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Victor Amadeus II

(Encyclopedia)Victor Amadeus II ămədēˈəs [key], 1666–1732, duke of Savoy (1675–1713), king of Sicily (1713–20), king of Sardinia (1720–30). Succeeding his father, Charles Emmanuel II, as duke of Savoy,...

Vidal, Gore

(Encyclopedia)Vidal, Gore (Eugene Luther Gore Vidal, Jr.), 1925–2012, American writer, b. West Point, N.Y. He grew up in Washington, D.C., where a formative influence was his witty and scholarly grandfather, Sena...

orders, holy

(Encyclopedia)orders, holy [Lat. ordo,=rank], in Christianity, the traditional degrees of the clergy, conferred by the Sacrament of Holy Order. The episcopacy, priesthood or presbyterate, and diaconate were in gene...

Leopold I, Holy Roman emperor

(Encyclopedia)Leopold I, 1640–1705, Holy Roman emperor (1658–1705), king of Bohemia (1656–1705) and of Hungary (1655–1705), second son and successor of Ferdinand III. Upon his elder brother's death (1654), ...

expressionism

(Encyclopedia)expressionism, term used to describe works of art and literature in which the representation of reality is distorted to communicate an inner vision. The expressionist transforms nature rather than imi...

Bordeaux

(Encyclopedia)Bordeaux bôrdōˈ [key], city, capital of Gironde dept., SW France, on the Garonne River. Bo...

French architecture

(Encyclopedia)French architecture, structures created in the area of Europe that is now France. Engineers and architects, including François Hennebique, Auguste Perret, and Tony Garnier, pioneered the use of rei...

Gnosticism

(Encyclopedia)Gnosticism nŏsˈtĭsĭzəm [key], dualistic religious and philosophical movement of the late Hellenistic and early Christian eras. The term designates a wide assortment of sects, numerous by the 2d c...

Gehry, Frank Owen

(Encyclopedia)Gehry, Frank Owen gĕrˈē [key], 1929–, American architect, b. Toronto, Ont., as Frank Owen Goldberg. He is widely considered one of the finest and most artful of contemporary architects. In 1947, ...

mask

(Encyclopedia)mask, cover or partial cover for the face or head used as a disguise or protection. Masks have been worn from time immemorial throughout the world. They are used by primitive peoples chiefly to impers...