well as painting. He died at Amsterdam in 1606, aged only fifty-eight, leaving a widow and seven children, and greatly lamented by numerous friends. Vanmander is now chiefly known for his interesting compilation on the lives of the Dutch, Flemish, and other painters, published at Haarlem in 1604 under the title of "Het Schilder Boek," of which a modernized edition was published at Amsterdam in 1764, containing only the notices of the Dutch, Flemish, and German painters.—R. N. W.
VAN MILDERT, William, Bishop of Durham, was the grandson of a Dutch merchant who had settled at Great St. Helen's, London. He was born at Newington, where his father resided, in 1765, and received his education at Merchant Tailors' school and Queen's college, Oxford. He was ordained deacon in 1788, and his first preferment, the living of Bradden in Northamptonshire, was derived from his brother-in-law in 1795. The following year he obtained from his city friends and the Grocers' Company the valuable living of St. Mary-le-Bow, London, where his talents, learning, and persuasive preaching soon made him extensively known. He gained just renown also by his Boyle lectures, delivered between the years 1802 and 1805, and in 1812 was elected preacher of Lincoln's inn. In September of the year following Lord Liverpool appointed him regius professor of divinity at Oxford, and he resigned the chair in 1819 to ascend the episcopal bench as bishop of Llandaff, to which dignity was added in the ensuing year that of dean of St. Paul's. In 1826, on the death of Bishop Barrington, he was translated to the wealthy see of Durham. After an ecclesiastical reign over the diocese of ten years, marked by the zealous performance of his duties and the exercise of unbounded charity, the venerable prelate died on 21st February, 1836.—R. H.
VAN MONS, John Baptiste, one of the most celebrated European chemists, was born at Brussels in 1765. Having devoted himself at an early age to the study of pharmacy, he obtained his diploma in 1787. He had practised for some time in his native town before the discoveries of Lavoisier produced a complete revolution in chemical science, but he enthusiastically adopted the new theory, and made it known throughout Germany and all the north of Europe. His first work, an essay on the principles of antiphlogistic chemistry, appeared in 1785. In the insurrection of the states of Brabant in 1789 against the new projects of the Emperor Joseph, Van Mons ranged himself on the side of the liberal party, and in consequence suffered imprisonment for several months. When Belgium was overrun by the French in 1792 he was chosen a member of the representative assembly, and took an active part in its deliberations. Meanwhile he did not intermit his scientific researches, and carried on an active correspondence with Lavoisier, Fourcroy, and other distinguished men of science. He was appointed in 1795 to examine the mines of Belgium, and in 1797, when the central school of the department of the Dyle was established, he was appointed to the chair of chemistry and experimental natural philosophy. About the same period he was invited by the most eminent chemists of France to take part with them in editing the celebrated Annals of Chemistry, and it was through his writings that for a considerable time the discoveries of the French chemists were made known in England and Germany. He established in 1801 the Journal of Chemistry and Natural Philosophy, which for many years was enriched with the results of the researches of Volta, Vauquelin, Fourcroy, Chevenix, and other eminent savans. Van Mons was the first to introduce vaccination into Belgium; and his experiments on the cultivation of fruits and flowers were eminently useful to his countrymen. Honorary distinctions were liberally showered upon him by the continental universities, in acknowledgment of his eminent services. He was included in the first nomination of members of the Royal Academy of Brussels in 1816, and in the following year was appointed professor of chemistry and agriculture in the university of Louvain. In 1819 he edited, in conjunction with Messrs. Bory de St. Vincent and Drapiez, the General Annals of the Physical Sciences, and for many years prosecuted with unwearied industry his scientific researches. He resigned his chair in 1836, but continued his studies with unabated zeal till his death. In addition to the works noticed above. Van Mons was the author of an immense number of treatises on chemistry, pharmacy, horticulture, &c.—His second son, *Charles James, born in 1798, is professor of clinical surgery and pathology in the university of Brussels, and has attained a very high reputation for his knowledge of medicine and surgery. He is the author of treatises on ophthalmia, cholera, gout, and rheumatism, &c.—His brother, *Louis Ferdinand, born in 1796, is an officer in the Belgian service, and has written several treatises on artillery and the equipment of troops.—J. T.
VANNI, Francesco, Cavaliere, was born at Sienna in 1563, and died there October 25, 1609. He was one of the most distinguished of the later Siennese painters. He studied many years at Rome, and in some cities of the north of Italy, but he became finally an imitator of Barocci. Vanni was invited to Rome by Clement VIII., for whom he painted "Simon Magus rebuked by Peter," for which the pope created him a knight of the order of the abito di Cristo. His two sons, Michelangelo and Raphael, were both distinguished painters.—R. N. W.
VANNUCCHI, supposed to have been the surname of Andrea del Sarto. Some of his pictures are signed with a monogram composed of A. A., and others with A. V.; according to some interpretations the A. A. signifying Andrea D'Agnolo, the son of Agnolo or Angelo, the name of his father, who was a tailor. See Sarto, Andrea del.—R. N. W.
VANNUCCI. See Pietro Perugino.
VAN PRAET, Joseph Basile Bernard, one of the most learned European bibliographers, was the son of a printer in Bruges, and was born in 1754. After completing his studies at the college of Arras he removed to Paris, and obtained the situation of librarian to the king in 1784. Although he kept strictly aloof from all political or factious contentions, he was twice denounced and arrested during the revolutionary struggles; but he succeeded in proving his innocence, and was reinstated in his situation. His learning, intelligence, and activity, combined with his accuracy and the urbanity of his manners, gained the respect and confidence both of the men of letters who had occasion to consult the treasures of learning intrusted to his charge, and of the successive rulers of France during the first thirty-five years of this century; and although various changes were made in the management of the library, the services of Van Praet were always regarded as indispensable. In 1814 he received the star of the order of the legion of honour, and was also a member of the Celtic Academy, of the Academical Society of the Sciences in Paris, a correspondent of the Institute of Holland, of the Academy of Science, Belles-lettres, and Arts of Brussels, an associate of the Academy of Sciences of Utrecht, &c., and was repeatedly elected president of the conservatory of the royal library. This simple-minded and learned bibliographer died in 1837. He was the author of several bibliographical works.—J. T.
VANSITTART, Nicholas, Lord Bexley, chancellor of the exchequer in Lord Liverpool's administration (1812 to 1823), was born on the 29th of April, 1766. His father, who was some time governor of Bengal, was lost in the Aurora frigate in the Mozambique Channel in 1771. Nicholas was sent by his guardians to Dr. Gilpin's school at Cheam, where he remained from his tenth to his eighteenth year, and was then transferred to Christ church, Oxford. He took his degree in 1791, and was soon after called to the bar at Lincoln's inn. He began his public career in 1793 by writing pamphlets on the economical and financial questions of the day, and was returned to parliament as member for Hastings in 1796. In 1801 he was intrusted with a negotiation at the court of Denmark, which came to nothing. On his return he was made joint-secretary to the treasury, and sat in the house of commons for Old Sarum. He was next appointed a lord of the treasury for Ireland (1804), then secretary to the lord-lieutenant and a privy councillor in 1805. He resigned his Irish secretaryship the same year, and became secretary to the treasury in Lord Grenville's administration of 1806. He retired with his chief in 1807, established his reputation as a financier by proposing thirty-eight resolutions, which were carried in 1809; and on the death of Mr. Perceval, he succeeded him as chancellor of the exchequer in 1812. He held this office for many years; for though neither an orator nor a debater, his technical knowledge of public accounts enabled him to carry on the money business of the nation with tolerable smoothness, and to boast on his quitting office that he left a surplus of £7,000,000. On the retirement of Lord Liverpool in 1823, Mr. Vansittart was raised to the peerage as Lord Bexley, and passed the remainder of a prolonged life in amiable tranquillity, scarcely disturbed by his constant exercise of a spirit of benevolence and philanthropy. He died at Footscray Place, Kent, on 8th February, 1851.—R. H.
VANSOMER, Paul, an excellent Flemish portrait painter,
