Rubens(Flemish: 1577-1640).See 38.
One of the best known and most be-copied pictures in the Gallery. Its fame among artists "depends to no slight extent on its being atour de force. The head is painted in reflected light, so as to come as near as may be to Queen Elizabeth'sshadowlessideal" (Armstrong:Notes on the National Gallery, p. 31). "No one who has not beheld this masterpiece of painting can form any conception," says Dr. Waagen, "of the transparency and brilliancy with which the local colours in the features and complexion, though under the shadow of a broad-brimmed hat, are brought out and made to tell, while the different parts are rounded and relieved, with the finest knowledge and use of reflected lights." The expression of the subject is as much atour de forceas the technical treatment—
I know a maiden fair to see,Take care!...She gives a side-glance and looks down,Beware! beware!...She has a bosom as white as snow,Take care!She knows how much it is best to show,Beware! beware!Trust her not,She is fooling thee!
I know a maiden fair to see,Take care!...She gives a side-glance and looks down,Beware! beware!...She has a bosom as white as snow,Take care!She knows how much it is best to show,Beware! beware!Trust her not,She is fooling thee!
Longfellow: from the German.
The picture is a portrait of Susanne Fourment, an elder sister of Rubens's second wife, Helène Fourment. Susanne often sat to Rubens; other paintings and drawings of her by his hand exist. She afterwards married Arnold Lunden. The picture remained in the possession of the painter until his death, when it passed into that of Nicholas Lunden, who had married Isabella, a daughter of Rubens by his second wife, Helène Fourment. The picture remained in the Lunden family until 1822, when it was sold by auction for 36,000 florins and brought to England. After being offered in vain to George IV., it was bought by Sir Robert Peel for 3500 guineas. Why and when this picture of a lady in a beaver hat acquired the inappropriate title of "Chapeau de Paille" ("The Straw Hat"), by which it has hitherto been called, is unknown. Perhaps the title is a corruption of "Chapeau d'Espagne." An entirely different story about the picture was current in the Lunden family. According to this not very probable tradition, Miss Susanne had refused to sit to Rubens, so he painted her unawares whilst she was in her garden, wearing a large straw hat. When the picture was done, she pardoned the flattering indiscretion and accepted it as a gift. Rubens afterwards begged leave to take back the portrait, promising in return a work in which he would put all his talent. This was areplicaof the same portrait, but instead of a straw hat (chapeau de paille) he introduced in the second version the beaver hat (chapeau de poil) that we see. The Lunden family had christened the original "Chapeau de Paille," and the present picture has ever since retained the same title. (See letter in theTimes, August 6, 1886, from M. Jules Nollée de Noduwez, himself a connection of the Lunden family).
Rubens(Flemish: 1577-1640).See 38.
For the subject see under 93. "Rubens painted these subjects with a gusto in which there is something fearful, so wonderful is the skill, the felicity of execution, the life, the energy, the fancy displayed—so gross and so repulsive the sentiment. In Niccolo Poussin's Bacchanalian scenes we have the licence and the revels of gods and nymphs, and of the golden age. Rubens gives us, with perhaps a truer moral feeling butmore depraved taste, mere animal sensuality, with all its most brutal attributes" (Mrs. Jameson'sHandbook to the Private Galleries of London, p. 362). This picture was in the artist's possession at the time of his death, and was then bought for Cardinal Richelieu. It was afterwards in the collection of Sir Robert Peel, who gave £1100 for it.
These sixteen drawings by Rubens formed part of the rich collection of Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A., after whose death they were acquired for Sir Robert Peel. They were purchased for the nation in 1871 with the Peel Collection of pictures. The subjects are as follows:—
853 a,b,c, andd. Four studies for the famous picture at Munich, representing the "Fall of the Damned." In black chalk, tinted slightly. "Inconceivably fine," says Mrs. Jameson.853 e.THE MARTYRDOM OF A SAINT.—He kneels, and a woman is about to bind his eyes. Fifteen figures with angels.853 f.THE DESCENT OF THE HOLY GHOST.—Study for the picture at Munich.853 g.THE CRUCIFIXION.—Drawing from the great picture at Antwerp, done for the engraver to work from.853 h.PORTRAIT OF A GIRL; with a cap and feather. Study from one of his own children.853 i.PORTRAIT OF A LADY, with flowers in her hair. Probably a study from his first wife. "Extremely fine," says Mrs. Jameson, "and full of life."853 j.HEAD OF A LADY, in chalk and sepia, wonderfully spirited.853 k.SKETCH FOR MONUMENTAL SCULPTURE, or design for a frontispiece—with a figure of "Fame."853 l.THE SAME, with figures of Moses and Aaron.853 m.THE SAME, with satyrs.853 n.THE SAME, representing the siege of Breda: Minerva and Hercules, prisoners, implements of war, etc.853 o.STUDY OF A LIONESS, introduced into his picture of "Daniel in the Lion's Den."853 p.SKETCH OF A LION HUNT.—Study for the great picture at Dresden.
853 a,b,c, andd. Four studies for the famous picture at Munich, representing the "Fall of the Damned." In black chalk, tinted slightly. "Inconceivably fine," says Mrs. Jameson.
853 e.THE MARTYRDOM OF A SAINT.—He kneels, and a woman is about to bind his eyes. Fifteen figures with angels.
853 f.THE DESCENT OF THE HOLY GHOST.—Study for the picture at Munich.
853 g.THE CRUCIFIXION.—Drawing from the great picture at Antwerp, done for the engraver to work from.
853 h.PORTRAIT OF A GIRL; with a cap and feather. Study from one of his own children.
853 i.PORTRAIT OF A LADY, with flowers in her hair. Probably a study from his first wife. "Extremely fine," says Mrs. Jameson, "and full of life."
853 j.HEAD OF A LADY, in chalk and sepia, wonderfully spirited.
853 k.SKETCH FOR MONUMENTAL SCULPTURE, or design for a frontispiece—with a figure of "Fame."
853 l.THE SAME, with figures of Moses and Aaron.
853 m.THE SAME, with satyrs.
853 n.THE SAME, representing the siege of Breda: Minerva and Hercules, prisoners, implements of war, etc.
853 o.STUDY OF A LIONESS, introduced into his picture of "Daniel in the Lion's Den."
853 p.SKETCH OF A LION HUNT.—Study for the great picture at Dresden.
Ruysdael(Dutch: 1628-1682).See 627.
Of this picture, when it was in Sir Robert Peel's collection, Mrs. Jameson tells a pretty tale. "'I cannot express to you,' said the statesman, 'the feeling of tranquillity, of restoration, with which, in an interval of harassing official business, I look around me here.' And while he spoke, in the slow, quiet tone of a weary man, he turned his eyes on a forest scene of Ruysdael, and gazed on it for a minute or two in silence, as if its cool, dewy verdure, its deep seclusion, its transparent waters stealing through the glade, had sent refreshment into his very soul" (Handbook to the Private Galleries of London, p. xix.).
Ruysdael(Dutch: 1628-1682).See 627.
Jan Steen(Dutch: 1626-1679).
It is in the collections of Holland, and especially in the Museum of Amsterdam, that the best works of this remarkable painter are to be seen—a painter whose talent and occasional grace made Reynolds name him in the same breath with Raphael, and who has by other critics been called the Molière of painting. This latter comparison happily expresses the dramatic and intellectual quality of Steen's best works. He drew not merely Dutch life, but human nature. He depicts the comedy of human life, for the most part, in a spirit of genial toleration, but sometimes with touches of almost Hogarthian satire. With regard to technical qualities, his best works are admirable for their skilful composition, brilliant touch, and harmonious colouring. "Steen when it pleased him was an artist of great ability. Unfortunately it did not always please him to be so, and then his colour became blurred, his execution trivial, and the general aspect of his figures heavy and monotonous; but whenever he exerts himself he becomes once more and remains a great master. It is the more astonishing to find these defects, as they are peculiar neither to the beginning nor to the end of his career, and therefore cannot be attributed to a hard apprenticeship or premature decay. They are to be explained by the irregular life which the painter led" (Havard). The number of his works, however,—of which more than 500 have been catalogued—seem to negative the stories in which some biographers accept of Steen'sdrunken and dissolute life. He was the son of a brewer and was born at Leyden. He first studied under a German painter, Knüpfer, at Utrecht; afterwards with Adrian van Ostade, and Jan van Goyen whose daughter he married in 1649. In the previous year he had joined the Painters' Guild of Haarlem. That he was improvident is proved by records of executions for debt which have been discovered in the archives of that town. His pictures must have fetched small prices, for he contracted to pay the year's rent of his house for 1666-67 with three portraits "painted as well as he was able," the rent being 29 florins. In 1669 his wife and his father died, and Steen, who is supposed to have resided for some years at the Hague, returned to Leyden and opened a tavern, and for the rest of his life combined the businesses of painter and publican.
It is in the collections of Holland, and especially in the Museum of Amsterdam, that the best works of this remarkable painter are to be seen—a painter whose talent and occasional grace made Reynolds name him in the same breath with Raphael, and who has by other critics been called the Molière of painting. This latter comparison happily expresses the dramatic and intellectual quality of Steen's best works. He drew not merely Dutch life, but human nature. He depicts the comedy of human life, for the most part, in a spirit of genial toleration, but sometimes with touches of almost Hogarthian satire. With regard to technical qualities, his best works are admirable for their skilful composition, brilliant touch, and harmonious colouring. "Steen when it pleased him was an artist of great ability. Unfortunately it did not always please him to be so, and then his colour became blurred, his execution trivial, and the general aspect of his figures heavy and monotonous; but whenever he exerts himself he becomes once more and remains a great master. It is the more astonishing to find these defects, as they are peculiar neither to the beginning nor to the end of his career, and therefore cannot be attributed to a hard apprenticeship or premature decay. They are to be explained by the irregular life which the painter led" (Havard). The number of his works, however,—of which more than 500 have been catalogued—seem to negative the stories in which some biographers accept of Steen'sdrunken and dissolute life. He was the son of a brewer and was born at Leyden. He first studied under a German painter, Knüpfer, at Utrecht; afterwards with Adrian van Ostade, and Jan van Goyen whose daughter he married in 1649. In the previous year he had joined the Painters' Guild of Haarlem. That he was improvident is proved by records of executions for debt which have been discovered in the archives of that town. His pictures must have fetched small prices, for he contracted to pay the year's rent of his house for 1666-67 with three portraits "painted as well as he was able," the rent being 29 florins. In 1669 his wife and his father died, and Steen, who is supposed to have resided for some years at the Hague, returned to Leyden and opened a tavern, and for the rest of his life combined the businesses of painter and publican.
A work of some humour. The music-master is sadly bored with the exercises of his pupil at the harpsichord, but his disgust is fully shared by the young brother whose turn is to come next, and who is bringing a lute into the room. The picture is signed on the harpsichord.
Teniers(Flemish: 1610-1694).See 154.
Very interesting little pictures, as characteristic of the entire want of poetry in Teniers' art. Compare Mantegna's version of Summer and Autumn (1125), or recall Botticelli's lovely vision of Spring at Florence, and one sees in a moment the difference in art between poetical imagination and vulgarity. To Teniers, Spring—"the sweet spring, the year's pleasant king"—is only a man carrying a flower-pot. Summer—"all the sweet season of summertide"—suggests nothing but a man holding a wheat-sheaf. Autumn—"season of mists and mellow fruitfulness"—brings him only a first glass of wine; and Winter—"white winter, rough nurse, that rocks the dead cold year"—only a second. These pictures (which are painted on copper), were once in the possession of Prince Talleyrand, and Sir Robert Peel bought them in 1823 for £189.
Teniers(Flemish: 1610-1694).See 154.
The man with the barrow is a portrait of Teniers' gardener.
Teniers(Flemish: 1610-1694).See 154.
Hardly an instance in which "vice itself loses half its evil by losing all its grossness." It is a very vulgar intrigue. The husband courts without passion; the maid-servant "stoops to folly" without grace; the wife surprises the lovers without dignity.
Teniers(Flemish: 1610-1694).See 154.
The sequel to the story of Dives and Lazarus. "And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried. And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments" (Luke xvi. 22, 23). A favourite subject with Teniers, giving him an opportunity for painting comic monstrosities.
Gerard Terburg(Dutch: 1617-1681).
Terburg is the most refined of all the Dutch painters of "conversation pieces." He depicts with admirable truth, both in his portraits andgenrepictures, the life of the wealthy and cultured classes of his time. His figures are well drawn and expressive, and the accessories are duly subordinated. He renders the texture of draperies with great skill, and his colouring is at once rich and quiet. He was the son of a wealthy man, a traveller and a connoisseur who himself imparted the rudiments of art to his son. Gerard afterwards studied in Amsterdam and Haarlem. In 1635 he visited England, and thence made the grand tour of the Continent, studying the works of Titian and others. On his return to Holland he remained some time at Amsterdam, learning much from the works of Rembrandt. In 1646 he was at Münster, where he painted the famous picture, No. 896 in our Gallery. This excited such admiration on account of the excellence of its portraits and general truth to nature, that the Spanish ambassador took Terburg with him to Madrid, where he was knighted by Philip IV. and had the opportunity of adding a study of Velazquez to his artistic advantages. Terburg settled eventually at Deventer, where he married and became burgomaster: a full-length portrait of him in that capacity is in the Museum at the Hague.
Terburg is the most refined of all the Dutch painters of "conversation pieces." He depicts with admirable truth, both in his portraits andgenrepictures, the life of the wealthy and cultured classes of his time. His figures are well drawn and expressive, and the accessories are duly subordinated. He renders the texture of draperies with great skill, and his colouring is at once rich and quiet. He was the son of a wealthy man, a traveller and a connoisseur who himself imparted the rudiments of art to his son. Gerard afterwards studied in Amsterdam and Haarlem. In 1635 he visited England, and thence made the grand tour of the Continent, studying the works of Titian and others. On his return to Holland he remained some time at Amsterdam, learning much from the works of Rembrandt. In 1646 he was at Münster, where he painted the famous picture, No. 896 in our Gallery. This excited such admiration on account of the excellence of its portraits and general truth to nature, that the Spanish ambassador took Terburg with him to Madrid, where he was knighted by Philip IV. and had the opportunity of adding a study of Velazquez to his artistic advantages. Terburg settled eventually at Deventer, where he married and became burgomaster: a full-length portrait of him in that capacity is in the Museum at the Hague.
This is a characteristic example of the painter's conversation pieces. Sir Robert Peel bought it in 1826 for 920 guineas.
Jan van de Cappelle(Dutch: painted about 1650-1680).
Of this painter, whose works have of recent years become popular with collectors, the Dutch writers have left no record. Nor has anything been discovered about him beyond the fact that, on the occasion of his marriage in 1653, he received the freedom of the city of Amsterdam. One may connect with this fact the state barge, introduced in some of his pictures,—or the corporation barge, it may be,—much resembling the barges belonging to the City and the City Companies which not long ago might still be seen on the Thames at London, and some of which survive, transformed into College barges at Oxford. Cappelle's works are comparatively rare; they show that he loved a calm sea, lit up with warm rays.
Of this painter, whose works have of recent years become popular with collectors, the Dutch writers have left no record. Nor has anything been discovered about him beyond the fact that, on the occasion of his marriage in 1653, he received the freedom of the city of Amsterdam. One may connect with this fact the state barge, introduced in some of his pictures,—or the corporation barge, it may be,—much resembling the barges belonging to the City and the City Companies which not long ago might still be seen on the Thames at London, and some of which survive, transformed into College barges at Oxford. Cappelle's works are comparatively rare; they show that he loved a calm sea, lit up with warm rays.
Jan van der Heyden(Dutch: 1637-1712).
Van der Heyden (or Heyde), who has been called, from the minute neatness of his workmanship, "the Dou of architectural painters,"[192]was one of the first Dutch artists to devote himself to that class of subject. It was a result no doubt of the Italianising tendency of the time. "It would seem that they required to be initiated in this style by the views of foreign market-places and squares with which the Italianising painters had decorated the saloons of Amsterdam, and that in the presence of this invasion of forums and piazzas they exclaimed, 'Have we not streets, squares, and monuments to paint?'" (Havard:The Dutch School, p. 238). Of course they had; and no works of the time are more interesting than these minute historical records. "A striking feature in Van der Heyden is the pencilling or dividing of the brickwork of the houses and walls by delicate white lines; so finely are these drawn that if it were not for the trouble, one might count the bricks in his buildings" (Seguier). But he had the art of combining this microscopic detail with breadth of effect. The division of labour in art work was in his time very fully applied; and Van der Heyden's range was very limited. He seldom turned his hand to anything but brick houses and churches in streets or squares, or rows along canals, or the moated granges common in his native country. He could draw neither man nor beast, and relied on Adrian van der Velde to enliven his street scenes with spirited figures. Van der Heyden was born at Gorcum, and was apprenticed to a glass-painter. He then moved to Amsterdam and studied architectural drawing. He visited England, Belgium, and the Rhenish Provinces. In the laterpart of his life he varied the practice of art with the pursuit of mechanics, for which he had a strong turn. He invented various improvements in the fire-engine, introduced the use of street-lamps, and at the time of his death was superintendent of the lighting and director of the firemen's company at Amsterdam.
Van der Heyden (or Heyde), who has been called, from the minute neatness of his workmanship, "the Dou of architectural painters,"[192]was one of the first Dutch artists to devote himself to that class of subject. It was a result no doubt of the Italianising tendency of the time. "It would seem that they required to be initiated in this style by the views of foreign market-places and squares with which the Italianising painters had decorated the saloons of Amsterdam, and that in the presence of this invasion of forums and piazzas they exclaimed, 'Have we not streets, squares, and monuments to paint?'" (Havard:The Dutch School, p. 238). Of course they had; and no works of the time are more interesting than these minute historical records. "A striking feature in Van der Heyden is the pencilling or dividing of the brickwork of the houses and walls by delicate white lines; so finely are these drawn that if it were not for the trouble, one might count the bricks in his buildings" (Seguier). But he had the art of combining this microscopic detail with breadth of effect. The division of labour in art work was in his time very fully applied; and Van der Heyden's range was very limited. He seldom turned his hand to anything but brick houses and churches in streets or squares, or rows along canals, or the moated granges common in his native country. He could draw neither man nor beast, and relied on Adrian van der Velde to enliven his street scenes with spirited figures. Van der Heyden was born at Gorcum, and was apprenticed to a glass-painter. He then moved to Amsterdam and studied architectural drawing. He visited England, Belgium, and the Rhenish Provinces. In the laterpart of his life he varied the practice of art with the pursuit of mechanics, for which he had a strong turn. He invented various improvements in the fire-engine, introduced the use of street-lamps, and at the time of his death was superintendent of the lighting and director of the firemen's company at Amsterdam.
In the background is seen the then unfinished tower of Cologne Cathedral surmounted by the old vane. This was a favourite subject of the painter; there is another version of it in the Wallace Collection. The figures are attributed to A. van de Velde.
Adrian van de Velde(Dutch: 1636-1672).
Adrian, the son of William van de Velde the elder, the marine painter, first studied under his father, and next under Wynants, the landscape painter. He showed his talent very early. "Wynants," said that painter's wife, when the young Adrian entered his studio, "you have found your master." He afterwards studied the figure under Wouwerman. His talent was versatile, for he painted figures, animals, and landscapes with equal truth and refinement. His large canvases (e.g.No. 80 in the Wallace Collection) are hard, and leave the spectator cold; but his cabinet pictures are refined in outline and delicate in tone. He was fond of village scenery with cattle introduced, in which kind are several good examples in our Gallery. He was also successful in winter scenes. Of his sandy coast scenes there is a choice example in the Six Collection at Amsterdam. The value and interest of many pictures by Ruysdael, Van der Heyden, Hobbema, and other painters of the time, were enhanced by figures inserted by Adrian. He must have had wonderful facility and industry, for in addition to these insertions, and in spite of his short life, the catalogue of his own pictures includes nearly 200 items.
Adrian, the son of William van de Velde the elder, the marine painter, first studied under his father, and next under Wynants, the landscape painter. He showed his talent very early. "Wynants," said that painter's wife, when the young Adrian entered his studio, "you have found your master." He afterwards studied the figure under Wouwerman. His talent was versatile, for he painted figures, animals, and landscapes with equal truth and refinement. His large canvases (e.g.No. 80 in the Wallace Collection) are hard, and leave the spectator cold; but his cabinet pictures are refined in outline and delicate in tone. He was fond of village scenery with cattle introduced, in which kind are several good examples in our Gallery. He was also successful in winter scenes. Of his sandy coast scenes there is a choice example in the Six Collection at Amsterdam. The value and interest of many pictures by Ruysdael, Van der Heyden, Hobbema, and other painters of the time, were enhanced by figures inserted by Adrian. He must have had wonderful facility and industry, for in addition to these insertions, and in spite of his short life, the catalogue of his own pictures includes nearly 200 items.
This picture is signed, and dated 1658. The effect is that of a fine warm summer afternoon.
Adrian van de Velde(Dutch: 1636-1672).See 867.
"The figures and faces," says Mrs. Jameson in her catalogue of the Peel Collection, "are finished with inexpressible delicacy; the animals are painted with characteristic truth; the foliage of the trees seems stirred by the breeze;—in short, it is a most rare piece of work in every part, and full of pastoral sentiment, though there is certainly nothing Arcadian in thepersonages introduced." Sir Robert Peel bought the picture in 1840 for 760 gs.
Adrian van de Velde(Dutch: 1636-1672).See 867.
This picture—known as "Les Amusements d'Hiver"—is signed, and dated 1668. The men are playing hockey. Other figures are occupied with a sledge. On the left is a refreshment booth.
W. van de Velde(Dutch: 1633-1707).See 149.
A dogger, with hanging sail, in the foreground; behind it a frigate—"and a variety of vessels, at every different gradation of distance, carry the eye back to the horizon. The air and ocean are still as sleep. Signed, and dated 1657, when the painter was only 24."
W. van de Velde(Dutch: 1633-1707).See 149.
Incidentally a good study in the "philosophy of clothes." The painter hits off with much humour the essential difference between those who regard man as "by nature a naked animal"—seen in the naked bathers—and those who regard him as emphatically "a clothed animal"—seen in the prim old gentleman who gets himself carried on a man's back. Intermediate between these two classes are those who use clothes as a convenience, but are not entirely subject to them—such, for instance, is the comfortable old fellow smoking his pipe and wading home, not without obvious contempt for the old gentleman riding, as aforesaid, in ignominious slavery to his "Sunday best." Dated 1661; bought by Sir Robert Peel from the collection of the Duc de Berri.
W. van de Velde(Dutch: 1633-1707).See 149.
W. van de Velde(Dutch: 1633-1707).See 149.
"A scene well known to those who have visited the Hague, and frequently represented by Van de Velde. There are the high sand-hills to the left, and above them are seen a few fishermen's huts and the little church of Scheveningen. Along the beach are numerous figures, variously grouped and employed; the most conspicuous are several persons near a post-waggon. The sea is quietly rolling in to the shore, impelled by a light breeze. The figures are painted with exquisite finish and spirit by Adrian van de Velde" (Mrs. Jameson). Sir Robert Peel bought this picture from the Pourtalès Collection for £800. It is a characteristic specimen of the master, showing how his version of the sea was coloured by that "mixture of sand and sea-water" which belongs to his native coasts. "I have come," writes Fromentin, "to Scheveningen. Before me is the calm, gray, fleecy North Sea. Who has not seen it? One thinks of Ruysdael, of Van Goyen, of Van de Velde. One easily finds their point of view. I could tell you the exact place where they sat, as if the trace of them had remained imprinted for two centuries: the sea is on the left; the ridged sand-hills stand out on the right, stretch away, diminish and are lost insensibly in the dim horizon; the grass is poor; the sand-hills are pale; the sea-shore is colourless; the sea is like milk; the sky has silky clouds and is wonderfully aerial."
W. van de Velde(Dutch: 1633-1707).See 149.
A Dutch frigate and a small English cutter becalmed. "There is a repose in the air, a clearness in the still, smooth sea, quite indescribable" (Mrs. Jameson).
W. van de Velde(Dutch: 1633-1707).See 149.
Two doggers in the foreground; behind one of them, a Dutch frigate.
W. van de Velde(Dutch: 1633-1707).See 149.
Van Dyck(Flemish: 1599-1641).See 49.
That Van Dyck was at a very early age a portrait-painter of rare merit may be seen, from this likeness of himself while still quite young and beardless. In the Wallace Collection there is another early portrait of himself, in the character of Paris. Our picture is the portrait of an artist and a man of refinement. Notice especially the long, tapering fingers—delicate almost to the point of feminineness. They are very characteristic of Van Dyck's work, who, indeed, drew all his hands from one model: the same delicate fingers may be seen in the so-called "portrait of Rubens" (49). In giving this delicacy to all sitters Van Dyck fell no doubt into mannerism; in giving it to great artists such as himself he was entirely right. Palmistry assigns fine, tapering fingers to "artistic temperament," and rightly, for fine fingers are necessary for fine work. "The art of painting, properly so called, consists in laying on the least possible colour that will produce the required result; and this measurement, in all the ultimate—that is to say the principal—operations of colouring, is so delicate that not one human hand in a million has the required lightness" (Two Paths, Appendix iv., where much interesting matter on this subject will be found).
Van Dyck(Flemish: 1599-1641).See 49.
These drawings were bought with the Peel Collection. The former is the study for an altar-piece of the church of St. Michael at Ghent—"a most superb drawing," says Mrs. Jameson. The latter is a drawing prepared for the engraver, Peter de Jode, from the large picture of the subject in the Louvre. It was the sight of that picture that determined King Charles I. to secure the services of Van Dyck.
Philips Wouwerman(Dutch: 1619-1668).
Wouwerman—whose pictures may nearly always be told by a white horse, which is almost his sign-manual—is selected by Ruskin as the central instance of the "hybrid school of landscape." To understand this term we must recall his division of all landscape, in its relation to human beings, into the following heads: (1)Heroic, representing an imaginary world inhabited by noble men and spiritual powers—Titian; (2)Classical, representing an imaginary world inhabited by perfectly civilised men and inferior spiritual powers—Poussin; (3)Pastoral, representing peasant life in its daily work—Cuyp; (4)Contemplative, directed to observation of the powers of nature and record of historical associations connected with landscape, contrasted with existing states of human life—Turner. Thehybridschool of which Berchem and Wouwerman are the chief representatives is that which endeavours to unite the irreconcilable sentiment of two or more of the above-mentioned classes. Thus here we have Wouwerman's conception of the heroic in the officers and in the rocky landscape; of the pastoral in the pretty milkmaid, to whom an officer is speaking, and who gives her name to the picture. So again the painter's desire to assemble all kinds of pleasurable elements may be seen in the crowded composition of an adjoining picture (879). Wouwerman is further selected by Ruskin as the chief type of vulgarity in art—meaning by vulgarity, insensibility. He introduces into his pictures—see, for instance, 879—every element that he thinks pleasurable, yet has not imagination enough to enter heartily into any of them. His pleasure is "without a gleam of higher things," and in his war-pieces there is "no heroism, awe or mercy, hope or faith." With regard, finally, to the execution, it is "careful and conscientious," the tone of his pictures generally dark and gray, the figures being thrown out in spots of light (Modern Painters, vol. v. pt. ix. ch. viii.). "There is no good painting," Ruskin says of a Wouwerman at Turin, "properly so called, anywhere, but of clever, dotty, sparkling, telling execution, as much as the canvas will hold" (ibid.§ 8). Wouwerman was born at Haarlem; his father was a painter. From him Philips learnt the practice of art, afterwards studying landscape under Wynants. He worked for some time at Hamburg, in the studio of Everard Decker. In 1640 he returned to Haarlem, where he remained for the rest of his life. He had two brothers who were also painters. His productivity was enormous. He lived forty-nine years, and it has been calculated that even if we deny his authorship of one half the pictures ascribed to him, we leave him with at least 500, or about one for every three weeks during his productive years (Bryan'sDictionary of Painters). Few galleries are without several pictures by Wouwerman. In the Wallace Collection he is represented by six, in the Dulwich Gallery by ten.
Wouwerman—whose pictures may nearly always be told by a white horse, which is almost his sign-manual—is selected by Ruskin as the central instance of the "hybrid school of landscape." To understand this term we must recall his division of all landscape, in its relation to human beings, into the following heads: (1)Heroic, representing an imaginary world inhabited by noble men and spiritual powers—Titian; (2)Classical, representing an imaginary world inhabited by perfectly civilised men and inferior spiritual powers—Poussin; (3)Pastoral, representing peasant life in its daily work—Cuyp; (4)Contemplative, directed to observation of the powers of nature and record of historical associations connected with landscape, contrasted with existing states of human life—Turner. Thehybridschool of which Berchem and Wouwerman are the chief representatives is that which endeavours to unite the irreconcilable sentiment of two or more of the above-mentioned classes. Thus here we have Wouwerman's conception of the heroic in the officers and in the rocky landscape; of the pastoral in the pretty milkmaid, to whom an officer is speaking, and who gives her name to the picture. So again the painter's desire to assemble all kinds of pleasurable elements may be seen in the crowded composition of an adjoining picture (879). Wouwerman is further selected by Ruskin as the chief type of vulgarity in art—meaning by vulgarity, insensibility. He introduces into his pictures—see, for instance, 879—every element that he thinks pleasurable, yet has not imagination enough to enter heartily into any of them. His pleasure is "without a gleam of higher things," and in his war-pieces there is "no heroism, awe or mercy, hope or faith." With regard, finally, to the execution, it is "careful and conscientious," the tone of his pictures generally dark and gray, the figures being thrown out in spots of light (Modern Painters, vol. v. pt. ix. ch. viii.). "There is no good painting," Ruskin says of a Wouwerman at Turin, "properly so called, anywhere, but of clever, dotty, sparkling, telling execution, as much as the canvas will hold" (ibid.§ 8). Wouwerman was born at Haarlem; his father was a painter. From him Philips learnt the practice of art, afterwards studying landscape under Wynants. He worked for some time at Hamburg, in the studio of Everard Decker. In 1640 he returned to Haarlem, where he remained for the rest of his life. He had two brothers who were also painters. His productivity was enormous. He lived forty-nine years, and it has been calculated that even if we deny his authorship of one half the pictures ascribed to him, we leave him with at least 500, or about one for every three weeks during his productive years (Bryan'sDictionary of Painters). Few galleries are without several pictures by Wouwerman. In the Wallace Collection he is represented by six, in the Dulwich Gallery by ten.
The picture is known after the milkmaid whom the officer is chucking under the chin, whilst the trumpeter takes a sarcastic pleasure, we may suppose, in sounding all the louder the call "to arms."
Wouwerman(Dutch: 1619-1668).See 878.
The profusion of pleasurable incident in this picture has already been noticed (see under 878) in connection with Wouwerman's bent of mind; but notice also how the crowded composition spoils the effect of a picture as a picture. Clearly also will it spoil the stable-keeper's business. He eyes the coin which one of his customers is giving him with all the discontent of a London cabman, and has no eye to spare for the smart lady with her cavalier, who are just entering the stable. This is a good instance of what has been called "Wouwerman's nonsense-pictures, a mere assemblage of things to be imitated, items without a meaning" (W. B. Scott:Half-hour Lectures on Art, p. 299).
Wouwerman(Dutch: 1619-1668).See 878.
This picture was formerly in the collection of Queen Elizabeth of Spain, whose arms are stamped on the back. Sir Robert Peel bought it in 1823 for 450 guineas.
Wouwerman(Dutch: 1619-1668).See 878.
Jan Wynants(Dutch: about 1615-1679).
Wynants—spelt also Wijnants—the painter of the sandy wayside, was one of the founders of the Dutch school of landscape, and was an artist of much originality. Out of a few docks and thistles, it has been said, a tree, and a sandbank, he could make a picture. "In the choice of his subjects Wijnants shows a preference," says Sir F. Burton, "foropen scenery, where, under a sky of summer blue broken by illuminated cloud-masses, the undulating soil reveals its nature through beaten tracks and rugged roads with their shelving sides of gold-coloured sand, while trees are scattered thinly on the slopes. Or he loves the borders of the forest, where mighty tree-trunks, smitten by past storms, still extend some gnarled branches across the sky, or a fallen stem lies half imbedded amongst tall grasses and large-leaved plants. In such scenes Wynants is particularly attractive. They give us the poetry of form and light, as Ruisdael's deep pine-forests give us that of gloom and solitude." Of his life little is known. He was probably born about the year 1615, as his earliest pictures bear the dates 1641 and 1642. He was still living in 1679, as one of his paintings in the Hermitage of St. Petersburg bears that date. In October 1642 the registers of St. Luke's Guild at Haarlem mention a Jan Wijnants as dealer in works of art; this probably refers to the painter. He resided at Haarlem, and afterwards at Amsterdam. Wouwerman and A. van de Velde were among his scholars, the latter artist and others inserted figures in his pictures, for Wynants painted only landscape. The visitor will find good examples of him at Dulwich and Hertford House.
Wynants—spelt also Wijnants—the painter of the sandy wayside, was one of the founders of the Dutch school of landscape, and was an artist of much originality. Out of a few docks and thistles, it has been said, a tree, and a sandbank, he could make a picture. "In the choice of his subjects Wijnants shows a preference," says Sir F. Burton, "foropen scenery, where, under a sky of summer blue broken by illuminated cloud-masses, the undulating soil reveals its nature through beaten tracks and rugged roads with their shelving sides of gold-coloured sand, while trees are scattered thinly on the slopes. Or he loves the borders of the forest, where mighty tree-trunks, smitten by past storms, still extend some gnarled branches across the sky, or a fallen stem lies half imbedded amongst tall grasses and large-leaved plants. In such scenes Wynants is particularly attractive. They give us the poetry of form and light, as Ruisdael's deep pine-forests give us that of gloom and solitude." Of his life little is known. He was probably born about the year 1615, as his earliest pictures bear the dates 1641 and 1642. He was still living in 1679, as one of his paintings in the Hermitage of St. Petersburg bears that date. In October 1642 the registers of St. Luke's Guild at Haarlem mention a Jan Wijnants as dealer in works of art; this probably refers to the painter. He resided at Haarlem, and afterwards at Amsterdam. Wouwerman and A. van de Velde were among his scholars, the latter artist and others inserted figures in his pictures, for Wynants painted only landscape. The visitor will find good examples of him at Dulwich and Hertford House.
The picture is signed (on the trunk of the felled tree) and dated 1659. The figures in this and the next picture are ascribed to A. van de Velde.
Jan Wynants(Dutch: about 1615-1679).See 883.
It is not uninteresting to notice—as strangely in keeping with the poor and hard country here depicted—that in nearly every picture by Wynants (see 883, 971, 972) there is a dead tree. That Dutch painters were alive to the beauties of vegetation, the oaks of Ruysdael are enough to show; but to Wynants at least nature seems to have been visible only as a destroying power, as a rugged and conflicting force, against which the sturdy Hollander had to battle for existence as best he might.
Piero di Cosimo(Florentine: 1462-1521).See 698.
Francesco Ferruccio, of whom this is said to be a portrait, was the Florentine general whose skill and patriotism shed a lustre on the final struggle of Florence against the combined forces of the Pope and the Emperor. He was then in commandof the outlying possessions of Florence, and had there been a second Ferruccio within the city itself the fortune of war might have been different. Francesco was killed in a battle near Pistoia on August 3, 1530. In the background of this portrait there is a view of the Piazza della Signoria at Florence; and at the entrance door Michael Angelo's statue of David, which was placed there in 1504. The picture was formerly ascribed to Lorenzo Costa; the recognition of its true authorship is due to Dr. Richter and Dr. G. Frizzoni. The identification of the warrior with the celebrated general is considered doubtful by them (see Richter'sItalian Art in the National Gallery, p. 36; and Frizzoni'sArte Italiana del Rinascimento, p. 252).
Terburg(Dutch: 1617-1681).See 864.
One of the "gems" of the National Collection—"priceless" because not only of its great artistic merit, but of its unique historical interest. It is an exact representation by a contemporary Dutch painter of one of the turning-points in Dutch history—the ratification, namely, by the delegates of the Dutch United Provinces, on 15th May 1684, of the Treaty of Münster, with which the eighty years' war between Spain and the United Provinces was concluded, altogether to the advantage of the latter. The clerk (in a scarlet cloak) is reading the document. The plenipotentiaries are standing nearest to the table. Six of them, holding up the right hand, are the delegates of the United Provinces; two, with their right hands resting on an open copy of the Gospels, are the representatives of Spain. One of the Dutch delegates and one of the Spanish hold copies of the document, which they follow as it is being read by the clerk. The brass chandelier, it is interesting to note, still hangs in the hall at Münster. The painter has introduced his own portrait among the figures on the left, in three-quarter face, behind the officer who stands with one arm resting on the chair of the third Dutch delegate (counting from the left).
During his lifetime Terburg did not part with the picture. It passed at one time into the possession of Prince Talleyrand, and by a curious coincidence was hanging in the room of his hotel, under the view of the Allied Sovereigns, at the signing of the treaty of 1814. After several more changes of hands it wasbought in 1868 by the late Marquis of Hertford for £8800—equivalent, the curious in such things may like to know, to nearly £24 per square inch of canvas; at his death it came into the possession of Sir Richard Wallace, who presented it to the nation in 1871. A curious story is told in this connection. At the De Morny sale in 1865 the picture had been sold for £1805. At the San Donato (or Demidoff) sale, three years later, Sir William Boxall, Director of the National Gallery, bid up to £6000 for it; but his mandate went no further, and his mortification was great when he found himself far outbid by the Marquis of Hertford. Three years later, an unknown gentleman, not too smartly dressed, was announced at the National Gallery, and began to open a small picture-case. Sir William was busy, and "could not go into the matter now." "But you had better just have a glance—I ask no more," said the stranger. Sir William refused. The stranger insisted. Boxall, struck dumb at the sight of the picture it had been his dream to add to the National Collection, raised his eyes to those of the visitor. "My name is Wallace," said the stranger quietly, "Sir Richard Wallace; and I came to offer this picture to the National Gallery." "I nearly fainted," said Boxall in recounting the story; "I had nearly refused 'The Peace of Münster,' one of the wonders of the world" (M. H. Spielmann:The Wallace Collection, p. 107).
Jan Looten(Dutch: about 1618-1681).
Looten is said to have visited England in the reign of Charles II., in order (as a countryman of his explains) "to initiate the English into the beauties of Dutch landscape." The process was successful, for many large pictures by Looten are (or were) in English country-seats. The figures in his landscapes were sometimes painted by Berchem.
Looten is said to have visited England in the reign of Charles II., in order (as a countryman of his explains) "to initiate the English into the beauties of Dutch landscape." The process was successful, for many large pictures by Looten are (or were) in English country-seats. The figures in his landscapes were sometimes painted by Berchem.
Andrea Mantegna(Paduan: 1431-1506).See 274.
One of thegrisailles, or pictures in gray and brown, of which Mantegna in his later years painted very many, and to multiply which he took to engraving. In its subject the picture is a piece of ancient Rome. No other works of the time, ithas been said, are so full of antique feeling as Mantegna's. Botticelli played with the art of the ancients and modernised it; Mantegna actually lived and moved in it (Woltmann and Woermann:History of Painting, translated by Clara Bell, ii. 378). Mantegna's classical scholarship, too, is abundantly shown in the details of this picture, which is full of allusions to Latin authors and history. The Triumph of Scipio, it may be briefly explained, consisted in his being selected by the Senate as "the worthiest man in Rome," by whom alone—so the oracle decreed—must Cybele, the Phrygian mother of the gods, be received. It was "an honour," says Livy, with the fine patriotism of Rome, "more to be coveted than any other which the Senate or people could bestow." On the left, the image of the goddess is being borne on a litter, and with it the sacred stone alleged to have fallen from heaven. It was an unusual fall of meteoric stones that had caused the Romans to consult the oracle inB.C.204, during Hannibal's occupation of Italy, and the oracle had answered that the Phrygian mother must be brought to Rome. This goddess, worshipped under different forms in many parts of the world, was a personification of the passive generative power in nature, and from this time forward she was included among the recognised divinities of the Roman State. In the centre of the picture Scipio and his retinue are receiving her; whilst Claudia, a Roman lady, has thrown herself before the image. Some slur had attached to her reputation, but she had proved her innocence by invoking the goddess and then drawing off from a shoal in the harbour of Ostia, with the aid of only a slight rope, the vessel which bore the sacred image.
"The picture," says Sir F. Burton, "has a history of its own. It was undertaken towards the close of Mantegna's long and laborious career; and when that career terminated in the sadness and gloom which have too often awaited those whose imaginative powers had placed them above their fellow-men, it remained in his studio, probably not fully finished. It may have been the last, it was certainly one of the last, pictures which his pencil touched." An advance payment of 25 ducats had been made to Mantegna in 1504. His son Francesco made an unsuccessful claim to it as an inheritance from his father, offering to repay the amount received in advance. The picture, representing an event glorious in the history of the Scipios, was commissioned by a Venetian nobleman, FrancescoCornaro, in order to throw lustre upon the genealogy of his family, which claimed to belong to the Romangens Cornelia.
Hyacinthe Rigaud(French: 1659-1743).
Rigaud was a native of Perpignan, and the son and grandson of a painter. In 1681 he went up to Paris, and following the advice of Le Brun devoted himself to portraiture. He studied diligently the works of Van Dyck, whose disciple he always professed to be. He rapidly obtained fame as a portrait-painter, but it was not till 1700—on the completion of his "St. Andrew" now in the Louvre—that he was admitted as an historical painter into the Academy. He held various offices in that body, and painted all the great men of his day. His own portrait by himself is in the Uffizi.
Rigaud was a native of Perpignan, and the son and grandson of a painter. In 1681 he went up to Paris, and following the advice of Le Brun devoted himself to portraiture. He studied diligently the works of Van Dyck, whose disciple he always professed to be. He rapidly obtained fame as a portrait-painter, but it was not till 1700—on the completion of his "St. Andrew" now in the Louvre—that he was admitted as an historical painter into the Academy. He held various offices in that body, and painted all the great men of his day. His own portrait by himself is in the Uffizi.
A portrait of the famous tutor, and afterwards prime minister, of Louis XV. It is eminently the "pacific Fleury," who strove to keep France out of war and starved her army and navy when she was forced into it, that we see in this amiable old gentleman—the scholar and member of the Academy, who completed what is now the National Library of France—rather than the statesman. A similar picture is in the Wallace Collection (No. 130).
Gregorio Schiavone(Paduan: painted about 1470).See 630.
Cosimo Tura(Ferrarese: 1420-1495).See 772.
Tura's type of the Madonna is perhaps the least pleasing in the whole range of Italian art.
Carlo Crivelli(Venetian: painted 1468-1493).See 602.
The latest of Crivelli's dated pictures in the Gallery (1492), and remarkable for the deep colours which mark the artist's highest powers. Notice the usual hanging fruit and the pot ofroses and carnations. The Virgin looks up to the Almighty and the dove, while two angels, with a scroll, support a crown over her head. On the scroll are inscribed (in Latin) the words, "As I was conceived in the mind of God from the beginning, so was I also made."
The masterpiece known as "The Virgin in Ecstasy," rather presents (as the text shows) the idea which is the foundation of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, combined with the "Coronation" of the glorified mother. It is intended, in fact, to bring before us not the historical mother of Christ so much as that mediæval conception of the mystical being of Ecclesiasticus and the Book of Wisdom, existing from all time in the mind of God as the instrument of the Incarnation, and returning to share the glory of her divine Son. Crivelli has expressed with rare distinction that combination of humility and awe with a sense of personal dignity which befits this ideal of the Virgin. In herself she is an imposing figure, but she is absorbed in the divine influences which mould her destiny. Never did Crivelli come nearer to the grand style than in this magnificent conception (Rushforth'sCrivelli, p. 75).
The masterpiece known as "The Virgin in Ecstasy," rather presents (as the text shows) the idea which is the foundation of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, combined with the "Coronation" of the glorified mother. It is intended, in fact, to bring before us not the historical mother of Christ so much as that mediæval conception of the mystical being of Ecclesiasticus and the Book of Wisdom, existing from all time in the mind of God as the instrument of the Incarnation, and returning to share the glory of her divine Son. Crivelli has expressed with rare distinction that combination of humility and awe with a sense of personal dignity which befits this ideal of the Virgin. In herself she is an imposing figure, but she is absorbed in the divine influences which mould her destiny. Never did Crivelli come nearer to the grand style than in this magnificent conception (Rushforth'sCrivelli, p. 75).
Carlo Crivelli(Venetian: painted 1468-1493).See 602.
The figure of St. Mary Magdalene, with the vase of precious ointment, is characteristic of the painter's more affected style; notice especially the fingers elongated to the point of grotesqueness.
Piero della Francesca(Umbrian: 1416-1492).See 665.
"This painting is said to be unfinished. But even minute details, such as the pearls on the robes of the angels and onthe head-dress of the Virgin, have been worked out with an accuracy which excites astonishment. One of the two shepherds, standing on the right side and seen in front, appears to have no pupils to his eyes, and this strange fact might account for the theory of the unfinished state of the picture. On the other hand it seems to me to have suffered very much from repainting in all the flesh parts.... The restorer has, I believe, forgotten to paint in the pupils of the shepherd's eyes after having destroyed them by the cleaning of the original painting" (Richter'sItalian Art in the National Gallery, pp. 16, 17). The beauty of the picture is in the choir of angels with their mouths in different attitudes of singing, making such music sweet
"This painting is said to be unfinished. But even minute details, such as the pearls on the robes of the angels and onthe head-dress of the Virgin, have been worked out with an accuracy which excites astonishment. One of the two shepherds, standing on the right side and seen in front, appears to have no pupils to his eyes, and this strange fact might account for the theory of the unfinished state of the picture. On the other hand it seems to me to have suffered very much from repainting in all the flesh parts.... The restorer has, I believe, forgotten to paint in the pupils of the shepherd's eyes after having destroyed them by the cleaning of the original painting" (Richter'sItalian Art in the National Gallery, pp. 16, 17). The beauty of the picture is in the choir of angels with their mouths in different attitudes of singing, making such music sweet