Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

315 results found

Duchamp-Villon, Raymond

(Encyclopedia)Duchamp-Villon, Raymond rāmôNˈ düshäNˈ-vēyôNˈ [key], 1876–1918, French sculptor; brother of the artists Marcel Duchamp and Jacques Villon. From the tradition of Rodin he turned to cubism in...

ormolu

(Encyclopedia)ormolu ôrˈməlo͞o [key], finish used on metal to imitate gold. It is employed chiefly for furniture mountings. The term originally applied to a coating of ground gold and was extended to alloys of ...

Sorel, Agnès

(Encyclopedia)Sorel, Agnès änyĕsˈ sôrĕlˈ [key], c.1422–1450, mistress (1444–50) of Charles VII of France. She was the first mistress of a French king to be officially recognized as such. Witty and astute...

Brosse, Salomon de

(Encyclopedia)Brosse, Salomon de sälōmôNˈ də brôs [key], 1571–1626, French architect, trained by his grandfather, Jacques du Cerceau, the elder. He paved the way for the next generation in the use of classi...

cancan

(Encyclopedia)cancan kănˈkăn [key], a lively French dance marked chiefly by high kicking. It was developed in Paris in the 1830s and became a popular social dance there. By the mid-19th cent. it was incorporated...

Chaleur Bay

(Encyclopedia)Chaleur Bay shəlo͝orˈ [key], inlet of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, c.85 mi (140 km) long and from 15 to 25 mi (24–40 km) wide, between N N.B. and the Gaspé Peninsula, E Que., Canada. It is the subm...

Smith College

(Encyclopedia)Smith College, at Northampton, Mass.; undergraduate for women, graduate coeducational; chartered 1871, opened 1875 through a bequest of Sophia Smith. The first president, Laurenus Clark Seelye, was in...

Urban IV

(Encyclopedia)Urban IV, d. 1264, pope (1261–64), a Frenchman (b. Troyes) named Jacques Pantaléon; successor of Alexander IV. In the pontifical service he was sent on missions into N Germany; then he was made bis...

Marat, Jean Paul

(Encyclopedia)Marat, Jean Paul zhäN pōl märäˈ [key], 1743–93, French revolutionary, b. Switzerland. He studied medicine in England, acquired some repute as a doctor in London and Paris, and wrote scientific ...

Magdalen Islands

(Encyclopedia)Magdalen Islands ēl-də-lä-mädlĕnˈ [key], group of nine main islands and numerous islets (1991 pop. 13,991), Que., Canada, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence N of Prince Edward Island. They were discove...

Browse by Subject