San Antonio College Library

Francis I, king of France from 1515 to 1547, has not always been treated by posterity with the seriousness he deserves. The French historian Jules Michelet (b. 1798?d. 1874), who has exerted a long-standing influence on popular notions of the past among his countrymen, dismissed him as a?fine talker? who allowed himself to be ruled by women, principally his mother and sister. As a child of the French Revolution, Michelet despised Francis for not having...

Biography of English adventurer Sir Richard Burton, who was a linguist, scholar, Orientalist, collector of erotica, secret agent, and explorer of the Nile.

"Giovanni Bellini's St. Francis in the Desert is a masterpiece of Venetian Renaissance art that has inspired generations of visitors to The Frick Collection. This monumental panel painting portrays Francis of Assisi, the medieval Christian saint who renounced earthly riches to embrace a humble existence of poverty, prayer, and obedience to the Gospels. Departing from canonical representations of the holy man's life and miracles, Bellini has imagined...

Presents a critical analysis of the life and literary works of the great American writer and a portrait of his period.

"The culmination of Henry Francis du Pont's lifelong vision and passion for collecting, the Winterthur Museum houses the premier collection dedicated to American decorative arts. To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Winterthur, the National Gallery of Art, Washington, presents an incomparable selection of masterpieces chosen according to the very principles espoused by du Pont himself: rarity, beauty, historical association and provenance. The...