Encyclopedian Dictionary: the arts

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Ferdinand Fabre (1827-1898)

Ferdinand Fabre

Ferdinand Fabre (1827-1898), French novelist who is said to have founded the French regional novel with studies of country life. He was born at Bedarieux, in Herault in which he made his uniquely individual literature. Born the son of an architect who failed in business, he was brought up by his uncle the Abbe Fulcran Fabre.

During his childhood he gave an account Ma Vocation (1889). He was destined for work in the clergy and was sent for that cause to the seminary in St Pons de Thomieres, where, in 1848, he had, as he believed, an ecstatic vision of Christ, who warned him "It is not the will of God that thou shouldst be a priest." He attempted medicine at Montpellier, but took alternate employment as a lawyer's clerk in Paris.

In 1853 he published a volume of verses, Feuilles de lierre after which his health suffered, and retired to his old home at Bedrieux. About a decade later he appeared in Paris with the manuscript of his earliest novel Le Courbezon (1862) in which he addressed the subject of country priests in the Cevennes. The work met with success, and was crowned a great literary achievement by many in the profession of the arts.

Fabre settled into a life producing novels, a total of about 20 by the time of his death.

References

Ferdinand_Fabre, 1911 Encyclopedia

Ferdinand Fabre

Peter Carl Fabergé (1846-1920)

Peter Carl Fabergé

Fabergé, Peter Carl. (1846-1920) [fah-bair-zhay', fȧ-bĕr-zhā′]

Russian name Karl Gustavovich Fabergé. Born May 30, 1846 in St. Petersburg, which is now Leningrad. He was one of the greatest jewelers and goldsmiths of the 19th Century and dealt in decorative arts. His work has often been compared to Benvenuto Cellini. He was of Huguenot descent. Educated in Germany, Italy, France, and England.

By 1842, his father had established himself in St. Petersburg as a jeweler, dealing in fine ornamental objects, a tradition which Peter continued after inheriting the family business in 1870 when he inherited his father Gustav's jewelry firm.

He soon began to manufacture decorative products, objets d' art later exhibiting his works in Moscow's Pan-Russian Exhibition (1882). His reputation was swiftly established internationally, and royalty, patronized him.

Assisted by his sons and associates, Swiss artisan François Berbaum, became a brilliant designer. He made a bold change from the exclusive design and manufacture of conventional jewelry to the creation of object of fantasy. He was inspired by decorative arts under King Louis XVI of France, which influenced the design of many objects he produced.

The Faberge' firm was in its heyday during the reign of Alexander III and Nicolas II. More than 500 artisans were in its employ with branches in Moscow (1887), Kiev (1905), and London (1906). Notably, as court jeweler to Tsar Alexander III, Faberge designed jeweled eggs which the monarch presented to the Tsarina upon Easter morning. These ingenious eggs opened and revealed a tiny miniature including a peacock, coronation coach, et cetera.

Among the artisans in his employment were master craftsman Michael Perchin. The products became famous for exquisite masterpieces including flowers, figure groups, bibelots, animals, and celebrated jeweled, decorated enamel imperial Easter eggs often presented as gifts by the tsars. Emperor Alexander III of Russia commissioned the first of the eggs for his tsaritsa in 1884, and his successor, Nicholas II, continued the tradition.

Fabergé's workshops created unique and outstanding imaginative works until the Russian Revolution in 1917. The firm was nationalized and then closed down in 1918 by the Bolsheviks. As the new government would tolerate no object of luxury, he died in exile, in Lausanne on September 24, 1920 and was buried at Cannes, France.

References

Fabergé and his Eggs

Foreigners in Russia: Peter Carl Faberge

Quintus Fabius Pictor (200 BC)

Roman Republic, Anonymous, 217 - 215 B.C.
On 24 June 217 B.C., on the shore of Lake Trasimene, Hannibal's troops all but annihilated a Roman army, killing thousands and driving others to drown in the lake. On 2 August 216 B.C., at the Battle of Cannae, Hannibal's 40,000-man army defeated a Roman force of 70,000. Allies began to defect from Rome, while others were conquered by Hannibal's forces. Quintus Fabius Pictor was sent to Delphi in Greece to consult the Oracle for advice for Rome.

Quintus Fabius Pictor

(late 3rd century B.C.), He was a member of the senate and fought against the Carthagians in the Second Punic War (218-201) and sent on a mission to the Oracle of Delphi after defeat of the Romans at Cannae (216).

The first well known writer of Roman history to employ the medium of prose instead of verse. It was composed in Greek partly to justify Roman policy to the Greeks. It was an account of the development of Rome from the earliest times. (According to this source: He wrote a story of miracles concerning the beginnings of the Roman Republic: A Tale of the Great Roman Games instauratio, dedicated to Jupiter.)

The work, now lost except for a few fragments which are published in Felix Jacoby's Fragmente der greichischen Historiker (1957), was frequently referred to by subsequent Roman historians, such as Polybius, Donysius and Livy.

References

Roman Republic, Anonymous, 217 - 215 B.C.

Caius Fabius Pictor

Caius Fabius Pictor (late 4th century B.C.), the first Roman of the patrician class to take up painting as a major interest.