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The Goldfinch is a painting of a chained goldfinch by Carel Fabritius, a Dutch Golden Age artist. Signed and dated 1654, it is now in the collection of the Mauritshuis in The Hague, Netherlands. The work is a trompe-l'œil oil painting on panel measuring 33.5 by 22.8 centimetres (13.2 by 9.0 in) that was once part of a larger structure, perhaps a window jamb or a protective cover. A common and colourful bird with a pleasant song, the goldfinch was used in Italian Renaissance painting as a symbol of Christian redemption and the Passion of Jesus. The Goldfinch is unusual for Dutch Golden Age paintings in the simplicity of its composition and use of illusionary techniques. After Fabritius was killed in the gunpowder explosion that destroyed much of the city of Delft in 1654, the painting was lost for more than two centuries before its rediscovery in Brussels. It plays a central role in the Pulitzer Prize–winning novel The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, and also in its film adaptation. (Full article...)

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Michael Gove

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... that one of Indonesia's largest charities was established by a group of journalists in response to a local famine?
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... that Cuban swimmer Rafael Polinario had to defect to Canada instead of Spain after Fidel Castro's brother got on his plane?

In the news

Mette Frederiksen

The Social Democrats, led by Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen (pictured), remain the largest party after the Danish general election, with no political bloc winning a majority of seats.
In Italy, voters reject a reform of the judicial system in a constitutional referendum.
A Colombian Aerospace Force Lockheed C-130 crashes during take-off in Puerto Leguízamo, killing 70 people.
In mathematics, Gerd Faltings is awarded the Abel Prize for his work in arithmetic geometry.

On this day

March 29: Boganda Day in the Central African Republic (1959); Martyrs' Day in Madagascar (1947)

Terracotta Army

845 – Viking expansion: Viking raiders, possibly led by the legendary Ragnar Lodbrok, plundered and occupied Paris, holding the city for a large ransom.
1823 – Joaquín de Oreamuno led a coup d'état that overthrew Rafael Francisco Osejo, attempting to restore allegiance to the Mexican Empire.
1831 – Authorities held an inquest at New Town, Tasmania, into the deaths of a woman and two children who were fatally poisoned after eating smooth toadfish.
1974 – A group of farmers in the Chinese province of Shaanxi discovered a vast collection of terracotta statues (pictured) depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China.

Wilhelm Liebknecht (b. 1826)
Lou Henry Hoover (b. 1874)
Nick Ut (b. 1951)
Haane Manahi (d. 1986)

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Today's featured picture

The Pacific golden plover (Pluvialis fulva) is a medium-sized migratory plover. It breeds in the Arctic tundra from northernmost Asia into western Alaska and winters in south Asia and Australasia.

Photograph: JJ Harrison

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