W. van de Velde(Dutch: 1633-1707).See 149.
W. van de Velde(Dutch: 1633-1707).See 149.
A state barge in the centre; trumpeters sounding a salute on either side in other vessels.
W. van de Velde(Dutch: 1633-1707).See 149.
W. van de Velde(Dutch: 1633-1707).See 149.
"The best example we have of the painter—a delightful picture. The sky is so delicate and unobtrusive that it does not expose his weakness in cloud drawing" (J. Brett, A.R.A., on "Landscape at the National Gallery," inFortnightly Review, April 1895).
W. van de Velde(Dutch: 1633-1707).See 149.
See also under 819. This picture is signed (on a floating spar) and dated London 1673.
A. van de Velde(Dutch: 1636-1672).See 867.
Karel du Jardin(Dutch: 1622-1678).See 826.
Ruysdael(Dutch: 1628-1682).See 627.
Ruysdael(Dutch: 1628-1682).See 627.
Ruysdael(Dutch: 1628-1682).See 627.
Ruysdael(Dutch: 1628-1682).See 627.
See note to No. 44.
Ruysdael(Dutch: 1628-1682).See 627.
"This picture with its large shadows sweeping over the landscape and its faint gleams of sunlight, suggesting an imminent rain-storm, is one of Ruysdael's most poetical works" (Poynter:The National Gallery, ii. 174).
Ruysdael(Dutch: 1628-1682).See 627.
Jan van der Heyden(Dutch: 1637-1712).See 866.
Classicv.Gothic. An interesting picture of the architectural tendency of the time—the classical Palladian architecture of stone rising over the ruins of the red brick Gothic of earlier times. The same mixture of the old and the new—in juxtaposition not altogether unlike what is here represented—maybe seen in the town of Abingdon (Berks), where Inigo Jones's market-hall, built about the time of this picture, towers above the red bricks of the humbler and earlier styles.
Jan van der Heyden(Dutch: 1637-1712).See 866.
Hobbema(Dutch: 1638-1709).See 685.
Hobbema(Dutch: 1638-1709).See 685.
Signed, and dated 1667.
Godfried Schalcken(Dutch: 1643-1706).See 199.
In pictures of this kind by Dou and his followers you fancy, it has been said, that "you see and hear the very grit as it cuts into the yellow metal."
Godfried Schalcken(Dutch: 1643-1706).See 199.
A lover holds a guitar, his mistress some music; on the table is a rose—
If love were what the rose is,And I were like the leaf,Our lives would grow togetherIn sad or singing weather....If love were what the rose isAnd I were like the leaf.
If love were what the rose is,And I were like the leaf,Our lives would grow togetherIn sad or singing weather....If love were what the rose isAnd I were like the leaf.
Swinburne:A Match.
Godfried Schalcken(Dutch: 1643-1706).See 199.
"To give the most natural effect to his candle-light pieces, Schalcken is said to have adopted the following system:—Heplaced the object he intended to paint in a dark room, with a candle, and looking through a small hole, painted by day what he saw by candle-light" (Bryan's Dictionary).
Bakhuizen(Dutch: 1631-1708).See 204.
Jan van Huysum(Dutch: 1682-1749).See 796.
Notice the snail crawling along in front.
Jacob Walscappelle(Dutch: painted about 1675).
A painter of fruit and flowers in the style of de Heem. His flowers are generally arranged in water-bottles, and are besprinkled with butterflies and other insects. He painted at Amsterdam from about 1667 to 1718.
A painter of fruit and flowers in the style of de Heem. His flowers are generally arranged in water-bottles, and are besprinkled with butterflies and other insects. He painted at Amsterdam from about 1667 to 1718.
Jan Fyt(Flemish: 1611-1661).
Fyt—painter and etcher of animals—was a pupil of Snyders, whom in some respects he excelled. The sale catalogues of the greater part of the nineteenth century show that his works were little appreciated, but recent criticism has given him a very high place among the animal and still-life painters of his country. "Fyt's work," says Sir F. Burton, "is perfect in its kind, exhibiting the finest observation of nature, and an execution which unites the greatest mastery with the utmost delicacy. His composition is unconstrained, and the colouring and tone of his pictures are most pleasing." He was born at Antwerp, where, after some years' residence in Italy, he became Dean of the Painters' Guild.
Fyt—painter and etcher of animals—was a pupil of Snyders, whom in some respects he excelled. The sale catalogues of the greater part of the nineteenth century show that his works were little appreciated, but recent criticism has given him a very high place among the animal and still-life painters of his country. "Fyt's work," says Sir F. Burton, "is perfect in its kind, exhibiting the finest observation of nature, and an execution which unites the greatest mastery with the utmost delicacy. His composition is unconstrained, and the colouring and tone of his pictures are most pleasing." He was born at Antwerp, where, after some years' residence in Italy, he became Dean of the Painters' Guild.
Nicolas Berchem(Dutch: 1620-1683).See 78.
Nicolas Berchem(Dutch: 1620-1683).See 78.
"There is in this small picture," says Sir Edward Poynter, "a genuine feeling for nature, which is generally somewhatwanting in the works of Berchem, whose manner, founded on the study of Italian landscape art, gives frequently an artificial effect to his composition" (National Gallery, i. 44).
Nicolas Berchem(Dutch: 1620-1683).See 78.
Berchem, as we have seen, was an "Italianiser," and here introduces us to one of the exports of that country—
Far from England, in the sunnySouth, where Anio leaps in foam,Thou wast reared, till lack of moneyDrew thee from thy vine-clad home.
Far from England, in the sunnySouth, where Anio leaps in foam,Thou wast reared, till lack of moneyDrew thee from thy vine-clad home.
Calverley:Fly Leaves.
Jan Wils(Dutch: about 1600-1670).
Wils, whose pictures are seldom met with, "would appear, from the style of most of his works, to have studied under Jan Both at Utrecht.... He was the father-in-law and one of the teachers of Nicolas Berchem, between whose works and some of those of Wils (as, for instance, the present picture) a great resemblance may be traced" (Official Catalogue).
Wils, whose pictures are seldom met with, "would appear, from the style of most of his works, to have studied under Jan Both at Utrecht.... He was the father-in-law and one of the teachers of Nicolas Berchem, between whose works and some of those of Wils (as, for instance, the present picture) a great resemblance may be traced" (Official Catalogue).
The figures in this picture are supposed to have been put in by Wouwerman.
Pieter Potter(Dutch: 1597-1652).
Pieter Potter, the father of Paul Potter, was a native of Enkhuizen, and originally painted on glass. In one of his early signatures (1628) he describes himself as "glass annealer, also painter." Later on, he settled at Amsterdam and was director of a manufactory of gilt leather there. He formed his style, we are told, under the influence of Frans Hals, and painted various subjects, such as scenes in the guard-house, still-life, and landscape.
Pieter Potter, the father of Paul Potter, was a native of Enkhuizen, and originally painted on glass. In one of his early signatures (1628) he describes himself as "glass annealer, also painter." Later on, he settled at Amsterdam and was director of a manufactory of gilt leather there. He formed his style, we are told, under the influence of Frans Hals, and painted various subjects, such as scenes in the guard-house, still-life, and landscape.
Paul Potter(Dutch: 1625-1654).See 849.
Dirk van Delen(Dutch: 1607-1673).
This painter was born at Heusden. He lived at Arnemuiden in Zealand, of which town he was burgomaster. He worked also at Haarlem, Delft, and Antwerp.
This painter was born at Heusden. He lived at Arnemuiden in Zealand, of which town he was burgomaster. He worked also at Haarlem, Delft, and Antwerp.
A picture by a rare master—interesting to students of the history of architectural taste. In 992 we are shown the struggle between the old Gothic style and the new Renaissance architecture; here we see the full victory of the latter. Dirk van Delen loved to depict the costly and variegated marbles on splendid palaces in the style of the late Renaissance. He will not be defrauded, even by considerations of distance, of any of his details, and every statue and ornament is shown us as minutely as if it were on the level of the eye. The classical style has pervaded too the fountain; note the gilt bronze group of Hercules and the Hydra.
Coques(Flemish: 1618-1684).See 821.
A faithful imitation on a reduced scale of Van Dyck's ideal of feminine "elegance." There is a certain artificial simplicity very characteristic of the time, in the combination of the lady, with her sumptuous white satin and the elaborate architecture behind her, and her pet lamb.
Matthew Merian, the younger(Swiss: 1621-1687).
This painter was the son of Matthew Merian, the elder, an eminent Swiss draughtsman and engraver. The father had established himself at Frankfort as a book and print seller, and on his death in 1650, the son assumed management of the business, and continued the publication of the "Theatrum Europæum," for which he arranged several plates. But the younger Merian was best known as a painter. He was born at Bâle, and at the age of 14 came to Frankfort, where he learnt to paint under Joachim van Sandrart, whom he accompanied to Amsterdam in 1637 and to England in 1640. In this country he came into friendly relations with Van Dyck, whom he took as his model in the art of portraiture. Merian also travelled in France and Italy. As a portrait-painter he was much patronised by the German princes and also by the Emperor Leopold I. He also painted religious and historical pictures, such as the "Martyrdom of St. Lawrence,"for the high altar of Bamberg Cathedral, and the "Resurrection," in the Library of Bâle.
This painter was the son of Matthew Merian, the elder, an eminent Swiss draughtsman and engraver. The father had established himself at Frankfort as a book and print seller, and on his death in 1650, the son assumed management of the business, and continued the publication of the "Theatrum Europæum," for which he arranged several plates. But the younger Merian was best known as a painter. He was born at Bâle, and at the age of 14 came to Frankfort, where he learnt to paint under Joachim van Sandrart, whom he accompanied to Amsterdam in 1637 and to England in 1640. In this country he came into friendly relations with Van Dyck, whom he took as his model in the art of portraiture. Merian also travelled in France and Italy. As a portrait-painter he was much patronised by the German princes and also by the Emperor Leopold I. He also painted religious and historical pictures, such as the "Martyrdom of St. Lawrence,"for the high altar of Bamberg Cathedral, and the "Resurrection," in the Library of Bâle.
This picture was formerly ascribed to Van Dyck. The man's dress is of black velvet, of the fashion of about 1665-70.
Melchior de Hondecoeter(Dutch: 1636-1695).See 202.
Adam Elsheimer(German: 1578-1620).
Elsheimer was the son of a tailor at Frankfort-on-Maine. He himself settled in Rome. "He inherited with his northern blood an intense love of nature and her varied aspects. Upon this he engrafted a careful study of the human form, and in Italy he profited by the example of the great masters of preceding generations. Thus, aided by a certain homely imagination, he formed a style of his own, combining landscape and figure in such a manner that each was the necessary complement of the other, and that subject and situation were in perfect harmony. The lonely, and at that time, wooded, depressions of the Roman Campagna, and the hills of Albano and Tivoli, were his favourite haunts, and in their scenery his imagination placed events in biblical or mythological story. He loved especially to paint the strange effects produced by diverse sources of illumination. The novelty of his aims, the beauty of his execution, and the geniality of his disposition, gained him admirers and friends" (Official Catalogue). His contemporaries Sandrart and Cornelius de Bie describe him as an extraordinary artist who had "a peculiar manner of his own. He was, indeed, the first who invented a style of small sceneries, landscapes, and other curiosities." He possessed, we are told, so extraordinary a memory, that it was sufficient for him to have looked at an object or scene once to draw it with the utmost precision. The extreme patience and labour with which he finished his pictures were such that the prices he received never sufficiently repaid him. Had he been paid but a fourth part of what his works have since produced, he might have lived in affluence instead of indigence and distress. Elsheimer usually painted on copper (as is the case with this picture). His etchings and drawings are well known; in the Städel Institute of his native town there is a large collection of them. There are also some in the British Museum. Elsheimer's works had a considerable influence on many succeeding Dutch painters. "Elsheimer," says Mr. Colvin in his Guide to the British Museum Drawings, "fills a very important part in art as the forerunner on the one hand of Claude and his group, by his delight in the composition and massing of the forms of hill, plain, and grove in the country round Rome, and on the other hand of Rembrandt andhisgroup, by his predilection for strong artificial contrasts of light, and for the dramatic and speaking action of his figures."
Elsheimer was the son of a tailor at Frankfort-on-Maine. He himself settled in Rome. "He inherited with his northern blood an intense love of nature and her varied aspects. Upon this he engrafted a careful study of the human form, and in Italy he profited by the example of the great masters of preceding generations. Thus, aided by a certain homely imagination, he formed a style of his own, combining landscape and figure in such a manner that each was the necessary complement of the other, and that subject and situation were in perfect harmony. The lonely, and at that time, wooded, depressions of the Roman Campagna, and the hills of Albano and Tivoli, were his favourite haunts, and in their scenery his imagination placed events in biblical or mythological story. He loved especially to paint the strange effects produced by diverse sources of illumination. The novelty of his aims, the beauty of his execution, and the geniality of his disposition, gained him admirers and friends" (Official Catalogue). His contemporaries Sandrart and Cornelius de Bie describe him as an extraordinary artist who had "a peculiar manner of his own. He was, indeed, the first who invented a style of small sceneries, landscapes, and other curiosities." He possessed, we are told, so extraordinary a memory, that it was sufficient for him to have looked at an object or scene once to draw it with the utmost precision. The extreme patience and labour with which he finished his pictures were such that the prices he received never sufficiently repaid him. Had he been paid but a fourth part of what his works have since produced, he might have lived in affluence instead of indigence and distress. Elsheimer usually painted on copper (as is the case with this picture). His etchings and drawings are well known; in the Städel Institute of his native town there is a large collection of them. There are also some in the British Museum. Elsheimer's works had a considerable influence on many succeeding Dutch painters. "Elsheimer," says Mr. Colvin in his Guide to the British Museum Drawings, "fills a very important part in art as the forerunner on the one hand of Claude and his group, by his delight in the composition and massing of the forms of hill, plain, and grove in the country round Rome, and on the other hand of Rembrandt andhisgroup, by his predilection for strong artificial contrasts of light, and for the dramatic and speaking action of his figures."
St. Lawrence (for whose legend see 747) is being prepared for martyrdom. Beside him there is an image of Cæsar, unto whom will be rendered Cæsar's due—the saint's life; but over his head is an angel from heaven, for unto God will go the saint's soul. The emperor is crowned on earth; the angel brings the saint a palm branch, an earnest of the martyr's crown in heaven.
Jan van Os(Dutch: 1744-1808).
Born at Middelharnis, a most distinguished flower-painter in the manner of Van Huysum. He also painted marine pieces and wrote poetry. His wife drew portraits in chalk, and his two sons were painters.
Born at Middelharnis, a most distinguished flower-painter in the manner of Van Huysum. He also painted marine pieces and wrote poetry. His wife drew portraits in chalk, and his two sons were painters.
Prominent amongst the flowers is the red cockscomb. A picture by the most distinguished flower-painter of his time, and characteristic, in an interesting particular, of Dutch pictures of this kind generally. "If the reader has any familiarity with the galleries of painting in the great cities of Europe, he cannot but retain a clear, though somewhat monotonously calm, impression of the character of those polished flower-pieces, or still-life pieces, which occupy subordinate corners, and invite to moments of repose, or frivolity, the attention and imagination which have been wearied in admiring the attitudes of heroism, and sympathising with the sentiments of piety. Recalling to his memory the brightest examples of these ... he will find that all the older ones agree—if flower-pieces—in a certain courtliness and formality of arrangement, implying that the highest honours which flowers can attain are in being wreathed into grace of garlands, or assembled in variegation of bouquets, for the decoration of beauty, or flattery ofnoblesse. If fruit or still-life pieces, they agree no less distinctly in directness of reference to the supreme hour when the destiny of dignified fruit is to be accomplished in a royal dessert; and the furred and feathered life of hill and forest may bear witness to the Wisdom of Providence by its extinction for the kitchen dresser. Irrespectively of these ornamental virtues, and culinary utilities, the painter never seems to perceive any conditions of beauty in the things themselves, which would make them worth regard for their own sake: nor, even in these appointed functions, are they ever supposed to be worth painting, unless thepleasures they procure be distinguished as those of the most exalted society" (Notes on Prout and Hunt, pp. 10, 11, where Ruskin goes on to contrast with this Dutch ideal the simple pleasure in the flowers and fruits for their own sake which marks W. Hunt's still-life drawings).
Observe, as further characteristic of Dutch fruit-pieces, the butterfly, the fly, and the earwig: "There was a furthertour de forcedemanded of the Dutch workman, without which all his happiest preceding achievements would have been unacknowledged. Not only a dew-drop, but, in some depth of bell or cranny of leaf, a bee, or a fly, was necessary for the complete satisfaction of the connoisseur. In the articulation of the fly's legs, or neurology of the bee's wings, the genius of painting was supposed to signify her accepted disciples; and their work went forth to the European world, thenceforward, without question, as worthy of its age and country. But, without recognising in myself, or desiring to encourage in my scholars, any unreasonable dislike or dread of the lower orders of living creatures, I trust that the reader will feel with me that none of Mr. Hunt's peaches or plums would be made daintier by the detection on them of even the most cunningly latent wasp, or cautiously rampant caterpillar; and will accept, without so much opposition as it met with forty years ago, my then first promulgated, but steadily since repeated assertion, that the 'modern painter' had in these matters less vanity than the ancient one, and better taste" (ib.pp. 14, 15).
Sir Peter Lely(Dutch: 1617-1680).
Lely, the court painter of the reign of Charles II., by whom he was knighted, was a native of Holland; his father's name was Van der Vaes, but the son took the nickname of Le Lys or Lely (from the lily with which the front of his father's house was ornamented) as a surname. He was born in Westphalia, but settled in England in 1641, the year of Van Dyck's death, on whom he modelled his style. It was Lely who is said to have painted Cromwell, "warts and all," but he easily accommodated himself to the softer manners of the Restoration. The rich curls, the full lips, and the languishing eyes of the frail beauties of Charles II. may be seen at Hampton Court. Lely was "a mighty proud man," says Pepys, "and full of state." The painting of great ladies was a lucrative business, and his collection of drawings and pictures sold at his death for £26,000, a sum which bore a greater proportion to the fortunes of the rich men of that day than £100,000would bear to the fortunes of the rich men of our time. He was struck with apoplexy while painting the Duchess of Somerset, and was buried at St. Paul's, Covent Garden.
Lely, the court painter of the reign of Charles II., by whom he was knighted, was a native of Holland; his father's name was Van der Vaes, but the son took the nickname of Le Lys or Lely (from the lily with which the front of his father's house was ornamented) as a surname. He was born in Westphalia, but settled in England in 1641, the year of Van Dyck's death, on whom he modelled his style. It was Lely who is said to have painted Cromwell, "warts and all," but he easily accommodated himself to the softer manners of the Restoration. The rich curls, the full lips, and the languishing eyes of the frail beauties of Charles II. may be seen at Hampton Court. Lely was "a mighty proud man," says Pepys, "and full of state." The painting of great ladies was a lucrative business, and his collection of drawings and pictures sold at his death for £26,000, a sum which bore a greater proportion to the fortunes of the rich men of that day than £100,000would bear to the fortunes of the rich men of our time. He was struck with apoplexy while painting the Duchess of Somerset, and was buried at St. Paul's, Covent Garden.
The courtly affectation which distinguishes Lely's portraits is not absent from this little girl. She is feeding the parrot, but obviously takes no interest in it—not even troubling indeed to look at it. Her concern seems to be only to hold up her flowing frock (or "simar") prettily and to point her fingers gracefully.
Unknown(Flemish: dated 1622).
See also(p. xx)
The landscape is probably by Josse Mompers, an Antwerp artist who lived 1564-1635.
Claude Lorraine(French: 1600-1682).See 2.
A characteristic example of Claude's "classical compositions" as described in our chapter on the French School. It is one of his late works, being dated 1673; the names of Anchises and Æneas occur.
Greuze(French: 1725-1805).See 206.
I will paint her as I see her....With a forehead fair and saintly,Which two blue eyes under-shine,Like meek prayers before a shrine.Face and figure of a child,—Though too calm, you think, and tender,For the childhood you would lend her.
I will paint her as I see her....With a forehead fair and saintly,Which two blue eyes under-shine,Like meek prayers before a shrine.
Face and figure of a child,—Though too calm, you think, and tender,For the childhood you would lend her.
Mrs.Browning:A Portrait.
Greuze(French: 1725-1805).See 206.
A cloud of yellow hairIs round about her ear.She hath a mouth of grace,And forehead sweet and fair.
A cloud of yellow hairIs round about her ear.She hath a mouth of grace,And forehead sweet and fair.
Austin Dobson:A Song of Angiola.
Frans Hals(Dutch: 1580-1666).
Among the Dutch portrait-painters, Hals stands second only to Rembrandt, while for mastery of the brush he is second only to Velazquez. Though born in Antwerp and a pupil of Karel van Mander (the Flemish painter and biographer), Hals is claimed as a member of the Dutch School, inasmuch as his father was settled at Haarlem in Holland, and he himself lived and worked there. In style, "though his vigorous drawing recalls by its boldness the masterly method of Rubens, his manner of giving to his work a sustained light, his style of composition, and the choice of his subject, place him unmistakably in the Dutch School.... No one, either before or after him, ever attained the marvellous exactness with which he places flesh tints in juxtaposition, without their mixing together, just as they come from the palette.... No artist ever manipulated his brush with such firmness, freedom, and life. In consequence of his extraordinary ability, Frans Hals has been called 'the personification of painting'" (Havard:The Dutch School, p. 110). "We prize in Rembrandt," says another critic, "the golden glow of effect based upon artificial contrast of low light in immeasurable gloom. Hals was fond of daylight of silvery sheen. Both men were painters of touch, but of touch on different keys. Rembrandt was the bass, Hals the treble." Rembrandt's portraits are the more profound, and there is in them an intensity of pathetic realism which was beyond the reach of Hals; but Hals seizes the brighter moments of lusty life with a force and truth which have never been excelled. Hals is best seen in the Haarlem Museum in a series of portrait groups. Of his single portraits, No. 1251 in our Gallery is a characteristic example, and at Hertford House is a famous and charming picture, "The Laughing Cavalier," which is full of what Fromentin well calls "the irresistible verve" of Frans Hals.The life of Hals was irregular and improvident, but full also of work and energy. At a time when the Dutch nation fought for independence and won it, Hals appears in the ranks of its military guilds. He was also a member of the Chamber of Rhetoric, and president of the Painters' Corporation at Haarlem. In 1610 he married, and five years later was summoned before the magistrates for ill-treating his wife, and on that occasion was severely reprimanded for his violent and drunken habits. His first wife died prematurely, and he saved the character of his second by marrying her in 1617. With her he seems to have lived happily for nearly fifty years, and they brought up a large family. Financial troubles, however, befell the painter. In 1654 a forced sale of his pictures and furniture at the suit of his baker brought him to penury. A few years later we hear of the municipality paying his rent and firing for him, andgranting him a small annuity. His widow had to seek outdoor relief from the guardians of the poor. His four sons were all painters, and attained some distinction. Several of the best Dutch painters—Van der Helst, A. van Ostade, Metsu, Terburg, Steen, and others—were directly or indirectly his scholars. In the Haarlem Museum there is a picture by Job Berck-Heyde, dated 1652, of the studio in which Frans Hals is surrounded by his sons and pupils.
Among the Dutch portrait-painters, Hals stands second only to Rembrandt, while for mastery of the brush he is second only to Velazquez. Though born in Antwerp and a pupil of Karel van Mander (the Flemish painter and biographer), Hals is claimed as a member of the Dutch School, inasmuch as his father was settled at Haarlem in Holland, and he himself lived and worked there. In style, "though his vigorous drawing recalls by its boldness the masterly method of Rubens, his manner of giving to his work a sustained light, his style of composition, and the choice of his subject, place him unmistakably in the Dutch School.... No one, either before or after him, ever attained the marvellous exactness with which he places flesh tints in juxtaposition, without their mixing together, just as they come from the palette.... No artist ever manipulated his brush with such firmness, freedom, and life. In consequence of his extraordinary ability, Frans Hals has been called 'the personification of painting'" (Havard:The Dutch School, p. 110). "We prize in Rembrandt," says another critic, "the golden glow of effect based upon artificial contrast of low light in immeasurable gloom. Hals was fond of daylight of silvery sheen. Both men were painters of touch, but of touch on different keys. Rembrandt was the bass, Hals the treble." Rembrandt's portraits are the more profound, and there is in them an intensity of pathetic realism which was beyond the reach of Hals; but Hals seizes the brighter moments of lusty life with a force and truth which have never been excelled. Hals is best seen in the Haarlem Museum in a series of portrait groups. Of his single portraits, No. 1251 in our Gallery is a characteristic example, and at Hertford House is a famous and charming picture, "The Laughing Cavalier," which is full of what Fromentin well calls "the irresistible verve" of Frans Hals.
The life of Hals was irregular and improvident, but full also of work and energy. At a time when the Dutch nation fought for independence and won it, Hals appears in the ranks of its military guilds. He was also a member of the Chamber of Rhetoric, and president of the Painters' Corporation at Haarlem. In 1610 he married, and five years later was summoned before the magistrates for ill-treating his wife, and on that occasion was severely reprimanded for his violent and drunken habits. His first wife died prematurely, and he saved the character of his second by marrying her in 1617. With her he seems to have lived happily for nearly fifty years, and they brought up a large family. Financial troubles, however, befell the painter. In 1654 a forced sale of his pictures and furniture at the suit of his baker brought him to penury. A few years later we hear of the municipality paying his rent and firing for him, andgranting him a small annuity. His widow had to seek outdoor relief from the guardians of the poor. His four sons were all painters, and attained some distinction. Several of the best Dutch painters—Van der Helst, A. van Ostade, Metsu, Terburg, Steen, and others—were directly or indirectly his scholars. In the Haarlem Museum there is a picture by Job Berck-Heyde, dated 1652, of the studio in which Frans Hals is surrounded by his sons and pupils.
Moroni(Bergamese: 1525-1578).See 697.
His left foot appears to have been wounded, for it is attached by a kind of stirrup and black cord to a band above the knee. It is interesting to compare this portrait with the closely corresponding one by Moretto which hangs near it (1025). Both are excellent examples of the several masters. Both were, no doubt, good likenesses; but there is a suggestion of poetry in Moretto's which one misses in Moroni's. Both are believed to be portraits of members of the Fernaroli family.
Moroni(Bergamese: 1525-1578).See 697.
Said to be the wife of the subject of the preceding portrait. Not so happy a production; Moroni's strength lay in portraits of the other sex.
Moroni(Bergamese: 1525-1578).See 697.
The letter in his hand is addressed to himself, and tells us that he is Ludovico di Terzi, Canon of Bergamo, and an Apostolic Prothonotary. These latter functionaries, of whom there are still twelve in the Roman Church, are the chiefs of what may be called the Record Office of the Church. It is their business to draw up the reports of all important Church functions, such as the enthronements of new popes and public consistories. It is an office of much dignity—as this holder of it seems to be fully conscious, and the prothonotaries rank with bishops in the Church.
Il Moretto(Brescian: 1498-1555).See 299.
This picture, dated 1526, is one of Moretto's most elegant portraits. It is a true character portrait, a picture of a soul as well as of a face. It shows us an Italian nobleman with all the poetry and aspiration of chivalry. On his scarlet cap he bears his proud device—a medallion in gold and enamel of St. Christopher bearing the infant Saviour—the ideal of Christian chivalry: "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of one of these, ye have done it unto me." The picture is no doubt a portrait of one of the Fernaroli family, from whose palace in Brescia it came.
Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo(Brescian: about 1480-1548).
Savoldo, "an excellent amateur, who was apparently first a pupil of Romanino, then of Giovanni Bellini, and later of Titian"[200](Morelli:Borghese Gallery, p. 246). "He visited Florence in 1508, and we find him enrolled as master in the Painters' Guild there; his stay cannot, however, have been of long duration, as none of his works known to us betray the slightest Florentine influence" (id. German Galleries, p. 408). "His works," says Sir F. Burton, "display a distinct individuality, the result of tendencies inherent in his nature. The romantic element, already developed in Venetian art, shows itself strongly in his passion for scenes of early dawn and late sunset and effects of night illuminated by fire. His human types are pleasing with a certain grave dignity. His colouring is on the whole colder than that of his contemporaries of the Veneto-Brescian School, and his flesh tints are adust and sombre, especially in his male figures; nor are his draperies generally brilliant in colour, although he delighted in the sheen of silken stuffs, contrasting it with the kind of twilight which pervades many of his pictures." "His landscapes in sacred subjects make a profound impression of silent wonder and devotion. They seem to palpitate in sympathy with the deeds they witness, instead of being mere scenic backgrounds. In the Berlin Deposition, for instance, the sky is lurid and blood-stained; in the Adoration at Turin the shepherds seem to be stealing noiselessly along, afraid of causing the least disturbance in the hush and awe of the morning" (Mary Logan'sGuide to Hampton Court, in which collection there is a picture bySavoldo of a Madonna and Child, dated 1527). Savoldo's pictures are rare, and often pass under other names. He was, says Vasari (iv. 535), "a fanciful and ingenious person, what he has accomplished well meriting to be highly commended." An important altar-piece, bearing his signature, is in the Brera at Milan, and a beautiful "Adoration of the Shepherds" is in the Church of St. Giobbe at Venice.
Savoldo, "an excellent amateur, who was apparently first a pupil of Romanino, then of Giovanni Bellini, and later of Titian"[200](Morelli:Borghese Gallery, p. 246). "He visited Florence in 1508, and we find him enrolled as master in the Painters' Guild there; his stay cannot, however, have been of long duration, as none of his works known to us betray the slightest Florentine influence" (id. German Galleries, p. 408). "His works," says Sir F. Burton, "display a distinct individuality, the result of tendencies inherent in his nature. The romantic element, already developed in Venetian art, shows itself strongly in his passion for scenes of early dawn and late sunset and effects of night illuminated by fire. His human types are pleasing with a certain grave dignity. His colouring is on the whole colder than that of his contemporaries of the Veneto-Brescian School, and his flesh tints are adust and sombre, especially in his male figures; nor are his draperies generally brilliant in colour, although he delighted in the sheen of silken stuffs, contrasting it with the kind of twilight which pervades many of his pictures." "His landscapes in sacred subjects make a profound impression of silent wonder and devotion. They seem to palpitate in sympathy with the deeds they witness, instead of being mere scenic backgrounds. In the Berlin Deposition, for instance, the sky is lurid and blood-stained; in the Adoration at Turin the shepherds seem to be stealing noiselessly along, afraid of causing the least disturbance in the hush and awe of the morning" (Mary Logan'sGuide to Hampton Court, in which collection there is a picture bySavoldo of a Madonna and Child, dated 1527). Savoldo's pictures are rare, and often pass under other names. He was, says Vasari (iv. 535), "a fanciful and ingenious person, what he has accomplished well meriting to be highly commended." An important altar-piece, bearing his signature, is in the Brera at Milan, and a beautiful "Adoration of the Shepherds" is in the Church of St. Giobbe at Venice.
"A vein of realism, combined with the mystery of Savoldo's deep colours and half-lights, is seen in the picture of a woman shrouded in a mantle in the National Gallery" (Layard, ii. 585). The picture agrees with the description given by Ridolfi of a "Magdalene," "a celebrated work of which there are many copies." A very similar picture, signed with Savoldo's name, is in the Berlin Gallery. The Magdalen is here approaching the sepulchre, before which is a vase of ointment on a square stone—for she had "bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning ... they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun" (Mark xvi. 1, 2). Notice the daring anachronism in the Venetian background, which "gives with exquisite truth a very early dawn upon the Giudecca."
Lo Spagna(Umbrian: painted 1503-1530).
Giovanni di Pietro, called Lo Spagna (the Spaniard), presumably from his nationality, was a pupil of Pietro Perugino—the best, perhaps, of all his pupils who remained untouched by other influences. Observe for the influence of Perugino's teaching the lovely flowers in the foreground and the attitude of the leader of the Roman soldiers on the left (like that of Perugino's Michael in 288). In 1516 Lo Spagna was made a citizen of Spoleto, and in the following year president of the Society of Artists there. The Madonna Enthroned, now in the Lower Church of Assisi, is considered his masterpiece.
Giovanni di Pietro, called Lo Spagna (the Spaniard), presumably from his nationality, was a pupil of Pietro Perugino—the best, perhaps, of all his pupils who remained untouched by other influences. Observe for the influence of Perugino's teaching the lovely flowers in the foreground and the attitude of the leader of the Roman soldiers on the left (like that of Perugino's Michael in 288). In 1516 Lo Spagna was made a citizen of Spoleto, and in the following year president of the Society of Artists there. The Madonna Enthroned, now in the Lower Church of Assisi, is considered his masterpiece.
An angel bearing a chalice flies towards Christ from above ("O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done"). On the right is Judas with a band of Roman soldiers. On the foreground are the three disciples sleeping ("What! could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch, and pray, that ye enter not into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak").
This picture was at one time ascribed to the young Raphael,[201]being identified with the work which he executed for Duke Guidobaldo of Urbino, and which is thus described by Vasari (iii. 8): "For the same noble, the master executed another small picture, representing Christ praying in the Garden, with three of the apostles, who are sleeping at some distance, and which is so beautifully painted that it could scarcely be either better or otherwise were it even in miniature." Vasari traces the history of the picture down to his time, when it was in the Hermitage of Camaldoli. Our picture was formerly in the possession of Prince Gabrielli at Rome. The greater portion of the original drawing for it is in the Uffizi, catalogued under Perugino.
Filippino Lippi(Florentine: 1457-1504).See 293.
See also(p. xx)
This picture[202](like 592,q.v.) is often ascribed to Botticelli, from whom Filippino learnt his fondness for the circular form. Every one will recognise too the resemblance to Botticelli in the daintiness of the dresses, the trappings of the horses (especially in the middle of the foreground), and the other accessories (such as the head-dresses of the Magi on the right). Vasari, indeed, says of Filippino that "the ornaments he added were so new, so fanciful, and so richly varied, that he must be considered the first who taught the moderns the new method of giving variety to the habiliments, and who first embellished his figures by adorning them with vestments after the antique." Filippino and later painters give these embellishments to angels as well as to men; and Vasari, it will be seen, considered it altogether an improvement. Some remarks on the other side will be found inModern Painters, vol. ii. pt. iii. sec. ii. ch. v. § 14 ("Of the Superhuman Ideal"). "The ornaments used by Angelico, Giotto, and Perugino (see,e.g.288) are always of agenericandabstractcharacter. They are notdiamonds, nor brocades, nor velvets, nor gold embroideries; they are mere spots of gold or of colour, simple patterns upontexturelessdraperies; the angel wings burn with transparent crimson and purple and amber, but they are not set forth with peacocks' plumes; the golden circlets gleam with changeful light, but they are not beaded with pearls nor set with sapphires. In the works of Filippino Lippi, Mantegna, and many other painters following, interesting examples may be found of the opposite treatment; and as in Lippi the heads are usually very sweet, and the composition severe, the degrading effect of the realised decorations and imitated dress may be seen in him simply, and without any addition of painfulness from other deficiencies of feeling." In addition to the minor ornamentation, one may notice in this picture the crowded groups of spectators which Filippino was fond of introducing. But so harmoniously are they grouped in six principal groups that the spectator will at first probably be surprised to hear that there are as many as seventy figures in the picture.
Sandro Botticelli(Florentine: 1447-1510).
The family surname of Sandro (Alessandro, or Alexander) was Filipepi. "He was apprenticed when a lad to a goldsmith, called Botticello (for he obstinately refused to learn either to read, write, or sum); of which master we know only that he so formed this boy that thenceforward the boy thought it right to be called Botticello's Sandro, and nobody else's (in Italian Sandro di Botticello, abbreviated into Sandro Botticelli).[203]Having learned prosperously how to manage gold,he took a fancy to know how to manage colour, and was put under the best master in Florence, the Monk Lippi" (see 666). Some characteristics of Lippi's art—its union of a buoyant spirit of life and enjoyment with simplicity and tenderness of religious feeling—are seen in the pupil. But he added in his turn marked characteristics of his own, which are noticed in detail under his several pictures here. "Where Fra Filippo was all repose, Sandro was all movement." Moreover, Botticelli's range of subject was very wide—embracing Venus crowned with roses and the Virgin crowned by Christ, the birth of Love (at Florence), and the birth of the Saviour. Botticelli, says Ruskin, is "the only painter of Italy who understood the thoughts of Heathens and Christians equally, and could in a measure paint both Aphrodite and the Madonna. So that he is, on the whole, the most universal of painters; and, take him all in all, the greatest Florentine workman" (Fors Clavigera, 1872, xxii. 2). He was, we are told,persona sofistica, and lived on terms of intimacy with members of the Florentine Platonic Academy. The speculations which he shared with the poet Matteo Palmieri are enshrined in his "Assumption" (No. 1126), painted about 1475. In 1481 he executed a series of designs for Landino's edition of Dante: these wonderful drawings, formerly in the Hamilton Collection, are now at Berlin. "By this time," says Ruskin, "he was accounted so good a divine, as well as painter, that Pope Sixtus IV. sent for him to be master of the works in his new (Sistine) chapel—where the first thing my young gentleman does, mind you, is to paint the devil, in a monk's dress, tempting Christ! The sauciest thing, out and out, done in the history of the Reformation, it seems to me; yet so wisely done, and with such true respect otherwise shown for what was sacred in the Church, that the Pope didn't mind; and all went on as merrily as marriage bells." The history of Moses—the subject of his other fresco in the Sistine Chapel—"teems with his exuberant power and displays great grandeur of landscape." In the same chapel are also 28 portraits of Popes by Botticelli. "And having thus obtained great honour and reputation, and considerable sums of money, he squandered all the last away. And at this time, Savonarola beginning to make himself heard, and founding in Florence the company of the Piagnoni (Mourners or Grumblers, as opposed to the men of pleasure), Sandro made a Grumbler of himself, being then some forty years old; fell sadder, wiser, and poorer day by day; until he became a poor bedesman of Lorenzo de' Medici; and having gone some time on crutches, being unable to stand upright, died peacefully" (Ariadne Florentina, Lecture VI.;Fors Clavigera, 1872, xxii. 2-6).Few things are more curious in the history of taste than the vicissitudes of Botticelli's fame. In his own day he had been much esteemed, but his reputation was soon eclipsed. In 1602 a decree was issued by the Grand Duke of Tuscany prohibiting the inhabitants of Florence from removing important works of art, for "neither the city nor the land itself is to be despoiled of the masterpieces of eminent painters." The schedule ofeccellenti pittoricontains nineteen names, among which thatof Filippino Lippi, Botticelli's pupil, is included, but not Botticelli himself.[204]The rediscovery of Botticelli has fallen to our country and generation. The influence of Rossetti, the example of Burne-Jones, the famous essay of Pater, and the enthusiasm of Ruskin, have established a cult of Botticelli which in earlier generations would have passed for a mild lunacy.[205]Goldsmith, had he witnessed it, might have substituted the name of Botticelli for that of Perugino in his satire on fashionable æstheticism. The poetical imagination of Botticelli, his inventive design, the strong sense of life which glows through all his pictures, are truly admirable. But what lends additional force to his vogue is the seal ofintimitéwhich is set upon his work. Botticelli treats his themes, says Burton "with a verve, a naïveté, and pathos peculiar to himself." Besides the very greatest men, there is (says Pater) "a certain number of artists who have a distinct faculty of their own by which they convey to us a peculiar quality of pleasure which we cannot get elsewhere, and these, too, have their place in general culture. Of this select number Botticelli is one; he has the freshness, the uncertain and diffident promise which belongs to the earlier Renaissance itself, and makes it perhaps the most interesting period in the history of the mind; in studying his work one begins to understand to how great a place in human culture the art of Italy had been called."
The family surname of Sandro (Alessandro, or Alexander) was Filipepi. "He was apprenticed when a lad to a goldsmith, called Botticello (for he obstinately refused to learn either to read, write, or sum); of which master we know only that he so formed this boy that thenceforward the boy thought it right to be called Botticello's Sandro, and nobody else's (in Italian Sandro di Botticello, abbreviated into Sandro Botticelli).[203]Having learned prosperously how to manage gold,he took a fancy to know how to manage colour, and was put under the best master in Florence, the Monk Lippi" (see 666). Some characteristics of Lippi's art—its union of a buoyant spirit of life and enjoyment with simplicity and tenderness of religious feeling—are seen in the pupil. But he added in his turn marked characteristics of his own, which are noticed in detail under his several pictures here. "Where Fra Filippo was all repose, Sandro was all movement." Moreover, Botticelli's range of subject was very wide—embracing Venus crowned with roses and the Virgin crowned by Christ, the birth of Love (at Florence), and the birth of the Saviour. Botticelli, says Ruskin, is "the only painter of Italy who understood the thoughts of Heathens and Christians equally, and could in a measure paint both Aphrodite and the Madonna. So that he is, on the whole, the most universal of painters; and, take him all in all, the greatest Florentine workman" (Fors Clavigera, 1872, xxii. 2). He was, we are told,persona sofistica, and lived on terms of intimacy with members of the Florentine Platonic Academy. The speculations which he shared with the poet Matteo Palmieri are enshrined in his "Assumption" (No. 1126), painted about 1475. In 1481 he executed a series of designs for Landino's edition of Dante: these wonderful drawings, formerly in the Hamilton Collection, are now at Berlin. "By this time," says Ruskin, "he was accounted so good a divine, as well as painter, that Pope Sixtus IV. sent for him to be master of the works in his new (Sistine) chapel—where the first thing my young gentleman does, mind you, is to paint the devil, in a monk's dress, tempting Christ! The sauciest thing, out and out, done in the history of the Reformation, it seems to me; yet so wisely done, and with such true respect otherwise shown for what was sacred in the Church, that the Pope didn't mind; and all went on as merrily as marriage bells." The history of Moses—the subject of his other fresco in the Sistine Chapel—"teems with his exuberant power and displays great grandeur of landscape." In the same chapel are also 28 portraits of Popes by Botticelli. "And having thus obtained great honour and reputation, and considerable sums of money, he squandered all the last away. And at this time, Savonarola beginning to make himself heard, and founding in Florence the company of the Piagnoni (Mourners or Grumblers, as opposed to the men of pleasure), Sandro made a Grumbler of himself, being then some forty years old; fell sadder, wiser, and poorer day by day; until he became a poor bedesman of Lorenzo de' Medici; and having gone some time on crutches, being unable to stand upright, died peacefully" (Ariadne Florentina, Lecture VI.;Fors Clavigera, 1872, xxii. 2-6).
Few things are more curious in the history of taste than the vicissitudes of Botticelli's fame. In his own day he had been much esteemed, but his reputation was soon eclipsed. In 1602 a decree was issued by the Grand Duke of Tuscany prohibiting the inhabitants of Florence from removing important works of art, for "neither the city nor the land itself is to be despoiled of the masterpieces of eminent painters." The schedule ofeccellenti pittoricontains nineteen names, among which thatof Filippino Lippi, Botticelli's pupil, is included, but not Botticelli himself.[204]The rediscovery of Botticelli has fallen to our country and generation. The influence of Rossetti, the example of Burne-Jones, the famous essay of Pater, and the enthusiasm of Ruskin, have established a cult of Botticelli which in earlier generations would have passed for a mild lunacy.[205]Goldsmith, had he witnessed it, might have substituted the name of Botticelli for that of Perugino in his satire on fashionable æstheticism. The poetical imagination of Botticelli, his inventive design, the strong sense of life which glows through all his pictures, are truly admirable. But what lends additional force to his vogue is the seal ofintimitéwhich is set upon his work. Botticelli treats his themes, says Burton "with a verve, a naïveté, and pathos peculiar to himself." Besides the very greatest men, there is (says Pater) "a certain number of artists who have a distinct faculty of their own by which they convey to us a peculiar quality of pleasure which we cannot get elsewhere, and these, too, have their place in general culture. Of this select number Botticelli is one; he has the freshness, the uncertain and diffident promise which belongs to the earlier Renaissance itself, and makes it perhaps the most interesting period in the history of the mind; in studying his work one begins to understand to how great a place in human culture the art of Italy had been called."
The other pictures by Botticelli in the National Gallery (see 275, 1126, and 915) adequately represent his earlier phases; this one completes the story of his life—painted as it was under Savonarola's influence—
Wrought in the troublous times of ItalyBy Sandro Botticelli, when for fear
Wrought in the troublous times of ItalyBy Sandro Botticelli, when for fear
Of that last judgment, and last day drawn nearTo end all labour and all revelry,He worked and prayed in silence.
Of that last judgment, and last day drawn nearTo end all labour and all revelry,He worked and prayed in silence.
Andrew Lang:Ballads and Lyrics, etc.
This beautiful and curious picture is very characteristic of Botticelli's genius. It is full of highly wrought emotion—note "the fervour of the still Madonna as she kneels before the Child, the extraordinary nervous tension which the artist has managed to suggest in the seated figure of Joseph, the rapture and ecstasy of the angels"; the picture is full also, as we shall see, of mystic symbolism, but all is crowned and harmonised by a sense of pictorial daintiness and beauty. The centre of the picture is occupied by the familiar subject of the Nativity, and the accessories suggest in symbolic fashion the effects of Christ's Advent upon the good and the evil respectively. The theological symbolism may be seen in the gesture of the divine Child pointing to his mouth—typifying that he was the Word of God. So at the bottom of the picture there are devils running, at Christ's coming, into chinks of the rocks (those who are Christ's must put away "the works of darkness"); whilst the shepherds and angels embracing signify the reconciliation such as Savonarola wished to effect between heaven and earth. On either side of the central group angels are telling the glad tidings "of peace on earth, goodwill towards men." Note the symmetry in this part of the picture; the three Magi on the left, the three shepherds in adoration on the right; and in colour, the red frock of the angel on the right, the red wings on the left. Meanwhile in the sky above is a lovely choir of Botticelli's floating angels, dancing between earth and heaven, on a golden background suffused with light. The picture is, says Ruskin, "a quite perfect example of what the masters of the pure Greek school did in Florence.... The entire purpose of the picture is a mystic symbolism by motion and chiaroscuro. By motion, first. There is a dome of burning clouds in the upper heaven. Twelve angels half float, half dance, in a circle, round the lower vault of it. All their drapery is drifted so as to make you feel the whirlwind of their motion. They are seen by gleams of silvery or fiery light, relieved against an equally lighted blue of inimitable depth and loveliness. It is impossible for you ever to see a more noble work of passionate Greek chiaroscuro—rejoicing in light" (Lectures on Landscape, § 58). The introduction in the samepicture of the solemn teaching below, with these beautiful angel forms above, suggests precisely what Ruskin has defined to be Botticelli's position among pictorial reformers. "He was what Luther wished to be, but could not be—a reformer still believing in the Church; his mind is at peace, and his art therefore can pursue the delight of beauty and yet remain prophetic." "He was not a preacher of new doctrines, but a witness against the betrayal of old ones."
The first and more obvious intention of Botticelli's painted sermon was, as we have seen, to show the effects of the Advent upon the good and the evil. But he has also a particular application, an esoteric meaning. The clue to this is afforded by the Greek inscription at the top, which, being interpreted, is—
"This picture I, Alexander, painted at the end of the year 1500, in the troubles of Italy, in the half-time after the time during the fulfilment of the eleventh of St. John, in the Second Woe of the Apocalypse, in the loosing of the devil for three years and a half. Afterwards he shall be confined, and we shall see him trodden down, as in this picture."
"This picture I, Alexander, painted at the end of the year 1500, in the troubles of Italy, in the half-time after the time during the fulfilment of the eleventh of St. John, in the Second Woe of the Apocalypse, in the loosing of the devil for three years and a half. Afterwards he shall be confined, and we shall see him trodden down, as in this picture."
"In the troubles of Italy, at the end of the year 1500." Now, on May 12, 1497, exactly three years and a half before the date of Botticelli's inscription, Savonarola was burnt alive (as depicted on the little panel, No. 1301); and his death, says the historian, "meant for Florence the triumph of all that was most corrupt; vice was everywhere rampant, and virtuous living was utterly despised." But in the faith of Botticelli, the reverent disciple of Savonarola, this tyranny of the Evil One was doomed to pass away. He saw "in the troubles of Italy" a fulfilment of the awful words to which his inscription refers us in the eleventh chapter of the Revelation of St. John the Divine:—
The holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months. And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy. These are the two olive trees. And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. And they hearda great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. The second woe is past. And there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
The holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months. And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy. These are the two olive trees. And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. And they hearda great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. The second woe is past. And there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
To the elect, then, Botticelli meant his picture to show the fulfilment of the prophecy by the Second Advent of Christ, and the final triumph of Savonarola. The men embraced by angels are in this reading of the picture the "witnesses" to whom the spirit of life was returned; they are welcomed back to earth by angels, ere they are rapt heavenward. They bear olive boughs, because in the Apocalypse olive trees are symbolical of the Lord's anointed ones. "There is but one point which seems at variance with the Biblical text: in it two witnesses are spoken of, here there are three. This deviation was doubtless intentional. When Savonarola died, two others shared his palm of martyrdom, Fra Domenico Buonvicini and Fra Silvestre Marussi. The three figures crowned with myrtle represent the three risen and glorified martyrs" (Richter'sLectures on the National Gallery, p. 61. See also Mr. Sidney Colvin's article in thePortfolio, Feb. 1879).