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The painting

The Combat: Woman Pleading for the Vanquished is an oil painting on canvas by English artist William Etty which is inspired by the Elgin Marbles and intended by the artist to provide a moral lesson on "the beauty of mercy". It shows a near-nude warrior whose sword has broken, forced to his knees in front of another near-nude soldier who prepares to inflict a killing blow. A woman, also near-nude, clutches the victorious warrior to beg him for mercy. Unusually for a history painting of the period, it does not depict a scene from history, literature or religion and is not based on an existing artwork. When it was shown at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition of 1825, it attracted praise from critics for its technical excellence, its fusion of the styles of different schools of painting, and its subject matter. It was later bought by fellow artist John Martin and in 1831 he sold it on to the Royal Scottish Academy. It was transferred in 1910 to the National Gallery of Scotland. (Full article...)

Digitally-printed minidresses by Alexander McQueen

• ... that Alexander McQueen pioneered the use of digitally engineered prints in fashion with Natural Dis-tinction Un-natural Selection (examples pictured)?
• ... that the box of Burgle Bros 2 transforms into a two-layer game board?
• ... that Sydney Agudong and her sister were the final two candidates for a role in Lilo & Stitch?
• ... that Charles Moses competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics, despite previously fabricating claims of his Olympic participation?
• ... that the 1956 album Lonnie Donegan Showcase entered both the UK albums chart and the UK singles chart?
• ... that every team on which Bob Kercher played for seven years went undefeated?
• ... that to comply with broadcasting regulations, some American TV stations claimed that tabloid shows and a Christmas special were educational?
• ... that film director James Ashcroft enjoys "playing in the dark"?
• ... that a 1994 paper tried to claim ancient Babylonian astronomy as a new discovery in diabetes care?

Melissa Hortman

• In the US state of Minnesota, state representative Melissa Hortman (pictured) is assassinated and state senator John Hoffman is injured.
• Israel launches multiple airstrikes across cities in Iran, killing various nuclear scientists and military officials, including IRGC Commander-in-Chief Hossein Salami.
• Air India Flight 171 crashes in Ahmedabad, India, killing 279 people.
• The Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson dies at the age of 82.

June 15: Trinity Sunday (2025), Eid al-Ghadir (Shia Islam, 2025), Father's Day (various, 2025)

Sallie Gardner at a Gallop

• 1215 – King John of England and a group of rebel barons agreed on the text of Magna Carta, an influential charter of rights.
• 1800 – War of the Second Coalition: The signing of the Convention of Alessandria brought temporary peace between France and Austria.
• 1878 – Eadweard Muybridge took a series of photographs to prove that all four feet of a horse leave the ground when it gallops (animation pictured), which became the basis of motion pictures.
• 1944 – World War II: The United States Army Air Forces began the first air raid of its strategic bombing campaign against the Japanese archipelago, although little damage was caused.
• 1996 – The Troubles: The Provisional Irish Republican Army detonated a truck bomb in the commercial centre of Manchester, England, injuring more than 200 people and causing widespread damage to buildings.