Wikipedia:Picture of the day/June 2013

Lady with an Ermine is a painting by Leonardo da Vinci, dated to around 1489–90, which depicts Cecilia Gallerani. It is currently displayed in the Wawel Castle, Kraków, Poland.

Painting: Leonardo da Vinci

An aerial view of some of the world's highest mountains as viewed from the south. In the center is Mount Everest, the highest peak on Earth. It rises over Lhotse (#4), while Nuptse is the ridge on the left. The Himalayas, of which these mountains form a part, are home to most of the world's highest peaks.

Photo: shrimpo1967 on Flickr; edit: Papa Lima Whiskey 2

Murugan, also known as Kartikeya, is the Hindu war god, worshiped particularly by Tamil Hindus. Murugan has a peacock as a mount and is often depicted with six heads and twelve arms holding a variety of weapons. His consorts, pictured here, are Valli and Deivayanai.

Painting: Raja Ravi Varma

A Bananagrams case and tiles. The case is made of fabric and shaped like a banana. It contains 144 cream-coloured letter tiles which are used to play the game, which is similar to the Scrabble variant Take Two.

Photo: Evan Amos

A picture of the 2012 transit of Venus by the Solar Dynamics Observatory, from 36,000 km (22,000 mi) above the Earth. A transit of Venus across the Sun takes place when the planet Venus passes directly between the Sun and Earth. It is one of the rarest predictable astronomical phenomena and happens in pairs eight years apart that are separated from each other by 105 or 121 years. The last transit before 2012 was in 2004, and the next pair of transits will occur in 2117 and 2125.

Photo: NASA/SDO

The G.D. Kennedy, a full-rigged steel ship, under sail. Constructed in Britain in 1888 and christened Dunboyne, the ship travelled around the world. In 1923 it was purchased by the Swedish Navy and renamed af Chapman, serving until 1934. The ship is now a youth hostel.

Photo: Allan C. Green collection of glass negatives, State Library of Victoria

The main terminal of Washington Dulles International Airport, a public airport in Dulles, Virginia, that serves the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. Designed by Eero Saarinen, the building forms the centerpiece of one of the busiest airports in the United States, with over 23 million passengers a year.

Photo: Joe Ravi

Male (top) and female Freckled Ducks (Stictonetta naevosa). Native to southern Australia, the ducks are protected by law. They are easily identified by their large heads with a peaked crown.

Photo: Benjamint444

An 1899 photochrom showing Temple Square, a 10-acre (4.0 ha) complex located in the center of Salt Lake City, Utah, US. The location is owned by and serves as headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was selected by Church president Brigham Young in 1846. Temple Square is home to several buildings; depicted here are the Salt Lake Temple, Salt Lake Tabernacle and Salt Lake Assembly Hall.

Photo: William Henry Jackson; restoration: Tom dl and Mmxx

Jan Jacob Rochussen (1797–1871) was a Dutch politician who served as Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies and, later, Prime Minister of the Netherlands. Beginning his political career as a tax collector, Rochussen spent most of his life with an interest in finance and financial reform.

Painting: Nicolaas Pieneman

The Franz Josef Glacier is found in the Westland Tai Poutini National Park and descends from New Zealand's Southern Alps to 300 metres (980 ft) above sea level. The glacier exhibits a cyclic pattern of advance and retreat. By mid-2010, its latest cycle of advance had ended; it is currently in a state of retreat.

Photograph: Jörg Hempel

Nathan Phillips Square (pictured in 2011) is an urban plaza located in front of the City Hall (and beside the Old City Hall, seen at right) in Toronto, Canada. Named after former mayor Nathan Phillips, the square was designed by Viljo Revell and opened in 1965. It is used for various public events, including concerts, art displays, a weekly farmers' market, and demonstrations.

Photograph: Paolo Costa Baldi

Aleeta curvicosta, commonly known as the floury baker or floury miller, is a species of cicada common in eastern Australia between November and May. Described by German naturalist Ernst Friedrich Germar in 1834, the name of the genus and its common names are derived from its appearance of having been dusted with flour. Adults average 9–10 cm (4 in) in length.

Photograph: Toby Hudson

Sammy Davis, Jr. (1925–90) was an American entertainer who worked primarily as a dancer and singer, but was also known for his impersonations of actors and other celebrities. He entered the entertainment industry at age three, later forming the Will Mastin Trio with his father Sammy Davis, Sr. and Will Mastin. In 1933 he made his feature film debut in Rufus Jones for President. The younger Davis found fame in 1951, and in 1959 became a member of the Rat Pack beginning with the film Ocean's 11. Davis won multiple Grammy and Emmy Awards during his career.

Photograph: Allan Warren

Experiments in the Revival of Organisms is a controversial 1940 motion picture that documents ostensible Soviet research into the resuscitation of clinically dead organisms, mostly dogs. Narrated in English by J. B. S. Haldane, the film credits Sergei Brukhonenko with the operations.

Film: Techfilm Studio, Moscow

A clothes iron is a handheld piece of equipment with a flat, roughly triangular surface that, when heated, is used to press clothes to remove creases. Electric irons, as seen here, were invented in 1882 by Henry W. Seeley; earlier versions had been heated in a fire or filled with hot coals.

Photograph: Colin

Postal Currency was introduced as an emergency measure during the American Civil War after people began hoarding gold, silver and copper coins, which disrupted everyday commerce. The United States Post Office Department was authorized to print paper money in small denominations, but the notes issued from August 21, 1862, through May 27, 1863, were officially only redeemable for postage stamps.

Notes: United States Post Office Department; scan: Michael Holley

The Black-browed Albatross (Thalassarche melanophrys) is a large seabird and most common member of its family. The birds, named for the black plumage above their eyes, feed on fish, squid, crustaceans, carrion, and fishery discards. This specimen was photographed east of the Tasman Peninsula, Tasmania, Australia.

Picture: JJ Harrison

A woman using a Hollerith pantograph, a machine developed by Herman Hollerith for the punching of cards, providing data which could then be processed. Such tools were used in the 1890 United States Census, the first time the country's census was tabulated by machine.

Picture: Unknown; restoration: Mmxx

The Airbus A330 is a wide-body twin-engine jet airliner made by Airbus which was introduced in 1994. The A330-200, such as pictured here in Aeroflot livery, entered service in 1998 and was considerably more popular than the earlier A330-300. In December 2012 there were 476 A330-200s in operation.

Picture: Sergey Kustov

The portrait of Ginevra de' Benci is a painting by Leonardo da Vinci in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Painted c. 1474–78, it may have been made to commemorate the sitter's marriage to Luigi di Bernardo Niccolini in 1474. This is the only certainly attributed painting by Leonardo on public display in the Americas.

Painting: Leonardo da Vinci

The Mezcala Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge over the Balsas River in the Mexican state of Guerrero. It is part of Federal Highway 95 between Mexico City and Acapulco.

Photograph: Jujutacular

The Second of May 1808, also known as The Charge of the Mamelukes, is a painting by Francisco de Goya. It was completed in 1814, two months before its companion work The Third of May 1808. The painting depicts a scene during the Dos de Mayo Uprising, at the Calle de Alcalá near Puerta del Sol, that sparked the Peninsular War.

Painting: Francisco de Goya

A salt print, dated c. 1844, of three men, James Ballantine, George Bell and David Octavius Hill, drinking Edinburgh ale. A contemporary source described the brew as "a potent fluid, which almost glued the lips of the drinker together, and of which few, therefore, could dispatch more than a bottle."

Photograph: Hill & Adamson

A female (left) and male Spotted Pardalote (Pardalotus punctatus), a small Australian songbird, as photographed at Risdon Brook Park, Risdon Vale, Tasmania. The species nests in tunnels; the pair shown here have nesting material in their beaks.

Photograph: JJ Harrison

The Battle of the Bulge was the last major German offensive campaign during World War II. Launched through the densely forested Ardennes region of Wallonia, it caught the Allies off guard and led to severe casualties. The name refers to the salient created by German advances in December 1944, shown on this map (higher resolution); the battle concluded with an Allied victory in January 1945.

Legend:

Map: Grandiose and Matthew Edwards

Two common toads (Bufo bufo) in amplexus, a form of pseudocopulation found in amphibians and limulids. A male common toad grasps a female with his front legs as part of the mating process. Common toads stay in amplexus for several days. As the female lays a long, double string of small black eggs, the male fertilises them with his sperm; the gelatinous egg strings, which may contain 3000 to 6000 eggs and be 3 to 4.5 metres (10 to 15 ft) in length, are later tangled in plant stalks.

Photo: Bernie Kohl

Arrangement in Grey and Black No.1, better known as Whistler's Mother, is an 1871 oil-on-canvas painting by American artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler. It depicts the artist's mother, Anna McNeill, and was painted in London. The work, which measures 144.3 cm × 162.4 cm (56.8 in × 63.9 in), is now displayed at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. It has been described as a Victorian Mona Lisa.

Painting: James Abbott McNeill Whistler

The KIM-1 was a small single-board computer developed and produced by MOS Technology and launched in 1976. Based on MOS' 6502 microprocessor, the system was initially meant for engineers but soon found wide acceptance with hobbyists.

Photo: Rama

Pope Nicholas V (1397–1455) was the head of the Catholic Church from 6 March 1447 until his death. Born Tommaso Parentucelli at Sarzana, Italy, he served as a diplomat, Bishop of Bologna, and cardinal before being elected pope in 1447. He took the name "Nicholas" in honour of his early benefactor, Niccolò Albergati, and is the last pope to have taken the name. During Nicholas' reign, in which he encouraged humanists, Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks. This portrait by Rubens was painted in 1610–12.

Painting: Peter Paul Rubens