Tag: news

Tens of thousands rally in Tel Aviv amid delay in release of captives | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Demonstration at what has become known as ‘Hostages Square’ marked 50 days since Hamas attack on Israel.

An estimated 100,000 people demonstrated in Tel Aviv to call for the release of all captives held by Hamas, on the second day of a truce between the Palestinian group and Israel.

On Saturday, friends and family of the captives and many supporters came together in trepidation in what has become known to Israelis as “Hostages Square”, near the Ministry of Defence, amid a delay in the release of the second group of hostages and Palestinian prisoners.

“It certainly is the biggest number we’ve seen since this war started,” Al Jazeera’s Sara Khairat reported from Tel Aviv.

“One of the factors is the release yesterday [Friday], they wanted people to come together and spread a message of hope, but also to say that they will continue with these rallies until all of the captives are brought back from Gaza,” she said, adding that there was a feeling of “cautious optimism” among the demonstrators as they waited for hours to hear news of the deal.

Hamas had delayed the release of the second group of captives, accusing Israel of violating the truce, which started on Friday and is expected to last for four days.

A spokesperson for Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs subsequently announced that “the obstacles were overcome through Qatari-Egyptian” mediation and the exchange was likely to go ahead on Saturday night, when 39 Palestinians and 13 Israeli captives would be released, in addition to seven foreigners.

“People felt a lot more relieved knowing that this has now been resolved and that they will be seeing more of [the captives] released,” Khairat said.

The event in Tel Aviv also marked 50 days since the October 7 attack by Hamas on southern Israel, in which about 1,200 people died, according to Israeli officials.

The Israeli aerial and ground assault on Gaza has since killed more than 15,000 Palestinians, including more than 6,000 children.

On Friday, Hamas released 24 captives and Israel freed 39 Palestinian women and children held in its jails.

“Returning hostages is the biggest mitzvah there is,” singer Ehud Banai told the crowd from the stage, The Times of Israel newspaper reported.

“With Hanukkah coming, we’ll light many candles during this dark time. Our hearts are broken until we see all of them home.”

Many people at the rally were wearing “Bring Them Home” campaign T-shirts, and holding placards with the names and pictures of the captives.

Alon Hadar, whose grandmother Yaffa was released by Hamas on Friday, told Israeli newspaper Haaretz that “she gives us the hope that all will return, but we know we have to fight for the release of all”.

“My grandmother wanted to come here tonight, but we thought, ‘too soon’ – but I’m sure she’s watching now and is proud of all of us,” Hadar said.

Israelis have taken to the streets every weekend in their thousands in the last few weeks to put pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying the government was ignoring their pleas to prioritise bringing their loved ones home.

Druze community leaders attending the rally on Saturday were warmly welcomed with enthusiastic applause from the crowd.

Demonstrators also gathered in front of one of Netanyahu’s private residences in Jerusalem, calling for his immediate removal from office.



Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

UN peacekeepers in Lebanon say patrol hit by Israeli fire | Israel-Palestine conflict News

United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon condemns attack as ‘deeply troubling’, no troops were injured.

The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon has said that Israeli fire hit one of its patrols in the country’s south, despite a truce between Israel and Hamas largely quietening the Lebanon-Israel frontier.

“At around 12:00 pm, a UNIFIL patrol was hit by [Israeli army] gunfire” in the vicinity of Aitarun, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said in a statement on Saturday.

“No peacekeepers were injured, but the vehicle was damaged,” it said, adding that “this incident occurred during a period of relative calm” along the border between Israel and Lebanon.

Since the Israel-Palestine conflict began on October 7, the frontier between Lebanon and Israel has seen intensifying exchanges of fire, mainly between Israel and Shia movement Hezbollah, but also Palestinian groups, raising fears of a broader conflagration.

The scope of the border fighting has gradually increased over the weeks, but it has not turned into an all-out war yet. At first, the two sides started hitting each other with artillery attacks, and Israel also brought in its drones.

A four-day truce between Israel and Hamas began on Friday, and a source close to Hezbollah told the AFP news agency that the Iran-backed group would also adhere to the truce if Israel did.

UNIFIL said “this attack on peacekeepers, dedicated to reducing tensions and restoring stability in south Lebanon, is deeply troubling,” adding, “we condemn this act.”

Last month, shelling lightly wounded a UN peacekeeper near the border village of Hula, just hours after UNIFIL said a shell hit its headquarters in Naqura near the Israel-Lebanon border.

The force said it was investigating those incidents.

“We strongly remind the parties of their obligations to protect peacekeepers and avoid putting the men and women who are working to restore stability at risk,” Saturday’s UNIFIL statement said.

Cross-border fire has killed 109 people in Lebanon, including 77 Hezbollah fighters and 14 civilians, three of them journalists, according to an AFP count.

Six Israeli soldiers and three civilians have been killed on the Israeli side, according to the authorities.

Even as many Lebanese may feel for the plight of Palestinians, they also fear getting entangled in a new conflict, many having already experienced the 2006 war in which more than 1,200 people were killed in Lebanon, many of them civilians. At least 165 Israelis were also killed.

Since the pause went into effect on Friday, calm has largely returned to Lebanon’s southern border.

UNIFIL was set up in 1978 to monitor the withdrawal of Israeli forces after they invaded Lebanon in reprisal for a Palestinian attack.

It was bolstered after the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006, and its roughly 10,000 peacekeepers are tasked with monitoring the ceasefire between the two sides.



Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Palestinians stock up on essentials amid surge in Gaza food prices | Israel-Palestine conflict News

October saw ‘unprecedented’ spike in cost of water, wheat flour as Palestinians flock to markets on second day of truce.

Food prices skyrocketed in Gaza last month, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics has said, amid Israel’s bombardment of the enclave and suffocating siege.

The bureau on Saturday called the surge in October “unprecedented”, at a time when Palestinians are taking advantage of some respite in the fighting to stock up on essential items, on the second day of a four-day truce deal that includes the release of some of the Israeli captives held by Hamas in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Thousands of people were seen crowding around stalls and shops at the Nuseirat market in the central Gaza Strip, looking to secure much-needed food supplies. Across the Gaza Strip, people stood in long queues in order to buy wheat and other basic items.

The bureau said food and beverage prices had increased by 10 percent in October, while vegetables and wheat flour saw a 32 and 65 percent rise, respectively. The price of water increased by 100 percent.

Palestinians gather to buy fuel during a temporary truce between Hamas and Israel, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, November 25, 2023 [Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters]

Israel had suspended aid deliveries into the enclave after the conflict broke out on October 7, and restricted fuel supplies, with even bakeries rendered inactive due to the lack of wheat flour, water and fuel. The United Nations and humanitarian organisations have long warned of the “immediate possibility of starvation” and the spread of disease.

The UN said that the truce between Israel and Hamas has enabled it to scale up the delivery of food, water and medicine to the largest volume since the resumption of humanitarian aid convoys to Gaza on October 21.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said on Saturday it had delivered a convoy of 61 trucks carrying aid assistance to Gaza City and northern Gaza, whose residents were ordered by the Israeli military to evacuate.

The UN said earlier this month that people who remained in the north were resorting to “negative coping mechanisms due to food scarcity, including skipping or reducing meals and using unsafe and unhealthy methods for making fire”.

The PRCS said Saturday’s delivery was the largest since the war began. The trucks were “loaded with food and non-food items, water, primary health care medicines, and emergency medical supplies,” it said on X.

As part of the four-day deal between Hamas and Israel, 137 aid trucks entered Gaza on Friday, with the pause in hostilities.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said 129,000 litres (34,000 gallons) of fuel crossed into Gaza, along with four trucks carrying cooking gas for the first time since October 7.

However, aid agencies say much more is needed to assist the 2.3 million people living in the besieged enclave, calling the conditions on the ground “catastrophic”.

More than 1.7 million people have now been forcibly displaced across the Gaza Strip, with many sheltering in UN schools, which are experiencing severe overcrowding.

According to the UN, 2.2 million people need food assistance to survive.

More than 44,000 cases of diarrhoea and 70,000 cases of respiratory infections have been reported.



Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Gaza’s Indonesian Hospital in ruins after Israeli raid, days-long siege | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Nurses recall horror of Israeli raid, interrogations, saying troops beat and humiliated them as they refused to leave patients behind.

The Indonesian Hospital, one of northern Gaza’s largest healthcare facilities, was so severely damaged in Israeli attacks that it may never open again.

On Saturday, Munir al-Bursh, director-general of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, told Al Jazeera, “We are in shock and horrified at the scenes left by Israeli forces at the Indonesian Hospital.”

Israeli tanks and snipers had laid siege to the hospital in Beit Lahia for days, before targeting its main generator and raiding it in the early hours of Friday, shortly before a four-day truce between Israel and Hamas came into effect.

The ministry said on Friday that the hospital was undergoing “heavy bombardment” by the Israeli army and that there was fear for the lives of 200 injured people and medical staff. It added that intense Israeli fire killed a wounded woman and injured at least three others.

Now in ruins, the hospital is overwhelmed with large numbers of wounded people amid severe shortages in medical supplies. “Corridors have become wards and surgeons operate on the floor,” said Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javaid, who gained access to the facility.

“Outside the hospital building, the stench of death forces people to cover their nose, as charred and decomposing bodies, children among them, pile up in corners. No burials have taken place for days because Israeli snipers targeted anyone who ventured out to dig a grave,” he said.

Reporting from the hospital after the raid, Anas al-Sharif, one of the few remaining journalists in northern Gaza, said, “The occupation forces have damaged and destroyed large parts of the hospital. There’s been major destruction here. Even equipment and supplies have been ruined by occupation forces.”

Recalling the horror of the Israeli raid and interrogation of hospital staff, a nurse told Al Jazeera, “When they stormed the hospital we told them we are nurses, civilians, and that we have children and sick people here.”

“They interrogated me and three other nurses. They asked me about the resistance and if there were any fighters here. They asked about the entrances and exits of the hospital. We were all panicking. We were very scared,” she added.

Another nurse recalled how Israeli forces targeted the facility’s fourth floor with a missile and cut off electricity and solar power to the buildings.

“We had 25 people with broken pelvises who couldn’t be moved. They blew up this entrance, they shot the patients inside. They searched us one by one and scanned everyone’s faces. I told them I’m a nurse,” the male nurse from the emergency department told Al Jazeera.

“They took me to this corner and beat me, and asked me many questions about the hospital, the Israeli captives and hostages – whether I know anything about them. Every question was accompanied by a slap.

“After they left, we could’ve gone but I promised I would never leave my patients alone and that I would be the last one to leave this hospital,” said the nurse.

Hundreds of displaced people had previously sought asylum at the hospital, which is also close to the Jabalia refugee camp.

With the facility out of service for weeks and the damage severe, it remains unclear whether it will ever reopen.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Madagascar president re-elected as opposition denounces irregularities | Elections News

Andry Rajoelina has secured a third term in an election marred by a low turnout and an opposition boycott.

Madagascar‘s President Andry Rajoelina has effectively secured a third term after the electoral body (CENI) said he had obtained the most votes in an election marked by low turnout and an opposition boycott.

Provisional results announced on Saturday by CENI at the end of tallying showed Rajoelina garnered 58.9 percent of the vote followed by Siteny Randrianasoloniaiko, a lawmaker, who got 14.4 percent. The country’s High Constitutional Court is mandated to announce final results within nine days after the poll body declares provisional results.

“The Malagasy people have chosen the path of continuity, serenity and stability,” Rajoelina, a 49-year-old entrepreneur and former DJ, said after the results were announced.

“I thank the Malagasy people who now refuse to choose the wrong path, who no longer accept to take the path of unrest. Democracy is exercised through elections and not in the streets or through unrest.”

But Randrianasoloniaiko told the AFP news agency on Saturday he had appealed to the country’s apex court to demand the cancellation of the vote result.

“I filed two requests to request the cancellation of the vote and the disqualification of Andry Rajoelina,” Randrianasoloniaiko told the agency, denouncing electoral fraud.

Opposition candidates had declared on Friday they would not accept the results.

“We cannot legitimise the results that will come out,” said Hajo Andrianainarivelo, who was among 10 of the 13 candidates initially cleared to run who told voters to boycott the poll.

He said the poll had been tainted by irregularities including intimidation of polling officials and use of public resources by the governing party, which has denied the claims.

‘Unfair’ conditions

The majority of the opposition, aligned in the so-called Collectif des 10  – a group of 10 candidates – boycotted the election. The group has led street protests in the capital Antananarivo almost every day in recent weeks, several of which were dispersed with tear gas and police arrested many participants and bystanders.

The United Nations human rights office said that Malagasy security forces had used “unnecessary and disproportionate force” against peaceful protesters.

Opposition supporters claimed Rajoelina should not have run because he acquired French nationality in 2014 – which they say automatically revokes his Malagasy one – and had created unfair election conditions.

Collectif des 10 later asked the poll body to postpone the election saying the state needed to first appoint independent officials on the electoral body. When CENI refused, they decided to ask voters to boycott the poll.

Subsequently, only three candidates campaigned. Roughly 46.4 percent of voters cast their ballots, according to CENI, with the opposition describing it as the lowest turnout in the country’s history.

Rajoelina first rose to power in the Indian Ocean island nation in a 2009 coup. He then stepped down after almost five years as leader of a transitional authority and then became president again after winning a 2018 election.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Released Palestinians recount harsh conditions in Israeli prisons | Gaza News

NewsFeed

“We’ve been tortured.” As dozens of Palestinian women and children return home from Israeli prisons as part of a Gaza truce deal between Israel and Hamas, many say they endured incredibly harsh conditions while detained.

Published On 25 Nov 2023

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Liverpool hold Man City as Haaland scores fastest 50 Premier League goals | Football News

Liverpool snap City’s 23-match winning run at the Etihad as clash between the Premier League’s top two ends 1-1.

An 80th-minute goal from Trent Alexander-Arnold secured Liverpool a 1-1 draw with leaders Manchester City on Saturday, keeping Juergen Klopp’s team a point adrift of the top spot in the tight Premier League title race.

Erling Haaland had given defending champions City a first-half lead at Etihad Stadium on Saturday, becoming the quickest player to score 50 goals in the league.

But Liverpool capitalised when the Norwegian failed to add a second from close range in the 79th. The visitors immediately went on the attack, and Alexander-Arnold swept a shot past City goalkeeper Ederson.

The draw ended a remarkable 23-game winning stretch at Etihad Stadium across all competitions for Pep Guardiola’s City, who top the table on 29 points after 13 games. Liverpool have 28 points.
Arsenal can go top if they beat Brentford later in the day.

Haaland opened the scoring with a low effort from the edge of the box in the 27th.

Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson misjudged a clearance that was intercepted by Nathan Ake, who played in Haaland.

From there, it felt inevitable where the ball would end up as the forward turned and fired into the bottom corner, despite Alisson getting a hand to his shot.

The landmark goal came in 48 games and broke the record held by former Manchester United and Newcastle striker Andy Cole, who reached 50 total in 65 games.

There was a double fist pump in the executive seats where Haaland’s dad, former City player Alf-Inge, was celebrating joyously.

Back on the field, the player was mobbed by blue shirts after giving the home side the advantage against the team that is likely to be one of its closest challengers for the title this season.

But he was left to regret his failure to convert in the second half after Liverpool punished City.

Alisson was handed another let-off 20 minutes from time when he spilled a corner under minimal pressure from Manuel Akanji and Ruben Dias tapped home.

However, a VAR check did not overturn the referee’s on-field decision to award the Liverpool ‘keeper a soft free-kick.

Klopp turned to his bench to try and summon a response with Luis Diaz, Cody Gakpo and Ryan Gravenberch introduced.

Diaz’s father was among the crowd after being flown to England by Liverpool to enjoy the Christmas season following a kidnap ordeal in his native Colombia.

And Diaz was involved in Liverpool’s leveller against the run of play 10 minutes from time.

The Colombian picked out Salah, who laid the ball into Alexander-Arnold’s path for a fantastic finish into the bottom corner.

City pushed for a winner in eight minutes of added time but were thwarted as they failed to win at home for the first time since December 31 last year.

Alexander-Arnold said it was a big point on the road for Liverpool, who finished fifth last year.

“We haven’t had too many good results here in general. It’s a point gained,” Alexander-Arnold told Sky Sports.

“It wasn’t an amazing performance from us, but there were positives and we had chances to win the game.”

Liverpool boss Klopp said it was a good result for his side at a “tough place” to play.

“It’s no coincidence that they win that many home games. It’s a place where you have to be ready to suffer. The quality that they have, the fluidity that they have, they really know exactly who is going where.

“We are still in a process but I think if we played really well today we could have won. We didn’t – we played OK.”

City boss Pep Guardiola said he was pleased with the performance, if not the result.

“Excellent performance. Against a top, incredible team – the way we played was excellent,” Guardiola told Sky Sports.

“We were good in all departments, in the back, with our build-up with the keeper. We conceded just two shots on target, which is a complement for how we work.

“We know the quality Erling has, it was a really good finish. He had the header as well.

“It was an excellent performance. I’m so pleased. After many years that we still perform and run that way – there is so much to be proud of.”

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Gaza’s largest hospital ‘not functioning’ amid Israeli assault

The largest hospital in Gaza has ceased to function and fatalities among patients are rising, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Sunday, as a fierce Israeli assault continues in the Hamas-controlled strip.

Hospitals in the north of the Palestinian enclave, including the al-Shifa complex, are blockaded by Israeli forces and barely able to care for those inside, with three newborns dead and more at risk from power outages amid intense fighting nearby, according to medical staff.

Israel says it is homing in on Palestinian Hamas militants who launched deadly attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, and says the group has command centers under and near the hospitals.

The WHO managed to speak to health professionals at al-Shifa, who described a “dire and perilous” situation with constant gunfire and bombing exacerbating the already critical situation, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

Bureij refugee camp in the Deir Al-Balah governorate is treated at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital in central Gaza.
ZUMAPRESS.com / MEGA

“Tragically, the number of patient fatalities has increased significantly,” he said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, adding that al-Shifa was “not functioning as a hospital anymore”.

Tedros joined other top United Nations officials in calling for an immediate ceasefire.

“The world cannot stand silent while hospitals, which should be safe havens, are transformed into scenes of death, devastation, and despair,” he said.

Palestinians carry a casualty of Israeli strikes at Al Shifa hospital Gaza City on Nov. 9, 2023.
REUTERS

The president of Indonesia, home to the world’s biggest Muslim population, also called for a ceasefire ahead of meeting US President Joe Biden in Washington on Monday.

“A ceasefire must be implemented soon, we also must accelerate and increase the amount of humanitarian aid, and we must begin peace negotiations,” President Joko Widodo said in a video recorded after he took part in an Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Riyadh.

He said the world seemed “helpless” in the face of the suffering of the Palestinians.

Men check the bodies of people killed in bombardment that hit a school housing displaced Palestinians, as they lie on the ground in the yard of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on Nov. 10, 2023.
AFP via Getty Images

The extraordinary joint Islamic-Arab summit also urged the International Criminal Court to investigate “war crimes and crimes against humanity that Israel is committing” in the Palestinian territories.

Israel says it is trying to free the more than 200 hostages taken by Hamas militants on Oct. 7 and says the hospitals should be evacuated.

The European Union condemned Hamas for using “hospitals and civilians as human shields” in Gaza, while also urging Israel to show “maximum restraint” to protect civilians.

Palestinian girl Orheen Al-Dayah, who was injured in her forehead in an Israeli strike amid the ongoing conflict between Hamas and Israel, has her wounds stitched without anaesthesia, at Al Shifa hospital in Gaza City, on Nov. 8, 2023.
REUTERS

“These hostilities are severely impacting hospitals and taking a horrific toll on civilians and medical staff,” European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Sunday in a statement issued on behalf of the 27-nation bloc.

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Hamas was using hospitals and other civilian facilities to house fighters and weapons, which he said was a violation of the laws of war.

“The United States does not want to see firefights in hospitals where innocent people, patients receiving medical care, are caught in the crossfire and we’ve had active consultations with the Israeli Defense Forces on this,” Sullivan told CBS News.

Newborns are placed in bed after being taken off incubators in Gaza’s Al Shifa hospital after power outage, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Gaza City, Gaza on Nov. 12, 2023.
via REUTERS

Israel declared war on Hamas more than a month ago after militants rampaged through southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, according to Israeli officials.

Palestinian officials said on Friday that 11,078 Gaza residents had been killed in air and artillery strikes since then, around 40% of them children.

The Israeli military response has also prompted outrage in several cities across the world, where hundreds of thousands of people held protests demanding a ceasefire.

A Palestinian wounded in Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip is brought to a hospital in Khan Younis, on Nov. 12, 2023.
AP

Israel’s supporters, including in Washington, say a ceasefire would allow Hamas to prepare for more attacks, but the Biden administration has pushed Israel to allow pauses in the fighting for civilians to flee and for aid to enter.

Biden, who spoke on Sunday with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani about developments in Gaza, agreed that all hostages held by Hamas must be released “without further delay”, the White House said in a statement.

The conflict has raised fears of a broader conflagration.

Lebanon-based Hezbollah, which like Hamas is backed by Iran, has traded missile attacks with Israel, and other Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Syria have launched at least 40 separate drone and rocket attacks on US forces.

The United States carried out two air strikes in Syria against Iran-aligned groups on Sunday, a US defense official told Reuters, in what appeared to be the latest response to the attacks.

BABIES AT RISK

Israel’s military said it had offered to evacuate newborn babies and had placed 300 liters of fuel at al-Shifa’s entrance on Saturday night, but both gestures had been blocked by Hamas.

Hamas denied that it refused the fuel and said the hospital was under the authority of Gaza’s Health Ministry, adding that the amount of fuel Israel said it offered was “not enough to operate the (hospital’s) generators for more than half an hour”.

Ashraf Al-Qidra, spokesperson for the Health Ministry, said that of 45 babies in incubators at al-Shifa, three had already died.

A plastic surgeon in al-Shifa said bombing of the building housing incubators had forced staff to line up premature babies on ordinary beds, using the little power available to run the air conditioning to warm.

“We are expecting to lose more of them day by day,” said Dr Ahmed El Mokhallalati.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said the strip’s second largest hospital, Al-Quds, was also out of service, with staff struggling to care for those already there with little medicine, food and water.

“Al Quds hospital has been cut off from the world in the last six to seven days. No way in, no way out,” said Tommaso Della Longa, spokesperson for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

‘Devil-like figure’ uncovered in 230-year-old painting after restoration

A “devil-like figure” featured in a painting by a renowned artist that’s more than 230 years old has been rediscovered after a recent restoration.

The discovery came as a result of conservation work done by the National Trust on a painting of a Shakespearean scene by 18th Century artist Joshua Reynolds, who died in 1792.

Referred to by the Trust as a “fiend,” an evil spirit or demon, the painted figure proved to be controversial at the time.

The figure, covered by layers of paint and varnish, was included in Reynolds’ painting based on a Shakespearean death scene, which was titled “The Death of Cardinal Beaufort.”

Specifically, the painting shows a scene from Shakespeare’s “Henry VI, Part 2” with the king witnessing the death of Cardinal Beaufort.

The figure, which included fangs and a sinister expression, was painted at the head of the bed, just above the dying Beaufort’s head.

“It didn’t fit in with some of the artistic rules of the times to have a poetic figure of speech represented so literally in this monstrous figure,” said John Chu, the Trust’s senior national curator for pictures and sculpture. 

“While it was considered acceptable in literature to introduce the idea of a demon as something in the mind of a person, to include it visually in a painting gave it too physical a form. There were even people who argued that it should have been painted out, although records of conversations with the artist show he resisted such attempts to alter the work.”

The painting by Reynolds, first revealed at the Shakespeare Gallery in 1789, is one of four that the National Trust has conserved to mark the 300th anniversary of the artist’s birth.


Referred to by the Trust as a “fiend,” an evil spirit or demon, the painted figure proved to be controversial at the time.
National Trust

The artwork by Reynolds was created at the end of his career as a commercial commission for the Shakespeare Gallery in London’s Pall Mall, which paid 500 guineas for the painting, according to the Trust.

“The gallery also created prints for sale and export, something Britain was dominant in at the time. Engraver Caroline Watson produced the plates for prints of the Reynolds painting, the first copies showing the fiend, although a second print run in 1792, after the artist’s death, showed an attempt to remove it from the printing plate,” the Trust noted.

“It perhaps isn’t a surprise that it had receded so far into the shadows of the picture. It appears it was misunderstood by early conservators,” Chu said of the figure’s disappearance. “Some decades after the painting was done, that area seems to have deteriorated into small islands of paint and become less clear due to the constituent parts of the paint. Degradation of successive varnish layers over the years made it even less visible.”


The figure, which included fangs and a sinister expression, was painted at the head of the bed, just above the dying Beaufort’s head.
National Trust

After being examined by painting experts at the National Trust, it became clear that the fiend in the artwork had been painted over by several people and included six layers of varnish.

“Reynolds is always difficult for conservators because of the experimental way he worked, often introducing unusual materials in his paint medium, striving for the effects he wanted to achieve,” said Becca Hellen, the Trust’s senior national conservator for paintings. 

“The area with the fiend was especially difficult. Because it is in the shadows, it was painted with earth browns and dark colors which would always dry more slowly, causing shrinkage effects. … With the layers added by early restorers, it had become a mess of misinterpretation and multiple layers of paints.

“This is a large painting, and we wanted to ensure that it still represented what Reynolds originally painted, which included allowing the fiend to be uncovered through removing all the non-original darkened varnishes and ensuring it still correctly showed its form and perspective with the work we did.”

The painting is now back on display at Petworth House in West Sussex after treatment.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Parents of college student from NJ killed by stray bullet speak out

The grieving family of the New Jersey teen killed by a stray bullet on her Nashville college campus have paid tribute to her “beautiful soul” — with her mom saying that part of her own heart was taken with the loss.

Jillian Ludwig, 18, a freshman at Belmont University, died overnight Thursday, two days after she was first found struck in the back of the head by a round allegedly fired by a career criminal.

“There’s a piece of my heart that was taken from me,” Ludwig’s mom, Jessica, told WKRN-TV.

The slain teen’s dad, Matt, said: “It’s kind of hard to comprehend. She was thriving so well and doing so well in so many ways, in every way.

“For it to all change so suddenly — it’s, it’s hard to, it’s hard to process. It’s impossible to process,” he added.

The family had raced to Vanderbilt University Medical Center when their daughter was at first fighting for her life, before succumbing to her injuries, WSMV reported.

Jillian Ludwig, center, with her parents, Matt and Jessica.
Family Handout

Her aunt Geri Wainwright sent the outlet a text shortly before the family received the horrible news that she had died.

“Jillian has such a beautiful soul,” her aunt Geri Wainwright texted the outlet shortly before news of her niece’s death was announced.

“Her smile lights up any room and she is loved by everyone lucky enough to know her,” she wrote.

Jillian Ludwig was an accomplished musician who regularly gigged in her native New Jersey.
Facebook / Jillian Ludwig

“Jillian is fierce. She lives every day with passion. Her fearlessness, spontaneity, love of laughter, kindness and compassion make her irreplaceable to our family. Losing her would forever change the fabric of our lives,” Wainwright wrote at the time.

“We sent our girl into the world to do amazing things. Given the opportunity, she would have. So we have to ask, why was this man free?” she continued.

“What kind of world do we live in where it’s not safe to take a walk near your college dorm in broad daylight? How could someone so carelessly dim the light of a star destined to shine so bright?” the aunt added.

Ludwig was struck by a stray bullet as she walked near her Nashville campus.
Metro Nashville Police Department

Ludwig, a graduate of Wall High School in New Jersey, was an “accomplished student, musician, and vocalist,” she said.

“She chose to study Music Business at Belmont University. She loved the short time she’s spent at Belmont. She loves her life, her friends, parents and her younger brothers, Shane & Trevor,” Wainwright added.

On Thursday, the Wall Township Committee sent a letter to the community, remembering Ludwig and offering mental health resources, according to WKRN.

“We are incredibly saddened to hear about the tragic and untimely passing of Jillian Ludwig. Jillian was an exceptional young leader within our community,” it wrote.

“She graced us with her beautiful voice to sing the National Anthem at many township community events. Jillian was a member of the Young Women’s Leadership Committee of Wall Township and was the recipient of the 2023 Women’s Leadership Committee Scholarship Award,” the local committee said.

Ludwig performed at venues around her New Jersey community, playing bass and guitar along with singing during the Asbury Park Porch Fest and Red Bank in New Jersey, The Tennessean reported.

Her first show was more than two years ago, when she performed at The Saint in Asbury Park with her band Arcadia.  

Accused shooter Shaquille Taylor.
Metro Nashville Police Department

Ludwig was shot about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday while walking at Edgehill Community Memorial Gardens Park in Nashville.

Shaquille Taylor, 29, allegedly opened fire on a car from a public housing complex across the street — striking her as she walked on a track, police said.

Surveillance video and witnesses led cops to the suspected gunman, who admitted to firing shots, police said. He has been charged over previous shootings — but was released from custody earlier this year after being deemed incompetent to stand trial.

The suspect was accused of giving the gun to another person after Tuesday’s shooting, The Tennessean reported, citing court records. His girlfriend also told investigators that he admitted to her that he was involved in a shooting, according to police records cited by the paper.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Exit mobile version