User talk:Adam Cuerden

Note to self: Category:Featured pictures that have not appeared on the Main Page

Archives: Archive 1, Archive 2, Archive 3, Archive 4, Archive 5, Archive 6, Archive 7, Archive 8

Good work[edit]

I saw your recent featured picture and just wanted to say that I appreciate the work you do.

P.S. consider archiving your talk page, Dialmayo (talk) (Contribs) she/her 13:04, 6 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

@Dialmayo: Well, thank you so much! I do my best. And I'll archive it later today. Adam Cuerden ^(talk)_{Has about 8.6% of all FPs.} 17:45, 6 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Charles Henry Turner[edit]

An image created by you has been promoted to featured picture status

Your image, File:Charles Henry Turner at Sumner High School, St. Louis, Mo. Aug. 9, 1921.jpg, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution! Armbrust ^{The Homunculus} 09:13, 8 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Che Guevara[edit]

An image created by you has been promoted to featured picture status

Your image, File:Che Guevara - Guerrillero Heroico by Alberto Korda.jpg, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution! Armbrust ^{The Homunculus} 19:53, 8 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Nov Bugle FP[edit]

Hi Adam, pardon my ignorance but I was just wondering what the rationale was for Hyochang Park coming under the MilHist banner? Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 23:56, 8 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

@Ian Rose: I was thinking it was a good example of Korea under Japanese rule, which is a MILHIST article. Adam Cuerden ^(talk)_{Has about 8.6% of all FPs.} 05:45, 9 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Hmm, okay tks. Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 10:22, 9 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

@Ian Rose: Of course, it's your call if it's sufficiently related. It's not an immediate aftereffect of conquest, after all. Adam Cuerden ^(talk)_{Has about 8.6% of all FPs.} 11:03, 9 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

The Bugle: Issue 211, November 2023[edit]

Your Military History Newsletter

Project news: From the editors; awards and honours; contest results
Articles: Last month's new featured and A-class content
Book review: Hawkeye7 looks at English Civil War logistics and Peacemaker67 at Austro-Hungarian torpedo boats
Op-ed: Hawkeye7 on how WP:SIZE matters

The Bugle is published by the Military history WikiProject. To receive it on your talk page, please join the project or sign up here.
If you are a project member who does not want delivery, please remove your name from this page. Your editors, Ian Rose (talk) and Nick-D (talk) 18:17, 9 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

A humble suggestion[edit]

Greetings! I hope my message finds you well.

I know not whether you accept suggestions on image restorations or not, but since I take you to be ~~probably~~ the best wikimedia image restorator, I found it proper to express my idea to you.

Perhaps the

used in a multitude of articles pertaining to the renowned soprano, could become the subject of one of your masterful restorations?

If you have the time look into it, please do.

With profound appreciation for your work in general,
I thank you in advance.

L'Orfeo^{Son io} 14:26, 10 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

@L'OrfeoGreco: Simple answer is: I'd love to do a restoration of Callas, but there's really not much you can do with a 500 pixel wide image. About the most you can do is remove the couple specks, and maybe try a slightly better crop from the original. While the image is out of copyright, finding a high-resolution copy of it is the big issue that may well be insurmountable; I will check to see what is available, though. Adam Cuerden ^(talk)_{Has about 8.6% of all FPs.} 07:59, 11 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I did clean up the copy we have, though. There appears to be some undocumented upscaling in the old version, which does explain some issues with it. I think it looks a little better, but, alas, won't pull her up to featured picture. Adam Cuerden ^(talk)_{Has about 8.6% of all FPs.}

You've been most helpful; the picture looks stunning now! I understand that such a small image could not reach FP status, but that's fine. I tried to find a better version and did find this obviously copyrighted item —that made me wonder: how come they found the original photo?

As for a Callas-themed FP, since she was a significant and highly photographed artist, that's certainly a great idea. After going through the entirety of wikimedia images related to her, I think that

donated to Wikimedia Commons by the Dutch National Archives could certainly be greatly benefitted by your skillfulness. It probably is the best portrait photograph of La Callas on Wikimedia Commons. Maybe this image could make a good FP nomination? Your call.

Thank you! L'Orfeo^{Son io} 09:26, 11 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Hm. Ideally I'd want one that shows a bit more of her - she's rather buried in that coat, but there's a few archives I can check. Not everything has gotten onto Commons. Adam Cuerden ^(talk)_{Has about 8.6% of all FPs.} 09:40, 11 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Your point is correct. I searched in some databases, but found not many a public domain file useful for this cause. I hope your own efforts return more abundant fruits. L'Orfeo^{Son io} 13:12, 11 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

As for how Getty got the image: It's a press image for a film or television show ("Small World", which I've never heard of). There's archives that collect those, and - well, it only takes one example to put every image in that line out of copyright, so that Getty image is out of copyright, but I'm not quite willing to pay them for it. Adam Cuerden ^(talk)_{Has about 8.6% of all FPs.} 09:50, 11 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

So, I found this version of the picture uploaded for a seminar at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and elsewhere (e.g. 1, 2). I don't know if this version can be of any use, given that it isn't a derivative of the original Wcommons file for which the copyright status has been ascertained.

I'd also like to note that Getty give "copyright 2007 CBS WORLDWIDE INC." for the full size image, although I don't really understand what this means exactly. L'Orfeo^{Son io} 13:09, 11 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Well, Getty's claim is nonsense. If anh copy is out of copyright, all are Adam Cuerden ^(talk)_{Has about 8.6% of all FPs.} 03:25, 12 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Well, I have uploaded

which occurred as a derivative of instances of this very same photograph that, as you say, has no copyright. I hope that you can make something out of it.

For any details pertaining to the editing process, the constituents, etc, do not hesitate to ask —my photo-editing skills are very limited, I have to make it clear, so mistakes will be evident.

If for any legal or other reason you find that the file ought to be deleted, do so without hesitation.

Thank you once more. L'Orfeo^{Son io} 17:36, 12 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Hm. What's the webpage that's from? There's some quality issues, but sometimes you can adjust the web link. Adam Cuerden ^(talk)_{Has about 8.6% of all FPs.} 01:03, 13 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

The sources used were this version and the getty one; there has been a combination. L'Orfeo^{Son io} 07:34, 13 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Needing some advice[edit]

Hi @Adam Cuerden. I am new to WP:FP, but I would like to promote more images to featured picture status. What do you use to restore old photos?

I would like to restore this photograph.

I would also like to know any issues that this photo has. Thank you. 🌹FatCat96🌹 Chat with Cat 17:24, 10 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

@FatCat96: I use the Gnu Image Manipulation Program, or GIMP, which is free and has an embarassing name; Photoshop will likely do just as well.

The main issues with this image are numerous small white and black spots on the background. If you know about file annotations, if you go to commons:File:Happy Chandler - Harris and Ewing Crop.jpg and hover over the image, it'll show you a few examples I've marked. You might need to open the file and zoom in to see them; I set some options to have images appear quite large on Commons, so it's probably easier for me. The damage on the face is probably the most "risky", but it's pretty minor and hard to see, so if the attempt doesn't work out, just Cntrl-Z to undo (you can hit Cntrl-Y to redo in a pinch); and if it doesn't work out after a few tries, just leave it; it's not very major damage.

The most challenging damage is the damage you least need to fix: a nearly-invisible hair on the photograph on the right side of his chin, overlapping a freckle. I'd be inclined to ignore that unless you want to try and just be ready with Cntrl-Z. Alternatively, I could fix that, then hand the file over to you for everything else.

Now, what to use: My inclination would be to use the TIFF from the Library of Congress, direct link, page about the image but that's uncropped, so if you want to go from the existing JPEG, that's probably a fair option and might be easier for you.

----

Actually editing the file

Once you open the file in GIMP, go to the View menu, and choose Zoom. I tend to edit at 100%, but zooming in to 200% makes it easier to precisely position your clicks. I'd try 100% and zoom in more if you need to.

The main tool to use is the Healing tool. Hit Cntrl-B to open a toolbox. Hover over the icons to find the healing tool - it's in a group with the clone tool, you might need to click and hold on the clone tool to make a list of options come up so you can find the healing tool. If you then double-click on the healing tool, the settings for the tool come up. You want 100% opacity, for the brush, choose one of the circles - probably hardness 75 or hardness 100. Set the size to about 10. You can go smaller to deal with fine damage near other image elements, and bigger (I wouldn't go much over 20 unless there's a big bit of damage you want to fix at once) as needed.

To use the healing tool, hold Cntrl, and click on an area as similar to where the damage is as possible to set a sample. E.g. if you want to fix damage on the wall, you'd click somewhere on the wall without damage. If you're dealing with damage at a border, you might need to be very precise with this, but you shouldn't need to worry about that much with this image. Release Cntrl and click where the damage is. You can draw with it to follow, say, a hair. You may need to play around with size of the tool to get things right, and if you're fixing damage on a border between light and dark or on a textured area, where you get the sample from (the area as similar to where the damage is mentioned earlier) can be very important. But it doesn't look like that applies to very much of the damage in this image.

When you're ready to save, you actually hit EXPORT, not save ("Save" saves in the GIMP format, which Wikipedia doesn't accept.) PNGs are lossless, so it's a good idea to save as a PNG (simply put ".png" at the end of the filename when exporting), and then convert to JPEG when you're done. When you save as JPEG, you can choose the quality you want to save as. I use 99%.

Levels and crop: If you use the existing JPEG, I wouldn't touch anything with levels or recropping it, but I do think you could get a better crop from the TIFF if you feel up to it. If you are using the TIFF, upload your restoration as a PNG BEFORE adjusting levels or cropping. It's very hard to undo levels or a crop, and it's pretty easy to ruin the image in the process of doing one. We'll cover those if you need them, though. Adam Cuerden ^(talk)_{Has about 8.6% of all FPs.} 08:57, 11 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Hi @Adam Cuerden. Thank you for the help. But I am struggling to figure out how to add the image to a folder in GIMP. Please excuse my limited knowledge of technology. Thanks you. 🌹FatCat96🌹 Chat with Cat 04:06, 14 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I'm not sure I follow. D'ye mean saving it, or? Adam Cuerden ^(talk)_{Has about 8.6% of all FPs.} 07:59, 14 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I am having trouble opening the file. I know that you press file, then press open. But then, under the places column, it says search, recently used, my name, and file system. I don't know what to do from then. 🌹FatCat96🌹 Chat with Cat 14:47, 14 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Nevermind, I have figured it out. I will have the image restored soon. 🌹FatCat96🌹 Chat with Cat 14:50, 14 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

November thanks[edit]

Thank you for archiving ;) - A day to remember the victims of wars, and for me St. Martin's day, matched as short as I could in a 2010 DYK remembered, - so basically about sharing. -- Gerda Arendt (talk) 11:04, 11 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Today my topic is a soprano, with thanks for the many pics of singers you enhanced! Images from vacation uploaded but not all yet, - click on songs. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:34, 17 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

My story today is a DYK hook from 13 years ago OTD: about the great music at one of my churches. Mozart's Requiem to come on Sunday, coupled with Arvo Pärt's Da pacem Domine, - I guess you might come if it was a bit closer. Perhaps watch the video of our last production, our first on yt, ever. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 20:15, 21 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Mary Church Terrell[edit]

An image created by you has been promoted to featured picture status

Your image, File:Mary Church Terrell - cph.3b47842.jpg, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution! Armbrust ^{The Homunculus} 19:03, 13 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Mary White Ovington[edit]

An image created by you has been promoted to featured picture status

Your image, File:Mary White Ovington.jpg, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution! Armbrust ^{The Homunculus} 14:21, 16 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

FP aspect ratio[edit]

I understand your critique about the left side, but I don't quite understand your viewing/size/aspect-ratio concerns in this nom: [1]. We have lots of FPs with a narrow aspect ratio (and some tall ones too) in these categories [2][3] such as [4][5], and some in other categories [6][7]. These images have always been displayed in their articles and on main-page with a scrollbar using template {{wide image}}. My concern is that we will loose a lot if we reject images having narrow or tall aspect ratios. Bammesk (talk) 18:42, 19 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

@Bammesk: It's not that I object based on ratio per se, it's that the image has issues at full size on the left side, and...

Well, let's step back. Consider File:Sándor_Vay_-_Restoration.jpg. It's a grainy mess at full resolution, but you can pull back on the file description page to see him more clearly. File:Lake-sherburne-964855.jpg is too small on the file description page, but looks pretty decent zoomed in.

But I think you need at least one of those to be true. The panorama in question looks great at about 700-1500 px high, and that's beyond what can reasonably be chosen. Adam Cuerden ^(talk)_{Has about 8.6% of all FPs.} 22:44, 19 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Ok. I just don't see it that way (quality-wise and aspect-wise). I kind of agree with the Commons FPC voters on this. It's Ok to agree to disagree though. Thank you for the reply. Cheers. Bammesk (talk) 02:27, 20 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/The Rose of Persia redux[edit]

An image created by you has been promoted to featured picture status

Your image, File:Dudley Hardy - Poster for Basil Hood and Arthur Sullivan's The Rose of Persia.jpg, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution! Armbrust ^{The Homunculus} 00:23, 20 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Luis Walter Alvarez[edit]

An image created by you has been promoted to featured picture status

Your image, File:Luis Alvarez with a magnetic monopole detector - Restoration.jpg, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution! Armbrust ^{The Homunculus} 15:10, 21 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Doctor Who and the Pirates[edit]

Someone PRODded Doctor Who and the Pirates. I objected and added a little to the article. If you agree that it should be Kept, would you please take a look and see if you can add any useful cites to the article? Thanks! -- Ssilvers (talk) 23:54, 22 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Two-Thousand Yard Stare[edit]

Hi, I found a much better version for File:WW2 Marine after Eniwetok assault.jpg. Yann (talk) 12:47, 25 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Good image! I think the painting's good for the artist page and such, but I'm going to restore that photo. Adam Cuerden ^(talk)_{Has about 8.6% of all FPs.} 15:36, 25 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Featured picture scheduled for POTD[edit]

Hi Adam Cuerden,

This is to let you know that File:State Fair_(1933_film_poster)_-_Restoration.jpg, a featured picture you uploaded, has been selected as the English Wikipedia's picture of the day (POTD) for November 29, 2023. A preview of the POTD is displayed below and can be edited at Template:POTD/2023-11-29. If you have any concerns, please place a message at Wikipedia talk:Picture of the day. Thank you! — Amakuru (talk) 15:08, 25 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

State Fair is a 1933 American comedy-drama film directed by Henry King and starring Janet Gaynor, Will Rogers and Lew Ayres. It was based on the 1932 bestselling novel State Fair by Phil Stong. The picture tells the story of a farm family's multi-day visit to the Iowa State Fair, where the parents seek to win prizes in agricultural and cooking competitions, and their teenage daughter and son each find unexpected romance. The film was made in pre-Code Hollywood and, despite its seemingly tame plot, had some scenes that were censored in a re-release a few years later, after the Production Code took effect. Cut scenes include a view of a disheveled bed and a negligee on the floor, and a sexual relationship between the daughter and a reporter, but the son's seduction by a trapeze artist was kept. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture and was the first of three film versions of the novel released to theaters, the others being movie musicals released in 1945 and in 1962. This poster was produced for the Twentieth Century–Fox Film Corporation for the 1933 theatrical release of State Fair.

Poster credit: unknown; restored by Adam Cuerden

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Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin[edit]

An image created by you has been promoted to featured picture status

Your image, File:Cecilia Helena Payne-Gaposchkin (1900-1979) - Science Service.jpg, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution! Armbrust ^{The Homunculus} 06:11, 27 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Featured picture scheduled for POTD[edit]

Hi Adam Cuerden,

This is to let you know that File:Cecilia Helena Payne-Gaposchkin (1900-1979) - Science Service.jpg, a featured picture you uploaded, has been selected as the English Wikipedia's picture of the day (POTD) for November 6, 2024. A preview of the POTD is displayed below and can be edited at Template:POTD/2024-11-06. If you have any concerns, please place a message at Wikipedia talk:Picture of the day. Thank you! Adam Cuerden ^(talk)_{Has about 8.6% of all FPs.} 06:26, 27 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (born Cecilia Helena Payne; (1900-05-10)May 10, 1900 – (1979-12-07)December 7, 1979) was a British-born American astronomer and astrophysicist who proposed in her 1925 doctoral thesis that stars were composed primarily of hydrogen and helium. Her groundbreaking conclusion was initially rejected because it contradicted the scientific wisdom of the time, which held that there were no significant elemental differences between the Sun and Earth. Independent observations eventually proved she was correct. Her work on the nature of variable stars was foundational to modern astrophysics.

Photograph credit: Science Service; restored by Adam Cuerden

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Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Sir William Thompson, 1st Baron Kelvin[edit]

An image created by you has been promoted to featured picture status

Your image, File:Sir William Thomson, Baron Kelvin by T. & R. Annan & Sons.jpg, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution! Armbrust ^{The Homunculus} 22:34, 30 November 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Featured picture scheduled for POTD[edit]

Hi Adam Cuerden,

This is to let you know that File:Sir William Thomson, Baron Kelvin by T. & R. Annan & Sons.jpg, a featured picture you uploaded, has been selected as the English Wikipedia's picture of the day (POTD) for June 26, 2024. A preview of the POTD is displayed below and can be edited at Template:POTD/2024-06-26. (200th anniversary of his birth) If you have any concerns, please place a message at Wikipedia talk:Picture of the day. Thank you! Adam Cuerden ^(talk)_{Has about 8.6% of all FPs.} 04:31, 1 December 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, OM, GCVO, PC, FRS, FRSE (26 June 1824 – 17 December 1907) was a British mathematician, mathematical physicist and engineer born in Belfast. He was the Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Glasgow for 53 years, where he undertook significant research and mathematical analysis of electricity, the formulation of the first and second laws of thermodynamics, and contributed significantly to unifying physics, which was then in its infancy of development as an emerging academic discipline. He received the Royal Society's Copley Medal in 1883, and served as its president from 1890 to 1895. In 1892, he became the first British scientist to be elevated to the House of Lords. The Kelvin scale of temperature is named in his honour.

He is seen here resting on a binnacle (the stand for a marine compass) of his invention, and holding a marine azimuth mirror. Kelvin's balls have been removed or not yet put in; they are the iron balls meant to help balance out the magnetic fields around the binnacle, since a metal ship can easily pull the compass needle off of true north.

Photograph credit: T. & R. Annan & Sons; restored by Adam Cuerden

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Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/If you're anxious for to shine in the high æsthetic line[edit]

An image created by you has been promoted to featured picture status

Your image, File:Oscar Wilde by Napoleon Sarony. Three-quarter-length photograph, seated.jpg, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution! Armbrust ^{The Homunculus} 09:48, 1 December 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Featured picture scheduled for POTD[edit]

Hi Adam Cuerden,

This is to let you know that File:Oscar Wilde by Napoleon Sarony. Three-quarter-length photograph, seated.jpg, a featured picture you uploaded, has been selected as the English Wikipedia's picture of the day (POTD) for October 16, 2024. A preview of the POTD is displayed below and can be edited at Template:POTD/2024-10-16. (170th birthday) If you have any concerns, please place a message at Wikipedia talk:Picture of the day. Thank you! Adam Cuerden ^(talk)_{Has about 8.6% of all FPs.} 18:27, 1 December 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Oscar Wilde: Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. As a spokesman for aestheticism, he tried his hand at various literary activities: he published a book of poems, lectured in the United States and Canada on the new "English Renaissance in Art" and interior decoration, and then returned to London where he worked prolifically as a journalist. Known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress and glittering conversational skill, Wilde became one of the best-known personalities of his day. At the turn of the 1890s he refined his ideas about the supremacy of art in a series of dialogues and essays, and incorporated themes of decadence, duplicity, and beauty into what would be his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890). The opportunity to construct aesthetic details precisely, and combine them with larger social themes, drew Wilde to write drama. He wrote Salome (1891) in French while in Paris, but it was refused a licence for England due to an absolute prohibition on the portrayal of Biblical subjects on the English stage. Undiscouraged, Wilde produced four society comedies in the early 1890s, which made him one of the most successful playwrights of late-Victorian London.

At the height of his fame and success, while The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) was still being performed in London, Wilde prosecuted the Marquess of Queensberry for criminal libel. The Marquess was the father of Wilde's lover, Lord Alfred Douglas. The libel trial unearthed evidence that caused Wilde to drop his charges and led to his own arrest and trial for gross indecency with men. After two more trials he was convicted and sentenced to two years' hard labour, the maximum penalty, and was jailed from 1895 to 1897. During his last year in prison he wrote De Profundis (published posthumously in 1905), a long letter that discusses his spiritual journey through his trials, forming a dark counterpoint to his earlier philosophy of pleasure. On his release, he left immediately for France, and never returned to Ireland or Britain. There he wrote his last work, The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898), a long poem commemorating the harsh rhythms of prison life.

Photograph credit: Napoleon Sarony; restored by Adam Cuerden

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Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/I'm Captain Corcoran,KCB/I'll teach you how we rule the sea/And terrify the simple Gauls/And how the Saxon and the Celt/Their Europeshaking blows have dealt/With Maxim gun and Nordenfelt/Or will when the occasion calls[edit]

An image created by you has been promoted to featured picture status

Your image, File:Thorsten Nordenfelt. Svensk ubåtspionjär.jpg, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution! Armbrust ^{The Homunculus} 13:47, 5 December 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/That Two-Thousand Yard Stare[edit]

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted

Your nomination for featured picture status, File:Thomas C. Lea III - That Two-Thousand Yard Stare - Original.jpg, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Armbrust ^{The Homunculus} 13:57, 5 December 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Featured picture scheduled for POTD[edit]

Hi Adam Cuerden,

This is to let you know that File:Raven Manet E2 corrected.jpg, a featured picture you uploaded, has been selected as the English Wikipedia's picture of the day (POTD) for December 10, 2023. A preview of the POTD is displayed below and can be edited at Template:POTD/2023-12-10. If you have any concerns, please place a message at Wikipedia talk:Picture of the day. Thank you! — Amakuru (talk) 11:46, 6 December 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

"The Raven" is a narrative poem by the American writer Edgar Allan Poe. The poem depicts a narrator who is half asleep, poring over ancient books at midnight on a dreary winter night. He hears a tapping sound, and finds a raven at the window, which flies into his room and perches on a bust of Athena. The narrator asks the bird a series of questions, to which the bird replies only "nevermore". Eventually, the narrator falls into despair and ends with his final admission that his soul is trapped beneath the raven's shadow and shall be lifted "nevermore". Originally published in 1845, the poem was widely popular although it did not bring Poe much financial success. "The Raven" has influenced many modern works and is referenced throughout popular culture. This illustration by Édouard Manet is the last in a set of four, depicting different stages of the poem. Art historian James H. Rubin has described it as a scene where "shadow has itself taken on life, becoming the most prominent form". The bottom of the shadow is that of the bird itself, but higher up Rubin describes it as becoming "a dense vapour rising and trailing into oblivion".

Illustration credit: Édouard Manet; restored by Adam Cuerden

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