The Declaration of Independence was made in 1776 by the 13 English colonies in North America breaking away from all allegiance to the British Crown. The Declaration was mainly the work of Thomas Jefferson. Already in December 1775 the Congress had declared itself independent of the English parliament and by this declaration had repudiated allegiance to the Crown.
Absolute separation from Great Britain was not at first contemplated by the colonies. New England favoured it, but the Southern States were opposed. The transfer of the war to the southward in May and June, 1776, brought them to this view. The North Carolina Convention took the first step toward independence by a resolution 'to concur with those in the other colonies in declaring independence', April 22, 1776. Virginia, May 17, 1776, prepared the title of the document by directing her Representatives to propose in Congress a 'Declaration of Independence'. Such a resolution was offered by Richard Henry Lee on June the 7th, 1776. This resolution was adopted on July the 2nd. Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert R Livingston were the committee appointed to draft the Declaration. The draft was formulated almost entirely by Jefferson. Before July the 1st, Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey had instructed their delegates to vote against the Declaration. This instruction was rescinded, South Carolina came over to the majority, and Delaware's vote, at first divided, was in the affirmative. The Declaration was, therefore, adopted by the unanimous vote of twelve States, New York alone not voting, on July the 4th, 1776. The New York Convention afterward ratified the Declaration. The engrossed copy was signed on August the 2nd. The Declaration sets forth the rights of man and of the colonists, enumerates their grievances against the British Government, and declares 'that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States'.
Genre painting is a type of painting concerned with the realistic depiction of scenes from everyday life. Originally the term was applied to all paintings that were factual representations of nature (animals, fruit, and landscapes), as well as scenes of ordinary life, rather than to works of imagination, such as religious and historical paintings. Genre paintings deal with ordinary life, including family life, sports, street scenes, picnics, festivals, and tavern scenes. They are usually characterised by human interest and by the care and finish with which they are executed.
Genre painting originated in ancient times. Many of the scenes painted on the walls of Egyptian tombs represent the daily life of the people of ancient Egypt. Excavations in the ancient cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum have revealed many genre paintings, both conventional and erotic. In the late Middle Ages genre painting reappeared, represented chiefly in the religious calendars that formed part of the illuminations, or illustrations, of manuscript books; the calendars show people going about the occupations appropriate to each season of the year.
In Italy during the early Renaissance, many of the religious and historical pictures of such painters as the 15th-century Florentines Ghirlandaio and Benozzo Gozzoli and the later Venetians Giorgione and the Bassano family are considered genre paintings because of their contemporaneous backgrounds and costumes as well as their use of people of the times as models. In 17th- century Italy, Mannerist painters such as Caravaggio executed genre paintings of extreme realism and dramatic power. In the 15th century the Flemish painter Petrus Christus in some of his religious paintings represented scenes from ordinary life, and in the following two centuries genre painting rose to its highest level in history with the work of the Flemish artists Pieter Brueghel the Elder, David Teniers, and Adriaen Brouwer. The greatest national school of genre painting was that of the Netherlands in the 17th century. Probably never before or after was the ordinary life of a nation depicted so fully as was the Dutch life of this period. Not only the great masters but also the less outstanding Dutch painters excelled in it.
The most important of the Dutch genre painters were the so-called little masters, including Gerard Ter Borch, Jan Steen, Gabriel Metsu, Pieter de Hooch, Gerard Dou, and Adrian Van Ostade. The three leading 17th-century Dutch masters, Rembrandt, Frans Hals, and Jan Vermeer, also created genre paintings of unrivalled beauty. French genre painting showed a vital development in the work of Antoine Watteau, Nicolas Lancret, Jean Baptiste Chardin, and Jean Honore Fragonard. One of the most noted English genre painters was the great satirist William Hogarth. In the 19th century, genre painting was widely practised in both Europe and the USA Among the outstanding European painters in this style were the French painters Jean Leon Gerome and Jean Meissonier, the English painter William Powell Frith, and the American painter William Sidney Mount, known as the 'JanSteen of Long Island.' Among the many 19th- and 20th- century American painters whose work included genre painting were Robert Henri, John Sloan, George Wesley Bellows, George B Luks, Charles E Burchfield, Reginald Marsh, Grant Wood, and Thomas Hart Benton. Research Genre Painting
The white hart is a popular British pub sign, showing a white hart wearing a gold chain. The symbol was the badge of Richard II adopted from his mother, and was adopted by his courtiers and adherents. In nature, a white hart is a white stag. In Britain the native deer is the Red Deer, and the term white hart properly applies to a very rare white red deerstag, however the name is also given to any white stag over about five years of age. White deer are very rare in any popular deer species. Research White Hart
Hart is the name given to a male deer (a stag) of five or six years or older. The term is also applied to the stag of the red deer species (Cervus elaphus). The very rare white hart was a mystical beast in ancient British Celtic tradition, and was adopted as the badge or emblem of king Richard II. Research Hart
Gawin Douglas was a Scottish poet. He was born in 1474 at Brechin and died in 1522 of the plague. He was the son of Archibald Douglas, earl of Angus and received a liberal education, commenced at home and completed at the University of Paris. On returning to Scotland he took orders in the church, and ultimately became Bishop of Dunkeld. He translated Virgil's AEneid into verse with much spirit and elegance, prefixing original prologues to the different books of the original. This was the first poetical translation into English of any classical author. It was written about 1512, and first published in 1553. He also wrote The Palace of Honour and King Hart, both allegorical poems. Research Gawin Douglas
John Tawell was a British murderer and the first criminal traced by the use of telegraph. He was executed by hanging in 1845 for the murder of Sarah Hart at Slough. In his defence he argued that Sarah had died of eating applepips containing prussic acid, however the court ruled that he he had deliberately poisoned her with prussic acid. After his arrest John Tawell escaped to London where he was intercepted at Paddington as a result of the first use of telegraph used for tracking a wanted criminal, a telegram having been sent from Slough. Research John Tawell
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