Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Robert, Léopold

(Encyclopedia)Robert, Léopold lāôpôldˈ rōbĕrˈ [key], 1794–1835, French genre painter, b. Switzerland; pupil of J. L. David. He excelled in depicting Italian folk life in a classical style. His two best-kn...

Robert the Devil

(Encyclopedia)Robert the Devil, hero of a medieval legend. He was sold to the devil by his mother before his birth but upon discovering the fact did penance and was able to purify himself of his many sins. The tale...

Girardin, Delphine Gay de

(Encyclopedia)Girardin, Delphine Gay de dĕlfēnˈ gā də zhērärdăNˈ [key], 1804–55, French writer; wife of Émile de Girardin. She wrote patriotic poems and, under the pseudonym Vicomte Charles de Launay, w...

de Kruif, Paul

(Encyclopedia)de Kruif, Paul də krīf [key], 1890–1971, American author, b. Zeeland, Mich., grad. Univ. of Michigan (B.S., 1912). He was bacteriologist at the university from 1912 to 1917. Among his books are Mi...

Figueras, Estanislao

(Encyclopedia)Figueras, Estanislao āstäˌnēsläˈō fēgāˈräs [key], 1819–82, Spanish politician. After the overthrow (1868) of Isabella II, he became leader of the Republican party. He opposed King Amadeus...

Forster, John

(Encyclopedia)Forster, John, 1812–76, English biographer and critic. He was influential as literary and dramatic critic of the London Examiner. His Lives of the Statesmen of the Commonwealth (5 vol., 1836–39) e...

Gad

(Encyclopedia)Gad, in the Bible, son of Jacob and Zilpah and eponymous founder of one of the 12 tribes of Israel. Its allotment was half of Gilead; this was the land best suited to the pastoral life, which Gad, lik...

Sydney, University of

(Encyclopedia)Sydney, University of, at Sydney, Australia, founded 1850, as Australia's first university. It began with a small faculty of arts, acquired a new campus in 1855, added faculties of law, medicine, and ...

Soufrière, volcano, Guadeloupe

(Encyclopedia)Soufrière so͞ofrēĕrˈ [key], active volcano, 4,813 ft (1,467 m) high, on Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe, in the Caribbean Sea. Called also La Grande Soufrière, it is the highest mountain in the Lesser A...

Walker, Horatio

(Encyclopedia)Walker, Horatio, 1858–1938, Canadian painter, b. Ontario, largely self-taught. Though he lived in Rochester and New York City, he painted chiefly scenes from the simple life of the inhabitants of th...