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Cerré, Jean Gabriel

(Encyclopedia)Cerré, Jean Gabriel zhäN gäbrēĕlˈ sĕrāˈ [key], 1734–1805, frontiersman and trader in the American Midwest, b. Montreal, Canada. By 1755 he had established a fur-trading post at Kaskaskia, I...

Warner, Olin Levi

(Encyclopedia)Warner, Olin Levi, 1844–96, American sculptor, b. Suffield, Conn. He studied art in Paris, working for a time as an assistant to J.-B. Carpeaux. He served in the Franco-Prussian War (1870) and retur...

Wentworth, William Charles

(Encyclopedia)Wentworth, William Charles, 1793?–1872, Australian statesman. His exploration (1813) of the Blue Mts. in Australia revealed vast pasturelands in the western part of the continent. In 1816 he went to...

Rykiel, Sonia

(Encyclopedia)Rykiel, Sonia, 1930–2016, French fashion designer, b. Neuilly-sur-Seine as Sonia Flis. Rykiel focused on ready-to-wear clothing rather than haute couture, and was especially noted for her “poor bo...

Beebe, William

(Encyclopedia)Beebe, William (Charles William Beebe) bēˈbē [key], 1877–1962, American ornithologist, explorer, and author, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., B.S. Columbia, 1898. He became (1899) curator of ornithology and la...

Townshend, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Townshend, Charles, 1725–67, English statesman; grandson of the 2d Viscount Townshend. Distrusted for his marked instability, he held relatively minor offices until the 1st earl of Chatham made him ...

Schleicher, Kurt von

(Encyclopedia)Schleicher, Kurt von, 1882–1934, German general. A leading Reichswehr (army) figure after World War I, Schleicher wielded great power in the years before Adolf Hitler came to power (1933). He was wa...

Grünewald, Mathias

(Encyclopedia)Grünewald, Mathias mätēˈäs grünˈəvält [key], c.1475–1528, German painter of religious subjects. His original name was Mathis Gothart Neithart. Although he assimilated various compositional ...

Epicurus

(Encyclopedia)Epicurus ĕpĭkyo͝orˈəs [key], 341–270 b.c., Greek philosopher, b. Samos; son of an Athenian colonist. He claimed to be self-taught, although tradition states that he was schooled in the systems ...

Diaz de la Peña, Narciso Virgilio

(Encyclopedia)Diaz de la Peña, Narciso Virgilio dyäs də lä pānyäˈ [key], 1808–76, French landscape and figure painter of the Barbizon school, b. Bordeaux, of Spanish parents. Mainly self-taught, he was inf...