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Visconti, Ennio Quirino

(Encyclopedia)Visconti, Ennio Quirino vēskônˈtē [key], 1751–1818, Italian archaeologist. He was conservator of the Capitoline Museum, Rome, and one of the consuls of the brief Roman republic (1798). A politi...

Strozzi

(Encyclopedia)Strozzi strôtˈtsē [key], noble Florentine family. It grew rich through commerce and took an active part in the government of the city after the 13th cent. Later the Strozzi strongly opposed the Med...

Berenson, Bernard

(Encyclopedia)Berenson, Bernard bĕrˈənsən [key], 1865–1959, American art critic and connoisseur of Italian art, b. Lithuania, grad. Harvard, 1887. An expert and an arbiter of taste, he selected for art collec...

fountain

(Encyclopedia)fountain, natural or artificially conveyed flow of water. In ancient Greece columnar shrines were built over springs and dedicated to deities or nymphs. In ancient Rome fountains fed by the great aque...

French architecture

(Encyclopedia)French architecture, structures created in the area of Europe that is now France. Engineers and architects, including François Hennebique, Auguste Perret, and Tony Garnier, pioneered the use of rei...

libretto

(Encyclopedia)libretto ləbrĕtˈō [key] [Ital.,=little book], the text of an opera or an oratorio. Although a play usually emphasizes an integrated plot, a libretto is most often a loose plot connecting a series ...

Medici, Alessandro de'

(Encyclopedia)Medici, Alessandro de' mĕˈdĭchē, Ital. māˈdēchē [key], 1510?–37, duke of Florence (1532–37); probably an illegitimate son of Lorenzo de' Medici, duke of Urbino. His prominence began when ...

Favre, Brett

(Encyclopedia)Favre, Brett (Brett Lorenzo Favre) färv [key], 1969–, American football player, b. Gulfport, Miss. As starting quarterback at the Univ. of Southern Mississippi he led the team to two bowl games and...

Ustinov, Sir Peter

(Encyclopedia)Ustinov, Sir Peter (Alexander) yo͞osˈtənôf [key], 1921–2004, English writer, director, and actor, b. London. A witty, charming, and cosmopolitan man, he debuted on the London stage at 18 and sub...

Piero di Cosimo

(Encyclopedia)Piero di Cosimo dē kôˈzēmō [key], 1462–1521, Florentine painter, whose name was Piero di Lorenzo. He adopted the name of his master, Cosimo Rosselli, whom he accompanied to Rome in 1482 and ass...