Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Corot, Jean-Baptiste Camille zhäN-bätēstˈ kämēˈyə kôrōˈ [key], 1796–1875, French landscape painter, b. Paris. Corot was one of the most influential of 19th-century painters. The son of sh...

(Encyclopedia) Gérin-Lajoie, Antoine äNtwänˈ zhārăNˈ-läzhwäˈ [key], 1824–82, French Canadian author and journalist, b. Quebec prov. After serving as an editor (1845–52) on the Minerve, a Montreal newsp...

(Encyclopedia) Boieldieu, François Adrien fräNswäˈ ädrēăNˈ bwäldyöˈ [key], 1775–1834, French composer. He studied with the organist of the cathedral in Rouen and composed one successful opera, Le Calife...

(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...

(Encyclopedia) Gerson, John (Jean Charlier de Gerson) gûrˈsən; zhäN shärlyāˈ də zhârsôNˈ [key], 1363–1429, French ecclesiastical statesman and writer. He studied (1377–94) under Pierre d'Ailly at the ...

(Encyclopedia) Mandeville, Sir John, 14th-century English author of The Travels of Sir John Mandeville. Originally written in Norman French, the work became enormously popular and was translated into English, Latin,...

(Encyclopedia) Flourens, Pierre (Marie Jean Pierre Flourens) pyĕr flo͞oräNsˈ [key], 1794–1867, French physiologist. He demonstrated the respiratory center in the medulla and the function of the cerebellum in m...

(Encyclopedia) Coquerel, Athanase Laurent Charles ätänäzˈ lōräNˈ shärl kôkrĕlˈ [key], 1795–1868, French Protestant clergyman, noted for his eloquence as a preacher. From 1832 he was pastor of the Reform...

(Encyclopedia) Tallien, Thérésa Cabarrus tälyăNˈ [key], 1773–1835, French political figure, of Spanish parentage. The divorced wife of a marquis de Fontenay, she became intimate with the revolutionary Jean L...

(Encyclopedia) undine əndēnˈ, ŭnˈdēn [key], in folklore, female water sprite who could acquire a soul by marrying a human being. If, however, her lover proved unfaithful, she had to return to the sea. The lege...