Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

290 results found

opera

(Encyclopedia)opera, drama set to music. In the early part of the 20th cent. the foremost operatic composer was Richard Strauss. Although influenced by Wagner, he composed operas with even richer and more stunnin...

Michelangelo Buonarroti

(Encyclopedia)Michelangelo Buonarroti mīkəlănˈjəlō, Ital. mēkālänˈjālō bwōnär-rôˈtē [key], 1475–1564, Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet, b. Caprese, Tuscany. In his architectura...

Charles V, Holy Roman emperor

(Encyclopedia)Charles V, 1500–1558, Holy Roman emperor (1519–58) and, as Charles I, king of Spain (1516–56); son of Philip I and Joanna of Castile, grandson of Ferdinand II of Aragón, Isabella of Castile, Ho...

Mussolini, Benito

(Encyclopedia)Mussolini, Benito bānēˈtō mo͞os-sōlēˈnē [key], 1883–1945, Italian dictator and leader of the Fascist movement. Mussolini was at first cool to Adolf Hitler and opposed his designs on Aus...

Venice

(Encyclopedia)Venice vĕnˈĭs [key], Ital. Venezia, city (1991 pop. 309,422), capital of Venetia and of Venice prov., NE Italy, built on 118 alluvial islets within a lagoon in the Gulf of Venice (an arm of the Adr...

Innocent III

(Encyclopedia)Innocent III, b. 1160 or 1161, d. 1216, pope (1198–1216), an Italian, b. Anagni, named Lotario di Segni; successor of Celestine III. Innocent III was succeeded by Honorius III. Amid all his politi...

Titian

(Encyclopedia)Titian tĭshˈən [key], c.1490–1576, Venetian painter, whose name was Tiziano Vecellio, b. Pieve di Cadore in the Dolomites. Of the very first rank among the artists of the Renaissance, Titian was ...

Rome, city, Italy

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Roman Empire (a.d. 117) CE5 Rome, Ital. Roma, city (1991 pop. 2,775,250), capital of Italy and see of the pope, whose residence, Vatican City, is a sovereign state within the city of Rome. R...

portraiture

(Encyclopedia)portraiture, the art of representing the physical or psychological likeness of a real or imaginary individual. The principal portrait media are painting, drawing, sculpture, and photography. From earl...

Vienna, Congress of

(Encyclopedia)Vienna, Congress of, Sept., 1814–June, 1815, one of the most important international conferences in European history, called to remake Europe after the downfall of Napoleon I. Although the territo...