Eiffel: Tower

Gustave Eiffel was born on December 15, 1832, in Dijon, France. He died on December 27, 1923, at the age of 91.

As a child Eiffel was smart but lazy. Slowly his habits of study improved. His family had a lot of money. In the end, he was able to go to a famous, important, but hard university in Paris called Central School (École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures). He graduated with a master’s degree in science in 1855. He then went to work leading others in building railway bridges.

Camus: The Plague

Albert Camus was born on November 7, 1913 in Mondovi, French Algeria (now Dréan, Algeria). His father died ten months later in one of the early battles of World War I. Camus and his mother then moved to a poor area of Algiers. He developed tuberculosis when he was 17.

Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake (1876)

Peter Tchaikovsky remains Russia’s greatest composer. He was born on May 7, 1840 and died on November 6, 1893 at the age of 53.

Music written by Tchaikovsky was first played at a public concert in September 1865. Ten years later he started to write music for a ballet called Swan Lake.

David: Bernini (1624)

Gian Lorenzo Bernini was born in Naples on December 7, 1598. He died in Rome on November 28, 1680. He finished his first important sculpture in 1615 at the very young age of 16.

Bernini started his sculpture of David in 1623. He finished it a year later. One hundred twenty years earlier, Michelangelo had finished his sculpture of David.

David: Caravaggio (1599, 1607, 1610)

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was born on September 29, 1571 in Milan. The first painting we have of his was completed in 1592. The last was painted in 1610. He died, in Tuscany on his way back to Rome, on July 18, 1610 at the age of 38.

He painted David and Goliath three times. The first time was in 1599. We may see this painting now in the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain.

David: Michelangelo (1504)

Over 3,000 years ago, a small teenager named David won a fight against a big man named Goliath. Ever since then, David’s victory has been celebrated in stories, paintings, and sculptures.

Michelangelo (1475-1564) was one person who celebrated David’s victory in sculpture. He worked on a statue of David between 1501 and 1504. He made a statue of David, but it is 17 feet (over 5 meters) tall: 8 feet taller than the original Goliath.

David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17)

The story of David and Goliath is found in the Bible, in a book called 1 Samuel, in chapter 17 of that book.

Over 3,000 years ago, the people of Israel and the people of Philistia were fighting each other. At one time, the army of Israel camped on one side of a valley and the army of Philistia camped on the other.

The Philistine army had a great hero named Goliath. He was a huge man: 9 feet (3 m) tall. Each day Goliath would walk into the valley. Then he would tell the Israelites to send out their great hero to fight him. If their great hero won the fight, then the Philistines would serve the Israelites. But if he, Goliath, won the fight, then the Israelites would serve the Philistines.