vanishing point

    In perspective, the point on the horizon at which sets of lines representing parallel lines will converge.

vanitas (Lat. "emptiness")

    A painting (or element in painting) that acts as a reminder of the inevitabiliry of death, and the pointlessness of earthly ambitions and achievements. Common vanitas-symbols include skulls, guttering candles, hour-glasses and clocks, overturned vessels, and even flowers (which will soon fade). The vanitas theme became popular during the Baroque, with the vanitas still life flourishing in Dutch art.

varietà (It. "variety")

    In Renaissance art theory, a work's richness of subject matter. Also varietas (Lat.).

vault

    A roof or ceiling whose structure is based on the arch. There are a wide range of forms, including the barrel (or tunnel) vault, formed by a continuous semi-circular arch; the groin vault, formed when two barrel vaults intersect; and the rib vault, consistong of a framework of diagonal ribs supporting interlocking arches. The development of the various forms was of great structural and aesthetic importance in the development of church architecture during the Middle Ages.

veduta (Italian for view)

    a primarily topographical representation of a town or landscape that is depicted in such a life-like manner that the location can be identified.

Vespers (Lat. vesper, "evening")

    Prayers said in the evening; the church service at which these prayers are said. The Marian Vespers are prayers and meditations relating to the Virgin Mary.

Vestibule (Lat. vestibulum, "forecourt")

    The anteroom or entrance hall of a building. In ancient Roman dwellings, the vestibule was situated before the entrance to the house.

Via Crucis

    The Way of the Cross. The route taken by Christ in the Passion on the way to Golgotha. The route is marked by the 14 Stations of the Cross.

Vices and Virtues

    In the medieval and Renaissance Christianity there were seven principal virtues and seven principal vices, a classification that brought together both ideals of both Christianity and classical Antiquity. Personifications of both appear in medieval and Renaissance art. The seven Vices (also known as the seven Deadly Sins) were: Pride, Covetousness, Lust, Anger, Envy, Gluttony, and Sloth. The seven Virtues were: Faith, Hope, Charity, Fortitude, Temperance, Prudence, and Justice.

vimperga

    Of German origin, "not exposed to winds". Gothic decorative attic over doors and windows. Attics with tracery in the shape of isosceles triangles are decorated with crockets and cornices, and wooden towers are decorated with finials at the top.

virtù

    The Italian word commonly means 'virtue' in the sense of Hamlet's admonition to his mother, 'Assume a virtue, if you have it not', but during the Renaissance it increasingly carried the force of Edmund Burke's 'I have in general no very exalted opinion of the virtue of paper government', in which the word signifies efficacy, actual or latent. Under the influence of the classical 'virtus', 'excellence' (with a strongly virile connotation), virtù could be used, as it most frequently was by Machiavelli, for example, to convey an inherently gifted activism especially in statecraft or military affairs; to possess virtù was a character trait distinguishing the energetic, even reckless (but not feckless) man from his conventionally virtuous counterpart, rendering him less vulnerable to the quirks of Fortuna.

vita, pl. vite (Lat. "life")

    An account of someone's life and work, a biography. The best-known writer of the vita in the Renaissance was Vasari, whose Le vite de'più eccellenti pittori, scultori e architetti italiani ("Lives of the Most Eminent Italian Painters, Sculptors and Architects"), published in 1550 and 1568, provides detailed accounts of the lives of many of the most important artists of the Renaissance.

Vitruvius Pollio, Marcus (1st cent. AD)

    Roman architect whose ten books of architecture formed the basis of Renaissance architectural theory.

volute

    A spiral scroll found particularly on (Ionic) capitals and gables, as a transition between horizontal and vertical elements.

votive painting/image

    A picture or panel donated because of a sacred promise, usually when a prayer for good fortune, protection from harm, or recovery from illness has been made.