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Basselin, Olivier

(Encyclopedia)Basselin, Olivier ōlēvyāˈ bäsəlăNˈ [key], 15th cent., French miller of Vire, Normandy. He was one of the Compagnons du Vau de Vire [companions of the Vire valley], who made drinking songs, lov...

Bow ware

(Encyclopedia)Bow ware bō [key], English porcelain, similar to Chelsea ware. It was made at Stratford-le-Bow from 1730 to 1776, when its factory was absorbed by the Derby ware pottery. ...

Corneille, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Corneille, Pierre pyĕr kôrnāˈyə [key], 1606–84, French dramatist, ranking with Racine as a master of French classical tragedy. Educated by Jesuits, he practiced law briefly in his native Rouen ...

Balzac, Honoré de

(Encyclopedia)Balzac, Honoré de bălˈzăk, bôl–, Fr. ōnôrāˈ də bälzäkˈ [key], 1799–1850, French novelist, b. Tours. Balzac ranks among the great masters of the novel. Of a bourgeois family, he himsel...

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...

Coysevox, Antoine

(Encyclopedia)Coysevox, Antoine äNtwänˈ kwäzĕvōksˈ [key], 1640–1720, French sculptor. He enjoyed the patronage of Louis XIV and produced a great part of the sculpture at Versailles. His Winged Horses, at t...

Gautier, Émile Félix

(Encyclopedia)Gautier, Émile Félix āmēlˈ fālēksˈ gōtyāˈ [key], 1864–1940, French geographer, an authority on Algiers, the Sahara, and the French African possessions. He explored W Madagascar (1892–94...

Girardon, François

(Encyclopedia)Girardon, François fräNswäˈ zhērärdôNˈ [key], 1628–1715, French sculptor. Chancellor Séguier sent him to study in Paris with François Anguier and later to Rome. On his return he was commis...

Deschanel, Émile

(Encyclopedia)Deschanel, Émile āmēlˈ dāshänĕlˈ [key], 1819–1904, French author and politician. Of his numerous works the best known are such critical studies as Études sur Aristophane (1867) and Le Roman...

Freyssinet, Eugène

(Encyclopedia)Freyssinet, Eugène özhĕnˈ frāsēnāˈ [key], 1879–1962, French engineer. Freyssinet was noted as a designer of bridges and industrial buildings. He was the inventor of the internationally used ...