Bronte Vbran-te\ sisters Family of English writers. The daughters of an Anglican clergyman, they were brought up in Haworth on the York¬ shire moors. Their mother died early. Charlotte Bronte (April 21, 1816- March 31, 1855) attended the Clergy Daughter’s School with her sister Emily and subsequently taught school and served as a governess. She and Emily made an unsuccessful attempt to open a school. Her novel Jane Eyre (1847), an immediate success, was a powerful narrative of a woman in conflict with her natural desires and social situation that gave a new
Detail of handwoven Italian silk bro¬ caded on silk with floral motif, c.
1730-50.
COURTESY OF SCALAMANDRE, NEW YORK CITY
Broccoli (Brassica oleracea variety ital- ica).
G.R. ROBERTS
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Brontosaurus ► Brooke Raj I 279
truthfulness to Victorian fiction. It was followed by the novels Shirley (1849) and Villette (1853). In 1854 she married her father’s curate, and she died soon after at age 38. Emily (Jane) Bronte (July 30, 1818-Dec. 19, 1848) was perhaps the greatest writer of the three. Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell (1846), published jointly by the sisters (who assumed pseudonyms to avoid the special treatment that they believed reviewers accorded to women), contained 21 of her poems. Many critics believe that her verse alone reveals poetic genius. Her one novel, Wuthering Heights (1847), is a highly imaginative story of passion and hatred set on the Yorkshire moors. Though not a success when published, it later came to be considered one of the finest novels in English. Soon after its pub¬ lication, her health began to fail, and she died of tuberculosis at 30. Anne Bronte (Jan. 17, 1820-May 28, 1849) contributed 21 poems to Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell’, she wrote two novels, Agnes Grey (1847) and The Tenant ofWildfell Hall (1848). Anne died of tuberculosis at 29.
Brontosaurus See Apatosaurus
Bronx Borough (pop., 2000: 1,332,650), New York, New York, U.S. One of New York City’s five boroughs, it is the only mainland borough, and it is connected to Manhattan by a dozen bridges and railroad tunnels and to Queens by the Triborough, Bronx-Whitestone, and Throgs Neck bridges. The site was called Keskesbeck by the Indians who sold it in 1639 to the Dutch West India Company. The borough was a part of Westchester county until 1898, when it was incorporated into the city of New York. Though primarily residential, much of its more than 80 mi (130 km) of waterfront is used for shipping, warehouses, and industry. It is home to baseball’s Yankee Stadium. It has an extensive park system and includes the Bronx Zoo and the New York Botanical Gardens.
Bronx Zoo formally New York Zoological Park Zoo in New
York City. It opened in 1899 on 265 acres (107 hectares) in the north¬ western area of the Bronx. In 1941 it added the 4-acre (1.6-hectare) Afri¬ can Plains, which features large groups of animals in natural surroundings. The zoo also includes the World of Darkness (the world’s first major exhibit of nocturnal animals, added in the 1960s), the World of Birds (a huge, indoor free-flight exhibit), the Rare Animal Range (near-extinct species in natural settings), a Children’s Zoo, Wild Asia (Asian mammals and birds), and the Congo Gorilla Forest. Managed by the New York Zoological Society and financed by the society and the city, it supports much research and oversees the Wildlife Survival Center on St. Cathe¬ rine’s Island, Georgia.
bronze Alloy traditionally composed of copper and tin. Bronze was first made before 3000 bc (see Bronze Age) and is still widely used, though iron often replaced bronze in tools and weapons after about 1000 bc because of iron’s abundance compared to copper and tin. Bronze is harder than copper, more readily melted, and easier to cast. It is also harder than iron and far more resistant to corrosion. Bell metal (which produces pleas¬ ing sounds when struck) is bronze with 20-25% tin content. Statuary bronze, with less than 10% tin and an admixture of zinc and lead, is tech¬ nically a brass. The addition of less than 1% phosphorus improves the hardness and strength of bronze; that formulation is used for pump plung¬ ers, valves, and bushings. Also useful in mechanical engineering are man¬ ganese bronzes, with little or no tin but considerable amounts of zinc and up to 4.5% manganese. Aluminum bronzes, containing up to 16% alumi¬ num and small amounts of other metals such as iron or nickel, are espe¬ cially strong and corrosion-resistant; they are cast or wrought into pipe fittings, pumps, gears, ship propellers, and turbine blades. Most “copper” coins are actually bronze, typically with about 4% tin and 1% zinc, or copper plating over base metal.
Bronze Age Third phase in the development of material culture among the ancient peoples of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, following the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods and preceding the Iron Age. The term also denotes the first period in which metal was used. The date at which the age began varied by region; in Greece and China it began before 3000 bc, in Britain not until c. 1900 bc. The beginning of the period is some¬ times called the Chalcolithic (Copper-Stone) Age, referring to the initial use of pure copper (along with its predecessor, stone). By 3000 bc the use of copper was well known in the Middle East, had extended westward into the Mediterranean area, and was beginning to infiltrate Europe. Only in the 2nd millennium bc did true bronze come to be widely used. The age was marked by increased specialization and the invention of the wheel and the ox-drawn plow. From c. 1000 bc the ability to heat and forge iron brought the Bronze Age to an end.
Bronzino \br6n-'dze-n6\, II orig. Agnolo di Cosimo (b. Nov. 17, 1503, Monticelli, duchy of Milan—d. Nov. 23, 1572, Florence)
Italian painter active in Florence. He was the student and adopted son of Jacopo da Pontormo. He excelled as a portraitist and was court painter to Cosimo I for most of his career. His portraits were emotionally inexpres¬ sive, but in their elegance and deco¬ rative qualities they embodied the courtly ideal under the Medici dukes.
His work influenced European court portraiture for the next century, while his polished, sophisticated reli¬ gious and mythological paintings epitomized the Mannerist style of his time (see Mannerism). In 1563 he became a founding member of the Accademia del Disegno.
brooch Ornamental pin with a clasp to attach it to a garment.
Brooches developed from the Greek and Roman fibula, which resembled
"Portrait of a Young Man" (possibly Guidobaldo II, duke of Urbino), oil painting by ll Bronzino; in the Metro¬ politan Museum of Art, New York City.
THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW \ORK CITY, BEQUEST OF MRS. H.O. HAVEMEYER, 1929, THE H.O. HAVEMEYER COLLECTION (29.100.16), COPYRIGHT 1981 BY
a decorative safety pin and was used THE metropolitan museum of art as a fastening for cloaks and tunics.
Brooches have been made in a wide variety of shapes throughout history, the ornamentation and design varying from region to region. In the 19th century, with the expansion of wealth and the creation of a market for inexpensive jewelry, the brooch became a popular form of personal deco¬ ration.
Brook, Sir Peter (Stephen Paul) (b. March 21, 1925, London, Eng.) British director and producer. After directing plays in Stratford- upon-Avon, he became director of the Royal Opera House, Covent Gar¬ den (1947-50). He directed several innovative Shakespearean productions that aroused controversy. Appointed codirector of the Royal Shakespeare Co. in 1962, he directed critically acclaimed productions of King Lear (1962) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1970). He won international fame with his avant-garde direction of Peter Weiss’s play Marat/Sade (1964). His films include Lord of the Flies (1962), King Lear (1969), and the six-hour Mahabharata (1989). In 1970 he cofounded, with Jean-Louis Barrault, the International Centre for Theatre Research.