with her, and with doves, sparrows, or swans, who either
carried messages for her or drew her chariot. The frequent
inclusion of sea shells in these scenes is a reminder of her
marine origin, and occurs, with the birds, in a low-relief
panel of the goddess in the TEMPIO MALATESTIANO, possi-
bly by Matteo de’ PASTI.
Several antique statues of Venus, mainly Roman
copies of Hellenistic originals, were known to the Renais-
sance, among them the Medici Venus (Uffizi, Florence),
discovered in Rome in the 16th century. These inspired
some imitations, and the Mars and Venus theme was also
taken up by mannerist and baroque sculptors.
Further reading; Marina Warner, Monuments and
Maidens: The Allegory of the Female Form (London: Wei-
denfeld & Nicolson, 1985; repr. 1996).
Verdelot, Philippe (c. 1475–before 1552) French
composer
Born in northern France, Verdelot presumably went to
Italy early in his career. He became maestro at the baptis-
tery in Florence (1523–25) and at the cathedral there
(1523–27). He is also known to have been in Rome
around 1523. Verdelot wrote two Masses, a Magnificat,
about 57 motets, and nine volumes of madrigals. Though
his church music was popular throughout Europe (his mo-
tets were parodied by, among others, LASSUSand PALEST-
RINA), it is for his madrigals that he is chiefly remembered,
as he was one of the earliest exponents of the genre. In
some he adopts a syllabic approach to the text and in oth-
ers he uses more imitation. The madrigals were popular in
Verdelot’s day and influenced other madrigalists.
Vergil, Polydore (c. 1470–1555) Italian historian
Born at Urbino and educated in Italy, Vergil was sent to
England as deputy to the collector of PETER’S PENCE
(1502). He remained in England for the following 50
years, naturalized in 1510, and held a number of positions
in the English Church. Before leaving Italy he published a
pioneering history of inventions, De inventoribus rebus
(1499). In England, however, his attention turned to
British history. His most important work in this field was
his Anglica historia (1534). It began by censuring such tra-
ditional parts of British history as the Arthurian legends
and went on to present an equally traditional view of
British history as leading inevitably to the Tudor monar-
chy. He also published the first scholarly edition of the
earliest history of Britain, Gildas’s sixth-century De excidio
et conquesta Britanniae (On the Ruin and Conquest of
Britain; 1526).
Vermeyen, Jan Cornelis (Jan May) (c. 1500–1559)
Netherlands painter and engraver
Born at Beverwijk, near Haarlem, Vermeyen may have
studied under Jan Gossaert. He held the post of court
painter (1525–29) to MARGARET OF AUSTRIAand subse-
quently was attached to the entourage of Emperor
CHARLES V, with whom he was a great favorite. He accom-
panied the emperor on his Tunis campaign (1535) and de-
signed the series of tapestries commemorating it. His style
as a painter was influenced by that of his friend Jan van
SCOREL. Numerous engravings by him have survived. Ver-
meyen’s nickname “Jan met de Baard” or “Barbalonga”
refers to his fine beard, which he wore so long that he
sometimes trod on it.Vermigli, Pietro Martire See PETER MARTYR(Pietro Mar-
tire Vermigli)vernacular The rise of the vernacular languages of Eu-
rope to accepted status as literary media was a phenome-
non closely associated with the Renaissance, even if it was
not completed during this period. The original lowly sta-
tus of these languages is indicated by their name, “vernac-
ular” being derived from the Latin word verna, a
household slave. In medieval Europe culture and educa-
tion were Latin-based and Church-mediated, which meant
in practice that they were accessible only to males des-
tined for an ecclesiastical career or one of its professional
offshoots such as the law. Poetry and chivalric romances
in the vernacular, some of which are now recognized as
being of the very highest quality, were produced for the
recreation of certain aristocratic societies, notably by the
Provençal troubadours and German Minnesingers; no
contemporary claims however were made for their signif-
icance as “great” literature entitled to the attention either
of posterity or of anyone beyond the immediate cultural
circle for which they were produced. The idea of immor-
talizing a beloved in a sonnet (“So long as men can
breathe or eyes can see,/So long lives this, and this gives
life to thee,” as SHAKESPEAREboasted) arises from self-
conscious and self-confident assumptions about the status
of vernacular literature alien to the spirit of medieval
verse. In practical terms, limited literacy, the vagaries of
scribes, the vulnerability of manuscripts, and the condi-
tion of the principal languages themselves (fragmented
into numerous dialects, lacking any accepted ORTHOGRA-
PHY) meant that medieval bards were realistic in not set-
ting too much store by posterity or a wider audience.
The ITALIAN LANGUAGEwas the first to begin to un-
dergo the evolutionary process that transformed the de-
spised vernacular into a respectable literary medium. In
this process the works of the great Florentine writers of
the 14th century—DANTE, PETRARCH, and BOCCACCIO—
played a key role; later the QUESTIONE DELLA LINGUAde-
bate raised issues of linguistic analysis and the concept of
“correctness” that encouraged both interest and pride in
the use of the vernacular. A similar route was followed by
other languages, and the spread of PRINTINGthroughout
Europe reinforced the tendency towards standardization.
Confidence in a vernacular’s qualities as a literary medium44888 8 VVeerrddeelloott,, PPhhiilliippppee