First ‘Impressionist’ art exhibition opens in Paris, featuring Monet, Degas, Renoir, and others
Impressionism is an art movement that took the French art world—and later the artistic spheres of other countries —by storm in the 19th century.
Arts, music, literature & entertainment
Antonio Torres of Spain invents the modern classic guitar
The form of the modern classical guitar is credited to Spanish guitar maker Antonio Torres circa 1850. Torres increased the size of the guitar body, altered its proportions, and invented the “fan” top bracing pattern.
Mozart begins works on his famous “Requiem”
Mozart’s Requiem is a choral masterpiece whose genesis is shrouded in mystery — one that makes the piece all the more fascinating and emotionally stirring.
Four great Anhui troupes introduce Anhui opera to Beijing for first time
Hui opera, or Huiju, remains as a popular regional genre of Chinese opera. It is now most prominent in the area around Huangshan City and Chizhou, as well as Wuyuan County, Jiangxi.
Bartolomeo Cristofori invents the piano
The piano is an acoustic, stringed musical instrument invented in Italy by Bartolomeo Cristofori around the year 1700 (the exact year is uncertain), in which the strings are struck by hammers.
The Spanish Golden Age begins
The Spanish Golden Age is a period of flourishing in arts and literature in Spain, coinciding with the rise of the Spanish Habsburg dynasty and the Spanish Empire.
Raphael completes his painting The School of Athens
The School of Athens is considered “the perfect embodiment of the classical spirit of the High Renaissance” and it is the most famous painting by Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino.
Leonardo da Vinci paints the Mona Lisa
Mona Lisa, oil painting on a poplar wood panel by the Italian painter, draftsman, sculptor, architect, and engineer Leonardo da Vinci, is probably the world’s most-famous painting.
Hieronymus Bosch paints “The Garden of Earthly Delights”
The Garden of Earthly Delights is considered Bosch’s seminal masterpiece and the most successful and outstanding of his creations.
Nichiren, founder of Nichiren Buddhism, inscribes the Dai-Gohonzon
The Dai Gohonzon is a venerated Mandala image inscribed with both Sanskrit and Chinese logographs on a median log trunk of Japanese camphorwood. It is worshipped in Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism.