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RIVIERA

1618

ROBBIA

Herod and Mariamne, According to St. John, Barbara Dering, Athelwold, Tanis and a number of magazine articles. In 1896, after being divorced from J. A. Chanler, her first husband, she married a Russian prince.

Riviera (re've-a'ra), ("seashore"), the narrow strip of coastland bordering the Gulf of Genoa. West of Genoa it is called Riviera di Ponente or the western coast and beyond Genoa Riviera di Levante or the eastern coast. The western section is the more frequented section, as it abounds in the most striking and beautiful scenery and has numerous health and fashion resorts.

Roads. Great roads must have been built by all ancient nations; but the oldest roads of which parts still remain are those of the Romans, who built them of huge, deep, stone blocks and concrete. The modern plan of broken-stone roads is, however, far superior. It takes its name from the Scottish engineer Macadam (q. v.). At the same time with Macadam (about the beginning of the igth century) Telford, another Scottish engineer, adopted a similar plan; but used a base of stone set on edge, which is unnecessary, and had been long used in France. In macadamized roads a foundation of stone-blocks about six inches deep is surmounted by broken stone and covered with a thin layer of clay or other building material. Owin<* to the greater distances to be traversed, roads in the United States are very backward as compared with those of Europe. Roads at first were chiefly in the hands of turnpike companies who charged toll to passengers; but they are now locally constructed by the states and townships, a rate being levied on the property-holders who obtain the chief benefit. The repairing of roads is a source of great expense; it is best done by constant work of gangs of road-repairers who patch roads wherever needed. Each road has to be constructed with reference to shortness, ease of grade, hard and smooth surface and thorough drainage. The introduction of automobiles has created a loud call for "good roads" and increased attention is now given to road-improvement.

Roanoke (rd'd-ndkr), a river of Virginia and North Carolina, formed by the junction of the Dan and Staunton Rivers, a mile above Clarksville, Va., flows southeast through North Carolina and empties into Albemarle Sound. Its length is a little over 200 miles, and it is navigable for steamboats from its mouth to Weldon, a distance of 130 miles.

Roanoke, Va., a city on Roanoke River, 257 miles west of Norfolk, at the junction of the Shenandoah-Valley division and the mam line of the Norfolk and Western Railway. In 1881 it contained only 600 inhabitants, while the population by census of 1910 was 34,874, making it the third city in size in, the state. The Norfolk and Western general offices and immense repair-shops are here,

as well as extensive bridge-works, iron-furnaces and other manufacturing establishments. It also is a distributing point for wholesale houses of various descriptions, and is the gateway to the great coal-fields and timber-districts of Virginia and West Virginia. It is the junction-point for several divisions of the Norfolk and Western Railway, and is the only city of importance which is touched by the new Virginian railway, extending from Kanawha River to Chesapeake Bay.

Robbia, Luca del la (lod'kd del'yd rob'bed) born in Florence about 1400, was the first and greatest of the Robbias who flourished in Italy for nearly a century. Luca is most popularly known as the inventor of enamelled, colored terra-cotta rather than as a great sculptor only slightly inferior to Dona-tello and Ghiberti. The glazing of terracotta was an ancient art and had never fallen into disuse; but, while its use in architectural decoration was old, Luca was the first to apply it to sculpture in independent monumental form. It probably was his desire for color which prompted his investigations; and he was successful in finding a coating by which color was made durable as stone. Luca strove to obtain the effect of old polished marble or ivory; and it is said that for many years the secret of the process and immense technical knowledge and skill were closely kept in the Robbia family, and handed down as a legacy from generation to generation. Luca's work may be distinguished not only by its conception but by the soft creamy white of the figures, even opaque but luminous blue of his backgrounds and the careful fitting together of the sections. Luca's private life was uneventful. He was trained by a goldsmith, but soon asserted his preference for working in bronze and marble. He was intensely devoted to art and seems to have had few other interests except that the Cantoria and other works show a great knowledge of and feeling for music. He never married, but devoted his later years to the education of his nephews, of whom Andrea was the favorite.

At 30 Florence gave him the order for the most important work, his masterpiece, the marble Cantoria or singing-gallery executed for Santa Maria del Fiore. the Cathedral of Florence. There are ten marble reliefs representing youths and children and symbolizing music. It is a triumph of poetic conception, composition, science and skill. His best relief in glazed terra cotta is his Resurrection designed to fill the tympanum of the door of the Sagrestia Nuova beneath his own Cantoria. Luca's famous bronze doors are as great as his greatest sculptures. They are massive and severe, and retain in the design the character of strength and resisting power belonging to the purpose of the doors. His ^madonnas are lovely conceptions, and he is probably best known and