Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Meryon, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Meryon, Charles shärl mĕryôNˈ [key], 1821–68, French etcher. His short life was saddened by poverty and neglect and complicated by recurring forms of mental aberration. Prevented by color blindn...

Creighton, Mandell

(Encyclopedia)Creighton, Mandell mănˈdəl krīˈtən [key], 1843–1901, British historian and churchman. He was professor of ecclesiastical history at Cambridge from 1884 until his appointment (1891) as bishop o...

corset

(Encyclopedia)corset, article of dress designed to support or modify the figure. Greek and Roman women sometimes wrapped broad bands about the body. In the Middle Ages a short, close-fitting, laced outer bodice or ...

clerestory

(Encyclopedia) CE5 Clerestory clerestory or clearstory both: klĭrˈstōrˌē, –stôrˌē [key], a part of a building whose walls rise higher than the roofs of adjoining parts of the structure. Pierced by wind...

Chichimec

(Encyclopedia)Chichimec chēchēmĕkˈ [key], general term for the peoples of the Valley of Mexico between the periods of Toltec ascendancy and Aztec ascendancy. Before the 11th cent. the Chichimec were nomadic peo...

Duyckinck, Evert Augustus

(Encyclopedia)Duyckinck, Evert Augustus dīˈkĭngk [key], 1816–78, American editor and biographer, b. New York City, grad. Columbia, 1835. From 1840 to 1842 he edited Arturus, a Journal of Books and Opinion, and...

Frederick III, elector of Saxony

(Encyclopedia)Frederick III or Frederick the Wise, 1463–1525, elector of Saxony (1486–1525). At Wittenberg he founded (1502) the university where Martin Luther and Melanchthon taught. At a crucial period for th...

Garcilaso de la Vega, Peruvian historian

(Encyclopedia)Garcilaso de la Vega gärsēläˈsō dā lä vāˈgä [key], 1539–1616, Peruvian historian; son of the Spanish conquistador Sebastián Garcilaso de la Vega and an Incan princess and therefore called...

Floris, Frans

(Encyclopedia)Floris, Frans fräns flōˈrĭs [key], c.1517–70, Flemish painter, originally named Frans de Vriendt; son of an Antwerp stonecutter. He studied in Liège and Rome. Returning to Antwerp in 1540, he o...

Fontana, Carlo

(Encyclopedia)Fontana, Carlo kärˈlō fōntäˈnä [key], 1634–1714, Italian architect. During his early years he worked for three of the most important architects of the high baroque period—Rainaldi, Cortona,...
 

Browse by Subject