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VACHEROT, Etienne (1809-97). French philosopher. Professor of philosophy at the Sorbonne, 1839-52, when he was dismissed for political reasons. The writing of his book La Democratic, put him into prison in 1859. He was elected to the Assembly in 1871. Other works include La Metaphysique et las Science, 1858.
VAIHINGER, Hans (1852-1933). German philosopher. Worked at Strasbourg, 1874-84 and Halle, 1884-1906. The author of The Philosophy of As-It. The founder of the Kant society. His doctrines that all human ideas are purely relative, while human thought is fictitious, were popular in World War I.
VAIL, Theodore Newton (1845-1920). American capitalist. In 1875 he became general superintendent of mail services and general manager of the American Bell Telephone company, 1878. He went on to become president of the American Telephone and Telegraph company, and of the Western Union Telegraph company. He was responsible for a number of important innovations.
VAIR, Guillaume Du (1556-1621). French writer. He became bishop of Lieieux in 1617, and was known also as a politician and a lawyer. Chief work De l'eloquence Francaise, 1595. Also two treatises A Buckler against Adversity, and The Moral Philosophy of the Stoics.
VALDES, Juan De (c.1500-41). Spanish writer. He wrote a work in 1528 attacking the Catholic Church, and was exiled. After settling in Naples in 1533 he became the centre of a literary circle which did much to press the need for a spiritual reform of the church.
VALDES-LEAL, Juan De (1622-90). Spanish painter. He became president of the Seville academy in 1633. He also practised engraving, sculpture and architecture. As a painter his work was reminiscent of Rubens.
VALDIVIA, Pedro de (1500-54). Spanish soldier. He served first in Italy and aided Pizarro in Peru in 1534. He was sent to conquer Chile, and founded Santiago in 1541, fighting for 6 years against the native people, being killed in a revolt in January, 1554.
VALENS, Flavius (c.328-378). Roman emperor. In 364 he was associated with his brother Valentiaian I in the government of the Eastern provinces. He fought with both the Persians and with the Goths, who were threatening the north-east frontier. After succeeding as sole emperor in 375 he let the Goths settle in Thrace. He was defeated and killed by them at the of Adrianople, August 9, 378.
VALENTINE. Name of several saints. Two of them, a priest and a bishop alleged to have been martyred near Rome on the same day, Februrary 14, about 270. The same date is associated with sending love tokens on that day.
VALENTINIAN I. Roman emperor. Reigned 364-375. Elected by the troops as emperor after the death of Jovian. Crushed a rebellion of Procopius in 366, and fought against the Alamanni on the Rhine frontier. He endeavoured to alleviate the burden of taxation on the people. A Catholic Christian, he toleratd Arianism and all forms of religion.
VALENTINIAN II (371-392).Roman emperor. Ruled jointly with his brother Gratian on their father's death in 375. After the death of Gratian he was driven out by Maximus, restored in 388 by Theodosius, the eastern emperor, but he was murdered in 392.
VALENTINIAN III. (419-55). Roman emperor. Son of Constantius III, and succeeded Honorius at the age of 6, his mother acting as regent. Actius, who checked the invasions of the Vandals, Goths and Huns, was put to death by the emperor's order in 454. Valentinian was murdered himself the following year.
VALENTINO, Rudolph (1895-1926). Italo-American film actor. Real name was Rudolph Alphonso Guglielmi di Valentino d'Antongueila. He settlted in America in 1913 intending to take up farming but couldn't find employment. He became a dancing partner instead to Gaby Deslys on stage in London. Returning to America in 1919 he made his screen debut as Julio in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in 1922. He was an instant success. His later films included The Sheik, Blood and Sand, The Young Rajah and Monsieur Beaucaire. He became a naturalised American but died at the height of his success in 1926. His funeral was attended by hundreds of thousands of people.
VALENTINUS. Roman theologian. Lived sometime in the 2nd century. He abandoned orthodox Christianity for Gnosticism. His doctrine was called Valentianism, and spread rapidly for a time after his death.
VALERA Y ALCALA GALIANO, Juan (1824-1905). Spanish novelist. Entered the diplomatic service in 1847, and later became a prominent publicist. In 1868 he was director of public education. From 1881 to 1895 he represented Spain in Lisbon, Washington, Brussels, and Vienna. His published works include a volume of poems, 1856; Critical Studies of Literature, 1864; Pepita Jimenez, 1874; The Illusion of Dr. Faustino, 1875; Knight Commander Mendoza; 1877; and Juanita la Larga, 1896.
VALERIAN (C. 190-266). Roman Emperor. Publius Licinius Valerianus, was a leading senator and censor when sent by the emperor Gallus in 251 against the upstart emperor Aemilianus on the Danube. When both emperors were murdered Valerian was proclaimed emperor by the Senate. In 294 as joint censor he had issued the first edict against the Christians and persecution followed. As Emperorer he issued more and several martyrdoms followed. His son Gallienus was appointed to rule in the west. After defeating the Goths in 257 he recovered Antioch from the Persians and pursuing Shapur I to the Euphrates was trapped and captured near Edessa in 260. He did not survive long in captivity.
VALERIUS FLACCUS, Gaius. Roman poet. Little is known of him, except that he was one of the Quindecimeiri sacris faciundis at Rome, 15 officials to whom the keeping of the Sibylline books was entrusted, and that he died young, about A.D. 90. He was the author of the Argonautica, an account of the voyage of the Argonauts, in eight books dedicated to the emperor Vespasian.
VALETTE, Jean Parisot De La (1498-1568) French knight. He entered the order of St. John of Jerusalem as a young man, becoming grand master in 1557. His naval operations against the Turks led to their sending a fleet of 150 vessels against Malta. De la Valette, with a force of 9,000 men, successfully defended the place for 5 months inflicting great losses on the Turks, who finally withdrew. The town of Valletta in Malta is named after him.
VALLABHA. Hindu prophet. He founded the sect of Vallabhachars and lived in the 16th century. He was one of the most famous preachers of the worship of Krishna. He taught that ascetism was hurtful, since man's soul was identical with the divine, and that true worship of and love towards the divine were shown by complete indulgence in the bodily instincts. He established the worship of Gopal Lal, the image of Krishna in his youth, whose festivals became the scenes of erotic orgies, and based his doctrine on his own commentaries on the Bhagavata-purana. He also wrote other doctrinal works in Sanskrit.
VALLE, Pietro Della (1586k-1652). Italian traveller. In 1614 he set out from Rome, staying a year in Constantinople, and reached the Holy Land in 1616. From there he went to Persia via Bagdad, where he stayed some time and reached Surat in 1623. Remaining a year in India he returned home in 1626. An account of his travels was published after his death. This account of the East was an accurate and valuable record.
VAMBERY, Arminius (1832-1913). Hungarian traveller. He went to Constantinople in 1854 to teach French and studied Arabic and Persian. From there he went to Turkistan in 1861 where he joined a caravan of pilgrims returning from Mecca and travelled with them to Khiva. then on to Bokhara and Samarkand, making his way back to Persia via Herst in 1864. Returning to Budapest, he became professor of Turkish and other oriental languages. He published Travels and Adventures in Central Asia 1864 and an autobiography in English 1884, and The Story of My Struggles, 1904.
VANBRUGH, Sir John (1664-1726). English drmatist and architect. He studied architecture in France, entered the army and was arrested as a spy in France and imprisoned in the Bastille. He wrote ten comedies. His best known plays are The Relapse, 1696; The Provok'sd Wife, 1697; and The Confederacy, 1705. Most of his plays were adapted from Moliere and other writers. In his later years he rose to fame as an architect. His finest work is Castle Howard, Yorkshire, and his largest mansion is Blenheim Palace. He designed the Haymarket Theatre, London, 1705, and was its first lessee and manager. Knighted by George I, 1714, he held the appointment of controller of the royal works.
VAN BUREN, Martin (1782-1862). American statesman. Of Dutch parentage, he became a lawyer. As attorney-general of the state of New York, 1815-19, he was one of the powerful group that did much to fasten the spoils system on the country. He was elected to the U.S. senate 1821, became governor of New York in 1829, and was then made secretary of state by Andrew Jackson, whose election he had helped to secure. For a few months in 1831-32 he was minister to Great Britain, but in 1832 was chosen vice-president. For 4 years he acted as Jackson's lieutenant, and in 1836 became president in succession to him, holding office until 1840. He remained in public life, being a supporter of Lincoln, until his death.
VANCOUVER, George (c.1758-98). English navigator. Entering the navy, he served under Cook on his second and third voyages, 1772-80, and then saw active service in the West Indies. Put in command of an expedition to regain certain territory from the Spaniards, he left England in Feb., 1791, sailed first to Australia via the Cape, then to New Zealand, Tahiti, and finally in April 1792, reached the north-west coast of America, sailing round the island that is now named after him. After surveying a long stretch of the American coast and areas of the Pacific, he returned to England in 1794. the account of his voyage which was unfinished at his death was completed and published by his brother.
VANDAMME, Dominique Rene [1770-1830] French soldier. He entered the army and at the age of 22 was made a brigadier-general in the revolutionary force. His greatest exploit was the reduction of Silesia in 1806-07. After the battle of Dresden 1813 , he was defeated at Kulm, and forced to surrender with 10, 000 men. Rejoining Napoleon in the Hundred Days, he commanded a corps at Ligny. He was exiled until 1824.
VANDERBILT, Cornelius [1794-1877], American capitalist. He set up a ferry from Staten Island to New York as a lad of 16, and in a few years was the owner of a large fleet of harbor craft, among which was the first steamboat to run between New York and New Brunswick, 1817. His interests were organized in 1824 into a company, which under his management greatly developed, running vessels all along the coast. By 1867 he had obtained control of the New York Central and other railroads. Before his death he held control of a trunk line between New York and Chicago. In his will he endowed Vanderbilt University.
VANDERBILT. William Henry [1821-85] was a clerk in a bank in 1839-42. In 1862 he became president of the Staten Island Railroad, and was taken into partnership by his father, on whose death in 1877 he became president of the New York Central and Hudson Railroads. By his energy and business acumen he obtained control of other important systems, and at his death made large donation to the Vanderbilt University.
VANDERBILT, Cornelius [1843-99]. Eldest son of the above he became vice-president of the New York Central, and extended his railway interests until by 1886 he was director of more than 35 Railroad companies. He gave largely to philanthropic and religious causes.
VAN DER GOES, Hugo (c.1435-82). Flemish painter. He became a member of the painters' guild in 1467. He appears to have worked prior to that date as a jouneyman-painter in various parts of the Netherlands. he was one of the official decorators during the wedding celebrations of Charles the bold and Margaret of York, 1468, at Bruges, and in 1473 became dean of the guild of St. Luke at Ghent. He was concerned chiefly in historical, heraldic and allegorical figure work, his treatment particularly of the female figure winning high approval during his own day. So numerous were his commissions that he suffered from worry as to their fulfilment and became for a while insance. He died at a monastery near Brussels which he had entered in 1476.
VAN DER WEYDEN, Roger (1400-64). Flemish painter. He studied under his father, a sculptor, who surname was de la Pasture. Apprenticed in 1427 to Robert Campin, he became a master of the guild of St. Luke, 1432, and about that time settled in Brussels, where he became official painter to the municipality painting 4 pictures for the town hall. He visited Rome and other Italian cities in 1449 and returned to Brussels, where most of his work was done, and where he died. He had a great influence on Flemish painting. His religious paintings include triptychs at Berlin, Madrid and Munich; the Descent from the Cross and the mater Dolorosa and Ecce Homo.
VAN DE VELDE. Family of Dutch painters. The founders of the family were the brothers Esaias (c. 1590-1630), Jan (c. 1593-1641) and Willem the Elder (1611-93). Esaias, a fine landscape painter, worked in Amsterdam and The Hague. Over 400 of Jan's engravings are in existence. They show him to have possessed a delicate touch and cover a wide range of subject.
Willem the elder, the first of the family to achieve real eminence, was originally a ship's draughtsman. He was later employed as an official painter of sea-fights by the Dutch in their wars with the English, and afterwards by the latter under Charles II and James II. He painted some excellent sea-pieces, but worked chiefly in monochrome. He settled, 1676, in Greenwich, where he died.
His son, Willem the Younger (1633-1707), the most famous of the family, worked with his father for Charles II and James II. His magnificent sea-pieces are well represented in English galleries and he also executed a number of views of the Dutch coast.
Adriaen Van de Velde (1636-72), a brother of the younger Willem, became famous as a painter of landscapes and coast scenes, usually with cattle or human figures; he added the figures and animals to the works of Ruysdael, Hobbema, and others of his contemporaries. He was well represented in English galleries.
VAN DYCK, Sir Anthonis (1599-1641). Flemish painter. He studied under Hendrik van Balen and in 1618 entered Rubens'studio as an assistant. There he was employed in copying that master's pictures for the engravers, making large cartoons from his sketches and painting historical pieces on the Rubens model. He had, however embarked on portraiture with considerable success before his first visit to England in 1620, and in 1618 was admitted to the guild of St. Luke. In England he worked for James I, but he returned to Antwerp early in 1621, and later in the same year went to Genoa, then Rome, Mantua, Palermo and Brescia, and back to Genoa where he remained till 1627. After working at Antwerp and The Hague, he was induced by the offer of a pension to visit England which he did in March, 1632. A few months later he was knighted. During 1634-35 he was in Antwerp, and painted there perhaps his finest portraits. They included the Ferdinand of Austria, John of Nassau, and Albert of Armberg; his finest religious paintings also belong to this period. He was settled in England at the end of 1635 engaged upon the many portraits of the courts. His output was enormous; he is reputed to have painted Charles I 36 times. On hearing of Rubens' death in 1640 Van Dyck went to Antwerp, and later to Paris. He died in London. Van Dyck greatly influenced English portrait painters.
VAN DYKE, Henry (1852-1933). American writer. He became widely known as a preacher, being pastor of the Brick Presbyterian Church, New York, 1882-1900. He was professor of English Literature at Princeton, 1900-23, and was U.S. minister to the Netherlands and Luxembourg, 1913-17. It is as the writer of verse and prose that he is best known. His books on religion include The Reality of Religion, 1884; and The Gospel for an Age of doubt, 1896.
VANE, Sir Henry (1589-1654). English politician. He was knighted 1611, and in 1614 entered the House of Commons. He became one of the chief counsellors of Charles I and was secretary of state. In 1620 he encouraged Charles, in his excesses of government and is thought to have been responsible for the condemnation of Strafford. Dismissed, on account of treachery, he later appeared as a supporter of the parliamentary cause, being made in 1644, a member of the committees, for Ireland and England; but although he adhered to Parliament, after the Kings execution, he was not trusted and died without further preferment.
VANE, Sir Henry (1613-62). English politician. Son of the above. In 1635 having become a Puritan he went to Massachusetts, of which colony, he was made governor. Returning to England in 1637 he entered Parliament and was knighted in 1640; as one of the Parliamentary Chiefs he was concerned in the political moves of the next few years, succeeding Pym as leader in 1643. He was chief of the commissioners, who put through the Solemn League and Covenant with the Scots in that year, but, having failed in 1646 to find a compromise between Parliament and the Army he lost influence being distrusted by both parties. About 1648 he separated himself from his colleagues and although a commissioner in the Treaty of Newport, and made in 1649 one of the lords of the council, refused to approve of the king's execution. Vane's position in the country was high, and he proved an able organizer of the commissariat in Cromwell's Scottish expedition, and later a skilful member of the committee of foreign affairs in 1651, making secret visits to France. His reorganization of the navy when he was navel commissioner was largely responsible for the English victories over the Dutch. A firm advocate of tolerance, he enjoyed Cromwell's confidence until he opposed his dictatorial methods. Forced into retirement he was accused of fomenting Anabaptist agitation and was imprisoned in 1656. After the abdication of Richard Cromwell he was appointed a member of the committee of safety and appointed a councillor of State. As such he controlled foreign policy and finance. On the Restoration he was first granted his life, but later was arrested and tried for treason. In spite of an eloquent defense, he was executed.
VAN GOGH, Vincent (1853-90). Dutch painter. He entered the employ of various firms of picture dealers and, coming to England, became in 1876, an art teacher at Ramsgate. He then lived for a time with the miners of the Borinage; in 1880 was in Brussels, painting; then in Antwerp, and Paris, where he mixed with the Impressionist groups,. He settled in the south of France in 1888, and worked with Gauguin until his mind began to give way; and after several attacks of insanity he shot himself. As an artist he stands alone belonging to no group. In all his work the same passionate sincerity is obvious. During his early pre-Paris period he worked with a sombre palette, umbers and browns being his chief colours. There is an amazing difference between his work of this period and the famous Sunflowers of a few years later. His last and most fertile period was in Arles in which the sun burns from the canvas never clear and bright but with a high brilliance that is unique. They are made up chiefly of hot yellows, blues and greens, occasionally deep reds but always clean, pure colours. The best known would be Sunflowers; several landscapes, his self-portrait after he had cut off his own ear in a fit of madness and a few other portraits.
VAN LOO, Jean Baptiste (1684-1745). French painter. He went to Paris in 1719 becoming an Academician in 1731. He visited England in 1738 where he became a fashionable portrait painter. His portraits of Sir Robert Walpole, and Colley Cibber are amongst his better known work.
VAN'T HOFF, Jacobus Heinricus (1852-1911). Dutch chemist. After a brilliant career as a student he published a paper in 1874 which laid the foundations of stereochemistry. Appointed in 1878 professor of chemistry, mineralogy and geology at Amsterdam University, in 1896 he was made an honorary professor at Berlin University, where his brilliant work on double salts and the mineral deposits such as those at Stassfurt enabled themto be worked commercially, won him in 1901 the first Nobel Prize for chemistry. He is famous for his extension of the theory of Kekule that graphic chemical formulae must be extended in three-dimensional space to accord with the facts of organic chemistry. Although ridiculed at the time, it was subsequently established and became the foundation of the immense progress made in molecular chemistry during the end of the 19th century. In other fields his work was equally revolutionary. In his Etudes de dynamique chimique, 1884, he showed the precise application of mathematical and thermo dynamic principles to chemical equilibria, and he was one of the first to state the laws governing the relations between gases and dilute solutions, which resulted in immense progress in physical chemistry.
VANZETTI, Bartolomeo (1888-1927). American anarchist. He emmigrated to America from Italy in 1908, and became a radical agitator while working as a manual labourer. He was arrested in 1920 with Nicola Sacco on a murder charge and, after a trial that aroused deep protests throughout the world was executed.
VARENIUS, Bernhardus (1622-50). German geographer. He studied medicine but, becoming interested in geography he published in 1649 Descriptio Regni Japoniae, and in the following year his Geographia Generalis. This, for many years the finest of its kind was a treatise on the entire subject of geography, which the author divided into mathematical, phy sical and topographical geography. An improved edition one of many was prepared by Isaac Newton in 1672.
VARGAS, Luis De (1502-68). Spanish painter. He went to Rome about 1527 and remained there until 1555, when he returned to Spain. He excelled in religious subjects, especially in frescoes, some of which are preserved in Madrid. His best work in oils is in the cathedral of Seville. He was one of the best of the Spanish 16th century painters and it is unfortunate that so much of his work has been ruined or destroyed.

VARLEY, John (1778-1842). English artist. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy 1798, and was an original member of the Water Colour Society, 1804. He painted chiefly landscapes in watercolour, was a friend and benefactor of William Blake, and an amateur astrologer and prophet. More important as a teacher than for his own works.
VARNHAGEN VON ENSE, Karl August (1785-1858). German author. He first joined the Austrrian army being wounded at Wagram. Transferred to the Russian army, 1813, he entered the Prussian diplomataic service being present at the Congress of Vienna, 1815. He wrote Lives of Goethe, 1824; General von Seydlitz, 1834; and Marshal Keith, 1844; besides Biographische Denkmaler 1824-30; and Denkwurdigkeiten und Vermischte Schriften (Memoirs and Miscellaneous Writings), 1843-59.