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Dickens, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Dickens, Charles, 1812–70, English author, b. Portsmouth, one of the world's most popular, prolific, and skilled novelists. Charles Dickens is one of the giants of English literature. He wrote fro...

Correggio

(Encyclopedia)Correggio kərĕjˈō [key], c.1494–1534, Italian painter, whose real name was Antonio Allegri, called Correggio for his birthplace. He learned the rudiments of art from his uncle Lorenzo Allegri. H...

Clouet, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Clouet, Jean both: zhänĕˈ [key], c.1485–1540, portrait and miniature painter. He was court painter and valet de chambre to the French king Francis I. He is thought to have been Flemish and may ha...

Murillo, Bartolomé Estéban

(Encyclopedia)Murillo, Bartolomé Estéban bärtōlōmāˈ āstāˈbän mo͞orēˈlyō [key], 1617?–1682, Spanish religious and portrait painter. He was born in Seville, where most of his life was spent. There, c...

Norfolk, Thomas Howard, 3d duke of

(Encyclopedia)Norfolk, Thomas Howard, 3d duke of, 1473–1554, English nobleman, prominent in the reign of Henry VIII; son of Thomas Howard, the 2d duke. He married (1495) a daughter of Edward IV and thus became br...

Miranda, Francisco de

(Encyclopedia)Miranda, Francisco de fränsēˈskō ᵺā mēränˈdä [key], 1750–1816, Venezuelan revolutionist and adventurer. A hero of the struggle for independence from Spain, he is sometimes called the Prec...

Kuban

(Encyclopedia)Kuban ko͞obănˈ, –bänˈ, Rus. ko͞obäˈnyə [key], river, c.570 mi (920 km) long, rising in the Greater Caucasus on the western slopes of Mt. Elbrus, S European Russia, and flowing north in a wi...

Kazan

(Encyclopedia)Kazan kəzänˈ, –zănˈ, Rus. kəzäˈnyə [key], city (1989 est. pop. 1,094,000), capital of Tatarstan, E European Russia, on the Volga. It is a major historic, cultural, industrial, and commercia...

Medici, Italian family

(Encyclopedia)Medici mĕˈdĭchē, Ital. māˈdēchē [key], Italian family that directed the destinies of Florence from the 15th cent. until 1737. Of obscure origin, they rose to immense wealth as merchants and ba...

flagellants

(Encyclopedia)flagellants flăjˈələnts, fləjĕlˈənts [key], term applied to the groups of Christians who practiced public flagellation as a penance. The practice supposedly grew out of the floggings administe...