Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/221

* VISCONTI. 173 VISCOUNT. stnu'tcd the fannjiis liriiljju over the Ticino at Paviii, ;iml coiiniiciifcd the crcctiiin of the Cuthe- dral of Mihiii. His d;uii.'liter. Valentiiia, iiiairied Louis, the youiif^er hrotlior of Charles VI. of Fraiiee, and beeaino the graiidiiintlicr of Louis Xil., who u|)on this relationship founded his claims to the Milanese, (iian (ialeazzo's sons, GlAMMAi{l. ((Jiovanni Maria) (l:iSS-1412) and FiLii'i'O Mari. (1301-1447), rei<;iied in succes- sion; the former, who was cowardly, suspicious, and of a cruelty verging on insanity, was mur- dered, and the younger brother became sole ruler. The Venetians on the east, the Marquis of Montferrat on the west, and the Po|)e on the south, were rapidly curtailing his dominions, when, by a happy >troUe of policy, he espoused Beatrice di Tenda, the widow of a condottieri leader, and thus obtained the services of a vet- eran band of soldiers. His fortunate choice of CaruKignoIa (q.v.) as his general- led to the restoration of the former boundary line of his dominions. In 1441 he engaged the services of the celebrated condottiere Francesco Sforza (see Sfokza), to whom he gave his natural daughter Bianca in marriage; and on his death the Vis- conti family was succeeded by that of Sfcn'za (q.v.) in the lordship of the Milanese. Col- lateral branches of the Visconti still exi.st in Lombard}'. Consult: Sismondi, Histoire des rcpiililiqiics italicnnes (Paris, 1826-33); Sy- monds. Age of the Despots (London, 1875). VISCONTI. A family of Italian arch.Tolo- gists and architects. Giova. iBattistaVisco>'ti (1712-84), a native of Sarzana, settled at Rome and succeeded Winckelmann as prefect of an- tiquities. He was employed by Clement XIV. and Pius VI. to collect works of ancient art for the museum of the Vatican, the Miiseo Pio- Clementino. as it was called. Ennio Quibino Visconti (1751-1818) eldest son of Giovanni, as a youth aided liis father in the preparation of the first vohmie of the engravings of the Miiseo Pio-('lenientiiio. In 1784 he edited alone the second volume of the same series, and in 1787 was appointed conservator of the Cajntoline Museum. The series of engravings of the Musco was regularly issued, the seventh and last volume being published in 1807. During the French occu- pation of Rome Visconti was a member of the Government, but in 17!)0 was compelled to flee to France and settled in Paris, where he was made curator in the Louvre, and pi'ofessor of archa'ology. In 1801 appeared his great work, Icoiiogruphie (jncque, and this was fol- lowed by the Iconogriipliie romaine in 1817. In 1817 he went to London by express desire of the British CJovernment, to appraise the value of the Elgin marbles (q.v.), and as a result of this visit publislied ,l/c'»?oiVe siir Irs oiirragcs rJc sculpture du f'ln-tlirnoii. He died in Paris, February 7, 1818. PiETRO Eroole Visconti (1802-80), nephew of Louis Tullius Visconti (q.v.). after study- ing at the Papal archieological academy became in 1836 commissioner of antiquities, director of the collections in the Vatican, and professor at the University of Rome. He left uncompleted his Uistori/ of the 'Nohle Families of Rome and the Papal States. VISCONTI, Loris Tulous .Joachim (1701- 1853). A di-tinguished French architect, born in 1701 in Rome, the son of Ennio Quirino Vis- conti. He was brought in his eighth year to I'aris, where he studied in the Ki'ole des i!i'au.-Arts and in the atelier of Charles Pcrcicr. .mnng his varied works in Paris were the archi- tectural designs of the .Moliere, i>ouvois, and Saint Sulpice fountains, plans for a IJibiioth^qua lioyale, and the transformation of the Dome des Invalidcs into a niauscdeum for the remains of Xapoleon Bonaparte (completed 1853). To him is also due the masterly design for the union of the Louvre and the Tuileries, a problem which his master Percier, with Fontaine, had earlier endeavored to solve. This colossal en- terprise was begun in 18.52 under Napoleon IIL, and carried out during the following thirty years, chiefly under Visconti's associate. Hector l.efuel, who succeeded him on his death in De- (■cnilicr, 1853. While the exterior detail of tli(^ new wings Is largely Lefuel's, the general disposition of llic jjlan was Visconti's. VISCONTI-VENOSTA, va-nAs'ta, Eiiiuo Marciie.se (1820 — ). An Italian statesman, born in ^lilan. After his father's death, in 1846, he began to take a prominent part as a journalist in Liberal politics. He became an ardent fol- lower of Mazzini, whom he left in 1853 to join Cavour, and in 1850, after a narrow escape from arrest by the Austrian authorities, he was named royal commissary to (»aribaldi. In 1860 he was appointed adviser to the dictator Farini in Par- ma and Modena, in the interest of annexation to Sardinia, was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in the same year, and became Minister of Foreign AtTairs in the Minghetti Cabinet in 1863. but re- signed in 1864 because of popular disapproval of the convention of September, which he had con- cluded with France. In 1866 he became Ambas- sador to Constantinople, but was recalled to take charge again of the Foreign Office and conclude jieace with Austria, after which he was retired. Again in 1860 he was made Foreign Secretary in Lanza's Cabinet and held the portfolio until the fall of the Right from power in 1876, when he retired, having passed the 'Guarantigie ponti- ficie.' Visconti- Venosta became Senator in 1886, and in 1806 again received the portfolio of For- eign Afl'airs under Rudini, but was forced out by revolts in Milan and by general opposition to his conservative policy, in May, 1808. In 1890- 1000 he was Foreign Minister in the Pelloux Cabinet, and in 1000-01 held the same post under Saraceo. The most striking item in Visconti- Venosta's foreign policy was his eager friendship for FrancCj VISCOSITY (from Lat. viseosus, viscous, sticky, from viscum. viscus, bird-lime. Gk. l^6s, ixos, mistletoe). When currents are produced in fluids, forces are observed which retard the relative motion of the parts. These forces of friction are said to be due to 'viscosity;' and the greater the friction, the more viscous the fluid. VISCOUNT (OF. viseonte, viconte. Fr. vi- comtc. from JIL. ricecomes, viscount, from Lat. vice, in place of + comes, companion, count). In English history, originally the officer who acted as deputy to the earl, the earl being the King's immediate officer within his county. The hereditary title of viscount is a degree of nobility unconnected with office. It was first granted in England to .John Beaumont, created a peer by the title of Viscount Beaumont in 1440. A viscount's