Wordless: Touro Synagogue

This is an image from the inside of Touro Synagogue located in Newport, Rhode Island.

It is the oldest existing US synagogue.

Jewish immigrants escaping persecution from Spain and Portugal came to Rhode Island in 1658.

Visit the main page for the synagogue here

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Wordless: The Athenaeum

This painting of George Washington is by Gilbert Stuart and is also known as The Athenaeum.
Yes, people realize it is unfinished.

The Athenaeum is the image of Washington we see on the dollar bill. Stuart and his daughters completed over 130 reproductions but the original, seen here, was never completed. The painting hangs in Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts.

Don’t get this painting confused with Stuart’s other famous George Washington painting……
the Lansdowne portrait…the one Dolly Madison saved during the War of 1812.

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Wordless: Boy Rescued From a Shark

This painting is titled A Youth Rescued From a Shark by John Singleton Copley(1778). It currently hangs in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

The painting depicts the rescue of Brook Watson, a British merchant, soldier, and one-time Lord Mayor of London. At the age of 14 Watson was rescued from the shark attack as he was swimming the harbor at Havana, Cuba. He lost his leg from the knee down in the attack, and commissioned the painting to serve as a warning as well as the message that even the severest adversity can be overcome.

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Wordless: Lander's Peak

This painting is Landers Peak in the Rocky Mountains by Albert Bierstadt, a German-American painter. Bierstadt is known for large landscapes of the American West. In order to fuel his inspiration Bierstadt often traveled with westward expansion expeditions.

Bierstadt’s works are considered to be part of the Hudson River School---a group of painters that used Romantic details and almost glowing light (luminism).

You can see Bierstadt’s complete works here

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Wordless: The Battle of the Somme

Today in history…..

The Battle of the Somme ended on November 18, 1916. The Somme Offensive was one of the largest and longest battles during World War I….the battle raged from July 1 through November 18th.

Cashing in at 1.5 million casualties it is one of the most bloodiest military operations ever recorded.

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