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Van Gogh, Vincent

(Encyclopedia)Van Gogh, Vincent văn gō, Dutch vĭnsĕntˈ vän khôkh [key], 1853–90, postimpressionist painter, b. the Netherlands. Van Gogh's works are perhaps better known generally than those of any other p...

Mesopotamia

(Encyclopedia)Mesopotamia mĕsˌəpətāˈmēə [key] [Gr.,=between rivers], ancient region of Asia, the territory about the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, included in modern Iraq. The region extends from the Persian...

furniture

(Encyclopedia)furniture, properly such movables as chairs, tables, and beds; it is extended to include draperies, rugs, mirrors, lamps, and other furnishings. In its gradual evolution from periods of earliest civil...

Japanese architecture

(Encyclopedia)Japanese architecture, structures created on the islands that constitute Japan. Evidence of prehistoric architecture in Japan has survived in the form of models of terra-cotta houses buried in tombs a...

Chaucer, Geoffrey

(Encyclopedia)Chaucer, Geoffrey jĕfˈrē chôˈsər [key], c.1340–1400, English poet, one of the most important figures in English literature. To Chaucer's final period, in which he achieved his fullest artist...

Roman art

(Encyclopedia)Roman art, works of art produced in ancient Rome and its far-flung provinces. The continued striving after three-dimensional illusionist effects revealed in the various phases of painting was dup...

Jesuit Estates Act

(Encyclopedia)Jesuit Estates Act jĕzhˈəwĭt, jĕzˈ– [key], law adopted in 1888 by the Quebec legislature, partly to indemnify the Society of Jesus for Jesuit property confiscated by the British during the per...

Lurgan

(Encyclopedia)Lurgan lûrˈgən [key], town (1991 pop. 21,905), Co. Ulster, central Northern Ireland, near Lough Neagh. A textile center since the 17th cent., Lurgan is also a market hub with factories that produce...

Méhul, Étienne Nicolas

(Encyclopedia)Méhul, Étienne Nicolas ātyĕnˈ nēkôläˈ māülˈ [key], 1763–1817, French operatic composer of outstanding importance during the Revolutionary period. Méhul's masterpiece was the biblical op...

Mosconi, Willie

(Encyclopedia)Mosconi, Willie (William Joseph Mosconi) mŏskōˈnē [key], 1913–93, U.S. professional billiard player, b. Philadelphia. After a brief period as a child prodigy he did not take up the game again un...