Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

333 results found

antique collecting

(Encyclopedia)antique collecting, the assembling of items of aesthetic, historical, and often monetary value from earlier eras. The term antique initially referred only to the preclassical and classical cultures of...

wood carving

(Encyclopedia)wood carving, as an art form, includes any kind of sculpture in wood, from the decorative bas-relief on small objects to life-size figures in the round, furniture, and architectural decorations. The w...

cathedral

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Floor plan of a cathedral cathedral, church in which a bishop presides. The designation is not dependent on the size or magnificence of a church edifice, but is entirely a matter of its assign...

woman suffrage

(Encyclopedia)woman suffrage, the right of women to vote. Throughout the latter part of the 19th cent. the issue of women's voting rights was an important phase of feminism. On the European mainland, Finland (1...

Renaissance

(Encyclopedia)Renaissance rĕnəsänsˈ, –zänsˈ [key] [Fr.,=rebirth], term used to describe the development of Western civilization that marked the transition from medieval to modern times. This article is conc...

dome

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Parts of a dome dome, a roof circular or (rarely) elliptical in plan and usually hemispherical in form, placed over a circular, square, oblong, or polygonal space. Domes have been built with a...

classicism

(Encyclopedia)classicism, a term that, when applied generally, means clearness, elegance, symmetry, and repose produced by attention to traditional forms. It is sometimes synonymous with excellence or artistic qual...

nursing

(Encyclopedia)nursing, science of providing continuous care for sick or infirm people. While nursing as an occupation has always existed, it is only in fairly recent years that it has developed as a specialized pro...

Raphael Santi

(Encyclopedia)Raphael Santi or Raphael Sanzio, Ital. Raffaello Santi or Raffaello Sanzio räfˌfäĕlˈlō sänˈtē, sänˈtsyō [key], 1483–1520, major Italian Renaissance painter, b. Urbino. In Raphael's work ...

Dürer, Albrecht

(Encyclopedia)Dürer, Albrecht älˈbrĕkht dürˈər [key], 1471–1528, German painter, engraver, and theoretician, most influential artist of the German school, b. Nuremberg. Dürer's principal accomplishmen...

Browse by Subject