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The Beaune Altarpiece is a large polyptych altarpiece by the Early Netherlandish artist Rogier van der Weyden. It was commissioned in 1443 for the Hospices de Beaune by Nicolas Rolin, Chancellor of the Duchy of Burgundy, and his wife Guigone de Salins, who was buried in front of the altarpiece. The polyptych consists of fifteen paintings spread across nine panels, of which six are painted on both sides. The inner panels contain scenes from the Last Judgement, with a central image that shows Christ seated in judgement, and the Archangel Michael holding scales as he weighs souls. The panel on Christ's far right depicts the gates of Heaven, that to his far left the entrance to Hell; souls are shown moving towards each after being judged. The altarpiece is in poor condition, having suffered from extensive paint loss, darkening of its colours and accumulations of dirt. (Full article...)

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In the news

Jamal Khashoggi

Bek Air Flight 2100 crashes near Almaty, Kazakhstan, killing at least 12 people and injuring 54 others.
A court in Saudi Arabia sentences five people to death for the 2018 killing of Jamal Khashoggi (pictured).
In the Netherlands, the supreme court upholds a ruling that the government must meet established emissions reduction milestones, creating the first legal precedent on the impact of climate change on human rights.

On this day

December 28: Proclamation Day in South Australia (1836)

A pair of huia

893 – An earthquake destroyed the city of Dvin, Armenia, resulting in about 30,000 casualties.
1879 – The Tay Bridge, spanning the Firth of Tay in Scotland between Dundee and Wormit, collapsed during a violent storm while a train was passing over it, killing all on board.
1907 – The last confirmed sighting of the now-extinct huia (illustration shown) occurred in the Tararua Range on New Zealand's North Island.
1989 – In one of Australia's worst natural disasters, an earthquake measuring 5.6 M_L struck Newcastle, New South Wales, killing 13 people and injuring more than 160 others, and causing an estimated A$4 billion in damages.
2009 – A suicide bomber attacked a Shia procession commemorating the day of Ashura in Karachi, Pakistan, causing 43 deaths.

Wang Zongbi (d. 925) · Arthur Hunter Palmer (b. 1819) · Barbara Judge (b. 1946)

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Today's featured picture

Alfonso XII (1857–1885) was King of Spain from 1874 to 1885. Coming to the throne at an early age and being of a benevolent and sympathetic disposition, Alfonso won the affection of his people by fearlessly visiting districts ravaged by cholera or devastated by earthquakes. He had been suffering from tuberculosis, but the immediate cause of his death was dysentery, and he died at the Royal Palace of El Pardo on 25 November 1885, aged 27. He was succeeded by his unborn son, who became Alfonso XIII at his birth the following year.

This picture shows Alfonso's funeral procession on its way from El Pardo to Madrid, engraved by Auguste Tilly for the French newspaper L'Illustration. The French text under the engraving reads 'The death of Alfonso XII – Translation of the king's body to Madrid' and 'After the sketches of Mr Campuzano, correspondent for L'Illustration'.

Engraving credit: Auguste Tilly, after M. Campuzano; restored by Adam Cuerden

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