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Wilkie, Sir David

(Encyclopedia)Wilkie, Sir David, 1785–1841, Scottish genre painter. He studied in Edinburgh and at the Royal Academy and won early popularity with his admirable little scenes of everyday life. Anecdotal painting ...

Camphausen, Ludolf

(Encyclopedia)Camphausen, Ludolf lo͞oˈdôlf kämpˈhouzən [key], 1803–90, Prussian statesman and businessman. A leading merchant in Cologne, he headed the liberal ministry appointed by King Frederick William I...

Victor Amadeus III

(Encyclopedia)Victor Amadeus III, 1726–96, king of Sardinia (1773–96), son and successor of Charles Emmanuel III. He declared war on France in 1792 after French Revolutionary troops had occupied Savoy and Nice....

Hohenstaufen

(Encyclopedia)Hohenstaufen hōˌənshtouˈfən [key], German princely family, whose name is derived from the castle of Staufen built in 1077 by a Swabian count, Frederick. In 1079, Frederick married Agnes, daughter...

Leopold II, grand duke of Tuscany

(Encyclopedia)Leopold II, 1797–1870, grand duke of Tuscany (1824–59). Liberally inclined at first, he granted some reforms and undertook public works. In 1848 he approved a constitution and joined Sardinia in i...

Mende

(Encyclopedia)Mende mäNd [key], city (1990 pop. 12,667), capital of Lozère dept., S France, on the Lot River. Mende is a tourist resort. It was originally a small Gallo-Roman city that became an episcopal see in ...

Lyonnais

(Encyclopedia)Lyonnais lyônāˈ [key], region and former province, E central France, now divided into the Rhône and Loire depts. It included Lyonnais proper (the region around Lyons, its capital), which Philip IV...

Mazo, Juan Bautista Martínez del

(Encyclopedia)Mazo, Juan Bautista Martínez del hwän boutēsˈtä märtēˈnĕth dĕl mäˈthō [key], c.1612–1667, Spanish portrait and landscape painter. He was the pupil and son-in-law of Velázquez, with who...

Marchfeld

(Encyclopedia)Marchfeld märkhˈfĕltˌ [key], plain, NE Austria, NE of Vienna, between the Danube and the Morava (Ger. March) rivers, on the border of Slovakia. A strategic approach to Vienna, it was the site of s...

John of Nepomuk, Saint

(Encyclopedia)John of Nepomuk, Saint nāˈpōmo͝ok [key], d. 1393, patron saint of Bohemia, a martyr. He is also called John Nepomucen. He was vicar general of Bohemia under King Wenceslaus IV (later Holy Roman Em...