VÉRAC, the Marquis Armand de** (1768-1858). Peer of France and Governor of Versailles.
VERNET, Horace** (1789-1863). Illustrious French painter.
VÉRON, Dr. Louis Désiré (1789-1867). On the conclusion of his professional work (he had practised from 1823), he devoted himself to literature and to commercial enterprises. For some years he was director of the opera; he then undertook, at the instance of M. Thiers, to revive le Constitutionnel of which he became managing director. He supported with all his power the candidature of Prince Louis Napoleon for the Presidency; was elected Deputy in 1852; sold le Constitutionnel to M. Mirès, and then retired from public life.
VESTIER, Phidias** (1796-1874). Architect at Tours.
VIARDOT, Madame. Born in 1821. She was Pauline Garcia, sister of Malibran and married Louis Viardot. She was a famous singer.
VICTOR EMMANUEL II. (1820-1878). King of Sardinia in 1849, King of Italy in 1861. He was the eldest son of the King Charles Albert who abdicated in his favour after the Battle of Novara. He overcame his difficulties by choosing clever and energetic Ministers. By his intervention in the Crimean war, to which he sent a force of seventeen thousand men, he obtained the right to proclaim the grievances and the rights of Italy at the Congress of Paris before Europe. The alliance of his daughter Clotilda with Prince Napoleon gave him the all-powerful support of France in the war against Austria in 1859, with which event Italian national unity began. In 1842 he married Adelaide, daughter of the Archduke Regnier, who died in 1855.
VILLELE, Mgr. de** (1770-1840). He was appointed Archbishop of Bourges in 1824.
VILLENEUVE, Madame de. Mlle. Guibert married under the Empire M. René de Villeneuve, who shared in some of the campaigns of the Grand Army, was made Count, and afterwards attached to Queen Hortense as Chamberlain.
VISCONTI, Louis Joachim (1791-1853). A famous architect, of Italian nationality, who left his country in 1798 and was a naturalised Frenchman in 1799. In 1808 he entered the School of Fine Arts, and in 1825 became architect of the Royal Library. He designed the tomb of the Emperor Napoleon at the Invalides; and also designed the fountains of Molière, of Louvois, and of Saint Sulpice, and finished building the Louvre, the general plan of which was of his design.
VITROLLES, the Baron de* (1774-1854). French diplomatist.