Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Volterra, Daniele da

(Encyclopedia)Volterra, Daniele da dänyāˈlā dä vōltĕrˈrä [key], 1509–66, Italian mannerist painter and sculptor. His family name was Ricciarelli, but he was known by the name of his birthplace. He was ac...

Ruth

(Encyclopedia)Ruth, book of the Bible. It tells a story, set in the days of the judges, of the fidelity of a Moabite widow (Ruth) to her widowed mother-in-law (Naomi). After the death of her husband in Moab, Ruth r...

scene design and stage lighting

(Encyclopedia)scene design and stage lighting, settings and illumination designed for theatrical productions. See also drama, Western; Asian drama; theater; directing; acting. Scene designers in the early 20th ce...

Connecticut Wits

(Encyclopedia)Connecticut Wits or Hartford Wits, an informal association of Yale students and rectors formed in the late 18th cent. At first they were devoted to the modernization of the Yale curriculum and declari...

Friedlaender, Walter

(Encyclopedia)Friedlaender, Walter frēdˈlĕndər [key], 1873–1966, American art historian, b. Germany. Friedlaender pursued a distinguished academic career in Germany until 1934 and afterward taught at New York...

Jeroboam I

(Encyclopedia)Jeroboam I jĕrəbōˈəm [key], in the Bible, first king of the northern kingdom of Israel. He was an Ephraimite and led a revolt against Solomon, inspired probably by the restlessness of N Palestine...

Macdonald, George

(Encyclopedia)Macdonald, George, 1824–1905, Scottish author. Ordained a Congregational minister, he eventually abandoned his vocation to become a writer and freelance preacher. His first published works were seve...

Ujiji

(Encyclopedia)Ujiji o͞ojēˈjē [key], town, Kigoma prov., W Tanzania, suburb of Kigoma, on Lake Tanganyika. Ujiji was an important settlement of Arab and Swahili ivory and slave traders between c.1850 and c.1890....

Sluter, Claus

(Encyclopedia)Sluter, Claus klous slüˈtər [key], d. 1406, Flemish sculptor, probably of Dutch extraction, active in Burgundy. Under Philip the Bold of Burgundy he had charge of the sculptural works for the porch...

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

(Encyclopedia)Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO), founded 1916. Originally a branch of the city's municipal government, it was reorganized as a private institution in 1942. Its main home is the 2,443-seat Joseph Me...