313 



VENEZIANO, AGOSTINO. 



VENEZIANO, DOMENICO. 



314 



the defection of the Duke of Savoy. Ho obtained several advantages 

 over that prince; but on the 16th of August 1706 he again found 

 himself and again by surprise in the presence of Prince Eugene on 

 the banks of the Adda near Cassano. Here, as at Luzara, Veudome's 

 presence of mind and the bravery of his army retrieved his negligence. 

 In 1708 Vendome was sent to supersede Villeroi in Holland, who had 

 been as unsuccessful in that country as in Italy. 



The reputation of Veudome was obscured by the disastrous defeat 

 of Oudenarde. In his defence it may be said that he had been recently 

 placed at the head of the army broken up and dispirited by the defeat 

 of Ramilies ; that the country was new to him ; and that his opponents 

 were Marlborough and Eugene. But after every allowance has been 

 made for these disadvantages, it seems now to be generally admitted 

 that the want of a proper understanding between the Duke of Burgundy 

 and Vendome was a main cause of the loss of the battle of Oudenarde, 

 and that the fault was Vendome's. His previous reputation, and the 

 partisan spirit in which the question was canvassed in France, enabled 

 Vendome to escape with less disgrace than could have been antici- 

 pated. In 1710, Philip V., driven from his capital, and mindful of the 

 battle of Luzara, implored the assistance of his old general. Louis XIV. 

 lost no time in despatching the duke to Spain. The defeated and dis- 

 banded soldiers of Spain rallied round him from all parts of the king- 

 dom ; the imperial army was obliged to evacuate Madrid; and on the 

 3rd of December 1710 Vendome restored Philip in triumph to his 

 capital. The king and his general quitted Madrid again in three days, 

 overtook the rearguard of the enemy, and obliged Stanhope, with four 

 thousand soldiers, to surrender at Brituela. This advantage was fol- 

 lowed by the well-disputed battle of Villa- Viciosa, in which Stahrem- 

 berg was, after an obstinate contest, entirely defeated. On their return 

 to Madrid, Philip raised Vendome to an equality with the princes of 

 the blood, and would have heaped wealth as well as honours upon 

 him, had not Vendome steadily refused to accept it. Some corps of 

 insurgents who still held out for Austria having occasioned disquiet in 

 Catalonia in the early part of 1712, Vendome repaired to that province 

 to tread out these last sparks of internal war. While thus engaged, 

 he died suddenly at Tignaroz on the llth of June. 



Vendome possessed no small share of the genius, bravery, and good- 

 humour of his grandfather ; but these virtues were shaded by more 

 than that prince's voluptuousness, and a besetting indolence which 

 was no part of the character of Henri IV. He married, in 1710, 

 Marie-Anne of Bourbon-Condc, who survived him six years. There 

 was no issue by this marriage. The younger brother of Louis-Joseph 

 having entered the order of Malta, the duke's estates at his death 

 reverted to the crown. 



PHILIPPE, younger brother of the preceding, the last of his family 

 who bore, the title of Duke of Vendome, was born on the 23rd of 

 August 1655. He was received, while yet a child, into the order of 

 Malta, in which he eventually rose to the rank of grand-prior, and 

 made his first campaign under his uncle, the Duke of Beaufort, in the 

 ranks of the Venetian army, in Candia, in 1669. He accompanied his 

 brother in all his campaigns, and was looked upon as a distinguished 

 soldier till the battle of Cassano in 1706. His inactivity was the cause 

 of the French troops being obliged to give way before the Austrians. 

 For this misconduct he was deprived of all his benefices, and retired 

 to Rome, where he subsisted on a pension allowed him by Louis XIV. 

 After an exile of five years he was allowed to return to France, and 

 reinstated in his benefices. He took up his abode in the Temple, and 

 abandoned himself to pleasure. In 1715 he went to Malta to take the 

 command of the troops assembled to repel an attack apprehended from 

 the Turks. The attack was not made, and the grand-prior returned to 

 the Temple, where he died on the 24th of January 1727. His mind 

 was more cultivated than that of his brother : he had a taste for litera- 

 ture and the arts, and patronised their professors. In other respects 

 there was a great resemblance between the characters of the brothers ; 

 both were brave and both were dissipated. The grand-prior was dis- 

 tinguished for his licentiousness in the licentious times of the regency. 



VENEZIA'NO, AGOSTI'NO, one of the most celebrated of the 

 early Italian engravers, was, as his name implies, a native of Venice, 

 but the date of his birth is not known ; he was however born near the 

 close of the 15th century. He is called also Augustinus de Musis, and 

 on his celebrated print of the Skeletons he has signed himself Augus- 

 tinus Venetus de Musis ; his family name was probably Muzi. 

 Agostino was the scholar of Marcantonio Raimondi, for whom, in 

 conjunction with Marco di Ravenna, he engraved many works at 

 Rome, chiefly after Rafi'aelle : he remained with Marcantonio until 

 the death of Raffaelle in 1520, when he worked for himself. He does 

 not appear to have been altogether with Marcantonio from the first 

 time that he engraved, nor is it anywhere stated that he was first 

 instructed by him ; he may have joined him at Rome in the year 

 1516, after he engraved a plate for Andrea del Sarto, which so dis- 

 pleased that painter that he determined upon not allowing any more 

 of his pictures to be engraved. This print, of which there is an 

 impression in the British Museum, represents a Dead Christ supported 

 by Angels : it is perfectly flat and extremely hard in outline, and it is 

 not at all surprising that Andrea del Sarto should have been dissatisfied 

 with such a production. There are prints marked with Agostino's 

 initials A. V., bearing dates from 1509 to 1536; they are executed 

 much in the style of the prints of Marcantonio, but are very inferior 



in design and in chiaroscuro. Agostino's outline is generally very 

 hard, and his chiaroscuro bad ; he was inferior also to Marco di 

 Ravenna in design, and to Bonasoni in chiaroscuro. He was, according 

 to Strutt, the first who had recourse to stipple engraving. His prints 

 are not few, yet not numerous ; they were often copied, and his 

 plates retouched, and original impressions are very scarce. His por- 

 traits are superior to his other pieces. The following are among his 

 best works : large portraits of Pope Paul III., Francis I. of France, 

 Charles V. of Germany, and Barbarosea of Tunis, all finely-drawn, 

 heads, and full of character: there are impressions in the British 

 Museum. The Israelites gathering the Manna, after Raffaelle, sup- 

 posed by some to have been commenced by Marcantonio, on account 

 of the outlines being better drawn than in the majority of Agostino 

 Veneziano's figures. The Four Evangelists, and a Nativity after Julio 

 Romano : the Nativity, which is dated 1531, is one of this engraver's 

 best prints as regards chiaroscuro ; in drawing it is not good, but he 

 engraved also after Julio Romano a Hercules strangling the Serpents, 

 which is very finely drawn. The large print of the Skeletons or 

 Burying-place, after Baccio Bandinelli, is Agostino's masterpiece : it 

 contains many emaciated figures, two skeletons, and a figure of Death 

 holding a book ; he has marked it with his name in full, " Augustinus 

 Venetus de Musis. Faciebat 1518." He engraved abo, after Bandi- 

 nelli, a Cleopatra, and a Massacre of the Innocents, which according 

 to Vasari was the largest plate that had been then engraved; an 

 interesting plate of the School of Baccio Bandinelli at Rome, marked 

 " Academia di Bacchio Brandin. in Roma, in luogo detto Belvidere. 

 1531. A. V.;' part of Michel Angelo's Cartoon of Pisa, called the 

 Climbers ; and a group from RafFaelle's School of Athens. He 

 engraved many plates after Raffaelle, but some of them are very 

 indifferent; Vasari says that Agostino and Marco di Ravenna engraved 

 nearly all the designs of Raffaelle. Agostino copied also on copper 

 some of the wood-cuts of Albert Diirer : there is one in the British 

 Museum of the Last Supper, in which Agostino has perfectly 

 preserved the character of the original, and yet has produced a 

 much more elegant work as regards execution. There is in the 

 British Museum a very good collection of the works of Agostino 

 Veneziano. 



VENEZIA'NO, ANTO'NIO, one of the best Italian painters of the 

 14th century, was born, according to Vasari, at Venice, in about 1309, 

 although Baldinucci has concluded from certain documents that he 

 was a Florentine. He studied with Angelo Gaddi at Florence, and 

 acquired his style of painting. After living some time in Florence, 

 he returned to Venice, and was employed by the Signory to paint one 

 of the walls of the council-hall in fresco, which he did with great 

 credit to himself, but owing to the influence of the jealousy of some 

 of his contemporaries he was not properly rewarded for his work, and 

 he left Venice in disgust. He returned to Florence, and executed 

 some very good works there in the convent of Santo Spirito and 

 other places, but they are all now destroyed. From Florence he was 

 invited to Pisa, to complete the series of the life of San Ranieri, in 

 the Campo Sauto, which had been commenced by Simone Memmi. 

 Antonio's frescoes in the Carnpo Santo are, in the opinion of Vasari, 

 the best paintings there; the works of Benozzo Gozzoli were executed 

 later. Vasari praises the purity of his colouring, which he partly 

 attributes to his never retouching his works when dry. He returned 

 again to Florence, and painted in the Torre degli Agli an Adoration of 

 the Kings, a Dead Christ, and a Last Judgment, but they have all now 

 perished. In later life he turned physician, and Vasari says that he 

 acquired as great reputation in one capacity as in the other. He died 

 of the plague at Florence in 1384, the victim of his desire to save 

 others. His portrait is in the Campo Santo at Pisa, painted by him- 

 self. Gherardo Starnini and Paolo Uccello were his scholars. 



Vasari praises the chiaroscuro of Antonio, and seems to have con- 

 sidered him the best in this respect of his time. His design was also 

 correct and graceful, and he was distinguished likewise for the choice 

 of his attitudes and for the truth and variety of his expression. 



VENEZIA'NO, DOME'NICO, a celebrated painter of the 15th 

 century, whose melancholy fate is recorded by Vasari in the Life of 

 the infamous Castagno, as he is called. He was born at Venice, about 

 1406, acquired the art of painting in oil from Autonello of Messina, 

 obtained a good reputation in several parts of Italy, particularly in 

 Perugia, and was invited to Florence, where he was employed in 

 various places, and also, together with Andrea del Castagno, to paint a 

 chapel in Santa Maria Nuova. Castaguo, who could not paint in oil, 

 was jealous of the skill and reputation of Domenico, and, says Vasari, 

 made up his mind to get rid of him. He however pretended to have 

 a great esteem for him, and he courted his friendship, which he had 

 very little difficulty in acquiring, as Domenico was a very simple man. 

 Domenico became strongly attached to Castagno and taught him his 

 method of painting in oil ; and they spent their evenings generally 

 together and appeared to be sincere friends; Domenico was fond of 

 music, and was a good performer on the lute. As the works advanced 

 the jealousy of Castagno increased, for though a better- draughtsman 

 than Domenico, he was inferior in colouring. The works of Domenico 

 attracted too much attention to please Castaguo, and he determined to 

 put his malicious design into execution. Upon a summer's evening, 

 about the year 1462, Domenico went out as usual with his lute from 

 his work in Santa Maria Nuova, and Castaguo refused to accompany 



