‖ virtu, vertu
(vɜːˈtuː, ˈvɜːtuː)
Also vertù, virtù.
[a. It. virtù:—L. virtūt-em, acc. sing. of virtus virtue. The form vertu follows French spelling without justification, as the Italian sense of the word has never been current in French.]
1. a. A love of, or taste for, works of art or curios; a knowledge of, or interest in, the fine arts; the fine arts as a subject of study or interest.
| α 1722 Richardson Statues, etc. in Italy 290 The whole Nation have a sort of Love to what they call the Virtù, and know Something of it. 1752 Foote Taste Prol., Virtù to such a height is grown, All artists are encourag'd—but our own. 1782 H. More Let. in W. Roberts Mem. (1834) I. 248 Mr. Locke, a man of fashion,..and so deep in virt{uacu}, that every artist of every sort allows Mr. Locke to beat him even in the secrets of his own art. 1820 Scott Let. in Lockhart (1837) IV. xi. 358 It may be the foundation of a set of bronzes, if stout Lord Walter should turn to virtu. 1858 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. iii. viii. I. 266 No noble Nation sunk from virtue to virtù, ever offered such a spectacle before. |
| personif. 1841 Lytton Nt. & Morn. Introd., A lumber-room; Lumber, indeed! what Virtù double-locks in cabinets is the real lumber to the boy! |
| β 1742 Pope Dunc. iv. 569 Her children..Who study Shakespeare at the Inns of Court, Impale a Glow-worm, or Vert{uacu} profess. 1771 Mackenzie Man Feel. (1886) 147 Fashion, Bon ton, and Vertù, are the homes of certain idols, to which we sacrifice the genuine pleasures of the soul. 1815 W. H. Ireland Scribbleomania 118 A Walpole for love of vertû far renown'd. 1830 Cunningham Brit. Paint. I. 236 This country at that period..exported swarms of men with the malady of vertu upon them. 1871 Smiles Charact. ix. (1876) 262 There [at Rome], the virtus or valour of the ancient Romans has characteristically degenerated into vertu, or a taste for knicknacks. |
b. man (or gentleman) of virtu, a virtuoso.
| 1749 Fielding Tom Jones xiii. v, They..may be called men of wisdom and vertù (take heed you do not read virtue). 1787 Gentl. Mag. 1163/1 Being in company lately with several gentlemen of virtù, I found in their conversation frequent use of the word Taste in a sense I was unaccustomed to. 1811 Jeffrey in Edin. Rev. May 31 There are few things, about which men of virtu are more apt to rave, than the merits of the Grecian architecture. |
c. article, object, piece, etc., of virtu, an article such as virtuosos are interested in; a curio, antique, or other product of the fine arts.
| α 1771 Goldsm. Haunch of Venison 8, I had thoughts in my chambers to place it in view, To be shown to my friends as a piece of virtù. 1825 T. Hook Sayings Ser. ii. Man of Many Fr. (Colburn) 148 Soon were they doomed to withdraw their eyes from the innumerable bits of virtù which surrounded them. 1857 C. Sumner in S. Longfellow Life Longf. (1891) II. 343 Stirling's house is full of the choicest articles of virtù. 1879 S. C. Bartlett Egypt to Pal. iv. 74 An immense number of articles of virtu from Egypt are now scattered through the world. |
| β 1815 J. Scott Vis. Paris (ed. 2) 116 The manufacture of some decoration, some piece of vertù, some elegant trifle. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xlix, Bareacres Castle was theirs,..with all its costly pictures, furniture, and articles of vertu. 1902 J. C. Snaith Wayfarers ii, Every object of vertu that I ever possessed. |
2. A special branch of this study or interest.
| 1745–6 Mrs. Delany in Life & Corr. (1861) II. 429 Last Tuesday Mr. Bristowe, an uncle of Miss Dashwood's, dined here; he is a great virtuoso, understands all the virtus to perfection. |
3. collect. Objects of art; curios.
Not always clearly distinguishable from sense 1.
| 1746 H. Walpole Let. to G. Montagu 17 June, My books, my virtu, and my other follies and amusements take up too much of my time to leave me much leisure to think of other people's affairs. 1768 Let. in J. H. Jesse Selwyn & Contemp. (1843) II. 308 My longing to see my own collection of virtu at Castle Howard is wonderful. 1773 W. Mason Heroick Ep. Sir W. Chambers 7 Whose orb collects, in one refulgent view, The scatter'd glories of Chinese Virtù. 1839 Barham Ingol. Leg. Ser. i. Acc. New Play, Some Vandal or Jew, With a taste for virtu, Has knock'd off his toes, to place, I suppose, In some Pickwick Museum. 1858 D. Costello Millionaire of Mincing Lane ii, Pictures, crockery, gimcracks of all kinds—what is generally known as virtù. |
| attrib. 1792 J. Wolcott (P. Pindar) Ep. Sir W. Hamilton Postscr. 4 What Britons, knowing in the Virt{uacu} trade, Soon as a grand discov'ry shall be made, Are near thee,..prepar'd to bite? |
4. The distinctive qualities inherent in a thing or person.
| 1934 E. Pound Eleven New Cantos xxxvi. 27 Or say where it had birth What is its virtu and power. 1949 ― Pisan Cantos lxxiv. 11 In the light of light is the virtù. 1969 Listener 14 Aug. 214/3 Cromwell was shown in the same light—of a de facto sovereign come into power thanks to his virtù—by Clarendon. 1973 Times Lit. Suppl. 1 June 601/3 The pagan virtù, the ‘civic humanism’ of Machiavelli, had become the proud Christian freedom of the Huguenots. |