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MARCUS VERRIUS FLACCUS (c. ro B.C.)

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Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 1039 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MARCUS VERRIUS See also:FLACCUS (c. ro B.C.)  , See also:Roman grammarian and teacher, flourished under See also:Augustus and Tiberius . He was a freedman, and his manumitter has been identified with Verrius See also:Flaccus, an authority on pontifical See also:law; but for See also:chronological reasons the name of Veranius Flaccus, a writer on augury, has been suggested (See also:Teuffel-See also:Schwabe, Hist. of Roman Lit . 199, 4) . He gained such a reputation by his methods of instruction that he was summoned to See also:court to bring up See also:Gaius and See also:Lucius, the grandsons of Augustus . He removed there with his whole school, and his See also:salary was greatly increased on the See also:condition that he took no fresh pupils . He died at an advanced See also:age during the reign of Tiberius (Suetonius, De Grammaticis, 17), and a statue in his See also:honour was erected at See also:Praeneste, in a marblerecess, with See also:inscriptions from his See also:Fasti . Flaccus was also a distinguished philologist and antiquarian investigator . For his most important See also:work (De Verborum Significatu) see See also:FESTUS, SEXTUS . Of the See also:calendar of Roman festivals (Fasti Praenestini) engraved on See also:marble and set up in the See also:forum at Praeneste, some fragments were discovered (1771) at some distance from the See also:town itself in a See also:Christian See also:building of later date, and some consular fasti in the forum itself (1778) . The collection was subsequently increased by two new fragments . Other lost See also:works of Flaccus were: De 0r"thographia: De Obscuris Catonis, an elucidation of obscurities in the writings of the See also:elder See also:Cato; Saturnus, dealing with questions of Roman See also:ritual; Rerum memoria dignarum libri, an encyclopaedic work much used by See also:Pliny the elder; Res Etruscae, probably on augury . For the fragments of the Fasti see Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, i. pp .

311, 474; G . Gatti, " Due nuovi Frammenti del Calendario di Verrio Flacco," in Atti See also:

delta r . Accademia dei Lincei, 5th See also:ser., vol . 5, pt . 2, p . 421 (1898) ; See also:Winther, De fastis Verrii Flacci ab Ovidio adhibitis (1885) ; J . E . See also:Sandys, Classical Scholarship (ed . 1906), vol. i., See also:index, s.v . " Verrius "; fragments of Flaccus in C . O . Mtiller's edition of Festus; see also H .

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Nettleship, Lectures and Essays . VERROCCHIO, See also:ANDREA DEL (1435-1488), See also:Italian See also:gold-See also:smith, sculptor and painter, was See also:born at See also:Florence . He was the son of Michele di See also:Francesco de' Cioni, and took his name from his See also:master, the See also:goldsmith Giuliano Verrocchi . Except through his works, little is known of his See also:life . As a painter he occupies an important position from the fact that Leonardo da See also:Vinci and Lorenzo di See also:Credi worked for many years in his bottega as pupils and' assistants . Only one existing See also:painting can be attributed with See also:absolute certainty to Verrocchio's See also:hand, the celebrated " See also:Baptism of See also:Christ," originally painted for the monks of See also:Vallombrosa, and now in the See also:academy of Florence . The figures of Christ and the Baptist are executed with See also:great vigour and refinement of See also:touch, but are rather hard and angular in See also:style . The two angels are of a much more graceful See also:cast; the See also:face of one is of especial beauty, and See also:Vasari is probably right in saying that this See also:head was painted by the See also:young Leonardo . Other pictures from Verrocchio's bottega probably exist, as, for example, two in the See also:National See also:Gallery of See also:London formerly attributed to See also:Ant . Pollaluolo—" Tobias and the See also:Angel " (No 781) and the very lovely " Madonna and Angels " (No . 296), both very brilliant and See also:jewel-like in See also:colour . This exquisite painting may possibly have been painted from Verrocchio's See also:design by Lorenzo di Credi while he was under the immediate See also:influence of his wonderful See also:fellow-See also:pupil, Da Vinci.' In examining Verrocchio's work as a sculptor we are on surer ground .

Phoenix-squares

One of his earliest works was the beautiful marble medallion of the Madonna, over the See also:

tomb of Leonardo See also:Bruni of See also:Arezzo in the See also:church of See also:Santa Croce at Florence . In 1472 Verrocchio completed the See also:fine tomb of Giovanni and See also:Piero de' See also:Medici, between the See also:sacristy and the See also:lady See also:chapel of See also:San Lorenzo at Florence . This consists of a great See also:porphyry See also:sarcophagus enriched with magnificent See also:acanthus foliage in See also:bronze . Above it is a graceful open bronze grill, made like a network of cordage . In 1474 Verrocchio began the See also:monument to See also:Cardinal Forteguerra at the See also:west end of See also:Pistoia See also:cathedral . The kneeling figure of the cardinal was never completed, and now lies in a See also:room of La Sapienza, but the whole design is shown in what is probably Verrocchio's See also:original See also:clay See also:sketch, now in the See also:South See also:Kensington Museum . Though this work was designed by Verrocchio, the actual See also:execution of it was entrusted to his assistant, the Florentine Lorenzetto . In 1476 Verrocchio modelled and cast the fine but too realistic bronze statue of See also:David, now in the Bargello (Florence); and in the following See also:year he completed one of the reliefs of the magnificent See also:silver See also:altar-frontal of the Florentine See also:baptistery, that representing the " See also:Beheading of St See also:John." Verrocchio's other works in the See also:precious metals are now lost, but Vasari records that he made many elaborate pieces of See also:plate and See also:jewelry, such as morses for copes, as well as a See also:series of silver statues of the Apostles for the See also:pope's chapel in the Vatican . Between 1478 and 1483 he was occupied in making the bronze See also:group of the " Unbelief of St See also:Thomas," which still stands in See See also:Crowe and Cavalcaselle, Painting in See also:Italy (London, 1864), ii. pp . 400 seq . one of the See also:external niches of Or San Michele (Florence) . He received Boo florins for these two figures, which are more remarkable for the excellence of their technique than for their sculpturesque beauty .

The attitudes are rather rigid and the faces hard in expression . V e r r o cchio's See also:

chief master-piece was the See also:colossal bronze equestrian statue of the Venetian See also:general Bartolommeo See also:Colleoni, which stands in the piazza of SS . Giovanni e See also:Paolo at See also:Venice . Verrocchio received the See also:order for this statue in 1479, but had only completed the See also:model when he died in 1488 . In spite of his See also:request that the casting should be entrusted to his pupil Lorenzo di Credi, the work was given to Alessandro See also:Leopardi by the Venetian See also:senate, and the statue was gilt and unveiled in 1496.1 There appears to be no doubt that the model was completed by Verrocchio himself, and that nothing more than its See also:reproduction in bronze should be attributed to the much feebler hand of Leopardi, who, however, has set his own name alone on the belly-See also:band of the See also:horseSee also:ALEXANDER - LEOPARDVS V . F . See also:OPUS . This is perhaps the noblest equestrian statue in the See also:world, being in some respects See also:superior to the See also:antique bronze of See also:Marcus Aurelius in See also:Rome and to that of Gattamelata at See also:Padua by See also:Donatello . The horse is designed with wonderful See also:nobility and spirit, and the easy pose of the great general, combining perfect See also:balance with absolute ease and See also:security in the See also:saddle, is a marvel of sculpturesque ability . Most remarkable skill is shown by the way in which Verrocchio has exaggerated the strongly marked features of the general, so that nothing of its powerful effect is lost by the lofty position of the head . According to Vasari, Verrocchio was one of the first sculptors who made a See also:practical use of casts from living and dead subjects . He is said also to have produced plastic works in terra-See also:cotta, See also:wood and in See also:wax decorated with colour .

As a sculptor his chief pupil was Francesco di See also:

Simone, the son of that Simone whom Vasari wrongly calls a See also:brother of Donatello . Another pupil was Agnolo di See also:Polo (Paolo), who worked chiefly in terra-cotta . Verrocchio died in Venice in 1488, and was buried in the church of St Ambrogio in Florence . See also Hans Mackowsky, " Verrocchio . . . Mit 8o Abbildungen " (1901), Kiinster Monographien, No . 52 . (J . H .

End of Article: MARCUS VERRIUS FLACCUS (c. ro B.C.)
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