Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/291

Rh V I V V I Z 267 BARTOLOMMEO VIVAIUNI is known to have worked from 1450 to 1499. He learned oil-painting from Antonello da Messina, and is said to have produced, in 1473, the first oil picture done in Venice. This is in the church of Sts John and Paul, a large altar-piece in nine divisions, representing Augustine and other saints. Most of his works, however, including one in the National Gallery, are in tempera. His outline is always hard, and his colour good ; the figures have much dignified and devout expres sion. As &quot; vivarino &quot; means in Italian a goldfinch, he some times drew a goldfinch as the signature of his pictures. LUIGI or ALVISE VIVARINI painted in 1490 and on to 1505. It has sometimes been supposed that, besides the Luigi who was the latest of this pictorial family, there had also been another Luigi who was the earliest, this supposition being founded on the fact that one picture is signed with the name, along with the date 1414. There is good ground, however, for considering this date to be a forgery of a later time. The works of Luigi show an advance on those of his predecessors, his best work being one which he executed for the Scuola di S. Girolamo in Venice, representing the saint caressing his lion, and some monks decamping in terror. The architecture and per spective in this work are superior. Other works by Luigi are in Treviso and in Milan. VIVES, JUAN Luis (or LUDOVICUS) (1492-1540), a well- known scholar of the third and fourth decades of the 16th century, was born at Valencia, in Spain, in March 1492. He studied at Paris and Louvain, ultimately becoming professor of humanity at the latter university. At the instance of his friend Erasmus he prepared an edition of Augustine s De Civitate Dei, which was published in 1522 with a dedication to Henry VIII. of England. Soon after wards he was invited to England and appointed tutor to the Princess Mary, for whose benefit he wrote De Ratione Studii Puerilis Epistolse, Dux. While in England he resided a good deal at Oxford, where he was made doctor of laws and lectured on philosophy. Having openly declared himself against the king s divorce, he lost the royal favour and was thrown into prison, where he re mained for six months. On his release he went to Spain and afterwards to the Low Countries, finally settling in Bruges, where he married and devoted himself to the com position of his numerous works, which were chiefly directed against the scholastic philosophy and the preponderant authority of Aristotle. He died on May G, 1540. A complete edition of his works was published at Basel in 1555 (2 vols. fol. ), and another at Valencia in 1782. VIZAGAPATAM, a British district of India, in Madras presidency, lying between 17 14 30&quot; and 18 58 1ST. lat. and 82 19 and 83 59 E. long., with an area of 3477 square miles. Including the Jaipur and Vizianagram zamindaries, which are under British administration, the area is 17,380 square miles. Vizagapatam is bounded on the N. by Ganjam district, on the E. by Ganjam and the sea, on the S. by the sea and Godavari district, and on the W. by the Central Provinces. It is a beautiful, picturesque, and h illy country, forming part of the large extent of shore known as the Orissa coast, but for the most part it is unhealthy. The surface of the country is generally undu lating, rising towards the interior, and crossed by streams, which are dry except during the rainy season. The main portion is occupied by the Eastern Ghats. The slopes of these mountains are clothed with luxuriant vegetation, amid which rise many tall forest trees, while the bamboo grows profusely in the valleys. The drainage on the east is carried by numerous streams direct to the sea, and that to the west flows into the GocUvari through the Indravati or through the Sabari and Sillar rivers. To the west of the range is situated the greater portion of the extensive zamindari of J;iipur, which is for the most part very hilly and jungly. The north and north-west of the district is also mountainous. In the extreme north a remarkable mass of hills, called the Nimgiris, rise to a height of 4972 feet, and these arc separated by valleys of not more than 1200 feet from the neighbouring ranges of Ghdts. The plain along the Bay of Bengal is exceedingly rich and fertile. It is described as a vast sheet of cultivation, green with rice fields and gardens of sugar-cane and tobacco. There are great varieties of climate in the dis trict. Along the coast the air is soft and relaxing, the prevailing winds being south-easterly. The average annual rainfall at Vizagapatam exceeds 40 inches. The census of 1881 returned the population of the district, exclusive of the agency tracts, at 1,790,468 (males 897,116, females 893,352). Including the Jaipur and Vizianagram dependencies, the total population of the district was 2,485,141 (males 1,254,850, females 1,230,291), of whom 2,460,474 were Hindus, 20,403 Mohammedans, and 3410 Christians. There are live towns with populations of more than 10,000, viz.: VIZAGAPATAM and VIZIA NAGRAM (q.v.} Anakapalle, 13,341; Bobbili, 14,943; and Salur, 11,856. The chief crops are rice, which is the staple product of the country, and sugar. The cultivation of indigo is also successfully carried on. The actual areaxinder cultivation in 1885-86 amounted to 168,559 acres, besides 10,833 acres of forests. The gross revenue of the district in 1885-86 was 201,699, of which the land yielded 139,200. There are few industries, the principal being cotton cloths and the beautiful fancy wares of Vizagapatam towns. On the dis solution of the Mughal empire Vizagapatam occupied a portion of the territory known as the Northern Circars, which were ceded to the East India Company by treaty in 1768. On the introduction of the per manent settlement in 1802 it was formed into a separate collectorate, and since then several changes have been made in its administration. VIZAGAPATAM, a municipal and seaport town, the administrative headquarters of the above district, with a population in 1881 of 30,291. It lies on a small bay, the south extremity t&amp;gt;f which is bounded by a promon tory known as the Dolphin s Nose, and its northern extremity by the suburb of Waltair. The town or fort, as it is called, is separated from the Dolphin s Nose by a small river, which forms a bar where it enters the sea, but is passable for vessels of 300 tons during spring tides. Vizagapatam is the residence of a Roman Catholic vicar apostolic. It contains some good streets, has a hand some hall, library, and reading-room, an excellent hospital and dispensary, and maintains a great many schools. The principal exports are grain and sugar, and the principal industries of the town are elk horn and ivory knick- knacks and gold and silver filigree work. VIZIADRUG, or GHERIA, a port in Ratnagiri district, Bombay presidency, India, about 30 miles south of Ratnagiri town and 170 miles south of Bombay city, in 16 33 40&quot; N. lat. and 73 22 10&quot; E. long. It is one of the best harbours on the western coast of India, being without any bar, and may be entered in all weathers ; even to large ships it affords safe shelter during the south west monsoon. The chief interest of the place centres in its fort, which is one of the strongest Mohammedan fortresses in the Concan, and rises grandly about 100 feet above the river. About 1698 the pirate chief Angria made Viziadrug the capital of a territory stretching for about 150 miles along the coast, and from 30 to 60 miles inland. The fort surrendered to the English fleet in 1756, and was given over to the peshwa, In May 1818 an unsuccessful attempt was made to take Viziadrug, but, the whole of the district of Katnagiri having now passed into the hands of the British, the fortress surrendered in June. VIZIANAGRAM, one of the most ancient and extensive estates or zamindaries in India, included in the Vizaga patam district of the Madras presidency, with an area of about 3000 square miles, and a population (1881) of 844,168. The chief town, Vizianagram, had in 1881 a population of 22,577. The zamindari first came under the charge of the English authorities in 1817, with a very heavy debt, but it was restored to