Vandervelde
WILLEM, called THE ELDER a Dutch painter; born in Leyden, in 1610; excelled in marine subects. In the great naval fight between the Duke of York and the Dutch admiral Opdam, Vandervelde sailed between the hostile fleets in a light skiff to mark their positions and observe their operations; and in this manner he is said to have also been a spectator of the memorable three days' engagement between Monk and De Ruyter. He died in 1693. His son, WILLIAM VANDERVELDE, called THE YOUNGER, born in 1633, was himself an admirable marine painter. He died in London, in 1707. an
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Vandyke, Anthony
van-dik, Anthony (1599-1641), an eminent portrait painter of Antwerp. His father was a silk merchant. His mother was of an artistic turn of mind, skilled in embroidering landscapes. Vandyke studied with Rubens. After his reputation had been established (1541) he received an invitation to London and was made painter to the king at a salary of $1,000 a year. Some seventy portraits of the English nobility are in evidence. "A Vandyke waist," "a Vandyke collar," "a Vandyke beard," etc., are such as are worn in Vandyke portraits. Vandyke was a rapid worker,--so rapid that a tradition has come down to the effect that he would give a nobleman a sitting in the morning, entertain him sumptuously at dinner, and finish the portrait in the afternoon. On the whole, he was a dashing, extravagant, dissipated genius. His friends guarded him from fashionable forms of vice as much as possible, but he died at forty-three. He was buried in St. Paul's.
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Vanga
The unenrolled members of the Ndembo Secret Society of the Lower Congo.
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Vanity Fair
a novel by William Makepeace Thackeray published during 1846-48 in monthly installments. It is regarded as Thackeray's masterpiece, and is notable especially for its heroine, Becky Sharp , "the cleverest, most unmoral woman in the whole range of fiction." See Thackeray
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Vanloo
JEAN BAPTISTE (vonglō'), a member of a family originally Flemish, in which a love of art seemed indigenous; born in Aix in Provence, in 1684. He painted successively at Nice, Toulon, and Aix, visited Genoa and Turin, and was sent by the Prince of Carignano, son-in-law of the Duke of Savoy, to study at Rome under Benedetto Luti. After a further residence at Turin, he proceeded in 1719 to Paris, and speedily acquired a great reputation as a portrait painter. He was made a member of the Academy in 1731, and Professor of Painting in 1735; and visited London, where he painted Colly Cibber and Sir Robert Walpole. He died in Aix, Dec. 19, 1745. CHARLES ANDRÉ VANLOO, his younger brother, was born in Nice, Feb. 15, 1705. He also studied at Rome under Benedetto Luti, and then settled in Paris, but later returned to Rome. At Turin he painted for the King of Sardinia a series of subjects illustrative of Tasso, after which he returned to Paris, and was appointed in 1735 a member of the Academy, and later a knight of the order of St. Michael, and chief painter to the king. He died in Paris, July 15, 1765.
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Vannes
a seaport town of thick, fleshy, and fragrant, but dull in France; capital of the department of Morbihan in Brittany; at the mouth of a tributary of the Gulf of Morbihan; 3 miles from the sea. The cathedral (13th to 15th centuries) is the most important edifice; but the town possesses also an old House of Parliament and many carved houses, and a rich museum of Celtic antiquities. Manufactures of woolens and ropes and some shipbuilding are carried on; and the small port has some trade. Pop. about 20,000.
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Vapereau
LOUIS GUSTAVE (väprō'), a French compiler; born in Orleans, France, April 4, 1819. He was Professor of Philosophy at the College of Tours for 10 years; admitted to the bar in 1854, and about the same time made editor of the famous "Universal Dictionary of Contemporaries" (1858; 6th ed. "Literary and Dramatic Year" (11 vols. 1859-1869); "Universal Dictionary of Literatures" (1876); "Historical Elements of French Literature" (2 vols. 1883-1885). He was Inspector-General of Public Instruction in 1877, and received the Cross of the and Legion of Honor in 1878. Died in 1906.
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Var
a department in the extreme S. E. of France; area, 2,349 square miles; pop. about 340,000. The department receives its name from the Var river, which formerly served as its boundary on the E., but which, since the arrondissement of Grasse was taken from Var and added to the Alpes Maritimes, now belongs entirely to the latter. Var is well watered by a great number of streams, of which the chief are the Gapau, Argens, and Bianson. In the N. and N. E. it is mountainous, being traversed by a branch of the Alpes de Provence, called the Monts de l'Esterel. Between the mountains and the water courses are many very fertile valleys. The climate, tempered by the altitude of the surface, is pleasant. Fruits of all kinds are here cultivated with remarkable success; tobacco is grown, and much wine is produced. The department abounds in minerals, and It is carries on an active commerce. divided into the three arrondissements of Draguignan, Brignoles, and Toulon. Capital Draguignan.
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Varangians
or VARAGIANS, the name applied to the Norse vikings, who at the close of the 9th century, founded various principalities in Russia. Some of them afterward entered the service of the Byzantine emperors, and became the imperial guards at Constantinople. Here they were recruited by Anglo-Saxons and Danes, who fled from England to escape the Norman yoke.
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Vardaman
JAMES KIMBLE, an American public official, born in Jack son co., Texas, in 1861. He was educated in the public schools of Mississippi and was admitted to the Mississippi bar in 1882. In 1883 he was editor of the Winona (Miss.) "Advance," from 1890 to 1896 editor of the Greenwood (Miss.) "Enterprise," and in the latter year established the Greenwood "Commonwealth." He became in 1908 editor of "The Issue,” Jackson, Miss. He was a presidential elector in 1892 and 1896, a member of the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1890 to 1896, captain and later major of the 5th United States Volunteer Infantry from 1898 to 1899, Governor of Mississippi from 1904 to 1908, and Democratic United States Senator from 1913 to 1919. He was defeated for re-election in 1918.
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