became the African American experience, as seen in his series entitled Cabin in the Cotton (mid 1930s) and his paintings of episodes in the lives of the antislavery leader John Brown and Pres. Abraham Lincoln. After the art world discovered Pippin in 1937, he received wide acclaim as the greatest black painter of his time.
piracy Illegal act of violence, detention, or plunder committed for pri¬ vate ends by the crew of a private ship (usually) against another ship on the high seas. Air piracy (i.e., the hijacking of an aircraft) is a more recent phenomenon. Piracy has occurred in all stages of history: the Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans engaged in it, as did the Vikings, Moors, and other Europeans. It also occurred among Asian peoples. During the wars between England and Spain in the late 16th century, treasure-laden Span¬ ish galleons proceeding from Mexico into the Caribbean were a natural target for pirates. In the 16th—18th centuries pirates from North Africa’s Barbary Coast threatened commerce in the Mediterranean. The increased size of merchant vessels, improved naval patrolling, and recognition by governments of piracy as an international offense led to its decline in the late 19th century. In the late 20th century incidents of piracy occurred with increasing frequency in the seas of East and Southeast Asia. See also Blackbeard; Francis Drake; Jean Laffite; Henry Morgan.
Piraeus \pl-'re-9s\ City (pop., 2001: 175,697), port of Athens, Greece. The port and its “long walls,” fortified barriers connecting it with Athens, were completed in the mid-5th century bc. The walls were destroyed by Sparta at the end of the Peloponnesian War. Rebuilt under the Athenian leader Conon in 393 bc, Piraeus was burned in 86 bc by the Roman com¬ mander Lucius Cornelius Sulla. The city regained importance after ad 1834, when Athens became capital of the newly independent Greece. The largest port in Greece, it is the centre for all sea communication with the Greek islands.
Pirandello, Luigi (b. June 28, 1867, Agrigento, Sicily, Italy—d. Dec. 10, 1936, Rome) Italian playwright and novelist. He earned a doctorate in philology at the University of Bonn but turned to writing poetry, short stories, and several novels, including the successful The Late Mattia Pascal (1904). His first major play, Right You Are (if You Think You Are) (1917), explored the relativity of truth, a lifelong subject for Piran¬ dello. Six Characters in Search of an Author ( 1921) contrasted art and life; it was followed by the tragedy Henry IV (1922). His other plays include Each in His Own Way (1924) and Tonight We Improvise (1930). He established the Teatro d’Arte in Rome and toured the world with his company (1925-27). Recognized as a major figure in 20th-century theatre, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1934.
Piranesi X.pe-ra-'na-seX, Giovanni Battista or Giambattista Piranesi (b. Oct. 4, 1720, Mestre, near Venice—d. Nov. 9, 1778, Rome, Papal States) Italian draftsman, printmaker, architect, and art theorist. He went to Rome at 20 as a draftsman for the Venetian ambassador. After settling there in 1747, he developed a highly original etching technique that produced rich textures and bold contrasts of light and shadow. His many prints of Classical and post-Classical Roman structures contributed to the growth of Classical archaeology and the Neoclassical ait movement. He is best known today for his extraordinary series of imaginary prisons (Carceri d’invenzione, 1745). His prints are among the most impressive architectural representations in Western art.
piranha Vpo-'ra-no, po-'ran-yoN or caribe \k3-'re-be\ Any of several species of deep-bodied, carnivorous fishes in the genus Serrasalmus (fam¬ ily Characidae), abundant in rivers of eastern and central South America and noted for voracity. The red-bellied piranha ( S . nattereri ) grows to 2 ft (60 cm) long, but most species are smaller. Some species are silvery with an orange belly and throat; others are almost completely black. All have sharp, saw-edged teeth that close in a scissorlike bite. Traveling in groups, they usually prey on other fishes, but red-bellied piranhas occasionally con¬ verge on larger animals. Though generally scavengers, they are attracted to the scent of blood and can quickly reduce even a large animal to a skeleton.
Luigi Pirandello.
COURTESY OF THE ITALIAN INSTITUTE, LONDON
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
1504 I Pirquet ► piston and cylinder
Pirquet \pir-'ka\, Clemens, baron von (b. May 12, 1874, Vienna, Austria—d. Feb. 28, 1929, Vienna) Austrian physician. In 1906 he noticed that patients who received two injections of horse serum or smallpox vac¬ cine usually had quicker, more severe reactions (which he called “aller¬ gies”) to the second injection. While studying cowpox vaccination symptoms, he also developed a new theory about infectious diseases’ incubation times and about antibody formation. In the Pirquet test, a drop of tuberculin is scratched into the skin; a red, raised area developing at the site (Pirquet reaction) indicates tuberculosis.
Pisa \'pe-zo,\ Italian Vpe-sa\ ancient Pisae City (pop., 2001 prelim.: 85,379), central Italy. Located on the Arno River, Pisa probably began as an Etruscan town. It became a Roman colony c. 180 bc. A Christian bish¬ opric by ad 313, it flourished during the Middle Ages as the principal urban centre of Tuscany. Pisa’s participation in the Crusades made it a rival of Genoa and Venice. It became part of the Kingdom of Italy in 1860. The city was the scene of heavy fighting during World War II. It is now an important railway junction. Its cathedral, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and other attractions, make it a tourist destination. It is the site of the Univer¬ sity of Pisa (founded 1343) and the birthplace of Galileo.
Pisano \pi-'sa-no, pi-'za-n6\, Andrea or Andrea da Pontedera
(b. c. 1270-90, Pontedera, near Pisa—d. c. 1348/49, Orvieto, Papal States) Italian sculptor and architect. He created the earliest of three bronze doors for the Baptistery of the cathedral of Florence (1330-36). On Giotto’s death in 1337, Andrea succeeded him as chief architect of the cathedral’s bell tower, to which he added two stories adorned with panel reliefs. In 1347 he was appointed superintending architect of the cathedral of Orvi¬ eto. One of the most important Italian sculptors of the 14th century, he is known for his restrained style and skillful arrangement of figures.
Pisano, Giovanni (b. c. 1250, Pisa—d. after 1314, Siena?) Italian sculptor and architect. His early work is similar to that of Nicola Pisano, his father and teacher. About 1285 he began work on the facade of Sie¬ na’s cathedral, whose lavish and ordered design and ornamentation became the model for future Gothic facade decoration in central Italy. His other great achievement, the Pistoia pulpit (c. 1298-1301), is character¬ ized by extreme agitation, its figures, animals, drapery, and landscape being wrenched into physically impossible configurations. His pulpit for the Pisa cathedral (1302-10) is much more Classical, perhaps to accord with Giotto’s monumental style, then in the ascendancy. Though regarded as Italy’s only true Gothic sculptor, he never lost sight of the heritage of Classical Rome.
Pisano, Nicola (b. c. 1220, Apulia?—d. 1278/84, Pisa?) Italian sculp¬ tor. His work, along with that of his son, Giovanni Pisano, created a new sculptural style for the late 13th and 14th centuries in Italy. His greatest work, the pulpit in the Baptistery of Pisa Cathedral (1260), is extraordi¬ nary in its assertion of a new style, distinct from all its predecessors though indebted to them. The work draws on many motifs, including Roman reliefs, early Christian fres¬ coes and mosaics, and French Gothic architecture and sculpture, but assimilates them, creating a unified whole that gave a new sense of direc¬ tion to Tuscan art.
Pisces \'pl-,sez\ (Latin: “Fishes”) In astronomy, the constellation lying between Aries and Aquarius; in astrology, the twelfth sign of the zodiac, governing approximately the period February 19-March 20. Its symbol is two fish tied together. These are a reference to the Greek myth of Aph¬ rodite and Eros, who jumped into a river to escape the monster Typhon and were changed into fish. In another version of the myth, two fish carried them to safety.