B L O 



either as to cleamefs, or freedom of execution. His great 

 fault, however, ii want of variety. Tlie naked parts of his 

 figures, the draperies, and the back ground, are equally 

 neat, and engraven precifely in the fame manner. Hence 

 the effeft is flat, and the flcih, for want of dilUndion, ap- 

 pear-: cold and filvery. 



His works, which are numerous, are juflly held in high 

 e.11;nation, and cannot be ealily procured. The following 

 are particularly noticed, and the firll imprelTions of fome of 

 thf m are very rare : the " Chaftity of Jofeph," from Blan- 

 chart ; the ." Adoration of the Shepherds," from Raphael ; 

 the fame fubjeit from Pietro de Cortona ; the " Holy Fa- 

 mily" of tlie " Speaacles," as it is called, from Jofeph's 

 holding a pair of fpeftacles in his hand, from Annibale 

 Caracci ; another " Holy Family," from Parmegiano ; the 

 " Virgin and Child," the child fleeping, from Guido ; 

 " St. Luke painting the Virgin and Child," from Raphael ; 

 " St. Peter raifing Tabilha from the Dead," from Guer- 

 cino ; " St. Marguerita" leaning on a pedeftal, and fetting 

 her foot upon the dragon, after Annibale Caracci ; the 

 " Four Fathers of the Church," from his father A. Bloe- 

 macrt ; " Chnft appearing to St. Ignatius," from the 

 fame ; " Meleager prefenting the boar's head to Atalanta," 

 from Rubens ; feveral " prints for a miflal," after Ciro 

 Ferri and others ; a fet of fmall prints of " RulUts, S:c." 

 from his father ; " Heads" from the fame ; &c. &c. Pil- 

 kington and Strutt. 



BLOEMEN, John Francis Van, a painter of land- 

 fcapes, called by the Italians, from the delicate manner in 

 which he painted his diftances, " Horizonti," or " Orlzonti," 

 was born at Antwerp in 1656 ; and as he ftudied at Rome, 

 and alway refided in fome part of Italy, he is generally 

 confidered as an Itahan artill. His works have been very 

 much admired in every part of Italy, and bought at very 

 high prices by the heft judges. His iirfl manner refembled 

 that of Vander Cable ; but he afterwards made nature his 

 model, and more particularly the views about Tivoli, the 

 fubjetls of many of his landfcapes, in which he repreients, 

 with extraordinary truth and beauty, the miftsarifmg from the 

 agitated furface of the river below. His pictures are gene- 

 rally well deligned, and well handled ; and thofe of his 

 bell time are now conlidered as an ornament to the moft 

 feleol cabinets in Europe. A very capital picture of this 

 excellent artift, in w-hich the figures were infcrtcd by Sebaf- 

 tian Conea, is in the colleftion of the earl of Moira. By 

 this artift we have five fmall etchings, probably done for 

 his amufement. They are " perfpeClive views," apparently 

 near Rome. Pilkington and Strutt. 



Bloemen', PfiTER Van, brother of the preceding, was 

 born at Antwerp, .ind after living feveral years with his 

 brother at Rome, and ftudying the works of the greateft 

 mailers, returned to his native city, where, in 1699, he 

 was appointed director of the academy. The fubjecti of 

 his pitkures are the marchings of fquadrons of cav.di y, en- 

 campments, artillery, battles, Italian fairs, markets, andfelli- 

 vals, in which he manifefts correilnefs of defign and draw- 

 ing, and an elegance in the manner of dreffing liis figures. 

 His horfcs are defigned in an admirable llyle, and in his 

 battles they exhibit great fpirit, graceful attitudes, and an 

 fxpreffion full of life and nature. His landlcapts are en- 

 riched with elegant architefture, with baffo-rellevos, and 

 mutilated ilatues, in a noble tafte ; and they are rendered 

 the more agreeable by a good tone of colour, animals of 

 difltrent kinds, and excellent figures. His bcfl works are 

 admired in all parts of Europe, and afford high prices ; but 

 fome of them are too laboured, and lefs valuable. PiU 

 kiugtoD. 



B L O 



Bloemen, Ncrbt;rt Van, broti er of the preceding, 

 was born at Antwerp in 1672, and being allured by the 

 reputation of his brothers to vifit Italy, he tiiere devoted 

 alibis hours to lludy. He principally painted cunverfations 

 and portraits; but the colouring of his pictures is loo glaring, 

 and wants more truth and nature. Pilkington. 



Blois, in Geography, lat. Blefs, a city of Fiance, was, 

 before the revolution, the capital of " Le Blalfois," the fee 

 of a blfhop, fuiFragan to the archbifhop of Paris, and for- 

 merly the refidence of the kings of France ; but is now the 

 capital of the department of the Loir and Cher, and divided 

 into call and wed Blois, the former containing 5400 inha- 

 bitants, and its canton 12,885, and the latter 7912, and 

 its canton 11,862: the whole ten itoiy comprehends 237! 

 kiliometres, and each canton has eight communes. Blois 

 is feated in a pleafant country, on a fmall eminence near the 

 river Loir, over which is a handfome ftone-bridge. The 

 callle is the principal ornament of the city, and has, on the 

 firll view, the appearance of two dillindl buildings, which 

 are joined by a paffage cut out of a rock. That part of the 

 callle, which was built by the duke of Orleans, inftead of 

 that which he demolilhed in 1632, is a fuperb, but un- 

 finilhcd edifice. The court before it, where the church of 

 St. Saviour is fituated, is very large, and was formerly ufed 

 for tournaments. The adjoining gardens are magnificent and 

 beautiful. On every gate of the city is exhibited an image 

 of the Virgin Mary, who is thought to have delivered the 

 inhabitants from the plague in 1631. In this caille, famous 

 as the birth-place of Louis XII., are (hewn the chambers 

 where the duke of Gulfe, and his brother the cardinal, 

 were murdered by order of Henry III., December 23, 1587. 

 The church of St. Solenne is the cathedral, which is a 

 beautiful ilruiflure. The front of the Jefults' college is 

 decorated witli the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders of 

 architedure. About three quarters of a mile from the 

 city, water in great abundance defcends tlirough the clefts 

 of 3 rock, in a large aqueduit, by which it is conveyed 

 to a refervoir near the walls, and it is then diftributed by- 

 leaden pipes to the feveral parts of the city. The trade of 

 Blois confills chiefly of wine and brandy ; though it has 

 manufaftures of fcrges and tlcken. Several kings have kept 

 their courts at Blois, and the French language Is fpoken in 

 the greatcll perfedlion by its inhabitants. N. lat. 47° 35' 

 20". E. long. 1° 20' 10". 



Blois, Peter of, Pitrus Elefenfs, in Biogrnphv, an emi- 

 nent writer of the 12th century, was born about the year 

 1 1 io at Blois in France, whence he derived his name ; and as 

 his parents were opulent, he enjoyed all the neceffary means 

 of a learned education. In his youth he fludled in the uni- 

 verfity of Paris, where he manifefted a (Irong inchnation to 

 poetry, and in his more advanced life, he applied with pecu- 

 liar ardour to the lludy of rlietoric. At Bononia in Italy, 

 whither he removed from Pans, he acquired eminence by his 

 knowledge of the civil and canon laws ; and he appears alfo, 

 by his writluprs, to have cultivated an acquaintance with medi- 

 cine, and with various b anches of the mathematics. But 

 the principal objefl of his attction, and in which he is faid 

 to have particularly excelled, was theology, or the fcholaftic 

 theology of the times, which confilled in vain attempts to 

 prove and exp ain the numerous abfurd oplni ^ns, which pre- 

 vailed in the church, by the fiibtltties of Arlllotelian logic. 

 To him fome have alcribed the firll ufe of the term " tranfub- 

 ftantiation," which was foon after adopted in the church of 

 Rome. Being appointed preceptor to "VVilliam II. king of 

 Sicily, A.D. 1 167, he obtained thecuftody of the privy-feal, 

 and, next to the archbifhop of Palermo, the prime mlnifter, 

 he had the greateil influence in all affairs. "However, his 



power 



