VAN 



are rendered with fo much purity of colour, and fuhiefs and 

 perfeftion of execjtioii, that they captivate, notwithilanding 

 their fimplicity. His animals, which are generally the 

 fubjefts of his piftures, are defigned with correftnefs, and 

 painted to perfed imitation ; particularly his cows, (heep. 

 and goats ; perhaps not with fo much fpirit as thofe of 

 Paul Potter, but more foft and delicate. His piftures, 

 which are generally fmall, are univerfally held in the higheft 

 admiration, and are fold at very high prices. Unhappily 

 he died in the very prime of his life, at the age of 33 ; and 

 yet his piftures are by no means fcarce, as his induftry was 

 inconceivable, and his faciUty very great. 



Though landfcape and animals were his more regular ob- 

 jecls of ftudy, yet he felt himfelf quahfied to undertake an 

 hiftorical pifture for the Catholic church at Amflerdam ; 

 and the ability with which he executed a Defceut from the 

 Crofs for the altar-piece there, ftill teftifies the power with 

 which he might have diilinguiflied himfelf in hiftory, had he 

 more regularly purfued it. He died in 1672. There are 

 about twenty etchings by him of cattle and landfcapes. 



Vandevelde, WiLLiAJr, the Elder, was born at 

 Leyden in 1610, and early in life followed the occupation 

 of a manner. It is not known at what time he turned his 

 thoughis to paintsing, or by whom he was inftrufted in the 

 art ; but before he was 20, he had acquired confiderable 

 reputation for painting marine fubjeiils in black and white. 

 His JlciU recoinmended him to the notice of the States 

 General ; and Defcamp fays, that he was furnifhed by them 

 with accommodations in a fmall veflel, for the purpofe of 

 attending their fleets, and making flietches of their different 

 manoeuvres and aftions. He was prefer.t at various en- 

 gagements at fea, and frequently expofed himfelf to danger 

 in the profecution of his lludies. He is faid to have been 

 prefent at the aftion between the duke of York and the 

 Dutch admiral Opdam, in 1665 ; and at the more memor- 

 able one the following year, between the Englifh and Dutch 

 fleets, commanded by the duke of Albemarle and De 

 Ruyter. King Charles H. invited him to England, where 

 he came feme time before 1675 ; as in that year the king 

 fettled a falary upon him of too/, per annum. He con- 

 tinued in the fame capacity under king James II., until his 

 death in 1693. He was buried in St. James's church, 

 where is a tomb-ftoiie to his memory. 



Vandevelde, William, the Tounger, the fon of the 

 preceding artift, was born at Amflerdam in 1633. He was 

 initiated in the art of painting by his father, but obtained 

 more knowledge of colouring and efFeft by ftudying under 

 De Vlieger, an eminent marine painter ; and at length ar- 

 rived at a degree of perfeftion in the treatment of thole fub- 

 jefts, which ftiU remains unrivalled. After he had praftifed 

 with great fuccefs for fome time in Holland, and enriched 

 many cabinets there with his works, his father prevailed 

 upon him to come to England, where he was foon noticed 

 by the king, and complimented with an engagement and a 

 falary luch as his father's, and had aHb apartments provided 

 for him at Greenwich. 



During the life of his father, as appears by an order of 

 the privy feal, he was much employed in painting piftures 

 from his Iketches, but doubtlefs rendered more agreeable 

 by his own better tafte and feeling. The exercife of his 

 talents, however, was not confined to the fervice of his ma- 

 jefty ; he was conftantly employed by various p'erfons, and 

 his piftures are, therefore, to be found in almoft every col- 

 leftion which has any pretence to admiration. One of his 

 grandefl compofitions for chiaro-fcuro is in the gallery of 

 the marquis of Stafford, where the majeftic forms of the 

 clouds, the motion of the waves and of the vefleU, and the 

 Vol. XXXVI. 



VAN 



truth and impofing quality of the tone of colour, contend 

 for pre-eminence. 



The compofitions of the younger Vandevelde are didin- 

 guithed by a more tafteful arrangement of forms and objefts, 

 than is to be found in thofe of any other marine painter. 

 His velFels are correftly drawn, and the fails, the cordage, 

 and rigging, finifhed with a delicacy perfeftly aftonifting, 

 and with unexampled freedom. No one ever furpafTcd the 

 purity and truth of his tints : whether he reprefent the fe- 

 renity of the calm, or the majeftic obfcurity of the ftorm, an 

 undeviating correftnefs and fulnefs adorn his canvas, and 

 render his works precious in the eyes of all beholders. He 

 died in 1707, at the age of 74. 



VAN-DIEMEN's Land, in Geosraphy. See Diemen'^ 

 Land. 



Van-Diemen'j Road, an anchoring place in the South 

 Pacific ocean, on the coaft of Tongataboo, one of the 

 Friendly iflands. S. lat. 21'= 4'. E. long. 185° 4'. 



VAN-DIEST, in Biography. See DiEST. 



VANDORF, in Geography, z. town of Germany, in the 

 county of Henneberg, on the Werra ; 6 miles E.S.E. of 

 Meinungen. 



VANDOSIA, in Ichthyology, a name by wliich fome 

 authors have called the kuctfcus, the common dace. 



VANDSHELLING Islands, in Geography, a ch.fter 

 of fmall iflands in a bay of the Pacific ocean, on the north 

 coaft of New Guinea. S. lat. 3° 32'. E. long. 136" 15'. 



VANDSIA, a town of Norway, in the province of 

 Chriftianfand ; 43 miles W. of Chriftianfand. 



VANDUARA, in Ancient Geography, a town of Bri- 

 tain, belonging to the Daranii ; which being confiderably 

 to the north-weft of Colonia, was moft probably at or near 

 Paidey, where Mr. Horfley places it. 



VANDY, in Geography, a town of France, in the de- 

 partment of the Ardennes ; 3 miles N. of Vouziers. 



VANDYCK, Sir Akthony, in Biography. This moft 

 juftly admired painter was born at Antwerp in 1599, and, 

 according to Houbraken, was the fon of a painter 011 glafs, 

 who firll inftrufted him in the elements of the art of paint- 

 ing, but afterwards intrufted him for further tuition to the 

 care of Henry Van-Balen, a painter of confiderable reputa- 

 tion. He had made a rapid progrefs under that matter, 

 when the increafing fame of Rubens, and the beauty of his 

 works, infpired him with a defire of becoming a difciple of 

 fo able an inftruftor; and his wilhes were foon crowned 

 with fuccefs. Rubens foon beheld with pleafure the value 

 of the talents brought by Vandyck into his fchool, and 

 found in him an able and ufeful alliftant in forwai-ding his 

 larger works from the flcetches liP himfelf had prepared ; 

 and it was not long ere an incident eftabhlhed Vandyck's 

 fuperiority above his fellow pupils, and rendered him at 

 once an objeft of intereft and of envy. Whilft Rubens was 

 employed upon his renowned pifture of the Defcent from 

 the Crofs, his pupils were anxious to fee it in its progrefs, 

 and procured admiffion to his ftudy during their mafter's 

 abfence. One of them, in the wantonnefs of youth, pulhed 

 Diepenbeck, and he fell againft the pifture, and effaced an 

 effential part of it, on the face of the Virgin, and the arm 

 of the Mary Magdalen, which Rubens had juft been 

 painting. Confternation and alarm feized every one pre- 

 fent ; and to prevent, if pofiible, the difcovery of the acci- 

 dent, John Van-Hoeck propofed that Vandyck fhould en- 

 deavour to reftore the pifture to the ftate in wliich they 

 found it. He did fo ; and the next morning, when Rubens 

 came into his room, on regarding the pifture, he is faid to 

 have remarked, " there is a head and an arm which are by 

 no means the worft of what 1 did yefterday ;" and though 

 4 F afterwards 



