Ginsburg, Ruth Bader orig. Ruth Joan Bader (b. March 15, 1933, Brooldyn, N.Y., N.Y., U.S.) U.S. jurist. Although she graduated at the top of her class at Columbia Law School (1959), she was turned down for numerous jobs because of her gender. From 1972 to 1980 she taught at Columbia, where she became the first tenured female professor. As director of the Women’s Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union, she argued six landmark cases on gender equality before the Supreme Court of the United States. In 1980 she was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals, and in 1993 she was appointed by Pres. Bill Clinton to the Supreme Court as only its second female justice. A member of the court’s minority moderate-liberal bloc, she favoured caution, moderation, and restraint.
ginseng \'jin-'seq\ Either of two herbs of the family Araliaceae or their roots, which have long been used as a drug in East Asia and as the ingre¬ dient for a stimulating tea. Panax quinquefolium, the North American ginseng, is native from Quebec and Manitoba southward to the coasts of the Gulf of Mexico. Asian ginseng ( P. schinseng ) is native to Manchuria and Korea and is cultivated in Korea and Japan. Ginseng has a sweetly aromatic flavour. Its root has long been regarded by the Chinese as a panacea for illness; its purported effects include improved mental perfor¬ mance, ability to learn, and memory and sensory awareness.
Gioberti \jo-'ber-te\, Vincenzo (b. April 5, 1801, Turin, Piedmont—d. Nov. 26, 1852, Paris, France) Italian philosopher and politician whose writings helped bring about the unification of the Italian states. Ordained a priest (1825), he became court chaplain of Sardinia (1831), but was briefly imprisoned (1833) for involvement in a republican plot. He exiled himself to Paris and Brussels, where he published works advocating a united Italy headed by the pope. He returned to Italy in 1847 and became premier of Sardinia-Piedmont (1848-49). His philosophy centered on his concept of being and is termed “ontologism.”
Giolitti \jo-'let-te\/ Giovanni (b. Oct. 22, 1842, Mondovi, Piedmont, Kingdom of Sardinia—d. July 17, 1928, Cavour, Italy) Italian politician and prime minister five times between 1892 and 1921. He served in par¬ liament (1882-1928). As a political leader, he used the technique later called giolittisma, which emphasized personal deals rather than party loy¬ alty, as well as electoral corruption. As prime minister (1892-93), he instituted reforms but became enveloped in a bank scandal; he cleared himself but greatly damaged his successor, Francesco Crispi. As minister of the interior (1901-03) and prime minister (1903-05, 1906-09), he was both praised and criticized for his calm attitude toward widespread strikes. In his fourth ministry (1911-14) he oversaw the Italo-Turkish War, then opposed Italy’s entrance into World War I. In his final term as premier (1920-21), he undertook Italy’s reconstruction. He tolerated the early Fascists but in 1924 withdrew his support.
Giordano \jor-'da-no\, Luca (b. Oct. 18, 1632, Naples—d. Jan. 3, 1705, Naples) Italian painter active in Naples. He was inspired by the work of Jose de Ribera and (after extensive travel in Florence, Rome, and Venice) that of Paolo Veronese and Pietro da Cortona, whose influence is most evident in his huge ceiling fresco in the gallery of the Medici- Riccardi Palace (1682-85/86), Florence. In 1692 he went to Spain as court painter to Charles II; his frescoes in El Escorial are considered his best works of the period. In 1702 he returned to Naples, where he completed his last great work, the ceiling of the Treasury Chapel of the Certosa di
San Martino (1704). His oil and fresco output was enormous, and his sub¬ ject matter ranged from religious to mythological themes; his nickname was Luca fa presto (“Luca, work quickly”). Many of his frescoes in Naples were destroyed or damaged in World War II.
Giorgione \jor-'j6-ne\ or Giorgio da Castelfranco orig. Gior¬ gio Barbarelli (b. c. 1477, Castelfranco Veneto, Republic of Venice—d. 1510, Venice) Italian painter active in Venice. Nothing is known of his early life. The technique, colour, and mood of his pictures suggest that he studied with Giovanni Bellini in Venice in the 1490s. His major public commission was the execution of frescoes on the exterior of the German Exchange, now known only through engravings and ruined fragments. Of the few paintings attributed to Giorgione, two were com¬ pleted by other artists after his death, one by Titian. Though almost every aspect of his work is debated, including the attribution, dating, and inter¬ pretation of paintings associated with him, it is clear that he was a pio¬ neer in the technique of oil painting on canvas and a master of creating mood and mystery, as epitomized in The Tempest (c. 1505), a milestone in Renaissance landscape painting. He had far-reaching influence on por¬ traiture; many early 16th-century artists imitated his style. See also Vene¬ tian SCHOOL.
Giotto Vj6t-to\ (di Bondone) (b. 1266-67/1276, Vespignano, near Florence—d. Jan. 8, 1337, Florence) First of the great Italian painters, active in Florence. He decorated chapels and churches in Assisi, Rome, Padua, Florence, and Naples with frescoes and panel paintings. Because little of his life and few of his works are documented, attributions and a stylistic chronology of his paintings remain problematic and often highly speculative. His works in Rome include the heavily restored mosaic of Christ Walking on the Water over the entrance to St. Peter’s Basilica, and an altarpiece from St. Peter’s, now in the Vatican Museum. In Padua, his fresco of the Last Judgment decorates the western wall of the Arena Chapel, and the rest of the chapel is covered with his narrative frescoes featuring scenes from the lives of the Virgin Mary and Christ. Later in his career he executed frescoes in four chapels in the church of Santa Croce in Florence, two of which survive. In 1334 he was appointed sur¬ veyor of Florence Cathedral; his design for the campanile was altered after his death. The most important extant panel painting attributed to him is The Madonna in Glory (c. 1305-10). He achieved great fame in his life¬ time, and he is considered the father of European painting for breaking with the impersonal stylizations of Byzantine art and introducing new ideals of naturalism and humanity, three-dimensional space, and three- dimensional form. The course of Italian painting was dominated by his students and followers. His work points to the innovations of the Renais¬ sance style that developed a century later.
Lamentation, fresco by Giotto, c. 1305-06; in the Arena Chapel, Padua, Italy.
SCALA/ART RESOURCE
Giovanni da Bologna See Giambologna
Giovanni di Paolo \j6-'van-ne-de-'pau-lo\ (di Grazia) (b. c. 1403, Siena, Republic of Siena—d. 1482, Siena) Italian painter active in Siena. A prolific artist, he produced his most characteristic works from the 1440s,
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Gippsland ► Gish I 765
notably the monumental altarpiece The Presentation of Christ in the Temple (1447-49), 12 scenes from the life of St. John the Baptist, and a Madonna (1463) altarpiece in Pienza Cathedral. He also painted count¬ less other religious panels. His tormented spirituality and expressionistic style were little appreciated until his reputation was revived in the 20th century.
Gippsland Vgips-,land\ Region, southeastern Victoria, Australia. It extends northwest from Western Port (near Melbourne) to the New South Wales border and south from the Eastern Highlands to the coast; it has an area of 13,600 sq mi (35,200 sq km). Fertile and well watered, Gippsland is the focus of the state’s dairy industry, while its petroleum and natural gas are tapped from offshore wells in the Bass Strait. Tourism is also important in the southeastern area, which has coastal resorts and the Lakes National Park. The first settlers were attracted by gold finds in the 1850s; farmers arrived after the completion of a rail line from Mel¬ bourne in 1887.