History Scoop

Young Renoir, c.1875 by unknown Pierre Auguste RENOIR (25 Feb 1841 – 3 Dec 1919, aged 78). Renoir was a French painter born in Limoges, France, on February 25th, 1841. He was one of the leading artists of the Impressionist movement and is known for his vivid depictions of Parisian life and landscapes. Renoir began his artistic training at the age of thirteen, working as an apprentice in a porcelain factory, where he learned to paint and decorate ceramics. In 1862, he began studying at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris but left after a year to pursue his own style of painting. In 1869, Renoir exhibited at the Salon des Refusés, an alternative art exhibition in Paris, and began to gain recognition for his work. He became close friends with other prominent artists of the time, including Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Edgar Degas. Renoir's paintings are characterized by their bright colors and loose brushwork, which gave his subjects a sense of movement and vitality. His famous wo...

  Olive Oatman, 1857 A native of Illinois, OLIVE ANN OATMAN (September 7, 1837 – March 21, 1903, age 65) is well known for having been held captive by Native Americans. Her family was attacked by a small group of Native Americans in 1851 while migrating from Illinois to California with a company of Mormon Brewsterites. The attackers were most likely Tolkepayas. Numerous people were killed by clubs, her brother Lorenzo was left for dead, and Olive (age 14) and Mary Ann (age 7) were held captive for a year before being sold to the Mohave tribe. Mary Ann passed away from malnutrition, and Olive spent another four years living with the Mohave, all the while Lorenzo made arduous attempts to enlist government assistance in the search for them. She was integrated back into American culture five years after the attack. As well as in her own memoir and lectures, the Oatman Massacre myth started to be embellished in the press. It spawned books, plays, films, and poems that had an impact on t...

Lafayette, as a Lieutenant General, 1791 by Joseph-Désiré Court (1834) MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE, Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch GILBERT DU MOTIER, Marquis de La Fayette (6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834, aged 76), known in the United States as 'Lafayette', was a French aristocrat and military officer who fought in the American Revolutionary War, commanding American troops in several battles, including the siege of Yorktown. In 1777, aged 19, he cruised to America, masquerading as a woman, even after he was threatened by the British government and was told that his ship will be seized and he would be imprisoned if he disobeys the orders. He was against slave trade and believed in emancipation and liberation of all human beings, which was the issue that he addressed with the House of Delegates in the United States, for which he received much admiration. Lafayette, made important contributions to the success of the Revolutionary War, including his role as a strategist for the Yorktown camp...

Francoise Marie de Bourbon, Portrait painting by François de Troy, 1692 FRANÇOISE MARIE DE BOURBON, Duchess of Orléans, Granddaughter of France by marriage (4 May 1677 – 1 February 1749, aged 71) was the youngest illegitimate daughter of Louis XIV of France and his chief royal mistress, Marquise de Montespan. Also known as 'Mademoiselle de Blois'. At the age of 14, she was wed to her first cousin Philippe d'Orléans, future Regent of France during the minority of Louis XV. She was famed for her arrogance and belief that she was above most other people. Proud, lazy and attractive, she successfully intrigued to have her daughters marry well. Through two of her eight children she became the ancestress of several of Europe's Roman Catholic monarchs of the 19th and 20th centuries, notably those of Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and France. Françoise wielded little political influence considering her near relationships to France's rulers during most of her life. She was ...