Vossius, Isaac, a Dutch scholar and theologian, the only son of Gerard Jan Vossius, who survived him, was born at Leyden in 1618. He was educated entirely by his father, and at the age of twentj'-one he published an edition of the Periplus of Scylax, the Greek geog- rapher, with a Latin translation and notes. He then travelled through Italy, France, and England for three years, during which he collected many valuable manu- scripts of ancient writers. In 1648 he took up his al)ode at the court of queen Christina of Sweden ; but in 1658, in consequence of a quarrel with Salmasius, he returned to Holland. In 1670 he went to England, where he was made a doctor of laws by the University of Oxford, and in 1673 appointed canon of Windsor by Charles II, and assigned apartments in the Castle. He died there iu 1688. It is recorded that on his death-bed he re-
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fused to take the sacrament until one of his colleagues ariiiuil that he ought to do so for the honor of the cliaiiter. He was sceptical in religion, and it is related that king Charles said of him on one occasion, "This learned divine is a strange man; he will believe any- thing except the Hible." His literary merits are great, though his works are not so valuable as those of his father. Among his most important works are, Disser- tations on the Seventy Interpreters, and their Trumlalion and CAronolof/i/ (1(563):— O/J the Chanting of Poems and the Power of Rhythm (1673) :— .4 Book of Various Ob- servations; besides numerous editions of the classics. His large and valuable library was purchased by the Uni- versity of Leyden. See Foi)pens, Bibliothtca Behjica ; Niceron, Menioires.
Vota (or Bota), a festival of the ancient Church, which fell on Jan. 4, so called because it was the day of sacriticing for the emperor's safety. See Bingham, Christ. ArUiq. bk. xx, eh. i, § iii.
Vote. The Orientals are not accustomed to formal ballots on any occasion, and the Hebrews do not appear to have resorted to it in any form unless the lot (q. v.) may be so regarded. In Koman times the Greek cus- tom of hand -showing (xstporoi'Ew, " ordain") gradu- ally came into vogue, and hence has usually prevailed in the Christian Church. In Acts xxvi, 10 (A. V. '• voice") the Attic method of public decision by means of a tessara (■ipii(poc, Kev. ii, 17) is thought to be al- luded to; but if so, the use of the term is there mere- ly metaphorical in the sense of judgment. See Paul; Stephen.
Voting. See Election of Clergy. Votive Tablets were memorial or commemora- tive tablets dedicated to meritorious personages or to the Deity, in commemoration of events of an unusually favorable nature. 'J'lieir use passed over into the Chris- tian Church, under the alleged sanction of Exod. xvii, 14 ; Psa. cxi. 4, etc. These tablets were designed to be memorials of thanksgiving, and they were placed in churches, chapels, and other sacred localities. They are mentioned by Theodoret of Cyrus in ' E\\7]viK<Li> ^epa- irti'TiK)) iTa^i]{iaTMV Dispntait. XII (ad Cod. MSS. Rec. Th. Gaisford, Oxon. 1831)), i, 8. The growing worship of saints and relics extended the use of such tablets, and the chapels and churches to which pilgrimages were made were specially chosen to receive them. The use of them still exists in the Church of Home. They bear the words ex voto, and usually represent a picture in which one or more persons appear in the posture of praver. and sometimes the occasion is shown when help was obtained or prayer was answered. In the Protes- tant churches of Europe memorial tablets, usually in honor of deceased ministers who served the particular congregation which thus seeks to perpetuate their mem- orv, are sometimes found. They are of stone or metal, and bear upon their surface a description of the life and services, usually in Latin, of him to whom the tablet is dedicated. Sometimes, too, they are in the form of a statue of the person so commemorated. See Herzog, Real- Eneyklop. s. v.
Votum. See Votive Taulets.
Vouet, Stjion, an eminent French painter, was born at Paris in 1582. He received instruction from his fa- ther, and made such rapid advances in the art that at the age of fourteen he was commissioned to visit Eng- land for the purpose of ()ainting the portrait of a French nobleman then residing in London. Several years af- ter, baron de Saucy, French ambassador to the Porte, took him to Constantinople, where he painted an excel- lent portrait of the sultan from memory, after seeing him at the aml)assador's audience. This performance gained him the |)atronagc of the Turkish nobles. From Constantinople he went to Venice, to study the works of Paul Veronese, and thence to Kome in 1613, where he adopted the style of Caravaggio, He was employed
by pope Urban VIII and his nephew, the cardinal, to paint several pictures for St. Peter's and the Palazzo Harberini, which are said to be among his best works, lie was also employetl by Louis XIII of France and prince Uoria of Genoa, and on returning to Kome in 1624 was chosen president of the Academy of St. Luke. In 1627 he returned to Paris by invitation of the king, and was apjjointed his principal painter, with apart- ments in the Louvre. He was em|)loved in numerous commissions — so numerous, indeed, that he was obliged to intrust the execution of the greater part to his schol- ars. He painted ceilings, galleries, altar-pieces, small religious subjects, and other easel pictures, Jind portraits in oil and in crayon. The multiplicity of his engage- ments induced Vouet to abandon the careful and vigor- ous style which he followed in Italy and during the first part of his residence in France ; but he neverthe- less greatly improved the French school, and he is said b\' French historians to have done as much for painting in France as Corneille did for the drama. Among his principal works in Paris are the Assumption of the Virgin, in the Church of St. Nicolas des Champs; and the Mar- tyrdom of St. Agnes, in the Church of St. Eustache. An etching by Vouet of the Holy Family, dated 1633, is also mentioned. He was followed by a number of disciples, who exerted a further influence upon the taste of the French school. He died at Paris in 1641. See Spoouer, Biog. Hist, of the Fine A rts, s. v.