V AND AMME VANDYCK. 



781 



and works of art which had been left by the Goths, 

 (q. v.) A number of monuments and statues were 

 shipped by them for Africa, together with several 

 thousand of the most distinguished prisoners. On 

 the passage, a ship laden with the finest works of 

 art was lost. Pope Leo met king Genseric at the 

 head of a solemn procession, but could only prevail 

 on him to spare the city from slaughter and confla- 

 gration. The savage fury with which the Vandals 

 despoiled the most beautiful works of art, and de- 

 stroyed the greater part, has given origin to the 

 name of Vandalism. Disputes among the descen- 

 dants of Genseric, in regard to the succession, 

 caused the fall of the Vandal empire. Gelimer, a 

 bold and ambitious general, dethroned the rightful 

 king, Hilderic, a good prince, and had him murder- 

 ed. Hilderic had been on friendly terms with the 

 emperor Justinian. The latter declared war against 

 Gelimer, under pretence of revenging Hilderic's 

 death, but, in fact, for the purpose of subduing 

 Africa. Justinian's great general, Belisarius, ar- 

 rived in Africa with only 15,000 men (534), but 

 was victorious over Gelimer in two battles, and 

 forced him to surrender. Gelimer was carried to 

 Constantinople in triumph ; and with him the king- 

 dom of the Vandals in Africa was destroyed, after 

 having lasted 106 years. 



VANDAMME, DOMINIQUE, count of Unebourg, 

 born at Cassel, in 1771, was the son of an apothe- 

 cary. Having entered the service at the beginning 

 of the revolution, he owed a most rapid advance- 

 ment to an almost unexampled courage. He was 

 at once placed at the head of a light troop, which 

 received the name of the chasseurs of Mont-Cassel, 

 and, in 1792, was with the army of the north, in 

 the quality of general of brigade. In the three 

 succeeding campaigns, he distinguished himself 

 greatly. In 1799, he was appointed general of 

 division, and received the command of the left 

 wing of the army of the Danube. He afterwards 

 passed into Holland, under the orders of general 

 Brune, and contributed much to the happy results 

 of that short campaign. He peculiarly distinguished 

 himself at the passage of the Rhine, and in various 

 memorable days of the campaign of 1800 ; received 

 several marks of distinction from the first consul, 

 and was named grand officer of the legion of hon- 

 our. He obtained the decoration of the grand 

 cross of Wiirtemberg, and commanded the Wiir- 

 temberg troops in the campaign of 1809, against 

 Austria, distinguishing himself on many occasions. 

 Misunderstandings with Jerome Bonaparte pre- 

 vented his having any command in the expedition 

 against Russia, in 1812, and he was disgraced, and 

 received an order to retire to Cassel. In February, 

 1813, however, he was called to the command of a 

 corps of troops. On the 29th of August, he passed 

 the great chain of the mountains of Bohemia, and 

 marched upon Culm, where he found 10,000 Rus- 

 sians, commanded by general Ostermann, lost his 

 artillery, and 6000 of his troops, and was himself taken 

 prisoner. (See CWm.) He was marched to Mos- 

 cow and Wiatka, within twenty leagues of Siberia, 

 and was treated with ungenerous severity. In 1814, 

 he finally placed his foot again on the French ter- 

 ritory. In Paris, he received personal insults from 

 various quarters, and, from the minister of war, an 

 order to quit Paris within twenty-four hours, and 

 to retire to Cassel. On the first news of Napo- 

 leon's landing, general Vandamme offered his ser- 

 vices to the king. They were not accepted, and, 

 after Louis had left Paris, presented himself before 



the emperor, who made him a peer of France, and 

 commandant of the second devision. He after- 

 wards commanded the third corps d'armce under 

 general Grouchy, and obtained signal success at the 

 attack of Wavres, after the battle of Fleurus. His 

 troops were in the actual pursuit of the enemy, 

 when he learnt the defeat of Napoleon at Water- 

 loo. In danger of being crushed by superior 

 numbers, he made good his retreat in perfect order, 

 with his corps almost untouched. General Van- 

 damme occupied Mont-rouge, Meudon, Vanvres and 

 Issy, and a party of the generals made him the offer 

 of the command of the army, which he declined. 

 He afterwards retired behind the Loire. There 

 he mounted the white cockade, and exhorted his 

 troops to submission. The ordonnance of the 17th 

 of January, 1816, having obliged him to quit France, 

 he retired to Ghent, but afterwards resided on his 

 estate at Cassel. He died in 1830. 



VANDERWERF. See Werf. 



VANDYCK, ANTHONY, the most celebrated of 

 all portrait painters, was born at Antwerp, in 1598 

 or 1599. His father was a painter on glass, and 

 his mother was skilled in embroidering landscapes 

 and figures. Henry van Palen was his first in- 

 structor. This artist had studied long in Italy, and 

 united good drawing with lively colouring, so that 

 Vandyck acquired from the beginning a good man- 

 ner, and soon excelled his fellow pupils. Rubens 

 now received him into his school, and intrusted to 

 his execution several large pictures from his own 

 sketches. A battle of the Amazons, and the car- 

 toons for the tapestry containing the history of 

 Decius Mus, obtained him the full confidence and 

 esteem of his master ; and he soon became his as- 

 sistant rather than his scholar. His own inclina- 

 tion, and the jealousy of Rubens, determined him 

 to devote himself exclusively to portrait painting. 

 It has been said that Rubens, from mere jealousy, 

 wished to remove his rival scholar, and advised 

 him to go to Italy ; but it is well known that he 

 gave this advice to his most promising pupils in 

 general. He first painted three more pictures, an 

 Ecce Homo, a Christ on the Mount of Olives, and 

 the wife of Rubens, for his instructor ; for which 

 Rubens gave him a fine white horse, and sent him 

 to Italy with letters of recommendation. A few 

 miles from Brussels, in the village of Savelthem, 

 the young artist became enamoured of a peasant's 

 daughter, so that he remained there a long time, 

 and executed two altar-pieces for the village church. 

 In one of them the object of his love was repre- 

 sented as a Madonna, and in the other, he himself 

 appeared as St Martin on the horse of Rubens. His 

 residence there becoming known, Rubens used 

 every inducement, by means of the Cav. Nanni, an 

 accomplished Italian, to rekindle the flame of am- 

 bition in the bosom of the young man. He suc- 

 ceeded. Vandyck tore himself away, and, accom- 

 panied by Nanni, hastened to Italy. He first di- 

 rected his course to Venice, made Titian and Paul 

 Veronese his models, and acquired their splendour 

 and richness of colouring. His money was spent, 

 and he removed to Genoa, where he painted several 

 portraits, and gained a large sum. He now under- 

 took a journey to Rome, where he was patronised 

 by the cardinal Guido Bentivoglio, whose portrait 

 j he painted with the nfost complete success. This, 

 and the portraits of Sir J. Shirley and his lady, re- 

 siding there, excited so much admiration, that the 

 envy of the other artists compelled him to return 

 to Genoa, where he executed many portraits as well 



