Val d'Arno. [Vale of the Arno.] In Tuscany, Italy. It is renowned for its beauty and its poetic associations. A dream alone to me is Arno's vale, Val de Grace. 1. An extensive military hospital in Paris. Here was formerly a convent of Benedictine nuns. 2. A church in Paris, built in the Italian style. It was begun in 1645 for Anne of Austria. The dome forms a conspicuous object in views over Paris. V. Val d'Emo. See CERTOSA OF THE Vallée du Sang. [Valley of VAL D'EMO. Val Tremola. [Ger. Trümmeln Thal, Trembling Valley.] A gully on the St. Gothard Pass in Switzerland, so called from the fears -formerly excited by the terrors of the passage. Vale of the Red Horse. A locality in Warwick county, England, near Edgehill, the scene of the battle between Charles I. and the Parliamentary forces. It is so called from the colossal figure of a horse cut on the side of the hill. Valentino, Il. A fine old palace in Turin, Italy. Valérien, Mont. See MONT VALÉ RIEN. Valhalla. A celebrated Grecian temple or Hall of Fame, overlooking the Danube, near Regensburg, Bavaria, and deriving its name from the mythological palace of immortality, inhabited by the souls of heroes slain in battle. It was built by the king of Bavaria as a monument to the great men of Germany, and contains many statues of her heroes, statesmen, and poets, from the earliest. Blood.] A valley reputed to have, in ancient times, separated France from Bretagne. When the Vale of Blood she neared, Close behind her coal-black steed. Valley-farm, The. A picture by John Constable (1776-1837). In the National Gallery, London. Valley of Jehoshaphat. This valley of Jerusalem which is beneath the hill Mount Moriah, on which the ancient Jewish temple stood (now occupied by the Mosque of Omar), is about half a mile long, extending from the village of Siloam to the Garden of Gethsemane. Its sides are full of tombs, and the brook Kedron runs through it. The Jews believe that the Last Judgment will take place in this valley, according to the prediction found in Joel iii. 12, "Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit, to judge all the heathen round about. Vallombrosa. [The Shady Valley.] A famous convent and sanctuary near Florence, Italy. Its original In Vallombrosa, where the Etrurian shades, High over-arch'd embower. Milton. Swelling the outcry dull, that long resounds Portentous through her old woods' trackless bounds, Vallombre, mid her falling fanes, deplores, Forever broke, the Sabbath of her bowers. Wordsworth. He [Milton] nevermore was thirsty when God's will Had shattered to his sense the last chainlink By which he had drawn from Nature's visible The fresh well-water. Satisfied by this, Not a grand nature. Not my chestnutwoods Of Vallombrosa, cleaving by the spurs To the precipices. Mrs. Browning. Valle Crucis Abbey. A beautiful and picturesque ruined monastery, founded in 1200, near Llangollen, in Wales. Vanity and Modesty. See MODESTY AND VANITY. Varuna, The. An iron-clad vessel of the United States navy, sunk April 24, 1862, after destroying five of the enemy's fleet in the battle on the Mississippi, below New Orleans. Who has not heard of the dauntless Varuna? Who has not heard of the deeds she has done? Who shall not hear, while the brown Mississippi Rushes along from the snow to the sun? Crippled and leaking she entered the battle, Sinking and burning she fought through the fray; Crushed were her sides, and the waves ran across her, Ere, like a death-wounded lion at bay, Sternly she closed in the last fatal grapple, Then in her triumph moved grandly away. G. H. Boker. Vase, Hall of the. See HALL OF THE VASE. Vassar College. A noted women's college situated in Poughkeepsie, N. Y. It was founded and endowed by Matthew Vassar, from whom it takes its name. It was organized in 1865. Vatican, The. The ancient palace of the popes, and the most magnificent in the world, built upon one of the hills of Rome, on the right bank of the Tiber. It is rather a collection of separate buildings, constructed at various times, than one regular structure. Its extent is enormous. It has 8 grand staircases, 200 smaller staircases, 20 courts, and, it is said, 11,000 apartments of different sizes. Its riches in marbles, bronzes, and frescos, in ancient statues and gems, and in paintings, are unequalled in the world. It also possesses a library with a large and choice collection of manuscripts. "The palace of the Vatican bears the same relation to other palaces that St. Peter's does to other churches. It is, indeed, not a palace, but a congress of palaces. One of the stories with which every traveller at Rome is amused is, that the Vatican with its gardens and St. Peter's occupy as much space as the city of Turin; and, as it has never been contradicted, it is probably true. The Vatican comprises a papal palace, a library, and a museum. As a museum of art, it is the first in the world. In sculpture it not only surpasses any other collection, but all other collections put together. The whole of Europe could furnish nothing to rival the Vatican. It also comprises the highest triumphs of painting, in the frescos of Raphael and Michael Angelo. He who has seen the Vatican has seen the utmost point reached by the human mind and hand in these two arts. The world is no more likely to witness any thing beyond what is here visible than to have a nobler epic than the Iliad, or a greater dramatist than Shakespeare." Hillard. The Vatican is great; yet poor to Chimborazo or the Peake of Teneriffe: its dome is but a foolish Big-endian or Little-endian chip of an egg-shell, compared with that star-fretted Dome where Arcturus and Orion glance for ever. Carlyle. That Leicester shoe-shop, had men known it, was a holier place than any Vatican or Loretto-shrine. Carlyle On that sad mountain slope whose ghostly can, And draw the curtains of Napoleon's bed! Whittier. Vatican Library. This library, in the Vatican Palace, Rome, has been called the largest in the world, not because it has the most books, but because it occupies the largest space. It is really a small collection, though exceedingly rich in ancient and rare manuscripts, the number of which is said to be over 30,000. Among the precious treasures here preserved are a famous copy of Virgil of the age of Constantine, and early manuscripts of the Scriptures. The books in this library are invisible, being shut up in wooden presses. Vatican, Obelisk of the. See OBELISK OF ST. PETER'S. Vaucluse, Fountain of. See FOUNTAIN OF VAUCLUSE. Vauxhall. The region on the bank of the Thames above Lambeth, London. See VAUXHALL GARDENS. How, in a word, . . . shall it, at length, be made manifest, and kept continually manifest to the hearts of men, that the Good is not properly the highest, but the Beautiful; that the true Beautiful (differing from the false, as Heaven does from Vauxhall) comprehends in it the Good? Carlyle. Vauxhall Bridge. An iron bridge across the Thames at London. Vauxhall Gardens. A place of public amusement in London for nearly two centuries. It was so named from its site in the manor of "La Sale Faukes." The gardens were first laid out about 1661. They were finally closed July 25, 1859, and the property sold. Buildings have since been erected, and roads laid out upon their site. We are told in Rogers's Table Talk" that the proprietors of Vauxhall and Ranelagh used to send fashionably dressed persons to walk among the ladies and gentlemen in the Mall, and to exclaim every | 66 now and then, "What charming weather for Ranelagh!" or "for Vauxhall!" See RANELAGH GAR DENS. The lights everywhere glimmering through scarcely moving trees; the full-bodied concert bursting on the stillness of night; the natural concert of the birds in the more retired part of the grove, vying with that which was formed by art; the company gayly dressed, looking satisfied; and the tables spread with various delicacies,― all conspired to fill my imagination with the visionary happiness of the Arabian lawgiver, and lifted me into an ecstasy of admiration." Goldsmith, Citizen of the World. Vauxhall and Ranelagh! I then had heard Of your green groves, and wilderness of lamps Dimming the stars, and fireworks magical, And gorgeous ladies, under splendid domes, Floating in dance, or warbling high in air The songs of spirits! Wordsworth. The narrow lanes [in Genoa] have great villas opening into them, whose walls (outside walls, I mean) are profusely painted with all sorts of subjects, grim and holy. But time and the sea-air have nearly obliterated them; and they look like the entrance to Vauxhall Gardens on a sunny day. Dickens. It was a curious phenomenon, in the withered, unbelieving, second-hand Eighteenth Century, that of a Hero starting up, among the artificial pasteboard figures and productions, in the guise of a Robert Burns. Like a little well in the rocky desert places, like a sudden splendor of Heaven in the artificial Vauxhall! Carlyle. He spoke and raised the veil! And ask ye | Venice paying Homage to Cath what Unto the gaze was there within revealed? I know not. Pale and senseless, at the foot Of the dread statue of Egyptian Isis, Answering some curious and impetuous brain, "Woe for she never shall delight him more! Woe, woe to him who treads through Velabrum. In ancient Rome, a marsh, or fen, occupying the interval between the Capitoline and Palatine hills, caused by the overflow of the Tiber. Varro derives the name from vehere, to carry, from the ferry which was used to carry travellers across. See SAN GIORGIO-IN-VELABRO. Vendôme. See COLONNE VENDÔME and PLACE VENDÔME. Venetia. A well-known portrait of Venetia, wife of Sir Kenelm Digby, by Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641). In the Louvre, Paris. Vengeance, La. A noted French frigate, attacked and put to flight by the United States man-ofwar the Constellation, Commodore Truxtun, Feb. 1, 1800. "The combatants fought desperately at pistol-shot distance, until one o'clock in the morning. Suddenly the French frigate disappeared in the gloom. Truxtun, after small repairs, bore away to Jamaica, and it was some time before he knew that he had fought the vessel he was searching for, La Vengeance, 54 guns, with 400 men. The frigate, dreadfully crippled, had run away in the darkness, and escaped to Curaçoa. This victory made the navy immensely popular. Congress gave Truxtun the thanks of the nation, and voted him a gold medal." Lossing. Venice. A picture by Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851), the celebrated English painter. Venice, Approach to. See APPROACH TO VENICE. erine Cornaro. See CATHERINE CORNARO. A Venice, Queen of the Sea. picture by Jacopo Robusti, called Tintoretto (1512-1594). In the Doge's Palace, Venice, Italy. Venus. A renowned statue by the Greek sculptor Alcamenes (fl. 444-400 B.C.), in which Phidias is supposed to have assisted. Venus. A statue by Giovanni da Bologna, called Il Fiammingo (1524-1608). At the Villa of Petrarca, Florence, Italy. Venus. A well-known statue by Antonio Canova (1757-1822). In the Pitti Palace, Florence, Italy. "Although undoubtedly a figure of great beauty, it by no means struck me as possessing that exquisite and classic perfection which has been ascribed to it." Bayard Taylor. Venus. A well-known statue by Antonio Canova (1757-1822). In the gallery of Stafford House, London. Venus à la Coquille. [Venus of the Shell.] A mythological picture by Titian (1477-1576). "A single figure rising from the sea, and drying her hair, a shell floating near her." In the Orleans Gallery. Venus Anadyomene. [Gr. 'Aopodirη ἀναδυομένη, Venus rising from the sea.] A celebrated statue of Venus in the Vatican Palace, Rome. The name Anadyomene is applied to several other statues of Venus, one or two of which are in the Museum at Naples, Italy. There was in ancient times a celebrated picture bearing this name, by the Greek painter Apelles. It is said to have been executed for the temple of Asclepius at Cos, and to have been taken to Rome by the Emperor Augus tus, and placed in the temple of Cæsar. Venus and Adonis. A statue by Antonio Canova (1757-1822), and regarded as one of the most beautiful of his works. Now in Naples, Italy. Venus and Cupid. A mythologi cal fresco in the Vatican, Rome, designed by Raphael (1483-1520), but executed by his pupils. Venus and Cupid. A picture by George Pencz (1500-1550), a German painter. In the Gallery at Munich, Bavaria. Venus and Mercury teaching Cupid his Letters. A picture by Antonio Allegri, surnamed Correggio (1494-1534). In the National Gallery, London. Venus at Cytherea. See LANDING Venus Callipyge. An admired statue found at Rome among the ruins of Nero's Golden House, and which has been attributed to Praxiteles. It is now in the Museum at Naples. "The Venus Callipygis, apparently a boudoir ornament, reminding one of the pretty license of our eighteenth century.' Taine, Trans. Venus, The Cnidian. See CNIDIAN VENUS. Venus coming from the Bath. A well-known statue by Antonio Canova (1757-1822), of which there are several repetitions. One is in the Palazzo Pitti, Florence, another in the possession of Lord Lansdowne. Venus coming from the Bath. An admired statue by Giovanni da Bologna (1524-1608), "remarkable for delicacy and grace [Flaxman]. Venus de' Medici. A famous statue, and one of the most perfect remains of ancient art. Now in the Tribune of the Uffizi Palace in Florence, and is supposed to be the work of the Greek sculptor Cleomenes (fl. 363? B.C.). It is a figure of the goddess, of small but beautiful proportions, regarded as an example of perfect art in its class. It was discovered in the villa of Hadrian, near Tivoli, about the year 1680. "Her modest attitude is partly On what unmakes her as the heathen god. dess, and softens her into woman. account of the skill with which the statue has been restored, she is just as whole as when she left the hands of the sculptor. One cannot think of her as a senseless image, but as a being that lives to gladden the world, incapable of decay or death; as young and fair as she was three thousand years ago, and still to be young and fair as long as a beautiful thought shall require physical embodiment." Hawthorne. "The Venus stands somewhat aside from the centre of the room, and is surrounded by an iron railing, a pace or two from her pedestal in front and less behind. I think she might safely be left to the reverence her womanhood would win, without any other protection. She is very beautiful, very satisfactory, and has a fresh and newcharm about her unreached by any cast or copy." Hawthorne. There, too, the Goddess loves in stone, and fills The air around with beauty; we inhale The ambrosial aspect, which, beheld, in stils Part of its immortality; the veil Of heaven is half undrawn; within the pale We stand, and in that form and face behold What mind can make, when Nature's self would fail; And to the fond idolaters of old Envy the mnate flash which such a soul could mould; We gaze and turn away, and know not where, Dazzled and drunk with beauty, till the heart Reels with its fulness; there - forever there, Chain'd to the chariot of triumphal Art, We stand as captives, and would not depart. Byron. Why is yonder simpering Venus de' Medicis to be our standard of beauty, or the Greek tragedies to bound our notion of the sublime? Thackeray. Venus del Pardo. A picture by Venus del Vasto. A picture by MILO. See VENUS OF Venus lamenting over Adonis. A mythological picture by Giuseppe Ribera, called Lo Spagnoletto (1588-1656). In the Palazzo Corsini, Rome. |