I
Public or private aid to people in economic need because of natural disasters, wars, economic upheaval, chronic unemployment, or other conditions that prevent self-sufficiency.
A distinction may be drawn between relief targeting upheavals and natural disasters and relief of chronic social conditions, now usually referred to as welfare . In 17th-century China the government maintained ever-normal granaries for use in the event of famine. Through the 19th century, disaster relief in Europe consisted largely of emergency grants of food, clothing, and medical care through hastily organized local committees. In the 20th century, disaster relief became one of the chief activities of the International Red Cross and other international agencies. Assistance to the needy from public funds has traditionally been strictly limited; in England, the Poor Law Reform Act of 1834 required people able to work to enter a workhouse in order to receive public assistance. The U.S. government responded to the Great Depression with the New Deal , which emphasized work relief programs such as the
II
or rilievo
(from Italian, rilievare : "to raise") In sculpture, any work in which the figures project from a supporting background, usually a plane surface.
Bas-reliefs ("low reliefs"), in which the design projects only slightly, were common on the walls of stone buildings in ancient Egypt, Assyria, and elsewhere in the Middle East. High reliefs, in which the forms project at least half or more of their natural circumference, were first employed by the ancient Greeks. Italian Renaissance sculptors combined high and low relief in strikingly illusionistic compositions, as in Lorenzo Ghiberti 's bronze doors in Florence. Baroque sculptors continued these experiments, often on a larger scale (e.g., Alessandro Algardi 's Meeting of Attila and Pope Leo , 1646–53). The dramatic possibilities of the Renaissance concept of relief were later notably employed by François Rude ( The Marseillaise , 1833–36) and Auguste Rodin ( The Gates of Hell ).
Athena mourning, mezzo-relievo from the Acropolis, 5th century BC, in the Acropolis Museum, Athens
Alinari--Art Resource/EB Inc.
III
[c mediumvioletred] (as used in expressions)
bas relief
low relief
relief printing
United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration
{{link=Office of the United Nations Disaster Relief Coordinator">Office of the United Nations Disaster Relief Coordinator