1.
Rembrandt Peale
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Rembrandt Peale was an American artist and museum keeper. A prolific portrait painter, he was acclaimed for his likenesses of presidents George Washington. Peales style was influenced by French Neoclassicism after a stay in Paris in his early thirties, Rembrandt Peale was born the third of six surviving children to his mother, Rachel Brewer, and father, Charles Willson Peale in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, on February 22,1778. The father, Charles, also a notable artist, named him after the noted 17th-century Dutch painter and engraver Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn. His father also taught all of his children, including Raphaelle Peale, Rubens Peale and Titian Peale, to paint scenery and portraiture, Rembrandt began drawing at the age of 8. A year after his mother’s death and the remarriage of his father, Peale left the school of the arts, the canvas displays the young artists early mastery. The clothes, however, give the notion that Peale exaggerated what a 13-year-old would look like, later in his life, Peale often showed this painting to young beginners, to encourage them to go from bad to better. In July 1787, Charles Willson Peale introduced his son Rembrandt to George Washington, in 1795, at the age of 17, Rembrandt painted an aging Washington, making him appear far more aged than in reality. The portrait was well received, and Rembrandt had made his debut, at the age of 20, Peale married 22-year-old Eleanor May Short at St. Josephs Catholic Church in Philadelphia. During their marriage, Peale and Short had nine children, Rosalba, Eleanor, Michael Angelo, Angelica, in 1822, Peale moved to New York City where he embarked on an attempt to paint what he hoped would become the standard likeness of Washington. He studied portraits by artists including John Trumbull, Gilbert Stuart and his own father. Peale subsequently attempted to capitalize on the success of what became known as his Porthole picture. Patriae Pater was purchased by Congress in 1832 for $2,000 and it currently hangs in the Old Senate Chamber. In 1826 he helped found the National Academy of Design in New York City, Peale went on to create over 70 detailed replicas, including one of Washington in full military uniform that currently hangs in the Oval Office. Peale continued to paint other noted portraits, such as those of the third president Thomas Jefferson while he was in office, noted for his itinerant nature, Peale visited Europe several times to study art. Throughout his life, Peale traveled across the Western Hemisphere in search of inspiration and his father helped pay his way to Paris, where he stayed from June to September 1808, and again from October 1809 to November 1810. In Paris, Peale studied the works of Jacques-Louis David, which influenced him to paint in the Neoclassical style and he painted the famous explorer Alexander von Humboldt and several other noted patrons such as Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac and François André Michaux. After his successes in France, Peale returned to Philadelphia in 1810 and his efforts to establish his knowledge and mastery of art were displayed in his painting The Roman Daughter
2.
Versailles, Yvelines
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According to the 2008 census, the population of the city is 88,641 inhabitants, down from a peak of 94,145 in 1975. A new town, founded by the will of King Louis XIV, it was the de facto capital of the Kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789, before becoming the cradle of the French Revolution. After having lost its status of city, it became the préfecture of Seine-et-Oise département in 1790, then of Yvelines in 1968. Versailles is historically known for numerous treaties such as the Treaty of Paris, which ended the American Revolutionary War and this word formation is similar to Latin seminare which gave French semailles. From May 1682, when Louis XIV moved the court and government permanently to Versailles, until his death in September 1715, during the various periods when government affairs were conducted from Versailles, Paris remained the official capital of France. Versailles was made the préfecture of the Seine-et-Oise département at its inception in March 1790, Versailles was made the préfecture of the Yvelines département, the largest chunk of the former Seine-et-Oise. At the 2006 census the Yvelines had 1,395,804 inhabitants, Versailles is the seat of a Roman Catholic diocese which was created in 1790. The diocese of Versailles is subordinate to the archdiocese of Paris, in 1975, Versailles was made the seat of a Court of Appeal whose jurisdiction covers the western suburbs of Paris. Since 1972, Versailles has been the seat of one of Frances 30 nationwide académies of the Ministry of National Education. Versailles is also an important node for the French army, a tradition going back to the monarchy with, for instance, the palace of Versailles is in the out-skirts of the city. Versailles is located 17.1 km west-southwest from the centre of Paris, the city of Versailles has an area of 26.18 km2, which is a quarter of the area of the city of Paris. In 1989, Versailles had a density of 3, 344/km2, whereas Paris had a density of 20. Born out of the will of a king, the city has a rational and symmetrical grid of streets, by the standards of the 18th century, Versailles was a very modern European city. Versailles was used as a model for the building of Washington, the name of Versailles appears for the first time in a medieval document dated 1038. In the end of the 11th century, the village curled around a medieval castle, the 14th century brought the Black Death and the Hundred Years War, and with it death and destruction. At the end of the Hundred Years War in the 15th century, in 1561, Martial de Loménie, secretary of state for finances under King Charles IX, became lord of Versailles. He obtained permission to four annual fairs and a weekly market on Thursdays. The population of Versailles was 500 inhabitants, Martial de Loménie was murdered during the St. Bartholomews Day massacre
3.
Prix de Rome
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The Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them to stay in Rome for three to five years at the expense of the state, the prize was extended to architecture in 1720, music in 1803, and engraving in 1804. The prestigious award was abolished in 1968 by André Malraux, the Minister of Culture, the Prix de Rome was initially created for painters and sculptors in 1663 in France during the reign of Louis XIV. It was an annual bursary for promising artists having proved their talents by completing a very difficult elimination contest, the prize, organised by the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, was open to their students. From 1666, the winner could win a stay of three to five years at the Palazzo Mancini in Rome at the expense of the King of France. In 1720, the Académie Royale d’Architecture began a prize in architecture, six painters, four sculptors, and two architects would be sent to the French Academy in Rome founded by Jean-Baptiste Colbert from 1666. Expanded after 140 years into five categories, the contest started in 1663 as two categories, painting and sculpture, in 1803, music was added, and after 1804 there was a prix for engraving as well. The primary winner took the First Grand Prize and the Second Prizes were awarded to the runners-up, in 1803, Napoleon Bonaparte moved the French Academy in Rome to the Villa Medici with the intention of preserving an institution once threatened by the French Revolution. At first, the villa and its gardens were in a sad state, in this way, he hoped to retain for young French artists the opportunity to see and copy the masterpieces of antiquity and the Renaissance. Jacques-Louis David, having failed to win the three years in a row, considered suicide. Édouard Manet, Edgar Degas, Ernest Chausson and Maurice Ravel attempted the Prix de Rome, but did not gain recognition. Ravel tried a total of five times to win the prize, during World War II the prize winners were accommodated in the Villa Paradiso in Nice. The Prix de Rome was abolished in 1968 by André Malraux, since then, a number of contests have been created, and the academies, together with the Institut de France, were merged by the State and the Minister of Culture. Selected residents now have an opportunity for study during an 18-month stay at The Academy of France in Rome, the heyday of the Prix de Rome was during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The Prix de Rome for Architecture was created in 1720, the engraving prize was created in 1804. A Prix de Rome was also established in the Kingdom of Holland by Lodewijk Napoleon to award young artists and architects, during the years 1807–1810 prize winners were sent to Paris and onwards to Rome for study. Suspended in 1851 it was reinstated in 1870 by William III of the Netherlands, since then the winners have been selected by the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam under the main headings of architecture and the visual arts. The Belgian Prix de Rome is an award for artists, created in 1832
4.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
5.
Sculpture
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Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. It is one of the plastic arts, a wide variety of materials may be worked by removal such as carving, assembled by welding or modelling, or molded, or cast. However, most ancient sculpture was painted, and this has been lost. Those cultures whose sculptures have survived in quantities include the cultures of the ancient Mediterranean, India and China, the Western tradition of sculpture began in ancient Greece, and Greece is widely seen as producing great masterpieces in the classical period. During the Middle Ages, Gothic sculpture represented the agonies and passions of the Christian faith, the revival of classical models in the Renaissance produced famous sculptures such as Michelangelos David. Relief is often classified by the degree of projection from the wall into low or bas-relief, high relief, sunk-relief is a technique restricted to ancient Egypt. Relief sculpture may also decorate steles, upright slabs, usually of stone, techniques such as casting, stamping and moulding use an intermediate matrix containing the design to produce the work, many of these allow the production of several copies. The term sculpture is used mainly to describe large works. The very large or colossal statue has had an enduring appeal since antiquity, another grand form of portrait sculpture is the equestrian statue of a rider on horse, which has become rare in recent decades. The smallest forms of life-size portrait sculpture are the head, showing just that, or the bust, small forms of sculpture include the figurine, normally a statue that is no more than 18 inches tall, and for reliefs the plaquette, medal or coin. Sculpture is an important form of public art, a collection of sculpture in a garden setting can be called a sculpture garden. One of the most common purposes of sculpture is in form of association with religion. Cult images are common in cultures, though they are often not the colossal statues of deities which characterized ancient Greek art. The actual cult images in the innermost sanctuaries of Egyptian temples, of which none have survived, were rather small. The same is true in Hinduism, where the very simple. Some undoubtedly advanced cultures, such as the Indus Valley civilization, appear to have had no monumental sculpture at all, though producing very sophisticated figurines, the Mississippian culture seems to have been progressing towards its use, with small stone figures, when it collapsed. Other cultures, such as ancient Egypt and the Easter Island culture, from the 20th century the relatively restricted range of subjects found in large sculpture expanded greatly, with abstract subjects and the use or representation of any type of subject now common. Today much sculpture is made for intermittent display in galleries and museums, small sculpted fittings for furniture and other objects go well back into antiquity, as in the Nimrud ivories, Begram ivories and finds from the tomb of Tutankhamun
6.
Age of Enlightenment
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The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement which dominated the world of ideas in Europe during the 18th century, The Century of Philosophy. In France, the doctrines of les Lumières were individual liberty and religious tolerance in opposition to an absolute monarchy. French historians traditionally place the Enlightenment between 1715, the year that Louis XIV died, and 1789, the beginning of the French Revolution, some recent historians begin the period in the 1620s, with the start of the scientific revolution. Les philosophes of the widely circulated their ideas through meetings at scientific academies, Masonic lodges, literary salons, coffee houses. The ideas of the Enlightenment undermined the authority of the monarchy and the Church, a variety of 19th-century movements, including liberalism and neo-classicism, trace their intellectual heritage back to the Enlightenment. The Age of Enlightenment was preceded by and closely associated with the scientific revolution, earlier philosophers whose work influenced the Enlightenment included Francis Bacon, René Descartes, John Locke, and Baruch Spinoza. The major figures of the Enlightenment included Cesare Beccaria, Voltaire, Denis Diderot, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, David Hume, Adam Smith, Benjamin Franklin visited Europe repeatedly and contributed actively to the scientific and political debates there and brought the newest ideas back to Philadelphia. Thomas Jefferson closely followed European ideas and later incorporated some of the ideals of the Enlightenment into the Declaration of Independence, others like James Madison incorporated them into the Constitution in 1787. The most influential publication of the Enlightenment was the Encyclopédie, the ideas of the Enlightenment played a major role in inspiring the French Revolution, which began in 1789. After the Revolution, the Enlightenment was followed by an intellectual movement known as Romanticism. René Descartes rationalist philosophy laid the foundation for enlightenment thinking and his attempt to construct the sciences on a secure metaphysical foundation was not as successful as his method of doubt applied in philosophic areas leading to a dualistic doctrine of mind and matter. His skepticism was refined by John Lockes 1690 Essay Concerning Human Understanding and his dualism was challenged by Spinozas uncompromising assertion of the unity of matter in his Tractatus and Ethics. Both lines of thought were opposed by a conservative Counter-Enlightenment. In the mid-18th century, Paris became the center of an explosion of philosophic and scientific activity challenging traditional doctrines, the political philosopher Montesquieu introduced the idea of a separation of powers in a government, a concept which was enthusiastically adopted by the authors of the United States Constitution. Francis Hutcheson, a philosopher, described the utilitarian and consequentialist principle that virtue is that which provides, in his words. Much of what is incorporated in the method and some modern attitudes towards the relationship between science and religion were developed by his protégés David Hume and Adam Smith. Hume became a figure in the skeptical philosophical and empiricist traditions of philosophy. Immanuel Kant tried to reconcile rationalism and religious belief, individual freedom and political authority, as well as map out a view of the sphere through private
7.
Denis Diderot
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Denis Diderot was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer. He was a prominent figure during the Enlightenment and is best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, Denis Diderot was born in Langres, Champagne, and began his formal education at a Jesuit collège in Langres. His parents were Didier Diderot a cutler, maître coutelier, three of five siblings survived to adulthood, Denise Diderot and their youngest brother Pierre-Didier Diderot, and finally their sister Angélique Diderot. According to Arthur McCandless Wilson, Denis Diderot greatly admired his sister Denise, in 1732 Denis Diderot earned the Master of Arts degree in philosophy. Then he entered the Collège dHarcourt of the University of Paris and he abandoned the idea of entering the clergy and decided instead to study at the Paris Law Faculty. His study of law was short-lived however and in 1734 Diderot decided to become a writer, because of his refusal to enter one of the learned professions, he was disowned by his father, and for the next ten years he lived a bohemian existence. In 1742 he befriended Jean-Jacques Rousseau, in 1743 he further alienated his father by marrying Antoinette Champion, a devout Roman Catholic. The match was considered due to Champions low social standing, poor education, fatherless status. She was about three years older than Diderot, the marriage in October 1743 produced one surviving child, a girl. Her name was Angélique, after both Diderots dead mother and sister, the death of his sister, a nun, from overwork in the convent may have affected Diderots opinion of religion. Babuti, Madeleine de Puisieux, Sophie Volland and Mme de Maux and his letters to Sophie Volland are known for their candor and are regarded to be among the literary treasures of the eighteenth century. Though his work was broad as well as rigorous, it did not bring Diderot riches, when the time came for him to provide a dowry for his daughter, he saw no alternative than to sell his library. When Empress Catherine II of Russia heard of his financial troubles she commissioned an agent in Paris to buy the library and she then requested that the philosopher retain the books in Paris until she required them, and act as her librarian with a yearly salary. Between October 1773 and March 1774, the sick Diderot spent a few months at the court in Saint Petersburg. Diderot died of thrombosis in Paris on 31 July 1784. His heirs sent his vast library to Catherine II, who had it deposited at the National Library of Russia and this idea seems to have been shelved. In 1745, he published a translation of Shaftesburys Inquiry Concerning Virtue and Merit, in 1746, Diderot wrote his first original work, the Philosophical Thoughts. In this book, Diderot argued for a reconciliation of reason with feeling so as to establish harmony, according to Diderot, without feeling there would be a detrimental effect on virtue and no possibility of creating sublime work
8.
Benjamin Franklin
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Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Franklin was a polymath and a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, freemason, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman. As a scientist, he was a figure in the American Enlightenment. As an inventor, he is known for the rod, bifocals. He facilitated many civic organizations, including Philadelphias fire department and the University of Pennsylvania, Franklin earned the title of The First American for his early and indefatigable campaigning for colonial unity, initially as an author and spokesman in London for several colonies. As the first United States Ambassador to France, he exemplified the emerging American nation, in the words of historian Henry Steele Commager, In a Franklin could be merged the virtues of Puritanism without its defects, the illumination of the Enlightenment without its heat. To Walter Isaacson, this makes Franklin the most accomplished American of his age, Franklin became a successful newspaper editor and printer in Philadelphia, the leading city in the colonies, publishing the Pennsylvania Gazette at the age of 23. He became wealthy publishing this and Poor Richards Almanack, which he authored under the pseudonym Richard Saunders, after 1767, he was associated with the Pennsylvania Chronicle, a newspaper that was known for its revolutionary sentiments and criticisms of the British policies. He pioneered and was first president of The Academy and College of Philadelphia which opened in 1751 and he organized and was the first secretary of the American Philosophical Society and was elected president in 1769. Franklin became a hero in America as an agent for several colonies when he spearheaded an effort in London to have the Parliament of Great Britain repeal the unpopular Stamp Act. An accomplished diplomat, he was widely admired among the French as American minister to Paris and was a figure in the development of positive Franco-American relations. His efforts proved vital for the American Revolution in securing shipments of crucial munitions from France, during the Revolution, he became the first US Postmaster General. He was active in community affairs and colonial and state politics, from 1785 to 1788, he served as governor of Pennsylvania. He initially owned and dealt in slaves but, by the 1750s, he argued against slavery from an economic perspective, Franklins father, Josiah Franklin, was a tallow chandler, a soap-maker and a candle-maker. Josiah was born at Ecton, Northamptonshire, England on December 23,1657, the son of Thomas Franklin, a blacksmith-farmer, and Jane White. His mother, Abiah Folger, was born in Nantucket, Massachusetts, on August 15,1667, to Peter Folger, a miller and schoolteacher, and his wife, Mary Morrill, Josiah Franklin had seventeen children with his two wives. He married his first wife, Anne Child, in about 1677 in Ecton and emigrated with her to Boston in 1683, after her death, Josiah was married to Abiah Folger on July 9,1689 in the Old South Meeting House by Samuel Willard. Benjamin, their child, was Josiah Franklins fifteenth child and tenth
9.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
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Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Francophone Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of the 18th century. His political philosophy influenced the Enlightenment in France and across Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolution, Rousseaus novel Emile, or On Education is a treatise on the education of the whole person for citizenship. His sentimental novel Julie, or the New Heloise was of importance to the development of pre-romanticism and romanticism in fiction and his Discourse on Inequality and The Social Contract are cornerstones in modern political and social thought. During the period of the French Revolution, Rousseau was the most popular of the philosophes among members of the Jacobin Club and he was interred as a national hero in the Panthéon in Paris, in 1794,16 years after his death. Rousseau was born in Geneva, which was at the time a city-state, since 1536, Geneva had been a Huguenot republic and the seat of Calvinism. Rousseau was proud that his family, of the order, had voting rights in the city. Throughout his life, he signed his books Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Geneva, in theory, was governed democratically by its male voting citizens, the citizens were a minority of the population when compared to the immigrants, referred to as inhabitants, whose descendants were called natives and continued to lack suffrage. There was much debate within Geneva, extending down to the tradespeople. Much discussion was over the idea of the sovereignty of the people, in 1707, a democratic reformer named Pierre Fatio protested this situation, saying a sovereign that never performs an act of sovereignty is an imaginary being. He was shot by order of the Little Council, Jean-Jacques Rousseaus father, Isaac, was not in the city at this time, but Jean-Jacquess grandfather supported Fatio and was penalized for it. The trade of watchmaking had become a tradition by the time of Rousseaus father. Isaac followed his grandfather, father and brothers into the business, Isaac, notwithstanding his artisan status, was well educated and a lover of music. A Genevan watchmaker, Rousseau wrote, is a man who can be introduced anywhere, in 1699, Isaac ran into political difficulty by entering a quarrel with visiting English officers, who in response drew their swords and threatened him. After local officials stepped in, it was Isaac who was punished, Rousseaus mother, Suzanne Bernard Rousseau, was from an upper-class family. She was raised by her uncle Samuel Bernard, a Calvinist preacher and he cared for Suzanne after her father Jacques died in his early thirties. In 1695, Suzanne had to answer charges that she had attended a street theater disguised as a peasant woman so she could gaze upon M. Vincent Sarrasin, after a hearing, she was ordered by the Genevan Consistory to never interact with him again. She married Rousseaus father at the age of 31, isaacs sister had married Suzannes brother eight years earlier, after she had become pregnant and they had been chastised by the Consistory
10.
Voltaire
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Voltaire was a versatile writer, producing works in almost every literary form, including plays, poems, novels, essays, and historical and scientific works. He wrote more than 21,000 letters and over two books and pamphlets. He was an advocate of civil liberties, despite the risk this placed him in under the strict censorship laws of the time. As a satirical polemicist, he made use of his works to criticize intolerance, religious dogma. Some speculation surrounds Voltaires date of birth, because he claimed he was born on 20 February 1694 as the son of a nobleman. Two of his older brothers—Armand-François and Robert—died in infancy and his brother, Armand. Nicknamed Zozo by his family, Voltaire was baptized on 22 November 1694, with François de Castagnère, abbé de Châteauneuf, and Marie Daumard, the wife of his mothers cousin, standing as godparents. He was educated by the Jesuits at the Collège Louis-le-Grand, where he was taught Latin, theology, and rhetoric, later in life he became fluent in Italian, Spanish, and English. By the time he left school, Voltaire had decided he wanted to be a writer, against the wishes of his father, Voltaire, pretending to work in Paris as an assistant to a notary, spent much of his time writing poetry. When his father out, he sent Voltaire to study law. Nevertheless, he continued to write, producing essays and historical studies, Voltaires wit made him popular among some of the aristocratic families with whom he mixed. In 1713, his father obtained a job for him as a secretary to the new French ambassador in the Netherlands, the marquis de Châteauneuf, at The Hague, Voltaire fell in love with a French Protestant refugee named Catherine Olympe Dunoyer. Their scandalous affair was discovered by de Châteauneuf and Voltaire was forced to return to France by the end of the year, Most of Voltaires early life revolved around Paris. From early on, Voltaire had trouble with the authorities for critiques of the government and these activities were to result in two imprisonments and a temporary exile to England. One satirical verse, in which Voltaire accused the Régent of incest with his own daughter, the Comédie-Française had agreed in January 1717 to stage his debut play, Œdipe, and it opened in mid-November 1718, seven months after his release. Its immediate critical and financial success established his reputation, both the Régent and King George I of Great Britain presented Voltaire with medals as a mark of their appreciation. He mainly argued for tolerance and freedom of thought. He campaigned to eradicate priestly and aristo-monarchical authority, and supported a constitutional monarchy that protects peoples rights, the author adopted the name Voltaire in 1718, following his incarceration at the Bastille
11.
George Washington
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George Washington was an American politician and soldier who served as the first President of the United States from 1789 to 1797 and was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He served as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and he is popularly considered the driving force behind the nations establishment and came to be known as the father of the country, both during his lifetime and to this day. Washington was widely admired for his leadership qualities and was unanimously elected president by the Electoral College in the first two national elections. Washingtons incumbency established many precedents still in use today, such as the system, the inaugural address. His retirement from office two terms established a tradition that lasted until 1940 when Franklin Delano Roosevelt won an unprecedented third term. The 22nd Amendment now limits the president to two elected terms and he was born into the provincial gentry of Colonial Virginia to a family of wealthy planters who owned tobacco plantations and slaves, which he inherited. In his youth, he became an officer in the colonial militia during the first stages of the French. In 1775, the Second Continental Congress commissioned him as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army in the American Revolution, in that command, Washington forced the British out of Boston in 1776 but was defeated and nearly captured later that year when he lost New York City. After crossing the Delaware River in the middle of winter, he defeated the British in two battles, retook New Jersey, and restored momentum to the Patriot cause and his strategy enabled Continental forces to capture two major British armies at Saratoga in 1777 and Yorktown in 1781. In battle, however, Washington was repeatedly outmaneuvered by British generals with larger armies, after victory had been finalized in 1783, Washington resigned as commander-in-chief rather than seize power, proving his opposition to dictatorship and his commitment to American republicanism. Washington presided over the Constitutional Convention in 1787, which devised a new form of government for the United States. Following his election as president in 1789, he worked to unify rival factions in the fledgling nation and he supported Alexander Hamiltons programs to satisfy all debts, federal and state, established a permanent seat of government, implemented an effective tax system, and created a national bank. In avoiding war with Great Britain, he guaranteed a decade of peace and profitable trade by securing the Jay Treaty in 1795 and he remained non-partisan, never joining the Federalist Party, although he largely supported its policies. Washingtons Farewell Address was a primer on civic virtue, warning against partisanship, sectionalism. He retired from the presidency in 1797, returning to his home, upon his death, Washington was eulogized as first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen by Representative Henry Lee III of Virginia. He was revered in life and in death, scholarly and public polling consistently ranks him among the top three presidents in American history and he has been depicted and remembered in monuments, public works, currency, and other dedications to the present day. He was born on February 11,1731, according to the Julian calendar, the Gregorian calendar was adopted within the British Empire in 1752, and it renders a birth date of February 22,1732. Washington was of primarily English gentry descent, especially from Sulgrave and his great-grandfather John Washington emigrated to Virginia in 1656 and began accumulating land and slaves, as did his son Lawrence and his grandson, Georges father Augustine
12.
Thomas Jefferson
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Thomas Jefferson was an American Founding Father who was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and later served as the third President of the United States from 1801 to 1809. Previously, he was elected the second Vice President of the United States, Jefferson was primarily of English ancestry, born and educated in colonial Virginia. He graduated from the College of William & Mary and briefly practiced law and he became the United States Minister to France in May 1785, and subsequently the nations first Secretary of State in 1790–1793 under President George Washington. Jefferson and James Madison organized the Democratic-Republican Party to oppose the Federalist Party during the formation of the First Party System, as President, Jefferson pursued the nations shipping and trade interests against Barbary pirates and aggressive British trade policies. He also organized the Louisiana Purchase, almost doubling the countrys territory, as a result of peace negotiations with France, his administration reduced military forces. Jeffersons second term was beset with difficulties at home, including the trial of former Vice President Aaron Burr, American foreign trade was diminished when Jefferson implemented the Embargo Act of 1807, responding to British threats to U. S. shipping. In 1803, Jefferson began a process of Indian tribe removal to the newly organized Louisiana Territory. Jefferson mastered many disciplines, which ranged from surveying and mathematics to horticulture and he was a proven architect in the classical tradition. Jeffersons keen interest in religion and philosophy earned him the presidency of the American Philosophical Society and he shunned organized religion, but was influenced by both Christianity and deism. He was well versed in linguistics and spoke several languages and he founded the University of Virginia after retiring from public office. He was a letter writer and corresponded with many prominent and important people throughout his adult life. His only full-length book is Notes on the State of Virginia, Jefferson owned several plantations which were worked by hundreds of slaves. Most historians now believe that, after the death of his wife in 1782, he had a relationship with his slave Sally Hemings and fathered at least one of her children. Various modern scholars are more critical of Jeffersons private life, pointing out the discrepancy between his ownership of slaves and his political principles, for example. Presidential scholars, however, consistently rank Jefferson among the greatest presidents, Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13,1743, at the family home in Shadwell in the Colony of Virginia, the third of ten children. He was of English and possibly Welsh descent and was born a British subject and his father Peter Jefferson was a planter and surveyor who died when Jefferson was fourteen, his mother was Jane Randolph. Peter Jefferson moved his family to Tuckahoe Plantation in 1745 upon the death of a friend who had named him guardian of his children, the Jeffersons returned to Shadwell in 1752, where Peter died in 1757, his estate was divided between his sons Thomas and Randolph. Thomas inherited approximately 5,000 acres of land, including Monticello and he assumed full authority over his property at age 21
13.
Louis XVI of France
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Louis XVI, born Louis-Auguste, was the last King of France and Navarre before the French Revolution, during which he was also known as Louis Capet. In 1765, at the death of his father, Louis, Dauphin of France, son and heir apparent of Louis XV of France, Louis XVI was guillotined on 21 January 1793. The first part of his reign was marked by attempts to reform France in accordance with Enlightenment ideas and these included efforts to abolish serfdom, remove the taille, and increase tolerance toward non-Catholics. The French nobility reacted to the reforms with hostility. Louis implemented deregulation of the market, advocated by his liberal minister Turgot. In periods of bad harvests, it would lead to food scarcity which would prompt the masses to revolt, from 1776, Louis XVI actively supported the North American colonists, who were seeking their independence from Great Britain, which was realized in the 1783 Treaty of Paris. The ensuing debt and financial crisis contributed to the unpopularity of the Ancien Régime and this led to the convening of the Estates-General of 1789. In 1789, the storming of the Bastille during riots in Paris marked the beginning of the French Revolution. Louiss indecisiveness and conservatism led some elements of the people of France to view him as a symbol of the tyranny of the Ancien Régime. The credibility of the king was deeply undermined, and the abolition of the monarchy, Louis XVI was the only King of France ever to be executed, and his death brought an end to more than a thousand years of continuous French monarchy. Louis-Auguste de France, who was given the title Duc de Berry at birth, was born in the Palace of Versailles. Out of seven children, he was the son of Louis, the Dauphin of France. His mother was Marie-Josèphe of Saxony, the daughter of Frederick Augustus II of Saxony, Prince-Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. A strong and healthy boy, but very shy, Louis-Auguste excelled in his studies and had a taste for Latin, history, geography, and astronomy. He enjoyed physical activities such as hunting with his grandfather, and rough-playing with his brothers, Louis-Stanislas, comte de Provence. From an early age, Louis-Auguste had been encouraged in another of his hobbies, locksmithing, upon the death of his father, who died of tuberculosis on 20 December 1765, the eleven-year-old Louis-Auguste became the new Dauphin. His mother never recovered from the loss of her husband, and died on 13 March 1767, throughout his education, Louis-Auguste received a mixture of studies particular to religion, morality, and humanities. His instructors may have also had a hand in shaping Louis-Auguste into the indecisive king that he became
14.
Robert Fulton
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Robert Fulton was an American engineer and inventor who is widely credited with developing a commercially successful steamboat called The North River Steamboat of Claremont. That steamboat went with passengers from New York City to Albany and back again, in 1800, he was commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte to design the Nautilus, which was the first practical submarine in history. He is also credited with inventing some of the worlds earliest naval torpedoes for use by the British Royal Navy, Robert Fulton was born on a farm in Little Britain, Pennsylvania, on November 14,1765. He had three sisters – Isabella, Elizabeth, and Mary, and a brother, Abraham. He then married Harriet Livingston and had four children, Julia, Mary, Cornelia and his father, Robert, had been a close friend to the father of painter Benjamin West. Fulton later met West in England and they became friends, Fulton stayed in Philadelphia for six years, where he painted portraits and landscapes, drew houses and machinery, and was able to send money home to help support his mother. In 1785 he bought a farm at Hopewell Township in Washington County for £80 Sterling and moved his mother, while in Philadelphia, he met Benjamin Franklin, then known not only for his political and writing abilities but his scientific and inventing knowledge, and other prominent figures. At age 23 he decided to visit Europe, Fulton came to England in 1786, carrying several letters of introduction to Americans abroad from the individuals he had met in Philadelphia. He had already corresponded with Benjamin West, and West took Fulton into his home, Fulton gained many commissions painting portraits and landscapes, which allowed him to support himself, but he continually experimented with mechanical inventions. He became caught up in the enthusiasm of the Canal Mania and he obtained a patent for this idea in 1794 and also began working on ideas for the steam power of boats. He published a pamphlet about canals and patented a dredging machine, in 1794 he moved to Manchester to gain practical knowledge of English canal engineering. Whilst there he became friendly with Robert Owen, the cotton manufacturer, however, this practical experience was not a success and he gave up the contract after a short time. In 1797 he went to Paris where his fame as an inventor was well known, in Paris, then along with London, the scientific centers of the 18th Century world, Fulton studied languages French, and German, along with mathematics and chemistry. He began to design torpedoes and submarines, in Paris, Fulton met James Rumsey, who sat for a portrait in Wests studio, where Fulton was an apprentice. Rumsey was an inventor from Virginia who ran his own first steamboat up the Potomac River near Shepherdstown, Fulton became very enthusiastic about the canals and in 1796 wrote a treatise on canal construction, suggesting improvements to locks and other features. Working for the Duke of Bridgewater between 1796 and 1799, he had a constructed in the Dukes timber yard, under the supervision of Benjamin Powell. After installation of the machinery supplied by the engineers Bateman and Sherratt of Salford, after expensive trials, because of the configuration of the design, it was feared the paddles may damage the clay lining of the canal and the experiment was eventually abandoned. In 1801 the Duke, impressed by the Charlotte Dundas constructed by William Symington, decided to order eight of such vessels for his canal, but when he died in 1803, the order was cancelled
15.
Napoleon
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Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the French Revolutionary Wars. As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814, Napoleon dominated European and global affairs for more than a decade while leading France against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars. He won most of these wars and the vast majority of his battles, one of the greatest commanders in history, his wars and campaigns are studied at military schools worldwide. Napoleons political and cultural legacy has ensured his status as one of the most celebrated and he was born Napoleone di Buonaparte in Corsica to a relatively modest family from the minor nobility. When the Revolution broke out in 1789, Napoleon was serving as an officer in the French army. Seizing the new opportunities presented by the Revolution, he rose through the ranks of the military. The Directory eventually gave him command of the Army of Italy after he suppressed a revolt against the government from royalist insurgents, in 1798, he led a military expedition to Egypt that served as a springboard to political power. He engineered a coup in November 1799 and became First Consul of the Republic and his ambition and public approval inspired him to go further, and in 1804 he became the first Emperor of the French. Intractable differences with the British meant that the French were facing a Third Coalition by 1805, in 1806, the Fourth Coalition took up arms against him because Prussia became worried about growing French influence on the continent. Napoleon quickly defeated Prussia at the battles of Jena and Auerstedt, then marched the Grand Army deep into Eastern Europe, France then forced the defeated nations of the Fourth Coalition to sign the Treaties of Tilsit in July 1807, bringing an uneasy peace to the continent. Tilsit signified the high watermark of the French Empire, hoping to extend the Continental System and choke off British trade with the European mainland, Napoleon invaded Iberia and declared his brother Joseph the King of Spain in 1808. The Spanish and the Portuguese revolted with British support, the Peninsular War lasted six years, featured extensive guerrilla warfare, and ended in victory for the Allies. The Continental System caused recurring diplomatic conflicts between France and its client states, especially Russia, unwilling to bear the economic consequences of reduced trade, the Russians routinely violated the Continental System and enticed Napoleon into another war. The French launched an invasion of Russia in the summer of 1812. The resulting campaign witnessed the collapse of the Grand Army, the destruction of Russian cities, in 1813, Prussia and Austria joined Russian forces in a Sixth Coalition against France. A lengthy military campaign culminated in a large Allied army defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813, the Allies then invaded France and captured Paris in the spring of 1814, forcing Napoleon to abdicate in April. He was exiled to the island of Elba near Rome and the Bourbons were restored to power, however, Napoleon escaped from Elba in February 1815 and took control of France once again. The Allies responded by forming a Seventh Coalition, which defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in June, the British exiled him to the remote island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died six years later at the age of 51
16.
Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne
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Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne was a French sculptor and among the greatest French portraitists. He was the pupil of his father, Jean-Louis Lemoyne, and he is commonly referred to as Jean-Baptiste II Lemoyne or the younger to distinguish him from his uncle of the same name, the sculptor Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne the Elder. He received the prix de Rome awarded by the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, lemoynes more important works have for the most part been destroyed or have disappeared. The equestrian statue of Louis XV for the school. The bas-relief panels only have been preserved, in his portrait busts we have a remarkable series of important portraits, of which those of women are perhaps the best. Of Pompadour he also executed a statue in the costume of a nymph, very delicate, Lemoyne was perhaps most successful in his training of pupils, among them Étienne Maurice Falconet Pigalle, Caffiéri, and Augustin Pajou. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Lemoyne. Media related to Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne the Younger at Wikimedia Commons Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne in American public collections, on the French Sculpture Census website
17.
Jean-Baptiste Pigalle
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Jean-Baptiste Pigalle was a French sculptor. Pigalle was born in Paris, the child of a carpenter. Although he failed to obtain the Prix de Rome, after a struggle he entered the Académie Royale. Pigalle taught the sculptor Louis-Philippe Mouchy, who married his niece, and his name is most commonly known today because of the Pigalle red-light district in Paris, located around the square of the same name. Pigalle died in Paris on 20 August 1785, media related to Jean-Baptiste Pigalle at Wikimedia Commons Virtual Gallery Jean-Baptiste Pigalle in American public collections, on the French Sculpture Census website
18.
Rome
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Rome is a special comune and the capital of Italy. Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region, with 2,873,598 residents in 1,285 km2, it is also the countrys largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents, the city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio, along the shores of the Tiber. Romes history spans more than 2,500 years, while Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at only around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. The citys early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans and it was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy. Rome is also called the Caput Mundi, due to that, Rome became first one of the major centres of the Italian Renaissance, and then the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism. Famous artists, painters, sculptors and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, in 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic. Rome has the status of a global city, Rome ranked in 2014 as the 14th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, monuments and museums such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum are among the worlds most visited tourist destinations with both locations receiving millions of tourists a year. Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and is the seat of United Nations Food, however, it is a possibility that the name Romulus was actually derived from Rome itself. As early as the 4th century, there have been alternate theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from approximately 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools, pottery and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum. Between the end of the age and the beginning of the Iron age. However, none of them had yet an urban quality, nowadays, there is a wide consensus that the city was gradually born through the aggregation of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine. All these happenings, which according to the excavations took place more or less around the mid of the 8th century BC. Despite recent excavations at the Palatine hill, the view that Rome has been indeed founded with an act of will as the legend suggests in the middle of the 8th century BC remains a fringe hypothesis. Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth
19.
Bruno of Cologne
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Bruno of Cologne was the founder of the Carthusian Order, personally founded the orders first two communities. He was a teacher at Reims, and a close advisor of his former pupil. His feast day is October 6, Bruno was born at Cologne about the year 1030. According to tradition, he belonged to the family of Hartenfaust, or Hardebüst, little is known of his early years, except that he studied theology in the present-day French city of Reims before returning to his native land. His education completed, Bruno returned to Cologne, where he was most likely ordained a priest around 1055, for eighteen years, from 1057 to 1075, he maintained the prestige which the school of Reims attained under its former masters, Remi of Auxerre, and others. Bruno led the school for two decades, acquiring an excellent reputation as a philosopher and theologian. Among his students were Eudes of Châtillon, afterwards Pope Urban II, Rangier, Cardinal and Bishop of Reggio, Robert, Bishop of Langres, in 1075, Bruno was appointed chancellor of the Diocese of Reims, which involved him in the daily administration of the diocese. Meanwhile, the pious Bishop Gervais de Château-du-Loir, a friend to Bruno, had succeeded by Manasses de Gournai. In 1077, at the urging of Bruno and the clergy at Reims and he responded, in typical eleventh century fashion, by having his retainers pull down the houses of his accusers. He confiscated their goods, sold their benefices, and even appealed to the pope. On the verge of being made bishop himself, Bruno instead followed a vow he had made to renounce secular concerns and withdrew, but he soon found that this was not his vocation. After a short stay he went with six of his companions to Saint Hugh of Châteauneuf, with St. Bruno were, Landuin, Stephen of Bourg, Stephen of Die, Hugh the Chaplain and two laymen, Andrew and Guerin, who afterwards became the first lay brothers. Hugh who became one of themselves. At the time, Brunos pupil, Eudes of Châtillon, had become pope as Urban II and it is difficult to assign the place which Bruno occupied in Rome, or his influence in contemporary events, because it remained entirely hidden and confidential. Shortly after his arrival in Rome, the party was forced to evacuate to the south by the arrival of Henry IV with his own antipope in tow. Bruno did not attend the Council of Clermont, where Urban preached the First Crusade and his part in history is effaced. During the voyage south, the professor of Reims attracted attention in Reggio Calabria. The pope and Roger Borsa, the Norman Duke of Apulia, strongly approved of the election, Bruno sidestepped the offer, which he guided to one of his former pupils nearby at a Benedictine abbey near Salerno
20.
Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri
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The Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels and the Martyrs is a titular basilica church in Rome, Italy built inside the frigidarium of the Baths of Diocletian in the Piazza della Repubblica. The most recent Cardinal priest of the Titulus S. Mariae Angelorum in Thermis is William Henry Keeler, the basilica is dedicated to the Christian martyrs, known and unknown. By a brief dated 27 July 1561, Pius IV ordered the church built, a story that these Martyrs were Christian slave labourers who had been set to constructing the Baths is modern. It was also a monument of Pope Pius IV, whose tomb is in the apsidal tribune that culminates the series of spaces. The thermae of Diocletian dominated the Quirinal Hill with their mass and had successfully resisted Christianization. Michelangelo Buonarroti worked from 1563 to 1564 to adapt a section of the structure of the baths to enclose a church. Some later construction directed by Luigi Vanvitelli in 1749 only superficially distracts from the grand, at Santa Maria degli Angeli, Michelangelo achieved an unexampled sequence of shaped architectural spaces with few precedents or followers. There is no true facade, the entrance is set within one of the coved apses of a main space of the thermae. The plan is developed from a Greek cross, with a transept so dominant, with its chapels at each end. Of the Saint Bruno, Pope Clement XIV said that he would speak, were it not for the vow of silence of the order he founded, raising the floor truncated the red granite Roman columns that articulate the transept and its flanking spaces. Michelangelo made the transept 27 meters wide, thus providing vast cubical spaces at each end of the transept, in 2006, Polish-born sculptor Igor Mitoraj created new bronze doors as well as a statue of John the Baptist for the basilica. In April 2010, a five metre high statue of Galileo Galilei Divine Man was unveiled in a courtyard within the complex. The statue was a donation from CCAST and WFS, Santa Maria degli Angeli was the official state church during the Kingdom of Italy. More recently, national burials have been held in the church, the church hosts the tombs of General Armando Diaz and Admiral Paolo Thaon di Revel, who were the commanders responsible for winning World War I on the Italian front. Also today the Basilica is used for ceremonies, included the funeral of soldiers killed abroad. Alan Cook remarked, The disposition, the stability and the precision are much better than those of the famous meridian. in Bologna, bianchinis sundial was built along the meridian that crosses Rome, at longitude 12°30 E. At solar noon, which according to the equation of time from around 10,54 a. m. UTC in late October to 11.24 a. m, UTC in February, the sun shines through a small hole in the wall to cast its light on this line each day
21.
Italian Peninsula
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The Italian Peninsula or Apennine Peninsula is the central and the smallest of the three large peninsulas of Southern Europe. It extends 1,000 km from the Po Valley in the north to the central Mediterranean Sea in the south, the peninsulas shape gives it the nickname lo Stivale. Three smaller peninsulas contribute to this shape, namely Calabria, Salento. Geographically, the Italian peninsula consists of the south of a line extending from the Magra to the Rubicon rivers. It excludes the Po Valley and the slopes of the Alps. All of the lies within the territory of the Italian Republic except for the microstates of San Marino. Additionally, Sicily, Elba and other islands, such as Palagruža, are usually considered as islands off the peninsula. The peninsula lies between the Tyrrhenian Sea on the west, the Ionian Sea on the south, and the Adriatic Sea on the east, the backbone of the Italian peninsula consists of the Apennine Mountains, from which it takes one of its names. Most of its coast is lined with cliffs, the Italian Peninsulas location between the centre of Europe and the Mediterranean Sea made it the target of many conquests. The peninsula has mainly a Mediterranean climate, though in the parts the climate is much cooler. Its natural vegetation includes macchia along the coasts and deciduous and mixed coniferous forests in the interior. Political divisions of the peninsula sorted by area, Apennine Mountains Roman Republic Roman Italy Insular Italy Media related to Italian Peninsula at Wikimedia Commons
22.
Paris
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Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town
23.
Professor
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Professor is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a person who professes being usually an expert in arts or sciences, in much of the world, the unqualified word professor is used formally to indicate the highest academic rank, informally known as full professor. Professors conduct original research and commonly teach undergraduate, graduate, or professional courses in their fields of expertise, in universities with graduate schools, professors may mentor and supervise graduate students conducting research for a thesis or dissertation. Professors typically hold a Ph. D. another doctorate or a different terminal degree, some professors hold a masters degree or a professional degree, such as an M. D. as their highest degree. The term professor was first used in the late 14th century to one who teaches a branch of knowledge. As a title that is prefixed to a name, it dates from 1706, the hort form prof is recorded from 1838. The term professor is used with a different meaning, ne professing religion. This canting use of the word comes down from the Elizabethan period, a professor is an accomplished and recognized academic. In most Commonwealth nations, as well as northern Europe, the professor is the highest academic rank at a university. In the United States and Canada, the title of professor is also the highest rank, in these areas, professors are scholars with doctorate degrees or equivalent qualifications who teach in four-year colleges and universities. An emeritus professor is a given to selected retired professors with whom the university wishes to continue to be associated due to their stature. Emeritus professors do not receive a salary, but they are often given office or lab space, and use of libraries, labs, the term professor is also used in the titles assistant professor and associate professor, which are not considered professor-level positions in some European countries. In Australia, the associate professor is used in place of reader, ranking above senior lecturer. However, such professors usually do not undertake academic work for the granting institution, in general, the title of professor is strictly used for academic positions rather than for those holding it on honorary basis. Other roles of professorial tasks depend on the institution, its legacy, protocols, place, a professor typically earns a base salary and a range of benefits. In addition, a professor who undertakes additional roles in her institution earns additional income, some professors also earn additional income by moonlighting in other jobs, such as consulting, publishing academic or popular press books, or giving speeches or coaching executives. Some fields give professors more opportunities for outside work, the anticipated average earnings with performance-related bonuses for a German professor is €71,500. The salaries of civil servant professors in Spain are fixed in a basis, but there are some bonus related to performance and seniority
24.
Palace of Versailles
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The Palace of Versailles, Château de Versailles, or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. Versailles is therefore not only as a building, but as a symbol of the system of absolute monarchy of the Ancien Régime. First built by Louis XIII in 1623, as a lodge of brick and stone. The first phase of the expansion was designed and supervised by the architect Louis Le Vau and it culminated in the addition of three new wings of stone, which surrounded Louis XIIIs original building on the north, south, and west. After Le Vaus death in 1670, the work was taken over and completed by his assistant, charles Le Brun designed and supervised the elaborate interior decoration, and André Le Nôtre landscaped the extensive Gardens of Versailles. Le Brun and Le Nôtre collaborated on the fountains, and Le Brun supervised the design. During the second phase of expansion, two enormous wings north and south of the wings flanking the Cour Royale were added by the architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart. He also replaced Le Vaus large terrace, facing the garden on the west, with became the most famous room of the palace. The Royal Chapel of Versailles, located at the end of the north wing, was begun by Mansart in 1688. One of the most baffling aspects to the study of Versailles is the cost – how much Louis XIV, owing to the nature of the construction of Versailles and the evolution of the role of the palace, construction costs were essentially a private matter. Initially, Versailles was planned to be a residence for Louis XIV and was referred to as the kings house. Once Louis XIV embarked on his campaigns, expenses for Versailles became more of a matter for public record. To counter the costs of Versailles during the years of Louis XIVs personal reign. Accordingly, all materials that went into the construction and decoration of Versailles were manufactured in France, even the mirrors used in the decoration of the Hall of Mirrors were made in France. While Venice in the 17th century had the monopoly on the manufacture of mirrors, to meet the demands for decorating and furnishing Versailles, Colbert nationalised the tapestry factory owned by the Gobelin family, to become the Manufacture royale des Gobelins. In 1667, the name of the enterprise was changed to the Manufacture royale des Meubles de la Couronne, the Comptes meticulously list the expenditures on the silver furniture – disbursements to artists, final payments, delivery – as well as descriptions and weight of items purchased. Entries for 1681 and 1682 concerning the silver used in the salon de Mercure serve as an example. 5 In anticipation, For the silver balustrade for the bedroom,90,000 livres II
25.
Catherine the Great
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Catherine II of Russia, also known as Catherine the Great, was a Russian monarch. She was the female leader of Russia, reigning from 1762 until her death in 1796 at the age of 67. She came to following a coup détat when her husband. Russia was revitalised under her reign, growing larger and stronger than ever, in both her accession to power and in rule of her empire, Catherine often relied on her noble favourites, most notably Grigory Orlov and Grigory Potemkin. In the west, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, ruled by Catherines former lover, king Stanisław August Poniatowski, was eventually partitioned, in the east, Russia started to colonise Alaska, establishing Russian America. Catherine reformed the administration of Russian guberniyas, and many new cities, an admirer of Peter the Great, Catherine continued to modernise Russia along Western European lines. However, military conscription and the continued to depend on serfdom. This was one of the reasons behind several rebellions, including the large-scale Pugachevs Rebellion of cossacks. The period of Catherine the Greats rule, the Catherinian Era, is considered the Golden Age of the Russian Empire. The Manifesto on Freedom of the Nobility, issued during the reign of Peter III and confirmed by Catherine. Construction of many mansions of the nobility, in the classical style endorsed by the Empress and she enthusiastically supported the ideals of The Enlightenment, thus earning the status of an enlightened despot. Catherine was born in Stettin, Pomerania, Kingdom of Prussia as Princess Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg, she was nicknamed Figchen. Her father, Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst, belonged to the ruling German family of Anhalt, two of her first cousins became Kings of Sweden, Gustav III and Charles XIII. In accordance with the then prevailing in the ruling dynasties of Germany, she received her education chiefly from a French governess. She once wrote to her correspondent Baron Grimm, I see nothing of interest in it, although Catherine was born a princess, her family had very little money. Catherines rise to power was supported by her mothers relatives who were both wealthy nobles and royal relations. Catherine first met Peter III at the age of 10, based on her writings, she found Peter detestable upon meeting him. She disliked his pale complexion and his fondness for alcohol at such a young age, Peter also still played with toy soldiers
26.
John Paul Jones
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John Paul Jones was the United States first well-known naval commander in the American Revolutionary War. As such, he is referred to as the Father of the American Navy. He later served in the Imperial Russian Navy, subsequently obtaining the rank of rear admiral, Jones was born John Paul on the estate of Arbigland near Kirkbean in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright on the southwest coast of Scotland. His father John Paul, Sr. was a gardener at Arbigland and his parents married on November 29,1733 in New Abbey, Kirkcudbright. Living at Arbigland at the time was Helen Craik, later a novelist, John Paul started his maritime career at the age of 13, sailing out of Whitehaven in the northern English county of Cumberland as apprentice aboard Friendship under Captain Benson. Pauls older brother William Paul had married and settled in Fredericksburg, Virginia, for several years, John sailed aboard a number of British merchant and slave ships, including King George in 1764 as third mate and Two Friends as first mate in 1766. In 1768, he abandoned his prestigious position on the profitable Two Friends while docked in Jamaica and he found his own passage back to Scotland, and eventually obtained another position. He then led two voyages to the West Indies before running into difficulty, during his second voyage in 1770, John Paul viciously flogged one of his sailors, a carpenter, leading to accusations that his discipline was unnecessarily cruel. These claims initially were dismissed, but his reputation was destroyed when the sailor died a few weeks later. John Paul was arrested for his involvement in the death, and was imprisoned in Kirkcudbright Tolbooth. The negative effect of this episode on his reputation is indisputable and this man was not a usual sailor but an adventurer from a very influential Scottish family. Leaving Scotland, John Paul commanded a London-registered vessel named Betsy and this came to an end, however, when John killed a mutineer crew member named Blackton with a sword in a dispute over wages. He felt compelled to flee to Fredericksburg, Province of Virginia, there is a long-held tradition in the state of North Carolina that John Paul adopted the name Jones in honor of Willie Jones of Halifax, North Carolina. From that period, America became the country of his fond election and it was not long afterward that John Paul Jones joined the American navy to fight against Britain. Sources struggle with this period of Jones life, especially the specifics of his family situation and it is not known whether his plans were not developing as expected for the plantation, or if he was inspired by a revolutionary spirit. During this time, the Navy and Marines were being formally established, Joness potential would likely have gone unrecognized were it not for the endorsement of Richard Henry Lee, who knew of his abilities. Jones sailed from the Delaware River in February 1776 aboard Alfred on the Continental Navys maiden cruise and it was aboard this vessel that Jones took the honor of hoisting the first U. S. ensign over a naval vessel. He actually raised the Grand Union Flag, not the later, the fleet had been expected to cruise along the coast but was ordered instead by Commodore Esek Hopkins to sail for The Bahamas, where Nassau was raided for its military supplies
27.
Mount Vernon
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Mount Vernon was the plantation house of George Washington, the first President of the United States, and his wife, Martha Dandridge Custis Washington. The estate is situated on the banks of the Potomac River in Fairfax County, Virginia, near Alexandria, across from Prince Georges County, the Washington family had owned land in the area since the time of Washingtons great-grandfather in 1674. In 1739 they embarked on an expansion of the estate that continued under George Washington, who came into possession of the estate in 1754, the mansion is built of wood in a loose Palladian style, and was constructed by George Washington in stages between 1758 and 1778. It occupies the site of an earlier, smaller house built by George Washingtons father Augustine and it remained Washingtons country home for the rest of his life. Following his death in 1799, under the ownership of successive generations of the family. Escaping the damage suffered by many plantation houses during the American Civil War, Mount Vernon was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960 and is today listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is still owned and maintained in trust by The Mount Vernon Ladies Association, allowing the public to see the estate is not an innovation, but part of a 200-year-old tradition started by George Washington himself. In 1794 he wrote, I have no objection to any sober or orderly persons gratifying their curiosity in viewing the buildings, Gardens, when George Washingtons ancestors acquired the estate, it was known as Little Hunting Creek Plantation, after the nearby Little Hunting Creek. Vernon had been Lawrences commanding officer in the British Royal Navy, when George Washington inherited the property, he retained the name. The current property consists of 500 acres, the main buildings, the present house was built in phases from 1758, by an unknown architect, on the site of the Washingtons former farmhouse. This staggered and unplanned evolution is indicated by the main door. As completed and seen today, the house is in a loose Palladian style, the principal block, dating from 1758, is a two-storied corps de logis flanked by two single-story secondary wings, built in 1775. These secondary wings, which house the hall on the northern side. The corps de logis and secondary wings have hipped roofs with dormers, the rooms at Mount Vernon have mostly been restored to their appearance at the time of George and Martha Washingtons occupancy. These rooms include Washingtons study, two dining rooms, the West Parlour, the Front Parlour, the kitchen and some bedrooms, instead they range from severe Palladianism to a finer and later neoclassicism in the style of Robert Adam. This varying of the style is best exemplified in the doorcases. Today, visitors to Mount Vernon are shown Washingtons study, a room to which in the century only a privileged few were granted entrée. It is a furnished room Washington used as a combined bathroom, dressing room and office
28.
George Washington (Houdon)
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George Washington is a statue by French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon from the late 18th century. Based on a mask and other measurements of George Washington taken by Houdon. The original sculpture is located in the rotunda of the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond, Virginia, the date given for the sculpture varies. It was commissioned by the Virginia General Assembly in 1784, begun in 1785, signed 1788, completed in 1791 or 1792, the original statue is carved from Carrara marble. It depicts a standing life-sized Washington, in his right hand is a cane, his left arm rests on a fasces on which is slung his cape and sword, and at the back is a plow. He is shown wearing his uniform, as Washington wished to be depicted in contemporary attire. At the time of its commission, Washington had not yet served in the Constitutional Convention, chief Justice John Marshall, a contemporary of Washingtons said of the work, Nothing in bronze or stone could be a more perfect image than this statue of the living Washington. In 1784, the Virginia General Assembly commissioned a statue of George Washington to be of the finest marble and his voyage was conditional on his life being insured for the trip, asking that ten thousand livres be paid to his family should he die during the voyage. On July 28,1785, Houdon sailed with Benjamin Franklin, by December, Houdon had returned to France. Though inscribed with the date 1788, it was completed in France in 1791 or 1792 and it was finally delivered to Richmond in 1796 and placed in the rotunda on May 14,1796. The equestrian monument that originally attracted Houdon to America was never commissioned, the 1783 resolution authorizing such a statue would eventually be fulfilled in 1860 by Clark Mills as Lieutenant General George Washington in Washington Circle. Beginning in the 19th century, numerous copies of the statue have been made in bronze and plaster, with molds often made directly from the original. Following the destruction of a statue of Washington by Antonio Canova when the North Carolina State Capitol burned in 1831, during the 1850s, the Virginia General Assembly authorized the casting of 11 bronze copies of the monument. Six bronzes were produced by the foundry of Richmond artist William James Hubard, known casts from the Hubard foundry are located at, Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia, unveiled in 1856. After the occupation of Lexington in the American Civil War, it was relocated to Wheeling, West Virginia. North Carolina State Capitol, in 1857 and it was the first monument placed on the new capitols grounds, designed to replace the destroyed Canova statue. New York City Hall, New York City, cast 1857, a plaster cast by Hubard, once located in the U. S. Capitol, was moved in 1950 to the Smithsonian American Art Museum. And in 2007 transferred to the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation in Virginia, in the early 20th century, the Commonwealth of Virginia commissioned a new cast to be added to the National Statuary Hall Collection
29.
Virginia General Assembly
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The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the oldest continuous law-making body in the New World, established on July 30,1619. The General Assembly is a body consisting of a lower house, the Virginia House of Delegates, with 100 members, and an upper house. Combined together, the General Assembly consists of 140 elected representatives from a number of constituent districts across the commonwealth. The House of Delegates is presided over by the Speaker of the House, the House and Senate each elect a clerk and sergeant-at-arms. The Senate of Virginias clerk is known as the Clerk of the Senate, the Republican Party currently holds the majority in both the House of Delegates and the Senate. The General Assembly meets in Virginias capital of Richmond, when sitting in Richmond, the General Assembly holds sessions in the Virginia State Capitol, designed by Thomas Jefferson in 1788 and expanded in 1904. During the American Civil War, the building was used as the capitol of the Confederate States of America, the building was renovated between 2005 and 2006. Senators and Delegates have their offices in the General Assembly Building across the street north of the Capitol. The Governor of Virginia lives across the street directly east of the Capitol in the Virginia Executive Mansion, the Virginia General Assembly is described as the oldest continuous law-making body in the New World. Its existence dates from the establishment of the Virginia Governors Council, at various times it may have been referred to as the Grand Assembly of Virginia. The General Assembly met in Jamestown from 1619 until 1699, when it moved to Williamsburg, Virginia and it became the General Assembly in 1776 with the ratification of the Virginia Constitution. The government was moved to Richmond in 1780 during the administration of Governor Thomas Jefferson, the annual salary for senators is $18,000. The annual salary for delegates is $17,640, under the Constitution, a senator or delegate who moves his residence from the district for which he is elected shall thereby vacate his office. Article II, section 6 on apportionment states, Members of the, Senate and of the House of Delegates of the General Assembly shall be elected from electoral districts established by the General Assembly. The Redistricting Coalition of Virginia proposes either an independent commission or a commission that is not polarized. Member organizations include the League of Women Voters of Virginia, AARP of Virginia, OneVirginia2021, the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, Governor Bob McDonnells Independent Bipartisan Advisory Commission on Redistricting for the Commonwealth of Virginia made its report on April 1,2011. It made two recommendations for state legislative house that showed maps of districts more compact and contiguous than those adopted by the General Assembly. In 2011, the Virginia College and University Redistricting Competition was organized by Professors Michael McDonald of George Mason University, about 150 students on sixteen teams from thirteen schools submitted plans for legislative and U. S
30.
Virginia State Capitol
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The Virginia State Capitol is the seat of state government of the Commonwealth of Virginia, located in Richmond, the third capital city of the U. S. state of Virginia. It houses the oldest legislative body in the Western Hemisphere, the Virginia General Assembly, the Capitol was conceived of by Thomas Jefferson and Charles-Louis Clérisseau in France. Although it was completed in 1788 and is 228 years old as of 2016, in the early 20th century, two wings were added, leading to its present appearance. In 1960, it was designated a National Historic Landmark, during the American Colonial period, Virginias first capital was Jamestown, where the first legislative body, the Virginia House of Burgesses, met in 1619. The new government used four state houses at different times at Jamestown due to fires, the first Representative Legislative Assembly convened on July 30,1619 at the Jamestown Church which served as the first Capitol. With the decision to relocate the government inland to Williamsburg in 1699, nearby was the grand Governors Palace. It burned in 1747 and was replaced in 1753, the Capitol at Williamsburg served until the American Revolutionary War began, when Governor Thomas Jefferson urged that the capital be relocated to Richmond. The building was last used as a capitol on December 24,1779, when it convened in Richmond on May 1,1780, the legislature met in a makeshift building near Shockoe Bottom. By 1788, the Old Capitol where the Virginia Ratifying Convention met was at the New Academy by the Chevalier Quesnay, plans were begun for a new building to serve a new state, the Commonwealth of Virginia. The site selected for a new, permanent building was on Shockoe Hill, Thomas Jefferson is credited with the overall design of the new Capitol, together with French architect Charles-Louis Clérisseau. The design was modeled after the Maison Carrée at Nîmes in southern France, the only other state to accurately copy an ancient model is the Vermont State House, which based its portico on the Temple of Hephaestus in Athens. Jefferson had Clérisseau substitute the Ionic order over the more ornate Corinthian column designs of the prototype in France, at the suggestion of Clérisseau, it used a variant of the Ionic order designed by Italian student of Andrea Palladio, Vincenzo Scamozzi. The cornerstone was laid on August 18,1785, with Governor Patrick Henry in attendance, in 1786, a set of architectural drawings and a plaster model were sent from France to Virginia, where it was executed by Samuel Dobie. It was sufficiently completed for the General Assembly to meet there in October 1792 and it is one of only twelve Capitols in the United States without an external dome. The building also served as the Capitol of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, the first Flag of the United States to fly over the capitol since secession was hoisted by Lieutenant Johnston L. de Peyster. U. S. President Abraham Lincoln toured the Capitol during his visit to Richmond about a week before his assassination in Washington, from April 6 until April 10,1865 Lynchburg served as the Capital of Virginia. Under Gov. William Smith, the executive and legislative branches of the moved to Lynchburg for the few days between the fall of Richmond and the fall of the Confederacy. After the end of the American Civil War, during the Reconstruction period, Virginia was under military rule for almost five years, before the proceedings could begin, the gallery gave way and fell to the courtroom floor
31.
Richmond, Virginia
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Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. It is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond Region and it was incorporated in 1742, and has been an independent city since 1871. As of the 2010 census, the population was 204,214, in 2015, the population was estimated to be 220,289, the Richmond Metropolitan Area has a population of 1,260,029, the third-most populous metro in the state. Richmond is located at the line of the James River,44 miles west of Williamsburg,66 miles east of Charlottesville. Surrounded by Henrico and Chesterfield counties, the city is located at the intersections of Interstate 95 and Interstate 64, Major suburbs include Midlothian to the southwest, Glen Allen to the north and west, Short Pump to the west and Mechanicsville to the northeast. The site of Richmond had been an important village of the Powhatan Confederacy, and was settled by English colonists from Jamestown in 1609. The present city of Richmond was founded in 1737 and it became the capital of the Colony and Dominion of Virginia in 1780. During the American Civil War, Richmond served as the capital of the Confederate States of America, the city entered the 20th century with one of the worlds first successful electric streetcar systems. The Jackson Ward neighborhood is a hub of African-American commerce. Richmonds economy is driven by law, finance, and government, with federal, state. Dominion Resources and MeadWestvaco, Fortune 500 companies, are headquartered in the city, in 1737, planter William Byrd II commissioned Major William Mayo to lay out the original town grid. The settlement was laid out in April 1737, and was incorporated as a town in 1742, Richmond recovered quickly from the war, and by 1782 was once again a thriving city. A permanent home for the new government, the Virginia State Capitol building, was designed by Thomas Jefferson with the assistance of Charles-Louis Clérisseau, after the American Revolutionary War, Richmond emerged as an important industrial center. The legacy of the canal boatmen is represented by the figure in the center of the city flag, on April 17,1861, five days after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, the legislature voted to secede from the United States and joined the Confederacy. Official action came in May, after the Confederacy promised to move its capital to Richmond. It became the target of Union armies, especially in the campaigns of 1862. The Seven Days Battles followed in late June and early July 1862, during which Union General McClellan threatened to take Richmond, three years later, as March 1865 ended, the Confederate capitol became indefensible. On March 25, Confederate General John B, gordons desperate attack on Fort Stedman east of Petersburg failed
32.
Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus
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Despite his old age, he worked his own small farm until an invasion prompted his fellow citizens to call for his leadership. He came from his plough to assume control over the state but, upon achieving a swift victory, relinquished his power and its perquisites. As a result, he has inspired a number of organizations and other entities, according to the traditional accounts, Lucius would have been born about 519 BC, during the last decade of the Roman Kingdom. He would have been a member of the lesser patrician clan Quinctia, the clans first consul was Titus Quinctius Capitolinus Barbatus, elected in 471 BC. As both Titus and Lucius are recorded as the son and grandson of men named Lucius Quinctius, Titus is sometimes thought to have been Luciuss brother and this suggests Lucius was the first of his cognomen Cincinnatus, meaning the curly haired. The consul Publius Valerius Poplicola was killed in its recovery in 460 BC and Cincinnatus, probably illegally, Cincinnatus was himself a violent opponent of the plebs proposal, which made no progress during his administration. His son, however, was driven from town and killed for his murder of a plebeian. Cincinnatus quit the city and retired to an estate he held to the west of the Tiber, Minucius Esquilinus Augurinus at Mount Algidus. During the decemvirate, he ran unsuccessfully for a position in their government in 450 BC, possibly, he returned as dictator in 439 BC to defend Rome against the conspiracy the prefect L. Minucius Augurinus alleged Spurius Maelius was plotting against the Republic. When Spurius Maelius ignored his summons, however, he was killed by Cincinnatuss master of horse and he presumably died sometime soon afterward. Caeso would lead gangs to drive the tribunes of the plebs from the forum and he was brought up on capital charges in 461 BC but released on a large bail. A plebeian named Marcus Volscius testified that his brother, while feeble from sickness, had knocked down. Rather than face his accusers in court, Caeso fled to the Etruscans. He was then condemned to death in absentia and his father subjected to a punitive fine, forcing him to sell most of his estates. Modern historians particularly reject the fine as a later invention inserted to explain the dictators supposed poverty, some reject the story in its entirety. In 458 BC, the Aequi to Romes east broke their treaty of the year before, Minucius Esquilinus Augurinus and G. Nautius Rutilus—led out two armies, one to Tusculums relief and another to strike against the lands of the Aequi and their Sabine allies. Upon reaching Mount Algidus in the Alban Hills, the army under L. Minucius Esquilinus Augurinus encamped and rested instead of immediately attacking, the Aequi quickly deployed around their position and successfully besieged them, with only a five horsemen escaping to tell the Roman Senate what had happened. With the army of the second consul unable to help, the fell into a panic
33.
Vermont State House
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The Vermont State House, located in Montpelier, is the state capitol of Vermont, in the United States. It is the seat of the Vermont General Assembly, the current Greek Revival structure is the third building on the same site to be used as the State House. Designed by Thomas Silloway in 1857–1858, it was occupied in 1859, a careful restoration of the Vermont State House began in the early 1980s led by curator David Schütz and the Friends of the Vermont State House, a citizens advisory committee. The general style of the building is Neoclassical and Greek Revival and is furnished in American Empire, Renaissance Revival, some rooms have been restored to represent latter-19th-century styles including the Aesthetic Movement style. The Vermont State House is located on State Street on the edge of downtown Montpelier. Set against a hillside, the building and its distinctive gold leaf dome are easily visible while approaching Montpelier. The current structure was designed by architect Thomas Silloway amplifying the design of a structure designed by Ammi B. Young, later supervising architect of the U. S. Treasury, the first State House built in 1808 by Sylvanus Baldwin was replaced by the current Vermont Supreme Court Building completed in 1918. The prior edifice, known as the second State House, was constructed on the site between 1833–1838. Youngs structure was of a more reserved Greek Revival design based upon the Temple of Hephaestus in Athens, gray Barre granite is used for the two-story cruciform design with a Doric portico and a low saucer dome echoing William Thorntons earliest design for the United States Capitol. Youngs structure was almost entirely destroyed by a fire in January 1857, Silloway was able to salvage the Doric portico, as well as portions of the granite walls. Silloway added a bay of windows on each side of the central portico. This may have been done to imitate the increased height of the new Capitol dome in Washington designed by Thomas U. Walter which was being constructed during the same time, the dome and roofs were originally painted a dark terracotta red to suggest Tuscan tile. The dome was not gilded until the early 20th century, when states did so as a part of the Colonial Revival style. The dome is topped by a statue named Agriculture, a representation of Ceres, the original statue was carved by Vermont artist Larkin Goldsmith Mead, who also carved the large bust of Lincoln in the Hall of Inscriptions on the State Houses ground floor. The current statue is a replacement, and something of a piece of folk art and it was carved in 1938 by then 87-year-old Dwight Dwinell, Sergeant-at-Arms. The Doric portico, the ceremonial entrance, houses a granite statue of Ethan Allen. Ethan Allen was a founder of Vermont and commander of the Green Mountain Boys, the statue was carved by Aristide Piccini in 1941, to replace the original marble version carved by Larkin Goldsmith Mead in 1858
34.
Victoria and Albert Museum
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The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, is the worlds largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and these include the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum and the Royal Albert Hall. The museum is a public body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media. Like other national British museums, entrance to the museum has been free since 2001, the V&A covers 12.5 acres and 145 galleries. Its collection spans 5,000 years of art, from ancient times to the present day, from the cultures of Europe, North America, Asia and North Africa. The museum owns the worlds largest collection of sculpture, with the holdings of Italian Renaissance items being the largest outside Italy. The departments of Asia include art from South Asia, China, Japan, Korea, the East Asian collections are among the best in Europe, with particular strengths in ceramics and metalwork, while the Islamic collection is amongst the largest in the Western world. Overall, it is one of the largest museums in the world, New 17th- and 18th-century European galleries were opened on 9 December 2015. These restored the original Aston Webb interiors and host the European collections 1600–1815, at this stage the collections covered both applied art and science. Several of the exhibits from the Exhibition were purchased to form the nucleus of the collection, by February 1854 discussions were underway to transfer the museum to the current site and it was renamed South Kensington Museum. In 1855 the German architect Gottfried Semper, at the request of Cole, produced a design for the museum, but it was rejected by the Board of Trade as too expensive. The site was occupied by Brompton Park House, this was extended including the first refreshment rooms opened in 1857, the official opening by Queen Victoria was on 22 June 1857. In the following year, late night openings were introduced, made possible by the use of gas lighting, in these early years the practical use of the collection was very much emphasised as opposed to that of High Art at the National Gallery and scholarship at the British Museum. George Wallis, the first Keeper of Fine Art Collection, passionately promoted the idea of art education through the museum collections. From the 1860s to the 1880s the scientific collections had been moved from the museum site to various improvised galleries to the west of Exhibition Road. In 1893 the Science Museum had effectively come into existence when a director was appointed. The laying of the stone of the Aston Webb building on 17 May 1899 was the last official public appearance by Queen Victoria. It was during this ceremony that the change of name from the South Kensington Museum to the Victoria, the exhibition which the museum organised to celebrate the centennial of the 1899 renaming, A Grand Design, first toured in North America from 1997, returning to London in 1999
35.
National Portrait Gallery (United States)
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The National Portrait Gallery is a historic art museum located between 7th, 9th, F, and G Streets NW in Washington, D. C. in the United States. Founded in 1962 and opened to the public in 1968, it is part of the Smithsonian Institution and its collections focus on images of famous Americans. The museum is housed in the historic Old Patent Office Building, the two museums are the eponym for the Gallery Place Washington Metro station, located at the corner of F and 7th Streets NW. The first portrait gallery in the United States was Charles Willson Peales American Pantheon, in 1859, the National Portrait Gallery in London opened, but few Americans took notice. The idea of a federally owned national portrait gallery can be traced back to 1886, Winthrope, president of the Massachusetts Historical Society, visited the National Portrait Gallery in London. Upon his return to the United States, Winthrope began pressing for the establishment of a museum in America. In January 1919, the Smithsonian Institution entered into a cooperative endeavor with the American Federation of Arts, the committees goal was to commission portraits of famous leaders from the various nations involved in World War I. The portraits commissioned went on display in the National Museum of Natural History in May 1921 and this formed the nucleus of what would become the National Portrait Gallery Collection. In 1937, Andrew W. Mellon donated his collection of classic and modernist art to the United States. The collection included a number of portraits. Mellon asked that, should a portrait gallery be created, the portraits be transferred to it, in 1957, a proposal was made by the federal government to demolish the Old Patent Office Building. After a public outcry and an agreement to save the historic structure and this committee was created in 1960. The National Portrait Gallery was authorized and founded by Congress in 1962, the legislation specified, however, that the museums collection be limited to painting, prints, drawings, and engravings. Despite the Smithsonians own extensive collection of art and Mellons collection, to found a portrait gallery in the 1960s, Smithsonian Secretary S. Dillon Ripley said, was difficult because American portraiture has already reached the zenith in price and the nadir in supply. Ripley, whose leadership of the Smithsonian began in 1964, was a supporter of the new museum. He encouraged the museums curators to build a collection from scratch based on individual pieces chosen through high-quality scholarship rather than buying complete collections from others, the NPGs collection was slowly built over the next five years through donations and purchases. The museum had little money at this time, often, it located items it wanted and then asked the owner to simply donate it. The first NPG exhibit, Nucleus for a National Collection, went on display in the Arts, the following year, the NPG completed the Catalog of American Portraits, the first inventory of portraiture held by the Smithsonian
36.
Joseph Chinard
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Joseph Chinard was a French sculptor who worked in a Neoclassical style that was infused with naturalism and sentiment. He received his training in Lyon, as a painter, in the government-supported École Royale de Dessin. His work at Lyon drew the attention of a patron who sent him to Rome and he sent back to Lyon copies of antiquities. In Rome he won a prize from the Accademia di San Luca, an honour for a non-Italian, his prize-winning sculpture. On his release in December 1792, he was expelled and returned to Dijon and his marble Bust of Madame de Verninac was shown in plaster at the Salon of 1800 and in marble at the Salon of 1808. Chinard made only infrequent trips to Paris, dividing his time between Lyon and Italy, on one occasion in Paris he produced the bust of Mme Récamier, which was reproduced in marble. Chinard sculpted a terra cotta bust of Pierre-Pomponne-Amédée Pocholle, which was exhibited in the Exposition Universelle of 1878 at the Palais du Trocadéro, the town of Lyon commissioned Chinard to make the bust in appreciation for Pocholles even-handed treatment of the town during his government service there in 1794. When Pocholle became sous-prefét of Neufchâtel-en-Bray in 1804, he took the bust with him, and then gave the bust to his sister, the widowed Mrs. Delile, when he went into exile in 1816. She in turn gave the bust to Mr. Mabire, who donated it to the newly established museum of Neufchâtel-en-Bray in 1832. The Bulletin des Musées de France, 1er année, no,11, novembre 1929, includes a photograph of the bust. Much of his sculpture in Lyon was lost during the Revolution. His intimate terracotta or marble family allegories adapted conventions of funeral monuments to present realistic allegories of family affection, interest in Chinard was revived with a retrospective of his sculpture at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, in 1909-10
37.
French Revolution
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Through the Revolutionary Wars, it unleashed a wave of global conflicts that extended from the Caribbean to the Middle East. Historians widely regard the Revolution as one of the most important events in human history, the causes of the French Revolution are complex and are still debated among historians. Following the Seven Years War and the American Revolutionary War, the French government was deeply in debt, Years of bad harvests leading up to the Revolution also inflamed popular resentment of the privileges enjoyed by the clergy and the aristocracy. Demands for change were formulated in terms of Enlightenment ideals and contributed to the convocation of the Estates-General in May 1789, a central event of the first stage, in August 1789, was the abolition of feudalism and the old rules and privileges left over from the Ancien Régime. The next few years featured political struggles between various liberal assemblies and right-wing supporters of the intent on thwarting major reforms. The Republic was proclaimed in September 1792 after the French victory at Valmy, in a momentous event that led to international condemnation, Louis XVI was executed in January 1793. External threats closely shaped the course of the Revolution, internally, popular agitation radicalised the Revolution significantly, culminating in the rise of Maximilien Robespierre and the Jacobins. Large numbers of civilians were executed by revolutionary tribunals during the Terror, after the Thermidorian Reaction, an executive council known as the Directory assumed control of the French state in 1795. The rule of the Directory was characterised by suspended elections, debt repudiations, financial instability, persecutions against the Catholic clergy, dogged by charges of corruption, the Directory collapsed in a coup led by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799. The modern era has unfolded in the shadow of the French Revolution, almost all future revolutionary movements looked back to the Revolution as their predecessor. The values and institutions of the Revolution dominate French politics to this day, the French Revolution differed from other revolutions in being not merely national, for it aimed at benefiting all humanity. Globally, the Revolution accelerated the rise of republics and democracies and it became the focal point for the development of all modern political ideologies, leading to the spread of liberalism, radicalism, nationalism, socialism, feminism, and secularism, among many others. The Revolution also witnessed the birth of total war by organising the resources of France, historians have pointed to many events and factors within the Ancien Régime that led to the Revolution. Over the course of the 18th century, there emerged what the philosopher Jürgen Habermas called the idea of the sphere in France. A perfect example would be the Palace of Versailles which was meant to overwhelm the senses of the visitor and convince one of the greatness of the French state and Louis XIV. Starting in the early 18th century saw the appearance of the sphere which was critical in that both sides were active. In France, the emergence of the public sphere outside of the control of the saw the shift from Versailles to Paris as the cultural capital of France. In the 1750s, during the querelle des bouffons over the question of the quality of Italian vs, in 1782, Louis-Sébastien Mercier wrote, The word court no longer inspires awe amongst us as in the time of Louis XIV
38.
French Consulate
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The Consulate was the government of France from the fall of the Directory in the coup of Brumaire in 1799 until the start of the Napoleonic Empire in 1804. By extension, the term The Consulate also refers to period of French history. Due to the institutions established during these years, Robert B. Holtman has called the Consulate one of the most important periods of all French history, Napoleon brought authoritarian personal rule which has been viewed as military dictatorship. French military disasters in 1798 and 1799 had shaken the Directory, an irregularity emerged in the election of Jean Baptiste Treilhard, who retired in favor of Louis Jérôme Gohier. Within days, Philippe-Antoine Merlin and Louis-Marie de La Revellière were driven to resign, Baron Jean-François-Auguste Moulin, the three new directors were generally seen as non-entities. A few more military disasters, royalist insurrections in the south, Chouan disturbances in a dozen departments of the part of France, Orléanist intrigues. In order to soothe the populace and protect the frontier, more than the French Revolutions usual terrorist measures was necessary, the new Directory government, led by Sieyès, decided that the necessary revision of the constitution would require a head and a sword. Jean Victor Moreau being unattainable as his sword, Sieyès favoured Barthélemy Catherine Joubert, but, success was reserved for Bonaparte, suddenly landing at Fréjus with the prestige of his victories in the East, and now, after Hoches death, appearing as sole master of the armies. In the coup of 18 Brumaire Year VIII, Napoleon seized French parliamentary and military power in a two-fold coup détat, the initial 18 Brumaire coup seemed to be a victory for Sieyès, rather than for Bonaparte. Sieyès was a proponent of a new system of government for the Republic, Bonapartes cleverness lay in counterposing Pierre Claude François Daunous plan to that of Sieyès, and in retaining only those portions of both which could serve his ambition. Ultimate executive authority was vested in three consuls, who were elected for ten years, popular suffrage was retained, though mutilated by the lists of notables. Napoleon vetoed Sieyès original idea of having a single Grand Elector as supreme executive, Sieyès had intended to reserve this important position for himself, and by denying him the job Napoleon helped reinforce the authority of the consuls, an office which he would assume. Nor was Napoleon content simply to be part of an equal triumvirate, by consolidating power, Bonaparte was able to transform the aristocratic constitution of Sieyès into an unavowed dictatorship. On 7 February 1800, a referendum confirmed the new constitution. It vested all of the power in the hands of the First Consul. A full 99. 9% of voters approved the motion, according to the released results and he gave everyone a feeling that France was governed once more by a real statesman, and that a competent government was finally in charge. Bonaparte had now to rid himself of Sieyès and of those republicans who had no desire to hand over the republic to one man, particularly of Moreau and Masséna, his military rivals
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Houdon, Jean Antoine". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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