V E L 
•portrait. From the completion of this picture, which was 
upon a grand scale in armour, and on horseback, the re¬ 
putation of Velasquez was established. 
After this successful commencement of his public career, 
he was employed to paint the portraits of the infants Don 
Carlos and Don Fernando; and that of the minister his 
patron, mounted, like his royal master, on a noble Anda¬ 
lusian charger richly, caparisoned. He now, therefore, 
began to pujoy the blessings of fortune as well as those of 
fame. He was appointed principal painter to the king, with 
a liberal salary, besides receiving munificent remuneration 
for his pictures, and being busily occupied in portraits. 
He now also, in emulation of other Spanish painters, de¬ 
termined to undertake a work upon a more extended scale 
than he had before done, and took for his subject the ex¬ 
pulsion of the Moors from Spain by Philip III. But, if we 
may judge by the description given of the picture, it does 
not appear to have possessed much interesting matter of a 
high historic quality; however he gained great reputation 
from the skill with which he executed it. 
He, in 1692, went to Venice, where he was received and 
entertained by the Spanish ambassador. In this delightful 
birth-place of colouring, the works of its great master 
Titian, in the palace of St. Marc, excited his warmest ad¬ 
miration, and he made several copies of them ; and no one 
ever more thoroughly imbibed the principles upon which 
they are constructed. But perhaps it is of Tintoretto that 
Velasquez is more the imitator, than of Titian. His free¬ 
dom of pencil appears to have been more congenial with the 
taste of the Spaniard, than the sober and more correct hand 
of the former. After remaining at Venice few months, he 
went to Rome, where he was most graciously received by the 
cardinal Barberini, nephew to Urban VIII., who procured 
for him apartments in the Vatican, and access at all 
times to the works of Raffaelle and M. Angelo. During 
his residence at Rome, he painted his celebrated history of 
Joseph’s coat brought to Jacob ; and also another very able 
work, of Apollo informing Vulcan of the infidelity of Venus, 
in which he had an opportunity df displaying his power of 
handling, and his admirable skill in colouring, Vulcan is at 
his forge, the light and shadow proceeding from which are 
most skilfully conducted ; the strong and muscular form of 
the Cyclops gracefully contrasted with the pure form of the 
Apollo; and the whole composition arranged with infinite 
judgment. Both these pictures were sent to Spain, and 
honoured by having distinguished places assigned to them 
in the palace of the king. 
In 1638, Velasquez painted his most celebrated picture of 
our Saviour on the Cross-, for the convent of St. Placido, at 
Madrid; and about the same time, that of the general 
Pescara receiving the keys of a Flemish citadel from the 
governor of the place. The management of all the different 
characters, the officers, &c. and the effect of the fortification, 
&c. of the town and landscape in the back ground, is 
altogether eulogised by Mengs as the chef-d’oeuvre of 
Velasquez. 
He lived in honour and riches till 1660, when death put 
an end to his labours and enjoyments. He was buried with 
great funeral pomp, in the church of San Juan. 
VELAUX, a small town in the south-east of France, de¬ 
partment of the Mouths of the Rhone; 12 miles west of Aix. 
VELAY, a small and mountainous district in the south 
of France, in the Cevennes, lying between the Vivarais, 
Gevaudan, Auvergne, and Forez, and now forming part of 
the department of the Upper Loire. 
• VELAZGHERD, a small town of Kerman, in Persia, on 
the river Karoon ; 54 miles north-east of Gombroon. 
VELBERT, a village and parish of the Prussian province 
of Cleves and Berg, in the duchy of Berg; 14 miles east- 
north-east of Dusseldorf. 
VELBURG, or Vildburg, a small town of Germany, 
in Bavarian Franconia, on the Laber, with 900 inhabitants. 
VELDEN, a small town of Austrian Illyria, in Carinthia, 
on the lake of Wordt; 13 miles west of Klagenfurth. 
VELDENZ, or Thal Veldenz, a petty town of the 
V E L 343 
Prussian province of the Lower Rhine; 19 miles east-north¬ 
east of Treves. 
VELDES, a large village of Austrian Illyria, in Carin¬ 
thia, on the lake of Frauen; 20 miles south-by-west of 
Klagenfurth. 
VELDHOVEN, a petty town of the Netherlands, in 
North Brabant; 4miles west of Eindhoven. 
VELDSCHTERIN, or Usiterna, an inland town of 
European Turkey, in Romania, the capital of a sandgiacat 
or province, which comprises the upper valleys at the source 
of the Eastern Morawa, and those of the Ibar, a river which 
flows into the Western Morawa. 
VELENCZE, or Varad Velengze, a small town in 
the east of Hungary; 2 miles east of Great Woradein. 
VELENRYD, a river in Wales, in Merionethshire, which 
falls into the Irish sea at Traeth-Richa. 
VELE RETE, a cluster of rocks in the Eastern seas, 
situated to the south of the island of Formosa, which may 
be seen from hence. The largest of these rocks is about the 
height of a small ship’s hull out of the water, and in clear 
weather may be discerned at the distance of 8 miles. It is 
surrounded by many smaller ones, making a circumference 
of about two miles. Lat. 21. 55. N. long. 121. 30. E. 
VELEZ, a city of New Granada, in the province of Tunja, 
situated on the river Saarez, at the foot of a ridge of moun¬ 
tains ; 68 miles north of Santa Fe, and 25 north-west of 
Tunja. Lat. 5.40 N. long. 74. 6. W. 
VELEZ EL BLANCO, a small town of the south-east of 
Spain, in the province of Granada, on the borders of Murcia; 
4 miles north-north-west of Velez el Rubio. 
VELEZ MALAGA, a considerable town in the south of 
Spain, in Granada; 14 miles north-east of the present city 
of Malaga. It stands on the slope of a high lull, amidst 
vineyards and plantations, the products of which, raisins, 
olive oil, lemons, oranges, citrons, and almonds, are ex¬ 
tremely rich, and form the chief articles of its trade. Rai¬ 
sins in particular are exported in great quantities. The town 
is at two miles distance from the sea, and takes its name from 
the river Velez, which passes its walls, flowing southward 
from the Sierra or chain of mountains separating Granada 
from Andalusia. Nothing can surpass the beauty of this 
country, with its groves and its mountain streams. 
VELEZ EL RUBIO, an inland town in the south-east of 
Spain, in the province of Granada, but situated within a few 
miles of that of Murcia. Its population amounts to 7000; 
22 miles west-by-south of Lorca. 
VELEZIA [so named by Linnaeus, from Christoval Ve- 
lezius, examiner, first physician, and demonstrator of Bo¬ 
tany in the College of Apothecaries at Madrid], in Botany, 
a genus of the class pentandria, order digynia, natural 
order of caryophyllei, caryophylleae (Juss.) — Generic 
Character. Calyx; perianth one-leafed, filiform, five cor¬ 
nered, permanent; mouth five-toothed, acuminate, erect, 
very small. Corolla: petals five, very short, emarginate- 
two-toothed ; claws filiform, length of the calyx. Stamina.- 
filaments five, often six, capillary, scarcely the length of 
the calyx; anthers cordate. Pistil: germ cylindric, short, 
terminated by the receptacle of the styles; styles two, fili¬ 
form, length of the stamens; stigmas simple. Pericarp: 
capsule cylindric, covered, one-celled. Seeds numerous, in 
a single row .—Essential Character. Calyx five-toothed. 
Corolla five-petal led, small. Capsule one-celled. Seeds 
numerous, in a single row. 
Velezia rigida. — Root annual; stem very mucli branch¬ 
ed ; calyxes sessile, cylindric, very narrow; border of the 
petals very small, marked at the base with a purple crescent, 
as in the natural order of caryophyllasi, to which this be¬ 
longs.—Native of the south of Europe; and of Barbary, 
near Mascar. 
VEL HAS, Rio das, a river of Brazil, in the province of 
Espiritu Santo, wdiich runs north, and enters into the Rio 
Francisco.—There is another river of the same name, which 
enters the Paranaiba. 
VELICA, a small town of the Austrian states, in Scla- 
vonia, between Gradiska and Zagrab. 
VEL1KALA, 
