A ship chandler is a retail dealer who specializes in providing supplies or equipment for ships.
A ship chandler is a retail dealer who specializes in providing supplies or equipment for ships.
Niccolò (or Nicolò) Paganini (/pæɡəˈniːni, pɑːɡə-/; Italian: [ni(k)koˈlɔ ppaɡaˈniːni] ; 27 October 1782 – 27 May 1840) was an Italian violinist and composer. He was the most celebrated violin virtuoso of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique. His 24 Caprices for Solo Violin Op. 1 are among the best known of his compositions and have served as an inspiration for many prominent composers.
Son of a ship chandler from Genoa, Paganini showed great gifts for music from an early age and studied under Alessandro Rolla, Ferdinando Paer and Gasparo Ghiretti. Accompanied by his father, he toured northern Italy extensively as a teenager. By 1805 he had come into the service of Napoleon's sister, Elisa Bonaparte, who then ruled Lucca where Paganini was first violin. From 1809 on he returned to touring and achieved continental fame in the subsequent two and a half decades, developing a reputation for his technical brilliance and showmanship, as well as his extravagant, philandering lifestyle. Paganini ended his concert career in 1834 amid declining health, and the failure of his Paris casino left him in financial ruin. He retired to southern France and died in Nice in 1840 at the age of 57.
The Venetian navy (Venetian: Armada) was the navy of the Venetian Republic which played an important role in the history of the republic and the Mediterranean world. It was the premier navy in the Mediterranean Sea for many centuries between the medieval and early modern periods, providing Venice with control and influence over trade and politics far in excess of the republic's size and population. It was one of the first navies to mount gunpowder weapons aboard ships, and through an organised system of naval dockyards, armouries and chandlers was able to continually keep ships at sea and rapidly replace losses. The Venetian Arsenal was one of the greatest concentrations of industrial capacity prior to the Industrial Revolution and responsible for the bulk of the republic's naval power.
Driven at first by a rivalry with the Byzantine Empire, and later the maritime republics of Pisa and Genoa for primacy over trade with the Levant, the Venetian navy was at times technically innovative and yet operationally conservative. With the final fall of Constantinople it played a key role in checking the maritime advance of the Ottoman Empire for over three centuries. The navy's long decline mirrored that of the republic, beginning in the 16th century and ending with the capitulation of the city to Napoleon in 1797.