GIROLAMO, an eminent Italian painter, was born at Acquafredda, near Brescia, in 1528. Under Romano, an imitator of Titian, he studied his art, and became an adept in designing and colouring according to the principles of the Venetian school. But it was not until he had left his native place, and had repaired to Rome about 1550, that he came into notice. There his pictures soon gained for him the surname of Il Giovane de' Paesi ("the young man of the landscapes"). Stimulated by success, he tried the more elevated style of historical painting. He imitated Michael Angelo in giving great prominence to the anatomy of his figures, and became fond of painting persons emaciated by abstinence or disease. His great picture of the "Resurrection of Lazarus" at once established his fame as an historical painter. Michael Angelo praised it, and pronounced its author one of the first artists of that age. It was placed in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, but was afterwards transferred to the Quirinal Palace. Muziano, with dauged perseverance, continued to proceed in the path on which he had so successfully entered. He grew excellent in depicting foreign and military dresses, and in introducing landscapes into his historical pieces after the manner of Titian. Mosaic working also occupied his attention; and from being a crude art of inlaying coloured stones, it became under his hands a perfect imitation of painting. His ability and industry soon gained for him a handsome fortune. Part of this he expended in assisting to found the Academy of St Luke at Rome. He died in 1590, or, according to another authority, in 1592, and was buried in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, where his great masterpiece was placed.

Many of Muziano's works are in the churches and palaces of Rome. There is his group of "Anchors listening to a saint," in the church of the Carthusians; his "Circumcision," in the church of Gesù; his "Ascension," in the church of Ara Coeli; and his "St Francis receiving the Stigmata," in the church of the Conception. A picture by him, representing Christ washing the feet of his disciples, is in the cathedral of Rheims. (Lanzi's Storia Pittorica.)

MYCENÆ or MYCENE, an ancient city of Greece, stood about 7½ miles N.E. from Argos, on a rocky height in a recess of the mountains that border the Argelian plain. Its name is said to have been derived from Mycene, daughter of Inachus, or from the Greek word ἀπέξ. It was founded by Persians; and, according to a favourite legend, its massive walls were reared by the strong hands of the Cyclopes. After the death of Perseus it was ruled in succession by Sthenelus and Eurystheus; then coming into the power of the Pelopidae, it gradually rose into importance until, under the sway of Agamemnon, it became the first city of Greece. But no sooner had that powerful prince died, than Argos began to assume a supremacy over the other towns of the plain. The Mycenaean were soon fain to trust to their strong walls, and to an alliance with Sparta for protection against their aggressive neighbours. At length, in 463 B.C., the Argives, summoning to their aid the inhabitants of Tegea and Cleonae, sat down before Mycenæ. After a blockade, the city was forced to capitulate, and was ever afterwards abandoned to desolation. In the second century A.D., its ruins were visited by Pausanias. They are still very extensive, and are the most ancient in Greece, next to those of Tiryns. The walls of the Acropolis exist, in a greater or less degree of preservation, round almost the entire circuit. They consist in some places of huge misshapen blocks piled up irregularly, and in other places of stones, skilfully hewn and regularly placed. At their N.W. angle is a gate, formed of three long massive stones, surmounted by two enormous lions in bas-relief, and called on that account the Gate of Lions. On the S.W. of the Acropolis the site of the lower town is indicated by the remains of a wall extending from N. to S. In this part of the ruins there are four subterraneous erections in which, according to Pausanias, the treasures of the Atridae were deposited. One of these, called the Treasury of Atreus, consists of two apartments, the outer of which is large, and the inner comparatively small. (Leake's Morea, and Mure's Tour in Greece.)