britain, occasionally taking on operatic roles. During her later career she performed at many venues around Europe and North America, and made concert tours to Australia and New Zealand. She composed approximately 75 works for solo piano, voice and piano, choir and orchestra, and instrumental ensembles.

This photograph is part of the George Grantham Bain Collection, held at the Library of Congress.

Photograph: George Grantham Bain Restoration: Adam Cuerden

Skibobbing is a winter sport involving a bicycle-type frame attached to skis. Although originally a form of transportation in the Alps, skibobbing is now a competitive sport with speeds of over 100 mi (160 km) per hour being achieved. This photograph shows the Italian Sarah Gruber, from club ASKÖ SBC Linz, taking part in the giant slalom at the 2018 Austrian National Championships.

Photograph credit: Isiwal

Aida is a grand 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 premiere there on 24 December 1871, in a performance conducted by Giovanni Bottesini. Today, the work holds a central place in the operatic canon, receiving performances every year around the world; at New York's Metropolitan Opera alone, Aida has been sung more than 1,100 times since 1886.

This picture is the set design for Act 1, Scene 2, of the opera's 1871 premiere, depicting the portico of the Temple of Vulcan, designed by Philippe Chaperon. The drawing is in the collection of the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Drawing credit: Philippe Chaperon; restored by Adam Cuerden

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 visiting the stable to celebrate the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem.

Giorgione portrayed the main characters on the right, with Joseph, Mary and the baby shown in front of a dark grotto, while on the left is a bright landscape with trees, buildings and distant hills. The picture was painted in oils on a wooden panel between 1500 and 1510. At one time it was in the possession of the department-store magnate Samuel Henry Kress who displayed it in the window of his Fifth Avenue store over the Christmas period in 1938. The picture was part of a donation made by the Kress Foundation to the newly established National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. in 1941.

Painting: Giorgione

James Russell Lowell (1819 – 1891) was an American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He was involved in the movement to abolish slavery and used his poetry to express his anti-slavery views. He was the first editor of what was to become The Atlantic and taught at Harvard University for twenty years. In 1877 he was appointed Minister (ambassador) to the court of Spain, and three years later accepted a similar role as Minister to England.

This head-and-shoulders portrait was engraved in 1894 by John A. J. Wilcox, from an original drawing made in 1855 by Samuel W. Rowse.

Engraving credit: John Angel James Wilcox, Restoration: Adam Cuerden

Syed Kirmani

Photograph: Agustus Binu