Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/277

 GROOT ,

died there in 1778. He published BibliotJieca Regni Animalis (4to, 1740), Museum Ichthyo- logicum (2 vols. fol., l754-'6), and Zoophyla- GROQT, Gerhard, or Gerard the Great, founder the congregation of "Brethren and Clerks of the Common Life," born in Deventer, Hol- land, in 1340, died Aug. 20, 1384. He studied in Paris, graduated master of arts at the age of 18, and taught philosophy and theology at Co- logne, where his eloquence and learning gained him the surname of Magnus. Although not in priestly orders, he held several rich benefices, besides a considerable patrimony, and lived in great luxury until an interview with the prior of a Carthusian monastery at Geldern induced him to enter the religious state. He renounced his benefices, and after three years was or- dained deacon, refusing higher advancement. He now passed through the principal cities of the diocese of Utrecht, preaching with extra- ordinary effect to immense audiences, and rking reforms no less among the clergy than ng the laity. He assailed scholastic theol- , taught that the reading of the Scriptures and of the writings of the fathers should be one of the chief occupations of a Christian, and translated the Psalms and the church office into Dutch. Having collected some of the best manuscript copies of the Bible and the fathers, he established in his own house at Deventer a society whose principal employment was the transcribing of these books. He gave them a rule of life, prescribed community of goods, and placed over them Florent Radewyn, pro- fessor in the university of Prague, a rich man who had been converted by Gerhard's preach- ing. The "Brethren and Clerks of the Com- mon Life," as the associates were called, be- came immensely popular. In a short time they counted 100 communities, among which there were some of women. They encountered great opposition from the mendicant orders, who sought to identify them with the Beguins, and Iso from the "Brethren of the Free Spirit;" it Gerhard defended himself with great skill, d obtained the formal sanction of Gregory '. in 1376. During a visit to Ruysbroek he ved to give to his order the rule of the ons regular, and shortly afterward on his deathbed recommended this change to Ra- dewyn. The first monastery of canons regular was established in 1386 at Windesheim near Zwolle, and the order, thenceforward bearing the name of Windesheim, numbered in 1460 upward of 150 monasteries. The corrected text of the Bible published at Windesheim, from collated manuscripts of the version of St. Jerome, was approved by the popes and used as a chief authority in the edition of Sixtus V. The school of Deventer belonging to this order produced Thomas a Kempis, the reputed author of the " Imitation of Christ." GROS, Antoine Jean, baron, a French painter, born in Paris, March 16, 1771, died about June 25, 1835. He was educated in the school of GROSBEAK 263 David. " Bonaparte on the Bridge of Arcole," painted in 1801, first brought him into notice ; but the "Plague at Jaffa," with Napoleon vis- iting the sick, exhibited in 1804, excited an ex- traordinary enthusiasm. The artist was placed at the head of living painters, and his picture was crowned with wreaths of palm. Gros next painted in rapid succession, and in a simi- lar manner, immense pictures of the "Battle of Aboukir," the "Battle of the Pyramids," " Napoleon ' visiting the Field of Eylau after the Battle," the "Battle of Wagram," and other subjects suggested by events of the first empire. In France his chief work is con- sidered to be the cupola of Ste. Genevieve at Paris, begun in 1811, exhibiting the saint pro- tecting the throne of France, represented by Clovis, Charlemagne, St. Louis, and Louis XVIII. The picture covers an immense space, and is correct in design, but defective in color and expression. The artist received for it 150,000 francs, and the title of baron. To- ward the close of his life his style deteriorated so greatly that his pictures were very severely criticised. He made a last attempt to compete with the new romantic school in his " Hercules and Diomecles;" failing in which, he closed his studio, exclaiming "that he knew no misfor- tune greater than to survive oneself." Soon after his body was found in the Seine near Meudon. It was supposed that he drowned himself in a fit of temporary insanity. GROS, Jean Baptiste Louis, baron, a French diplomatist, born at Ivry-sur-Seine, Feb. 8, 1793. He entered the diplomatic service in 1823, was made a baron in 1829, and became secretary of legation in Mexico, and in 1834 charge d'affaires at Bogota. Afterward em- ployed in various missions in South America, he distinguished himself by his tact in the set- tlement of the complications with the La Plata states. In 1849 he went to London to recon- cile the English cabinet with the French ex- pedition to Rome. The delicate question in respect to the Franco-Spanish boundary, which had been in abeyance for several centuries, was satisfactorily settled by him, after protracted negotiations at the convention of Bayonne, Dec. 2, 1856. In 1857 he was appointed am- bassador extraordinary to China, where he cooperated with Lord Elgin during the capture of Canton and in the government of that city. He signed a treaty of peace with China at Tien- tsin in June, 1858, and on Nov. 6 a treaty of commerce and amity with Japan. He partici- pated in the final operations of the French and English expedition on the Pei-ho against China in August, 1860, and in the conclusion of an- other treaty of peace (Oct. 25). In November, 1862, he became ambassador in London, but retired from the service in October, 1863. GROSBEAK, the name of many conirostral birds of the finch family, and subfamily coc- cothraustincB and spizince, or hawfinches, found in all parts of the world. One of the hand- somest of the American species is the pine gros-
 * ' im Gronomanum (fol., 1763-'81).