Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Cellini, Benvenuto

(Encyclopedia)Cellini, Benvenuto chĕlēˈnē, Ital. bānvāno͞oˈtō chāl-lēˈnē [key], 1500–1571, Italian sculptor, metalsmith, and author. His remarkable autobiography (written 1558–62), which reads like...

Racine, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Racine, Jean zhäN räsēnˈ [key], 1639–99, French dramatist. Racine is the prime exemplar of French classicism. The nobility of his Alexandrine verse, the simplicity of his diction, the psychologi...

Hapsburg

(Encyclopedia)Hapsburg or Habsburg both: hăpsˈbûrg, Ger. häpsˈbo͝ork [key], ruling house of Austria (1282–1918). In the 19th cent. the Hapsburg position was challenged in Germany by Prussia, in Italy b...

adult education

(Encyclopedia)adult education, extension of educational opportunities to those adults beyond the age of general public education who feel a need for further training of any sort, also known as continuing education....

Fowler, Henry Watson

(Encyclopedia)Fowler, Henry Watson, 1858–1933, English lexicographer, b. Devon, educated at Oxford. Both he and his brother, Francis G. Fowler (1870–1918), had been teachers before they began their literary col...

crèche

(Encyclopedia)crèche krĕsh, krāsh [key], representation of the Infant Jesus in the manger, usually surrounded by figures of Mary, Joseph, shepherds, animals, and the Wise Men; also called Christmas Crib. The cr...

Pilon, Germain

(Encyclopedia)Pilon, Germain zhĕrmăNˈ pēlôNˈ [key], 1535–90, French sculptor. He was court sculptor under the later Valois sovereigns. He executed several sculptures on Henry II's mausoleum at Saint-Denis. ...

Saint François

(Encyclopedia)Saint François săN fräNswäˈ [key] or Saint Francis. 1 River, 165 mi (266 km) long, rising in Lac St. François, SE Que., Canada, and flowing SW through Lac Aylmer to Sherbrooke, then NW past Drum...

Pardo Bazán, Emilia, condesa de

(Encyclopedia)Pardo Bazán, Emilia, condesa de āmēˈlyä kōndāˈsä dā pärˈᵺō bäthänˈ [key], 1852–1921, Spanish novelist and critic. Her biography of St. Francis of Assisi appeared the same year as h...

Browse by Subject