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Initiated around 1470-1475, the illumination of the <i>Book of Hours of Luis de Laval</i> was taken up again and continued between 1485 and 1489.<br/><br/>

Luis de Laval, Lord of Chatillon, bequeathed the book to Anne de France, Duchess of Bourbon. Later on, it became part of the royal collections immediately after the assets of the Constable of Bourbon were confiscated.<br/><br/>

Circumcision was enjoined upon the biblical patriarch Abraham, his descendants and their slaves as 'a token of the covenant' concluded with him by God for all generations, as an 'everlasting covenant'.<br/><br/>

Sahih al-Bukhari and ibn Muslim quote from the Prophet Muhammad that the Prophet Abraham performed his own circumcision at the age of eighty.
Sati (also spelled suttee) is an obsolete Hindu funeral custom where a widow immolates herself on her husband's pyre, or commits suicide in another fashion shortly after her husband's death.<br/><br/>

Mention of the practice can be dated back to the 4th century BCE, while evidence of practice by widows of kings only appears beginning between the 5th and 9th centuries CE. The practice is considered to have originated within the warrior aristocracy on the Indian subcontinent, gradually gaining in popularity from the 10th century CE and spreading to other groups from the 12th through 18th centuries. The practice was particularly prevalent among some Hindu communities, observed in aristocratic Sikh families, and has been attested to outside South Asia in a number of localities in Southeast Asia, such as in Indonesia and Champa.
Shigeru Aoki (1882-1911) was a Japanese painter famed for his combining of Japanese mythology and legends with the Western-style art movement that could be found in some late 19th and early 20th century Japanese paintings.<br/><br/>

Aoki was born into an ex-samurai household in northern Kyushu. He left his home in 1899 to pursue artistic studies in Tokyo, and soon began to accumulate critical acclaim for his artwork and its use of Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood techniques mixed with Kojiki themes. He died in March 1911 from tuberculosis, aged only 28.
Sir Peter Paul Rubens (28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish Baroque painter. A proponent of an extravagant Baroque style that emphasized movement, colour, and sensuality, Rubens is well known for his Counter-Reformation altarpieces, portraits, landscapes, and history paintings of mythological and allegorical subjects.<br/><br/>

In addition to running a large studio in Antwerp that produced paintings popular with nobility and art collectors throughout Europe, Rubens was a classically educated humanist scholar and diplomat who was knighted by both Philip IV of Spain and Charles I of England. Rubens was a prolific artist. The catalogue of his works by Michael Jaffe lists 1,403 pieces, excluding numerous copies made in his workshop.
Albrecht Durer (21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528) was a painter, printmaker and theorist of the German Renaissance. Born in Nuremberg, Durer established his reputation and influence across Europe when he was still in his twenties, due to his high-quality woodcut prints. He was in communication with the major Italian artists of his time, including Raphael, Giovanni Bellini and Leonardo da Vinci, and from 1512 he was patronized by emperor Maximilian I.<br/><br/>

His vast body of work includes engravings, his preferred technique in his later prints, altarpieces, portraits and self-portraits, watercolours and books. The woodcuts, such as the Apocalypse series (1498), retain a more Gothic flavour than the rest of his work. His well-known engravings include the Knight, Death, and the Devil (1513), Saint Jerome in his Study (1514) and Melencolia I (1514), which has been the subject of extensive analysis and interpretation. His watercolours also mark him as one of the first European landscape artists, while his ambitious woodcuts revolutionized the potential of that medium.<br/><br/>

Dürer's introduction of classical motifs into Northern art, through his knowledge of Italian artists and German humanists, has secured his reputation as one of the most important figures of the Northern Renaissance. This is reinforced by his theoretical treatises, which involve principles of mathematics, perspective and ideal proportions.
Hans Holbein the Younger (c. 1497 – 1543) was a German and Swiss artist and printmaker who worked in a Northern Renaissance style. He is best known as one of the greatest portraitists of the 16th century. He also produced religious art, satire, and Reformation propaganda, and made a significant contribution to the history of book design. He is called 'the Younger' to distinguish him from his father, Hans Holbein the Elder, an accomplished painter of the Late Gothic school.<br/><br/>

The Self Portrait is a small drawing by the German Renaissance artist and printmaker Hans Holbein the Younger, completed around 1542-1543, and housed in the Uffizi, Florence. The gold background was added later by a different artist. According to art historian John Rowlands, 'Although this drawing has been enlarged on all sides and heavily reworked, enough of it still shows to allow the assumption that the original work was executed by Holbein. The inscription, also a later addition, evidently records an even earlier one, of which slight traces remain'.
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 – 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath, painter, sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist, and writer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time and perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to have lived.<br/><br/>

His genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal. Leonardo has often been described as the archetype of the Renaissance Man.
Shigeru Aoki (1882-1911) was a Japanese painter famed for his combining of Japanese mythology and legends with the Western-style art movement that could be found in some late 19th and early 20th century Japanese paintings.<br/><br/>

Aoki was born into an ex-samurai household in northern Kyushu. He left his home in 1899 to pursue artistic studies in Tokyo, and soon began to accumulate critical acclaim for his artwork and its use of Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood techniques mixed with Kojiki themes. He died in March 1911 from tuberculosis, aged only 28.
Yukio Mishima is the pen name of Kimitake Hiraoka (January 14, 1925 – November 25, 1970), a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, and film director. Mishima is considered one of the most important Japanese authors of the 20th century; he was nominated three times for the Nobel Prize in Literature and was poised to win the prize in 1968 but lost the award to his fellow countryman Yasunari Kawabata.<br/><br/>

His avant-garde work displayed a blending of modern and traditional aesthetics that broke cultural boundaries, with a focus on sexuality, death, and political change. He is remembered for his ritual suicide by seppuku after a failed coup d'etat attempt, known as the 'Mishima Incident'.
Sati (also spelled suttee) is an obsolete Hindu funeral custom where a widow immolates herself on her husband's pyre, or commits suicide in another fashion shortly after her husband's death.<br/><br/>

Mention of the practice can be dated back to the 4th century BCE, while evidence of practice by widows of kings only appears beginning between the 5th and 9th centuries CE. The practice is considered to have originated within the warrior aristocracy on the Indian subcontinent, gradually gaining in popularity from the 10th century CE and spreading to other groups from the 12th through 18th centuries. The practice was particularly prevalent among some Hindu communities, observed in aristocratic Sikh families, and has been attested to outside South Asia in a number of localities in Southeast Asia, such as in Indonesia and Champa.
Muhammed Fethullah Gulen is the founder of the 'Gulen' movement (known as Hizmet in Turkey), and the inspiration for its largest organization, the Alliance for Shared Values. <br/><br/>

Gulen teaches a moderate Hanafi version of Islam, deriving from the teachings of Sunni Muslim scholar Said Nursi. Gulen has stated that he believes in science, interfaith dialogue among the People of the Book, and multi-party democracy. He has initiated such dialogue with the Vatican and some Jewish organizations. <br/><br/>

He is currently on Turkey's most-wanted-terrorist list and is accused of leading what Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and ruling AK Party officials call the 'Gulenist Terror Organisation'.
Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet born in Charleville, Ardennes. He influenced modern literature and arts, inspired various musicians, and prefigured surrealism. He started writing poems at a very young age, while still in primary school, and stopped completely before he turned 21. He was mostly creative in his teens.<br/><br/>

Rimbaud was known to have been a libertine and for being a restless soul. He traveled extensively on three continents before his death from cancer just after his thirty-seventh birthday.
Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet born in Charleville, Ardennes. He influenced modern literature and arts, inspired various musicians, and prefigured surrealism. He started writing poems at a very young age, while still in primary school, and stopped completely before he turned 21. He was mostly creative in his teens.<br/><br/>

Rimbaud was known to have been a libertine and for being a restless soul. He traveled extensively on three continents before his death from cancer just after his thirty-seventh birthday.
Shigeru Aoki (1882-1911) was a Japanese painter famed for his combining of Japanese mythology and legends with the Western-style art movement that could be found in some late 19th and early 20th century Japanese paintings.<br/><br/>

Aoki was born into an ex-samurai household in northern Kyushu. He left his home in 1899 to pursue artistic studies in Tokyo, and soon began to accumulate critical acclaim for his artwork and its use of Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood techniques mixed with Kojiki themes. He died in March 1911 from tuberculosis, aged only 28.
Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt was a Prussian geographer, naturalist, and explorer, and the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835). Humboldt's quantitative work on botanical geography laid the foundation for the field of biogeography.<br/><br/>

Between 1799 and 1804, Humboldt travelled extensively in Latin America, exploring and describing it for the first time from a modern scientific point of view. His description of the journey was written up and published in an enormous set of volumes over 21 years. He was one of the first to propose that the lands bordering the Atlantic Ocean were once joined (South America and Africa in particular).<br/><br/>

Later, his five-volume work, Kosmos (1845), attempted to unify the various branches of scientific knowledge. Humboldt supported and worked with other scientists, including Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac, Justus von Liebig, Louis Agassiz, Matthew Fontaine Maury, Georg von Neumayer, and most notably, Aimé Bonpland, with whom he conducted much of his scientific exploration.
France: Eugène Delacroix (1798 – 1863), Self-portrait, 1837. Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix (26 April 1798 – 13 August 1863) was a French Romantic  artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school. Delacroix's use of expressive brushstrokes and his study of the optical effects of colour profoundly shaped the work of the Impressionists, while his passion for the exotic inspired the artists of the Symbolist movement.
Vincent Willem van Gogh (30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890) was a Post-Impressionist painter. He was a Dutch artist whose work had a far-reaching influence on 20th century art. His output includes portraits, self portraits, landscapes and still lifes of cypresses, wheat fields and sunflowers.<br/><br/>

He drew as a child but did not paint until his late twenties; he completed many of his best-known works during the last two years of his life. In just over a decade, he produced more than 2,100 artworks, including 860 oil paintings and more than 1,300 watercolors, drawings, sketches and prints.<br/><br/>

This painting is currently in the Musee d'Orsay, Paris, France.
Albrecht Durer (21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528) was a painter, printmaker and theorist of the German Renaissance. Born in Nuremberg, Durer established his reputation and influence across Europe when he was still in his twenties, due to his high-quality woodcut prints. He was in communication with the major Italian artists of his time, including Raphael, Giovanni Bellini and Leonardo da Vinci, and from 1512 he was patronized by emperor Maximilian I.<br/><br/>

His vast body of work includes engravings, his preferred technique in his later prints, altarpieces, portraits and self-portraits, watercolours and books. The woodcuts, such as the Apocalypse series (1498), retain a more Gothic flavour than the rest of his work. His well-known engravings include the Knight, Death, and the Devil (1513), Saint Jerome in his Study (1514) and Melencolia I (1514), which has been the subject of extensive analysis and interpretation. His watercolours also mark him as one of the first European landscape artists, while his ambitious woodcuts revolutionized the potential of that medium.<br/><br/>

Dürer's introduction of classical motifs into Northern art, through his knowledge of Italian artists and German humanists, has secured his reputation as one of the most important figures of the Northern Renaissance. This is reinforced by his theoretical treatises, which involve principles of mathematics, perspective and ideal proportions.
Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt was a Prussian geographer, naturalist, and explorer, and the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835). Humboldt's quantitative work on botanical geography laid the foundation for the field of biogeography.<br/><br/>

Between 1799 and 1804, Humboldt travelled extensively in Latin America, exploring and describing it for the first time from a modern scientific point of view. His description of the journey was written up and published in an enormous set of volumes over 21 years. He was one of the first to propose that the lands bordering the Atlantic Ocean were once joined (South America and Africa in particular).<br/><br/>

Later, his five-volume work, Kosmos (1845), attempted to unify the various branches of scientific knowledge. Humboldt supported and worked with other scientists, including Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac, Justus von Liebig, Louis Agassiz, Matthew Fontaine Maury, Georg von Neumayer, and most notably, Aimé Bonpland, with whom he conducted much of his scientific exploration.
Tan Ting-pho (Chen Chengbo; Peh-oe-ji: Tan Teng-pho; February 2, 1895 – March 25, 1947), was a well-known Taiwanese painter. In 1926, his oil painting <i>Street of Chiayi</i> was featured in the seventh Empire Art Exhibition in Japan, which was the first time a Taiwanese artist's work was displayed at the exhibition.<br/><br/>

Tan devoted his life to education and creation, and was greatly concerned about the development of humanist culture in Taiwan. He was not only devoted to the improvement of his own painting, but also to the promotion of the aesthetic education of the Taiwanese people. He was murdered as a result of the February 28 Incident, a 1947 popular uprising in Taiwan which was brutally repressed by the Kuomintang (KMT).
Vincent Willem van Gogh (30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890) was a Post-Impressionist painter. He was a Dutch artist whose work had a far-reaching influence on 20th century art. His output includes portraits, self portraits, landscapes and still lifes of cypresses, wheat fields and sunflowers.<br/><br/>

He drew as a child but did not paint until his late twenties; he completed many of his best-known works during the last two years of his life. In just over a decade, he produced more than 2,100 artworks, including 860 oil paintings and more than 1,300 watercolors, drawings, sketches and prints.<br/><br/>

This painting is currently in the Art Institute of Chicago, USA.
Sati (also spelled suttee) is an obsolete Hindu funeral custom where a widow immolates herself on her husband's pyre, or commits suicide in another fashion shortly after her husband's death.<br/><br/>

However sati could take the form of widow burial whenever the caste or community of the deceased called for it, as for example with the Jogi weavers of Bengal, or with the Jasnathis of Rajasthan, a lost branch of Ismaili Muslims who have reconverted to Hinduism.
Muhammed Fethullah Gulen is the founder of the 'Gulen' movement (known as Hizmet in Turkey), and the inspiration for its largest organization, the Alliance for Shared Values. <br/><br/>

Gulen teaches a moderate Hanafi version of Islam, deriving from the teachings of Sunni Muslim scholar Said Nursi. Gulen has stated that he believes in science, interfaith dialogue among the People of the Book, and multi-party democracy. He has initiated such dialogue with the Vatican and some Jewish organizations. <br/><br/>

He is currently on Turkey's most-wanted-terrorist list and is accused of leading what Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and ruling AK Party officials call the 'Gulenist Terror Organisation'.
Lam Qua (Chinese: 林官; Cantonese Yale: Lam Kwan; 1801–1860), or Kwan Kiu Cheong (關喬昌), was a Chinese painter from the Canton province in Qing Dynasty China, who specialized in Western-style portraits intended largely for Western clients. Lam Qua was the first Chinese portrait painter to be exhibited in the West. He is known for his medical portraiture, and for his portraits of Western and Chinese merchants in Canton (Guangzhou) and Macau. He had a workshop in 'New China Street' among the Thirteen Factories in Canton.<br/><br/>

In the 1820s, Lam Qua is said by some contemporaries to have studied with George Chinnery, the first English painter to settle in China - although Chinnery himself  denied this. Lam Qua became well-known and skilled in Chinnery's style of portraiture. He developed a following among the international community, and undercut Chinnery's prices.<br/><br/>

From 1836 to 1855, Lam Qua produced a series of medical portraits of patients under treatment with physician Peter Parker, a medical missionary from the United States. Parker commissioned Lam Qua to paint pre-operative portraits of patients who had large tumors or other major deformities. Some of the paintings are now part of a collection of Lam Qua's work held by the Yale University in the Peter Parker Collection at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library; others are in the Gordon Museum, Guy's Hospital, London.
Ueno Hikoma (上野 彦馬, October 15, 1838 – May 22, 1904) was a pioneer Japanese photographer, born in Nagasaki. He is noted for his fine portraits, often of important Japanese and foreign figures, and for his excellent landscapes, particularly of Nagasaki and its surroundings. Ueno was a major figure in nineteenth-century Japanese photography as a commercially and artistically successful photographer and as an instructor.
Ueno Hikoma (上野 彦馬, October 15, 1838 – May 22, 1904) was a pioneer Japanese photographer, born in Nagasaki. He is noted for his fine portraits, often of important Japanese and foreign figures, and for his excellent landscapes, particularly of Nagasaki and its surroundings. Ueno was a major figure in nineteenth-century Japanese photography as a commercially and artistically successful photographer and as an instructor.
Tyra Kleen, sometimes written Thyra, born 29 March 1874 in Stockholm, died in 1951, was a Swedish artist and writer. Her illustrations can be signed T.Kn.<br/><br/>Tyra's father was a diplomat, Fredrik Herman Richard Kleen (1841-1923), and her grandfather was a military man, Johan af Kleen. Kleen studied art in Germany and Paris in 1890, and spent much time abroad, especially in Indonesia, then the Dutch East Indies. Kleen mainly worked in drawing, etching and lithography. She exhibited her works in Berlin, Vienna, Milan, Rome, Paris, London and St. Petersburg.
The monastery of Lindisfarne was founded by Irish monk Saint Aidan, who had been sent from Iona off the west coast of Scotland to Northumbria at the request of King Oswald c.635 CE. It became the base for Christian evangelising in the North of England and also sent a successful mission to Mercia. Monks from the community of Iona settled on the island. Northumberland's patron saint, Saint Cuthbert, was a monk and later Abbot of the monastery, and his miracles and life are recorded by the Venerable Bede. Cuthbert later became Bishop of Lindisfarne. He was buried here, his remains later translated to Durham Cathedral (along with the relics of Saint Eadfrith of Lindisfarne). Eadberht of Lindisfarne, the next bishop (and Saint) was buried in the place from which Cuthbert's body was exhumed earlier the same year when the priory was abandoned in the late ninth century.<br/><br/>

At some point in the early 700s the famous illuminated manuscript known as the Lindisfarne Gospels, an illustrated Latin copy of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, was made probably at Lindisfarne and the artist was possibly Eadfrith, who later became Bishop of Lindisfarne. Sometime in the second half of the tenth century a monk named Aldred added an Anglo-Saxon (Old English) gloss to the Latin text, producing the earliest surviving Old English copies of the Gospels. The Gospels were illustrated in an insular style containing a fusion of Celtic, Germanic and Roman elements; they were probably originally covered with a fine metal case made by a hermit called Billfrith.
Kikuchi Yōsai (菊池 容斎, November 28, 1781 - June 16, 1878), also known as Kikuchi Takeyasu and Kawahara Ryōhei was a Japanese painter most famous for his monochrome portraits of historical figures.
Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川 国芳, January 1, 1797 - April 14, 1862) 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.
Jan van Eyck was an Early Netherlandish painter active in Bruges and one of the most significant Northern Renaissance artists of the 15th century.<br/><br/>

In addition to the Ghent Altarpiece and the illuminated miniatures of the Turin-Milan Hours, about 20 surviving paintings are confidently attributed to him, all dated between 1432 and 1439.
Hong Xiuquan (1 January 1814 – 1 June 1864), born Hong Renkun, style name Huoxiu (火秀), was a Hakka Chinese who led the Taiping Rebellion against the Qing Dynasty, establishing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom over varying portions of southern China, with himself as the 'Heavenly King' and self-proclaimed brother of Jesus Christ.<br/><br/>

By 1850 Hong had between 10,000 and 30,000 followers. The authorities were alarmed at the growing size of the sect and ordered them to disperse. A local force was sent to attack them when they refused, but the imperial troops were routed and a deputy magistrate killed. A full-scale attack was launched by government forces in the first month of 1851. In what came to be known as the Jintian Uprising, named after the town of Jintian (present-day Guiping, Guangxi) where the sect was based. Hong's followers emerged victorious and beheaded the Manchu commander of the government army.<br/><br/>

Hong declared the foundation of the 'Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace' on 11 January 1851. Following a failed attempt by the Taiping rebels to take Shanghai in 1860, Qing government forces, aided by Western officers, slowly gained ground. Hong Xiuquan died by suicide, odf illness or possibly of starvation in 1864.
Hong Xiuquan (1 January 1814 – 1 June 1864), born Hong Renkun, style name Huoxiu (火秀), was a Hakka Chinese who led the Taiping Rebellion against the Qing Dynasty, establishing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom over varying portions of southern China, with himself as the 'Heavenly King' and self-proclaimed brother of Jesus Christ.<br/><br/>

By 1850 Hong had between 10,000 and 30,000 followers. The authorities were alarmed at the growing size of the sect and ordered them to disperse. A local force was sent to attack them when they refused, but the imperial troops were routed and a deputy magistrate killed. A full-scale attack was launched by government forces in the first month of 1851. In what came to be known as the Jintian Uprising, named after the town of Jintian (present-day Guiping, Guangxi) where the sect was based. Hong's followers emerged victorious and beheaded the Manchu commander of the government army.<br/><br/>

Hong declared the foundation of the 'Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace' on 11 January 1851. Following a failed attempt by the Taiping rebels to take Shanghai in 1860, Qing government forces, aided by Western officers, slowly gained ground. Hong Xiuquan died by suicide, odf illness or possibly of starvation in 1864.
A drawing by the Austrian artist Friedrich Schiff, who lived in Shanghai during the 1930s and 1940s. His images exemplify the 'anything goes' atmosphere and indulgence amidst poverty that characterised Old Shanghai and which would soon be brought to an abrupt end by Japanese invasion (1937) and Communist revolution (1949).
Gang Se-hwang was a high government official as well as a painter, calligrapher and art critic of the mid-Joseon period.<br/><br/>

He was born in Jinju, Gyeongsangnam-do, the son of Kang Hyeon. He entered royal service when more than sixty years old. Gang established and practised the 'munhwa' style of painting.
Gang Se-hwang was a high government official as well as a painter, calligrapher and art critic of the mid-Joseon period.<br/><br/>

He was born in Jinju, Gyeongsangnam-do, the son of Kang Hyeon. He entered royal service when more than sixty years old. Gang established and practised the 'munhwa' style of painting.
The Second Indochina War, known in America as the Vietnam War, was a Cold War era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of South Vietnam, supported by the U.S. and other anti-communist nations. The U.S. government viewed involvement in the war as a way to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam and part of their wider strategy of containment.<br/><br/>

The North Vietnamese government viewed the war as a colonial war, fought initially against France, backed by the U.S., and later against South Vietnam, which it regarded as a U.S. puppet state. U.S. military advisors arrived beginning in 1950. U.S. involvement escalated in the early 1960s, with U.S. troop levels tripling in 1961 and tripling again in 1962. U.S. combat units were deployed beginning in 1965. Operations spanned borders, with Laos and Cambodia heavily bombed. Involvement peaked in 1968 at the time of the Tet Offensive.<br/><br/>

U.S. military involvement ended on 15 August 1973. The capture of Saigon by the North Vietnamese army in April 1975 marked the end of the US-Vietnam War.
The Second Indochina War, known in America as the Vietnam War, was a Cold War era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of South Vietnam, supported by the U.S. and other anti-communist nations. The U.S. government viewed involvement in the war as a way to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam and part of their wider strategy of containment.<br/><br/>

The North Vietnamese government viewed the war as a colonial war, fought initially against France, backed by the U.S., and later against South Vietnam, which it regarded as a U.S. puppet state. U.S. military advisors arrived beginning in 1950. U.S. involvement escalated in the early 1960s, with U.S. troop levels tripling in 1961 and tripling again in 1962. U.S. combat units were deployed beginning in 1965. Operations spanned borders, with Laos and Cambodia heavily bombed. Involvement peaked in 1968 at the time of the Tet Offensive.<br/><br/>

U.S. military involvement ended on 15 August 1973. The capture of Saigon by the North Vietnamese army in April 1975 marked the end of the US-Vietnam War.
The Second Indochina War, known in America as the Vietnam War, was a Cold War era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of South Vietnam, supported by the U.S. and other anti-communist nations. The U.S. government viewed involvement in the war as a way to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam and part of their wider strategy of containment.<br/><br/>

The North Vietnamese government viewed the war as a colonial war, fought initially against France, backed by the U.S., and later against South Vietnam, which it regarded as a U.S. puppet state. U.S. military advisors arrived beginning in 1950. U.S. involvement escalated in the early 1960s, with U.S. troop levels tripling in 1961 and tripling again in 1962. U.S. combat units were deployed beginning in 1965. Operations spanned borders, with Laos and Cambodia heavily bombed. Involvement peaked in 1968 at the time of the Tet Offensive.<br/><br/>

U.S. military involvement ended on 15 August 1973. The capture of Saigon by the North Vietnamese army in April 1975 marked the end of the US-Vietnam War.
Tupaia, a native of Raieatea, fled to Tahiti  to escape attacking forces from Bora Bora island. A man of clear intelligence, he acted as intermediary, translator, and explicator of Polynesian society for visiting European vessels. On Cook's arrival in 1769, Tupaia went on board Cook's voyage to New Zealand, Australia, and Java, where Tupaia eventually died after falling ill.
Paul Gauguin was born in Paris in 1848 and spent some of his childhood in Peru. He worked as a stockbroker with little success, and suffered from bouts of severe depression. He also painted. In 1891, Gauguin, frustrated by lack of recognition at home and financially destitute, sailed to the tropics to escape European civilization and 'everything that is artificial and conventional'. His time there, particularly in Tahiti and the Marquesas Islands, was the subject of much interest both then and in modern times due to his alleged sexual exploits. He was known to have had trysts with several  native girls, some of whom appear as subjects of his paintings. Gauguin died on 8 May 1903 and is buried in Calvary Cemetery (Cimetière Calvaire), Atuona, Hiva ‘Oa, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia.
George Chinnery (5 January 1774 – 30 May 1852) was an English painter who spent most of his life in Asia, especially India and southern China. Chinnery was born in London and after training in England became a famous portrait painter in Ireland by 1802. He married his wife Marianne on 19 April 1799 in Dublin. His father owned several trading ships and his elder brother, William Chinnery, owned what is now Gilwell Park. He was a close friend of the artist, William Armfield Hobday.<br/><br/>

Chinnery ran into debt and went to India in 1802 on a ship named Gilwell. He there re-established himself as a painter, but debt prompted a move again in 1825, when he went to southern China. While in China, he mentored Lam Qua, who eventually became a renowned medical portrait painter. He travelled around the Pearl River Delta, between Macau and Canton (now Guangzhou). He had been to Hong Kong after the British founded the city, and subsequently fell ill. He died in Macau in 1852 and is buried in the Old Protestant Cemetery there.<br/><br/>

Other than artistic value, his paintings are historically valuable as he was the only western painter in South China between the early and mid 19th century. He presented the life of common people and landscape of the Pearl River delta at that period. Chinnery left sketches for creation of other paintings.
Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix (26 April 1798 – 13 August 1863) was a French Romantic  artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school. Delacroix's use of expressive brushstrokes and his study of the optical effects of colour profoundly shaped the work of the Impressionists, while his passion for the exotic inspired the artists of the Symbolist movement.
An Lushan (ca. 703–29 January 757), born Aluoshan or Galuoshan, posthumously named Prince La of Yan, was a military leader of Sogdian and Tujue origin during the Tang Dynasty in China. He rose to prominence by defending the northeastern border from the Khitan and other northern threats, while systematically bribing Imperial messengers and envoys to depict him in good terms in their reports. He was summoned to Chang'an, the Tang Dynasty's capital, several times and managed to get the favor of Chancellor Li Linfu and Emperor Xuanzong, who took An Lushan as his son. This allowed An Lushan to get astonishing military power in northeast China. After the death of Li Linfu, his opposition to Yang Guozhong created military tension within the Empire. The promotion of Yang Guozhong to Chancellor precipitated the catastrophic An Shi Rebellion, which lasted from 755 to 763. Viewed as paranoid and dangerous, An Lushan was assassinated by his own son, An Qingxu, in 757, starting political turmoil for the Yan Kingdom which eventually led to its final collapse in 763.
Yun Du-seo (1668–1715) was a painter and scholar of the Joseon period. He is the grandson of Yun Seondo, a great scholar in Korean history. He passed the gwageo exam, but did not enter government service.<br/><br/>He devoted his whole life to painting and studying Confucianism. His self-portrait is regarded as one of the many masterpieces of Korean art. Yun Duseo is also known for his yeongmohwa (animal-and-bird painting).<br/><br/>This painting is designated as the 240th National Treasure of Korea.
Albrecht Dürer (21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528) was a German painter, printmaker and theorist from Nuremberg. His prints established his reputation across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he has been conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance ever since. Dürer's introduction of classical motifs into Northern art, through his knowledge of Italian artists and German humanists, have secured his reputation as one of the most important figures of the Northern Renaissance. This is reinforced by his theoretical treatises, which involve principles of mathematics, perspective and ideal proportions.
The Laotian Civil War (1953–75) was fought between the Communist Pathet Lao (including many North Vietnamese of Lao ancestry) and the Royal Lao Government in which both the political rightists and leftists received heavy external support for a proxy war from the global Cold War superpowers. Among United States Central Intelligence Agency Special Activities Division US and Hmong veterans of the conflict, it is known as the Secret War.<br/><br/>

The Kingdom of Laos was a covert theatre for battle for the other belligerents during the Vietnam War. The Franco–Lao Treaty of Amity and Association signed 22 October 1953, transferred remaining French powers – except control of military affairs – to the Royal Lao Government – which did not include any representatives from the Lao Issara anti-colonial armed nationalist movement — and otherwise establishing Laos as an independent member of the French Union.<br/><br/>

The following years were marked by a rivalry between the neutralists under Prince Souvanna Phouma, the right wing under Prince Boun Oum of Champassak, and the left-wing Lao Patriotic Front under Prince Souphanouvong and future Prime Minister Kaysone Phomvihane. A number of attempts were made to establish coalition governments, and a 'tri-coalition' government was finally seated in Vientiane.<br/><br/>

The fighting in Laos involved the North Vietnamese Army, U.S., Thai, and South Vietnamese forces directly and through irregular proxies in a battle for control over the Laotian Panhandle. The North Vietnamese Army occupied the area for use as the Ho Chi Minh Trail supply corridor and staging area for offensives into South Vietnam. There was a second major theatre of action on and near the northern Plain of Jars.<br/><br/>

The North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao emerged victorious in 1975, as part of the general communist victory in Indochina that year.
Albrecht Dürer (21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528) was a German painter, printmaker and theorist from Nuremberg. His prints established his reputation across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he has been conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance ever since. Dürer's introduction of classical motifs into Northern art, through his knowledge of Italian artists and German humanists, have secured his reputation as one of the most important figures of the Northern Renaissance. This is reinforced by his theoretical treatises, which involve principles of mathematics, perspective and ideal proportions.
Charles Davidson Bell (22 October 1813 Crail, Fife, Scotland - 7 April 1882 Edinburgh) was the Surveyor-General in the Cape, an artist, heraldist, and designer of Cape medals and stamps.
Jean-Étienne Liotard (1702 at Geneva–1789 in Geneva) was a Swiss-French painter. although not primarily an Orientalist, his paintings contain some Orientalist themes, notably 'Portrait of Richard Pocoke' (1738), 'Portrait of Monsieur Levett English Merchant in Tatar Costume' (1740), 'Turkish Woman with Maidservant' (1742), and 'Portrait of a Young Black Woman'.
George Chinnery (5 January 1774 – 30 May 1852) was an English painter who spent most of his life in Asia, especially India and southern China. Chinnery was born in London and after training in England became a famous portrait painter in Ireland by 1802. He married his wife Marianne on 19 April 1799 in Dublin.<br/><br/>

His father owned several trading ships and his elder brother, William Chinnery, owned what is now Gilwell Park. He was a close friend of the artist, William Armfield Hobday. Chinnery ran into debt and went to India in 1802 on a ship named Gilwell. He there re-established himself as a painter, but debt prompted a move again in 1825, when he went to southern China. While in China, he mentored Lam Qua, who eventually became a renowned medical portrait painter. He travelled around the Pearl River Delta, between Macau and Canton (now Guangzhou).<br/><br/>

He had been to Hong Kong after the British founded the city, and subsequently fell ill. He died in Macau in 1852 and is buried in the Old Protestant Cemetery there. Other than artistic value, his paintings are historically valuable as he was the only western painter in South China between the early and mid 19th century. He presented the life of common people and landscape of the Pearl River delta at that period. Chinnery left sketches for creation of other paintings.
Jean-Léon Gérôme (11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter  and sculptor  in the style now known as Academicism. The range of his oeuvre included historical painting, Greek mythology, Orientalism, portraits and other subjects, bringing the Academic painting tradition to an artistic climax.
Buddhist monks, especially from Hue in Central Vietnam, but also from other locations including Saigon, practiced self-immolation to protest the division of Vietnam into north and south, the authoritarian nature of consecutive South Vietnamese regimes, and South Vietnamese involvement with the United States of America.
Sesshū Tōyō (1420 – 26 August 1506) was the most prominent Japanese master of ink and wash painting from the middle Muromachi period. He was born into the samurai Oda family, then brought up and educated to become a Rinzai Zen Buddhist priest. However, early in life he displayed a talent for visual arts, and eventually became one of the greatest Japanese artists of his time, widely revered throughout Japan and China. Sesshū studied under Tenshō Shūbun and was influenced by Chinese Song Dynasty landscape painting. In 1468–9 he undertook a voyage to Ming China, where too he was quickly recognized as an outstanding painter. Upon returning to Japan, Sesshū built himself a studio and established a large following, painters that are now referred to as the Unkoku-rin school—or 'School of Sesshū'.
The Vegetarian Festival is a religious festival annually held on the island of Phuket in southern Thailand. It attracts crowds of spectators because of many of the unusual religious rituals that are performed. Many religious devotees will slash themselves with swords, pierce their cheeks with sharp objects and commit other painful acts. The Nine Emperor Gods Festival (Chinese: Jiǔhuángyé; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Káu-ông-iâ; Cantonese: Kow Wong Yeh) is a nine-day Taoist celebration beginning on the eve of 9th lunar month of the Chinese calendar, which is observed primarily in Southeast Asian countries like Myanmar, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand.
The Vegetarian Festival is a religious festival annually held on the island of Phuket in southern Thailand. It attracts crowds of spectators because of many of the unusual religious rituals that are performed. Many religious devotees will slash themselves with swords, pierce their cheeks with sharp objects and commit other painful acts. The Nine Emperor Gods Festival (Chinese: Jiǔhuángyé; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Káu-ông-iâ; Cantonese: Kow Wong Yeh) is a nine-day Taoist celebration beginning on the eve of 9th lunar month of the Chinese calendar, which is observed primarily in Southeast Asian countries like Myanmar, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand.
Buddhist monks, especially from Hue in Central Vietnam, but also from other locations including Saigon, practiced self-immolation to protest the division of Vietnam into north and south, the authoritarian nature of consecutive South Vietnamese regimes, and South Vietnamese involvement with the United States of America.
Ren Xiong (July 19; 1823 – November 23; 1857) was a Chinese painter from Xiaoshan, active during the late Qing dynasty. Ren belonged to the 'Shanghai school' in Chinese painting and is known for his bold and innovative style.