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Fyt, Jan

(Encyclopedia)Fyt, Jan yän fīt [key], 1611–61, Flemish animal and still-life painter and etcher. A pupil of Frans Snyders, Fyt spent 10 years in France and Italy. Returning to Antwerp in 1641, he enjoyed consid...

omen

(Encyclopedia)omen, sign or augury believed to foreshadow the future. Almost any occurrence can be interpreted as an omen. The typical omen was a natural phenomenon, such as a meteor, an eclipse, or the flight of b...

Traven, B.

(Encyclopedia)Traven, B., 1890–1969, German language novelist. During his life Traven refused to divulge any information concerning himself. His birth name is still uncertain, as is his birthplace. As Ret Marut h...

Haberle, John

(Encyclopedia)Haberle, John hăbˈərlēˌ [key], 1856–1933, American painter, b. New Haven, Conn. Noted for his photographically precise still-life paintings, Haberle is often compared in style with William Harn...

Desportes, Alexandre-François

(Encyclopedia)Desportes, Alexandre-François älĕksäNˈdrə-fräNswäˈ dāpôrtˈ [key], 1661–1743, French painter. He is best known for his hunting scenes and paintings of animals. Desportes, who began as a p...

DeCarava, Roy

(Encyclopedia)DeCarava, Roy, 1919–2009, American photographer, b. Harlem, New York City, as Roy Rudolph DeCarava; he studied (1944–45) under Charles White at theGeorge Washington Carver Art School. He intended ...

Casorati, Felice

(Encyclopedia)Casorati, Felice fālēˈchā käsōräˈtē [key], 1886–1963, Italian painter. Influenced by Beardsley and other English engravers, Casorati, together with Carrà, was involved in the symbolist mov...

raft

(Encyclopedia)raft, floating platform of wood, cork, or air-inflated rubber for conveying goods or people. Originally, several logs, bound together by vines, strips of animal skin, and later rope, formed a flat sur...

Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn (Stevenson)

(Encyclopedia)Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn (Stevenson) găsˈkəl [key], 1810–65, English novelist. When she was still an infant her mother died, and she was brought up by an aunt in Knutsford, Cheshire, the backg...

Irnerius

(Encyclopedia)Irnerius ûrˌnērˈēəs [key], c.1055–c.1130, Italian jurist and founder of the law school (c.1088) at Bologna, which became the center of legal scholarship in Europe. Though little is known of hi...