Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

258 results found

Hermes, in Greek religion and mythology

(Encyclopedia)Hermes, in Greek religion and mythology, son of Zeus and Maia. His functions were many, but he was primarily the messenger of the gods, particularly of Zeus, and conductor of souls to Hades. He was go...

Guercino

(Encyclopedia)Guercino gwĕrchēˈnō [key], 1591–1666, Italian painter whose original name was Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, b. near Bologna. He studied with Ludovico Carracci. Extremely skillful, prolific, and q...

Fontana, Domenico

(Encyclopedia)Fontana, Domenico fōntäˈnä [key], 1543–1607, Italian architect. He went to Rome, where he built (c.1580) the Sistine Chapel in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore for Cardinal Peretti. When his ...

Pistoia

(Encyclopedia)Pistoia pēstôˈyä [key], city (1991 pop. 87,830), capital of Pistoia prov., Tuscany, central Italy, at the foot of the Apennines. It is an agricultural and industrial center. Manufactures include l...

Calvino, Italo

(Encyclopedia)Calvino, Italo ĭtəlō călvēˈnō [key], 1923–85, Italian novelist. Calvino was one of the most popular novelists of the 20th cent. Although loneliness is an essential condition in his writings, ...

Italian art

(Encyclopedia)Italian art, works of art produced in the geographic region that now constitutes the nation of Italy. Italian art has engendered great public interest and involvement, resulting in the consistent prod...

fashion

(Encyclopedia)fashion, in dress, the prevailing mode affecting modifications in costume. Styles in Asia have been characterized by freedom from change, and ancient Greek and Roman dress preserved the same flowing l...

Arte Povera

(Encyclopedia)Arte Povera [Ital.,=poor art], influential art movement that arose in Italy in the late 1960s. It was championed by the Italian art critic Germano Celant, who also named (1967) the movement. It was ch...

Lorenzo Monaco

(Encyclopedia)Lorenzo Monaco mōˈnäkō [key], c.1370–1425?, Italian painter, one of the leading artists in Florence at the beginning of the 15th cent. His real name was Piero di Giovanni. Born in Siena, he came...

Luini, Bernardino

(Encyclopedia)Luini, Bernardino bārnärdēˈnō lo͞oēˈnē [key], c.1480–1532, b. Luino, Italian painter, son of Giovanni Lutero. Among the extant works of his early years (before 1510) are a Pietà (Santa Mar...