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Castagno, Andrea del

(Encyclopedia)Castagno, Andrea del ändrĕˈä dĕl kästäˈnyō [key], c.1423–1457, major Florentine painter of the early Renaissance. His first recorded painting (1440; now destroyed), effigies of hanged men, ...

Angelico, Fra

(Encyclopedia)Angelico, Fra frä änjĕlˈĭkō [key], c.1400–1455, Florentine painter, b. Vicchio, Tuscany. He was variously named Guido (his baptismal name), or Guidolino, di Pietro; and Giovanni da Fiesole. Af...

Boccaccio, Giovanni

(Encyclopedia)Boccaccio, Giovanni jōvänˈnē [key], 1313–75, Italian poet and storyteller, author of the Decameron. Born in Paris, the illegitimate son of a Tuscan merchant and a French woman, he was educated a...

Ford, Gerald Rudolph

(Encyclopedia)Ford, Gerald Rudolph, 1913–2006, 38th president of the United States (1974–77), b. Omaha, Nebr. He was originally named Leslie Lynch King, Jr., but his parents were divorced when he was two, and w...

Duccio di Buoninsegna

(Encyclopedia)Duccio di Buoninsegna do͞otˈchō dē bwōnēnsāˈnyä [key], fl. 1278–1319, early Italian artist, first great painter of Siena. Infusing new life into the stylized Byzantine tradition, he initiat...

Montale, Eugenio

(Encyclopedia)Montale, Eugenio āo͞ojĕˈnyō mōntäˈlā [key], 1896–1981, Italian poet, critic, and translator. After working as an editor, Montale became chief librarian of the Gabinetto Vieusseux in Florenc...

Nervi, Pier Luigi

(Encyclopedia)Nervi, Pier Luigi pyĕr lwo͞oēˈjē nĕrˈvē [key], 1891–1979, Italian architectural engineer. Nervi is considered one of the foremost European architectural designers of the 20th cent. His first...

Massinger, Philip

(Encyclopedia)Massinger, Philip măsˈənjər [key], 1583–1640, English dramatist, b. Salisbury. He studied at Oxford (1602–6) but left without a degree, apparently to go to London to write plays. A prolific wr...

Parker, Theodore

(Encyclopedia)Parker, Theodore, 1810–60, American theologian and social reformer, b. Lexington, Mass. He graduated from Harvard Divinity School in 1836 and was pastor (1837–46) of the Spring Street Unitarian Ch...

Uccello, Paolo

(Encyclopedia)Uccello, Paolo päˈōlō o͞ot-chĕlˈlō [key], c.1396–1475, Florentine painter. Uccello was little appreciated in his own time, and much of his work has been destroyed or is in poor condition. Al...