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Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, Baron Cuvier (23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier, was a French naturalist and zoologist, sometimes referred to as the 'father of paleontology'.<br/><br/> Cuvier was a major figure in natural sciences research in the early 19th century and was instrumental in establishing the fields of comparative anatomy and paleontology through his work in comparing living animals with fossils.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German writer and statesman. His body of work includes epic and lyric poetry written in a variety of metres and styles; prose and verse dramas; memoirs; an autobiography; literary and aesthetic criticism; treatises on botany, anatomy, and colour; and four novels. In addition, numerous literary and scientific fragments, more than 10,000 letters, and nearly 3,000 drawings by him are extant.<br/><br/> A literary celebrity by the age of 25, Goethe was ennobled by the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, Karl August in 1782 after first taking up residence there in November 1775 following the success of his first novel, <i>The Sorrows of Young Werther</i>. He was an early participant in the <i>Sturm und Drang</i> literary movement. During his first ten years in Weimar, Goethe served as a member of the Duke's privy council, sat on the war and highway commissions, oversaw the reopening of silver mines in nearby Ilmenau, and implemented a series of administrative reforms at the University of Jena.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German writer and statesman. His body of work includes epic and lyric poetry written in a variety of metres and styles; prose and verse dramas; memoirs; an autobiography; literary and aesthetic criticism; treatises on botany, anatomy, and colour; and four novels. In addition, numerous literary and scientific fragments, more than 10,000 letters, and nearly 3,000 drawings by him are extant.<br/><br/> A literary celebrity by the age of 25, Goethe was ennobled by the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, Karl August in 1782 after first taking up residence there in November 1775 following the success of his first novel, <i>The Sorrows of Young Werther</i>. He was an early participant in the <i>Sturm und Drang</i> literary movement. During his first ten years in Weimar, Goethe served as a member of the Duke's privy council, sat on the war and highway commissions, oversaw the reopening of silver mines in nearby Ilmenau, and implemented a series of administrative reforms at the University of Jena.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German writer and statesman. His body of work includes epic and lyric poetry written in a variety of metres and styles; prose and verse dramas; memoirs; an autobiography; literary and aesthetic criticism; treatises on botany, anatomy, and colour; and four novels. In addition, numerous literary and scientific fragments, more than 10,000 letters, and nearly 3,000 drawings by him are extant.<br/><br/> A literary celebrity by the age of 25, Goethe was ennobled by the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, Karl August in 1782 after first taking up residence there in November 1775 following the success of his first novel, <i>The Sorrows of Young Werther</i>. He was an early participant in the <i>Sturm und Drang</i> literary movement. During his first ten years in Weimar, Goethe served as a member of the Duke's privy council, sat on the war and highway commissions, oversaw the reopening of silver mines in nearby Ilmenau, and implemented a series of administrative reforms at the University of Jena.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German writer and statesman. His body of work includes epic and lyric poetry written in a variety of metres and styles; prose and verse dramas; memoirs; an autobiography; literary and aesthetic criticism; treatises on botany, anatomy, and colour; and four novels. In addition, numerous literary and scientific fragments, more than 10,000 letters, and nearly 3,000 drawings by him are extant.<br/><br/> A literary celebrity by the age of 25, Goethe was ennobled by the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, Karl August in 1782 after first taking up residence there in November 1775 following the success of his first novel, <i>The Sorrows of Young Werther</i>. He was an early participant in the <i>Sturm und Drang</i> literary movement. During his first ten years in Weimar, Goethe served as a member of the Duke's privy council, sat on the war and highway commissions, oversaw the reopening of silver mines in nearby Ilmenau, and implemented a series of administrative reforms at the University of Jena.
Japan: 'Ichikawa Danjuro VII as Shimizu Yoshitaka'. Woodblock print by Utagawa Kuniyasu (1794-1832), 19th century. Utagawa Kuniyasu was a Japanese artist best known for his prints in the <i>ukiyo-e</i> style as a member of the Utagawa school. Few details are known of Kuniyasu's life. He was born in 1794 and had the given name Yasugorō. His teacher was the Utagawa school master Toyokuni.
<i>Nishiki-e</i> were a type of multi-coloured woodblock prints from Japan. The technique was primarily used in <i>Ukiyo-e</i>, and was invented in the 1760s. Before, woodblock prints were usually in black-and-white and were coloured either by hand or with the addition of one or two colour ink blocks, but <i>nishiki-e</i> printing changed that.<br/><br/><i>Nishiki-e</i> was credited to an engraver named Kinroku, but it was popularised and perfected by Suzuki Harunobu. <i>Nishiki-e</i> is sometimes also known as <i>Edo-e</i>, and became very popular during the Meiji Period, especially during the first Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), where over 3,000 prints were made in the 9-month period.
<i>In the Conservatory</i> is an 1879 oil painting by Edouard Manet held by the Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin. The painting was exhibited in the 1879 Paris Salon.<br/><br/> In 1896 <i>In the Conservatory</i> was bought by the Deutsche Nationalgalerie in Berlin.
Alexandre Gustave Eiffel (born Bönickhausen, 15 December 1832 – 27 December 1923) was a French civil engineer and architect. A graduate of the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, he made his name with various bridges for the French railway network, most famously the Garabit viaduct.<br/><br/> He is best known for the world-famous Eiffel Tower, built for the 1889 Universal Exposition in Paris, France. After his retirement from engineering, Eiffel concentrated his energies on research into meteorology and aerodynamics, making important contributions in both fields.<br/><br/> Eiffel's best-known works in Asia are the General Post Office in Saigon (1886-1891) and the Truong Tien Bridge in Hue (1897-1899). The iconic Long Bien Bridge across the Red River at Hanoi is frequently misattributed to Eiffel, but was in fact designed and built by the French company Dayde and Pille.
Alexandre Gustave Eiffel (born Bönickhausen, 15 December 1832 – 27 December 1923) was a French civil engineer and architect. A graduate of the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, he made his name with various bridges for the French railway network, most famously the Garabit viaduct.<br/><br/> He is best known for the world-famous Eiffel Tower, built for the 1889 Universal Exposition in Paris, France. After his retirement from engineering, Eiffel concentrated his energies on research into meteorology and aerodynamics, making important contributions in both fields.<br/><br/> Eiffel's best-known works in Asia are the General Post Office in Saigon (1886-1891) and the Truong Tien Bridge in Hue (1897-1899). The iconic Long Bien Bridge across the Red River at Hanoi is frequently misattributed to Eiffel, but was in fact designed and built by the French company Dayde and Pille.
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English writer, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon, and photographer.<br/><br/> His most famous writings are <i>Alice's Adventures in Wonderland</i>, its sequel <i>Through the Looking-Glass</i>, which includes the poem <i>Jabberwocky</i>, and the poem <i>The Hunting of the Snark</i>, all examples of the genre of literary nonsense. He is noted for his facility at word play, logic, and fantasy. There are societies in many parts of the world dedicated to the enjoyment and promotion of his works and the investigation of his life.
Totoya Hokkei was a Japanese printmaker and book illustrator. He initially studied painting with Kano Yosen (1735-1808), the head of the Kobikicho branch of the Kano School and <i>okaeshi</i> (official painter) to the Tokugawa shogunate.<br/><br/> Together with Teisai Hokuba (1771-1844), Hokkei was one of Katsushika Hokusai's best students.
Shunbaisai Hokuei, also known as Shunkō III, was a designer of ukiyo-e style Japanese woodblock prints in Osaka, and was active from about 1824 to 1837. He was a student of Shunkōsai Hokushū.<br/><br/> Hokuei’s prints most often portray the kabuki actor Arashi Rikan II.
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English writer, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon, and photographer.<br/><br/> His most famous writings are <i>Alice's Adventures in Wonderland</i>, its sequel <i>Through the Looking-Glass</i>, which includes the poem <i>Jabberwocky</i>, and the poem <i>The Hunting of the Snark</i>, all examples of the genre of literary nonsense. He is noted for his facility at word play, logic, and fantasy. There are societies in many parts of the world dedicated to the enjoyment and promotion of his works and the investigation of his life.
Ukiyo-e, or 'pictures of the floating world', is a genre of woodblock prints and paintings that flourished in Japan from the 17th through 19th centuries. It was aimed at the prosperous merchant class in the urbanizing Edo period (1603–1867). Amongst the popular themes were depictions of beautiful women; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk tales; travel scenes and landscapes; flora and fauna; and erotica.<br/><br/> Edo (modern Tokyo) became the seat of government for the military dictatorship in the early 17th century. The merchant class at the bottom of the social order found themselves the greatest beneficiaries of the city's rapid economic growth. Many indulged in the entertainments of kabuki theatre, courtesans, and geisha of the pleasure districts. The term ukiyo ('floating world') came to describe this hedonistic lifestyle.
Totoya Hokkei was a Japanese printmaker and book illustrator. He initially studied painting with Kano Yosen (1735-1808), the head of the Kobikicho branch of the Kano School and <i>okaeshi</i> (official painter) to the Tokugawa shogunate.<br/><br/> Together with Teisai Hokuba (1771-1844), Hokkei was one of Katsushika Hokusai's best students.
Shunkōsai Hokushū, who is also known as Shunkō IV, was a designer of ukiyo-e style Japanese woodblock prints in Osaka who was active from about 1802 to 1832. He is known to have been a student of Shōkōsai Hambei, and may have also studied with Hokusai.<br/><br/> He used the name Shunkō until 1818, when he changed his name to 'Shunkōsai Hokushū'. He was the most important artist in Osaka during the 1810-20s and established the Osaka style of actor prints
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German writer and statesman. His body of work includes epic and lyric poetry written in a variety of metres and styles; prose and verse dramas; memoirs; an autobiography; literary and aesthetic criticism; treatises on botany, anatomy, and colour; and four novels. In addition, numerous literary and scientific fragments, more than 10,000 letters, and nearly 3,000 drawings by him are extant.<br/><br/> A literary celebrity by the age of 25, Goethe was ennobled by the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, Karl August in 1782 after first taking up residence there in November 1775 following the success of his first novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther. He was an early participant in the Sturm und Drang literary movement. During his first ten years in Weimar, Goethe served as a member of the Duke's privy council, sat on the war and highway commissions, oversaw the reopening of silver mines in nearby Ilmenau, and implemented a series of administrative reforms at the University of Jena.
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (30 April 1839 – 9 June 1892), also named Taiso Yoshitoshi was a Japanese artist and Ukiyo-e woodblock print master.<br/><br/> He is widely recognized as the last great master of Ukiyo-e, a type of Japanese woodblock printing. He is additionally regarded as one of the form's greatest innovators. His career spanned two eras – the last years of Edo period Japan, and the first years of modern Japan following the Meiji Restoration. Like many Japanese, Yoshitoshi was interested in new things from the rest of the world, but over time he became increasingly concerned with the loss of many aspects of traditional Japanese culture, among them traditional woodblock printing.<br/><br/> By the end of his career, Yoshitoshi was in an almost single-handed struggle against time and technology. As he worked on in the old manner, Japan was adopting Western mass reproduction methods like photography and lithography. Nonetheless, in a Japan that was turning away from its own past, he almost singlehandedly managed to push the traditional Japanese woodblock print to a new level, before it effectively died with him.
Utagawa Kuniyoshi (January 1, 1798 - April 14, 1861) was one of the last great masters of the Japanese ukiyo-e style of woodblock prints and painting. He is associated with the Utagawa school.<br/><br/> The range of Kuniyoshi's preferred subjects included many genres: landscapes, beautiful women, Kabuki actors, cats, and mythical animals. He is known for depictions of the battles of samurai and legendary heroes. His artwork was affected by Western influences in landscape painting and caricature.
Katsushika Hokusai (October 31, 1760 – May 10, 1849) was a Japanese artist, ukiyo-e painter and printmaker of the Edo period. He was influenced by such painters as Sesshu, and other styles of Chinese painting. Born in Edo (now Tokyo), Hokusai is best known as author of the woodblock print series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku Sanjūroku-kei, c. 1831) which includes the internationally recognized print, The Great Wave off Kanagawa, created during the 1820s.<br/><br/> Hokusai created the 'Thirty-Six Views' both as a response to a domestic travel boom and as part of a personal obsession with Mount Fuji. It was this series, specifically The Great Wave print and Fuji in Clear Weather, that secured Hokusai’s fame both in Japan and overseas.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German writer and statesman. His body of work includes epic and lyric poetry written in a variety of metres and styles; prose and verse dramas; memoirs; an autobiography; literary and aesthetic criticism; treatises on botany, anatomy, and colour; and four novels. In addition, numerous literary and scientific fragments, more than 10,000 letters, and nearly 3,000 drawings by him are extant.<br/><br/> A literary celebrity by the age of 25, Goethe was ennobled by the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, Karl August in 1782 after first taking up residence there in November 1775 following the success of his first novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther. He was an early participant in the Sturm und Drang literary movement. During his first ten years in Weimar, Goethe served as a member of the Duke's privy council, sat on the war and highway commissions, oversaw the reopening of silver mines in nearby Ilmenau, and implemented a series of administrative reforms at the University of Jena.
Edouard Manet (23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, and a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism.
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (30 April 1839 – 9 June 1892), also named Taiso Yoshitoshi was a Japanese artist and Ukiyo-e woodblock print master.<br/><br/> He is widely recognized as the last great master of Ukiyo-e, a type of Japanese woodblock printing. He is additionally regarded as one of the form's greatest innovators. His career spanned two eras – the last years of Edo period Japan, and the first years of modern Japan following the Meiji Restoration. Like many Japanese, Yoshitoshi was interested in new things from the rest of the world, but over time he became increasingly concerned with the loss of many aspects of traditional Japanese culture, among them traditional woodblock printing.<br/><br/> By the end of his career, Yoshitoshi was in an almost single-handed struggle against time and technology. As he worked on in the old manner, Japan was adopting Western mass reproduction methods like photography and lithography. Nonetheless, in a Japan that was turning away from its own past, he almost singlehandedly managed to push the traditional Japanese woodblock print to a new level, before it effectively died with him.
Yanagawa Shigenobu was a Japanese painter in the ukiyo-e style. He was active in Edo from the Bunka period onward. His Osaka period dated from 1822 to 1825. In Edo, he resided in Honjo Yanagawa-cho district. He was first the pupil, then son-in-law, and finally adopted son of the Edo master printmaker Katsushika Hokusai.<br/><br/> He designed illustrated books, prints, and surimono. In Osaka, he worked with the gifted block cutter and printer Tani Seiko.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German writer and statesman. His body of work includes epic and lyric poetry written in a variety of metres and styles; prose and verse dramas; memoirs; an autobiography; literary and aesthetic criticism; treatises on botany, anatomy, and colour; and four novels. In addition, numerous literary and scientific fragments, more than 10,000 letters, and nearly 3,000 drawings by him are extant.<br/><br/> A literary celebrity by the age of 25, Goethe was ennobled by the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, Karl August in 1782 after first taking up residence there in November 1775 following the success of his first novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther. He was an early participant in the Sturm und Drang literary movement. During his first ten years in Weimar, Goethe served as a member of the Duke's privy council, sat on the war and highway commissions, oversaw the reopening of silver mines in nearby Ilmenau, and implemented a series of administrative reforms at the University of Jena.
Edouard Manet (23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, and a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism.
Kiyohime from 'One Hundred Ghost Stories of China and Japan'. This famous story, set in 928 CE, tells of unrequited love. It inspired a number of Kabuki and No plays and relates how Kiyohime’s love for the monk Anchin, who lived in the Dojo-ji temple on the banks of the Hidaka river, was repulsed due to his monk’s vows.<br/><br/> To escape her attentions he hid in the great temple bell which happened to be placed on the ground. Kiyohime, swimming across the flooded river, saw the bell and transformed herself into a dragon which beat the bell and destroyed it together with Anchin. Kiyohime is shown emerging from the river.
The painting exemplifies Manet's commitment to Realism in its detailed representation of a contemporary scene. Many features have puzzled critics but almost all of them have been shown to have a rationale, and the painting has been the subject of numerous popular and scholarly articles.<br/><br/> The central figure stands before a mirror, although critics—accusing Manet of ignorance of perspective and alleging various impossibilities in the painting—have debated this point since the earliest reviews were published. In 2000, however, a photograph taken from a suitable point of view of a staged reconstruction was shown to reproduce the scene as painted by Manet.
Manet's paintings of cafe scenes are observations of social life in 19th-century Paris. People are depicted drinking beer, listening to music, flirting, reading, or waiting. Many of these paintings were based on sketches executed on the spot. He often visited the Brasserie Reichshoffen on boulevard de Rochechourt, upon which he based At the Cafe in 1878.<br/><br/> Several people are at the bar, and one woman confronts the viewer while others wait to be served. Such depictions represent the painted journal of a flâneur. These are painted in a style which is loose, referencing Hals and Velázquez, yet they capture the mood and feeling of Parisian night life. They are painted snapshots of bohemianism, urban working people, as well as some of the bourgeoisie.
Impressionist painter, Édouard Manet often captured café scenes depicting social life at the end of the nineteenth century as depicted in this painting, The Café-Concert.<br/><br/> The setting has been identified as the Brasserie Reichshoffen on the Boulevard Rochechouart. Manet shows us men and women in the new brasseries and cafes of Paris, which presents the viewer with an alternate view of new Parisian life. Manet claimed he was painting 'des oeuvres sinceres' or 'sincere works'. The women depicted in these scenes were courting certain risks with regards to perception and morality.<br/><br/> In, <i>The Café-Concert</i>, Manet presents a café-concert in which three central figures form a triangle but are all engaged in opposite directions. The scene of a café-concert should be casual but Manet hints at separation. The waitress enjoys a beer, the woman at the bar smokes a cigarette and appears subdued, the man appears at his ease and watches the performance (the singer known as 'La Belle Polonaise' is reflected in the mirror in the background of the painting).
The revenge of the Forty-seven Ronin (四十七士 Shi-jū-shichi-shi), also known as the Forty-seven Samurai, the Akō vendetta, or the Genroku Akō incident (元禄赤穂事件 Genroku akō jiken) took place in Japan at the start of the 18th century. One noted Japanese scholar described the tale as the country's 'national legend'. It recounts the most famous case involving the samurai code of honor, bushidō.<br/><br/> The story tells of a group of samurai who were left leaderless (becoming ronin) after their daimyo (feudal lord) Asano Naganori was forced to commit seppuku (ritual suicide) for assaulting a court official named Kira Yoshinaka, whose title was Kōzuke no suke. The ronin avenged their master's honor after patiently waiting and planning for two years to kill Kira.<br/><br/> In turn, the ronin were themselves ordered to commit seppuku for committing the crime of murder. With much embellishment, this true story was popularized in Japanese culture as emblematic of the loyalty, sacrifice, persistence, and honor that all good people should preserve in their daily lives. The popularity of the almost mythical tale was only enhanced by rapid modernization during the Meiji era of Japanese history, when it is suggested many people in Japan longed for a return to their cultural roots.<br/><br/> Fictionalized accounts of these events are known as Chūshingura. The story was popularized in numerous plays including bunraku and kabuki. Because of the censorship laws of the shogunate in the Genroku era, which forbade portrayal of current events, the names of the ronin were changed.
Samurai is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. By the end of the 12th century, samurai became almost entirely synonymous with bushi, and the word was closely associated with the middle and upper echelons of the warrior class.<br/><br/> The samurai followed a set of rules that came to be known as Bushidō. While they numbered less than ten percent of Japan's population, samurai teachings can still be found today in both everyday life and in martial arts such as Kendō, meaning the way of the sword.
The Taku Forts or Dagu Forts (Chinese: 大沽炮台; pinyin: Dàgū Pàotái; literally 'Taku batteries'), also called the Peiho Forts (Chinese:白河碉堡; pinyin: Báihé Diāobǎo) are forts located by the Hai River (Peiho River) estuary, in Tanggu District, Tianjin municipality, in northeastern China. They are located 60 km southeast of the Tianjin urban center.<br/><br/> In 1856, Chinese soldiers boarded The Arrow, a Chinese-owned ship registered in Hong Kong flying the British flag and suspected of piracy, smuggling and of being engaged in the opium trade. They captured 12 men and imprisoned them. Though the certificate allowing the ship to fly a British flag had expired, there was still an armed response. The British and French sent gunboats under the command of Admiral Sir Michael Seymour to capture the Taku Forts in May 1858. In June 1858, at the end of the first part of the Second Opium War, the Treaties of Tianjin were signed, which opened Tianjin to foreign trade.<br/><br/> In 1859, after China refused to allow the setting up of foreign legations in Beijing, a naval force under the command of British Admiral Sir James Hope attacked the forts guarding the mouth of the Peiho river. During the action US Navy Commodore Josiah Tattnall came to the assistance of the British gunboat HMS Plover,– commanded by Lt William Hector Rason, who was killed in the action – offering to take off their wounded.<br/><br/> Plover's commander, Hope, accepted the offer and a launch was sent to take off the wounded. Later, Tattnall discovered that some of his men were black from powder flashes. When asked, the men replied that the British had been short handed with the bow gun. His famous report sent to Washington claimed 'Blood is thicker than water'. This was the first time the British troops needed American assistance after suffering major casualties from the Taku cannon barrage, and the first time that British and American troops fought side by side.
In the 1770s, Crabbe began his career as a doctor's apprentice, later becoming a surgeon. In 1780, he travelled to London to make a living as a poet. After encountering serious financial difficulty and unable to have his work published, he wrote to statesman and author Edmund Burke for assistance. He included samples of his poetry, and Burke was impressed enough by Crabbe's poems to promise to aid him in any way he could.<br/><br/> Burke introduced Crabbe to the literary and artistic society of London, including Sir Joshua Reynolds and Samuel Johnson. Burke secured Crabbe the important position of Chaplain to the Duke of Rutland. Crabbe served as a clergyman in various capacities for the rest of his life, with Burke's continued assistance in securing these positions. Later, he developed friendships with many of the great literary men of his day, including Sir Walter Scott, whom he visited in Edinburgh, and William Wordsworth and some of his fellow Lake Poets, who frequently visited Crabbe as his guests.<br/><br/> George Crabbe was prescribed opium in 1790 to relieve pain, and he continued to use it for the rest of his life.
William Jardine (24 February 1784 – 27 February 1843) was a Scottish physician and merchant. He co-founded the Hong Kong conglomerate Jardine, Matheson and Company. From 1841 to 1843, he was Member of Parliament for Ashburton as a Whig.
The First Anglo-Chinese War (1839–42), known popularly as the First Opium War or simply the Opium War, was fought between the United Kingdom and the Qing Dynasty of China over their conflicting viewpoints on diplomatic relations, trade, and the administration of justice. Chinese officials wished to stop what was perceived as an outflow of silver and to control the spread of opium, and confiscated supplies of opium from British traders. The British government, although not officially denying China's right to control imports, objected to this seizure and used its newly developed military power to enforce violent redress. In 1842, the Treaty of Nanking—the first of what the Chinese later called the unequal treaties—granted an indemnity to Britain, the opening of five treaty ports, and the cession of Hong Kong Island, thereby ending the trade monopoly of the Canton System. The failure of the treaty to satisfy British goals of improved trade and diplomatic relations led to the Second Opium War (1856–60). The war is now considered in China as the beginning of modern Chinese history.
The revenge of the Forty-seven Ronin (四十七士 Shi-jū-shichi-shi), also known as the Forty-seven Samurai, the Akō vendetta, or the Genroku Akō incident (元禄赤穂事件 Genroku akō jiken) took place in Japan at the start of the 18th century. One noted Japanese scholar described the tale as the country's 'national legend'. It recounts the most famous case involving the samurai code of honor, bushidō.<br/><br/> The story tells of a group of samurai who were left leaderless (becoming ronin) after their daimyo (feudal lord) Asano Naganori was forced to commit seppuku (ritual suicide) for assaulting a court official named Kira Yoshinaka, whose title was Kōzuke no suke. The ronin avenged their master's honor after patiently waiting and planning for two years to kill Kira.<br/><br/> In turn, the ronin were themselves ordered to commit seppuku for committing the crime of murder. With much embellishment, this true story was popularized in Japanese culture as emblematic of the loyalty, sacrifice, persistence, and honor that all good people should preserve in their daily lives. The popularity of the almost mythical tale was only enhanced by rapid modernization during the Meiji era of Japanese history, when it is suggested many people in Japan longed for a return to their cultural roots.<br/><br/> Fictionalized accounts of these events are known as Chūshingura. The story was popularized in numerous plays including bunraku and kabuki. Because of the censorship laws of the shogunate in the Genroku era, which forbade portrayal of current events, the names of the ronin were changed.
After the military defeat of France by Germany in 1870, Ferry formed the idea of acquiring a great colonial empire, principally for the sake of economic exploitation. In a speech before the Chamber of Deputies on 28 July 1885, he declared that 'the superior races have a right because they have a duty: it is their duty to civilize the inferior races'. Ferry directed the negotiations which led to the establishment of a French protectorate in Tunis (1881), prepared the treaty of 17 December 1885 for the occupation of Madagascar; directed the exploration of the Congo and of the Niger region; and above all, he organized the conquest of Annam and Tonkin in what became French Indochina.<br/><br/> The last endeavor led to a war with the Manchu Empire, whose Qing Dynasty had a claim of suzerainty over the two provinces. The excitement caused in Paris by the sudden retreat of the French troops from Lang Son during this war led to the Tonkin Affair: his violent denunciation by Clemenceau and other radicals, and his downfall on 30 March 1885. Although the treaty of peace with the Manchu Empire (9 June 1885), in which the Qing Dynasty ceded suzerainty of Annam and Tonkin to France, was the work of his ministry, he would never again serve as premier.
Asgiriya Vihara, the ‘Monastery of the Horse Mountain’, was built by the family of Pilima Talauve in the early 19th century, on a plot adjoining the ancient royal cremation ground. The Asgiriya Vihara is a rather smallish, inconspicuous temple, but as one of the seats of Goyigama religious power, of great significance.<br/><br/> From the early 19th century onwards, during the Esala Perahera, the sacred Tooth Relic would be deposited for the last night of the festival at the Asgiriya Vihara. Together with the Malwatte Vihara, it is also one of the wealthiest temples in Sri Lanka.
Asgiriya Vihara, the ‘Monastery of the Horse Mountain’, was built by the family of Pilima Talauve in the early 19th century, on a plot adjoining the ancient royal cremation ground. The Asgiriya Vihara is a rather smallish, inconspicuous temple, but as one of the seats of Goyigama religious power, of great significance.<br/><br/> From the early 19th century onwards, during the Esala Perahera, the sacred Tooth Relic would be deposited for the last night of the festival at the Asgiriya Vihara. Together with the Malwatte Vihara, it is also one of the wealthiest temples in Sri Lanka.
Sri Vikrama Rajasinha (Tamil:விக்கிரம ராச சிங்கன்)(1780 - January 30, 1832) was the last king of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and the last of four kings from the Tamil and Telugu origin of Nayakar dynasty. He was eventually deposed by the British under the terms of the Kandyan Convention.<br/><br/> Asgiriya Vihara, the ‘Monastery of the Horse Mountain’, was built by the family of Pilima Talauve in the early 19th century, on a plot adjoining the ancient royal cremation ground. The Asgiriya Vihara is a rather smallish, inconspicuous temple, but as one of the seats of Goyigama religious power, of great significance.<br/><br/> From the early 19th century onwards, during the Esala Perahera, the sacred Tooth Relic would be deposited for the last night of the festival at the Asgiriya Vihara. Together with the Malwatte Vihara, it is also one of the wealthiest temples in Sri Lanka.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German writer and statesman. His body of work includes epic and lyric poetry written in a variety of metres and styles; prose and verse dramas; memoirs; an autobiography; literary and aesthetic criticism; treatises on botany, anatomy, and colour; and four novels. In addition, numerous literary and scientific fragments, more than 10,000 letters, and nearly 3,000 drawings by him are extant.<br/><br/> A literary celebrity by the age of 25, Goethe was ennobled by the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, Karl August in 1782 after first taking up residence there in November 1775 following the success of his first novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther. He was an early participant in the Sturm und Drang literary movement. During his first ten years in Weimar, Goethe served as a member of the Duke's privy council, sat on the war and highway commissions, oversaw the reopening of silver mines in nearby Ilmenau, and implemented a series of administrative reforms at the University of Jena.
Edo period ukiyo-e painting by Utagawa Kuniyasu (1794-1832). The camels and musicians are redolent of the Tang Dynasty and the Silk Road, especially Sogdian or Central Asian entertainers at the Tang Court.
The revenge of the Forty-seven Ronin (四十七士 Shi-jū-shichi-shi), also known as the Forty-seven Samurai, the Akō vendetta, or the Genroku Akō incident (元禄赤穂事件 Genroku akō jiken) took place in Japan at the start of the 18th century. One noted Japanese scholar described the tale as the country's 'national legend'. It recounts the most famous case involving the samurai code of honor, bushidō.<br/><br/> The story tells of a group of samurai who were left leaderless (becoming ronin) after their daimyo (feudal lord) Asano Naganori was forced to commit seppuku (ritual suicide) for assaulting a court official named Kira Yoshinaka, whose title was Kōzuke no suke. The ronin avenged their master's honor after patiently waiting and planning for two years to kill Kira.<br/><br/> In turn, the ronin were themselves ordered to commit seppuku for committing the crime of murder. With much embellishment, this true story was popularized in Japanese culture as emblematic of the loyalty, sacrifice, persistence, and honor that all good people should preserve in their daily lives. The popularity of the almost mythical tale was only enhanced by rapid modernization during the Meiji era of Japanese history, when it is suggested many people in Japan longed for a return to their cultural roots.<br/><br/> Fictionalized accounts of these events are known as Chūshingura. The story was popularized in numerous plays including bunraku and kabuki. Because of the censorship laws of the shogunate in the Genroku era, which forbade portrayal of current events, the names of the ronin were changed.
Manet's paintings of cafe scenes are observations of social life in 19th-century Paris. People are depicted drinking beer, listening to music, flirting, reading, or waiting. Many of these paintings were based on sketches executed on the spot. He often visited the Brasserie Reichshoffen on boulevard de Rochechourt, upon which he based At the Cafe in 1878.<br/><br/> Several people are at the bar, and one woman confronts the viewer while others wait to be served. Such depictions represent the painted journal of a flâneur. These are painted in a style which is loose, referencing Hals and Velázquez, yet they capture the mood and feeling of Parisian night life. They are painted snapshots of bohemianism, urban working people, as well as some of the bourgeoisie.
<i>The Plum</i> (French: La Prune) - also known as Plum Brandy - is an oil-on-canvas painting by Édouard Manet. It is undated but thought to have been painted about 1877.<br/><br/> The painting is a study in loneliness, depicting a quiet, almost melancholy, scene of a young working girl seated in a café. The subject is viewed from nearby, perhaps by another seated customer. She may be a prostitute waiting for a client, or possibly a shop worker hoping for some conversation. On the table is a plum soaked in brandy, a speciality of Parisian cafés at the time.<br/><br/> Manet may have based the painting on observations at the Café de la Nouvelle Athènes on the Place Pigalle in Paris. However, the background - the decorative grille and its gold frame - does not match other depictions of the café, and suggests the painting was made in Manet’s studio.<br/><br/> The model is the actress Ellen Andrée, who was also depicted with Marcellin Desboutin in the similar 1876 painting <i>L'Absinthe</i> (or In a Café) by Edgar Degas. The similarities between the two paintings suggest that Manet's <i>The Plum</i> may be a response to Degas's <i>L'Absinthe</i>. Degas's painting shows a bleak scene of despair blunted by absinthe; Manet's is a more hopeful scene, where there is the chance that the sitter's loneliness may be broken.
In the 1770s, Crabbe began his career as a doctor's apprentice, later becoming a surgeon. In 1780, he travelled to London to make a living as a poet. After encountering serious financial difficulty and unable to have his work published, he wrote to statesman and author Edmund Burke for assistance. He included samples of his poetry, and Burke was impressed enough by Crabbe's poems to promise to aid him in any way he could.<br/><br/> Burke introduced Crabbe to the literary and artistic society of London, including Sir Joshua Reynolds and Samuel Johnson. Burke secured Crabbe the important position of Chaplain to the Duke of Rutland. Crabbe served as a clergyman in various capacities for the rest of his life, with Burke's continued assistance in securing these positions. Later, he developed friendships with many of the great literary men of his day, including Sir Walter Scott, whom he visited in Edinburgh, and William Wordsworth and some of his fellow Lake Poets, who frequently visited Crabbe as his guests.<br/><br/> George Crabbe was prescribed opium in 1790 to relieve pain, and he continued to use it for the rest of his life.
Memorial prints, also called 'death prints' and 'shini-e' commemorated the death of actors, artists and musicians, but the vast majority commemorated kabuki actors. They typically portray the recently deceased actor in light blue robes (shini sôzoku), and often include such information as the date of death, age, posthumous Buddhist name (kaimyô), and place of burial. The largest production of memorial prints followed the suicide of Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII on August 8, 1854. Many memorial prints are unsigned, and were produced by artists of very modest talent in response to a large demand from the deceased actor’s fans.
Kabuki (歌舞伎) is a classical Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers.<br/><br/>Utagawa Kunisada (1786 – January 12, 1865) (Japanese: 歌川 国貞, also known as Utagawa Toyokuni III 三代歌川豊国 ) was the most popular, prolific and financially successful designer of ukiyo-e woodblock prints in 19th-century Japan. In his own time, his reputation far exceeded that of his contemporaries, Hokusai, Hiroshige and Kuniyoshi.
A low-class prostitute, or yotaka (literally 'night hawk') tries to lure a low ranking samurai retainer (yakko) by tugging at his sash. She carries a straw mat so that she can provide her services under the stars.<br/><br/>The first poem on the print puns on the word taka, literally 'hawk', and yotaka, 'nighthawk prostitute'. The last line meaning the strings attached to a hawk while hunting (Taka no ashigawa) can also mean the strap by which a samurai attaches his dagger to his sash.<br/><br/>The second poem plays on the convention of seeing a hawk in a New Year's dream, but here the hawk is the prostitute.
Varanasi, also commonly known as Banaras or Benaras, is a city situated on the banks of the River Ganges in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, 320 kilometres (199 mi) southeast of state capital Lucknow. It is regarded as a holy city by Hindus, Buddhists and Jains. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and the oldest in India.<br/><br/> The Kashi Naresh (Maharaja of Kashi) is the chief cultural patron of Varanasi and an essential part of all religious celebrations. The culture of Varanasi is closely associated with the River Ganges and the river's religious importance. The city has been a cultural and religious centre in North India for several thousand years. The Benares Gharana form of the Indian classical music developed in Varanasi, and many prominent Indian philosophers, poets, writers, and musicians resided or reside in Varanasi. Gautama Buddha gave his first sermon at Sarnath located near Varanasi (Kashi).<br/><br/> Varanasi is variously referred to as 'the city of temples', 'the city of lights' and 'the city of learning'.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German writer and statesman. His body of work includes epic and lyric poetry written in a variety of metres and styles; prose and verse dramas; memoirs; an autobiography; literary and aesthetic criticism; treatises on botany, anatomy, and colour; and four novels. In addition, numerous literary and scientific fragments, more than 10,000 letters, and nearly 3,000 drawings by him are extant.<br/><br/> A literary celebrity by the age of 25, Goethe was ennobled by the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, Karl August in 1782 after first taking up residence there in November 1775 following the success of his first novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther. He was an early participant in the Sturm und Drang literary movement. During his first ten years in Weimar, Goethe served as a member of the Duke's privy council, sat on the war and highway commissions, oversaw the reopening of silver mines in nearby Ilmenau, and implemented a series of administrative reforms at the University of Jena.
Japan: Woodblock print of the actor Segawa Kikunojo V (1802-1832) in the role of the courtesan Oiso no Tora, by Yashima Gakutei (1786-1868), 1823, Rikjsmuseum, Amsterdam. Yashima Gakutei was a Japanese artist and poet of the 19th century. Born in Osaka, Gakutei was the illegitimate son of a samurai, and spent much of his early life working on woodblock prints in Osaka. He eventually studied under renowned woodblock printers Totoya Hokkei and Hokusai.
Alexandre Gustave Eiffel (born Bönickhausen, 15 December 1832 – 27 December 1923) was a French civil engineer and architect. A graduate of the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, he made his name with various bridges for the French railway network, most famously the Garabit viaduct.<br/><br/> He is best known for the world-famous Eiffel Tower, built for the 1889 Universal Exposition in Paris, France. After his retirement from engineering, Eiffel concentrated his energies on research into meteorology and aerodynamics, making important contributions in both fields.<br/><br/> Eiffel's best-known works in Asia are the General Post Office in Saigon (1886-1891) and the Truong Tien Bridge in Hue (1897-1899). The iconic Long Bien Bridge across the Red River at Hanoi is frequently misattributed to Eiffel, but was in fact designed and built by the French company Dayde and Pille.
Habib Abdurrahman al-Zahir was a Yemeni Arab from the Hadramaut region who served as Vizir to Sultan Alauddin Ibrahim Mansur Syah of Aceh (r. 1857-1870). Following the death of the latter, Az-Zahir served for a time as de facto regent before travelling to Istanbul to seek Ottoman Turkish support for Aceh against the Dutch.<br/><br/> The Turks, however, only promised moral support, and al-Zahir returned to Aceh where he assumed a new role as a military commander against the Dutch in the service of Sultan Alauddin Muhammad Da'ud Syah II (r. 1875-1903).<br/><br/> In 1878 the Sultan (though by no means all the Acehnese forces) submitted to the Dutch under Major General Karel van der Heijden. Al-Zahir was granted a Dutch monthly pension of 1000 dollars (2,500 guilders) for life. In exchange for a promise of no further interference in Aceh, al-Zahir was exiled to Arabia together with his wives at Dutch expense.He died, probably at Mecca, in 1896.
The Battle of Chinkiang (Zhenjiang, Jiangsu) was fought between British and Chinese forces in Chinkiang, China, on 21 July 1842 during the First Opium War. It was the last major battle of the war. The British capture of this stronghold allowed them to proceed forward to Nanking.<br/><br/> This print was based on an eye witness sketch made by a naval captain at the time of the siege in 1842. The Grand Canal has a picturesque bridge connecting the suburbs with the main gate of the fortress on the left. Marines and seamen are disembarking to scale the walls while the 3rd Brigade are firing at the Manchu defenders on the parapets. Figures can also be seen formed up on the bridge, ready to storm in.
Habib Abdurrahman al-Zahir was a Yemeni Arab from the Hadramaut region who served as Vizir to Sultan Alauddin Ibrahim Mansur Syah of Aceh (r. 1857-1870). Following the death of the latter, Az-Zahir served for a time as de facto regent before travelling to Istanbul to seek Ottoman Turkish support for Aceh against the Dutch.<br/><br/> The Turks, however, only promised moral support, and al-Zahir returned to Aceh where he assumed a new role as a military commander against the Dutch in the service of Sultan Alauddin Muhammad Da'ud Syah II (r. 1875-1903).<br/><br/> In 1878 the Sultan (though by no means all the Acehnese forces) submitted to the Dutch under Major General Karel van der Heijden. Al-Zahir was granted a Dutch monthly pension of 1000 dollars (2,500 guilders) for life. In exchange for a promise of no further interference in Aceh, al-Zahir was exiled to Arabia together with his wives at Dutch expense.He died, probably at Mecca, in 1896.
After the military defeat of France by Germany in 1870, Ferry formed the idea of acquiring a great colonial empire, principally for the sake of economic exploitation. In a speech before the Chamber of Deputies on 28 July 1885, he declared that 'the superior races have a right because they have a duty: it is their duty to civilize the inferior races'. Ferry directed the negotiations which led to the establishment of a French protectorate in Tunis (1881), prepared the treaty of 17 December 1885 for the occupation of Madagascar; directed the exploration of the Congo and of the Niger region; and above all, he organized the conquest of Annam and Tonkin in what became French Indochina.<br/><br/> The last endeavor led to a war with the Manchu Empire, whose Qing Dynasty had a claim of suzerainty over the two provinces. The excitement caused in Paris by the sudden retreat of the French troops from Lang Son during this war led to the Tonkin Affair: his violent denunciation by Clemenceau and other radicals, and his downfall on 30 March 1885. Although the treaty of peace with the Manchu Empire (9 June 1885), in which the Qing Dynasty ceded suzerainty of Annam and Tonkin to France, was the work of his ministry, he would never again serve as premier.
George Francis Lyon (1795–1832) was a rare combination of Arctic and African explorer. By all accounts a fun loving extrovert, he also managed to be a competent British Naval Officer, Commander, explorer, artist and socialite. While not having a particularly distinguished career, he is remembered for the entertaining journals he kept and for the watercolour paintings he completed in the Sahara and the Arctic.<br/><br/> In 1818 he was sent with Joseph Ritchie by Sir John Barrow to find the course of the Niger River and the location of Timbuktu. The expedition was underfunded, lacked support and because of the ideas of John Barrow departed from Tripoli and thus had to cross the Sahara as a preliminary part of their journey.<br/><br/> A year later, due to much officialdom they had only got as far as Murzuq where they both fell ill. Ritchie never recovered and died there, but Lyon survived and travelled further around the region. Exactly a year to the day he left, he arrived back in Tripoli, the expedition being a complete failure.
George Francis Lyon (1795–1832) was a rare combination of Arctic and African explorer. By all accounts a fun loving extrovert, he also managed to be a competent British Naval Officer, Commander, explorer, artist and socialite. While not having a particularly distinguished career, he is remembered for the entertaining journals he kept and for the watercolour paintings he completed in the Sahara and the Arctic.<br/><br/> In 1818 he was sent with Joseph Ritchie by Sir John Barrow to find the course of the Niger River and the location of Timbuktu. The expedition was underfunded, lacked support and because of the ideas of John Barrow departed from Tripoli and thus had to cross the Sahara as a preliminary part of their journey.<br/><br/> A year later, due to much officialdom they had only got as far as Murzuq where they both fell ill. Ritchie never recovered and died there, but Lyon survived and travelled further around the region. Exactly a year to the day he left, he arrived back in Tripoli, the expedition being a complete failure.
George Francis Lyon (1795–1832) was a rare combination of Arctic and African explorer. By all accounts a fun loving extrovert, he also managed to be a competent British Naval Officer, Commander, explorer, artist and socialite. While not having a particularly distinguished career, he is remembered for the entertaining journals he kept and for the watercolour paintings he completed in the Sahara and the Arctic.<br/><br/> In 1818 he was sent with Joseph Ritchie by Sir John Barrow to find the course of the Niger River and the location of Timbuktu. The expedition was underfunded, lacked support and because of the ideas of John Barrow departed from Tripoli and thus had to cross the Sahara as a preliminary part of their journey.<br/><br/> A year later, due to much officialdom they had only got as far as Murzuq where they both fell ill. Ritchie never recovered and died there, but Lyon survived and travelled further around the region. Exactly a year to the day he left, he arrived back in Tripoli, the expedition being a complete failure.
George Francis Lyon (1795–1832) was a rare combination of Arctic and African explorer. By all accounts a fun loving extrovert, he also managed to be a competent British Naval Officer, Commander, explorer, artist and socialite. While not having a particularly distinguished career, he is remembered for the entertaining journals he kept and for the watercolour paintings he completed in the Sahara and the Arctic.<br/><br/> In 1818 he was sent with Joseph Ritchie by Sir John Barrow to find the course of the Niger River and the location of Timbuktu. The expedition was underfunded, lacked support and because of the ideas of John Barrow departed from Tripoli and thus had to cross the Sahara as a preliminary part of their journey.<br/><br/> A year later, due to much officialdom they had only got as far as Murzuq where they both fell ill. Ritchie never recovered and died there, but Lyon survived and travelled further around the region. Exactly a year to the day he left, he arrived back in Tripoli, the expedition being a complete failure.
George Francis Lyon (1795–1832) was a rare combination of Arctic and African explorer. By all accounts a fun loving extrovert, he also managed to be a competent British Naval Officer, Commander, explorer, artist and socialite. While not having a particularly distinguished career, he is remembered for the entertaining journals he kept and for the watercolour paintings he completed in the Sahara and the Arctic.<br/><br/> In 1818 he was sent with Joseph Ritchie by Sir John Barrow to find the course of the Niger River and the location of Timbuktu. The expedition was underfunded, lacked support and because of the ideas of John Barrow departed from Tripoli and thus had to cross the Sahara as a preliminary part of their journey.<br/><br/> A year later, due to much officialdom they had only got as far as Murzuq where they both fell ill. Ritchie never recovered and died there, but Lyon survived and travelled further around the region. Exactly a year to the day he left, he arrived back in Tripoli, the expedition being a complete failure.
George Francis Lyon (1795–1832) was a rare combination of Arctic and African explorer. By all accounts a fun loving extrovert, he also managed to be a competent British Naval Officer, Commander, explorer, artist and socialite. While not having a particularly distinguished career, he is remembered for the entertaining journals he kept and for the watercolour paintings he completed in the Sahara and the Arctic.<br/><br/> In 1818 he was sent with Joseph Ritchie by Sir John Barrow to find the course of the Niger River and the location of Timbuktu. The expedition was underfunded, lacked support and because of the ideas of John Barrow departed from Tripoli and thus had to cross the Sahara as a preliminary part of their journey.<br/><br/> A year later, due to much officialdom they had only got as far as Murzuq where they both fell ill. Ritchie never recovered and died there, but Lyon survived and travelled further around the region. Exactly a year to the day he left, he arrived back in Tripoli, the expedition being a complete failure.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German writer and statesman. His body of work includes epic and lyric poetry written in a variety of metres and styles; prose and verse dramas; memoirs; an autobiography; literary and aesthetic criticism; treatises on botany, anatomy, and colour; and four novels. In addition, numerous literary and scientific fragments, more than 10,000 letters, and nearly 3,000 drawings by him are extant.<br/><br/> A literary celebrity by the age of 25, Goethe was ennobled by the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, Karl August in 1782 after first taking up residence there in November 1775 following the success of his first novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther. He was an early participant in the Sturm und Drang literary movement. During his first ten years in Weimar, Goethe served as a member of the Duke's privy council, sat on the war and highway commissions, oversaw the reopening of silver mines in nearby Ilmenau, and implemented a series of administrative reforms at the University of Jena.