U
UBALDI, Guido. See Guid' Ubaldo.
UBERTI, Bonifacio, commonly called Fazio degli Uberti, a poet of the fourteenth century, born in Florence; died at Verona. Condemned to exile by the ascendancy of the Guelphic interest, the Ghibelline Fazio went from court to court ingratiating himself with potentates by his talents and his flatteries. Few particulars are known of his life, but in one of his canzoni he complains of extreme poverty. His principal poem, "Il Dittamondo" (News of the World), written in terza rima, contains much genuine information, though conveyed in an imaginative form; the poet feigning himself a traveller through the world under the mentorship of Solinus. But the chronology of this unfinished poem is very confused.—C. G. R.
UBERTI, Farinata degli, a Florentine, and leader of the Ghibellines during part of the twelfth century. Driven from his native city in consequence of one of the frequent conflicts of which Florence was at that time the scene, he withdrew to Sienna. After a while, however, he collected a considerable number of fighting men, put himself at their head, and, having marched against Florence, overthrew the Guelphs and took possession of the city. Soon after he also made himself master of Lucca. But the almost regular turn of fortune came. The Guelphs were again masters of Florence, and the Ghibellines in exile. Uberti lived to an advanced age, but he never again set foot within the walls of his native city.—R. M., A.
UCCELLO, Paolo, the name by which Paolo di Dono is commonly known, from his love of painting birds. He was born in Florence in 1396-97, was brought up as a goldsmith, and was one of the assistants of Lorenzo Ghiberti in the making of the first pair of bronze gates executed by him for the baptistery of Florence. Few of his paintings now remain, but a masterpiece by him, the "Battle of Sant' Egidio, 1416," remarkable for its armour and the spirit of its horses, is now in the National gallery. Paolo read geometry with Manetti, and was one of the first to apply perspective in detail. He had a passion for that science; it kept him up at nights and absorbed time that might have been more lucratively employed. He died at Florence in his own house in 1479, aged eighty-three.—R. N. W.
UDAL, John, an eminent nonconformist divine, at one time minister at Kingston-on-Thames, and afterwards for a year at Newcastle-on-Tyne. Suspected of being the author of a book entitled "A Demonstration of Discipline," in which violent language was used against the bishops, he was on the 20th February, 1591, on most inadequate evidence, condemned to death for sedition. This sentence was respited till her majesty's pleasure was known. Efforts were meanwhile made to procure him a pardon, but he died in the Marshalsea prison of a broken heart, about the end of 1592. He was the author of the first Hebrew grammar in English, and several other works.—D. W. R.
UDALL, Nicholas, the father of English comedy, was born in Hampshire in the year 1505 or 1506. He was educated at Corpus Christi college, Oxford; but owing to his known attachment to the tenets of Luther, he did not take his degree till 1534. His first work known to be extant was composed in 1532 in conjunction with his friend Leland, the learned antiquary, being a pageant to celebrate the entrance of Anne Boleyn into the city after her marriage. He early acquired reputation as a teacher of the classical tongues, and in 1533 compiled and published "Floures for Latin Spekynge." In the following year he was appointed head master of Eton school. He was a severe master, using the rod unmercifully, and succeeded so ill in maintaining the discipline of the school, that a robbery of the college plate by some of the scholars caused a public scandal in 1542 and led to the dismissal of Udall. He had been accustomed to write Latin plays for the boys to act in the Christmas holidays, and was thus led, as it is supposed, to write "Ralph Roister Doister," the first English comedy. For a few years he was vicar of Braintree in Essex, but he still continued his literary labour. In 1545 he published a translation of Erasmus' Apothegms, and of his Paraphrase upon the New Testament. In this work he was associated with the Princess Mary, who contributed to the translation. From Edward VI. he received valuable church preferment in 1552 and 1553. Shortly afterwards he was appointed head master of Westminster school, an office which he held until November, 1556, when Queen Mary abolished the school to restore the monastery. A month afterwards, on the 23rd of December, 1556, Udall died.—R. H.
UDEN, Lucas van, a celebrated Dutch painter, was born at Antwerp in 1595. He was the pupil of his father, a painter of little note, and entered the painters' guild of Antwerp in 1626. He early attracted the notice of Rubens, who employed him to paint the landscape backgrounds to some of his compositions; and in return, when Van Uden became celebrated as a painter, Rubens added figures to two or three of his landscapes. Teniers also occasionally painted figures and groups in the landscapes of Van Uden. His landscapes mostly represent an open level country, backed by distant hills; but there are a few close landscapes, waterfalls, &c., by him. He was a diligent student of nature, an observer of the ordinary atmospheric phenomena, drew well, and finished carefully. But his colour is monotonous, his touch feeble. Some of the best of his pictures are in private collections of this country. The Dresden gallery has six excellent pictures by him. He left above sixty etchings, nearly all from his own designs, the best of which are in great request among collectors. The year of his death is unknown. He was living in Antwerp in 1662.—J. T—e.
UDINE, Giovanni da, of the family of the Ricamatori, was born at Udine in 1487. He studied some time with Giorgione at Venice, then joined Raphael at Rome. Giovanni, though a good painter, was employed chiefly on decorative work by Raphael, and contributed largely to the execution of the paintings of the Vatican Loggie. At the period in which he lived he was unrivalled in the execution of animals, birds, &c. Giovanni copied for Raphael the decorations of the baths of Titus at Rome, then recently discovered. This painter was one of Raphael's assistants, also, in the preparation of the celebrated cartoons for tapestry, which are now at Hampton court. He died at Rome in 1564.—R. N. W.
UFFENBACH, Johann Friedrich von, a German bibliophile, was born of a patrician family at Frankfort-on-the-Maine, on 22nd February, 1683, and died on 6th January, 1734. After devoting himself to the study of law at Strasburg and Halle, he travelled extensively, and then lived in literary retirement at his native town, where he was afterwards chosen a member of the senate. Of his celebrated library, which declining health obliged him to offer for sale, he has published two catalogues, viz., Bibliotheca Uffenbachiana Manuscripta, and Bibliotheca Uffenbachiana Universalis.—K. E.
UGHELLI, Ferdinando, a learned Italian, who belonged to the Cistercian order of monks, was born at Florence on the 21st March, 1595. He studied at Rome with the Jesuits, and afterwards passed the principal part of his life in monastic though not recluse duties. It was soon after his settlement at Rome as Abbe de Trois-Fontaines that he formed the design of his great work, the "Italia Sacra." He devoted to it all his leisure time, preferring studious retirement to all the honours and high
