DUSE

Eleonora, Italian actre , born at Vigevano, near Venice, in 1859. At the age of thirteen she made her first appearance on the stage, and in 1883 she acted at Rome, when she was recognized as one of the greatest Italian, and even one of the greatest living actre es. From that time her career was one of uninterrupted succe , and she gained a world-wide reputation. Duse is one of the dramatic artists who discards the customary mannerisms of the stage, and all that is conventional but unreal in modern acting. Some of da’ Annunzio’s best plays were specially written for her. Among her most remarkable impersonations are those of Francesca da Rimini, Marguerite Gautier in La Dame aux Camélias, Magda, La Tosca, Paula in The Second Mrs. Tanqueray, and Nora in Ibsen’s 4 Doll’s House. She appeared for the first time in London in 1897. She died in 1924, DUSSELDORF (dus’sel-dorf), a town of Germany, in the Rhine province, beautifully situated among villas and gardens on the right bank of the Rhine, 22 miles N.N.w. of Cologne, one of the handsomest towns in the valley of the Rhine. It is a great focus of railway and steamboat communication, and has a number of handsome public buildings, and several remarkable churches. Among the public institutions particular notice is due to the Academy of Art, founded in 1767, by the Elector Theodore, and afterwards directed by Cornel i us, Schadow, and Bendemann. It has the honour of having founded a school of painting, which takes the name of Dii eldorf, and has had a large number of distinguished pupils. The industries embrace iron, machinery, railway plant, cotton, leather, chemicals, and beer, and the trade is large. Pop. 464,543.