Vitsyebsk Vvet-syipsk\ Russian Vitebsk Vve-tipsk\ City (pop., 2001 est.: 349,000), northeastern Belarus. First mentioned in 1021, it was a major fortress and trading centre and was the chief town of an independent principality for some 200 years. It passed to Lithuania in 1320, later to Poland, and then to Russia in 1772. It was destroyed by the Poles in the 16th century, by the Swedes in the Great Northern War, by Napoleon in 1812, and by the Germans in World War II. There are two museums dedicated to Marc Chagall, a native of the city. A major industrial centre, it produces machine tools, electrical instruments, and a range of consumer goods.
Vittorini V.vet-'to-'re-neV Elio (b. July 23, 1908, Syracuse, Sicily, Italy—d. Feb. 13, 1966, Milan) Italian novelist, translator, and critic. He left school at age 17 and later learned English while working as a proof¬ reader. He became, with Cesare Pavese, a pioneer in translating the works of U.S. and English writers into Italian. His novels of Neorealism mirror Italy’s experience of fascism and the social, political, and spiritual ago¬ nies of the 20th century. Conversation in Sicily (1941), which clearly expresses his antifascist feelings, is his most important novel.
Vivaldi \vi-'val-de\ A Antonio (Lucio) (b. March 4, 1678, Venice, Republic of Venice—d. July 28, 1741, Vienna, Austria) Italian composer. He was taught violin by his father. In 1703 he was ordained a priest (and later became known as the “Red Priest” for his red hair). He spent most of his career teaching violin and leading the orchestra at a Venetian girls’ orphanage. After c. 1718 he became more involved in opera as both com¬ poser and impresario. His concertos were highly influential in setting the genre’s three-movement (fast-slow-fast) form, with a returning theme (ritornello) for the larger group set off by contrasting material for the soloists, and he popularized effects such as pizzicato and muting. His L’estro armonico (1711), a collection of concerti grossi, attracted inter¬ national attention. His La stravaganza (c. 1714) was eagerly awaited, as were its successors, including The Four Seasons (1725). In all he wrote more than 500 concertos. His most popular sacred vocal work is the Glo¬ ria (1708). Though often accused of repeating himself, Vivaldi was in fact highly imaginative, and his works exercised a strong influence on Johann Sebastian Bach.
Vivarini \,ve-va-'re-ne\ family Family of 15th-century Venetian paint¬ ers. Antonio Vivarini (b. c. 1415—d. c. 1480) collaborated from 1441 with his brother-in-law, Giovanni d’Alemagna (d. 1450), on altarpieces, four of which survive in the churches of San Zaccaria (1443) and San Pantalon (1444), and on a large three-part canvas in the Accademia (1446). Their large-scale polyptychs feature stiff, archaic figures and heavily ornamented frames. In 1447-50 they lived in Padua and worked with Andrea Mantegna on a cycle of frescoes for the Church of the Eremitani (destroyed in World War II). Antonio’s younger brother and pupil Bartolomeo (b. c. 1432—d. c. 1499) collaborated with Antonio after 1450. His work, more progressive than his brother’s, was imitative of Mantegna. From 1459 he worked inde¬ pendently. His most distinguished works include the altarpieces in the churches of SS. Giovanni e Paolo (1473), Santa Maria dei Frari (1474), and San Giovanni Bragora (1478) and in the Accademia (1477). Antonio’s son Alvise (b. c. 1445—d. c. 1505) came under the influence of the Bellini family, with whom he worked on paintings (now lost) for the Doges’ Palace (1488). The overlapping careers of Antonio, Bartolomeo, and Alvise reca¬ pitulate the overall development of Venetian painting from the late Gothic period to the threshold of the High Renaissance.
Vivekananda Vve-va-ko-'non-doV orig. Narendranath Datta (b.
Jan. 12, 1863, Calcutta—d. July 4, 1902, Calcutta) Hindu spiritual leader and reformer. He received a Western education. He later joined the Brahmo Samaj and became the most notable disciple of Ramakrishna. By stressing the universal and humanistic aspects of the Veda and emphasizing service over dogma, he attempted to infuse vigour into Hinduism. He was a moti-
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vivisection ► voice I 2013
vating force behind the Vedanta movement in the U.S. and England, lec¬ turing and proselytizing in both countries. In 1897 he founded the Ramakrishna Mission, which carries out extensive educational and phil¬ anthropic work in India and expounds Vedanta in Western countries.
vivisection Operation on a living animal for experimental rather than healing purposes; more broadly, all experimentation on live animals. It is opposed by many as cruelty and supported by others on the ground that it advances medicine; a middle position is to oppose unnecessarily cruel practices, use alternatives when possible, and restrict experiments to nec¬ essary medical research (as opposed, for example, to cosmetics testing). Surgery on animals without anesthesia was once common; many people, most significantly Rene Descartes, claimed that animals did not really feel pain. Testing chemicals on animals to find the lethal dose still occurs despite alternative methods (computer simulations, tissue culture tests). An anti vivisection movement in the late 19th century broadened its scope to include prevention of all cruelty to animals and later gave rise to the ani¬ mal rights movement.
vizier Wo-'zir \ Arabic wazTr Chief minister of the ‘Abbasid caliphs and later a high government official in various Muslim countries. The office was originally held and defined by the Barmakids in the 8th century; they acted as the caliph’s representative to the public, later serving a similar function for various sultans. In the Ottoman Empire the title could be held by several people at once; under Mehmed II the position of grand vizier, the absolute representative of the sultan, was created.
Vladimir Vvla-do-mar.vla-'de-mirX I, Saint Russian Vladimir Svyatoslavich (b. 956, Kiev, Kievan Rus—d. July 15, 1015, Bere¬ stova, near Kiev; feast day July 15) Grand prince of Kiev (980-1015). He became prince of Novgorod in 970, and after his father’s death in 972 he seized Kiev from his brother. He consolidated the Kievan realm from Ukraine to the Baltic Sea by 980 and fortified its frontiers against Baltic and Eastern nomads. Originally a pagan, Vladimir made a pact (c. 987) with Basil II, providing him with military aid in exchange for marriage to Basil’s sister and promising to convert to Christianity. He adopted the Byzantine rite for his realm, forcibly converting Kiev and Novgorod and ordering pagan idols cast into the Dnieper River.
Vladimir-Suzdal school Vvla-do-msr-'suz-dolV School of Russian medieval mural and icon painting, with origins in Kievan Byzantine art, that flourished in the 12th-13th cen¬ tury around the cities of Vladimir and Suzdal, in northeastern Russia.
Its works, while maintaining Byzan¬ tine illusionistic modeling and solid proportions that lack the elongation that characterizes all later Russian art, move toward a more Russian expression: the emotion is intensely ascetic, the anatomy of the figures is uncertain and the hands are typically small, and the facial expressions por¬ tray a range of emotions. This bril¬ liant artistic development ended with the mid-13th-century Mongol inva¬ sions.
Vladivostok \,vla-d9-v3-'stak,
.vla-do-'vas-.takV Seaport city (pop.,
2001 est.: 598,600), southeastern Russia, in Asia. Founded in 1860 as a Russian military outpost, it became the main Russian naval base on the Pacific Ocean in 1872. It became a free commercial port in 1904 and grew rapidly as a military base after the Russian Revolution of 1917. Dur¬ ing the Soviet era it was the home of the Pacific fleet; its military impor¬ tance was such that it was closed to foreign shipping from the late 1950s. After the collapse of the U.S.S.R. in 1991, it reemerged as a commercial port, with industries such as ship repair and fish and meat processing. A cultural centre, it is the eastern terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railroad.