fiddle
The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
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2006
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© The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable 2006, originally published by Oxford University Press 2006. (Hide copyright information)
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fiddle as fit as a fiddle in very good health. The phrase (with the related
fine as a fiddle) is recorded from the early 17th century, and probably derives from the emphasis given by alliteration (compare the archaic
fine as fivepence).
fiddle while Rome burns be concerned with relatively trivial matters while ignoring the serious or disastrous events going on around one; the original reference is to the behaviour of the emperor Nero, who according to Suetonius sang the whole of ‘The Sack of Ilium’ in his preferred stage costume to celebrate the beauty of the flames as Rome burned.
The first use of
fiddle in this allusion is found in George Daniel's
Trinarchodia (1649).
play second fiddle have a subordinate role to someone or something; be treated as less important than someone or something.
see also
there's many a good tune played on an old fiddle.
Cite this article
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Padua's Splendid Array of Bronze
Newspaper article from: International Herald Tribune; 6/9/2001; ; 700+ words
; ...humanist scholar.Just as Bellano had completed Donatello's outstanding commissions, so in turn did his pupil, Andrea Briosco, known as ''il Riccio,'' bring the Roccabellona tomb to its conclusion after Bellano's death. Bellano an
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 "The Mail on Sunday (London, England)")
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A [pounds sterling]150,000 gift that goes to the head; COLLECTING.
Newspaper article from: The Mail on Sunday (London, England); 12/8/2002; ; 700+ words
; ...5 million - Sotheby's European sculpture and works of art sale includes a Renaissance terracotta masterpiece, Andrea Briosco's Virgin and Child. But perhaps some of the oddest objects coming up for sale before Christmas are 14 paintings...
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ARTS GUIDE
Newspaper article from: International Herald Tribune; 6/15/2001; ; 700+ words
; ...century. The exhibition brings together bronze work by Donatello and such contemporaries as Bartolomeo Bellano, Andrea Briosco and Vittore Camelio. www.padovanet.it/padovacult/donatello-japanTokyo-Hara Museum, tel: (3) 3445...
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 "Irish Independent (Dublin, Republic of Ireland)")
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Beit that! Sale of bronzes copperfastens an Irish gem.(NEWS)
Magazine article from: Irish Independent (Dublin, Republic of Ireland); 12/8/2006; 700+ words
; ...Golden Age collectors." The bronze figure of a gladiator by one of the leading sculptors of the Renaissance, Andrea del Briosco, called Riccio (1470-1532), sold for a record EU1,086,336. A contemporary of Michelangelo, Leonardo...
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Works from the meeting point of Gothic and Renaissance
Newspaper article from: International Herald Tribune; 10/4/2008; ; 700+ words
; ...the Passion for the Antique: Andrea Riccio and his Time," at...exhibition until Feb. 15.) Andrea Riccio was born in Trent in...Ambrogio di Cristoforo di Briosco, was an itinerant goldsmith...Curly") was the nickname Andrea acquired on account of his...
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Andrea Briosco
Book article from: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition
Andrea Briosco , 1470?-1532, Italian architect and sculptor, known also as Andrea Riccio [curly-headed], b. Padua. As an architect, he created models for the church of Santa Giustina and for a chapel in Sant' Antonio in Padua. His...
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Andrea Riccio
Book article from: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition
Andrea Riccio see Briosco, Andrea .
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Riccio, Il
Book article from: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists
Riccio, Il ( Andrea Briosco ) (1470–1532). Italian sculptor, born at Trento, and active in and around Padua; his nickname means ‘...
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