Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 10.djvu/207

VEIT 177 VELASQUEZ feet, and sometimes much more. The thinner portions often branch off into innumerable slender ramifications like the veins of an animal, whence their name. Sometimes part of the material filling veins has fallen in from above or been seg^regated from the rocks con- stituting the sides of the fissure. They are often parallel, are associated with dykes, and are more common in the palaeozoic than in more modern strata. They vary in age, and not infrequently one crosses another. In mining, a lead or lode of ore-bearing rock, alive or dead; that is, containing ore or not; also a seam of metalliferous matter filling up a former fissure in rock. VEIT, PHILIPP (fit), a German painter; born in Berlin, Prussia, Feb. 13, 1793. His mother, a daughter of Moses Mendelssohn, had for her second husband Friedrich Schlegel and Veit became devotedly attached to the religi- ous and artistic ideas of his stepfather, like whom he embraced Catholicism. After finishing his studies at Dresden, he proceeded to Rome in 1815, and be- came a prominent member of that band of young German painters who sought to infuse into modern art the purity and earnestness of mediaeval times. Of all the associates Veit ventured farthest into the obscure realms of symbolism and allegory. His first famous work was the "Seven Years of Plenty," executed as a companion piece to Overbeck's "Seven Years of Dearth," and forming part of a series of frescoes illustrative of the history of Joseph, painted at the Villa Bartholdy in Rome. Other pictures of his Roman period are: "The Triumph of Religion" (Vatican), "Scenes from Dante's Paradiso" (Massimi Villa), and an altarpiece, representing "Mary Queen of Heaven," in the Trinita de' Monti. These procured him so great a reputa- tion that he was called in 1830 to the directorship of the Art Institute in Frankfort-on-the-Main. While holding this position he produced many grand pictures, of which the most celebrated is the large fresco (at the Institute) representing "Christianity Bringing the Fine Arts to Germany." In 1843 he re- moved to Sachsenhausen, opposite Frank- fort, in 1853 to Mainz. He died in Mainz, Dec. 18, 1877. VELA, VINCENZO. a Swiss sculptor; born in Ligornetto, Switzerland, in 1822; learned the trade of stone cutting; but in 1836 turned his attention to draw- ing. In 1847 he settled in Rome, and in 1848 was a volunteer in the Italian army during the war against Austria. He later removed to Turin and became celebrated by his statues. His works in- clude: "Christ Raising the Daughter of Jairus"; "A Prayer"; "Spartacus"; "Harmony in Tears" (1855) ; "France and Italy" (1863) ; "Columbus and America"; "The Last Days of Napo- leon"; "Spring"; etc. He was made an ofiicer of the Legion of Honor in 1867. He died in Bellinzona, Ticino, Oct. 3, 1891. VELASQUEZ, DIEGO RODRIGUEZ DE SILVA Y, a Spanish painter; born of a Portuguese family in Seville, June 5, 1599. From the studio of Francisco Herrera, an artist of note, he passed to that of Pacheco, whose daughter, Juana, he married in 1620. His early art, humble in aim and somewhat vulgar in type, is seen at its best in the "Water- Carrier" at Madrid, a work of charac- teristic vigor and keenness. To this early experience has been ascribed a certain want of elevation in his later work, an absence of the higher eclectic spirit manifested by tolerance of the painful or ugly. In 1622 he went to Madrid, where in the year following his portrait of Oiivarez procured him the patronage of Philip IV., a wonderful portrait of whom at once established the fame of the painter. As court painter he pro- duced many portraits of the royal family and of illustrious visitors, the latter including one of Charles I. of England, which has been lost. Velasquez formed a cordial friendship with Rubens during the diplomatic visit of the Fleming to Madrid in 1628. In 1629-1631 he made a tour in Italy visiting Rome, Naples, Florence, Venice, etc., and being re- ceived everywhere with the highest dis- tinction. His style, already developed, bears little trace of Italian influence, but his admiration was sympathetically touched by the glory of Venetian art, and he expressly records his preference for Titian over Raphael and Michael Angelo. On his return to Madrid he made rapid progn'ess in the royal favor; was made royal Ayuda de Camera or chamberlain (1643); his studio was re- moved to the palace, and there in friend- ly converse with the painter the king spent much of his leisure. This relationship was undisturbed by Velasquez' grateful conduct to the dis- graced favorite, Oiivarez, and in 1648 he was sent by the king to Italy, com- missioned to buy works of art. At Rome he painted the portrait of Innocent X., which is now the gem of the Doria gal- lery. He was subsequently appointed Aposentador Mayor, or royal seneschal, and in 1659 received the Cross of San- tiago, an honor till then reserved for the hiojhest nobility. But Valasquez did