delle cinque ordini d’architettura (1562). The ideals ex-
pressed in this work, which was translated into most Eu-
ropean languages, were reflected in many of Vignola’s own
designs and were themselves derived from his study of
antique models during his training in Bologna and Rome.
In 1541 he widened his horizons with work at FON-
TAINEBLEAU, returning to Italy two years later in order to
produce his own designs.
After executing plans for the Palazzo Bocchi at
Bologna (1545), Vignola moved to Rome where he was ap-
pointed papal architect by Pope Julius III in 1550. In 1551
he began work on the Villa Giulia in collaboration with
VASARIand AMMANATI, basing the design closely on classi-
cal examples. At about the same time, however, he also
began work on the designs for the churches of Sant’ An-
drea (1550–54) in the Via Flaminia and Anna dei Palafre-
nieri (begun 1565), which constituted a radical break with
the classical tradition and anticipated Baroque architec-
ture. After Michelangelo’s death (1564) Vignola led the ar-
chitectural team working to complete ST. PETER’S.
Vignola’s most important building, the church of Il
Gesù in Rome, was nonetheless designed in the classical
style. Begun in 1568, the church was built for the Jesuits
and had a profound influence on later architects, even
though it was completed after Vignola’s death in a form
somewhat different from the original plans. Another
highly original building by Vignola was the Villa Farnese
at Caprarola, a polygonal structure begun by Antonio da
SANGALLOthe Younger and PERUZZI, for which Vignola de-
signed (1559) a circular courtyard and magnificent spiral
staircase. He also wrote a treatise on perspective, Le due re-
gole della prospettiva pratica (1583).
Villamediana, Don Juan de Tassis y Peralta, Count
of (1580–1622) Spanish poet, satirist, and courtier
Born at Lisbon, the son of a diplomat, Villamediana was a
gambler and libertine, who, on being banished from court
in 1608, traveled and fought in Italy. Returning in 1617,
he soon made himself so unpopular with his savage lam-
poons that he was forced to withdraw from Madrid again,
but in 1621 he was appointed gentleman-in-waiting to the
young Queen Isabel, wife of Philip IV. His attentions to
her soon attracted the notice of his many enemies. During
the performance of his masque La Gloria de Niquea in May
1622 a fire broke out and Villamediana’s rescue of the
queen caused further scandal. Three months later he was
assassinated at the instigation of the king and his minister,
the duke of Olivares.
Villamediana was the friend and patron of GÓNGORA,
by whose style his own was deeply influenced. His satires
combine concentrated venom with polished versification,
and he also wrote some fine love poems and poetical
fables.
villanelle A verse form developed in 16th-century France
by the poets Joachim DU BELLAY, Philippe DESPORTES, Jean
PASSERAT, and others and revived in the 19th century. The
word “villanelle” is derived from villanella, a type of Ital-
ian rustic song or dance: the content of the villanelle is
usually of a pastoral or popular nature. The villanelle con-
sists of a variable number of three-line stanzas (usually
five) with the rhyming pattern aba, followed by a four-line
stanza with the rhyming pattern abaa. The first and third
lines of the first stanza are used alternately as the third lines
of the second, third, fourth, and fifth stanzas; both lines
reappear as the third and fourth lines of the final stanza.Vinci, Leonardo da See LEONARDO DA VINCIVinck(e)boons, David (1576–1632) Netherlands painter
and print designer
In 1579 Vinckboons’s family moved from his birthplace of
Malines to Antwerp, where he received his initial training
from his father Philip, a watercolorist. After the return of
the Spanish army, the family moved on (1591) to Amster-
dam, where Vinckboons studied under another Flemish
émigré, Gillis (III) van Coninxloo. The latter’s influence
was decisive upon Vinckboons’s many landscapes popu-
lated by numerous tiny figures. However, in such works as
the Kermis (c. 1610; Dresden), the influence of the peas-
ant scenes of Pieter BRUEGHELthe Elder is paramount.
Vinckboons was one of the most popular and prolific
painters and print designers of his day. His work consti-
tutes a bridge between the Netherlandish genre traditions
of the 16th and 17th centuries.Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro) (70–19 BCE) Roman poet
Born near Mantua, where he later farmed, Virgil studied
philosophy and rhetoric at Rome. There he was accepted
into the literary circle surrounding MAECENASand the fu-
ture Emperor Augustus. Virgil’s three great works—the
Eclogues (37 BCE), the Georgics (30 BCE), and the Aeneid
(virtually complete at the poet’s death)—have had an in-
comparable influence over subsequent European litera-
ture. Known, copied, and studied throughout the Middle
Ages, these poems were accorded a veneration that par-
tially offset the dubious reputation acquired by their au-
thor as a powerful wizard. On the credit side, however, it
was believed that Virgil’s Fourth Eclogue was a prophecy
of the birth of Christ, and it was the more positive assess-
ment of Virgil in medieval tradition that led Dante to ap-
point him as his guide in the first two parts of the DIVINE
COMEDY.
The Eclogues comprise 10 short poems in hexameters,
written in imitation of the Idylls of the third-century BCE
Greek poet Theocritus. From him Virgil adapted such mo-
tifs as the incantations used by a country girl to draw back
a faithless lover from the town, a singing match between
shepherds, and laments for unrequited love; these recur in44994 4 VViillllaammeeddiiaannaa,, CCoouunntt ooff