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Queneau, Raymond

(Encyclopedia)Queneau, Raymond rāmôNˈ kĕnōˈ [key], 1903–76, French author and critic. He was an advocate of surrealism during the middle and late 1920s. Queneau is best known for his manipulations of style ...

Henri

(Encyclopedia)Henri, 1955–, grand duke of Luxembourg (2000–), the oldest son of Jean, grand duke of Luxembourg, and Joséphine Charlotte, princess of Belgium. In 1981 Henri married María Teresa Mestre y Batist...

French art

(Encyclopedia)French art, the artistic production of the region that constitutes the historic nation of France. See also French architecture. The innovations of postimpressionism, combined with the influence of C...

Tristram and Isolde

(Encyclopedia)Tristram and Isolde trĭsˈtrəm, ĭsōlˈdə, ĭzōlˈ– [key], medieval romance. The earliest extant version (incomplete) was written (c.1185) by Thomas of Britain in Anglo-Norman French verse. Abo...

Guébriant, Jean Baptiste Budes, comte de

(Encyclopedia)Guébriant, Jean Baptiste Budes, comte de zhäN bätēstˈ büd kôNt də gābrēäNˈ [key], 1602–43, marshal of France and general in the Thirty Years War. He commanded the French auxiliaries of B...

Mignard, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Mignard, Pierre pyĕr mēnyärˈ [key], 1612–95, French painter. In 1657 he was summoned by Louis XIV to portray the king and celebrities of the court. In 1664 he decorated, in fresco, the cupola of...

Auber, Daniel-François-Esprit

(Encyclopedia)Auber, Daniel-François-Esprit dänyĕlˈ fräNswäˈ ĕsprēˈ ōbĕrˈ [key], 1782–1871, French operatic composer. His greatest successes resulted from his collaboration with the librettist Scribe...

Coppée, François

(Encyclopedia)Coppée, François fräNswäˈ kôpāˈ [key], 1842–1908, French poet and dramatist. He won fame with the one-act comedy Le Passant (1869, tr. 1881), in which Sarah Bernhardt made her first successf...

Pisan, Christine de

(Encyclopedia)Pisan, Christine de krēstēnˈ də pēzäNˈ [key], 1364–c.1430, French poet, of Italian descent. She wrote many verse romances and works in prose, as well as the lyric poems for which she is most ...

Restif de la Bretonne, Nicolas Edme

(Encyclopedia)Restif de la Bretonne, Nicolas Edme nëkôläˈ ĕdˈmə rĕstēfˈ də lä brətônˈ [key], 1734–1806, French novelist. A printer by trade, he wrote and published over 250 novels, mostly based on ...