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From today's featured article
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![One of Jacob van Ruisdael's most famous works is Windmill at Wijk bij Duurstede (c. 1670).](https://cdn.statically.io/img/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/74/Jacob_Isaacksz._van_Ruisdael_-_Le_Moulin_de_Wijk-bij-Duurstede.jpg/170px-Jacob_Isaacksz._van_Ruisdael_-_Le_Moulin_de_Wijk-bij-Duurstede.jpg) Windmill at Wijk bij Duurstede
Jacob van Ruisdael (c. 1629 – 1682) was a prolific and versatile Dutch artist, generally considered the pre-eminent landscape painter of the Dutch Golden Age. During this period of great wealth and cultural achievement when Dutch painting became highly popular, his father and uncle were also landscape artists. His earliest works, dating from 1646, show remarkable quality for his age. He moved from his Haarlem birthplace to Amsterdam around 1657, where he lived until his death. Ruisdael painted a wide variety of landscape subjects, including Dutch countryside scenes, city panoramas, seascapes, and Scandinavian waterfalls. The sky often takes up two thirds of the canvas. His accurate rendering of trees was unprecedented, and he is particularly known for his paintings of mills, such as Windmill at Wijk bij Duurstede (pictured). Ruisdael shaped landscape painting traditions worldwide, influencing the English Romantics, the French Barbizon School, and the American Hudson River School, as well as generations of Dutch landscape artists. The National Gallery, the Rijksmuseum, and the Hermitage Museum hold the largest collections of his paintings. (Full article...)
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Did you know...
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![Main building of Albany International](https://cdn.statically.io/img/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/54/Albany_Felt_Company_main_building.jpg/120px-Albany_Felt_Company_main_building.jpg) Main building of Albany International
- ... that the ponds in the former headquarters of Albany International (main building pictured) were originally built as reservoirs for firefighting?
- ... that Ayers Rock were the first Mushroom Records artists to sign with an international label, enabling their tour of US stadiums and recording an album in Los Angeles?
- ... that Janet McNeill, a prolific Irish writer of adult and children's fiction, peopled her adult novels with "menopausal, middle-aged, middle-class Protestants"?
- ... that the Canadian Commander-in-Chief Unit Commendation has been awarded to seven military units, including one in the U.S. Army?
- ... that World War II Stuka pilot Hans-Ulrich Rudel helped protect the identity of former SS-doctor Josef Mengele?
- ... that the Devanahalli pomelo, grown only in and around Devanahalli, is said to be the largest citrus fruit in the world?
- ... that Delores Ziegler, who teaches voice at the University of Maryland, appeared as Dorabella in Mozart's Così fan tutte for her debut at La Scala, and in the film by Ponnelle and Harnoncourt?
- ... that the Panama lightfish and the slender lightfish make large vertical migrations each day?
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In the news
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![Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi in 2014](https://cdn.statically.io/img/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/db/Tuilaepa_Aiono_Sailele_Malielegaoi_2014_%28horizontal_crop%29.jpg/120px-Tuilaepa_Aiono_Sailele_Malielegaoi_2014_%28horizontal_crop%29.jpg) Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi
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On this day...
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March 10
![Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (artist's conception)](https://cdn.statically.io/img/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/58/Mars_Reconnaissance_Orbiter%2C_front_view%2C_artist%27s_concept_%28PIA07245%29.jpg/120px-Mars_Reconnaissance_Orbiter%2C_front_view%2C_artist%27s_concept_%28PIA07245%29.jpg) Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (artist's conception)
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Today's featured picture
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The Kuwait Towers are a group of three slender towers in Kuwait City, standing on a promontory into the Persian Gulf. Built as part of a water distribution project, they were officially inaugurated in March 1979. Today they are rated as a landmark and symbol of modern Kuwait. The largest tower holds 4,500 cubic metres of water, a restaurant, a café, a lounge and a reception hall. The towers have been closed since March 2012 for maintenance.
Photograph: Richard Bartz
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