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protoplasm

(Encyclopedia)protoplasm, term once used for the fundamental material of which all living things were thought to be composed. It was studied by a number of early scientists, especially by Félix Dujardin, J. E. Pur...

Coques, Gonzales

(Encyclopedia)Coques or Cocx, Gonzales gōnzäˈlĕs kōks [key], 1614–84, Flemish portrait painter, active in Antwerp and England. He excelled in painting diminutive portraits and family groups of the aristocrac...

Corneille

(Encyclopedia)Corneille (Guillaume Cornelis van Beverloo) kôrnāˈyə [key], 1922–2010, Belgian painter. Corneille was a member of CoBrA, the European group (1948–51) allied with abstract expressionism. His wo...

Strange, Sir Robert

(Encyclopedia)Strange, Sir Robert, 1721–92, English engraver. The outstanding historical engraver of his day, he became a member of the academies of Rome, Florence, Bologna, and France and was the only English en...

Massys, Quentin

(Encyclopedia)Massys, Matsys, Messys, or Metsys, Quentin kvĕnˈtĭn mäsīsˈ, mätsīsˈ, mĕ–, mĕt– [key], c.1466–1530, Flemish painter. After studying in Louvain, he moved to Antwerp by 1491, remaining i...

Jordaens, Jacob

(Encyclopedia)Jordaens, Jacob or Jacques yäˈkôp yôrˈdäns, zhäk [key], 1593–1678, Flemish baroque painter, b. Antwerp. After the deaths of Rubens and Van Dyck, by whom he was influenced, he became the leadi...

Mari, ancient city, Mesopotamia

(Encyclopedia)Mari mäˈrē [key], ancient city of Mesopotamia (modern Syria). It is on the middle Euphrates, south of its junction with the Habor (Khabur). The site was discovered by chance in the early 1930s by A...

auk

(Encyclopedia)auk ôk [key], common name for a member of the family Alcidae (alcid family), swimming and diving birds of the N Atlantic and Pacific, which includes the guillemots and puffins. Their legs are set far...

Gower, John

(Encyclopedia)Gower, John gouˈər, gôr [key], 1330?–1408, English poet. He was the best-known contemporary and friend of Chaucer, who addressed him as “Moral Gower,” at the end of Troilus and Criseyde. Appa...

German art and architecture

(Encyclopedia)German art and architecture, artistic works produced within the region that became politically unified as Germany in 1871 generally followed the stylistic currents of Western Europe. The sentimental...