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Profile Portraits
A silhouette ( , ) is the image of a person, animal, object or scene represented as a solid shape of a single colour, usually black, with its edges matching the outline of the subject. The interior of a silhouette is featureless, and the silhouette is usually presented on a light background, usually white, or none at all. The silhouette differs from an outline, which depicts the edge of an object in a linear form, while a silhouette appears as a solid shape. Silhouette images may be created in any visual artistic medium, but were first used to describe pieces of cut paper, which were then stuck to a backing in a contrasting colour, and often framed. Cutting portraits, generally in profile, from black card became popular in the mid-18th century, though the term ''silhouette'' was seldom used until the early decades of the 19th century, and the tradition has continued under this name into the 21st century. They represented a cheap but effective alternative to the portrait miniatur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pliny The Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ''Naturalis Historia'' (''Natural History''), which became an editorial model for encyclopedias. He spent most of his spare time studying, writing, and investigating natural and geographic phenomena in the field. His nephew, Pliny the Younger, wrote of him in a letter to the historian Tacitus: Among Pliny's greatest works was the twenty-volume work ''Bella Germaniae'' ("The History of the German Wars"), which is no longer extant. ''Bella Germaniae'', which began where Aufidius Bassus' ''Libri Belli Germanici'' ("The War with the Germans") left off, was used as a source by other prominent Roman historians, including Plutarch, Tacitus and Suetonius. Tacitus—who many scholars agree had never travelled in Germania—used ''Bella Germani ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Portrait Miniature
A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting, usually executed in gouache, watercolor, or enamel. Portrait miniatures developed out of the techniques of the miniatures in illuminated manuscripts, and were popular among 16th-century elites, mainly in England and France, and spread across the rest of Europe from the middle of the 18th century, remaining highly popular until the development of daguerreotypes and photography in the mid-19th century. They were usually intimate gifts given within the family, or by hopeful males in courtship, but some rulers, such as James I of England, gave large numbers as diplomatic or political gifts. They were especially likely to be painted when a family member was going to be absent for significant periods, whether a husband or son going to war or emigrating, or a daughter getting married. The first miniaturists used watercolour to paint on stretched vellum, or (especially in England) on playing cards trimmed to the shape required. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johann Rudolph Schellenberg
Johann Rudolph Schellenberg (4 January 1740, Basel – 8 June 1806, Töss, a district in the city of Winterthur) was a Swiss artist, writer and entomologist best known for his illustrations of insects. During his career he performed illustrative work for Johann Heinrich Sulzer, Johannes Gessner, Johann Kaspar Lavater and Johann Kaspar Füssli.Schellenberg, Johann Rudolf Historischen Lexikon der Schweiz He illustrated a number of entomological works, a few being: * Johann Heinrich Sulzer's ''Die Kennzeichen der Insekten, nach Anleitung des Königl. Schwed. Ritters und Leibarzts Karl Linnaeus. Mit einer Vorrede des Herrn Johannes Gessners'', published in Zurich in 1761. * |
Patience Wright
Patience Lovell Wright (1725 – March 23, 1786) was a sculptor of wax figures, and the first recognized American-born sculptor. Biography Early life Patience Lovell was born at Oyster Bay, New York, into a Quaker farm family with a vegetarian diet. The family moved to Bordentown, New Jersey when Patience was four years old. The Madame Tussaud of the American Colonies Was A Founding Fathers Stalker, Smithsonian.com Weekly Newsletter (29 December 2013) At age 16 she left the family home and moved to Philadelphia, where in 1748 she married Joseph Wright, a Cooper (profession), barrelmaker who was many years her senior. She often amuse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considered among the most prestigious universities in the world. Stanford was founded in 1885 by Leland and Jane Stanford in memory of their only child, Leland Stanford Jr., who had died of typhoid fever at age 15 the previous year. Leland Stanford was a U.S. senator and former governor of California who made his fortune as a railroad tycoon. The school admitted its first students on October 1, 1891, as a coeducational and non-denominational institution. Stanford University struggled financially after the death of Leland Stanford in 1893 and again after much of the campus was damaged by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Following World War II, provost of Stanford Frederick Terman inspired and supported faculty and graduates' entrepreneu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ludovico Sforza
Ludovico Maria Sforza (; 27 July 1452 – 27 May 1508), also known as Ludovico il Moro (; "the Moor"). "Arbiter of Italy", according to the expression used by Guicciardini,Opere inedite di Francesco Guicciardini etc, Storia fiorentina, dai tempi di Cosimo de' Medici a quelli del gonfaloniere Soderini, 3, 1859, p. 217 was an nobleman who ruled as from 1494 to 1499. Endowed with rare intellect and very ambitious, he managed, although fourth son, to acquire dominion over ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Federico Da Montefeltro
Federico da Montefeltro, also known as Federico III da Montefeltro KG (7 June 1422 – 10 September 1482), was one of the most successful mercenary captains (''condottieri'') of the Italian Renaissance, and lord of Urbino from 1444 (as Duke from 1474) until his death. A renowned intellectual humanist and civil leader in Urbino on top of his impeccable reputation for martial skill and honor, he commissioned the construction of a great library, perhaps the largest of Italy after the Vatican, with his own team of scribes in his scriptorium, and assembled around him a large humanistic court in the Ducal Palace, Urbino, designed by Luciano Laurana and Francesco di Giorgio Martini. Biography Federico was born in Castello di Petroia in Gubbio, the illegitimate son of Guidantonio da Montefeltro, lord of Urbino, Gubbio and Casteldurante, and Duke of Spoleto. Two years later he was legitimized by Pope Martin V, with the consent of Guidantonio's wife, Caterina Colonna, who was Marti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ancient Rome
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC), Roman Republic (509–27 BC) and Roman Empire (27 BC–476 AD) until the fall of the western empire. Ancient Rome began as an Italic settlement, traditionally dated to 753 BC, beside the River Tiber in the Italian Peninsula. The settlement grew into the city and polity of Rome, and came to control its neighbours through a combination of treaties and military strength. It eventually dominated the Italian Peninsula, assimilated the Greek culture of southern Italy ( Magna Grecia) and the Etruscan culture and acquired an Empire that took in much of Europe and the lands and peoples surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. It was among the largest empires in the ancient world, with an estimated 50 to 90 million inhabitants, roughly 20% of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coin
A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to facilitate trade. They are most often issued by a government. Coins often have images, numerals, or text on them. ''Obverse'' and its opposite, ''reverse'', refer to the two flat faces of coins and medals. In this usage, ''obverse'' means the front face of the object and ''reverse'' means the back face. The obverse of a coin is commonly called ''heads'', because it often depicts the head of a prominent person, and the reverse ''tails''. Coins are usually made of metal or an alloy, or sometimes of man-made materials. They are usually disc shaped. Coins, made of valuable metal, are stored in large quantities as bullion coins. Other coins are used as money in everyday transactions, circulating alongside banknotes. Usually the highest va ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sydney Royal Easter Show
First held in 1823, the Sydney Royal Easter Show, commonly shortened to The Easter Show or The Show, is an annual show held in Sydney, Australia over two weeks around the Easter period. It comprises an agricultural show, an amusement park and a fair and combines the elements of each, showcasing the judging of livestock and produce. The Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales is responsible for the event. Queen Victoria awarded the society and its show the right to use the word "Royal" in its name. The Show is a celebration of Australian culture, from rural traditions to modern day lifestyles, providing unique experiences for everyone. Every Easter, the country and city join together at Sydney Showground, Sydney Olympic Park, for twelve days of agricultural competitions, animal experiences, live entertainment, carnival fun, shopping and much more. The Show has many competitions, including arts and crafts, photography and cookery, as well as tests of strength and skill su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
