[26]See Chapter VI. in the volume onMichelangeloin the Riverside Art Series.
[26]See Chapter VI. in the volume onMichelangeloin the Riverside Art Series.
The painter Van Dyck was the son of a rich merchant of Antwerp, and lacked no opportunities for the training of his artistic gifts. He was fortunate also in meeting ready appreciation wherever he went. In Italy, in Flanders, and finally in England, his paintings were highly valued. His life was passed amid luxurious surroundings, in the society of noblemen and princes. His was a brilliant and successful career.
Our portrait frontispiece was painted during his residence in England, when he was about forty years of age. He is described as short in stature, with a slender figure. His hands were long, with the straight sensitive fingers of the artist. He had a fresh delicate face, with well-cut features, and light chestnut-colored hair, which he wore long, like the English Cavaliers. The upturned mustache and small pointed beard were also fashionable among the English nobility, as we infer from the portrait of Charles I.
The face has the characteristic qualities of the artistic nature, the high forehead, the dreamy eyes, and the pensive expression. The head is lifted a little, in an imaginative pose. We should know this man at once for a poet or a painter.
It must be confessed that we do not find much strength of character in the face. Van Dyck indeed lacked the nobler qualities of manliness, and was decidedly worldly in his tastes. He lived in princely magnificence in his house at Blackfriars, spending money lavishly. A biographer tells how "he always went magnificently Drest, had a numerous and gallant Equipage, and kept so noble a Table in his Apartment that few Princes were more visited or better serv'd."
To maintain this expensive establishment the painter was obliged to devote his mornings to hard work in his studio. The nights were spent in banquets and revelry. Naturally his health gave way under the strain of this double life. While he still cherished ambitious projects for greater works of art, he sickened and died in London at the age of forty-two.
Two years before this he had married an English lady, Mary Ruthven, and they had one child, a daughter.
Our frontispiece is a detail of a double portrait representing, in half-length figures, the painter and a patron, John Digby, Earl of Bristol.
The Diacritical Marks given are those found in the latest edition of Webster's International Dictionary.
EXPLANATION OF DIACRITICAL MARKS.
A Dash (¯) above the vowel denotes the long sound, as in fāte, ēve, tīme, nōte, ūse.
A Dash and a Dot (-̇) above the vowel denote the same sound, less prolonged.
A Curve (˘) above the vowel denotes the short sound, as in ădd, ĕnd, ĭll, ŏdd, ŭp.
A Dot ( ̇) above the vowel a denotes the obscure sound of a in pȧst, ȧbāte, Amĕricȧ.
A Double Dot (¨) above the vowel a denotes the broad sound of a in fäther, älms.
A Double Dot (..) below the vowel a denotes the sound of a in ba̤ll.
A Wave (~) above the vowel e denotes the sound of e in hẽr.
A Circumflex Accent (^) above the vowel o denotes the sound of o in bôrn.
A dot (.) below the vowel u denotes the sound of u in the French language.
N indicates that the preceding vowel has the French nasal tone.
G and K denote the guttural sound of ch in the German language.
th denotes the sound of th in the, this.
ç sounds like s.
c̵ sounds like k.
ṣ̱ sounds like z.
ḡ is hard as in ḡet.
ġ is soft as in ġem.
Amiens (ä-mĕ-ăN').Andreas (än-drā'äs).Anne (ăn).Anthony (ăn'tō-nĭ).Antwerp (ănt'wērp).Arimathea (Ărĭmȧthē´ȧ).Assisi (ä-sē'sē).Astolat (ăs'tṓ-lăt).Athens (ăth'ĕnz).Bedloe (bĕd'lō).Belgium (bĕl'jĭ-ŭm).Bentivoglio (bĕn-tē-vōl'yō).Bethesda (bĕ-thĕz'dȧ).Bethlehem (Bĕth'lēhĕm).Biographie Nationale (bḗ-ṓ-grä-fē' nä-sḗ-ṓ-näl').Blackfriars (blăk'frī-ẽrz).Bologna (bō-lōn'yȧ).Bristol (brĭs'to̯l).Brussels (brŭs'ĕlz).Buckingham (bŭk'ĭng-ȧm).Cæsar (sē'zȧr).Calvary (kăl'vȧ-rĭ).Carmine (kär'mē-nā).Cavaliers (kăv-ȧ-lērz').Caxton (kăks'tŭn).Cecilia (sē-sĭl-ĭ-á).Colyns de Nole (kṓ-lăŃ dẽ nōl).Constantine (kŏn'stȧn-tīn).Cromwell (Crŏm'wĕll).Crowe (krō).Cupid (Cū'pĭd).Cust, Lionel (kŭst lī'ō-nĕl).Dædalus (dĕd'ȧ-lŭs or dē'dȧ-lŭs).Digby (dĭg'bĭ).D'Israeli (dĭz-rā'lĭ).Doyle (doil).Dresden (drĕz'de̯n).Edgehill (ĕj'hĭl).Egypt (ē'jĭpt).Elizabeth (ḗ-lĭz'ȧ-bĕth).Ephesians (ē-fē'zhȧnz).Eugenia (ū-jē'nĭ-ȧ).Flanders (flăn'dẽrz).Florence (Flôr'ĕnce).Fortunatus (Fôrtūnā'tŭs).Franciscan (frăn sĭs'kȧn).frère(frăr).Fromentin (frṓ-mŏN-tăN').Galilee (găl'ĭ-lē).Genoa (jĕn'ō-ȧ).Hampton (hămp'to̯n).Heirkte (hīrk'tē).Henrietta Maria (Hĕnrĭĕt'tȧ Mȧrī'ȧ).Herod (Hĕr'o̯d).Honi soit qui mal y pense (ŏn-ē' swä kē mäl ē päNs).Hudson, Geoffrey (hŭd'so̯n jĕf'frī ).Icaria (ī-kā'rĭ-ȧ).Icarus (ĭk'á-rŭs).Italy (ĭt'ȧ-lĭ).Jacques (zhäk).Jameson (jā'mĕ-sŭn).Jerusalem (Jĕrū'sȧlĕm).Joses (jō'sēz).Judæa (jū̇ dē̇'ȧ).Knackfuss (knäk'foos).Kugler (kōōg'lẽr).Laud (la̤d).Lely (lē'lĭ).Lennox (Lĕn'no̯x).Louvre (loo'vr).Lübke (lụb'ke̯).Macaulay (mȧ-ka̤'lĭ).Madonna (Mȧdŏn'nȧ).Magdalene (Măg'dā̇-lē̇n).Masaccio (mä-sät'chō).Médicis, Marie de (mä-rē' dẽ mā̇-dḗ-sēs').Metamorphoses (Mĕtȧmôr'phōsēs̱).Michelangelo (mē-kĕl-än'jā̇-lō).Minos (Mī'nŏs).Naseby (nāz'bĭ).Netherlands (nĕth'ẽr-lȧndz).Newcastle (nū'kȧsl).Nicodemus (nĭk-ō-dē'mŭs).Nood Godes (nōt gō'dĕs).Notre Dame (nō'tr däm).Ober-Ammergau (ō'bẽr ām'mẽrgow).Ovid (ŏv'ĭd).Padua (Păd'ūȧ).Palatine (păl'ȧ-tīn).Palermo (Pȧlẽr'mō).Paradise (Păr'ȧdīse).Parliamentarians (pär-lĭ-mĕn-tā'rī-ȧnz).Pellegrino, Monte (mōn'tā̇ pĕl-lā̇-grē'-nō).Pesaro (pā-sä'rō).Peveril (Pĕv'e̯rĭl).Phillips, Claude (kla̤d fil'ĭps).Pietà (pē̇ ā̇ tä').Plantin (pläN-tăN).Pontius Pilate (pŏn'shĭ-ŭs pī'lā̇t).Portuguese (pōr'tū-gēz).Puritans (pū'rĭ-tȧnz).Raphael (rä'fā-ĕl).Reynolds (rĕn'o̯lz).Richardot, Jean Grusset (zhäN grụs-sā' rē-shär-dō').Richmond (Rĭch'mo̯nd).Rosalia (rō-zā'lĭ-ȧ).Rubens (roo'bĕnz).Rupert (roo'pe̯rt).Ruthven (Rūth'vĕn).Samothrace (săm'ṓ-thrās).Scone (skoon).Sheffield (shĕf'ēld).Sicilians (sĭ-sĭl'ĭ-ȧnz or sĭ-sĭl'yȧnz).Sicily (sĭs'ĭ-lĭ).Strickland (Strĭck'lȧnd).Stuart (Stū'ȧrt).Thames (tĕmz).Titian (tĭsh'ȧn).Toulouse (too-looz').Tours (toor).Vän Bälĕn.Van der Geest (vän dār gāst).Van Dyck (văn dīk).Vatican (văt'ĭ kȧn).Vaughn (va̤n).Venetian (vḗ-nē'shȧn).von Ranke (fṓn rän'ke̯).Wake (wāk).Wandesford, Rowland (wŏnz'fo̯rd rō'lȧnd).Warwick (wa̤r'ĭk).Wentworth (Wĕnt'wo̯rth).Wharton (Wha̤r'to̯n).Winchendon (Wĭn'chĕndo̯n).Windsor (wĭn'zo̯r).Woerman (woor'män).Woltman (Wŏlt'män).Zebedee (Zĕb'ĕdēē).Zeus (zūs).