Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/84

Rh 68 V A N V A R with bravado. His moral character was loose and vicious, and his writings show him to have been a man of inordinate vanity. Though he possessed unquestionable gifts, neither originality nor profundity- can be claimed for him as a thinker. His fate, however, has given him a species of fame. The best modern account of Yanini is to be found in Cousin s Fragments dc Philosophic Carttsienne. His works have been repub- lished by Rousselot. VANLOO, CHARLES ANDREW (1705-1765), subject painter, a younger brother of John Baptist Vanloo (see below), was born at Nice on 15th February 1705. He received some instruction from his brother, and like him studied in Rome under Luti. Leaving Italy in 1723, he worked in Paris, where he gained the first prize for his torical painting. After again visiting Italy in 1727, he was employed by the king of Sardinia, for whom he painted a series of subjects illustrative of Tasso. In 1734 he settled in Paris, and in 1735 became a member of the French Academy ; and he was decorated with the order of St Michael and appointed principal painter to the king. By his simplicity of style and correctness of design, the result of his study of the great Italian masters, he did much to purify the modern French school ; but the con temporary praise that was lavished upon his productions now appears undue and excessive. His Marriage of the Virgin is preserved in the Louvre. He died at Paris on 15th July 1765. VANLOO, JOHN BAPTIST (1684-1745), subject and por trait painter, was born at Aix in Provence on 14th January 1684. He was instructed in art by his father. Having at an early age executed several pictures for the decoration of the church and public buildings at Aix, he was employed on similar work at Toulon, which he was obliged to leave during the siege of 1707. He was patron ized by the prince of Carignan, who sent him to Rome, where he studied under Benedetto Luti. Here he was much employed on church pictures, and in particular executed a greatly praised Scourging of Christ for St Maria in Monticelli. At Turin he painted the duke of Savoy and several members of his court. Then, removing to Paris, where he was elected a member of the French Academy, he executed various altar-pieces and restored the works of Primaticcio at Fontainebleau. In 1737 he came to England, where he attracted attention by his por trait of Colley Cibber and of Owen McSwiny, the theatrical manager ; the latter, like many other of Vanloo s works, was engraved in mezzotint by the younger Faber. He also painted Sir Robert Walpole, whose portrait by Vanloo in his robes as chancellor of the exchequer is in the National Portrait Gallery (London), and the Prince and Princess of Wales. He did not, however, practise long in England, for his health failing he retired to Paris in 1742, and after wards to Aix, where he died on 19th December 1745. His likenesses were striking and faithful, but seldom nattering, and his heads are forcible in colouring. The draperies and accessories in his pictures were usually painted by Van Achen, Eccardt, and Root. VANNES (Breton Gwened), a town of France, chef-lieu of the department of Morbihan and an episcopal see, is situated on a little stream, 10 miles from the Gulf of Morbihan and 84 north-west of Nantes on the railway to Brest. The narrow, steep, and crooked streets of the old town, which lie on a hill facing the south, are surrounded by fortifications of the 14th, 15th, and 1.7th centuries, pierced by four gates and flanked by nine towers and five bastions, connected by battlements. Some of the remains are Roman, and in the Constable s Tower Olivier de Clisson was confined in 1387. The modern suburbs, with public buildings, barracks, convents, squares, walks, and the port surround the old town. The archaeological museum con tains one of the richest collections of prehistoric remains in Europe. There are also a museum of natural history and a library (10,000 volumes). The cathedral of St Peter overlooks the old town ; burnt by the Normans in the 10th century, it was rebuilt in the 13th, 15th, and 18th centuries. It has no architectural interest, but contains the relics and tomb of St VINCENT FERRER (q.v.). The curious round Chapelle du Pardon was built in 1557 in the Italian style. Some interesting old houses, including that of St Vincent Ferrer and that of the parlement of Brittany, the rich private collections of M. de Limur, the huge bar racks, and three large hospitals should also be mentioned. In 1882 thirty-five vessels (3480 tons) entered and seventy- four (7225 tons) left the port of Vannes, which is access ible to vessels of 150 tons; those of 800 tons can come to within 2 miles. The population in 1881 was 16,667 (commune 19,284), and had increased by 1886 to 18,127 (commune 20,036). Vannes (Dariorigum), the capital of the Veneti, was at the head of the Armorican league against Julius Cyesar, who in 56 B.C. overcame their fleet and opened up their country by six roads. St Paternus, the first bishop, was consecrated in 465. In the 5th century Vannes was ruled for a time by independent counts, but soon came under the yoke of the Franks. Nominee, the lieiitenant of Louis the Pious in Brittany, assumed the title of king in 843, and one of his brothers was the founder of a line of counts who distinguished themselves against the Normans in the 9th and 10th centuries. Vannes be came part of the duchy of Brittany under Geoffrey, who died in 1008, and the estates of Brittany met there for the first time after the death of Arthur of Brittany. In the course of the War of Suc cession the town was besieged four times in 1342. Duke John IV. built here the castle of L Hermine and made it his habitual residence. In 1487 the town was for a year in the hands of Charles VIII. of France. In 1532 Brittany was definitively united to France. The estates met at Vannes several times in the 17th and 18th centuries. During the Revolution this town was the scene of highly dramatic episodes, including the execution of some of the prisoners of Quiberon. VANNUCCI. See PERUGINO. VAPOUR. See EVAPORATION. VAR, a department of France, formed in 1790 of part of Provence, but reduced in 1860 by the formation of the department of Alpes-Maritimes, so that the Var no longer flows through the department to which it gives its name. Situated between 42 58 and 43 55 N. lat. and 5 39 and 6 57 E. long., Var is bounded by the Mediterranean on the S., by Alpes-Maritimes on the E., by Basses-Alpes on the N., and by Bouches-du-Rhone on the W. In the N.W. it touches the department of Vaucluse. The river Verdon on the N. and the Siagne on the N.E. are natural boundaries. The surface of the department is one of the most broken in France ; the highest point is in the north east, where a peak of the Alps rises to 5620 feet and is surrounded by others ranging from 4500 to 5000 feet. These calcareous hills are much fissured and very dry on the higher plateaus, but are rich in springs, which occasion a very beautiful verdure in the valleys. Towards the west rises the St Baume (3700 to 3800 feet), which is connected on the south with the hills above Toulon (2300 feet). The Maures (2550 feet), which extend between the coast from Hyeres to Frejus, and the valley of the Argens form, geologically speaking, a sort of island in Provence, being composed of granite, gneiss, and schists. To the north of the Argens rises the independent Esterel Range (2020 feet), mostly composed of igneous rocks, with some schists and porphyry. The principal river is the Argens (71 miles), which drains the larger portion of the depart ment, traversing it from west to east, and falling into the sea a little south of Frejus. Its minimum volume is 72,000 cubic feet, even in the driest weather and when most lavishly drawn on for irrigation. Nominally it is navigable for 1 1 miles, but in point of fact it is used only for floating timber. Draguignan, the chef-lieu of Var, is