Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/726

BOR the rich and the poor. His physiological views were also far in advance of his age, and his writings upon the structure and functions of the glands contain ideas which have since been developed by other authors for the advantage of their own reputation.—W. S. D.  BORDING,, a Danish poet, son of Christian Bording, physician to Prince Christian V., was born at Ribe, 21st January, 1619. He took his degree at the academy of Sorö in 1653, and in 1664 became lector theologiæ at Ribe. Resigning this post in 1666 he removed to Copenhagen, where, under the royal command, he published the Danish Mercury a monthly newspaper, which he continued till his death in 1677. His poems contained in the Mercury, together with his other poetical works, were collected and published by Rostgaard, with an introduction by Gram, at Copenhagen in 1733.—M. H.  * BORDOGNI,, a teacher of singing, was born at Bergamo, about 1788, and now resides at Paris. He was a pupil of S. Mayer and appeared as a tenor singer at Milan in 1813. In 1819 he was engaged at the Italian opera in Paris, where his admirable vocalization compensated for his weak voice and want of dramatic energy. In 1820 he was appointed professor of singing in the conservatoire, which office he still holds, though in 1823 he retired from it for a short time, in consequence of the fatigues of the theatre. He quitted the stage shortly after this, since when he has exclusively applied himself to tuition. His celebrated solfeggios are some of the best vocal exercises extant.—G. A. M.  BORDONE,, an eminent Venetian painter, born at Trevigi in 1513. He was of a noble family, and at eight years of age was led to Venice to be carefully educated in the art for which he showed strong predilections. While still quite a boy he was placed in the school of Titian, under whom he did not long continue, as he found that his master was jealous of his pupils, and kept his secrets even from them. However, in spite of these checks, the young noble of Trevigi grew so fast, that, at eighteen, he painted a grand wall picture in the church of St. Nicholas; and, before he was twenty, a "Meleager" and "Holy Family" for the Tiretta palace. He imitated the grand simplicity of Giorgione, his fellow-pupil, and adopted a certain rosy colour, which he carried sometimes to effeminacy and affectation. His portraits, too, are excellent, and not inferior to Titian's. His female portraits (we have seen a delicious one of Mary Stuart) are sweet, peachy, and graceful, but not very intellectual. His "Venus" was the lower and earth Venus, as might be expected from a court painter at the Louvre of that long-nosed satyr, Francis I., who lost his honour at Paris and his freedom at Pavia. Bordone's most ambitious work was the dome of the church of St. Vicenza at Trevigi. He also adorned Venice, Milan, Genoa, and Florence with his wonders, laying indeed, as we may say, his talents at Christ's altar by the consecration of his art and genius. But the crowning glory of his life was a successful competition with his old master. A gallery at Vicenza had been frescoed by Titian, who chose the judgment of Solomon for his subject, but the work had fallen into decay. Bordone being called in, chose for his display the "History of Noah and his Sons." Kugler, always curt and judicious, thus sums up the merits of Bordone—"Like Pordenone he is unimportant in large compositions; his altarpieces, chiefly madonnas with saints, have something of the spirited excitement of Correggio, only without his naïveté; his heads are excellent." Two pictures of this description are in the Berlin museum. His most celebrated picture is in the academy of Venice, and alludes to the Tempest by Giorgione. Here the fisherman, who was present when the saint stilled the tempest, presents a ring to the doge which he had received from St. Mark as a pledge of the patron saint's gracious disposition towards Venice. The picture is rich in figures, simple, but of no great power. The splendid execution, however, gives it the aid of truth, to which the view of the grand Venetian buildings much contributes. The most magnificent picture of Bordone is perhaps his "Sibyl." An altar is still burning on which Augustus offered up his fruitless sacrifices, while the sibyl, a female of the most beautiful Titian type, stands before him and his followers, pointing in the distance to the new-born Saviour. In colouring also, this picture is one of the master's chef-d'œuvres. His celebrated "Paradise," also in the academy, formerly in the church of Ognissanti at Treviso, is very feeble. His small pictures in the Manfrini palace, and a "Riposo" during the flight into Egypt, in the Pitti palace, are more pleasing. Another representation of this subject is in the Bridgewater gallery. Bordone died at Venice in 1588.—(Kugler's Handbook of Painting, vol. ii., p. 459.)—W. T.  * BOREAU,, contemporary French author. He began his literary career by the publication of a volume of poems in 1829, since which time he seems to have devoted his attention to works of history, having given to the world histories of France and England, and of ancient and modern times, testifying to no ordinary industry.—J. F. C.  * BOREL,, a French journalist and litterateur, born at Lyons in 1809. An ardent admirer of the romantic school, his writings are characterized by a mixture of the happiest inspiration and extravagant bizarrerie.  BORELLI,, an eminent physician, anatomist, and mathematician, and founder of the theory of the mechanical action of the limbs, was born at Naples on the 28th of January, 1608. He occupied at one period of his life a professorship of mathematics at Pisa, and afterwards one of medicine at Florence, About 1670 he lived for a short time at Messina. In his old age he retired to a religious house at Rome, where he died on the 31st December, 1679. Borelli published many and voluminous works on anatomy, physiology, medicine, astronomy, mathematics, and mechanics. Those which have most contributed to his reputation in the present age are two—"Theorice Medicærum Planetarum," Florence, 1661, an essay on the movements of Jupiter's satellites, which contains some foreshadowings of the law of gravitation. This is a characteristic of the works of many of Newton's predecessors and contemporaries, above whom Newton distinguished himself by discovering the exact law, of which they had only vague anticipation. "De Motu Animalium," a posthumous work, first published at Rome in 1680 and 1681, and afterwards republished at different times, and in many places. The first part of this treatise is deservedly celebrated as the earliest work in which the true principles of the mechanical action of the limbs of animals—now familiar to every student of mechanics—were demonstrated and applied. The second part, in which the author attempts to establish a mechanical theory of the actions of internal organs, is hypothetical, and destitute of useful results.—W. J. M. R.  BORELLI,, a French litterateur, born at Salernes in 1738; died in 1810 at Berlin. After having studied in his native country he went to Prussia, where he was patronized by Frederick II., and became intimate with the learned men at his court. Author of several works on legislation, the fine arts, philology, &c., and editor of two works by Frederick II. <section end="726H" /> <section begin="726I" />BORGANI,, a Mantuan painter, taught by Domenico Feti, whose style he abandoned for that of Parmegiano. His clever works adorn the churches of his native city.—W. T. <section end="726I" /> <section begin="726J" />BORGHESE,, a painter, born at Citta da Castello, and disciple and assistant of Pietro da Cortona, some of whose works at Rome he afterwards put the postscripts to and finished. Some fine altarpieces wrought by him, single-handed, exist in the eternal city.—W. T. <section end="726J" /> <section begin="726Zcontin" />* BORGHESI,, a contemporary Italian antiquarian of great celebrity, to whose learning in numismatics and inscriptions the literary world is indebted for many an important discovery concerning Roman archæology and history. He was born in the year 1781 at Savignano, a small town in the Romagna, near Ravenna; and was early led to the study of antiquity by the example and care of his father, who also enjoyed a well-deserved reputation as a man of learning, and was in possession of a rich collection of ancient coins. Through the impulse which had been given in those days to the illustration of mediæval antiquity by men like Muratori, Fumagalli, Fantuzzi, &c., the young Borghesi felt himself called at first to follow in their track. Having finished his studies in the Collegio dei Nobili at Bologna, he returned home, and commenced his antiquarian investigations about mediæval monuments and records in the archives of Romagna; but owing to the weakness of his eyes, he was obliged to desist from the task of deciphering mediæval manuscripts, and in 1802 he went to Rome, and turned all his attention to ancient archæology, under the guidance of the illustrious Marini. He soon became possessed of an extensive knowledge of Greek and Latin literature, and was enabled both by his learning and by his natural acuteness and sound criticism, to explain with admirable success the most obscure and difficult points in ancient coins and inscriptions. His "Osservazioni Numismatiche," <section end="726Zcontin" />