Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Roland de la Platière, Jeanne Manon Philipon

(Encyclopedia)Roland de la Platière, Jeanne Manon Philipon (Mme Roland) rôläNˈ də lä plätyĕrˈ [key], 1754–93, French revolutionary. Imbued with classical ideals and with the philosophy of Rousseau, she ...

Sarraute, Nathalie

(Encyclopedia)Sarraute, Nathalie nätälēˈ särōtˈ [key], 1900–1999, French novelist, b. Ivanovo, Russia, as Natasha Tcherniak; studied at the Sorbonne and Oxford. A lawyer, she joined (1925) a Paris firm. Sh...

Pagnol, Marcel

(Encyclopedia)Pagnol, Marcel märsĕlˈ pänyôlˈ [key], 1895–1974, French dramatist and film director. Pagnol gained recognition for his trilogy of sentimental comedies set on the Marseilles waterfront—Marius...

Benacerraf, Baruj

(Encyclopedia)Benacerraf, Baruj bäˈro͞okh bĕnăsˈərəf [key], 1920–2011, American immunologist, b. Caracas, Venezuela, grad. Columbia (B.S., 1942), Medical College of Virginia (M.D., 1945). Raised in Paris,...

Crèvecoeur, J. Hector St. John

(Encyclopedia)Crèvecoeur, J. Hector St. John krĕvkörˈ [key], 1735–1813, American author and agriculturist, b. France as Michel Guillaume Jean de Crèvecoeur. It is believed that he served under Montcalm in Ca...

Couthon, Georges

(Encyclopedia)Couthon, Georges zhōrzh ko͞otôNˈ [key], 1755?–1794, French revolutionary. An able lawyer, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly (1791) and to the Convention (1792). He became (1793) an impo...

Gérard, François Pascal Simon, Baron

(Encyclopedia)Gérard, François Pascal Simon, Baron zhārärˈ [key], 1770–1837, French portrait and historical painter, b. Rome. In Paris, after brief study under Pajou and others, he became a favorite pupil o...

Guitry, Lucien Germain

(Encyclopedia)Guitry, Lucien Germain säshäˈ [key], 1885–1957, actor and dramatist. Guitry's skillful and witty dramas include Nono (1905), Deburau (1918), Jean de la Fontaine (1922), and Mozart (1925). He also...

Vernet

(Encyclopedia)Vernet vĕrnāˈ [key], French family of painters. Claude Joseph Vernet, 1714–89, marine painter, b. Avignon, studied with his father, Antoine Vernet, a decorative painter, and in Rome, where he acq...

book of hours

(Encyclopedia)book of hours, form of prayer book developed in the 14th cent. from the prayers of clerics appended to the main service. The subjects of the miniature illustrations (see miniature painting) were frequ...
 

Browse by Subject