Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Finiguerra, Maso or Tommaso mäˈzō, tōm–mäˈzō fēnēgwĕrˈrä [key], 1426–64, Florentine goldsmith and engraver during the Renaissance. In the 1450s he joined with Antonio Pollaiuolo. It is...

(Encyclopedia) Walker, Robert, d. 1658?, English painter, a follower of Van Dyck and favorite portraitist of Oliver Cromwell. His portraits of Cromwell and his family and followers are convincing studies of Puritan ...

(Encyclopedia) niello nēĕlˈō [key] [Ital. from Latin nigellus=blackish], black metallic alloy of sulfur, copper, silver, and usually lead, used as an inlay on engraved metal. The metal surface is brushed with a ...

(Encyclopedia) Bandinelli, Bartolomeo bätˈchō [key], 1493?–1560, Florentine sculptor and painter; son of a goldsmith. He attempted to emulate Michelangelo, and derived from him a strong interest in musculature....

(Encyclopedia) Sprat, Thomas, 1635–1713, English author, bishop of Rochester and dean of Westminster. His poem on the death of Oliver Cromwell was published in Dryden's Miscellany (1659). Sprat is best remembered ...

(Encyclopedia) Beiderbecke, Bix (Leon Bismarck Beiderbecke) bīˈdərbĕk [key], 1903–31, American jazz cornetist, pianist, and composer, b. Davenport, Iowa. Mainly self-taught, he was influenced by recordings of ...

(Encyclopedia) Lorenzo di Pietro pyāˈtrō [key], c.1412–1480, Sienese painter, sculptor, and goldsmith, called Il Vecchietta. He painted a group of frescoes and a relic press in the hospital at Siena; four ceili...

(Encyclopedia) Mieris mēˈrĭs [key], family of Dutch genre and portrait painters of Leiden. Frans van Mieris, 1635–81, the most important, was the son of a goldsmith and pupil of Gerard Dou. His tiny, meticulous...

(Encyclopedia) Petitot, Jean lwēˈ [key], 1653–c.1730, was in the service of Charles II of England. Specimens of his work are preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum. ...

(Encyclopedia) earring, a personal adornment, sometimes an amulet, worn attached to the ear lobe. Since prehistoric times the ear has been pierced for the insertion of the earring; certain primitive tribes distort t...