Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Lully, Jean Baptiste

(Encyclopedia)Lully, Jean Baptiste zhäN bätēstˈ lülēˈ [key], 1632–87, French operatic composer, b. Florence, Italy. His name originally was Giovanni Battista Lulli. A self-taught violinist, he went to Fran...

Lumière, Louis Jean

(Encyclopedia)Lumière, Louis Jean ōgüstˈ [key], 1862–1954, French inventors, brothers. They invented the Cinématographe, which was patented and demonstrated in 1895. This mechanism was the first to photograp...

Massillon, Jean Baptiste

(Encyclopedia)Massillon, Jean Baptiste zhäN bätēstˈ mäsēyôNˈ [key], 1663–1742, French clergyman, bishop of Clermont from 1717. He was celebrated for his preaching, especially at the courts of Louis XIV an...

Marmontel, Jean François

(Encyclopedia)Marmontel, Jean François zhäN fräNswäˈ märmôNtĕlˈ [key], 1723–99, French critic, dramatist, and story writer, contributor to Diderot's Encyclopédie. Educated by the Jesuits, he taught in J...

Leclair, Jean-Marie

(Encyclopedia)Leclair, Jean-Marie zhäN-märēˈ ləklĕr [key], 1697–1764, French violinist and composer. Leclair studied in Italy, and his music was strongly influenced by Italian models, especially Vivaldi, al...

Le Clerc, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Le Clerc, Jean lə klĕrˈ [key], Latin Johannes Clericus, 1657–1736, Swiss Arminian theologian and biblical scholar. He preached in France and in London, then, drawn to the teachings of the Dutch ...

Lesueur, Jean François

(Encyclopedia)Lesueur or Le Sueur, Jean François zhäN fräNswäˈ [key], 1760–1837, French composer. During the French Revolution his operas, such as La Caverne (1793) and Paul et Virginie (1794), were highly p...

Liotard, Jean-Étienne

(Encyclopedia)Liotard, Jean-Étienne zhäN ātyĕnˈ lyôtärˈ [key], 1702–89, Swiss painter. He is best known for his portraits and drawings in pastel, but he also made portraits in oil, paintings on glass and ...

Kerr, Jean Collins

(Encyclopedia)Kerr, Jean Collins, 1923–2003, American comic author and playwright, b. Scranton, Pa., wife of Walter Kerr. Kerr had a knack for finding wry humor in the worlds of marriage, suburbia, and show busin...

Lehn, Jean-Marie

(Encyclopedia)Lehn, Jean-Marie zhäNˈ-märēˈ lĕN [key], 1939–, French chemist, Ph.D. Univ. of Strasbourg, 1963. A professor at Louis Pasteur Univ. (1970–78) and the Collège de France (1979–), Lehn did gr...

Browse by Subject