At that time, many artists painted pictures that were specially for people to look at while they were praying. The pictures are most often of the Madonna and Child. They often have gold backgrounds which glow when they are lit by candlelight. The figures in the paintings do not look very solid or realistic. They look very still, calm and holy. These paintings had been done in the same style for many hundreds of years, in Greece, Constantinople and many other countries where the Greek Orthodox Church was the main church. The style, which was called the Byzantine style, had also spread to Italy where several Orthodox icons (Holy picture), had become famous and were copied by many artists.
Duccio was one of the greatest painters in the Byzantine style in Italy at the time. He had a famous rival who worked in Florence. His name was Cimabue. One of Cimabue's pupils, Giotto, was to become even more famous, and is remembered as having begun the Renaissance style of painting in Florence. Even though Duccio probably saw Giotto's paintings, in which the figures look solid and three-dimensional, like actors on a stage, Duccio was not very influenced by him.
Duccio had several students who also became famous painters of the 1300s. They include Simone Martini and the Lorenzetti brothers, who were also influenced by Giotto.
In 1285 Duccio was asked to go to Florence to paint an altarpiece of the Madonna and Child for the church of Santa Maria Novella which had been rebuilt for the Dominican friars. It was a very large church and for it, Duccio painted the biggest ancient altarpiece of this type that is known. It is called the "Rucellai Madonna" because the Rucellai, who were a very rich family, paid for the decoration of the main chapel of the church, where this altarpiece was hung in the 1600s.
Duccio painted the Madonna sitting on a throne with the Christ Child in her lap, raising his hand in blessing. Around them are six kneeling angels in robes of delicate colours. The robe of the Madonna is very dark blue and looks almost black; it is painted with ground-up semi precious stone called lapis lazuli. The robe of the baby looks quite transparent. Duccio was one of the first painters to try to paint transparent material. One of the important parts of Duccio's design is the gold border of the Madonnna's robe, which seems to wander around the painting in a waving line, and frames the Madonna's face in a way that holds the attention of the viewer.
The "Rucellai Madonna" is no longer in the Church of Santa Maria Novella. In 1948 it was moved to the Ufizzi Gallery where it is shown in the same room as Cimabue's "Trinita Madonna" and Giotto's "Ognisanti Madonna".
In Duccio's own city there was a large cathedral. In 1308 he was given the job of making an enormous altarpiece of the Madonna on a throne for the cathedral. It was not to be as tall as the "Rucellai Madonna" but was much wider, because it showed two rows of saints and a row of angels on either side of the throne. The four saints the kneel at the front of the picture are those who were particularly remembered in the city of Siena. The altarpiece was to have a very fancy Gothic gold frame with more figures at the top, and small pictures at the bottom, but unfortunately the frame has been destroyed.
Because the painting stood above an altar that was right in the middle of the cathedral, and not against a wall, it was easy for people to walk around to see the back of the altarpiece. So Duccio painted the back as well. The back of the altarpiece had lots of small scenes which tell the life of Jesus. These small scenes, which have gold backgrounds and bright colours in the usual way, are very lively illustrations to the Bible stories.
After three years, the altarpiece was finished. It was carried in a great procession from Duccio's workshop, up the hill to the cathedral which stood on the highest point of the city. It was called the "Maestà" (or "Majesty"). Four other artists were asked to do smaller altarpieces to go in the four chapels that were nearby.
Unfortunately, in the 1700s, people at the cathedral thought that Duccio's altarpiece was old-fashioned. It was taken to pieces, and some of the smaller parts were sold. They can be seen in the National Gallery, London and other places. Luckily most of the pieces were kept together and can now be seen in the Cathedral Museum which is near Siena Cathedral.
Castoridae
Castoridae is a family of rodents. Today, the only genus that has alive species in it is "Castor". It contains modern-day beavers. In addition, about 20 extinct genera of beavers have been put into the family.
IUCN Red List
The IUCN Red List (also IUCN Red List of Threatened Species) is a list of species. The list tells for each species how likely it is to become extinct (or if it is already). This is called its conservation status. This list is put together each year by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
There are exact criteria to see if a certain species is threatened to become extinct. These criteria are the same for all parts of the world. The purpose of the list is to tell people how threatened a certain species is. Politicians can then decide on what needs to be done and the efforts needed to save certain species from becoming extinct.
Not evaluated:
Not yet compared to the standard scale.
Not enough data.
Redruth
Redruth (Cornish: Resrudh) is a small town in Cornwall. The name of the town means "red ford"; the parish church of Redruth is dedicated to St Uny. The district of Camborne and Redruth was once very important for the mining of tin and copper. Until 1974, Camborne and Redruth were included in the Camborne-Redruth urban district. In 2001 there were 12,352 people living in Redruth. The two towns with the village of Pool have more people than St Austell (Cornwall's largest settlement). In 2004, about 38,500 people were living in Camborne-Redruth.
Integrated Taxonomic Information System
The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) is an American organization. It works with several federal agencies to unify the information gathered about different taxonomy of biological species. It provides a common database for these agencies to use. ITIS was originally formed in 1996.
Yersinia pestis
Yersinia pestis is a bacillus. It is a bacterium. It has been identified as the infectious agent of bubonic plague. This bacterium also causes other forms of plague- Septicemic plague and pneumonic plague. These three forms of the plague have been responsible for a high death toll in many epidemics throughout human history. These diseases are believed to be the cause of the Black Death. Because of the Black Death, about one third (one of three) people in Europe died. This was between 1347 and 1353.
The bacillus was discovered by the physician Alexandre Yersin during an epidemic of the plague in Hong Kong, in 1894. Yersin worked for the Pasteur Institute at the time. Originally, the microoganism was named "Pasteurella pestis". It was renamed in 1967.
Currently, three varieties of Y. pestis are known.
Historians are currently divided about the role of "Y. pestis" in the Black Death. Some historians said that the Black Death spread far too fast. Therefore, "Y. pestis" could not have caused it. DNA from "Y. pestis" has been found in the teeth of some of the victims of the Black Death. For this reason, "Y. pestis" must have been at least a factor in some (but not necessarily all) European plague epidemics.
These references are probably not in Simple English.
Leptospirosis