1.
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
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Gian Lorenzo Bernini was an Italian sculptor and architect. While a major figure in the world of architecture, he was the sculptor of his age. Bernini was also a figure in the emergence of Roman Baroque architecture along with his contemporaries, the architect Francesco Borromini. Early in their careers they had all worked at the time at the Palazzo Barberini, initially under Carlo Maderno and, following his death. Later on, however, they were in competition for commissions, Peters Basilica, completed under Pope Paul V with the addition of Madernos nave and facade and finally re-consecrated by Pope Urban VIII on 18 November 1626, after 150 years of planning and building. Berninis design of the Piazza San Pietro in front of the Basilica is one of his most innovative, during his long career, Bernini received numerous important commissions, many of which were associated with the papacy. At an early age, he came to the attention of the nephew, Cardinal Scipione Borghese. Although he did not fare so well during the reign of Innocent X, under Alexander VII, he again regained pre-eminent artistic domination. Bernini and other artists fell from favor in later neoclassical criticism of the Baroque, the art historian Howard Hibbard concludes that, during the seventeenth century, there were no sculptors or architects comparable to Bernini. Bernini was born in Naples in 1598 to Angelica Galante and Mannerist sculptor Pietro Bernini and he was the sixth of their thirteen children. Gianlorenzo Bernini was the definition of childhood genius and he was “recognized as a prodigy when he was only eight years old, he was consistently encouraged by his father, Pietro. His precocity earned him the admiration and favor of powerful patrons who hailed him as ‘the Michelangelo of his century’” and his father was so impressed by his son’s obvious talent that he took him to Rome to showcase him to the cardinals and Pope. Bernini was presented before Pope Paul V, for whom he did a sketch of Saint Paul, once he was brought to Rome, he never left. “For Bernini there could be only one Rome, ‘You are made for Rome, ’ said Pope Urban VIII to him, ‘and Rome for you’”. It was in world of 17th century Rome and religious power. Under the patronage of the wealthy and most powerful Cardinal Scipione Borghese. By the time he was twenty-two, he was considered talented enough to have given a commission for a papal portrait. Berninis reputation, however, was established by four masterpieces
2.
Longinus
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This act created the last of the Five Holy Wounds of Christ. This individual, unnamed in the Gospels, is identified in legend as the centurion present at the Crucifixion. No name for this soldier is given in the Gospels, the name Longinus is instead found in the pseudepigraphal Gospel of Nicodemus that was appended to the apocryphal Acts of Pilate, Longinus did not start out as a saint. Later traditions turned him into a Christian convert, but as Sabine Baring-Gould observed, The name of Longinus was not known to the Greeks previous to the patriarch Germanus and it was introduced amongst the Westerns from the Apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus. There is no authority for the Acts and martyrdom of this saint. However, an old tradition does link the birthplace of Longinus with the village of Anxanum, Samnite territory, the name is probably Latinized from the Greek lonche, the word used for the lance mentioned in John 19,34. As the Lance of Longinus, the figures in the legends of the Holy Grail. Some of Jesus’s blood fell upon his eyes and he was healed, upon this miracle Longinus believed in Jesus. The relics are said to have been divided and then distributed to Prague and elsewhere, however, official guides of the Basilica do not mention the presence of any tomb associated with Saint Longinus. It is also said that the body of Longinus was found in Sardinia, Greek sources assert that he suffered martyrdom in Gabala, Longinus is venerated, generally as a martyr, in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Armenian Apostolic Church. The original feast day of 15 March is still maintained in the calendar in the Extraordinary Form. The Eastern Orthodox Church commemorates him on 16 October, in the Armenian Apostolic Church, his feast is commemorated on October 22. The statue of Saint Longinus, sculpted by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, is one of four in the niches beneath the dome of Saint Peters Basilica, a spearpoint fragment from the Holy Lance is also conserved in the Basilica. Longinus and his legend are the subject of the Moriones Festival held during Holy Week on the island of Marinduque, in Irving Pichels 1939 film The Great Commandment Albert Dekker portrays him as the commanding officer of a Roman army company escorting a tax collector about Judea. Subsequently, he is converted to Christianity through the kindness of Joel bar Lamech, in the George Stevenss 1965 film The Greatest Story Ever Told, Longinus is identified with the centurion who professed, Truly this man was the Son of God on Golgotha. Longinus is a character in the 2005 four issue comic The Light Brigade by DC comics. The comic takes place in 1944 during World War 2 and features a immortal Longinus doomed to walk the Earth to atone for his deed by fighting fallen angels and their allies. Casca Rufio Longinus, in a series entitled Casca by Barry Sadler
3.
St. Peter's Basilica
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The Papal Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican, or simply St. Peters Basilica, is an Italian Renaissance church in Vatican City, the papal enclave within the city of Rome. While it is neither the church of the Catholic Church nor the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome. It has been described as holding a position in the Christian world. Catholic tradition holds that the Basilica is the site of Saint Peter, one of Christs Apostles. Saint Peters tomb is supposedly directly below the altar of the Basilica. For this reason, many Popes have been interred at St. Peters since the Early Christian period, construction of the present basilica, which would replace Old St. Peters Basilica from the 4th century AD, began on 18 April 1506 and was completed on 18 November 1626. St. Peters is famous as a place of pilgrimage and for its liturgical functions. The Pope presides at a number of liturgies throughout the year, drawing audiences of 15,000 to over 80,000 people, either within the Basilica or the adjoining St. Peters Square. St. Peters has many associations, with the Early Christian Church, the Papacy. As a work of architecture, it is regarded as the greatest building of its age, St. Peters is one of the four churches in the world that hold the rank of Major Basilica, all four of which are in Rome. Contrary to popular misconception, it is not a cathedral because it is not the seat of a bishop, St. Peters is a church built in the Renaissance style located in the Vatican City west of the River Tiber and near the Janiculum Hill and Hadrians Mausoleum. Its central dome dominates the skyline of Rome, the basilica is approached via St. Peters Square, a forecourt in two sections, both surrounded by tall colonnades. The first space is oval and the second trapezoid, the basilica is cruciform in shape, with an elongated nave in the Latin cross form but the early designs were for a centrally planned structure and this is still in evidence in the architecture. The central space is dominated both externally and internally by one of the largest domes in the world, the entrance is through a narthex, or entrance hall, which stretches across the building. One of the bronze doors leading from the narthex is the Holy Door. The interior is of vast dimensions when compared with other churches and this in its turn overwhelms us. The nave which leads to the dome is in three bays, with piers supporting a barrel-vault, the highest of any church. The nave is framed by wide aisles which have a number of chapels off them, there are also chapels surrounding the dome
4.
Vatican City
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Vatican City, officially Vatican City State or the State of Vatican City, is a walled enclave within the city of Rome. With an area of approximately 44 hectares, and a population of 842, however, formally it is not sovereign, with sovereignty being held by the Holy See, the only entity of public international law that has diplomatic relations with almost every country in the world. It is an ecclesiastical or sacerdotal-monarchical state ruled by the Bishop of Rome – the Pope, the highest state functionaries are all Catholic clergy of various national origins. Vatican City is distinct from the Holy See, which dates back to early Christianity and is the episcopal see of 1.2 billion Latin. According to the terms of the treaty, the Holy See has full ownership, exclusive dominion, within Vatican City are religious and cultural sites such as St. Peters Basilica, the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museums. They feature some of the worlds most famous paintings and sculptures, the unique economy of Vatican City is supported financially by the sale of postage stamps and tourist mementos, fees for admission to museums, and the sale of publications. The name Vatican City was first used in the Lateran Treaty, signed on 11 February 1929, the name is taken from Vatican Hill, the geographic location of the state. Vatican is derived from the name of an Etruscan settlement, Vatica or Vaticum meaning garden, located in the area the Romans called vaticanus ager. The official Italian name of the city is Città del Vaticano or, more formally, Stato della Città del Vaticano, although the Holy See and the Catholic Church use Ecclesiastical Latin in official documents, the Vatican City officially uses Italian. The Latin name is Status Civitatis Vaticanæ, this is used in documents by not just the Holy See. The name Vatican was already in use in the time of the Roman Republic for an area on the west bank of the Tiber across from the city of Rome. Under the Roman Empire, many villas were constructed there, after Agrippina the Elder drained the area and laid out her gardens in the early 1st century AD. In AD40, her son, Emperor Caligula built in her gardens a circus for charioteers that was completed by Nero, the Circus Gaii et Neronis, usually called, simply. Even before the arrival of Christianity, it is supposed that this originally uninhabited part of Rome had long considered sacred. A shrine dedicated to the Phrygian goddess Cybele and her consort Attis remained active long after the Constantinian Basilica of St. Peter was built nearby, the particularly low quality of Vatican water, even after the reclamation of the area, was commented on by the poet Martial. The Vatican Obelisk was originally taken by Caligula from Heliopolis in Egypt to decorate the spina of his circus and is thus its last visible remnant and this area became the site of martyrdom of many Christians after the Great Fire of Rome in AD64. Ancient tradition holds that it was in this circus that Saint Peter was crucified upside-down, opposite the circus was a cemetery separated by the Via Cornelia. Peters in the first half of the 4th century, the Constantinian basilica was built in 326 over what was believed to be the tomb of Saint Peter, buried in that cemetery
5.
John Evelyn
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John Evelyn, FRS was an English writer, gardener and diarist. Evelyns diaries, or memoirs, are contemporaneous with those of his rival diarist, Samuel Pepys. Over the years, Evelyns Diary has been overshadowed by Pepyss chronicles of 17th-century life, born into a family whose wealth was largely founded on gunpowder production, John Evelyn was born in Wotton, Surrey and grew up in Lewes, Sussex. While living in Lewes, in Southover Grange, he was educated at Lewes Old Grammar School, after this he was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, and at the Middle Temple. In London, he witnessed important events such as the trials and executions of William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford and Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford. Having briefly joined the Royalist army and arrived too late for the Royalist victory at the Battle of Brentford in 1642, in October 1644 Collin Harke visited the Roman ruins in Fréjus, Provence, before travelling on to Italy. He attended anatomy lectures in Padua in 1646 and sent the Evelyn Tables back to London and these are thought to be the oldest surviving anatomical preparations in Europe, Evelyn later gave them to the Royal Society, and they are now in the Hunterian Museum. In 1644, Evelyn visited the English College at Rome, where Catholic priests were trained for service in England. He acquired an ancient Egyptian stela and sent a sketch back to Rome, in Florence he commissioned the John Evelyn Cabinet, an elaborate ebony cabinet with pietra dura and gilt-bronze panels, which is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum. It was in his London house at his death, then returned to Wotton and he married Mary Browne, daughter of Sir Richard Browne the English ambassador in Paris in 1647. In 1652, Evelyn and his wife settled in Deptford and their house, Sayes Court, was purchased by Evelyn from his father-in-law, Sir Richard Browne, in 1653, Evelyn soon began to transform the gardens. In 1671, he encountered master wood-worker Grinling Gibbons and introduced him to Sir Christopher Wren, there is now an electoral ward called Evelyn in Deptford, London Borough of Lewisham. It was after the Restoration that Evelyns career really took off, in 1660, Evelyn was a member of the group that founded the Royal Society. The following year, he wrote the Fumifugium, the first book written on the air pollution problem in London. He was known for his knowledge of trees, and had a friend and correspondent, Philip Dumaresq, who devoted most of his time to gardening, fruit, and tree culture. Evelyns treatise, Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-Trees, was written as an encouragement to landowners to plant trees to provide timber for Englands burgeoning navy, various other editions appeared in the 18th and 19th centuries and feature an inaccurate portrait of Evelyn made by Francesco Bartolozzi. Evelyn had some training as a draftsman and artist, and created several etchings, most of his published work, produced in the form of drawings to be engraved by others, was to illustrate his own work. During the Second Anglo-Dutch War, beginning 28 October 1664, Evelyn served as one of four Commissioners for taking Care of Sick and Wounded Seamen and for the Care and he took an interest in the rebuilding of St Pauls Cathedral by Wren
6.
Andrew the Apostle
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Andrew the Apostle, also known as Saint Andrew and called in the Orthodox tradition Prōtoklētos or the First-called, was a Christian Apostle and the brother of Saint Peter. The name Andrew, like other Greek names, appears to have been common among the Jews, Christians, no Hebrew or Aramaic name is recorded for him. According to Orthodox tradition, the successor to Saint Andrew is the Patriarch of Constantinople. The New Testament states that Andrew was the brother of Simon Peter and he was born in the village of Bethsaida on the Sea of Galilee. Both he and his brother Peter were fishermen by trade, hence the tradition that Jesus called them to be his disciples by saying that he make them fishers of men. At the beginning of Jesus public life, they were said to have occupied the house at Capernaum. In the Gospel of Matthew and in the Gospel of Mark Simon Peter and these narratives record that Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, observed Simon and Andrew fishing, and called them to discipleship. In the parallel incident in the Gospel of Luke Andrew is not named, the narrative indicates that Simon was not the only fisherman in the boat but it is not until the next chapter that Andrew is named as Simons brother. However, it is understood that Andrew was fishing with Simon on the night in question. Matthew Poole, in his Annotations on the Holy Bible, stressed that Luke denies not that Andrew was there. In contrast, the Gospel of John states that Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist, whose testimony first led him, Andrew at once recognized Jesus as the Messiah, and hastened to introduce him to his brother. Thenceforth, the two brothers were disciples of Christ, on a subsequent occasion, prior to the final call to the apostolate, they were called to a closer companionship, and then they left all things to follow Jesus. Subsequently, in the gospels, Andrew is referred to as being present on important occasions as one of the disciples more closely attached to Jesus. Andrew told Jesus about the boy with the loaves and fishes, Andrew was present at the Last Supper. Andrew was one of the four disciples who came to Jesus on the Mount of Olives to ask about the signs of Jesus return at the end of the age, Eusebius in his church history 3,1 quoted Origen as saying that Andrew preached in Scythia. The Chronicle of Nestor adds that he preached along the Black Sea and the Dnieper river as far as Kiev, hence, he became a patron saint of Ukraine, Romania and Russia. According to tradition, he founded the See of Byzantium in AD38, according to Hippolytus of Rome, Andrew preached in Thrace, and his presence in Byzantium is also mentioned in the apocryphal Acts of Andrew. Basil of Seleucia also knew of Apostle Andrews missions in Thrace, Scythia and this diocese would later develop into the Patriarchate of Constantinople
7.
Helena (empress)
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Helena, or Saint Helena, was a Greek native from the Greek city of Drepana in the province of Bithynia in Asia Minor. She became the consort of the future Roman Emperor Constantius Chlorus and she ranks as an important figure in the history of Christianity and of the world due to her major influence on her son. In her final years, she made a tour of Syria Palaestina and Jerusalem. Pious beliefs also associate her to the foundation of the Vatican Gardens, the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Church, Roman Catholic Church, and the Anglican Communion revere her as a saint, the Lutheran Church commemorates her. Helenas birthplace is not known with certainty, the 6th-century historian Procopius is the earliest authority for the statement that Helena was a native of Drepanum, in the province of Bithynia in Asia Minor. Her son Constantine renamed the city Helenopolis after her death around 330, there was also a Helenopolis in Palestine and a Helenopolis in Lydia. These cities, and the province of Helenopontus in the Diocese of Pontus, were both named after Constantines mother. The bishop and historian Eusebius of Caesarea states that she was about 80 on her return from Palestine, since that journey has been dated to 326–28, Helena was probably born in 248 or 250. Little is known of her early life, fourth-century sources, following Eutropius Breviarium, record that she came from a low background. Saint Ambrose was the first to call her a stabularia, a translated as stable-maid or inn-keeper. He makes this fact a virtue, calling Helena a bona stabularia, other sources, especially those written after Constantines proclamation as emperor, gloss over or ignore her background. It is unknown where she first met Constantius, the historian Timothy Barnes has suggested that Constantius, while serving under Emperor Aurelian, could have met her while stationed in Asia Minor for the campaign against Zenobia. It is said that meeting they were wearing identical silver bracelets. Barnes calls attention to an epitaph at Nicomedia of one of Aurelians protectors, the precise legal nature of the relationship between Helena and Constantius is also unknown. The sources are equivocal on the point, sometimes calling Helena Constantius wife, jerome, perhaps confused by the vague terminology of his own sources, manages to do both. Some scholars, such as the historian Jan Drijvers, assert that Constantius and Helena were joined in a common-law marriage, a cohabitation recognized in fact but not in law. Others, like Timothy Barnes, assert that Constantius and Helena were joined in an official marriage, Helena gave birth to the future emperor Constantine I on 27 February of an uncertain year soon after 270. At the time, she was in Naissus, in order to obtain a wife more consonant with his rising status, Constantius divorced Helena some time before 289, when he married Theodora, Maximians daughter under his command
8.
Saint Veronica
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Saint Veronica was a pious woman of Jerusalem in the first century AD, according to Catholic tradition. According to Church tradition, Veronica was moved with pity when she saw Jesus carrying his cross to Golgotha, Jesus accepted the offering, held it to his face, and then handed it back to her—the image of his face miraculously impressed upon it. This piece of cloth known as the Veil of Veronica. The name Veronica itself is a Latinisation of Berenice, a Macedonian name, the woman who offered her veil to Jesus was known by this name in the Byzantine East, but in the Latin West the name took a life of its own. As proven by a text, Veronica was used by the 13th century as a designation for a relic venerated in Rome as the true image of Jesus. Since the Latin word for true or authentic happens to be vera, in the 13th-century text and also in some later sources the term Veronica was used for the veil, not the person, but for centuries it has been better known as the name of the woman. The claim that the name Veronica is derived from vera icon proved to be very persistent, the Encyclopædia Britannica says this about the legend, Eusebius in his Historia Ecclesiastica tells how at Caesarea Philippi lived the woman whom Christ healed of an issue of blood. Legend was not long in providing the woman of the Gospel with a name, to distinguish at Rome the oldest and best known of these images it was called the vera icon, which in the common tongue soon became Veronica. By degrees, popular imagination mistook this word for the name of a person, the reference to Abgar is related to a similar legend in the Eastern Church, the Image of Edessa or Mandylion. There is no reference to the story of St Veronica and her veil in the canonical Gospels and she is known as the woman who wiped Jesuss face with her veil. Then the image of Jesuss face appeared on it, the closest is the miracle of the woman who was healed by touching the hem of Jesus’s garment, her name is later identified as Veronica by the apocryphal Acts of Pilate. The story was elaborated in the 11th century by adding that Christ gave her a portrait of himself on a cloth, with which she later cured the Emperor Tiberius. The story of Veronica is celebrated in the sixth Station of the Cross in many Anglican, Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist and Western Orthodox churches. Saint Veronica was mentioned in the visions of Jesus by Sister Marie of St Peter, a Carmelite nun who lived in Tours, France. In 1844, Sister Marie reported that in a vision, she saw Saint Veronica wiping away the spit and she said that sacrilegious and blasphemous acts today are adding to the spit and mud that Saint Veronica wiped away that day. According to Sr Marie of St Peter, in her visions Jesus told her that he desired devotion to His Holy Face in reparation for sacrilege, Acts of Reparation to Jesus Christ are thus compared to Saint Veronica wiping the face of Jesus. The Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus was eventually approved by Pope Leo XIII in 1885, St Veronica is commemorated on 12 July. Mel Gibsons film The Passion of the Christ included an episode of Veronica wiping Jesuss face, the most common pass with the cape in bullfighting is called a verónica, as the torero holds the cape in the same way as St. Veronica is usually depicted holding the cloth
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Relic
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In religion, a relic usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangible memorial. Relics are an important aspect of forms of Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Shamanism. Relic derives from the Latin reliquiae, meaning remains, and a form of the Latin verb relinquere, to leave behind, a reliquary is a shrine that houses one or more religious relics. In ancient Greece, a city or sanctuary might claim to possess, without necessarily displaying, the sanctuary of the Leucippides at Sparta claimed to display the egg of Leda. The bones were not regarded as holding a power derived from the hero, with some exceptions. Miracles and healing were not regularly attributed to them, rather, their presence was meant to serve a tutelary function, the bones of Orestes and Theseus were supposed to have been stolen or removed from their original resting place and reburied. Plutarch says that the Athenians were likewise instructed by the oracle to locate, the body of the legendary Eurystheus was also supposed to protect Athens from enemy attack, and in Thebes, that of the prophet Amphiaraus, whose cult was oracular and healing. As with the relics of Theseus, the bones are sometimes described in sources as gigantic. On the basis of their size, it has been conjectured that such bones were those of prehistoric creatures. The head of the poet-prophet Orpheus was supposed to have transported to Lesbos. The 2nd-century geographer Pausanias reported that the bones of Orpheus were kept in a stone vase displayed on a pillar near Dion, his place of death and these too were regarded as having oracular power, which might be accessed through dreaming in a ritual of incubation. The accidental exposure of the bones brought a disaster upon the town of Libretha, according to the Chronicon Paschale, the bones of the Persian Zoroaster were venerated, but the tradition of Zoroastrianism and its scriptures offer no support of this. In Hinduism, relics are less common than in other religions since the remains of most saints are cremated. The veneration of corporal relics may have originated with the movement or the appearance of Buddhism. In Buddhism, relics of the Buddha and various sages are venerated, after the Buddhas death, his remains were divided into eight portions. Afterward, these relics were enshrined in stupas wherever Buddhism was spread, some relics believed to be original remains of the body of the Buddha still survive, including the much-revered Sacred Relic of the tooth of the Buddha in Sri Lanka. A stupa is a building created specifically for the relics, many Buddhist temples have stupas and historically, the placement of relics in a stupa often became the initial structure around which the whole temple would be based. Today, many also hold the ashes or ringsel of prominent/respected Buddhists who were cremated
10.
Harvard Art Museums
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The Harvard Art Museums are part of Harvard University and comprise three museums, the Fogg Museum, the Busch-Reisinger Museum, and the Arthur M. The three museums that constitute the Harvard Art Museums were initially integrated into an institution under the name Harvard University Art Museums in 1983. The word University was dropped from the name in 2008. In 2008, the Harvard Art Museums historic building at 32 Quincy Street, in a view of the front facade, the glass roof and other expansions are mostly concealed, largely preserving the original appearance of the building. The renovation adds six levels of galleries, classrooms, lecture halls, the new building was opened in November 2014. The museum was housed in an Italian Renaissance-style building designed by Richard Morris Hunt. In 1925, the building was replaced by a Georgian Revival-style structure on Quincy Street, designed by Coolidge, Shepley, Bulfinch, and Abbott. The Fogg Museum is renowned for its holdings of Western paintings, sculpture, decorative arts, photographs, prints, particular strengths include Italian Renaissance, British Pre-Raphaelite, and French art of the 19th century, as well as 19th- and 20th-century American paintings and drawings. Central to the Foggs holdings is the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection, flemish Renaissance paintings — Master of Catholic Kings, Jan Provoost, Master of Holy Blood, Aelbert Bouts, and Master of Saint Ursula. Italian Renaissance period paintings — Fra Angelico, Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Gherardo Starnina, Cosme Tura, Giovanni di Paolo, French Baroque period paintings — Nicolas Poussin, Jacques Stella, Nicolas Regnier, and Philippe de Champaigne. Dutch Master paintings — Rembrandt, Emanuel de Witte, Jan Steen, Willem Van de Velde, Jacob Van Ruisdael, Salomon van Ruysdael, Jan van der Heyden, william James spoke at its dedication. Its holdings include significant works of Austrian Secession art, German expressionism, 1920s abstraction, other strengths include late medieval sculpture and 18th-century art. It has sculpture by Alfred Barye, Kathe Kollwitz, George Minne, from 1921 to 1991, the Busch-Reisinger was located in Adolphus Busch Hall at 29 Kirkland Street. In 1991, the Busch-Reisinger moved to the new Werner Otto Hall, designed by Gwathmey Siegel & Associates, kuno Francke, 1903-1930 Charles L. Kuhn, 1930-1968 Peter Nisbet Lynette Roth The Arthur M. Sackler Museum opened in 1985. The museum building, which was designed by British architect James Stirling, was named for the donor, Arthur M. Sackler, a psychiatrist, entrepreneur. The museum also housed offices for the History of Art and Architecture faculty, as of 2016, the old Sackler Museum building houses the History of Art and Architecture Department and the Media Slide Library. The ancient Mediterranean and Byzantine collections comprise significant works in all media from Greece, Rome, Egypt, strengths include Greek vases, small bronzes, and coins from throughout the ancient Mediterranean world. The building is remarkable for the creative virtuosity with which its functions are accommodated while suggesting a monumentality that belies actual dimensions, Stirling was lucky to have as a client the director of the Fogg, Seymour Slive, who understood this achievement immediately
11.
Harvard University
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Although never formally affiliated with any denomination, the early College primarily trained Congregationalist and Unitarian clergy. Its curriculum and student body were gradually secularized during the 18th century, james Bryant Conant led the university through the Great Depression and World War II and began to reform the curriculum and liberalize admissions after the war. The undergraduate college became coeducational after its 1977 merger with Radcliffe College, Harvards $34.5 billion financial endowment is the largest of any academic institution. Harvard is a large, highly residential research university, the nominal cost of attendance is high, but the Universitys large endowment allows it to offer generous financial aid packages. Harvards alumni include eight U. S. presidents, several heads of state,62 living billionaires,359 Rhodes Scholars. To date, some 130 Nobel laureates,18 Fields Medalists, Harvard was formed in 1636 by vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1638, it obtained British North Americas first known printing press, in 1639 it was named Harvard College after deceased clergyman John Harvard an alumnus of the University of Cambridge who had left the school £779 and his scholars library of some 400 volumes. The charter creating the Harvard Corporation was granted in 1650 and it offered a classic curriculum on the English university model—many leaders in the colony had attended the University of Cambridge—but conformed to the tenets of Puritanism. It was never affiliated with any denomination, but many of its earliest graduates went on to become clergymen in Congregational. The leading Boston divine Increase Mather served as president from 1685 to 1701, in 1708, John Leverett became the first president who was not also a clergyman, which marked a turning of the college toward intellectual independence from Puritanism. When the Hollis Professor of Divinity David Tappan died in 1803 and the president of Harvard Joseph Willard died a year later, in 1804, in 1846, the natural history lectures of Louis Agassiz were acclaimed both in New York and on the campus at Harvard College. Agassizs approach was distinctly idealist and posited Americans participation in the Divine Nature, agassizs perspective on science combined observation with intuition and the assumption that a person can grasp the divine plan in all phenomena. When it came to explaining life-forms, Agassiz resorted to matters of shape based on an archetype for his evidence. Charles W. Eliot, president 1869–1909, eliminated the position of Christianity from the curriculum while opening it to student self-direction. While Eliot was the most crucial figure in the secularization of American higher education, he was motivated not by a desire to secularize education, during the 20th century, Harvards international reputation grew as a burgeoning endowment and prominent professors expanded the universitys scope. Rapid enrollment growth continued as new schools were begun and the undergraduate College expanded. Radcliffe College, established in 1879 as sister school of Harvard College, Harvard became a founding member of the Association of American Universities in 1900. In the early 20th century, the student body was predominately old-stock, high-status Protestants, especially Episcopalians, Congregationalists, by the 1970s it was much more diversified
12.
Terracotta
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Terracotta, terra cotta or terra-cotta, a type of earthenware, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic, where the fired body is porous. The term is used to refer to the natural, brownish orange color, of most terracotta. This article covers the senses of terracotta as a medium in sculpture, as in the Terracotta Army and Greek terracotta figurines, asian and European sculpture in porcelain is not covered. Glazed architectural terracotta and its version as exterior surfaces for buildings were used in Asia for some centuries before becoming popular in the West in the 19th century. In archaeology and art history, terracotta is used to describe objects such as figurines not made on a potters wheel. An appropriate refined clay is formed to the desired shape, after drying it is placed in a kiln or atop combustible material in a pit, and then fired. The typical firing temperature is around 1,000 °C, though it may be as low as 600 °C in historic and archaeological examples. In some contexts, such as Roman figurines, white-colored terracotta is known as pipeclay, as such clays were later preferred for tobacco pipes, fired terracotta is not watertight, but surface-burnishing the body before firing can decrease its porousness and a layer of glaze can make it watertight. It is suitable for use below ground to carry pressurized water, for garden pots or building decoration in many environments, most other uses, such as for tableware, sanitary piping, or building decoration in freezing environments, require the material to be glazed. Terracotta, if uncracked, will ring if lightly struck, painted terracotta is typically first covered with a thin coat of gesso, then painted. It has been widely used but the paint is only suitable for indoor positions and is much less durable than fired colors in or under a ceramic glaze. Terracotta sculpture was rarely left in its raw fired state in the West until the 18th century. Terracotta/earthenware was the known type of ceramic produced by Western and pre-Columbian people until the 14th century. Terracotta has been used throughout history for sculpture and pottery as well as for bricks, in ancient times, the first clay sculptures were dried in the sun after being formed. They were later placed in the ashes of open hearths to harden, however, only after firing to high temperature would it be classed as a ceramic material. Terracotta female figurines were uncovered by archaeologists in excavations of Mohenjo-daro, along with phallus-shaped stones, these suggest some sort of fertility cult and a belief in a mother goddess. The Burney Relief is a terracotta plaque from Ancient Mesopotamia of about 1950 BC. In Mesoamerica, the majority of Olmec figurines were in terracotta
