Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

425 results found

Ghirlandaio, Domenico

(Encyclopedia)Ghirlandaio or Ghirlandajo, Domenico both: dōmĕˈnēkō gērländäˈyō [key], 1449–94, Florentine painter, whose family name was Bigordi. He may have studied painting and mosaics under Alesso Ba...

John VI, king of Portugal

(Encyclopedia)John VI, 1769–1826, king of Portugal (1816–26), son of Maria I and Peter III. When his mother became insane, John assumed the reins of government (1792), although he did not formally become regent...

lyric

(Encyclopedia)lyric, in ancient Greece, a poem accompanied by a musical instrument, usually a lyre. Although the word is still often used to refer to the songlike quality in poetry, it is more generally used to ref...

Assisi

(Encyclopedia)Assisi äs-sēˈzē [key], town, Umbria, central Italy. A religious and tourist center, it stands on a hill in the Apennines with an expansive view of the plains below. Al...

Masolino da Panicale

(Encyclopedia)Masolino da Panicale mäzōlēˈnō dä pänēkäˈlā [key], 1383–c.1447, Florentine painter of the early Renaissance, whose real name was Tommaso di Cristoforo Fini. His versatile painting incorpo...

Los Angeles Philharmonic

(Encyclopedia)Los Angeles Philharmonic, founded in 1919 by William Andrews Clark, Jr. After his death the Southern California Symphony Association was formed in 1934 to sponsor the orchestra. It was housed in Philh...

Palma, Jacopo

(Encyclopedia)Palma, Jacopo yäˈkōpō pälˈmä [key], c.1480–1528, Venetian painter, called Palma Vecchio. He formed his style under the influence of Giovanni Bellini, Titian, and Giorgione and ranks as one of...

Caldwell, Zoe

(Encyclopedia)Caldwell, Zoe (Zoe Ada Caldwell) zō [key], 1933–2020, Australian theater actress. From the late 1950s she played many Shakespearean roles first with England's Royal Shakespeare Company and then at ...

Brunelleschi, Filippo

(Encyclopedia)Brunelleschi, Filippo fēlēpˈpō bro͞onĕl-lĕsˈkē [key], 1377–1446, first great architect of the Italian Renaissance, a Florentine by birth. Trained as sculptor and goldsmith, he designed a tr...

Banat

(Encyclopedia)Banat bäˈnät [key], region extending across W Romania, NE Serbia, and S Hungary. The term banat originally referred to any of several frontier provinces of Hungary and Croatia that were ruled by ba...