Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/148

Rh 132 V E G Y E L VEGETABLE MARROW. See GOURD and HORTI CULTURE, vol. xii. p. 283. VEGETIUS, FLAVIUS RENATUS, the compiler of a treatise on the art of war, dedicated to Valentinian II. (375-392). Nothing is known of his life save that in MSS. he is called vir illustris and also comes. His sources, according to his own statement, were Cato, Cornelius Cel- sus, Frontinus, Paternus, and the imperial constitutions of Augustus, Trajan, and Hadrian. The book, which is a poor compilation, has to be used with great caution. The first edition appeared at Utrecht in 1473; the latest is that of Lang (Leipsic, 1869). The book has been often translated ; an English version through the French was published by Caxton in 1489. VEGLIA (Slavonic, Krk an island in the Gulf of Quarnero, Adriatic Sea, belonging to the Austrian district of Istria, is separated from the mainland by the narrow channel of Morlacca or Maltempo and from the island of Cherso on the south-west by that of Mezzo. It is 24 miles long and about 14 miles across at its widest part. The surface is mostly rugged and mountainous ; but the central, southern, and western districts are fertile, produc ing wine, grain, oil, timber, and various kinds of fruit, besides pasturage for numerous live-stock. Silk, marble, and salt are also produced ; and fishing is carried on along the coast. In 1880 the island contained 18,089 inhabit ants; the capital is Veglia, a town on the south-west side, with 1580 inhabitants and a good harbour. VEHMIC COURTS. See FEHMIC COURTS. VEIL See ETRURIA, vol. viii. p. 634. VELAZQUEZ, DIEGO DE SILVA (1599-1660), the head of the Spanish school of painting and one of the mightiest painters the world has known, was born in Seville early in June 1599, the year in which Van Dyck also first saw the light at Antwerp. His European fame is of comparatively recent origin, dating from the first quarter of the 19th century. Till then his pictures had lain immured in the palaces and museum of Madrid ; and from want of popular appreciation they had to a large extent escaped the rapacity of the French marshals during the Peninsular War. In 1828 Sir David Wilkie 1 wrote from Madrid that he felt himself in the presence of a new power in art as he looked at the works of Velazquez, and at the same time found a wonderful affinity between this master and the English school of portrait painters, being specially reminded of the firm square touch of Raeburn. He was struck by the sense of modernness of impression, of direct contact with nature, and of vital force which pervaded all the work of Velazquez, in landscape as well as in portraiture. Time and criticism have now fully established his reputation as one of the most consummate of painters, and accordingly Mr Ruskin says of him that &quot; everything Velazquez does may be taken as absolutely right by the student.&quot; At the present day his marvellous technique and strong in dividuality have given him a power in European art such as is exercised by no other of the old masters. Acquainted with all the Italian schools, the friend of the foremost painters of his day, he was strong enough to withstand every external influence and to work out for himself the development of his own nature and his own principles of art. A realist of the realists, he painted only what he saw; consequently his imagination seems limited. His religious conceptions are of the earth earthy, although some of his works, such as the Crucifixion and the Scourg ing, are characterized by an intensity of pathos in which he ranks second to no painter. His men and women seem to breathe ; his horses are full of action and his dogs of life; so quick and close is his grasp of his subject. England was the first nation to recognize his extraordinary 1 See Cunningham s Life, vol. ii. merit, and it owns by far the largest share of his works outside of Spain. 2 But Velazquez can only be seen in all his power in the gallery of the Prado at Madrid, where over sixty of his works are preserved, including historical, mythological, and religious subjects, as well as landscapes and portraits. It is hardly creditable to the patriotism of Seville, his native town, that no example of his work is to be seen in the gallery of that city. Seville was then in the height of its prosperity, &quot;the pearl of Spain,&quot; carrying on a great trade with the New World, and was also a vigorous centre of literature and art. For more than a hundred years it had fostered a native school of painting which ranked high in the Peninsula, and it reckoned among its citizens many whose names are prominent in Spanish literature. Velazquez was the son of Rodriguez de Silva, a lawyer in Seville, descended from a noble Portuguese family, and was baptized on 6th June 1599. Following a common Spanish usage, he is known by his mother s name Velaz quez. There has been considerable diversity of opinion as to his full name, but he was known to his contempo raries as Diego de Silva Velazquez, and signed his name thus. He was educated, says Palomino, by his parents in the fear of God, and was intended for a learned profession, for which he received a good training in languages and philosophy. But the bent of the boy was towards art, and he was placed under the elder Herrera, a vigorous painter who disregarded the Italian influence of the early Seville school. From his works in Seville we can see that Herrera was a bold and effective painter ; but he was at the same time a man of unruly temper and his pupils could seldom stay long with him. Velazquez remained but one year, long enough, however, to influence his life. It was from Herrera that he learned to use long brushes, or, as Mr J. E. Hodgson, R.A., suggests, brushes with long bristles, by means of which his colours seem to be floated on the canvas by a light fluent touch, the envy and despair of his successors. From Herrera s studio Velazquez betook himself to a very different master, the learned and pedantic Pacheco, the author of a heavy book on painting, and, as we see by his works at Madrid, a dull commonplace painter. In this school he remained for five years, studying proportion and perspective, and seeing all that was best in the literary and artistic circles of Seville. Here also and this may explain much he fell in love with his master s daughter Juana, whom he married in 1618 with the hearty approval of Pacheco, who praises his hand and heart, claiming at the same time all the credit of having been his master. He must, however, have found Velazquez a wayward pupil ; for, instead of looking to Raphael, according to orders, the young painter set himself to copy the commonest things about him, earthenware jars of the country people, birds, fish, fruit, and flowers of the market-place. To paint well and thoroughly what he saw, to model with his brush, and to colour under the influence of light and shade were for him the vital purpose, the first lesson, in his art. It was with deliberate purpose that Velazquez painted these bodegones (tavern-pieces), as they were called ; for we are told that he said he would rather be the first painter of common things than the second in higher art. Carrying out this idea still further, Velazquez felt that to master the subtlety of the human face he must make this a special study, and he accordingly engaged a peasant lad to be his servant and model, making innumerable studies in charcoal and chalk, and catching his every expression. We see this model in the laughing Peasant Boy of the 2 Of the 274 works attributed to Velazquez by Mr Curtis 121 are in the United Kingdom, while France has but 13, Austria-Hungary 12, Russia 7, aiid Germany about the same number.