Wikipedia:Picture of the day/April 2017
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These featured pictures, as scheduled below, appeared as the picture of the day (POTD) on the English Wikipedia's Main Page in April 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/April 2017#1]] for April 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
April 1
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The Jabberwock, the titular creature of Lewis Carroll's nonsense poem "Jabberwocky". First included in Carroll's novel Through the Looking-Glass (1871), the poem was illustrated by John Tenniel, who gave the creature "the leathery wings of a pterodactyl and the long scaly neck and tail of a sauropod". "Jabberwocky" is considered one of the greatest nonsense poems written in English, and has contributed such nonsense words and neologisms as galumphing and chortle to the English lexicon. Illustration: John Tenniel
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April 2
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De Menagerie, an oil painting on canvas completed by Melchior d'Hondecoeter c. 1690. During his career, the artist focused on paintings of animals, particularly birds. In the painting here, d'Hondecoeter presents a multitude of animals from various continents, including squirrel monkeys from Central America, sulphur-crested cockatoos from Australia, a grey parrot from Africa, and a purple-naped lory from the East Indies. Painting: Melchior d'Hondecoeter
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April 3
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Elliðaey is the third-largest of the Westman Islands in Iceland, and has an area of 0.45 square kilometres (0.17 sq mi). It is privately owned and operated by the Elliðaey Hunting Association, and uninhabited, with its sole structure being a hunting lodge constructed in 1953. The island is accessible via a rope on its lower east side, and by boat from the mainland. Photograph: Diego Delso
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April 4
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The Larabanga Mosque was built in the Sudanese architectural style in the village of Larabanga, Ghana. It is the oldest mosque in the country and one of the oldest in West Africa, and has been called the "Mecca of West Africa". It has undergone restoration several times since it was founded. The World Monuments Fund has contributed substantially to its restoration, and lists it as one of the 100 most endangered sites. Photograph: Sathyan Velumani
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April 5
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A feeding frenzy of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) at the pond of the Agdal Gardens in Marrakesh, Morocco. Feeding frenzies may occur when predators are overwhelmed by the amount of prey available, or as a result of competition for food. Photograph: Luc Viatour
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April 6
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A family, or mob, of meerkats (Suricata suricatta) in the Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, South Africa. Meerkats, members of the mongoose family, are primarily insectivores, though they may eat other small animals or plants. They are social animals that live in groups of twenty or more. Meerkat family dynamics were featured in the series Meerkat Manor, first aired in 2005. Photograph: Charles J. Sharp
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April 7
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The vault at Saint-Séverin Church, Paris. A vault is an arched form used to provide a space with a ceiling or roof. The parts of a vault exert lateral thrust that requires a counter resistance, provided by the ground in underground vaults or by (for example) thicker walls or buttresses for above-ground vaults. The simplest kind of vault is the barrel vault, which is generally semicircular in shape. Photograph: Roman Bonnefoy
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April 8
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Aurelia aurita, popularly known as the moon jellyfish, is a widely studied species of the genus Aurelia. It is translucent, usually about 25–40 cm (10–16 in) in diameter, and can be recognized by its four horseshoe-shaped gonads, easily seen through the top of the bell. It feeds by collecting medusae, plankton, and mollusks with its tentacles, and bringing them into its body for digestion. Capable of only limited motion, it drifts with the current, even when swimming. Photograph: Alexander Vasenin
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April 9
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Christ taking leave of his Mother is a subject in Christian art most common in the 15th and 16th centuries. It depicts Jesus saying farewell to his mother, Mary, before leaving for his final journey to Jerusalem, which he knows will lead to his Passion and death. In depictions of this subject, Jesus may be shown blessing his mother. Sometimes Jesus' followers, such as Peter, John the Evangelist, and Mary Magdalene, are included in the scene. Shown here is a treatment of the subject by Albrecht Altdorfer. Completed c. 1520, the painting is held at the National Gallery in London. Painting: Albrecht Altdorfer
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April 10
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Schönbrunn Palace is a former imperial summer residence located in Vienna, Austria. The 1,441-room Baroque palace, with a history that spans more than 300 years, is a World Heritage Site and a major tourist attraction. Photograph: Thomas Wolf
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April 11
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A diagram of a supercell in the Northern Hemisphere, showing the different parts of its structure. Supercells are thunderstorms characterized by the presence of a mesocyclone: a deep, persistently rotating updraft. Of the four types of thunderstorms (supercell, squall line, multi-cell, and single-cell), supercells are the least common and have the potential to be the most severe. Supercells are often isolated from other thunderstorms and can dominate the local weather up to 30 kilometres (20 mi) away. Diagram: Kelvin Ma
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April 12
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The lady chapel at Salisbury Cathedral, an Anglican cathedral in Salisbury, England. Pictured below the stained glass is an installation by the artist Nicholas Pope, called "The Apostles Speaking in Tongues Lit By Their Own Lamps". Photograph: David Iliff
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April 13
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The Flageolet Player on the Cliff is an 1889 oil painting by the French artist Paul Gauguin. Using a patchwork of colors, it depicts a Breton couple on a narrow path precipitously overlooking the Atlantic, with the man playing a flageolet. It is held by the Indianapolis Museum of Art in Indianapolis, Indiana. Painting: Paul Gauguin
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April 14
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Nembrotha kubaryana is a colorful species of nudibranch, a marine mollusk in the family Polyceridae. Found in the tropical Indo-West Pacific, it feeds on ascidians. It can reach a length of more than 120 millimetres (4.7 in). Photograph: Nick Hobgood
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April 15
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Tribuna of the Uffizi is an oil painting completed by Johan Zoffany between 1772 and 1778. It shows the north-east section of the Tribuna room in the Uffizi in Florence, Italy. Among the numerous paintings included within this work are Raphael's Madonna della seggiola, Titian's Venus of Urbino, and Justus Sustermans' Portrait of Galileo Galilei. Tribuna of the Uffizi is part of the United Kingdom's Royal Collection. Painting: Johan Zoffany
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April 16
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Todi is a town and comune (municipality) of the province of Perugia in central Italy. Perched on a tall two-crested hill overlooking the east bank of the river Tiber, it had a population of more than 17,000 in 2007. Photograph: Livioandronico2013
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April 17
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Whaler's Cove, the largest cove at Point Lobos, a group of three protected areas in California. Point Lobos contains a number of hiking trails, many next to the ocean, and a smaller number of beaches. It is also home to a museum on whaling, which includes a historic building once used by area fishermen. Photograph: David Iliff
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April 18
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Allie Mae Burroughs, Wife of a Cotton Sharecropper, Hale County, Alabama, a 1936 photograph taken by Walker Evans during his work for the Farm Security Administration. Much of Evans's work documenting the effects of the Great Depression, including this photograph, used a large-format, 8x10-inch camera. Evans described his goal as making pictures that are "literate, authoritative, transcendent". Photograph: Walker Evans
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April 19
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Cassiopeia is a constellation in the northern sky, named after the vain queen Cassiopeia in Greek mythology. One of the 48 constellations listed by Ptolemy, it remains one of the 88 constellations recognized today. It is easily identified by its distinctive 'W' shape, formed by five bright stars. This illustration was included in Urania's Mirror, a set of celestial cards illustrated by Sidney Hall. Illustration: Sidney Hall; restoration: Adam Cuerden
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April 20
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Girl with a Pearl Earring is an oil painting by 17th-century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. This tronie depicts a girl in an exotic dress, an oriental turban, and a pearl earring. The painting has been in the collection of the Mauritshuis in The Hague since 1902. Painting: Johannes Vermeer
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April 21
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The Fatima Masumeh Shrine is a tomb in Qom, Iran. It holds the remains of Fatima Masumeh, the sister of the eighth Twelver Imam 'Ali al-Rida and the daughter of the seventh Imam Musa al-Kadhim. The tomb is considered one of the most significant Shi'a shrines in Iran, with thousands of pilgrims traveling to Qom to honor Fatima Masumeh and ask her for blessings. Pictured here is the golden dome above the mausoleum. Photograph: Muhammad Mahdi Karim
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April 22
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A female proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus) at Labuk Bay, Sabah, Malaysia. This monkey is endemic to Borneo. Though the female has a large nose, it is smaller than that of the male. Photograph: Charles J. Sharp
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April 23
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Dynjandi is a series of waterfalls located in the Westfjords, Iceland. They have a cumulative height of 100 m (330 ft). Photograph: Diego Delso |
April 24
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Jesse B. Jackson was a United States consul and an eyewitness to the Armenian Genocide. He served as consul in Aleppo when the town was the junction of many important deportation routes. Jackson concluded that the policies towards the Armenians were carefully planned to "extinguish the Armenian race". He estimated that a million Armenians had been killed and considered his own survival a "miracle". After the genocide, Jackson led a relief effort and was credited with saving the lives of thousands. Photograph: Harris & Ewing; restoration: Centpacrr
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April 25
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A feral Charolais bull in the Sierra Nevada de Mérida, Venezuela. This breed of taurine beef cattle comes from the Charolais area in eastern France. Domestic Charolais are raised for meat, and may be crossed with other breeds, including Angus and Hereford cattle. Photograph: The Photographer
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April 26
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The Storm is a painting by French artist Pierre Auguste Cot completed in 1880. Currently on display at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, it was commissioned by Catharine Lorillard Wolfe. Suggested inspirations have included the Greek romance Daphnis and Chloe by Longus as well as the romantic tale Paul et Virginie by Bernardin de Saint-Pierre. Painting: Pierre Auguste Cot
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April 27
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A view of the Lidder Valley at Pahalgam. This valley, found in Jammu and Kashmir, India, is a Himalayan sub-valley that forms the northeastern corner of the Vale of Kashmir. In the center is the Lidder River. Photograph: KennyOMG
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April 28
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The apse of Our Lady of the Assumption, a Roman Catholic church in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Though the parish was established in 1728, making it the oldest continuous one in Ontario, the cornerstone of the present church building was laid in the 1840s, with extensive construction efforts in subsequent decades. As of 2012, the church requires $15 million in repairs. Photograph: Chris Woodrich
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April 29
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The Threatened Swan is an oil painting made around 1650 by Dutch Golden Age painter Jan Asselijn. Depicting a life-size swan defending its nest, it has been interpreted as an allegory of grand pensionary Johan de Witt protecting the Netherlands from its enemies. The work is in the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Painting: Jan Asselijn
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April 30
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Franz Lehár (1870–1948) was an Austro-Hungarian composer mainly known for his operettas, the most successful and best known being The Merry Widow. He also wrote sonatas, symphonic poems and marches. Photograph: Bain News Service; restoration: Adam Cuerden
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