left when he realized it did not lead to a strait. He contin-
ued north to Newfoundland before admitting defeat and
returning home. Evidence for his later voyages is less cer-
tain but it is said that a southerly voyage in 1528 cost Ver-
razzano his life, when he landed on an island, possibly
Guadeloupe, and was killed by cannibals.
Verrocchio, Andrea del (1436–1488) Italian goldsmith,
sculptor, and painter
A native of Florence, Verrocchio was probably a pupil of
DONATELLO, after whose death he worked at the court of
Lorenzo de’ Medici. Many artists were trained in Verroc-
chio’s workshop, in its heyday the biggest in Florence;
among them were LEONARDO DA VINCIand PERUGINO. Few
paintings attributed to Verrocchio survive; one is a Bap-
tism of Christ (c. 1474–75; Uffizi, Florence) in which it is
possible that the head of one angel was painted by the
young Leonardo. Verrocchio’s sculptural style illustrates
the developing interest of Florentine art in naturalism and
movement. In the bronze statue of David (c. 1476;
Bargello, Florence) Verrocchio conveyed the arrogance of
a young man through expression as well as through the
aggressive pose (and incidentally criticizes Donatello’s
suaver treatment of the same subject). In the bronze Putto
with a Dolphin (c. 1480; Palazzo Vecchio), designed for a
fountain at the Medici villa at Careggi, he successfully pre-
sented movement in three dimensions so that the pattern
in the work appears to change from each angle. The fa-
mous life-size bronze equestrian statue of Bartolommeo
COLLEONI(c. 1479–88; Campo San Zanipolo, Venice),
completed after his death, shows Verrocchio’s interest in
another type of figure than that of youth—the strong, dy-
namic, and ruthless warrior. His most important work in
Florence is perhaps the bronze Christ and St. Thomas
(1467–83), on the outside of Orsanmichele. Examples of
his fine portrait busts are those of a noblewoman holding
flowers (Bargello, Florence) and of Lorenzo de’ Medici
(National Gallery, Washington). He is regarded as one of
the most influential Florentine artists of his time.
Further reading: Andrew Butterfield, The Sculptures
of Andrea del Verrocchio (New Haven, Conn.: Yale Univer-
sity Press, 1997); Günter Passavant, Verrocchio (London:
Phaidon, 1969); Charles Seymour, The Sculpture of Verroc-
chio (London: Studio Vista, 1971).
Vesalius (Andrea Vesalio) (1514–1564) Belgian-born
anatomist
The son and grandson of physicians who had practiced at
the imperial court, Vesalius, after studying medicine in
Paris and Padua, followed the family tradition and served
successively Emperor CHARLES Vand his son, PHILIP IIof
Spain. He began his anatomical work with the publication
of six detailed plates in his Tabulae sex (1538), and com-
pleted his program with the most comprehensive and lav-
ishly illustrated of all Renaissance anatomical texts, De
humani corporis fabrica (On the structure of the human
body; 1543). Although Vesalius attempted to base his
ANATOMYon human DISSECTION, cadavers were too scarce
to allow his program to be realized. Consequently, at sev-
eral points, he was compelled to fall back reluctantly on
the authority of Galen (see GALENISM, RENAISSANCE). In
1562, for unknown reasons, Vesalius left the service of
Philip II. He died in mysterious circumstances while re-
turning from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and was
buried on the Ionian island of Zakynthos (Zante).
De humani corporis fabrica libri septem appeared in a
number of editions in several countries within a few years
of its initial publication at Basle. The remarkable illustra-
tions by Jan Steven van CALCARwere plagiarized in Eng-
land as early as 1545 by the engraver Thomas Geminus for
an abridged version of Vesalius’ work entitled Compen-
diosa totius anatomie delineatio; this abridgment was trans-
lated into English by Nicholas UDALL(1553; repr. 1559).
A version in modern English is The Epitome of Andreas
Vesalius by C. R. Lind (Cambridge, Mass., 1969). Publica-
tion of the whole work, together with the original illus-
trations, in a new multivolume translation by William
Frank Richardson and John Burd Carman began in 1998
(Novato, Calif.: Norman Publishing).
Further reading: Charles D. O’Malley, Andreas Vesal-
ius of Brussels, 1514–1564 (Berkeley, Calif: University of
California Press, 1964).Vespasiano da Bisticci See BISTICCI, VESPASIANO DAVespucci, Amerigo (1454–1512) Italian explorer
Born in Florence, Vespucci was introduced to astronomy
and geography by an uncle. He studied law at Pisa before
entering the service of the Medici family around 1480.
From 1494 he worked for them as a shipping agent in
Seville. When COLUMBUS’s administration of Hispaniola
was called in question (1497), Vespucci sailed there with
the commission of investigation, thus beginning a career
in active exploration. He made several voyages to the New
World, although exactly how many and their destinations
are unclear. In 1498–99 he sailed with Alonso de Ojeda,
exploring the Gulf of Mexico and possibly northern Brazil.
In 1500 Vespucci and Gonzalo Coelho led a three-
ship Portuguese expedition down the coast of Brazil. This
voyage was extensively documented and charted, and one
of Vespucci’s letters describing it, The New World (Mundus
Novus), was the first document to define America as a con-
tinent separate from Asia. The cartographer Martin Wald-
seemüller was the first to christen the new land mass
America in Vespucci’s honor on his world map of 1507,
and The New World soon appeared in Italian, French, and
German editions. Back in Spain Vespucci held the post of
pilot major from 1505 until his death.
Further reading: Giancarlo Masini and Iacopo Gori,
How Florence Invented America: Vespucci, Verrazzano, and44990 0 VVeerrrroocccchhiioo,, AAnnddrreeaa ddeell