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Witz, Conrad

(Encyclopedia)Witz, Conrad kônˈrät vĭts [key], fl. c.1434–c.1447, German painter, active at Basel and Geneva. Many of the works attributed to him, such as The Synagogue and the Meeting of Joachim and Anna, ca...

Alexius I

(Encyclopedia)Alexius I (Alexius Comnenus) əlĕkˈsēəs, kəmnēˈnəs [key], 1048–1118, Byzantine emperor (1081–1118). Under the successors of his uncle, Isaac I, the empire had fallen prey to anarchy and fo...

Klein, Melanie

(Encyclopedia)Klein, Melanie, 1882–1960, British psychoanalyst, b. Vienna. She became a psychoanalyst after seeking therapy from Sandor Ferenczi, a colleague of Sigmund Freud, who encouraged her to pursue her own...

Ivan V

(Encyclopedia)Ivan V, 1666–96, czar of Russia (1682–96), son of Czar Alexis by his first wife. Ivan was mentally retarded, and on the death of his elder brother, Feodor III, his succession was opposed by the su...

Guadalupe Victoria

(Encyclopedia)Guadalupe Victoria gwäᵺälo͞oˈpā vēktōrˈyä [key], 1786?–1843, Mexican general, first president of Mexico (1824–29), whose original name was Manuel Félix Fernández. He joined (1811) the...

Leibovitz, Annie

(Encyclopedia)Leibovitz, Annie lēbˈəvĭts [key], 1949–, American photographer, b. Waterbury, Conn., as Anna-Lou Leibovitz. A celebrated portrait photographer, she began contributing photographs to Rolling Ston...

Bennett, Arnold

(Encyclopedia)Bennett, Arnold (Enoch Arnold Bennett), 1867–1931, English novelist and dramatist. One of the great 20th-century English novelists, Bennett is famous for his realistic novels about the “Five Towns...

San Francisco Opera

(Encyclopedia)San Francisco Opera, opera company, founded 1923 by Italian-American conductor Gaetano Merola, who oversaw its early years as a touring company. In 1932 it established a permanent home at the War Memo...

Houston, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Houston, Samuel, 1793–1863, American frontier hero and statesman of Texas, b. near Lexington, Va. In 1836 Houston was elected the first president of the new Republic of Texas. The independence of ...

Gallitzin

(Encyclopedia)Gallitzin gəlyēˈtsĭn [key], Russian princely family. Among many alternate spellings are Galitzin, Galytzin, and Galitsin. Vasily Vasilyevich Gallitzin, d. 1619, helped to enthrone the first false ...