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The Rokeby Venus is a painting by Diego VelĂĄzquez, the leading artist of the Spanish Golden Age, in the National Gallery, London. Completed between 1647 and 1651, and probably painted during the artist's visit to Italy, the work depicts the goddess Venus in an erotic pose, lying on a bed and looking into a mirror held by the god of sensual love, her son Cupid. Numerous works, from the ancient to the baroque, have been cited as sources of inspiration for VelĂĄzquez. The nude Venuses of the Italian painters, such as Giorgione's Sleeping Venus (c. 1510) and Titian's Venus of Urbino (1538), were the main precedents. In this work, VelĂĄzquez combined two established poses for Venus: recumbent on a couch or a bed, and gazing at her reflection in a mirror. In a number of ways the painting represents a pictorial departure; through its central use of a mirror, and because it shows the body of Venus turned away from the picture's viewer. The Rokeby Venus is the only surviving female nude by VelĂĄzquez. The painting adorned the houses of Spanish courtiers until 1813 when it was brought to England to hang in Rokeby Park, Yorkshire. In 1906, the painting was purchased by National Art Collections Fund for the National Gallery, London. Although it was attacked and badly damaged in 1914 by the suffragette Mary Richardson, it was soon fully restored and returned to display. (more...)

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November 20: Zumbi Day in Brazil; Revolution Day in Mexico; Teacher's Day in Vietnam

284 â Diocletian became Roman Emperor, eventually establishing reforms that brought an end to the Crisis of the Third Century.
1820 â The American whaleship Essex sank 2,000 nautical miles (3,700 km) west of the western coast of South America after it was attacked by a sperm whale.
1902 â While discussing how to promote the newspaper L'Auto during a lunch meeting in Paris, sports journalists Henri Desgrange and GĂŠo LefĂ¨vre came up with the idea of holding a cycling race that became known as the Tour de France.
1945 â The Nuremberg Trials (defendants pictured) against 24 leading Nazis involved in the Holocaust and various war crimes during World War II began in Nuremberg, Germany.
1952 â The SlĂĄnskĂ˝ trial, a show trial against Czech General Secretary Rudolf SlĂĄnskĂ˝ and 13 other members of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia was held.
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