Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Borgia, Lucrezia bōrˈjä [key], 1480–1519, Italian noblewoman, famous figure of the Italian Renaissance; daughter of Pope Alexander VI. Her first marriage (1492) to Giovanni Sforza of Pesaro was ...

(Encyclopedia) Innocent VIII, 1432–92, pope (1484–92), a Genoese named Giovanni Battista Cibo; successor of Sixtus IV. He was made a cardinal in 1473. His close friend, Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere (later Pope...

(Encyclopedia) Sonnino, Sidney, Barone bärôˈnā sōn-nēˈnō [key], 1847–1922, Italian foreign minister instrumental in Italy's entry into World War I. A member of the diplomatic corps (1867–73), he later be...

(Encyclopedia) Gaddi gädˈdē [key], celebrated family of Florentine artists. Gaddo Gaddi, c.1260–c.1333, painter and mosaicist, is said by Vasari to have been associated with Cimabue and Giotto. Among the mosaic...

(Encyclopedia) Mars, in astronomy, 4th planet from the sun, with an orbit next in order beyond that of the earth. Mars has two natural satellites, discovered by Asaph Hall in 1877. The innermost of these, Phobos...

(Encyclopedia) Vestris, Lucia Elizabeth (Bartolozzi) bärtōlôtˈsē vĕsˈtrĭs [key], 1797–1856, English actress and manager, the first woman to be a lessee of a theater. The daughter of a music and fencing tea...

(Encyclopedia) Bibiena or Bibbiena, Galli da gälˈlē dä bēbyāˈnä [key], family of Italian artists of the 17th and 18th cent. Giovanni Maria Galli da Bibiena, 1625–65, studied with Francesco Albani and paint...

(Encyclopedia) mannerism, a style in art and architecture (c.1520–1600), originating in Italy as a reaction against the equilibrium of form and proportions characteristic of the High Renaissance. In Florence, Pont...

(Encyclopedia) Lateran lătˈərən [key], name applied to a group of buildings of SE Rome facing the Piazza San Giovanni. They are on land once belonging to the Laterani; it was presented to the Church by Constanti...

(Encyclopedia) Palma, Jacopo yäˈkōpō pälˈmä [key], c.1480–1528, Venetian painter, called Palma Vecchio. He formed his style under the influence of Giovanni Bellini, Titian, and Giorgione and ranks as one of...