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Bart, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Bart, Jean zhäN bär [key], 1650–1702, French naval hero, b. Dunkirk. Of a seafaring family, he enlisted in the Dutch navy but entered French service as a privateer at the outbreak of the Dutch War...

Guettard, Jean-Étienne

(Encyclopedia)Guettard, Jean-Étienne zhän-ātyĕnˈ gĕtärˈ [key], 1715–86, French geologist, botanist, and natural historian. He was curator of the natural history collection of the French scientist René de...

Massillon, Jean Baptiste

(Encyclopedia)Massillon, Jean Baptiste zhäN bätēstˈ mäsēyôNˈ [key], 1663–1742, French clergyman, bishop of Clermont from 1717. He was celebrated for his preaching, especially at the courts of Louis XIV an...

Racine, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Racine, Jean zhäN räsēnˈ [key], 1639–99, French dramatist. Racine is the prime exemplar of French classicism. The nobility of his Alexandrine verse, the simplicity of his diction, the psychologi...

Aragon, Louis

(Encyclopedia)Aragon, Louis lwē ärägôNˈ [key], 1897–1982, French writer. One of the founders of surrealism in literature, Aragon abandoned that philosophy for Marxism after a trip to the USSR in 1931. He was...

Balzac, Jean Louis Guez de

(Encyclopedia)Balzac, Jean Louis Guez de də bälzäkˈ [key], 1597?–1654, French writer. His Lettres (1624, tr. 1634) and other writings were a great influence in reforming French prose. Their style was marked ...

Géricault, Jean Louis André Théodore

(Encyclopedia)Géricault, Jean Louis André Théodore zhäN lwē äNdrāˈ tāōdôrˈ zhārēkōˈ [key], 1791–1824, French painter. He studied with Antoine Vernet and with Pierre Guérin, in whose studio he met...

Fouquet, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Fouquet or Foucquet, Jean or Jehan all: zhäN fo͞okāˈ [key], c.1420–c.1480, French painter and illuminator. He was summoned to Rome in the 1440s to paint the portrait (now lost) of Pope Eugenius ...

Isabey, Jean Baptiste

(Encyclopedia)Isabey, Jean Baptiste zhäN bätēstˈ ēzäbāˈ [key], 1767–1855, French portrait painter and miniaturist. He was a pupil of J. L. David and was greatly influenced by Fragonard. His portraits are ...

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