1.
1840 in art
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Events from the year 1840 in art. The stamp becomes valid for postage from May 6, september 30 – Foundation of Nelsons Column laid in London, Trafalgar Square being laid out and paved around it during the year
2.
1841 in art
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Events from the year 1841 in art. M. W. Turners painting Peace - Burial at Sea, fourth plinth, Trafalgar Square, London erected to the design of Charles Barry. The planned equestrian statue of King William IV being abandoned due to lack of funds, george Hayter appointed Principal Painter in Ordinary to Queen Victoria. Rand invents the collapsible zinc oil paint tube, marketed by Winsor & Newton of London, edward Lear publishes Views in Rome and its Environs. John Ruskin publishes The King of the Golden River, with illustrations by Richard Doyle
3.
1842 in art
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Events from the year 1842 in art. David Roberts begins publication of Sketches in the Holy Land, richard Dadd becomes mentally ill during a tour of the Middle East and is thought to be suffering from sunstroke. Construction work resumes on Cologne Cathedral, after a gap of three centuries. William Fox Talbot receives the Rumford Medal of the Royal Society, george R. Lewis records the famous carvings at Kilpeck church, Herefordshire. Dordrechts Museum established in the Netherlands
4.
1845 in art
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Events from the year 1845 in art. February 7 – At the British Museum in London, a drunken visitor smashes the Portland Vase which takes months to repair and it has since been reconstructed three times. March – Honoré Daumier begins publishing the series of drawings Les Gens de justice in the satirical Paris magazine Le Charivari, heinrich Hoffmann anonymously publishes Lustige Geschichten und drollige Bilder mit 15 schön kolorierten Tafeln für Kinder von 3–6 Jahren in Germany. Brita Sofia Hesselius opens a studio in Karlstad, making her the first known Swedish female professional photographer
5.
1850 in art
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Events from the year 1850 in art. Controversial exhibition of Pre-Raphaelite paintings by Holman Hunt and Millais at the Royal Academy, james Collinson resigns from the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, which then dissolves. Francisco Goyas engravings, Proverbios, are posthumously published, edouard Pingret relocates to Mexico City. Grand Prix de Rome, painting, William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Paul Baudry, Grand Prix de Rome, sculpture, Grand Prix de Rome, architecture, Grand Prix de Rome, music, J. A
6.
1855 in art
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Events from the year 1855 in art. July 3 – John Everett Millais and Effie Gray marry, jean Auguste Dominique Ingres exhibits Venus Anadyomene, which has taken him forty years to complete. William Bell Scott begins painting murals of Northumbrian history at Wallington Hall, the Bavarian National Museum is founded by King Maximilian II of Bavaria. Kelly, American sculptor and illustrator September 8 – William Friese-Greene, English photographer and cinematographer Willis E
7.
1857 in art
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Events from the year 1857 in art. June 22 – The South Kensington Museum, predecessor of the Victoria, lewis Carroll meets John Ruskin and begins to associate with the Pre-Raphaelites. In the same year, Ruskin publishes his Political Economy of Art, may 5 – October 17 – The Art Treasures of Great Britain exhibition is held in Manchester, one of the largest such displays of all time. Emily Mary Osborn – Nameless and Friendless O. G. W
8.
1848 in architecture
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The year 1848 in architecture involved some significant events. April 8 - Newmarket railway station in Suffolk, England is opened, may 1 - Stamford railway station in Lincolnshire, England, designed by Sancton Wood, is opened. June 19 - Monkwearmouth railway station in north-east England, designed by Thomas Moore, is opened, october 9 - Stoke-on-Trent railway station in north Staffordshire, England, designed by H. A. Hunt, is opened. October 12 - Gobowen railway station in Shropshire, England, designed by Thomas Mainwaring Penson, is opened, november 1 - Mortimer railway station in Berkshire, England, designed by I. K. Brunel, is opened. November 20 - St. Michaels Cathedral is completed, the Palm house at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, designed by architect Decimus Burton and iron-founder Richard Turner, is completed and opened. The Thorvaldsen Museum of sculpture in Copenhagen, designed by Michael Gottlieb Bindesbøll, is opened, the Sofiensaal in Vienna, converted into a ballroom by Eduard van der Nüll and August Sicard von Sicardsburg, is inaugurated. Construction of Cisternoni of Livorno in Italy, designed by Pasquale Poccianti, joseph-Louis Lambot develops ferrocement, the forerunner of reinforced concrete. Royal Gold Medal - Charles Robert Cockerell, grand Prix de Rome, architecture, Charles Garnier. William Frame, English architect working in Wales Luigi Manini, Italian architect and set designer working in Portugal Thomas Duff, Irish ecclesiastical architect
9.
John Ruskin
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John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, as well as an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and his writing styles and literary forms were equally varied. Ruskin also penned essays and treatises, poetry and lectures, travel guides and manuals, letters, the elaborate style that characterised his earliest writing on art was later superseded by a preference for plainer language designed to communicate his ideas more effectively. In all of his writing, he emphasised the connections between nature, art and society and he also made detailed sketches and paintings of rocks, plants, birds, landscapes, and architectural structures and ornamentation. He was hugely influential in the half of the 19th century. After a period of decline, his reputation has steadily improved since the 1960s with the publication of numerous academic studies of his work. Today, his ideas and concerns are widely recognised as having anticipated interest in environmentalism, sustainability, from the 1850s he championed the Pre-Raphaelites who were influenced by his ideas. His work increasingly focused on social and political issues, Unto This Last marked the shift in emphasis. In 1869, Ruskin became the first Slade Professor of Fine Art at the University of Oxford, in 1871, he began his monthly letters to the workmen and labourers of Great Britain, published under the title Fors Clavigera. In the course of this complex and deeply personal work, he developed the principles underlying his ideal society, as a result, he founded the Guild of St George, an organisation that endures today. Ruskin was the child of first cousins. His father, John James Ruskin, was a sherry and wine importer founding partner and de facto manager of Ruskin, Telford. John James was born and brought up in Edinburgh, Scotland, to a mother from Glenluce and his wife, Margaret Cox, née Cock, was the daughter of an aunt on the English side of the family and a publican in Croydon. She had joined the Ruskin household when she became companion to John Jamess mother, John James had hoped to practice law, but was instead articled as a clerk in London. His father, John Thomas Ruskin, described as a grocer, was an inadequate businessman, to save the family from bankruptcy, John James, whose prudence and success were in stark contrast to his father, took on all debts, settling the last of them in 1832. John James and Margaret were engaged in 1809, but opposition to the union from John Thomas, Ruskin was born at 54 Hunter Street, Brunswick Square, London, south of St Pancras railway station. His childhood was characterised by the influences of his father and mother. John James Ruskin helped to develop his sons Romanticism and they shared a passion for the works of Byron, Shakespeare and especially Walter Scott
10.
Effie Gray
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Euphemia Chalmers Effie Millais, Lady Millais née Gray was the wife of the critic John Ruskin, but she left her husband without the marriage being consummated. She later married his protégé, the Pre-Raphaelite painter John Everett Millais and this famous Victorian love triangle has been dramatised in plays, films and an opera. Effie Gray, initially known by the pet name of Phemy, was born in Perth, Scotland, and lived in Bowerswell and her family knew Ruskins father, who encouraged a match between them. Ruskin wrote the fantasy novel The King of the Golden River for her in 1841, after their marriage in 1848, they travelled to Venice, where Ruskin was researching his book The Stones of Venice. Their different personalities are thrown into relief by their contrasting priorities. For Effie, Venice provided an opportunity to socialise while Ruskin was engaged in solitary studies, in particular, he made a point of drawing the Ca dOro and the Palazzo Ducale, because he feared they would soon be destroyed by the occupying Austrian troops. One of the troops, Lieutenant Charles Paulizza, made friends with Effie and her brother, among others, later claimed that Ruskin was deliberately encouraging the friendship to compromise her, as an excuse to separate. When she met Millais five years later, she was still a virgin and his reasons are unclear, but they involved disgust with some aspect of her body. As she later wrote to her father, He alleged various reasons, hatred to children, religious motives, a desire to preserve my beauty, and, finally this last year he told me his true reason. That he had imagined women were different to what he saw I was. Ruskin confirmed this in his statement to his lawyer during the annulment proceedings, but though her face was beautiful, her person was not formed to excite passion. On the contrary, there were circumstances in her person which completely checked it. The reason for Ruskins disgust with circumstances in her person is unknown, various suggestions have been made, including revulsion at either her pubic hair, or menstrual blood. While married to Ruskin, she modelled for Millais painting The Order of Release and she then became close to Millais when he accompanied the couple on a trip to Scotland in order to paint Ruskins portrait according to the critics artistic principles. During this time, spent in Brig o Turk in the Trossachs, while working on the portrait of her husband, Millais made many drawings and sketches of her. He also sent humorous cartoons of himself, Effie and Ruskin to friends and she copied some of his works. After their return to London, she left Ruskin, nominally to visit her family and she sent back her wedding ring with a note announcing her intention to file for an annulment. Their youngest son, John Guille Millais, was a bird artist
11.
John Everett Millais
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Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, PRA was an English painter and illustrator who was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. A child prodigy, at the age of eleven Millais became the youngest student to enter the Royal Academy Schools, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was founded at his family home in London, at 83 Gower Street. Millais became the most famous exponent of the style, his painting Christ in the House of His Parents generating considerable controversy, by the mid-1850s Millais was moving away from the Pre-Raphaelite style and developing a new and powerful form of realism in his art. His later works were successful, making Millais one of the wealthiest artists of his day. Millaiss personal life has played a significant role in his reputation. His wife Effie was formerly married to the critic John Ruskin, Millais was born in Southampton, England in 1829, of a prominent Jersey-based family. His parents were John William Millais and Emily Mary Millais, most of his early childhood was spent in Jersey, to which he retained a strong devotion throughout his life. The author Thackeray once asked him when England conquered Jersey, the family moved to Dinan in Brittany for a few years in his childhood. His mothers forceful personality was the most powerful influence on his early life and she had a keen interest in art and music, and encouraged her sons artistic bent, promoting the relocating of the family to London to help develop contacts at the Royal Academy of Art. He later said I owe everything to my mother and his prodigious artistic talent won him a place at the Royal Academy schools at the unprecedented age of eleven. While there, he met William Holman Hunt and Dante Gabriel Rossetti with whom he formed the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in September 1848 in his home on Gower Street. Millaiss Christ in the House of His Parents was highly controversial because of its portrayal of a working class Holy Family labouring in a messy carpentry workshop. Later works were controversial, though less so. Millais achieved popular success with A Huguenot, which depicts a couple about to be separated because of religious conflicts. He repeated this theme in later works. All these early works were painted with great attention to detail, in paintings such as Ophelia Millais created dense and elaborate pictorial surfaces based on the integration of naturalistic elements. This approach has been described as a kind of pictorial eco-system, Mariana is a painting that Millais painted in 1850-51 based on the play Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare and the poem of the same name by Alfred, Lord Tennyson from 1830. In the play, the young Mariana was to be married and this style was promoted by the critic John Ruskin, who had defended the Pre-Raphaelites against their critics
12.
William Holman Hunt
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William Holman Hunt OM was an English painter and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. His paintings were notable for their attention to detail, vivid color. These features were influenced by the writings of John Ruskin and Thomas Carlyle, for Hunt it was the duty of the artist to reveal the correspondence between sign and fact. Of all the members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Hunt remained most true to their ideals throughout his career and he was always keen to maximize the popular appeal and public visibility of his works. After eventually entering the Royal Academy art schools, having initially been rejected and he formed the Pre-Raphaelite movement in 1848, after meeting the poet and artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Along with John Everett Millais they sought to revitalise art by emphasising the detailed observation of the world in a spirit of quasi-religious devotion to truth. This religious approach was influenced by the qualities of medieval art. He had many pupils including Robert Braithwaite Martineau, after a failed engagement to his model Annie Miller, he married Fanny Waugh, who later modelled for the figure of Isabella. When she died in childbirth in Italy, he sculpted her tomb at Fiesole, having it brought down to the English Cemetery in Florence and he had a close connection with St. Marks Church in Florence, and paid for the communion chalice inscribed in memory of his wife and his second wife, Edith, was Fannys sister. At the time it was illegal in Great Britain to marry ones deceased wifes sister, hunts works were not initially successful, and were widely attacked in the art press for their alleged clumsiness and ugliness. He achieved some note for his intensely naturalistic scenes of modern rural and urban life, such as The Hireling Shepherd. Hunt also painted works based on poems, such as Isabella. He eventually built his own house in Jerusalem and he eventually had to relinquish painting because failing eyesight meant that he could not achieve the quality that he wanted. His last major works, including a version of The Light of the World, were completed with the help of his assistant. Hunt died on 7 September 1910 and was buried in St Pauls Cathedral in London, Hunt published an autobiography in 1905. Many of his writings are attempts to control the interpretation of his work. That year, he was appointed to the Order of Merit by King Edward VII, at the end of his life he lived in Sonning-on-Thames
13.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
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Dante Gabriel Rossetti was an English poet, illustrator, painter and translator. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 with William Holman Hunt, Rossetti was later to be the main inspiration for a second generation of artists and writers influenced by the movement, most notably William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones. His work also influenced the European Symbolists and was a precursor of the Aesthetic movement. Rossettis art was characterised by its sensuality and its medieval revivalism and his early poetry was influenced by John Keats. His later poetry was characterised by the complex interlinking of thought and feeling, especially in his sonnet sequence, poetry and image are closely entwined in Rossettis work. Rossettis personal life was linked to his work, especially his relationships with his models and muses Elizabeth Siddal, Fanny Cornforth. The son of émigré Italian scholar Gabriele Pasquale Giuseppe Rossetti and his wife Frances Mary Lavinia Polidori, Rossetti was born in London, England and his family and friends called him Gabriel, but in publications he put the name Dante first in honour of Dante Alighieri. He was the brother of poet Christina Rossetti, critic William Michael Rossetti and his father was a Roman Catholic, at least prior to his marriage, and his mother was an Anglican, ostensibly Gabriel was baptized as and was a practicing Anglican. During his childhood, Rossetti was home educated and often read the Bible, along with the works of Shakespeare, Dickens, Sir Walter Scott, the youthful Rossetti is described as self-possessed, articulate, passionate and charismatic but also ardent, poetic and feckless. Like all his siblings, he aspired to be a poet and attended Kings College School and he also wished to be a painter, having shown a great interest in Medieval Italian art. He studied at Henry Sass Drawing Academy from 1841 to 1845, when he enrolled in the Antique School of the Royal Academy, after leaving the Royal Academy, Rossetti studied under Ford Madox Brown, with whom he retained a close relationship throughout his life. Following the exhibition of William Holman Hunts painting The Eve of St. Agnes, the painting illustrated a poem by the little-known John Keats. Rossettis own poem, The Blessed Damozel, was an imitation of Keats, together they developed the philosophy of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood which they founded along with John Everett Millais. Their approach was to return to the abundant detail, intense colours, the eminent critic John Ruskin wrote, Every Pre-Raphaelite landscape background is painted to the last touch, in the open air, from the thing itself. Every Pre-Raphaelite figure, however studied in expression, is a portrait of some living person. Rossettis first major paintings in oil display the realist qualities of the early Pre-Raphaelite movement and his Girlhood of Mary Virgin and Ecce Ancilla Domini portray Mary as a teenage girl. I saw at once that he was not an orthodox boy, the mixture of genius and dilettantism of both men shut me up for the moment, and whetted my curiosity. Although his work subsequently won support from John Ruskin, Rossetti only rarely exhibited thereafter, in 1850, Rossetti met Elizabeth Siddal, an important model for the Pre-Raphaelite painters
14.
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
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The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was a group of English painters, poets, and critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The three founders were joined by William Michael Rossetti, James Collinson, Frederic George Stephens and Thomas Woolner to form the seven-member brotherhood and their principles were shared by other artists, including Marie Spartali Stillman and Ford Madox Brown. A later, medievalising strain inspired by Rossetti included Edward Burne-Jones, the groups intention was to reform art by rejecting what it considered the mechanistic approach first adopted by Mannerist artists who succeeded Raphael and Michelangelo. Its members believed the Classical poses and elegant compositions of Raphael in particular had been an influence on the academic teaching of art. In particular, the group objected to the influence of Sir Joshua Reynolds, founder of the English Royal Academy of Arts, to the Pre-Raphaelites, according to William Michael Rossetti, sloshy meant anything lax or scamped in the process of painting. Any thing or person of a commonplace or conventional kind, the brotherhood sought a return to the abundant detail, intense colours and complex compositions of Quattrocento Italian art. The group associated their work with John Ruskin, an English critic whose influences were driven by his religious background, the group continued to accept the concepts of history painting and mimesis, imitation of nature, as central to the purpose of art. The Pre-Raphaelites defined themselves as a movement, created a distinct name for their form of art. The groups debates were recorded in the Pre-Raphaelite Journal, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was founded in John Millaiss parents house on Gower Street, London in 1848. At the first meeting, the painters John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Hunt and Millais were students at the Royal Academy of Arts and had met in another loose association, the Cyclographic Club, a sketching society. At his own request Rossetti became a pupil of Ford Madox Brown in 1848, at that date, Rossetti and Hunt shared lodgings in Cleveland Street, Fitzrovia, Central London. Hunt had started painting The Eve of St. Agnes based on Keatss poem of the same name, as an aspiring poet, Rossetti wished to develop the links between Romantic poetry and art. Ford Madox Brown was invited to join, but the more senior artist remained independent but supported the group throughout the PRB period of Pre-Raphaelitism, other young painters and sculptors became close associates, including Charles Allston Collins, Thomas Tupper, and Alexander Munro. The PRB intended to keep the existence of the secret from members of the Royal Academy. The principles were deliberately non-dogmatic, since the brotherhood wished to emphasise the personal responsibility of artists to determine their own ideas. Influenced by Romanticism, the members thought freedom and responsibility were inseparable, nevertheless, they were particularly fascinated by medieval culture, believing it to possess a spiritual and creative integrity that had been lost in later eras. The emphasis on medieval culture clashed with principles of realism which stress the independent observation of nature, in its early stages, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood believed its two interests were consistent with one another, but in later years the movement divided and moved in two directions. The realists were led by Hunt and Millais, while the medievalists were led by Rossetti and his followers, Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris
15.
Gower Street, London
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Gower Street is a street in Bloomsbury, central London, running from Montague Place in the south to Euston Road at the north. The street continues as North Gower Street north of the Euston Road, to the south it becomes Bloomsbury Street. University College London and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art are located along Gower Street as is part of University College Hospital, UCL maintains two student residences along the street, the Arthur Tattersall and John Tovell Houses. Of the many UCL buildings along Gower Street, the Cruciform Building is especially notable, Old boys of University College School are known as Old Gowers after the street where it founded and co-located with UCL. Euston Square tube station is located at the end of Gower Street. Gower Street is named after Lady Gertrude Leveson-Gower, daughter of John Leveson-Gower, notable residents of Gower Street have included the architect George Dance the Younger, painter William de Morgan, and the Shaws. John Shaw, Sr. and John Shaw, Jr. formed a famous nineteenth-century architectural partnership, thomas Budd Shaw was a professor of English literature to the grand dukes of Russia. He moved in on 31 December, and with Emma moved in on the day of their marriage,29 January 1839, the development of Darwins theory of natural selection made progress in this house, and their children William Erasmus Darwin and Anne Darwin were born there. In 1842 the family moved to Down House in the countryside, on 13 December 1904 a London County Council blue plaque was put up, to Charles Darwin Naturalist. The house suffered from damage in 1941 during the Blitz. In 1961 the site became part of the Biological Sciences building of University College London, the long thin garden which backed on to Gower Mews North was incorporated into Foster Court car park in 1978. The etymologist and philologist Hensleigh Wedgwood, who was Charles Darwins cousin and brother-in-law, lived at 94 Gower Street and it was erected by The Trevithick Centenary Memorial Committee. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was founded in the Millais family house on Gower Street in the winter of 1848–49, millicent Fawcett, a leading figure in the constitutional wing of the British womens suffrage movement, lived at No.2 Gower Street. The Walloon poet Henri Michaux briefly resided in Gower Street in February 1931, from 1976 until 1995 the headquarters of MI5 were an anonymous grey office block at 140 Gower Street, adjacent to the Euston Road. The site has since been redeveloped, many of the Georgian houses on Gower Street have been converted into small hotels. North Gower Street, the continuation of Gower Street beyond Euston Road, is not accessible from Gower Street at street level for vehicles or pedestrians. For pedestrians, the most direct access is via a subway along the concourse of Euston Square station, from Euston Road, North Gower Street continues past Drummond Street and then ends, with a footpath continuing north to connect with the Hampstead Road. It is lined mostly with Georgian terraced houses now converted into hotels and student accommodation or rebuilt
16.
Fresco
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Fresco is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly-laid, or wet lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the fresco technique has been employed since antiquity and is closely associated with Italian Renaissance painting. Buon fresco pigment mixed with water of temperature on a thin layer of wet, fresh plaster, for which the Italian word for plaster. Because of the makeup of the plaster, a binder is not required, as the pigment mixed solely with the water will sink into the intonaco. The pigment is absorbed by the wet plaster, after a number of hours, many artists sketched their compositions on this underlayer, which would never be seen, in a red pigment called sinopia, a name also used to refer to these under-paintings. Later, new techniques for transferring paper drawings to the wall were developed. The main lines of a drawing made on paper were pricked over with a point, the paper held against the wall, if the painting was to be done over an existing fresco, the surface would be roughened to provide better adhesion. This area is called the giornata, and the different day stages can usually be seen in a large fresco, buon frescoes are difficult to create because of the deadline associated with the drying plaster. Once a giornata is dried, no more buon fresco can be done, if mistakes have been made, it may also be necessary to remove the whole intonaco for that area—or to change them later, a secco. An indispensable component of this process is the carbonatation of the lime, the eyes of the people of the School of Athens are sunken-in using this technique which causes the eyes to seem deeper and more pensive. Michelangelo used this technique as part of his trademark outlining of his central figures within his frescoes, in a wall-sized fresco, there may be ten to twenty or even more giornate, or separate areas of plaster. After five centuries, the giornate, which were nearly invisible, have sometimes become visible, and in many large-scale frescoes. Additionally, the border between giornate was often covered by an a secco painting, which has fallen off. One of the first painters in the period to use this technique was the Isaac Master in the Upper Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi. A person who creates fresco is called a frescoist, a secco or fresco-secco painting is done on dry plaster. The pigments thus require a medium, such as egg. Blue was a problem, and skies and blue robes were often added a secco, because neither azurite blue nor lapis lazuli. By the end of the century this had largely displaced buon fresco
17.
English literature
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However, until the early 19th century, it only deals with the literature of the United Kingdom and Ireland. It does not include literature written in the languages of Britain. The English language has developed over the course of more than 1,400 years, the earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the fifth century, are called Old English. Middle English began in the late 11th century with the Norman conquest of England, early Modern English began in the late 15th century with the introduction of the printing press to London and the King James Bible as well as the Great Vowel Shift. Through the influence of the British Empire, the English language has spread around the world since the 17th century. 450, after the withdrawal of the Romans, and ending soon after the Norman Conquest in 1066. These works include such as epic poetry, hagiography, sermons, Bible translations, legal works. In all there are about 400 surviving manuscripts from the period, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English, from the 9th century, that chronicle the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The poem Battle of Maldon also deals with history and this is a work of uncertain date, celebrating the Battle of Maldon of 991, at which the Anglo-Saxons failed to prevent a Viking invasion. Oral tradition was strong in early English culture and most literary works were written to be performed. Epic poems were popular, and some, including Beowulf, have survived to the present day. Beowulf is the most famous work in Old English, and has achieved national status in England. The only surviving manuscript is the Nowell Codex, the date of which is debated. Beowulf is the title, and its composition is dated between the 8th and the early 11th century. Cædmon is the earliest English poet whose name is known, and it is also one of the earliest recorded examples of sustained poetry in a Germanic language. The poem, The Dream of the Rood, was inscribed upon the Ruthwell Cross, Two Old English poems from the late 10th century are The Wanderer and The Seafarer. Classical antiquity was not forgotten in Anglo-Saxon England, and several Old English poems are adaptations of late classical philosophical texts, the longest is King Alfreds 9th-century translation of Boethius Consolation of Philosophy. After the Norman conquest of England in 1066, the form of the Anglo-Saxon language became less common. Under the influence of the new aristocracy, French became the language of courts, parliament
18.
Palace of Westminster
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The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Commonly known as the Houses of Parliament after its occupants, the Palace lies on the bank of the River Thames in the City of Westminster. The palace is owned by the monarch in right of the Crown and for ceremonial purposes, the building is managed by committees appointed by both houses, which report to the Speaker of the House of Commons and the Lord Speaker. The first royal palace was built on the site in the 11th century, part of the New Palaces area of 3.24 hectares was reclaimed from the Thames, which is the setting of its nearly 300-metre long façade, called the River Front. Barry was assisted by Augustus Pugin, an authority on Gothic architecture and style. The Palace is one of the centres of political life in the United Kingdom, Westminster has become a metonym for the UK Parliament, the Palace of Westminster has been a Grade I listed building since 1970 and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987. The Palace of Westminster site was important during the Middle Ages. Known in medieval times as Thorney Island, the site may have been first-used for a residence by Canute the Great during his reign from 1016 to 1035. St Edward the Confessor, the penultimate Anglo-Saxon monarch of England, Thorney Island and the surrounding area soon became known as Westminster. Neither the buildings used by the Anglo-Saxons nor those used by William I survive, the oldest existing part of the Palace dates from the reign of William Is successor, King William II. The Palace of Westminster was the principal residence in the late Medieval period. The predecessor of Parliament, the Curia Regis, met in Westminster Hall, simon de Montforts parliament, the first to include representatives of the major towns, met at the Palace in 1265. The Model Parliament, the first official Parliament of England, met there in 1295, in 1512, during the early years of the reign of King Henry VIII, fire destroyed the royal residential area of the palace. In 1534, Henry VIII acquired York Place from Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, renaming it the Palace of Whitehall, Henry used it as his principal residence. Although Westminster officially remained a royal palace, it was used by the two Houses of Parliament and by the various law courts. Because it was originally a residence, the Palace included no purpose-built chambers for the two Houses. Important state ceremonies were held in the Painted Chamber which had originally built in the 13th century as the main bedchamber for King Henry III. The House of Commons, which did not have a chamber of its own, the Commons acquired a permanent home at the Palace in St Stephens Chapel, the former chapel of the royal palace, during the reign of Edward VI
19.
Charles West Cope
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Charles West Cope RA was an English Victorian era painter of genre and history scenes, and an etcher. He was responsible for painting several frescos in the House of Lords in London, Cope was born at Park Square in Leeds, the son of Charles Cope, a watercolour landscape painter and art teacher. He was given the name West after that of a painter, Benjamin West. His mother was an amateur artist in watercolours who died shortly after Charles birth. He then went to Leeds Grammar School, where he suffered from the attentions of a cruel teacher, in 1827, Copes father was killed in a stage coach accident. That same year he entered Sasss Academy in Bloomsbury, London and he earned a silver medal from the Society of Arts in 1829, a second medal in the Royal Academy Life School, and therefore a life studentship. While at Sasss he established friendship with Francis Cary and Charles Stonhouse. About 1830 he lived at lodgings in Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury close to the British Museum, in 1832 Cope went to Paris and practiced his art by copying Old Masters at the Louvre such as Titian, Rembrandt and others. In 1833 he exhibited at the Royal Academy for the first time – a picture called The Golden Age, in September of the same year he travelled to Italy, where he spent two years – earning a living for part of the time by painting pictures on commission. His painting The Firstborn was completed in Florence and exhibited at the British Institution, after returning to England, Cope took lodgings in Newman Street, London, then moved to 1 Russell Place, where his landlord and family became his artists models. Here he painted Paolo and Franceses and Osteria di Campagna, which were exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1837 and 1838 respectively, in 1839–40 he painted a large altar-piece for St Georges Church, Leeds, which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1840. Cope founded a society called The Etching Club which included artists such as William Holman Hunt, Richard Redgrave. The club published several books of etchings illustrating various themes by well-known authors such as Goldsmiths The Deserted Village, Sonnets by Shakespeare and Miltons LAllegro, on 1 September 1840, Cope married Charlotte Benning, the daughter of a surgeon with a large country practice. They lived first in rented furnished lodgings in Lisson Grove, London, in that same year his painting Poor Law Guardians, Board-day application for bread was exhibited at the Royal Academy. Cope submitted designs for a competition to decorate the interior of the Houses of Parliament, in 1843, his drawing The First Trial by Jury earned him a prize of 300 pounds. He also received 400 pounds for his design of Prince Henry Acknowledging the Authority of Judge Gascoigne, Cope received a commission to execute this design in fresco, and also another of Edward the Black Prince receiving the Order of the Garter. These commissions, and others, engaged Cope in fresco painting in the House of Lords for several years and he was also elected an associate of the Royal Academy in 1843. In 1848 he became a Royal Academician after exhibiting a large work Cardinal Wolseys Reception at Leicester Abbey, in this year he was engaged on the frescos of Griselda and Lara on the wall of the upper waiting hall of the House of Lords
20.
John Callcott Horsley
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John Callcott Horsley RA, was an English Academic painter of genre and historical scenes, illustrator, and designer of the first Christmas card. He was a member of the colony in Cranbrook. Horsley was born in London, the son of William Horsley, the musician and his sister Mary Elizabeth Horsley wed the famous British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel in 1836. Horsley was mentored by William Mulready and Augustus Wall Callcot who sent him at age thirteen to study at Dr Henry Sasss academy where he met D. G Rossetti, J. Millais, frith, in his biography Horsley recalls Dr Sass as being vain and untalented. Following preparatory school Horsley studied painting at the Royal Academy schools where he met Thomas Webster, in 1836 he exhibited The Pride of the Village at the Royal Academy. Horsley married Elvira Walter in 1846 with whom he had three sons, Edward, Frank, and Harry, Elvira died of consumption in 1852 followed by the deaths of Edward and Harry in 1854 and Frank in 1857 due to scarlet fever. Rosamund gave birth to Walter, Hugh, Victor, Emma, Fanny, Gerald, Gerald grew up to be an architect, Walter an artist also studying at the RA Schools, and Victor a surgeon. Sir Victor Horsley, became famous as a surgeon and neuropathologist, Horsley and Rosamund had four more children, Emma, Fanny, Gerald and Rosamund, losing Hugh and Emma to scarlet fever. After his wedding to Rosamund in 1854 Horsley and his new wife toured the Midlands for five months to establish contacts with wealthy industrialists for portrait commissions, Horsley moved into Willesley, his house in Cranbrook in 1861, joining the Cranbrook Colony, whilst maintaining a home in London. The architect Richard Shaw adds. tall chimneys and cosy inglenooks. in the Jacobean style to Willesley, horsleys paintings were largely of historical subjects set in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, influenced by the Dutch masters Pieter de Hooch and Vermeer. Examples are Malvolio, LAllegro and il Penseroso, Le Jour des Morts, in 1843 his cartoon of St Augustine Preaching won a prize in the competition to provide interior decorations for Palace of Westminster. This led to his being selected in 1844 he was as one of the six painters commissioned to execute frescoes there and he painted Religion in the House of Lords, Henry V assuming the Crown and Satan touched by Ithuriels Spear while whispering evil dreams to Eve. In 1864 he became a Royal Academician, Horsley had much to do with organizing the winter exhibitions of Old Masters at Burlington House after 1870. Horsley was rector and treasurer of the Royal Academy from 1875 to 1890 and 1882 to 1897 respectively and he earned the nickname Clothes-Horsley for his opposition to the use of nude life models. However, it was a letter printed in The Times on 20 May which proved the catalyst for igniting a national controversy around the exhibition of the nude, the letter was titled A Womans Plea and signed British Matron. In fact it was penned by J. C and he resigned from the academy in 1897, and became a retired Academician. Horsley designed the first ever Christmas card, commissioned by Henry Cole and it caused some controversy because it depicted a small child drinking wine. He also designed the Horsley envelope, an envelope that was the precursor to the postage stamp
21.
Leipzig
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Leipzig is the largest city in the federal state of Saxony, Germany. With a population of 570,087 inhabitants it is Germanys tenth most populous city, Leipzig is located about 160 kilometres southwest of Berlin at the confluence of the White Elster, Pleisse, and Parthe rivers at the southern end of the North German Plain. Leipzig has been a city since at least the time of the Holy Roman Empire. The city sits at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, Leipzig was once one of the major European centers of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing. Leipzig became an urban center within the German Democratic Republic after the Second World War. Leipzig later played a significant role in instigating the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, through events which took place in, Leipzig today is an economic center and the most livable city in Germany, according to the GfK marketing research institution. Since the opening of the Leipzig City Tunnel in 2013, Leipzig forms the centerpiece of the S-Bahn Mitteldeutschland public transit system, Leipzig is currently listed as Gamma World City and Germanys Boomtown. Outside of Leipzig the Neuseenland district forms a lake area of approximately 300 square kilometres. Leipzig is derived from the Slavic word Lipsk, which means settlement where the linden trees stand, an older spelling of the name in English is Leipsic. The Latin name Lipsia was also used, the name is cognate with Lipetsk in Russia and Liepāja in Latvia. In 1937 the Nazi government officially renamed the city Reichsmessestadt Leipzig, the common usage of this nickname for Leipzig up until the present is reflected, for example, in the name of a popular blog for local arts and culture, Heldenstadt. de. Leipzig was first documented in 1015 in the chronicles of Bishop Thietmar of Merseburg as urbs Libzi and endowed with city, Leipzig Trade Fair, started in the Middle Ages, became an event of international importance and is the oldest remaining trade fair in the world. During the Thirty Years War, two battles took place in Breitenfeld, about 8 kilometres outside Leipzig city walls, the first Battle of Breitenfeld took place in 1631 and the second in 1642. Both battles resulted in victories for the Swedish-led side, on 24 December 1701, an oil-fueled street lighting system was introduced. The city employed light guards who had to follow a schedule to ensure the punctual lighting of the 700 lanterns. The Leipzig region was the arena of the 1813 Battle of Leipzig between Napoleonic France and a coalition of Prussia, Russia, Austria and Sweden. It was the largest battle in Europe prior to the First World War, in 1913 the Monument to the Battle of the Nations celebrating the centenary of this event was completed. The railway station has two entrance halls, the eastern one for the Royal Saxon State Railways and the western one for the Prussian state railways
22.
Cambridge
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Cambridge is a university city and the county town of Cambridgeshire, England, on the River Cam about 50 miles north of London. At the United Kingdom Census 2011, its population was 123,867, there is archaeological evidence of settlement in the area in the Bronze Age and in Roman Britain, under Viking rule, Cambridge became an important trading centre. The first town charters were granted in the 12th century, although city status was not conferred until 1951, the University of Cambridge, founded in 1209, is one of the top five universities in the world. The university includes the Cavendish Laboratory, Kings College Chapel, the citys skyline is dominated by the last two buildings, along with the spire of the Our Lady and the English Martyrs Church, the chimney of Addenbrookes Hospital and St Johns College Chapel tower. Anglia Ruskin University, evolved from the Cambridge School of Art, Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology Silicon Fen with industries such as software and bioscience and many start-up companies spun out of the university. More than 40% of the workforce has a higher education qualification, the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, one of the largest biomedical research clusters in the world, is soon to be home to AstraZeneca, a hotel and the relocated Papworth Hospital. Parkers Piece hosted the first ever game of Association football, the Strawberry Fair music and arts festival and Midsummer Fairs are held on Midsummer Common, and the annual Cambridge Beer Festival takes place on Jesus Green. The city is adjacent to the M11 and A14 roads, settlements have existed around the Cambridge area since prehistoric times. The earliest clear evidence of occupation is the remains of a 3, the principal Roman site is a small fort Duroliponte on Castle Hill, just northwest of the city centre around the location of the earlier British village. The fort was bounded on two sides by the lines formed by the present Mount Pleasant, continuing across Huntingdon Road into Clare Street, the eastern side followed Magrath Avenue, with the southern side running near to Chesterton Lane and Kettles Yard before turning northwest at Honey Hill. It was constructed around AD70 and converted to use around 50 years later. Evidence of more widespread Roman settlement has been discovered including numerous farmsteads, evidence exists that the invading Anglo-Saxons had begun occupying the area by the end of the century. Their settlement—also on and around Castle Hill—became known as Grantebrycge, Anglo-Saxon grave goods have been found in the area. During this period, Cambridge benefited from good trade links across the hard-to-travel fenlands, by the 7th century, the town was less significant and described by Bede as a little ruined city containing the burial site of Etheldreda. Cambridge was on the border between the East and Middle Anglian kingdoms and the settlement slowly expanded on both sides of the river, the arrival of the Vikings was recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 875. Viking rule, the Danelaw, had been imposed by 878 Their vigorous trading habits caused the town to grow rapidly. During this period the centre of the town shifted from Castle Hill on the bank of the river to the area now known as the Quayside on the right bank. In 1068, two years after his conquest of England, William of Normandy built a castle on Castle Hill, like the rest of the newly conquered kingdom, Cambridge fell under the control of the King and his deputies
23.
Fitzwilliam Museum
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The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge, located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge, England. It receives around 470,000 visitors annually, the Museum is the lead museum for the University of Cambridge Museums consortium, one of 16 Major Partner Museum services funded by Arts Council England to lead the development of the museums sector. The current Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum is Tim Knox, the museum was founded in 1816 with the legacy of the library and art collection of the 7th Viscount FitzWilliam. The bequest also included £100,000 to cause to be erected a good substantial museum repository, the collection was initially placed in the old Perse School building in Free School Lane. It was moved in 1842 to the Old Schools, the Founders Building itself was designed by George Basevi, completed by C. R. Cockerell and opened in 1848, the entrance hall is by Edward Middleton Barry and was completed in 1875. The first stone of the new building was laid by Gilbert Ainslie in 1837, a further large bequest was made to the University in 1912 by Charles Brinsley Marlay, including a sum of £80,000 and a collection of 84 pictures. A two-storey extension, paid for partly by the Courtauld family, was added in 1931, the museum has five departments, Antiquities, Applied Arts, Coins and Medals, Manuscripts and Printed Books, and Paintings, Drawings and Prints. Among the most notable works in the collection are the bas-reliefs from Persepolis, the Egyptian Galleries at the Fitzwilliam Museum reopened in 2006 after a two-year, £1.5 million programme of refurbishment, conservation and research. The museum has an extensive collection of Turner, which has its origins in a set of 25 watercolour drawings donated to the university by John Ruskin in 1861. Sir Sydney Cockerell, who was serving as director of the museum at the time, went on to acquire a further 8 Turner watercolours, if true, they would be the only known surviving bronze sculptures by the artist. The pair of statues depict naked, apparently drunk, men riding panthers, art historian Paul Joannides connected the statues to a drawing in the Musée Fabre by an apprentice of Michelangelo depicting the same subject in the same pose. On 25 January 2006, a member of the public tripped which resulted in three huge oriental porcelain vases being shattered and requiring painstaking reconstruction, at around 19,30 BST on 13 April 2012,18 valuable and culturally significant Chinese works of art were stolen. The burglars were sentenced to a combined 18 years in jail, the Friends of the Fitzwilliam, founded in 1909, is a society supporting the museum, the oldest in Britain. One of the members was Denys Spittle, whose collection of manuscripts was exhibited in 2007 under the title Private Pleasures. Sidney Colvin 1876–1884 Sir Charles Walston 1883–1889 John Henry Middleton 1889–1892 Montague Rhodes James 1893–1908 Sir Sydney Cockerell 1908–1937 L. C. G
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George Basevi
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Elias George Basevi FRS was an English architect who worked in both Neoclassical and Gothic Revival styles. A pupil of Sir John Soane, his designs included Belgrave Square in London, and he was surveyor to the Guardian Assurance Company, to the Trustees of Smiths Charity and to the Thurloe estate. He was the youngest son of a City of London merchant, the family were of Sephardic Jewish origin, and Basevis father remained a member of the congregation of the Bevis Marks Synagogue until 1817. Basevi was educated at the Reverend Dr Burneys school at Greenwich, in 1821 he became the first surveyor of the Guardian Assurance Company, a post he held until his death. His work for the company involved personally inspecting and reporting on buildings where there was a great risk and he also remodelled their premises in Lombard Street. In 1822 he designed the church of St Thomas at Stockport, both were for the Commissioners of the Church Building Act, and both were in the neo-classical style. Basevi was unhappy with the modifications to the designs of the steeples imposed by the Commissioners, St Marys was demolished in 1936 after 17 years of closure. He designed Belgrave Square for the developers William and George Haldimand, success there led to his appointment as Surveyor to the Trustees of Smiths Charity at Brompton, and to the adjoining Thurloe estate. He also designed the houses in Thurloe Square, off the Brompton Road, in 1835 he won the competition to design a museum for Cambridge University, funded by a bequest from Viscount Fitzwilliam, with an imposing design in the Corinthian style. Work on the Fitzwilliam Museum was continued after Basevis death by C. R. Cockerell, Basevi built two Gothic churches in Chelsea, St Jude and St Saviour, and another, Holy Trinity at Twickenham Green. In 1834-6, he rebuilt the church of St Andrew, Hove. The church at Eye in Northamptonshire was also rebuilt to Basevis designs, it was opened in 1847 and he also used the Gothic style at almshouses in Stamford and Ely, and at Coulsdon rectory, Surrey. In 1834 he made alterations and additions to the Middlesex Hospital and later built a new medical school. In 1834 he designed Beechwood House in Hampstead for his brother, Basevi became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1843. He died on 15 October 1845, aged 51, after falling through an opening in the floor of the old chamber of the west tower of Ely Cathedral while inspecting repairs. He was buried in the North Choir Aisle towards the east end of the cathedral under a monumental brass, a London County Council blue plaque commemorates Basevi at 17 Savile Row in Mayfair. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Basevi biography
25.
Charles Robert Cockerell
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Charles Robert Cockerell RA was an English architect, archaeologist, and writer. From the age of sixteen, he trained in the practice of his father, who held the post of surveyor to East India House. From 1809 to 1810 Cockerell became an assistant to Robert Smirke, on 14 April 1810 he set off on the Grand Tour. Due to the Napoleonic Wars much of Europe was closed to the British, so he headed for Cadiz, Malta and Constantinople, from there he went to Troy, finally arriving in Athens, in Constantinople he met John Foster who would accompany him on his tour. In April 1811 he was in Aegina where he helped excavate the Temple of Aphaea, finding fallen fragmentary pediment sculptures, on 18 August 1811 he set out with three companions from Zakynthos on a tour of Morea, aiming for the temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae in Arcadia. The magnificent Bassae Frieze that Cockerell discovered at the temple was eventually excavated and his tour continued visiting, Sparta, Argos, Tiryns, Mycenae, Epidaurus and Corinth returning to Athens. They arrived in Malta on 18 July 1812, where Cockerell was confined to bed for three weeks with a fever. By 28 August 1812 they were in Sicily, where they stayed several months studying the chief Greek temples, drawing a reconstruction of the Temple of the Olympian Zeus, Agrigento. On his recovery he continued his travels, in January 1814 he was in Ioannina, returning to Athens, before going on in May 1814 to Zakynthos to attend the sale of the Bassae Frieze. In December 1814 he returned to the Temple of Aphaea for a fortnight to check, in a letter of 23 December 1814 he details his re-discovery of entasis, he enclosed a sketch for Robert Smirke of one of the Parthenon columns showing its outline. Much of his time in Rome was spent on preparing his drawings for publication, in 1816 Cockrell moved on to Florence. Cockerell was presented to Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany and was awarded the diploma of Academician of the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno, in June he suffered another bout of ill health. Cockerell returned to London on 17 June 1817, over seven years since his departure, Cockerell set about preparing his drawings of Greek antiquities for exhibition at the Royal Academy. Cockerell was living and working at 8 Old Burlington Street, it was owned by his father, from 1832 to 1836 he rented as his office 34 Savile Row. Cockerell was a member of three clubs, Athenaeum Club, London, Travellers Club and Grillions to which he was elected in 1822. In 1819 he was appointed surveyor to St. Pauls Cathedral and he was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy on 2 November 1829, and an academician on 10 February 1836, his diploma work being his design for the Palace of Westminster competition. In September 1839, he was appointed Professor of Architecture at the Academy and he won the first Royal Gold Medal for architecture in 1848 and became president of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1860. Replicas of these reliefs were included in the frieze of the library of the Travellers Club
26.
Copenhagen
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Copenhagen, Danish, København, Latin, Hafnia) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark. Copenhagen has an population of 1,280,371. The Copenhagen metropolitan area has just over 2 million inhabitants, the city is situated on the eastern coast of the island of Zealand, another small portion of the city is located on Amager, and is separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the strait of Øresund. The Øresund Bridge connects the two cities by rail and road, originally a Viking fishing village founded in the 10th century, Copenhagen became the capital of Denmark in the early 15th century. Beginning in the 17th century it consolidated its position as a centre of power with its institutions, defences. After suffering from the effects of plague and fire in the 18th century and this included construction of the prestigious district of Frederiksstaden and founding of such cultural institutions as the Royal Theatre and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Later, following the Second World War, the Finger Plan fostered the development of housing, since the turn of the 21st century, Copenhagen has seen strong urban and cultural development, facilitated by investment in its institutions and infrastructure. The city is the cultural, economic and governmental centre of Denmark, Copenhagens economy has seen rapid developments in the service sector, especially through initiatives in information technology, pharmaceuticals and clean technology. Since the completion of the Øresund Bridge, Copenhagen has become integrated with the Swedish province of Scania and its largest city, Malmö. With a number of connecting the various districts, the cityscape is characterized by parks, promenades. Copenhagen is home to the University of Copenhagen, the Technical University of Denmark, the University of Copenhagen, founded in 1479, is the oldest university in Denmark. Copenhagen is home to the FC København and Brøndby football clubs, the annual Copenhagen Marathon was established in 1980. Copenhagen is one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world, the Copenhagen Metro serves central Copenhagen while the Copenhagen S-train network connects central Copenhagen to its outlying boroughs. Serving roughly 2 million passengers a month, Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup, is the largest airport in the Nordic countries, the name of the city reflects its origin as a harbour and a place of commerce. The original designation, from which the contemporary Danish name derives, was Køpmannæhafn, meaning merchants harbour, the literal English translation would be Chapmans haven. The English name for the city was adapted from its Low German name, the abbreviations Kbh. or Kbhvn are often used in Danish for København, and kbh. for københavnsk. The chemical element hafnium is named for Copenhagen, where it was discovered, the bacterium Hafnia is also named after Copenhagen, Vagn Møller of the State Serum Institute in Copenhagen named it in 1954. Excavations in Pilestræde have also led to the discovery of a well from the late 12th century, the remains of an ancient church, with graves dating to the 11th century, have been unearthed near where Strøget meets Rådhuspladsen
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Thorvaldsen Museum
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The Thorvaldsen Museum is a single-artist museum in Copenhagen, Denmark, dedicated to the art of Danish neoclassicistic sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen, who lived and worked in Rome for most of his life. The museum is located on the island of Slotsholmen in central Copenhagen next to Christiansborg Palace. Designed by Michael Gottlieb Bindesbøll, the building was constructed from 1838-48 following a collection of funds in 1837. The building is inspired by antique Greek architecture and built around an inner courtyard where the artist is buried. The courtyard is particularlarly notable being painted in Eqyptian motifs, tall palms, lions and crocodile prowl among exotic birds. It is particularly noteworthy for its use of colors both inside and outside. Every room in the museum has a unique ceiling decoration in the grotesque style, the outside is adorned with a frieze depicting Thorvaldsens homecoming from Rome in 1838 made by Jørgen Sonne
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