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Buffet, Bernard

(Encyclopedia)Buffet, Bernard bĕrnärˈ büfāˈ [key], 1928–99, French painter. Buffet's melancholy paintings are characterized by prominent black outlining and grayed, muddied colors. The subjects of his many ...

Maupassant, Guy de

(Encyclopedia)Maupassant, Guy de gē də mōpäsäNˈ [key], 1850–93, French novelist and short-story writer, of an ancient Norman family. He worked in a government office at Paris and became known c.1880 as the ...

Montherlant, Henri de

(Encyclopedia)Montherlant, Henri de äNrēˈ də môNtĕrläNˈ [key], 1896–1972, French writer. His novels are decadent and egotistical and glorify force and masculinity. Montherlant fought in World War I and wa...

Catherine de' Medici

(Encyclopedia)Catherine de' Medici dĕ mĕdˈĭchē, Ital. dā mĕˈdēchē [key], 1519–89, queen of France, daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici, duke of Urbino. She was married (1533) to the duc d'Orléans, later Kin...

Marivaux, Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de

(Encyclopedia)Marivaux, Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de pyĕrˈ kärlāˈ də shäNblēˈ də märēvōˈ [key], 1688–1763, French dramatist and novelist. He enjoyed popularity for a time with his numerous comedies...

Cormenin, Louis Marie de La Haye, vicomte de

(Encyclopedia)Cormenin, Louis Marie de La Haye, vicomte de lwē märēˈ də lä ā vēkôNtˈ də kôrmənăNˈ [key], 1788–1868, French politician, jurist, and pamphleteer. He held minor offices under Napoleon,...

Maurepas, Jean Frédéric Phélippeaux, comte de

(Encyclopedia)Maurepas, Jean Frédéric Phélippeaux, comte de zhäN frādārēkˈ fālēpōˈ kôNt də môrəpäˈ [key], 1701–81, French statesman. He succeeded his father as minister of state at 14, the post ...

Morny, Charles Auguste Louis Joseph, duc de

(Encyclopedia)Morny, Charles Auguste Louis Joseph, duc de shärl ōgüstˈ lwē zhôzĕfˈ dük də môrnēˈ [key], 1811–65, French statesman; illegitimate son of Hortense de Beauharnais and the comte de Flahaut...

Bernard of Cluny

(Encyclopedia)Bernard of Cluny môrlāˈ [key], fl. 1150, French Cluniac monk, of English parentage. He wrote De contemptu mundi [on contempt for the world], a poem in 3,000 hexameters. On it Horatio Parker based h...

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