813 



WORNUM, RALPH NICHOLSON. 



WORONZOW, PRINCE. 



814 



Gothica dicta,' &c., Copenhagen, 4to, 1636; folio, 1651; 5, 'Fasti 

 Danici,' Copenhagen, folio, 1626; 6, ' Monumentorum Danicorum 

 Libri VI.,' Copenhagen, folio, 1643 ; 7, ' Lexicon Runicum efc Appendix 

 ad Monumenta Danica,' Copenhagen, folio, 1650. This work is of 

 great repute, and almost indispensable for those who study Scandi- 

 navian antiquities. 8, 'De Cornu Aureo,' Copenhagen, folio, 1641. 

 This work gives a description of a large golden horn of beautiful 

 workmanship, adorned with numerous figures and ornaments in 

 relievo, which was in the possession of the kings of Denmark till it 

 was stolen aud melted down in the last century. 9, ' Historia Nor- 

 wegian Vernacula,' Copenhagen, 4to, 1636. This history has been 

 superseded by the excellent work of Torfaeus on the history of 

 Norway. ('Vita Olai Wormii,' in the first volume of Olai Wormii 

 Epistolce, ed. Thomas Earth olin.) 



* WORNUM, RALPH NICHOLSON, the son of Robert Wornum 

 the well-known Pianoforte-maker, was born at Thornton near Norham, 

 North Durham, on the 29th of December 1812. Having completed his 

 general education at University College, then known as the University 

 of London, in 1833, and having been led by a love of art to adopt the 

 profession of a painter, he attended at Mr. Sass's Studio for three 

 months; aud then in the beginning of 1834 went abroad to prosecute 

 the study of painting on the Continent. He resided for nearly six 

 years at Munich, Dresden, Rome, and Paris, when he returned to 

 London, at the close of 1839, and commenced to practise as a portrait 

 painter. For some few years he combined the literature with the prac- 

 tice of art, but, finding the two to be incompatible, he eventually 

 wholly occupied himself in art literature. 



In 1840 Mr. Wornum .became a contributor to the Penny Cyclo- 

 p?edia; and in the following year furnished the article on Painting in 

 Messrs. Taylor and Walton's ' Dictionary of Greek and Roman Anti- 

 quities,' edited by Dr. W. Smith. He also contributed the lives of the 

 Artists for the incomplete Biographical Dictionary of the Society for the 

 Diffusion of Useful Knowledge ; and wrote many articles for the Sup- 

 plement to the Penny Cyclopaedia. In 1846 he commenced a series 

 of contributions for the Art-Journal. In the same year he was 

 authorised by Sir Robert Peel, then First Lord of the Treasury, to 

 write the official Catalogue of the National Gallery of Pictures, which 

 is still sold and has now, 1857, attained to the twenty-second edition : 

 the first edition was published in 1847. In this year also was pub- 

 lished the ' History of Painting, Ancient and Modern,' in 2 vols. 

 12mo, forming one of the works of 'Knight's Shilling volume.' In 

 1848 Mr. Wornum was appointed Lecturer on the History, Principles 

 and Practice of Ornamental Art, to the Government Schools of Design 

 in London and in the provinces. When these schools were constituted 

 into a Department of Art under the Board of Trade in 1852, Mr. 

 Wornum was appointed also Librarian and Keeper of Casts, and in 

 this capacity he prepared for the department 1, 'Report on the 

 Arrangement and Character of French Art-Collections, and Systems 

 of Instruction in Schools of Design in France,' published in the 

 Appendix of the Report of the Department in 1853. 2, 'Catalogue 

 of Ornamental Casts in the possession of the Department, &c. 3rd 

 Division. Renaissance Styles Illustrated.' Roy. 8vo, 1854. 3, 'An 

 Account of the Library of the Department, with a classified Catalogue 

 of the works contained in it,' 8vo, 1855; and 4, 'Analysis of Orna- 

 ment. The Characteristics of Styles : an Introduction to the Study of 

 the History of Ornamental Art,' &c. Royal 8vo, 1856. 



In addition to these works he prepared in 1848 for Mr. Bohn's 

 Scientific Library an edition of the 'Lectures on Painting by the 

 Royal Academicians, Barry, Opie, and Fuseli, with an Introduction 

 and Notes;' and in 1849 for the same publisher an edition of 

 ' Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting in England,' 3 vols. 8vo. In 1851 

 he wrote for the Art-Journal Illustrated Catalogue of the Universal 

 Industrial Exhibition of that year, ' The Exhibition as a Lesson in 

 Taste, &c. in which the different styles are compared, with a view to 

 the improvement of Taste in home manufactures.' Prize Essay, 4to ; 

 and in 1855 he edited a Handbook to the Picture Gallery for Mr. 

 Murray, under the title of a ' Biographical Catalogue of the Principal 

 Italian Painters,' &c., 8vo. Upon the new organisation of the National 

 Gallery, in 1855, Mr. Wornum was appointed Keeper and Secretary of 

 that institution, and resigned his offices under the Department of 

 Science and Art. In this capacity he drew up, in 1857, a ' Descriptive 

 and Historical Catalogue of the National Pictures of the British 

 School,' &c., now exhibited at Marlborough House, comprising the 

 Turner Bequest. He has also written some other contributions to 

 art-literature in various serial publications. 



By these various writings Mr. Wornum has done much to diffuse 

 sound principles oi taste, and correct information respecting the 

 several schools of painting and the lives of the principal painters. 

 The greater proportion of the biographies of the ancient, and several 

 of those of the modern artists in the English Cyclopaedia, have pro- 

 ceeded from his pen. All his writings are marked by careful and 

 extensive research, by judicious criticism, and by good feeling. To his 

 zeal and knowledge the public is also mainly indebted for the 

 admirable manner in which so much of the Turner bequest, as the 

 limited space permits, has been prepared for exhibition. 



WORONICZ, JAN PAWEL, archbishop of Warsaw, and one of the 

 most eminent Polish writers of his time, both in poetry and pulpit 

 eloquence, was bora in 1757. Educated in one of the Jesuit semi- 



naries, he entered that order at an unusually early age, and on its 

 abolition (1772), into the ' Society of Missionaries,' Here he BOOQ 

 began to attract the attention of some of the higher clergy, more 

 especially of the bishop of Cholm, then vice-chancellor, who intrusted 

 him with preparing many important official papers, for which services 

 he was rewarded with the deanship of Lvov. On the partition of 

 Poland, in 1795, he retired to the small town of Kazirnierz, where he 

 took upon himself the duties of a parish priest, and where, being in. 

 the neighbourhood of Pulawy, the country-seat of the Princess Isabella 

 Czartoryski, he became acquainted with that accomplished woman. 

 It was then that, inspired both by her society and by the enchanting 

 scenery which Delille has celebrated in his ' Jardins,' he produced his 

 ' Sybylla ; ' the idea of which was suggested by the so-called ' Temple 

 of the Sibyl,' at Pulawy, and which is esteemed the finest specimen of 

 historical poetry in the language. When the duchy of Warsaw was 

 established in 1808, he was made both a member of the council and 

 dean in the chapter of the cathedral ; and through the influence of 

 the Czartoryski family, was nominated by the emperor Alexander to 

 the bishopric of Cracow in 1815. Twelve years afterwards the emperor 

 Nicolas raised him to the dignity of archbishop of Warsaw and 

 primate of all Poland ; but he was labouring under infirmities which 

 induced him to go abroad for medical advice, and while thus travel- 

 ling, he died at Vienna, October 16th, 1829. 



Besides his ' Sybylla,' he wrote several other poetical compositions 

 of merit, and one of them, ' Sejm Wislicki,' or the Diet of Wislica, 

 though only a fragment of what was perhaps intended to be an 

 historical epic, is thought by some to display greater power than his 

 first more celebrated production. His poetical fame however is fully 

 rivalled by that of his prose writings. " His sermons," says Szyrma, 

 the author of the ' Letters on Poland,' " excel in a boldness of con- 

 ception akin to those of Herder, and seem to be the instantaneous 

 emanations from the pure source of religious morality the more 

 impressive, as they are couched in an energetic dithyrainbic language, 

 like that of the prophets of old." They were published at Cracow, in 

 Svo, 1829, under the title of ' Kazania, ezyli Nauki Paraf jalne.' 



WORONZOW (VORONTZOV), COUNT MIKHAIL ILARIONO- 

 VICH, Russian chancellor and diplomatist, was born July 12th, 1714, 

 and at the age of fifteen obtained an appointment as page at the 

 court of the grand-duchess Elizabeth, in whose elevation to the throne 

 he some years after (1741) took a principal part. His services on that 

 important occasion secured him not only the empress's favour, but 

 various orders and marks of honour from foreign potentates. The 

 office of vice-chancellor, under Bestuzhev-Rumin, was however so little 

 agreeable to him, that he sought to decline it by travelling abroad 

 under a pretext of ill-health, yet after so passing about two years in 

 Germany, Italy, France, and Holland, he returned and undertook its 

 duties. He had not long done so, before he was accused (1748) of 

 plotting to depose Elizabeth, and place the grand-duke Peter (III.) on 

 the throne, but he succeeded in fully exculpating himself with the 

 empress. 



Ten years later, on the downfall of Bestuzhev-Rumin, he became 

 chancellor, and, so long as he held that arduous office showed superior 

 ability as a statesman ; but after Catherine II. had ascended the 

 throne, his influence waned, at least the enmity of several of the more 

 powerful nobles towards him showed itself in such manner, that he 

 sought to avoid worse consequences by absenting himself, as formerly, 

 under the pretext that travelling was necessary for his health (1763), 

 and Panin was appointed to act as his deputy in the meanwhile. On 

 his return to Russia, finding his opponents no better disposed towards 

 him than before, he solicited permission to resign office altogether, 

 and retired to Moscow, where he died February 13 (o.s.), 1767. 



Woronzow had many of the qualities that mark a superior states- 

 man, and was in other respects a man of a noble character. He 

 patronised the literature of his country in the person of Lomonosov, 

 to whom he erected a monument, besides purchasing all the manu- 

 scripts and papers he had left. Count Michael's only offspring was a 

 daughter, married to Count Alexander Strogonov ; but he was the 

 uncle of three females, the most distinguished of their time and 

 country for beauty and for talents : these were the daughters of his 

 elder brother, Count Roman Ilarionovich (1707 1783), Maria, the 

 beautiful Countess Buturlin ; Elizabeth, the wife of Colonel Poly- 

 ansky ; and Catherine, the no less eccentric than accomplished Prin- 

 cess Dashkovf 



WORONZOW, MIKHAIL SEMENOVICH, PRINCE, a very dis- 

 tinguished Russian statesman and soldier, was born at Moscow, in 

 1782, the son of Semen or Simon Woronzow, who was nephew of the 

 chancellor Woronzow, and brother of Princess Dashkov [DASHKOV]. 

 Semen Woronzow was for many years Russian ambassador to England, 

 where he was first sent by the influence of Prince Potemkin, in 1784, 

 and where he remained in that capacity till 1806, when, retiring from 

 the service, on account of ill-health, he obtained permission from his 

 government' to remain in England, and resided in London as a private 

 gentleman till his death, iu 1832, at the age of eighty-nine. His sou 

 was educated in England, his daughter, who died in 1856, married the 

 late Earl of Pembroke, and was mother of the Right Hon. Sidney 

 Herbert. Mikhail Woronzow, living in England to the age of sixteen, 

 was as familiar with the English language and manners as many of 

 his countrymen are with the French. He was a warm admirer of 



