A Popular Handbook to the National Gallery, Volume I, Foreign Schools Including by Special Permission Notes Collected from the Works of John Ruskin (part 3 of 4)
1004. AN ITALIAN LANDSCAPE.
Nicolas Berchem (Dutch: 1620-1683). See 78.
1005. PLOUGHING.
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 somewhat wanting 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).
1006. HURDY-GURDY.
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 sunny South, where Anio leaps in foam, Thou wast reared, till lack of money Drew thee from thy vine-clad home.
CALVERLEY: Fly Leaves.
1007. A ROCKY LANDSCAPE.
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).
The figures in this picture are supposed to have been put in by Wouwerman.
1008. A STAG HUNT.
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.
1009. THE OLD GRAY HUNTER.
Paul Potter (Dutch: 1625-1654). See 849.
1010. RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE.
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.
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.
1011. PORTRAIT OF A LADY.
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.
1012. PORTRAIT OF A MAN.
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 picture was formerly ascribed to Van Dyck. The man's dress is of black velvet, of the fashion of about 1665-70.
1013. GEESE AND DUCKS.
Melchior de Hondecoeter (Dutch: 1636-1695). See 202.
1014. THE MARTYRDOM OF ST. LAWRENCE.
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 and his group, 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.
1015. FRUIT, FLOWERS, AND DEAD BIRDS.
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.
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 of noblesse. 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 the pleasures 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 further tour de force demanded 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).
1016. A PORTRAIT OF A GIRL.
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 £100,000 would 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.
1017. A WOODY LANDSCAPE.
Unknown (Flemish: dated 1622). See also (p. xx)
The landscape is probably by Josse Mompers, an Antwerp artist who lived 1564-1635.
1018. A CLASSICAL LANDSCAPE.
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.
1019. THE HEAD OF A GIRL.
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.
Mrs. BROWNING: A Portrait.
1020. GIRL WITH AN APPLE.
Greuze (French: 1725-1805). See 206.
A cloud of yellow hair Is round about her ear. She hath a mouth of grace, And forehead sweet and fair.
AUSTIN DOBSON: A Song of Angiola.
1021. PORTRAIT OF A WOMAN.
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, and granting 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.
1022. AN ITALIAN NOBLEMAN.
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.
1023. AN ITALIAN LADY.
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.
1024. AN ITALIAN ECCLESIASTIC.
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.
1025. AN ITALIAN NOBLEMAN.
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.
1031. MARY MAGDALENE.
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's Guide to Hampton Court, in which collection there is a picture by Savoldo 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."
1032. CHRIST'S AGONY IN THE GARDEN.
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.
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.
1033. THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI.
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 in Modern 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 a generic and abstract character. They are not diamonds, nor brocades, nor velvets, nor gold embroideries; they are mere spots of gold or of colour, simple patterns upon textureless draperies; 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.
1034. THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST.
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 of eccellenti pittori contains nineteen names, among which that of 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 of intimité which 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 Italy By Sandro Botticelli, when for fear
Of that last judgment, and last day drawn near To 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 same picture 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."
"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 heard a 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's Lectures on the National Gallery, p. 61. See also Mr. Sidney Colvin's article in the Portfolio, Feb. 1879).
1035. PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG MAN.
Francia Bigio (Florentine: 1482-1525).
Francesco di Cristoforo Bigi (this picture is signed FRA CP = Franciscus Cristophori pinxit), commonly called Francia Bigio, was the son of a weaver at Milan, and "devoted himself to the art of painting, not so much (Vasari tells us) because he was desirous of fame, as that he might thus be enabled to render assistance to his indigent relations." He was at first the pupil of Albertinelli (645), and afterwards formed a close friendship with Andrea del Sarto, in conjunction with whom he produced his first important work in 1513, in the small cloister of the Servi. It was here that occurred the famous scene, described by Vasari, with the Friars, who, having uncovered Bigio's fresco of the Sposalizio before the painter considered it finished, so enraged him that he defaced some of the finest heads in it with a mason's hammer, and would have destroyed the whole but for forcible intervention. Neither he nor any other painter could be induced to repair the injuries, which remain to this day. Bigio was, as we may see from this picture, an admirable portrait-painter--an excellence which he owed, says Vasari, to his patient and modest industry. He was "a great lover of peace, and for that reason (adds Vasari drily) would never marry."
The young man wears on his breast the cross of the Knights of Malta. The letter in his hand bears the date 1514. On the parapet is an inscription: tar: vblia: chi: bien: eima (slowly forgets he who loves well)--
Dear as remember'd kisses after death, And sweet as those by hopeless fancy feign'd On lips that are for others; deep as love, Deep as first love, and wild with all regret; O Death in Life, the days that are no more.
TENNYSON: The Princess.
1036. A MAN'S PORTRAIT.
Unknown (Flemish: 15th-16th century).
A picture, it might be, of Hamlet with the skulls: "That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once." In his left hand he holds a flower: "there's pansies, that's for thoughts."
1041. THE VISION OF ST. HELENA.
Paolo Veronese (Veronese: 1528-1588). See 26.
St. Helena, the mother of Constantine, made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, when a victory was gained by the emperor, to recover the very cross of which she had seen a mysterious symbol. Having reached the sacred city, she caused the soil of Calvary to be excavated, because the Jews were accustomed to bury the instruments of execution upon the spot where they had been used. And there she found three crosses, and that one which was the holy cross was distinguished from the others by the healing of a lady of quality who was sick. The empress divided the true cross into three parts, giving one of them to the Bishop of Jerusalem, and another to the church at Constantinople. The third she brought to Rome, where she built for it the great basilica of S. Croce.
Here we see the saint in devout reverie, while through the open window two cherubim bear a cross through the air. This beautiful picture, in which Veronese gives us an ideal and mystic composition, treated with a simplicity unusual to him, seems to have been derived from a plate by Marc Antonio, the founder of Italian engraving (1480-1534), supposed to be after a drawing by Raphael. The design is identical, though an exquisitely airy angel with a slender cross in Marc Antonio's engraving is replaced in Veronese's picture by chubby cherubs with a more solid cross. (The engraving is reproduced in the Art Journal, 1891, p. 376, with some critical remarks. "This wonderful picture," says the writer, "is at once a delight and a puzzle. If Veronese was capable of efforts like the 'Vision of St. Helena,' why have we not more such, seeing how many treasures of his art have survived to us? The engraving offers an explanation, curiously exact, of this difficulty. Whatever in the 'Vision' is Veronese's own--the drapery and the colour--is not more remarkable than in many other pictures of his; on the other hand, whatever is not distinctively of Veronese is Marc Antonio's.... What more natural than that Veronese should essay to clothe in the glory of his own colouring[206] some creation of the great Italian who learnt from Dürer how to interpret the art of Raphael to Italy?") Veronese's picture once formed the altar-piece of a chapel dedicated to St. Helena at Venice, and was afterwards in the collection of the great Duke of Marlborough.
1042. A MAN'S PORTRAIT.
Catharina van Hemessen (Flemish: painted about 1550).
Catharina was the daughter of a painter named Jan Sanders, called Jan van Hemessen from his native village. She married a musician of repute in the Low Countries, and with him went to Madrid, where she acquired celebrity and favour through her ability in portraiture.
1045. A CANON AND HIS PATRON SAINT.
Gerard David (Early Flemish: 1460-1523).
This remarkable painter, who has been rediscovered in recent years by the researches of Mr. Weale, was born in Oudewater, a small town in the south of Holland. He settled in Bruges in 1483, passing through the various grades of the Painters' Guild in that town, until he became its Dean in 1501. He was also connected with the Guild of Illuminators of Bruges, and with that of painters at Antwerp. In 1496 he married the daughter of a Bruges goldsmith. In 1509 he painted and presented to the Carmelites of Sion at Bruges a beautiful altar-piece, in which he introduced his own portrait in the background to the right, and that of his wife to the left. This altar-piece was sold by the Carmelites in 1785, and is now in the Museum of Rouen. Other important works by the painter are now in the Academy at Bruges, and in the church of St. Basil in that town there is a triptych by him. The present picture and No. 1432 were also painted for a church in the same place. David's works have often been confounded with those of Memlinc, and it is impossible to give them higher praise. He was a fine colourist. His faces show that he was an adequate interpreter of character. The details he executed with the utmost minuteness and skill; and he is remarkable also for his careful and truthful landscapes. In 1508 David entered a religious brotherhood; he was buried in Notre Dame at Bruges, where he was laid beneath the tower.
The canon kneels in adoration, with his patron saints around him--St. Bernardino of Siena behind, St. Donatian in advance of him, and St. Martin to the left. It was St. Martin who shared his cloak with the beggar, and here in the distance to the left--in compliment to the canon's generosity--is a beggar limping towards the group, asking alms. Notice the wood through which he walks. The subdued light beneath the thick foliage of the trees is admirably rendered. David "was the first painter to think of the shadow-giving nature of trees. Trees had for many years formed a favourite subject for backgrounds, but even by Memlinc they were rather conventionally rendered, one by one, not grouped into woods, and seldom brought into the foreground. Here we have a wood brought near us, with its domed canopy of foliage above, and its labyrinth of trunks buried in sylvan twilight below" (Conway's Early Flemish Artists, p. 298). Notice also the beautiful and elaborate work on the robes of St. Martin and St. Donatian. They are fully described in Mr. Weale's monograph referred to below. This will repay the most minute examination. The crimson-velvet cope of St. Martin is a masterpiece. The portrait of the donor is admirable.
The history of this beautiful picture, and of the changes and chances it went through before finding a permanent home in the National Gallery, is very curious. In 1501 a colleague of Richard van der Capelle (see 1432) and one of the executors of his will, namely, Canon Bernardin Salviati (illegitimate son of a rich Florentine merchant who traded or resided in Flanders), was secretary of the chapter of S. Donatian at Bruges. Having obtained leave to restore and embellish the altar of SS. John Baptist and Mary Magdalene, he commissioned Gerard David to paint the shutters of the reredos. These shutters, together with those of several other altar reredoses in the nave of the church, were, at the request of the sacristan, who complained that they were always breaking the wax candles, sold in a lot by order of the chapter in 1787 for an insignificant sum of money. What became of the others is not known, but the one before us was, as we learn from the letters of Horace Walpole, bought in 1792, by Mr. Thomas Barrett, of Lee Priory, Kent, and it figures in the catalogue of that collection as "a group of saints by John Gossart of Maubeuge." At the sale of the Lee Priory Collection in May 1859, it was knocked down to the late Mr. William Benoni White for 525 guineas. Sir J. C. Robinson drew Mr. Weale's attention to the picture, which he at once recognised as being the right-hand shutter of the reredos of Salviati's chantry altar. "I tried hard," says Mr. Weale, "but in vain, to persuade the late Sir Charles Eastlake to purchase it for the National Gallery, but Mr. White would not part with it for less than £1000. Oddly enough the latter, who bore the character of being a most penurious and miserly man, by his last will and testament proved a generous benefactor to the nation, and left this panel in July 1878 to the National Gallery" (W. H. James Weale: Portfolio monograph on Gerard David, 1895, p. 18).
1047. A FAMILY GROUP.
Lorenzo Lotto (Venetian: 1480-1555). See 699.
"Supposed," says the official catalogue, "to represent the painter, his wife, and two children." This cannot be the case, for Lotto seems to have had no close domestic ties. The picture is, however, full of interest for its own sake. "The man and the woman are, it is true, both looking out of the picture, but nevertheless the feeling we have is that the group before us is not, as is usual in Italian family pictures, a mere collection of portraits, but that it is composed of people who are intimately related to each other, constantly acting and reacting one upon the other, and that it is presented in a way which, while giving the individuality of each, makes it hard to think of them except as conditioned, and even determined, by each other's presence." We may in fact find in this domestic group an anticipation of the spirit of the modern psychological novel. "Far from being painted as such groups usually were in Italy--a mere collection of faces looking one like the other, but with no bond of sympathy or interest uniting them--it is in itself a family story, as modern almost as Tolstoi's Katia. Lotto makes it evident that the sensitiveness of the man's nature has brought him to understand and condone his wife's limitations, and that she, in her turn, has been refined and softened into sympathy with him; so that the impression the picture leaves is one of great kindliness, covering a multitude of small disappointments and incompatibilities" (B. Berenson: Lorenzo Lotto, pp. 194, 227, 322). Mr. Berenson calls attention further to the historical significance of this page from contemporary life and manners. The artist "opens our eyes to the existence in a time and in a country supposed to be wholly devoted to carnality and carnage, of gentle, sensitive people, who must have had many of our own social and ethical ideas." He "helps us to a truer and saner view of the sixteenth century in Italy than has been given by popular writers from Stendhal downwards, who too exclusively have devoted themselves to its lurid side. Lotto's charity helps us to restore that human balance without which the Italy of the sixteenth century would be a veritable pandemonium." The Venetian costumes, etc. may also be noticed. The little girl is dressed in as "grown-up" a way as her mother. On the table is a Turkey carpet, reminding us of Venetian commerce with the East. A Turkey carpet figures also in No. 1105.
1048. PORTRAIT OF A CARDINAL.
Italian School (16th century). See also (p. xx)
Painted on copper, a material which seems first to have been used for painting in the School of Antwerp. M. Auguste Cartan, of Besançon, in a paper by him in the Courrier de l'Art (June 25, 1886), points out the resemblance between this portrait and one, also on copper, in the museum at Besançon, ascribed to Scipione Pulzone, surnamed Gaetano (1550-1558), a painter who has been called "the Van Dyck of the Roman School." A contemporary biographer speaks of Gaetano's portraits as being so conscientious that every hair is painted, and of his skill in rendering various stuffs; both these characteristics may be observed in the present picture. In the same paper M. Cartan identifies the Cardinal as Cardinal Sirleto, Librarian of the Vatican 1570-1585, and tutor of S. Carlo Borromeo. There is a bust of Cardinal Sirleto in the church of San Lorenzo at Rome, and M. Cartan declares the resemblance between the bust and this portrait to be unmistakable. There is also in the Corsini Palace at Rome a bust portrait of the same personage by Scipione Gaetano.
1049. THE CRUCIFIXION.
Unknown (German-Westphalian: 15th century).
A good example of the strength and weakness of this German art. What is good are the clothes, which are very quaint and various. The figures show a ghastly enjoyment of horror and ugliness: notice especially the crucified thief on the left.
1050. A SEA VIEW.
Bakhuizen (Dutch: 1631-1708). See 204.
1051. OUR LORD, ST. THOMAS, AND ST. ANTHONY.
Bertucci (Umbrian: 16th century). See 282.
Our Lord extends his hand and foot to the doubting St. Thomas: "Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; ... and be not faithless, but believing." To the right, resting his hands on the shoulder of the donor of the picture, is St. Anthony of Padua, another saint who doubted "till"--as the legend (painted by Murillo) describes--"in his arms," so it is told, "The saint did his dear Lord enfold, And there appeared a light like gold From out the skies of Padua." This picture appears to be by the same painter as No. 282, and both are now ascribed to Bertucci.
1052. PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG MAN.
Lombard School (15th or early 16th century).
1053. A CHURCH AT DELFT.
Emanuel de Witte (Dutch: 1607-1692). Room X.
Witte was a native of Alkmaar, but settled at Delft, where he probably met another architectural painter, Dirk van Delen. "An exact knowledge of perspective, a perfect conception of light and shade, and a delicacy of execution which reveals every detail without degenerating into dryness, figures well drawn and sufficiently picturesque ... are the qualities which distinguish his works" (Havard: The Dutch School, p. 245). The picture before us is not a very favourable specimen of the painter's skill. In the gallery at Hertford House one of his masterpieces may be seen. His style, says Mr. Phillips in his catalogue of that collection, "is absolutely opposed to that of the somewhat earlier painters of the Flemish School, Steenwyck the Younger and Pieter Neeffs the Elder, who obtained their chief effects by accuracy of linear perspective, while De Witte realised his by broad and masterly chiaroscuro. In his treatment of light and colour he shows some affinity to Pieter de Hooch." The date of his birth is uncertain; it should perhaps be 1617.
Notice the anti-Pauline practice of the worshippers ("Every man praying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head. But every woman that prayeth with her head uncovered, dishonoureth her head"--1 Corinthians xi. 4, 5). Here it is the women who are "uncovered," the men who are "covered."
1054. A VIEW IN VENICE.
Francesco Guardi (Venetian: 1712-1793). See 210.
1055. A VILLAGE CARD PARTY.
Hendrick Sorgh (Dutch: 1611-1670).
Hendrick Rokes, a painter of Rotterdam, was the son of Martin Rokes, the master of the passage-boat from Rotterdam to Dordrecht. On account of his care and attention to passengers, Martin acquired the appellation of Sorgh, or Careful; the name descended to and was adopted by the son. Having shown an early talent for art, Hendrick was sent to Antwerp, where he was placed under the tuition of the younger Teniers. His style, however, rather recalls that of Adrian Brouwer. He painted Biblical subjects in a familiar manner, indoor scenes of humble life, village fairs, and, later, river and sea views. Some of his best works are in the Dresden Gallery.
The game rests with the woman, who is not going to play, it would seem, till the score is settled.
1056. "A KISS IN THE CUP."
Hendrick Sorgh (Dutch: 1611-1670).
Drink to me only with thine eyes, And I will pledge with mine; Or leave a kiss but in the cup And I'll not look for wine.
BEN JONSON: To Celia.
1057. A RIVER SCENE.
Claude Joseph Vernet (French: 1714-1789). See 236.
1058. VENICE: THE CANAL REGGIO.
Canaletto (Venetian: 1697-1768). See 127.
One of the principal waterways, after the Grand Canal, in Venice. The picture is a good instance of this painter's method of representing water. He "covers the whole space of it with one monotonous ripple, composed of a coat of well-chosen, but perfectly opaque and smooth sea-green, covered with a certain number--I cannot state the exact average, but it varies from three hundred and fifty to four hundred and upwards, according to the extent of canvas to be covered, of white concave touches, which are very properly symbolical of ripple[207].... If it be but remembered that every one of the surfaces of those multitudinous ripples is in nature a mirror which catches, according to its position, either the image of the sky, or of the silver beaks of the gondolas, or of their black bodies and scarlet draperies, or of the white marble, or the green sea-weed on the low stones, it cannot but be felt that those waves would have something more of colour upon them than that opaque dead green.... Venice is sad and silent now to what she was in his time; but even yet, could I but place the reader at early morning on the quay below the Rialto, when the market-boats, full-laden, float into groups of golden colour, and let him watch the dashing of the water about their glittering steely heads, and under the shadows of the vine leaves; and show him the purple of the grapes and the figs, and the glowing of the scarlet gourds, carried away in long streams upon the waves; and among them, the crimson fish-baskets, plashing and sparkling and flaming as the morning sun falls on their wet tawny sides; and above, the painted sails of the fishing-boats, orange and white, scarlet and blue,--he would not be merciful to Canaletto any more" (Modern Painters, vol. i. pt. ii. sec. v. ch. i. §§ 18, 19).
1059. VENICE: SAN PIETRO IN CASTELLO.
Canaletto (Venetian: 1697-1768). See 127.
A humble church, typical of the humble origin of Venice, a city founded on the sands by fugitives. The church stands on one of the outermost islets, where, in the seventh century, it is said that St. Peter appeared in person to the Bishop of Heraclea, and commanded him to found, in his honour, a church in that spot. "The title of Bishop of Castello was first taken in 1091; St. Mark's was not made the cathedral church till 1807.... The present church is among the least interesting in Venice; a wooden bridge, something like that of Battersea on a small scale, connects its island, now almost deserted, with a wretched suburb of the city behind the arsenal; and a blank level of lifeless grass, rotted away in places rather than trodden, is extended before its mildewed façade and solitary tower" (Stones of Venice, vol. i. Appendix iv.)
1060. TWO VEDETTES ON THE WATCH.
Wouwerman (Dutch: 1619-1668). See 878.
1061. DELFT: SCENE OF AN EXPLOSION
Egbert van der Poel (Dutch: 1621-1664).
Born at Delft; in 1650 entered as a member of the painter's guild there; afterwards moved to Rotterdam, where he died. "Although his name recalls fires especially--never did painter burn so many houses and farm cottages as Van der Poel--he painted also small scenes in the style of Ostade, as we see in his 'Rustic House' in the Louvre, and the 'Interior' in the Museum of Amsterdam. There are also a few pictures by him representing still life" (Havard: The Dutch School, p. 156).
One of the many views painted by this artist of the explosion of a powder mill at Delft, October 12, 1654. One might think the mill exploded specially to be painted, so neatly and in order is everything represented. In this explosion, a well-known painter, Carel Fabrizius, lost his life.
1062. A BATTLE PIECE
Ferrarese School (early 16th century).
1063. A MAN'S PORTRAIT.
Flemish School (15th-16th century).
1074. AN OYSTER SUPPER.
Dirk Hals (Dutch; 1589-1656).
"Dirk was the younger brother of Frans Hals (see 1021), and was born at Malines in 1589. He followed his elder brother to Haarlem, where he died in 1656--that is, ten years before Frans. Dirk was a clever artist, at least so far as may be judged by his works, which are extremely rare. His figures are amusing, graceful in manner, and especially interesting from their costumes, which belong to his own time, and now appear somewhat strange and extravagant" (Havard: The Dutch School, p. 121). Dirk confined himself chiefly, says Burton, "to the representation of convivial parties, where cavaliers and ladies are seen enjoying themselves without much reserve at table, in the dance, or with music. His light pencil, his brilliant colour, laid on thinly over a greyish ground, and sharply accentuated, suited the themes and the small scale of his pictures."
The picture is signed (on the architrave above the open door), and dated 1626.
1075. VIRGIN AND CHILD, ST. JEROME, AND ST. FRANCIS.
Perugino (Umbrian: 1446-1523). See 288.
A very "Peruginesque" example--full, that is, of the peculiar sentiment and apparent affectation which caused Goldsmith to make the admiration of him the test of absurd connoisseurship.[208] But "what is commonly thought affected in his design," says Ruskin, "is indeed the true remains of the great architectural symmetry which was soon to be lost, and which makes him the true follower of Arnolfo and Brunelleschi," the great Florentine builders (Ariadne Florentina, § 72). The picture displays also in perfection "that quality of tone in which Perugino stands unsurpassed; and the rich and liquid, but subdued colour is steeped in a transparent atmosphere of pale golden glow" (Burton).
The history of this picture affords a good instance of that enrichment of the National Gallery with "graceful interludes by Perugino," saved from "the wreck of Italian monasteries," of which Mr. Ruskin speaks in his preface to this work. It was painted by Perugino in 1507, to be placed over an altar in memory of a master-carpenter at Perugia. It afterwards passed into the possession of the monks who owned the church. They sold it, with the chapel in which it was placed, to the Cecconi family, from whom it passed by inheritance to the family Della Penna. In 1822 the head of this family removed it to his palace, leaving a copy of it in its place in the church, and in 1879 the picture itself was bought from the Baron della Penna for the Nation.
1077. ALTAR-PIECE (dated 1501).
Borgognone (Lombard: about 1455-1523). See 298.
A picture of the "man of sorrows." On either side of the infant Christ are shown the scenes of his suffering[209]--
In stature grows the Heavenly Child, With death before his eyes; A Lamb unblemished, meek and mild, Prepared for sacrifice.
For sacrifice--but also for redemption, and so above the throne are the angels of God, playing the glad music of death swallowed up in victory. In the right-hand compartment is Christ bearing his cross; in the left his agony in the garden. The three disciples are here crouched asleep lower down, and behind a wall are the Roman soldiers, whilst from above an angel brings a cup with a cross, two spears, and a crown of thorns in it: "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him" (Luke xxii. 42, 43).
1078. THE DEPOSITION FROM THE CROSS.
1079. THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI.
Unknown (Early Flemish: 15th century). See also (p. xx)
These two pictures closely resemble in style and colouring the large altar-piece in the church of St. Bavon at Ghent, which is attributed to Gerard van der Meire.[210] That painter flourished at Ghent about the middle of the fifteenth century; entering the Guild of St. Luke in 1452, and becoming sub-dean in 1474. He is described in a chronicle of the time as a pupil of Hubert van Eyck, but the historian Van Mander says he began to paint after the death of Jan van Eyck, a statement which is confirmed by the date of his enrolment in the Guild. Nothing is yet really known about him except the bare fact of his existence, for no picture has been certainly identified as his.
(1079.) It is interesting to compare this representation of the scene, almost childlike in its simplicity, alike with the treatment by later painters (see, for instance, Rembrandt's, No. 47), and with the more decorative and symbolic treatment of the early Italians (e.g. Botticelli, No. 1034). The picture before us "shows no particular felicity of rendering, no depth or insight; it carries little conviction of reality, but it has a homely charm. The painter was thoroughly convinced of the actual truth of what he represented, and thought only of bringing the same home to everyday experience. In the background he has placed a village, in which men are discussing what is going on" (J. E. Hodgson, R.A., in the Magazine of Art, 1890, p. 42).
1080. HEAD OF JOHN THE BAPTIST.
Unknown (School of the Lower Rhine: 15th century). See also (p. xx)
The introduction of children's faces--in the character of mourning angels--to so ghastly a subject is very characteristic of the love of horror common to the Flemish and German Schools.
1081. A MAN AT PRAYER.
Unknown (Early Flemish: 15th century).
Probably a portrait of the donor of an altar-piece, of which this picture formed one compartment.
1082. THE VISIT OF THE MADONNA TO ST. ELIZABETH.
Joachim Patinir (Early Flemish: died 1524). See 715.
1083. CHRIST CROWNED WITH THORNS.
Unknown (Early Flemish: 15th century). See also (p. xx)
1084. THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT.
Joachim Patinir (Early Flemish: died 1524). See 715.
1085. VIRGIN AND CHILD.
Unknown (School of the Lower Rhine: 15th century). See also (p. xx)
A picture of the same school as 706, but the Flemish influence is here more discernible. In the background is a church lighted from within. The heads are very ugly (notice the saint in the left compartment), but the execution, especially of the accessories, is very delicate.
1086. CHRIST APPEARING AFTER HIS RESURRECTION.
Unknown (Early Flemish: 15th century). See also (p. xx)
Notice the empty tomb, visible through the half-opened door in the background--with the Roman soldier asleep beside, and an angel above it.
1087. THE MOCKING OF CHRIST.
Unknown (Early German: 15th century).
Sir Martin Conway says of the Lyversberg Passion what is equally applicable to this picture, and indeed to most of the German art of the same period (cf. e.g. 1049). "The Passion, as conceived by this painter, was a scene for the display of brutality rather than the exhibition of heroism. The enduring Christ is not the subject of the pictures, but the torturing villains that surround him. The figure of Christ does not dominate the rest; the vile element seems always victorious" (Early Flemish Artists, p. 202).
1088. THE CRUCIFIXION.
Unknown (German School: 16th century).
An altar-piece in three compartments. On the side panels are two figures, probably the donor and his wife, kneeling.
1089. MADONNA AND CHILD WITH ST. ELIZABETH.
Unknown (Early Flemish: 15th century).
1090. PAN AND SYRINX.
François Boucher (French: 1704-1770).
Boucher, "the Anacreon of Painting," was the typical painter-decorator of the Louis-quinze period. He painted (as Mr. Dobson sings in Old World Idylls)--
Rose-water Raphael,--en couleur de rose, The crowned Caprice, whose sceptre, nowise sainted, Swayed the light realm of ballets and bon-mots; Ruled the dim boudoir's demi-jour, or drove Pink-ribboned flocks through some pink-flowered grove.
Made of his work a kind of languid Maying, Filled with false gods and muses misbegot;-- A Versailles Eden of cosmetic youth, Wherein most things went naked, save the Truth.
Boucher is represented by no less than 21 canvases at Hertford House, some of them of considerable historical interest. For Boucher owed much to the favour of Madame de Pompadour, who purchased in 1753 the two fine pictures of "Sunrise" and "Sunset" now at Hertford House. In the same collection are the idyllic and erotic subjects with which Boucher decorated the boudoir at the Hôtel de l'Arsenal in which the Pompadour was wont to receive her royal lover. He also painted several portraits of the all-powerful favourite, whom he instructed in the art of etching; one of these portraits is also at Hertford House. Boucher was the son of a designer for embroideries. He spent some years in Rome, but returned to Paris untouched by the great works he had seen. He suited his art to the taste of the time, and had his reward in reaping considerable wealth by his productions, which, including drawings for the engravers, he poured forth in thousands. In 1755 he became inspector of the Gobelins, an appointment which he resigned in 1765 on becoming first painter to the king. Sir Joshua Reynolds describes a visit to Boucher, whom he found "at work on a very large picture without drawings or models of any kind." Sir Joshua allows, however, to some of his earlier works, "grace and beauty and good skill in composition." His easy execution and often dainty colour are also admired. He was the idol of his day, but his meretricious art was the subject of very pungent criticism from the not very austere Diderot.[211]
For another version of the same subject, see 659.
1002. ST. SEBASTIAN.
Zaganelli (Ferrarese: about 1500).
The only known work by a master who signs himself Bernardino (of) Cotignola (in the Duchy of Ferrara). He was a brother of Francesco Zaganelli, and is believed to have worked towards the end of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth century.
This picture formed the chief panel of an altar-piece formerly in the church of the Carmine at Pavia, and thus described by Bartoli:
In the twelfth chapel (is) an ancient picture divided into six compartments, of which the three larger exhibit, in the centre St. Sebastian, and at the sides St. Nicholas and St. Catherine of Alexandria, while the three smaller which are above represent the body of the Redeemer supported by two angels in the centre, and at the sides the Virgin Mary and the Announcing Angel. This (altar-piece) is the work of Bernardino da Cotignola, who has affixed to it his name on a feigned label.
For the story of St. Sebastian, see under 669.
1093. OUR LADY OF THE ROCKS.
Leonardo da Vinci (Florentine: 1452-1519).
There is no more fascinating and illustrious name in the annals of art than Leonardo, of Vinci, a town in the Val d'Arno below Florence. He has been well called, from the many-sidedness of his efforts, the Faust of the Renaissance. The great public which knows him best by his few pictures and many drawings does not always remember that he was also musician, critic, poet, sculptor, architect, mechanist, mathematician, philosopher, and explorer. In a letter addressed to Ludovico il Moro, Prince of Milan, in whose service he lived for sixteen years (1483-1499), he enumerates as his chief qualification his skill in military engineering, and throws in his art as an incidental accomplishment. "I will also undertake any work in sculpture, in marble, in bronze, or in terra-cotta; likewise in painting I can do what may be done as well as any man, be he who he may." The range and amount alike of his theoretical discoveries and practical ingenuities were extraordinary. He divined the circulation of the blood. He anticipated Copernicus in propounding the theory of the earth's movement. He declared that "motion was the cause of all life." He forestalled Lamarck's classification of vertebrate and invertebrate. He takes his place, in virtue of his researches into rocks and fossils, with the masters of modern science who have proclaimed the continuity of geological causes. He was the first inventor of screw propulsion. He made paddle-wheels. He attacked the problem of aerial navigation. He invented swimming belts. He anticipated by many years the invention of the camera obscura. He was great alike as a civil and a military engineer. He watered the Lombard plain by the invention of sluices; he was one of the first to recommend the use of mines for the destruction of forts, and he anticipated the inventions of our time in suggesting breech-loading guns and mitrailleuses. He shrank neither from the highest speculations nor from the humblest contrivances. For centuries after his death the burghers of Milan minced meat for their sausages with machines invented by the painter of "Monna Lisa."
This marvellous curiosity in science and invention could not but profoundly influence Leonardo's work as an artist. One result is as obvious as it was unfortunate. He paid the penalty of versatility in undertaking more than he could fulfil. His dilatoriness is well known. He went once to Rome, but the Pope, Leo X., offended him by exclaiming, "Ah! this man will never do anything; he thinks of the end before the beginning of his work" (He had made elaborate preparations for varnishing his picture before he began it.) Many of his works were thus unfinished, and others, owing to premature experiments in material, are ruined--especially his famous Last Supper at Milan, of which there is an original drawing at the Royal Academy. "Leonardo's oil painting," says Ruskin,--not, however, without a touch of exaggeration--"is all gone black or to nothing." "Because Leonardo made models of machines, dug canals, built fortifications, and dissipated half his art-power in capricious ingenuities, we have many anecdotes of him;--but no picture of importance on canvas, and only a few withered stains of one upon a wall" (Queen of the Air, § 157). But Leonardo's curiosity, his wide outlook, his sense of the immensities, added something to his art which otherwise it might not have contained, and which is intensely characteristic of it. Who, for instance, has ever penetrated the secret of Leonardo's smile?--of the ineffable, mysterious, plaintive, and haunting smile that has fascinated and perplexed the world century after century in the portrait of La Gioconda? That unfathomable smile, with so much of mystery and with something of weirdness in it, was the reflection of Leonardo's mind, which had explored the depths and heights, and ever came back from the pursuit with the sense of the inscrutable Mystery beyond. "What is that," he asks, "which does not give itself to human comprehension, and which, if it did, would not exist? It is the infinite, which, if it could so give itself, would be done and ended." In the "Last Supper," says M. Müntz, "he had realised his ideal." Leonardo himself would not have said so. His was one of those lofty minds before which an unattainable ideal ever hovers. "It is of a truth impossible," said a friend of the master to him, "to conceive of faces more lovely and gentle than those of St. James the Great and St. James the Less. Accept thy misfortune, therefore, and leave thy Christ imperfect as He is, for otherwise, when compared with the Apostles, He would not be their Saviour and Master." Leonardo took the advice, and never finished the head of Christ. But he fixed the outward type of Christ for succeeding generations. Apart from the credit due to Leonardo as an ennobler of style in art, he stands out further in the history of painting as the first who investigated the laws of light and shade. There are "three methods of art, producing respectively linear designs, effects of light, and effects of colour. In preparing to draw any object, you will find that practically you have to ask yourself, Shall I aim at the colour of it, the light of it, or the lines of it? The best art comes so near nature as in a measure to unite all. But the best art is not, and cannot be, as good as nature; and the mode of its deficiency is that it must lose some of the colour, some of the light, or some of the delineation. And in consequence, there is one great school which says, 'We will have delineation, and as much colour and shade as are consistent with it.' Another, which says, 'We will have shade, and as much colour and delineation as are consistent with it.' The third, 'We will have the colour, and as much light and delineation as are consistent with it.' The second class, the Chiaroscurists, are essentially draughtsmen with chalk, charcoal, or single tints. Many of them paint, but always with some effort and pain. Leonardo is the type of them" (compressed from Ariadne Florentina, §§ 18-21).
To his artistic genius and intellectual alertness, Leonardo added great personal beauty ("the radiance of his countenance, which was splendidly beautiful, brought cheerfulness," says Vasari, "to the heart of the most melancholy") and great physical strength. He could bend a door-knocker, we are told, or a horse-shoe as if it were lead. He was left-handed and wrote from right to left. Besides his physical strength, Vasari mentions his kindness and gentleness, and tells us how he would frequently buy caged birds from the dealers, in order to give them back their liberty. Scandalous accusations were at one time brought against him, but researches made in the archives during the last few years have effectually disposed of the charge. One curious trait in the character of Leonardo remains to be noticed. In his art he created a feminine type of extraordinary and haunting beauty. "And yet," says his latest biographer, "Leonardo, like Donatello, was one of those exceptionally great artists in whose life the love of woman seems to have played no part.... The delights of the mind sufficed him. He himself proclaimed it in plain terms. Cosa bella mortal passa e non arte.' Fair humanity passes, but art endures.'" This extraordinary man was the son of a peasant-mother, Caterina, and was born out of wedlock, his father being a Florentine notary; and amongst Leonardo's manuscripts is a record of a visit to Caterina in the hospital, who soon after his father's death had married in her own station, and of expenses paid for her funeral. His life has three divisions--thirty years at Florence, nearly twenty years at Milan, then nineteen years of wandering, till he sinks to rest under the protection of the King of France. (1) Leonardo was the pupil of Verrocchio (see 296), "a master well chosen, for in his earnest and discursive mind were many points of contact with that of his illustrious pupil." Leonardo seems to have retained his connection with Verrocchio until 1477, but the records of his Florentine period are very scanty. His earliest undoubted work is the unfinished "Adoration" in the Uffizi. To this period also belongs the head of the "Medusa" in that collection, celebrated in Shelley's verses--a work, says Mr. Pater, in which "the fascination of corruption penetrates in every touch its exquisitely finished beauty." (2) In 1483 Leonardo removed to Milan to take service with Ludovico Sforza. He served his patron in those multifarious ways for which his talents fitted him,--as musician and improvisatore, as director of court pageants, as sculptor, painter, and civil and military engineer. To this Milanese period belong two of the master's most celebrated productions--the present picture and the "Last Supper," executed in oil colours on an end wall of the refectory in the Dominican Convent of S. Maria della Grazia. At Milan, Leonardo founded the famous Vincian Academy of Arts over which he presided, which attracted so many pupils, and which may be said to have established a new Milanese School. For his Academy he made the elaborate notes for a Treatise on Painting which were posthumously published.(3) In 1500, consequent upon the flight of the Duke before the French army, Leonardo left Milan and returned to Florence. His stay, however, was not long, for he took service for a time with Cæsar Borgia as architect and military engineer. He was again in Florence in 1503, and was commissioned with Michelangelo to paint the Hall of Council in the Palace of the Signory. His subject was the Battle of Anghiari. The painting was begun but never completed. The cartoon, now lost, remained and excited the greatest admiration, "The man who had presented the solemn moment of the Last Supper with a dignity and pathos never equalled, who could portray feminine loveliness with a sweetness and grace peculiar to his pencil, was no less successful in bringing before the eye the turmoil of battle and the fierce passions inspired by the struggle for victory." One great work of his of this period (1504) happily survives--the famous portrait of Monna Lisa, known as La Gioconda, in the Louvre. For the next ten years (1506-1516), Leonardo alternated between Milan, Florence, and Rome. Other works of this period are the "St. Anne" and "St. John," also in the Louvre. In 1516 he accompanied the French King, Francis I., to France, who lodged him and his faithful friend Melzi in the Château de Cloux, near Amboise. Three years later he died, having made his will (the text of which has recently been discovered) a week before the end--"considering the certainty of death and the uncertainty of the hour, of its approach." He was buried, by his own instructions, in the church of St. Florentin at Amboise. Of Leonardo as a young man, no authentic portraits exist. In the Royal Collection at Windsor and at Turin there are portraits of himself in red chalk; and on the Sacro Monte at Varallo, one of Gaudenzio Ferrari's sculptured figures is a portrait of the great master. Leonardo's drawings are very beautiful and numerous--the Windsor Collection being the richest; they show us with what infinite searching the master drew near to his ideals. The picture before us makes upon the spectator the impression of rapid and spontaneous creation; but the drawings for it show that it was in fact one of the most laborious of Leonardo's works (see on this subject Müntz's Leonardo da Vinci, i. 162 in the English translation. This is the best life of the master. The most penetrative study of Leonardo remains Mr. Pater's, in his Renaissance).
This beautiful picture is very characteristic of Leonardo in its effects of light and shade, in grace and refinement of delineation, in felicity of gesture, and in the curious beauty of the types. Leonardo makes out of his subject a charming idyll, into which the spectator may read his own meanings. "In St. John the Baptist," says Lomazzo, writing in 1584, "we may see the motive of obedience and child like veneration, as he kneels with joined hands and bends towards Christ; in the Virgin, the feeling of happy meditation as she beholds this act; in the angel, the idea of angelic gladness, as he ponders the joy that shall come to the world from this mystery; and in the Infant Christ we behold divinity and wisdom. And therefore the Virgin kneels, holding St. John with her right hand and extending her left, and the angel likewise supports Christ, who, seated, regards St. John and blesses him." A modern poet, adding to the picture a beautiful thought of his own, has suggested that in the valley of the shadow of death the Virgin brings the soul of a dead child for her son's blessing (see an interesting discussion of "The Louvre Sonnets of Rossetti," by W. M. Hardinge, in Temple Bar, March 1891):--
Mother, is this the darkness of the end, The Shadow of Death? and is that outer sea Infinite imminent Eternity?[212] And does the death-pang by man's seed sustain'd In Time's each instant cause thy face to bend Its silent prayer upon the Son, while He Blesses the dead with His hand silently To His long day which hours no more offend? Mother of grace, the pass is difficult, Keen as these rocks, and the bewildered souls Throng it like echoes, blindly shuddering through. Thy name, O Lord, each spirit's voice extols, Whose peace abides in the dark avenue Amid the bitterness of things occult.
D. G. ROSSETTI: Sonnets and Ballads.
The landscape from which the picture takes its title is remarkable. Leonardo, a pioneer in so many other things, was a pioneer also in Alpine exploration, and has even been credited with a first ascent in the Monte Rosa range. However this may be, it is clear from his pictures and drawings that his mineralogical and geological studies attracted him to the curious rocks and peaks which he had observed among the mountains of North Italy.[213] "In him," says Mr. Pater, "first appears the taste for what is bizarre or recherché in landscape; hollow places full of the green shadow of bituminous rocks, ridged reefs of trap-rock which cut the water into quaint sheets of light; all solemn effects of moving water; you may follow it springing from its distant source among the rocks on the heath of the 'Madonna of the Balances,' passing as a little fall into the treacherous calm of the 'Madonna of the Lake,' next, as a goodly river below the cliffs of the 'Madonna of the Rocks,' stealing out in a network of divided streams in 'La Gioconda' to the sea-shore of the 'St. Anne.' It is the landscape not of dreams or of fancy, but of places far withdrawn." Notice also the flowers of the foreground. "Leonardo paints flowers with such curious felicity that different writers have attributed to him a fondness for particular flowers, as Clement the cyclamen, and Rio the jasmine; while at Venice there is a stray leaf from his portfolio dotted all over with studies of violets and the white rose." "This work," says Ford Madox Brown, "seems to have been laid in entirely with ivory black, which, as its wont is, has come through the upper painting to the extent of leaving only to look at a picture in black, heightened, in the lights, with a little faint yellow. So much is true, and also that the rocks, from which the picture takes its name, are of the most singular formations, such as no modern geologist would care to lecture on, the herbage being much the same as to its botanical value. But in spite of these and other objections, such is the intrinsic power of the work in style of drawing and beauty of expression, that nothing known, not by the greatest masters, can do more than hold their own against it. Just stand a little way off, study the heads, and see what they tell you--most supreme master of the human face divine" (Magazine of Art, 1890, p. 135).
There is, as everyone knows, a very similar picture to this in the Louvre; and during the last few years an Anglo-French dispute has raged furiously in artistic circles with regard to the authenticity, priority, and relative merits of the two pictures. The pedigree of our picture is singularly complete, and there can be no doubt that it is a veritable work by the hand of Leonardo. It agrees minutely with the description given by Lomazzo (in 1584) of a painting by Leonardo, which in his time was in the chapel of the Conception in the church of S. Francesco at Milan. The picture in the Louvre differs from Lomazzo's description in the one essential difference between the two pictures. In the Louvre picture the angel looks towards us and points to St. John, thus connecting the spectator with what is taking place. In our picture, on the other hand, there is no such connecting link. The action is complete within itself. The spectator is not invited to participate in what is to him a divine vision. It is clear therefore that our picture is the one which, in 1584, was in S. Francesco at Milan, and which passed for a work by Leonardo. External evidence has come to light during the last few years proving what had hitherto only been taken for granted, namely, that Leonardo did execute the central composition of the altar-piece for that church. This is a memorial from Ambrogio di Predis and Leonardo da Vinci to the Duke of Milan, praying him to intervene in a dispute which had arisen between the petitioners and the brotherhood "della Concezione" with regard to the price to be paid for certain works of art furnished by them for the chapel of the brotherhood in S. Francesco. The brotherhood had priced the oil-painting of Our Lady executed by Leonardo at only 25 ducats, whereas it was worth 100 ducats, as shown by the account and proved by the fact that certain persons were found willing to purchase it at that price. No evidence is forthcoming as to the settlement of the dispute. We have then these facts: that Leonardo painted a picture of Our Lady for S. Francesco, that such a picture was in the church in 1584, and that our picture precisely agrees with Lomazzo's description of it. The picture remained in the chapel until some time between 1751 and 1787. In the latter year Bianconi, in a guide-book to Milan, states that the two side panels (1661, 1662) were still there, but that the picture "by the hand of Leonardo" had been removed. In 1777 our picture was brought to England by Gavin Hamilton, and sold by him to the Marquis of Lansdowne, from whom it afterwards passed by exchange into the collection of the Earl of Suffolk at Charlton Park. From Lord Suffolk it was bought in 1880 for the National Gallery, the price being £9000.
It will thus be seen that the external evidence in favour of this picture being a veritable work by Leonardo is unusually strong. Internal evidence is more difficult to bring to the test, resting as it does on æsthetic considerations, the force of which depends on the authority of the witness and the competence of the court to which he appeals. Several critics, it may be explained, had convinced themselves long ago that the Louvre picture was the original and ours a copy. The discovery of the new document above referred to seemed at first to strengthen the authenticity of our picture. But the point was ingeniously turned by the following gratuitous and entirely unsupported theory. Leonardo, says Dr. Richter, must have sold the original to the French king, and let the church have a copy at the low price agreed upon. Supporting this theory in turn by internal evidence, the enemies of our picture declare it to be "an entirely wretched performance" (Richter); "superficial," "insipid," "heavy," "woolly," "lacking in elevation," "feeble," in short, "a work in which we do not feel the real presence of the master" (Müntz). Those who thus disparage our picture suppose it to be a copy by Ambrogio di Predis. To this theory, an effective retort has been given by the purchase for the Gallery of the two wings that used to flank the central picture. It is impossible to suppose that the painter of No. 1662 was capable of producing our picture, of which the skilful delineation and mysterious beauty delight all spectators who have no preconceived theory in the matter. It should be stated that some of the faults found with our picture are admitted by the authorities of the Gallery. "The ill-drawn gilt nimbi over the heads of the three principal figures, as well as the clumsy reed cross which rests on St. John's shoulder, are additions of a comparatively late period, probably of the 17th century." Again, "the hand of the Virgin resting on St. John's shoulder is obviously the mere daub of a picture restorer."
Those who support the authenticity of our picture do not feel called upon to carry the war into the enemy's camp, though both Sir Frederick Burton and Sir Edward Poynter notice various defects and repaintings in the Louvre picture, and the former points out that its pedigree does not extend back beyond 1642. The fact seems to be that neither picture can properly be called a copy of the other. The most striking difference--that in the attitude of the angel--is fundamental, and not such as a copyist would venture to make. There are many other differences; indeed no single part of the groups is really alike; and those differences (as Sir Edward Poynter shows) are such as an artist would make in working from different studies. Studies for portions of both pictures exist. A further question in dispute is which of the two versions is the earlier. To Sir Edward Poynter "it seems that our picture shows traces of Leonardo's training in the school of Verrocchio, and that it is the Louvre picture which has more of the idealised refinement of type on which Luini formed his style." To Mr. Claude Phillips, on the other hand, the angel of the Louvre looking straight out of the picture seems to be essentially Florentine, and to belong specifically to the school of Verrocchio (see 296 in our Gallery). The variation in the angel's attitude, as given in our version, is in conception a distinct improvement: it makes the picture more self-contained. "One can imagine," says Mr. MacColl, "Leonardo, on second thoughts, judging that the Louvre angel drew too much attention to himself by his pointing hand, and was better within the picture with downcast eyes than when inviting the attention of the spectator by his regard." (The very interesting discussion summarised above is contained in the following English publications: Dr. Richter, in the Art Journal for June 1894; replied to by Sir Edward Poynter in the same magazine for August, and by Sir F. Burton in the Nineteenth Century for July 1894. See also Eugene Müntz's Leonardo da Vinci, vol. i. ch. vi.; the Catalogue of Milanese Pictures at the Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1898, pp. li.-lvi.; Mr. Claude Phillips in the National Review, Dec. 1894; and "D. S. M." in the Saturday Review, May 28, 1898, and Feb. 18, 1899. The English articles contain references to the articles on Dr. Richter's side by Motta, Frizzoni, and others.)
1094. PORTRAIT OF A MAN.
Ascribed to Sir Antonio More (Flemish: 1512-1578).
Antonij Mor (commonly known in this country as Sir Antonio More, though when and by whom he was knighted does not appear) succeeded Holbein as the principal portrait-painter settled in England. "Mor's style," it has been said, "so much resembles that of Holbein as to frequently create a doubt to which of them a portrait is to be attributed; but he is not so clear and delicate in his colouring, perhaps from having painted so much in Spain, as that master." He was born at Antwerp and studied under Schorel (see 720). An example of his earlier manner, dated 1544, is in the Berlin Museum. Mor afterwards travelled in Italy, and quickly emancipated himself from the dry manner of Schorel, as his portrait of Cardinal Granvelle at Vienna, done in 1549, shows. His portraits from this time forward are remarkable for their "unpretentious dignity." Cardinal Granvelle introduced him to the service of Charles V., by whom he was sent to Portugal to paint some of the royal family. He was in the service of Queen Mary from 1554 to 1558. She presented him with a hundred pounds and a gold chain, and allowed him a hundred pounds a quarter. He was also largely employed by the Howards and the Russells and others, grandees of the court. One of his portraits of the Queen is in the Duke of Wellington's Collection at Apsley House. When Philip went to Spain to take possession of the throne, Mor accompanied him, and for some time basked in the full sunshine of royal favour. Suddenly he withdrew to Brussels, for some cause which has never been satisfactorily explained. According to one story, the king, visiting Mor's studio, laid his hand upon his shoulder as he stood at the easel--a familiarity which the artist returned by rudely rapping the royal knuckles with his maulstick, or daubing them with carmine. The officers of the Inquisition took advantage of this incident, it is said, to vent their jealous wrath against the painter. He finally established himself at Antwerp, his declining years being spent in ease and opulence--the fruits of successful industry at the courts of England, Portugal, and Spain. He is described to us as "very much the courtier, and a gentleman of grave and majestic manners"--a description borne out by the fine portrait of himself at Althorp.
1095. PORTRAIT OF ANNA MARIA SCHURMANN.
Jan Lievens (Dutch: 1607-1674).
Lievens, painter and engraver, "was a comrade of Rembrandt, but conceived a strong admiration for Van Dyck, traces of which are to be found in his portraits" (Havard: The Dutch School, p. 115). From 1631 to 1635 he was in England, where he painted the portraits of Charles I. and his Queen, and of several of the nobility. He afterwards worked at Antwerp, Leyden, and Amsterdam.
This lady (born at Cologne in 1607) was one of the most remarkable personages of her time. So great was the renown of her learning that Queen Christina of Sweden went to visit her. She was familiar with German, Dutch, French, Italian, and English; and was a good scholar in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic. She corresponded with some of the most erudite men of the day, and excelled in many of the fine arts. Late in life she fell under the influence of the noted Pietist leader, Jean de la Badie, whose cause she persuaded the Princess Palatine Elizabeth to espouse. After his death (in 1674) she collected his disciples at Wierwerd, where she herself died four years later in complete destitution.
1096. A HUNTING SCENE.
Jan Baptist Weenix (Dutch: 1621-1660).
Weenix, born at Amsterdam, was the son of an architect. His master in painting was Abraham Bloemaert. Early in life he married the daughter of Gilles de Hondecoeter; his nephew Melchior Hondecoeter (No. 202) was afterwards his pupil. In 1642 his desire to see Italy caused him to leave his young wife and to carry his palette and brushes beyond the Alps. He promised to be absent only four months. He remained in Italy four years. While there he studied the coast-scenes, the people, and the architecture; "the result of his observations being the stately scenes, half real, half conventional, of which good examples are to be found in the Wallace Collection." On his return to Holland, Weenix was largely employed, first at Amsterdam, and afterwards at Utrecht. In this country his name is chiefly associated with pictures of dead game, but subjects of this class--in which his son (238) also excelled--were only the predilection of his later years.
1098. VIRGIN AND CHILD.
Montagna (Venetian: about 1450-1523). See 802.
The Child lies asleep on a window-sill. The Mother stands in an attitude of devotion. A picture of fine feeling, and characteristic of the artist's "exalted naturalism."
1100. A SCENE IN A PLAY.
Pietro Longhi (Venetian: 1702-1762).
Pietro Longhi, who studied in Bologna, but afterwards settled in his native Venice, was one of the four masters who made a partial revival of Venetian painting in the eighteenth century--the other three being Tiepolo (1692-1769, see 1192), Canaletto (1697-1768, see 127), and Guardi (1712-1793, see 210). Longhi represented the Vanity Fair of Venice at his epoch with fidelity and kindly feeling. He has been called "the Italian Hogarth," but he is greatly inferior in every respect to that painter. Moreover he was not a satirist like Hogarth, and there is more truth in the description of him as "the Goldoni of painters"--Goldoni, the popular playwright, with whom Longhi was nearly contemporary, and who, like him, just reflects "the shade and shine of common life, nor renders as it rolls grandeur and gloom." "Longhi used to tell Goldoni that they were brethren in art. Longhi surveyed human life with the same kindly glance and the same absence of gravity or depth of intuition as Goldoni. They both studied nature, but nature only in her genial moods. They both sincerely aimed at truth, but avoided truths which were sinister or painful" (J. A. Symonds, in the Century Guild Hobby Horse, April 1889). Longhi was the son of a goldsmith, and as a lad showed unusual skill in designs for ornamental plate: hence the affectionate partiality in his pictures for the minutest details of decorative furniture, dress, and articles of luxury.
The engraved portrait on the wall is inscribed "Gerardo Sagredo di Morei," and perhaps the picture is a group of the Sagredo family, for whose palace in Venice Longhi painted some frescoes in 1734. The family preferred, perhaps, to be taken in the characters of a scene in a play of Goldoni's or some other popular writer--just as in the "Vicar of Wakefield" they resolved to be drawn together, in one large historical piece. "This would be cheaper, since one frame would serve for all, and it would be infinitely more genteel; for all families of any taste were now drawn in the same manner."
1101. MASKED VISITORS AT A MENAGERIE.
Pietro Longhi (Venetian: 1702-1762). See 1100.
A characteristic glimpse of Venetian life a hundred years ago. "At that time," it has been said, "perhaps people did not amuse themselves more at Venice than elsewhere, but they amused themselves differently. It is this seizing on peculiarities, on local and characteristic details, that makes Longhi's little canvases so curious." Here he shows us two ladies in dominoes, escorted by a cavalier, at a menagerie. The trainer exhibits a rhinoceros to them.
1102. THE CHEVALIER ANDREA TRON.
Pietro Longhi (Venetian: 1702-1762). See 1100.
The portrait of "a procurator of St. Mark's," a dignity in the Venetian State second only to that of Doge. The procurators were charged with the legal administration of all the affairs of St. Mark's, and their official palaces (the Procuratie) adjoined the church. They were further charged with the care of orphans, and with the administration of others who cared to put themselves "in chancery." The office was thus not unlike that of an English Lord Chancellor, and there is a "grandmotherliness" about this procurator that makes one think he must have discharged some of his duties well. The broad golden stole over his shoulder shows him to have been also a knight of the order of the Stola d'Oro, as the Procurator's stole was of crimson velvet. The picture is in its original frame, surmounted by the armorial bearings of the Tron family.
1103. VIRGIN AND CHILD, WITH SAINTS.
Fiorenzo di Lorenzo (Umbrian: 1472-1521).
These are the dates not of his birth and death (which are unknown), but of the earliest and latest events recorded of him. In 1472 he was commissioned to paint an altar-piece, the principal parts of which may now be seen in the Pinacoteca of Perugia, and he was elected a member of the Town Council of Perugia. In 1521 he was commissioned to value some works by another painter. The resemblance of his style to that of Benozzo Gozzoli may be seen by comparing No. 283. Fiorenzo's work is best seen in Perugia, where he reveals himself as an artist of great feeling and ability. Especially remarkable is the series of scenes from the life of Bernardino (some reproduced by the Arundel Society). (See for notices of this painter Morelli's German Galleries, p. 263, and S. Brinton's Renaissance in Italian Art, pt. iii. pp. 108, 141).
The accompanying figures are--in front of the throne, St. Francis (on the right of the Child), St Bernardino, a saint of Siena (on the left), and in smaller size the donor of the altar-piece. This is one of the earliest examples in the Gallery of the introduction of portraits in this way. In the left-hand compartment St. John the Baptist; and in the right-hand one St. Bartholomew, carrying his familiar attribute--a blood-stained knife, the instrument of his martyrdom. The compartments containing the figures of St. John the Baptist and St. Bartholomew were originally at one side of the central panel, but have been placed on each side for symmetry, the corresponding twin panels being lost. Notice the beautiful pattern engraved on the gold background.
1104. THE ANNUNCIATION.
Giannicola Manni (Umbrian: 1475-1544).
Born at Città della Pieve, the native town of Perugino, whose pupil and assistant he became. Several of his works may be seen in the Pinacoteca at Perugia, of which town he was a magistrate. He also executed the frescoes in the chapel attached to the Sala del Cambio.
Notice the quaint "arabesques" on the Virgin's prie-dieu, or praying-stool; they are characteristic of this painter.
1105. THE PROTHONOTARY-APOSTOLIC, JULIANO.
Lorenzo Lotto (Venetian: 1480-1555). See 699.
See for the subject under 1024. "A smooth-shaven old man with a face that one would not be in the least surprised to see to-day anywhere, and least of all in England. As a portrait, it is the quietest of all those by Lotto known to me, and--if I may be allowed the word--the most 'gentlemanly'" (Berenson: Lorenzo Lotto, p. 189).
1106. THE RESURRECTION.
Francesco Mantegna (Paduan: about 1470-1517). See 639.
Notice the classical sarcophagus of marble. The resurrection banner is affixed to a tall rod surmounted by a cross composed of golden balls.
1107. THE CRUCIFIXION.
Niccolò da Foligno (Umbrian: 1430-1492).
The pietism, characteristic of the Umbrian School generally, is conspicuous in Niccolò, of whom Vasari remarks that "the expression of grief in his angels, and the tears they shed, are so natural that I do not believe any artist, however excellent he might be, could have done it much better." But he often overstrained this expression into grimace. He shows, says Morelli, the "tendency to exaggeration which marks the inhabitant of a small provincial town." He was capable, however, of giving grace and beauty to his female heads and heads of angels. Examples may be seen in the Brera at Milan, and in the Vatican Gallery. It is probable that Niccolò owed a good deal to Benozzo Gozzoli, who from 1452 to 1457 was working not far from Foligno (see Morelli's German Galleries, p. 258). Niccolò is often called Niccolò Alunno. The origin of this mistake, made first by Vasari, is that on one of his pictures he is described as "Nicholaus alumnus Flogging" (Niccolò, a native, or alumnus, of Foligno).
In this picture the artist seems to revel in the depiction of emotion, and (as it were) in "piling up the agony." There is the same pleasure here in the use of a new gift--that of expressing emotion--as in 583, in that of expressing perspective. The central scene of the Crucifixion is surrounded by the Agony in the Garden, Christ bearing his Cross, the Descent from the Cross, and the Resurrection. Note as characteristic of the genius loci in the Umbrian School that St. Francis of Assisi is kneeling at the foot of the cross.
The acquisition of this picture by the National Gallery (in 1881) had a curious history. It was formerly in the convent of Santa Chiara at Aquila, and on the suppression of the convent became the property of the State. But by the Archbishop's orders it was successfully secreted. On his death, some years later, it was conveyed to the house of one of the canons of the cathedral, by whom it was sold to a dealer in Rome. The dealer made a good thing out of it; he bought it for £260, and sold it (with another small picture) to our National Gallery for £1200. The Italian Government instituted a prosecution for theft, which, however, was subsequently dropped for civil proceedings for damages against all the persons concerned, "except the Englishman who, it is believed, bought the picture in good faith."
1108. THE VIRGIN ENTHRONED.
Unknown (Sienese School: late 15th century).
1109. THE MARRIAGE OF THE VIRGIN.
Niccolò di Buonaccorso (Sienese: died 1388).
Of this painter, who worked and held several offices at Siena, none of the works is traceable except this signed picture and some fragments (also signed, and dated 1387) in a little village church near Siena.
"Remarkable, amongst other things, for the wonderful elaboration of the gold ornaments on the dresses, and the attempt to give an Oriental character to the scene by the introduction of the palm-tree, the carpet, and the dark-faced player on the kettledrums. It is interesting also for its notes from real life in the figure of the child, the faces of some of the spectators in the background, the window-openings with their poles, the figures on the right under the blind, and the flower-pot on the sill on the left" (Monkhouse: The Italian Pre-Raphaelites, p. 17). For some remarks on the subject, see under 1317.
1109a. VIRGIN AND CHILD.
A. R. Mengs (German: 1728-1779). See also (p. xx)
Anton Raphael Mengs, the son of a court painter at Dresden--a post to which the boy afterwards succeeded--was taken when a boy to Rome and set to study the works of the great masters. He became the most celebrated representative of the Eclectic School of painting in the eighteenth century, and played a great part in the early days of the classic revival of that period. In his writings, in Spanish, Italian, and German, he elaborated his eclectic theory--the attainment of perfection by the combination of diverse excellences, Greek designs with the expression of Raphael, the chiaroscuro of Correggio, and the colour of Titian. He was an intimate friend of Winckelmann, who constantly wrote at his dictation. His work was eagerly sought after, both at Rome and at the courts of Dresden and Madrid, and his books enjoyed a very wide circulation.
A cartoon, executed in black chalk.
1113. A LEGENDARY SUBJECT.
Pietro Lorenzetti (Sienese: died 1348).
This painter was the elder brother of Ambrogio Lorenzetti (1147), and first appears as an artist in 1305. Many of his works, or fragments of them, may still be seen in and around Siena. Among the best is a triptych in the sacristy of the Cathedral representing the birth of the Virgin. "A long series of frescoes, representing different incidents in the Passion, have recently been rescued from whitewash in the church of S. Francesco. They are remarkable for their vigour and harmony, and show Pietro to have possessed great talents both as a colourist and as a draughtsman" (Bryan's Dictionary).
Probably illustrative of some incident in the life of a saint--of Bishop Sansovino, perhaps, the patron saint of Siena--in which the forces of the Christian and pagan religions were opposed. On one side is a pagan priest bearing a statue, supposed, from the apple in its hand, to be that of Venus. On the other is a Christian bishop engaged in some ecclesiastical function.
1114-1118. THE FIVE SENSES.
Coques (Flemish: 1618-1684). See 821.
Coques pays a pretty compliment to one of his fellow-artists Robert van Hoecke (who, like a greater man, Leonardo, was an authority on fortifications as well as a painter), in painting his portrait as typical of "Sight." The figures in the rest of the series, if portraits, have not been identified.
1119. MADONNA AND CHILD WITH SAINTS.
Ercole di Giulio Grandi (Ferrarese: died 1531).
Of this painter, one of the best of the Ferrarese school, very little is known, beyond the fact that he was in the service of the ducal house at Este. The identification of his works is also very uncertain, for Vasari, unaware that two painters of the Grandi family had borne the name of Ercole (see 1127), classed the works of both under the same head. The present picture is not signed, and was first identified as the younger Ercole's by Morelli. This Ercole, son of Giulio Cesare de' Grandi, studied under Francia and Lorenzo Costa, to the latter of whom, indeed, this picture was attributed in the foundling hospital of Ferrara, from which it comes. Like Francia, Ercole combined the practice of other arts with that of painting--being a gold-beater and modeller, as well as a painter--a conjunction which is seen in this picture, with its wealth of decorative accessories. He disputes with Garofalo the title of "the Raphael of Ferrara," a description which this splendid picture goes some way to justify.
A picture notable alike for its central idea and for its wealth of decorative detail. In the group of the infant Saviour (a very finely drawn figure) standing on the Virgin's knees in the act of benediction, with St. William on the right of the throne and on the left St. John the Baptist, is an imaginative representation of Christianity--the soldier of Christ, with his armour on him, but bareheaded, and with his hand on the sword, on one side; the saint, with the Cross and the Book, on the other. The accessories are full of decorative inventiveness, but every detail is full of thought; they are an epitome, as it were, of all the decorative arts of the time. Note first, in the walnut wood pedestal of the throne, that the frieze at the top is a graceful arrangement of dolphins, emblems of love and affection, and the base, of stags and swans ("As pants the hart for cooling streams, so pants my soul for thee, O God"). In its central panel is an alto-relievo in ivory, with Adam and Eve on either side of the Tree of Knowledge. On each of the receding panels is a white marble medallion of the turbaned head of a prophet. On the predella below there are, (1) beginning on the spectator's right, the Nativity, (2) the Presentation in the Temple, (3) the Massacre of the Innocents, (4) the Flight into Egypt, and (5) Christ disputing with the Doctors. The ornamental details of the marble baldacchino (or canopy), like those of the throne, are all symbolic; thus the archivolt is composed of choiring cherubim separated by pots of lilies, and the spandrils of the arch are occupied by medallions of the angel Gabriel and the Virgin (G. T. Robinson in Art Journal, May 1886, p. 150).
1120. ST. JEROME IN THE DESERT.
Cima da Conegliano (Venetian: 1460-1518). See 300.
Another of the numerous St. Jerome pictures: see under 694 and 227. The saint has his usual company of animals. His lion is frowning, somewhat with the same expression as in 227--as if to deprecate the penance which his master is about to inflict on himself. On the branch of the tree above is a hawk, looking on with the expression of a superior person--one quite too sagacious to countenance such madness. Notice also the serpent which crawls from beneath the rock on which the Cross is placed. The picture, says Mr. Gilbert, "is rich, even brilliant, in colouring, and if there is a touch of oddity in the house perched upon a crag, there is loveliness in the mountain range, and in the amber and lemon tints that streak the evening sky" (Landscape in Art, p. 340).
1121. PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG MAN.
Unknown (Venetian: time of Bellini). See also (p. xx)
This portrait, when it hung in Hamilton Palace, used to be called a Leonardo. Sir W. Armstrong (Notes on the National Gallery, p. 24) gives it unhesitatingly to Basaiti (see 599).
1122. ST. JEROME.
Domenico Theotocopuli (Spanish: 1548-1625).
This artist, called "Il Greco," was of Greek descent and is supposed to have studied in Venice. He was said to have been a pupil of Titian, but his impetuous style seems rather to have been modelled on that of Tintoretto. He settled at Toledo in 1575, and there acquired a great reputation. His picture of "The Parting of Our Lord's Raiment," which still adorns the sacristy of the cathedral at Toledo, is, says Stirling-Maxwell, "truly admirable in drawing and composition; and the colouring is on the whole rich and effective, although it is here and there laid on in that spotted, streaky manner which afterwards became the great and prominent defect of El Greco's style." The picture in our Gallery No. 1457 in its energetic action but faulty drawing is characteristic of him. The exaggerated elongation of his figures is one of his common weaknesses. The "St. Maurice with his Theban Legion," which he painted for Philip II. in the Escorial is "little less extravagant and atrocious than the massacre which it recorded"; this was painted in 1580. A year or two later he executed the "Burial of the Count of Orgaz" in the church of St. Tomé at Toledo. This is usually esteemed his masterpiece. "The artist or lover of art who has once beheld it will never, as he rambles among the winding streets of the ancient city, pass the pretty brick belfry of that church without turning aside to gaze upon its superb picture once more." Theotocopuli has been described as "an artist who alternated between reason and delirium, and displayed his great genius only at lucid intervals." His portraits, of which there are several in the Royal Gallery at Madrid, are often mannered; but occasionally very fine. Into the portrait of his daughter (now at Keir) he put all his skill; her face, with markedly Greek features, is "one of the most beautiful that death ever dimmed and that the pencil ever rescued from the grave." Il Greco was much employed both as sculptor and architect. He was a man of wit and learning, and is said to have written on the three arts which he professed (Annals of the Artists of Spain, ch. v.).
This picture passed when in the Hamilton Collection for the work of Titian. The inscription on the book, "Cornaro aet suae 100-1566," is interpolated. The picture appears to be one of those realistic representations of St. Jerome of which there are other examples by Theotocopuli.
1123. VENUS, ADONIS, AND MYRRHA.
School of Giorgione (Venetian: 16th century). See 269.
A picture of the golden age, entirely in the Giorgionesque spirit, and often attributed to Giorgione himself[214]--a vision of a land bathed in perpetual light and sparkling with golden sunshine. The legendary subject which forms the theme of this characteristic pastoral is the story of Myrrha, which may be read in Dryden's translations from Ovid's Metamorphoses. The principal group is Venus and her favourite Adonis (see under 34). He was the son of Myrrha, whose legend is the subject of several small groups. On the right is a woman fleeing from a man who pursues her, sword in hand; these represent Myrrha and her father Cinyras. Farther on the woman is on her knees; here Myrrha is praying to the gods to transform her--
... Since my life the living will profane And since my death the happy dead will stain, Some other form to wretched Myrrha give, Nor let her wholly die, nor wholly live.
A third group shows the answer to her prayer: she is transferred into the myrrh tree, whose "precious drops her name retain," while the wood-nymphs receive her new-born babe, Adonis. In the background on the left is represented the death of Adonis; Venus is lamenting over his body and changing his blood into the anemone. The group in the clouds may represent Cupid accidentally wounding his mother.
1124. THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI.
Filippino Lippi (Florentine: 1457-1504). See 293. See also (p. xx)
By some ascribed to Botticelli.[215] "There is an unmistakable drawing for it in the Uffizi Collection (No. 210), which is there ascribed to Botticelli, and which I, for one, am not at all inclined to take away from him. My own opinion is that there was no painter of the time who could have given so poetically conceived a background as we have in No. 1124; the drawing of some of the figures also speaks of itself" (Mr. Maurice Hewlett in the Academy, January 9, 1892).
For two other more highly-finished pictures of the same subject also ascribed to this master see 592 and 1033. This picture, with others from the Hamilton Collection, was in the "Old Masters" Exhibition of 1873. "The 'Adoration of the Magi,'" wrote Ruskin to Mr. Fairfax Murray, "had prettiness in it, but was poor stuff."
1125. SUMMER AND AUTUMN.
Andrea Mantegna[216] (Paduan: 1431-1506). See 274.
Summer holds a sieve for sifting the corn which she ripens. Autumn raises a goblet of wine to her lips.
1126. THE ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN.
Botticelli (Florentine: 1447-1510). See 1034. See also (p. xx)
A picture with an interesting history. It was painted by Botticelli[217] when he was a young man, for Matteo Palmieri (a prominent Florentine citizen). This Matteo and his wife are here represented on either side of the tomb in the foreground. The patron assisted Botticelli in working out the design; and between them they made some modifications in theology, which brought them into trouble--so early did Sandro's reforming work begin. The story is thus told, and the picture described, by Vasari:--
"In the church of San Pietro (Florence) the master painted a picture for Matteo Palmieri with a very large number of figures. The subject of this work, which is near the side-door, is the Assumption of Our Lady, and the zones or circles of heaven are there painted in their order. The Patriarchs, the Prophets, the Apostles, the Evangelists, the Martyrs, the Confessors, the Doctors, the Virgins, and the Hierarchies; all which was executed by Sandro according to the design furnished to him by Matteo, who was a very learned and able man. The whole work was conducted and finished with the most admirable skill and care; at the foot of it was the portrait of Matteo kneeling, with that of his wife. But although the picture is exceedingly beautiful and ought to have put envy to shame, yet there were found certain malevolent and censorious persons who, not being able to affix any other blame to the work, declared that Matteo and Sandro had erred gravely in that matter, and had fallen into grievous heresy. Now, whether this be true or not, let none expect the judgment of that question from me; it shall suffice me to note that the figures executed by Sandro in that work are entirely worthy of praise, and that the pains he took in depicting those circles of the heavens must have been very great, to say nothing of the angels mingled with the other figures, or of the various foreshortenings, all which are designed in a very good manner" (ii. 233).
Matteo Palmieri was the author of a poem called "The City of Life,"[218] in which he adopted Origen's thesis that the human race was an incarnation of those angels who in the revolt of Lucifer were neither for God nor for his enemies, and explained how the soul of man could work its way back through the spheres to the very seat of deity. This "heresy" interprets (says Mr. Pater) much of the peculiar sentiment with which Botticelli infuses his profane and sacred persons,--neither all human, nor all divine (see above under 275). It was ingeniously suggested, as we shall see, in this picture, and was entirely in accord with those "Neo-Platonic" ideas in which Botticelli, as a member of the Medici circle, was well versed. Matteo seems to have been afraid that his poem might bring him into trouble owing to its heretical views on the nature of angels, for he presented his MS. to the Art of the Notaries in Florence, sealed and under the express condition that it should not be opened, "so long as he lived imprisoned in this body." He died in 1478, and his poem fell under the expected censure. Botticelli's picture, as Vasari says, shared this fate. The painting bears evidence of intentional injury, the faces of the donor and his wife having been scored through; nor did some of the apostles escape the wrath of these iconoclasts. Attempts at restoration were made at some subsequent period. As the portrait of a heretic might not be exhibited in a Roman Catholic church, the picture was covered up, and the chapel in which it stood was closed to public worship. Ultimately the book was declared innocuous, and the chapel was re-opened. The picture, however, had already been, or was afterwards, removed from the family chapel of the Palmieri to their villa. On the death of the last heir, it passed into the hands of a Florentine dealer who sold it to the 11th Duke of Hamilton. At the disposal of the Hamilton Collection in 1882 it was bought for the National Gallery.
The picture was doubtless designed as an illustration of the closing canto of "The City of Life," in which Matteo supposes himself conducted by the Cumæan Sibyl through the Elysian Fields to Heaven. The ostensible subject is the Assumption into Heaven of the Virgin. On earth the apostles are represented gathered around the Virgin's tomb, from which "annunciation lilies" are growing; while she is in heaven kneeling in adoration before the Saviour, who has an open book inscribed with the mystic letters Α and Ω: "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end." Around the Virgin and Christ are all the hierarchies of heaven, arranged, according to the scheme of the theologians, in three separate tiers. Nearest to Christ are the seraphs (red), cherubs (blue), and thrones (gold); these are conceived as absorbed in perpetual love and adoration round the throne of God, and are represented therefore as with heads only (the attribute of spirit) and wings ("swift as thought"). In relation with mankind come the remaining orders--the dominations, virtues, powers (these last with sceptres in their hands), and in the lowest of the three, tiers, archangels, princedoms, and angels (with their wands). "The black vases with golden borders in the hands of some of the angels are probably meant for the 'golden vials full of the wrath of God' (Revelations xv. 7). Near them there are other angels, who in the attitude of expectation point upward with their sticks; while those in the lowest circle point down, and at the same time seem to invite those who hold vials to pour them out upon the city of Florence" (Richter's Italian Art in the National Gallery, p. 28). Everywhere amongst the angelic host are the blessed dead, and it is here that the views of Matteo's poem found expression. We have seen in Botticelli's "Nativity" (1034) the same intercourse of men and angels, with reference there to the reconciling power of the "Logos." Among the cherubs, we may decipher St. James with the pilgrim staff, St. Andrew with his cross, St. Peter with the key, and St. Mary Magdalen with the casket. It is interesting to note Botticelli's estimate of degrees in the scale of spiritual excellence. For instance, St. Catherine of Siena is in the lowest ring among the Angels, but St. Bernard is in the third with Principalities; Moses is among Powers, so are St. Lawrence, St. Stephen, and St. Catherine of Alexandria; Virtues hold St. Bonaventura, St. Dominic, and St. Paul; St. Francis with the Evangelists is higher, in Dominations; in the highest Triplicitie, as Spenser puts it, there are men--including the Baptist--mingled with the Cherubim. The angels are represented throughout as ministering spirits; and nothing in the picture is prettier than the way in which the angels are calling upon the saints to "enter into the joy of their Lord"; note, for instance, the white angel on the right in the lowest tier, and the saint in black and red. She will teach to him
The songs I sing here; which his voice Shall pause in, hushed and slow, And find some knowledge at each pause, Or some new thing to know.
D. G. ROSSETTI: The Blessed Damozel.
There are many charming single figures; note, for instance, two angels in the lower tier in the centre; and all are characteristic of the new type of angels which Botticelli introduced--forsaking entirely the conventional idealism of earlier religious art, and substituting the waving garments and flowing hair (suggestive of atmosphere and swiftness of motion) which we see in Perugino and Raphael.
Finally, the picture is of topographical interest for the beautiful view of Florence and the Val d' Arno in the background--
The valley beneath where, white and wide And washed by the morning water-gold, Florence lay out on the mountain-side.
BROWNING: Old Pictures in Florence.
The precise point of view has been identified by Miss Margaret Stokes in her Six Months in the Apennines, pp. 261-264. Turning off the high road, on the descent from the hill of Fiesole--
"I got among the lanes on Monte Rinaldi near La Lastra, on the Via Bolognese, and soon found myself among the ruined terraces of an ancient garden, where cactus and aloe grew side by side with brambles, periwinkles, and ivy. Having reached an open in the thicket into which I had strayed, I was startled to see the very scene represented by Botticelli about the year 1455 lying at my feet--the wide horizon reaching from San Domenico, and the Apennines beyond Monte Moro, Scala, and Monte Maggio, round the whole Val d' Arno, to San Lorenzo and the northern boundary of Florence. Seated on the same mountain side, where the great painter must have sat four hundred and thirty years ago, and holding my little copy of his landscape in my hand, it was intensely interesting to trace the objects still remaining on which his eye had rested, and which his conscientious pencil had outlined, and to note the changes wrought by time in the aspect of the scene."
Miss Stokes prints side by side with her copy of Botticelli's background a topographical plan of the present scene. The house on the hill above the Mugnone beyond the bridge is the Villa Palmieri, where Queen Victoria stayed in 1888. Boccaccio selected it for one of the homes of his fair storytellers in the Decameron. Matteo Palmieri bought it in 1450. There, no doubt, Botticelli was often a guest, and there the two friends may have planned this great altar-piece. "It is perfectly in keeping with the poetic instincts of sacred painters of the time that this great vision of Heaven should be represented as bursting on the poet in his own very home. Gazing upwards from his cypress groves into the unfathomable blue above, it is as if the sky had slowly opened, and the interior of a vast dome were revealed, rising above three iridescent bands of light, peopled with nine successive zones of sacred forms, all gazing in absorbed ecstasy on the figure of the Divine Mother, lowliest of women, kneeling at the feet of the Redeemer" (pp. 261-264).
1127. THE LAST SUPPER.
Ercole Roberti de' Grandi (Ferrarese: 1450-1496).
This Ercole is not to be confused with the younger painter of the same family (see 1119). Ercole Roberti was the son of Antonio Grandi, also a painter. A drawing attributed to him in the Louvre, representing the Massacre of the Innocents, in which he nearly approaches the grandeur of conception and masterly execution of Mantegna, seems to show that he had either studied under that great painter, or had experienced his influence. Mantua, where Mantegna lived after 1468, is at no great distance from Ferrara. Ercole was employed at the latter place by the dukes, from whom he received a regular salary. Pictures by him are rare, and none is authenticated by his genuine signature. In the Dresden Gallery are two compartments of a predella by him, another being in the Royal Institution at Liverpool. In these and a few other works, including those in our Gallery, Ercole reveals himself as a thorough Ferrarese, in his energetic rendering of life and character, and in his careful study of details (Layard's edition of "Kugler," ii. 351, and Morelli's German Galleries, pp. 109-113).
A very dainty little work. Notice especially the painting of the bas-reliefs and of the decanters. The attitudes of the disciples betoken respect or veneration, except that of the nearest figure, Judas, who turns away his head.
1128. THE CIRCUMCISION OF CHRIST.
Luca Signorelli (Cortona: 1441-1523).
Signorelli was born at Cortona, on the boundary of Umbria and Tuscany. By early teaching he is an Umbrian, but in style a Florentine. Indeed, his position in the history of art is that of forerunner of Michael Angelo. He was a pupil of Piero della Francesca, with whom, no doubt, he acquired a knowledge of the figure from anatomical study of the nude. His chief works, the frescoes in the cathedral of Orvieto,[219]--executed by the artist after his sixtieth year,--were ten years earlier than the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel by Michael Angelo, who was largely influenced by Signorelli's example. Like Michael Angelo, Signorelli is intensely dramatic, and in pictures which do not allow of the violent action to be found in his frescoes, his figures seem to be instinct with suppressed action. "To no other contemporary painter," says Morelli, "was it given to endow the human frame with the like degree of passion, vehemence, and strength" (Roman Galleries, p. 92). "To this we may add," says another critic, "that no other painter has ever conceived humanity with the same stately grandeur and in the same broad spirit. The confident strength of youth, the stern austerity of middle life, the resolute solemnity of old age--these are his themes. Signorelli is, before all, the painter of the dignity of human life" (Maud Cruttwell, Luca Signorelli, p. 31.) He is a representative also of the literary and classical Renaissance. He is fond of architectural adornments in the style of his time--as in the present picture, where the ceremony takes place in a hall or porch enriched with bas-reliefs in circular panels and paved with square slabs of coloured marbles. He painted the usual religious pictures, but did not adhere to the traditional modes, and often introduced a classical element (see 1133). It is interesting to note that in his picture of some nude Greek gods (at Berlin) the composition is the same as in his regulation church pictures of the Madonna and Saints. Of Signorelli's personal life there is a pleasant account in Vasari, whose kinsman he was. He was a person of consequence in his native city, going hither and thither to paint commissions, and then returning to the discharge of his civic duties. "He lived splendidly, in the manner," says Vasari, "rather of a noble and a gentleman than in that of a painter." Not that he despised his profession, for he expressly advised that his little kinsman should "by all means learn to draw, that he may not degenerate, for even though he should hereafter devote himself to learning, yet the knowledge of design, if not profitable, cannot fail to be honourable and advantageous." Of Signorelli's own devotion to his art Vasari tells another story, which has thus been versified--
Vasari tells that Luca Signorelli, The morning star of Michael Angelo, Had but one son, a youth of seventeen summers, Who died.... Still Luca spoke and groaned not; but he raised The wonderful dead youth, and smoothed his hair, Washed his red wounds, and laid him on a bed.... Naked and beautiful.... Then Luca seized his palette: hour by hour Silence was in the room; none durst approach: Morn wore to noon, and noon to eve, when shyly A little maid peeped in and saw the painter Painting his dead son with unerring hand-stroke, Firm and dry-eyed before the lordly canvas.
SYMONDS, Renaissance, iii. 281.
Our picture is thus described by Vasari,--for the fact that he calls it a fresco is no argument against the identification, since he often makes such mistakes: "In the church of San Francesco, in Volterra, this master painted a fresco, representing the Circumcision of Christ. This also is considered a wonderfully beautiful picture, but the Child having been injured by the damp, was repaired by Sodoma, whereby the beauty was much diminished. And, of a truth, it would often be much better to retain the works of excellent masters, though half-spoiled, than suffer them to be retouched by less capable artists." Vasari, however, seems to have been "anxious to place Sodoma in a bad light whenever he could. Damp was in all probability not the cause of the restoration of the infant Christ. It was very likely repainted because the public of Volterra disliked the realism with which Signorelli seems to have treated the subject" (Richter, p. 48). Signorelli's children are curiously ugly: it seems as if he had no sympathy except in the painting of figures of powerful maturity. Of the fact of the repainting recorded by Vasari there is no doubt; for the position of the legs has been altered, their original action being distinctly shown by the incised outline still visible through the deep blue colour of the Virgin's robe. The painting of the other figures is "bold and resolute, the draperies sweep in broad folds round them. The attitude of the standing woman to the right is grand, and the earnest concentration of the faces on the ceremony, and the absence of any connecting link between them and us, give dramatic reality to the scene" (Cruttwell, p. 40). It is interesting to note that the figure of the operator is like the portrait of himself which Signorelli introduced into his frescoes of the Preaching of Anti-Christ at Orvieto: the figure is, moreover, clothed in the dress of the period and of the rich materials in which, Vasari says, the artist took much pleasure in dressing himself. Behind the central group is the aged Simeon, who blessed God and said, "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word."
1129. KING PHILIP IV. OF SPAIN.
Velazquez (Spanish: 1599-1660). See 197.
The king is younger here than in 745; hanging from his chain is the order of the Golden Fleece. Notice also that the head is not so minutely painted here as in 745; that being a bust portrait would be seen near, this being a full-length would naturally be placed above the level of the eye. The smaller picture might be called, in the art-slang of to-day, "a harmony in black and gold"; this, from the shimmer on its lace and the flashing on the rapier hilt, "a harmony in black and silver."
"Strange lot," exclaims a biographer of Velazquez, with reference to the painter's portraits of the king, "to be the Apelles of this inactive Alexander. For thirty-seven long years always painting the same effigy! For throughout all these years Philip's features preserved a marvellous, a startling uniformity. In the black silk court dress, in the hunting suit, in the military uniform, in the white satin robe of state, in the gilded steel armour, in the festive religious attire--kneeling, standing, mounted--the same stereotyped head is still there with its everlasting steadfast gaze. It may change from lean to full, from the fresh smooth features of youth and those of manhood, marked by the lines of passion, to the leaden, swollen, and rigid lineaments of age; but even at a distance it is still instantly recognised. Who can mistake the long oval, with its pale whitish complexion, and cold phlegmatic glance of the great blue eyes under the high forehead, and light stiffly-curled hair, strong flat lips and massive chin, the whole overcast with an expression of pride that repels all advances and suppresses all outward show of feeling? He is said to have laughed but thrice in his life; and although the statement might be questioned, it was still good enough to point a sally in one of Calderon's plays" (Justi's Velazquez and his Times, pp. 107, 108).
1130. CHRIST WASHING HIS DISCIPLES' FEET.
Tintoretto (Venetian: 1518-1584). See 16.
Some remarks made by Ruskin on another version by Tintoret of the same subject are not inappropriate to this dark and probably faded picture.[220] "One circumstance is noticeable as in a considerable degree detracting from the interest of most of Tintoret's representations of our Saviour with his disciples. He never loses sight of the fact that all were poor, and the latter ignorant; and while he never paints a senator or a saint, once thoroughly canonised, except as a gentleman, he is very careful to paint the Apostles in their living intercourse with the Saviour in such a manner that the spectator may see in an instant, as the Pharisee did of old, that they were unlearned and ignorant men; and, whenever we find them in a room, it is always such a one as would be inhabited by the lower classes.... We are quickly reminded that the guests' chamber or upper room ready prepared was not likely to have been in a palace, by the humble furniture upon the floor" (Stones of Venice, Venetian Index, under "Moisé, Church of St.") In front is St. Peter, placing his foot in a brazen basin and bending forward with a deprecating action--in contrast to which is the look of cheerful and almost amused alacrity on the part of Him who came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. Behind are other disciples pressing forward with reverent curiosity. Another, in the right-hand corner of the foreground, has raised his foot on a bench and is drying it with a cloth. To the left a female attendant holds a taper, whilst in the background are other figures, one of whom reclines before a fire.
1131. JOSEPH AND HIS KINDRED IN EGYPT.
Jacopo Carucci da Pontormo (Florentine: 1494-1557).
Jacopo Carucci, commonly called Pontormo, from his birthplace of that name (a town on the road from Pisa to Florence), was a scholar of Andrea del Sarto, and was employed with his master in decorating the outer court of the SS. Annunziata at Florence. His fresco there of the "Visitation" is, for the grandeur of the figures and beauty of the colouring, worthy of Andrea himself. Pontormo was one of the most original "characters" among those described by Vasari. His pictures were much sought after, but "he would never work but at such moments as he pleased, and for such persons as chanced to be agreeable to him, insomuch that he was frequently sought by gentlemen who desired to possess some work from his hand, but for whom he would do nothing; yet at that very time he would probably be employing himself zealously for some inferior and plebeian person. One of the Medici had been greatly pleased with a picture by Pontormo, and said that in reward for it he might ask whatever he pleased and should have his wish granted. But such was, I know not whether to say the timidity, or the too great respect and modesty of this man, that he asked nothing better than just so much money as would enable him to redeem a cloak which he had hastily pledged." Many other interesting tales of Pontormo will be found in Vasari--of his love of secrecy, his curious manner of life, and the dead bodies he kept in troughs of water, so to paint more realistically the victims of the Deluge. This last tale is characteristic of Pontormo's place in the history of art, which for the most part was that of an exaggerated mannerist after Michael Angelo. In the National Gallery we see him at his best. His portraits are uniformly excellent, and his "Joseph in Egypt" is mentioned by Vasari as his most successful work--"whether as regards the power of invention displayed, the grouping of the figures, the animation of the heads, or the variety and beauty of the attitudes."
This crowded and fantastic composition contains a drama in five acts describing incidents in the life of Joseph in Egypt (see Genesis xlvii. 1-6, 13-26; xlviii. 1-14). (1) On the left Pharaoh, in a white turban, and surrounded by attendants, is met by Joseph and his brethren, who stand before him in attitudes of supplication. The youth sitting on the steps with a basket in his hand is a portrait (Vasari tells us) of the painter's pupil, Bronzino. (2) On the right of the foreground Joseph, seated on a triumphal car drawn by naked children, stoops forward towards a man who kneels and presents a petition. (3) In the middle distance there is an animated group of men ("Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our land?"). (4) On the steps leading up to the circular building on the right, Joseph is leading one of his sons to see the dying Jacob; he is followed by the "steward of the house," a conspicuous figure in a long crimson robe. The other boy appears at the top of the steps and is embraced by his mother. (5) Inside the room Jacob is represented as giving his blessing to the two boys, Ephraim and Manasseh, who are presented to him by their father. The antique statues which adorn the building were often given by mediæval artists as characteristic of Egypt, from which the art of Greece was believed to have been derived (see Richter's Italian Art in the National Gallery, pp. 36-40).
The removal of this picture has been blasted by a woman's curse. It was painted for a Florentine noble, named Borgherini; and when he was exiled, the civic authorities sent to his house to buy up all its works of art, which were to be sent as a present to the King of France. But Borgherini's wife received the official with "reproaches of intolerable bitterness," says Vasari, "such as had never before been hurled at living man: 'How then! Dost thou, vile broker of frippery, miserable huckster of twopences, dost thou presume to come hither with intent to lay thy fingers on the ornaments which belong to the chambers of gentlemen? despoiling, as thou hast long done, and as thou art for ever doing, this our city of her fairest ornaments to embellish strange lands therewith? Depart from this house, thou and thy myrmidons.'" The lady's anger preserved the picture--only to be afterwards seduced away, by English gold, into the Duke of Hamilton's Collection, from which it was bought for the National Gallery in 1882. Borgherini's commission for the works in question is thus described by Vasari:--
"It chanced that Pier Francesco Borgherini had at that time caused rich carvings in wood to be executed by Baccio d' Agnolo for the decoration of coffers, backs of chairs, seats of different forms, with a bedstead in walnut wood, all of great beauty, and intended for the furnishing forth of an apartment. He therefore desired that the paintings thereof should be equal to the rest of the ornaments. To that end he commissioned Andrea del Sarto to paint the history of Joseph in figures of no great size, and these our artist was to execute in competition with other artists,"--Ubertino and Pontormo among the number (Vasari, iii. 201, iv. 353).
Ubertino's paintings for this sumptuous bedroom as well as that of Pontormo have now found their way into our Gallery (see 1218, 1219).
1132. THE VESTIBULE OF A LIBRARY.
Hendrick Steenwyck, the younger (Flemish: 1580-1649).
The elder painter of this name was one of the first to give us those architectural interiors, which later became a specialty among various painters (see Havard's Dutch School, p. 53). His son, the younger Steenwyck, adopted the same line of art. He came to London before 1629, and was much employed in supplying architectural backgrounds to the royal portraits by Van Dyck and to other pictures. He died in London after 1649.
A picture for architects to look at. It is the interior of a vestibule giving access to a library, and is full of inventiveness. Notice, too, how beautifully the accessories--the tablecloth, the vase of flowers, etc., are painted.
1133. THE NATIVITY.
Luca Signorelli (Cortona: 1441-1523). See 1128.
A dramatic representation in one canvas of the Gospel story told in Luke ii. 1-17. Scene 1. "And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus, that all the world should be enrolled." This is represented by the Roman portico behind the central group, under which, at a long table, is seated a row of scribes, who are entering the names of the people. Scene 2. "And Joseph went up ... to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife ... and she brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in the manger." This is the subject of the central scene. But the artist, no longer bound by conventional rules, treats his text freely. There is no manger, but the stable is suggested by the heads of the ox and the ass at the side; and instead of the Babe being found "wrapped in swaddling clothes," it is naked. Joseph, in orange and crimson robes, is full of benevolence. The shepherds on the left are in deep reverence. The Virgin is robed in deep blue and green, typical of the depth and mystery of her divine love. In the interstices of the central group are three angels with golden hair and rainbow-hued wings--"calm shining sons of morn." Scene 3. On the left is a group of shepherds: "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night." The angel of the Lord is appearing unto them from heaven, and they are sore afraid, shielding their eyes from the heavenly light. Scene 4. On the right of the spectator, and seen through an arch of natural rock, is a shepherd playing on the pipe. This figure suggests the antique; he is crowned with ivy leaves and might almost be Orpheus. Thus, instead of representing the "Glory to God in the highest" being sung by "a multitude of the heavenly host," Signorelli gives us a Greek singer--a variation thoroughly characteristic of the classical revival of his time.
The landscape is also thoroughly characteristic of the mediæval mind, which loved the fields but dreaded the mountains. See here, for instance, how lovingly the flowers in the foreground are painted, and note the trailing ivy in the centre of the picture, as well as the flowers and ferns; whereas the rocks upon which these latter grow are altogether impossible in form and position (see Modern Painters, vol. iii. pt. iv. chs. xiv. and xv., where the landscape of Dante, of whom Signorelli was a close student, is analysed). The artist's signature is inscribed on the frieze of the portico. Some, however, have questioned its authenticity and declare the picture to be a weak imitation of the master.
1134. MADONNA AND CHILD.
Liberale da Verona (Veronese: 1451-1535).
Liberale di Giacomo, of Verona, was brought up as a miniaturist, and his works in that sort, executed before he was out of his teens, are much admired for their fancy and sumptuous colour. The choral books which he executed for Monte Oliveto are now in the cathedral of Chiusi. Returning to Verona, Liberale took to painting on a large scale, and became one of the most esteemed artists of the Veronese School. "One of his best works is the Martyrdom of St. Sebastian in the Brera, in which he has introduced an interesting architectural background with Venetian palaces on a canal, designed with much spirit and minuteness. In consequence of his bold and vigorous style his works are occasionally attributed to Mantegna" (Kugler). Many of his pictures are still at Verona.
One of "the small spiritless Madonna pictures which he produced carelessly and hastily in his old age, and supplied for niggardly pay to the citizens of Verona. They served as wedding presents, and Liberale has only himself to thank if this degenerate practice should have spoilt his reputation" (Dr. Richter in the Art Journal, Feb. 1895).
1135, 1136. THE CLEMENCY OF TRAJAN.
Unknown (Veronese School: 15th century).
These two panels, which clearly formed two sides of an ornamental box, represent a favourite subject with Italian painters of the period. The story is that an ancient widow of Rome stopped the Emperor Trajan as he was about to proceed on one of his foreign expeditions, and asked for justice against the murderers of her son, who is here seen lying dead on the roadway. Trajan suggested that she should wait till his return. She replied that the emperor might be killed in battle. "Then," said Trajan, "my successor will attend to the business." "But why," she urged, "not decide the case at once?" The emperor on second thoughts did so, and the second panel shows him on the judgment seat. He called the culprits before him, spared their lives, but made them pay heavy damages to the widow. This incident was engraved, together with the record of his victories, on Trajan's column.
1137. PORTRAIT OF A BOY.
Jacob van Oost the Elder (Flemish: 1600-1671).
This painter was born at Bruges, and his pictures are very numerous in his native town. He painted principally religious subjects in the style of the Carracci, whose works he had studied in Italy. Of his portraits, this work--signed with his monogram,[221] and dated 1650--is the best.
A boy of eleven--so the inscription on the right-hand corner states--Mr. Pater's Sebastian van Storck, it might be.
"It was a winter scene, by Adrian van de Velde, or by Isaac van Ostade.... Sebastian van Storck, confessedly the most graceful performer in all the skating multitude moving in endless maze over the vast surface of the frozen water-meadow, liked best this season of the year for its expression of a perfect impassivity, or at least of a perfect repose. The earth was, or seemed to be, at rest, with a breathlessness of slumber which suited the young man's peculiar temper.... Yet with all his appreciation of the national winter, Sebastian was not altogether a Hollander. His mother, of Spanish descent and Catholic, had given a richness of tone and form to the healthy freshness of the Dutch physiognomy, apt to preserve its youthfulness of aspect far beyond the period of life usual with other peoples. This mixed expression charmed the eyes of Isaac van Ostade, who had painted his portrait at one of those skating parties, with his plume and squirrel's tail and fur muff, in all the modest pleasantness of boyhood" (Imaginary Portraits, p. 92).
1138. THE CRUCIFIXION.
Andrea del Castagno (Florentine: 1390-1457).
There is a rough vigour in this picture which agrees well with what we know of the painter. His father was a labouring man. Left an orphan in his boyhood, Andrea herded the cattle of an uncle at the hamlet of Castagno (whence the painter's name). He was first stimulated to study art by chancing to come across an itinerant painter at work on a rustic tabernacle. He began to draw upon the walls with charcoal or his knife, and showed therein so much ability that he attracted the notice of Benedetto de' Medici, who took the youth to Florence and placed him under proper tuition. Such is Vasari's story. But Benedetto's patronage did not save Andrea from a hard struggle with adversity. At the age of forty he is found declaring that he had neither bed, board, nor lodging in Florence, and was so poor that in illness he had to take shelter in a public hospital. These declarations were made, however, in a taxing return. Subsequently Andrea received various commissions in the palaces and churches of Florence, and from the Government. For the latter he painted on the wall of the palace of the Podestà the gibbeted bodies of those who were declared rebels on the recall from banishment of Cosimo de' Medici. Most of Andrea's works have perished; the few that remain in Florence display "a rude and coarse energy and an independent and original spirit, but are seldom attractive, either in form or colour" (Kugler). He is said to have painted in oil, but no work by him in that medium exists. Vasari's story in this connection, that he assassinated Domenico Veneziano, is demonstrably false (see under 766).
This picture is impressive in its solemn gloom. The impenitent thief writhes in agony, the suffering Christ casts his last glance at his mother, who, with St. John the beloved disciple, stands below in speechless grief. "The most beautiful in colour of all early works" (Ford Madox Brown in Magazine of Art, 1890, p. 134). Andrea's treatment of the subject, as also Antonello's (1166), is remarkable for simplicity and realism. In most representations of the Crucifixion the central tragedy is partially lost in the large groups of bystanders (e.g. 718, 1048, 1088), and various symbolical figures are introduced--as, for instance, flying angels around the cross. Even in Giotto's fresco at Padua this feature is introduced. Indeed "in all the pictures of the Crucifixion by the great masters, with the single exception perhaps of that by Tintoret in the church of San Cassiano at Venice, there is a tendency to treat the painting as a symmetrical image, or collective symbol of sacred mysteries, rather than as a dramatic representation" (Ruskin's Giotto, p. 149). For an example of a symbolic representation, in contrast to the severe simplicity of the picture before us, see No. 1478.
1139. THE ANNUNCIATION.
Duccio (Sienese: about 1260-1340). See 566.
This picture shows us the side of Duccio on which the early School of Siena still adhered to the traditions of Byzantine art. For instance, the Greek method of symbolising light on drapery is seen in the gold lines of Mary's dress, a decorative method which Duccio was the last to use. So, too, in the gold background, which was universal in Byzantine mosaics. This survival may be seen in all the early Sienese pictures in the Gallery. In 1188, for instance, all the landscape background is gold; so in 1140 are all the spaces between the houses; whilst 1113 resembles a brilliant mosaic with gold for its groundwork.
We have here the earliest representation in our Gallery of one of the most frequent subjects in mediæval art, and a few remarks on its development may be interesting. The subjects which artists had at their disposal in those days were prescribed to them by religious uses and religious conventions. Not in novelty of subject, but in individuality of treatment, was scope for the artist's ingenuity to be found. Hence a comparison of pictures of the same subject by different artists and different schools affords a suggestive study in the evolution of art. One may trace by such comparisons something of the same process of "descent with modification" that Darwin has exhibited in the case of fish and insect, fern and flower.[222] Thus we may compare the present picture--the earliest and simplest "Annunciation" in our Gallery--with Crivelli's (739), which is the most ornate, and which was painted 200 years later. Two pictures of the same subject could hardly be more unlike. Duccio's is severe and simple; Crivelli's, florid and picturesque. The one is rigidly confined to the main matter in hand; the other is crowded from corner to corner with dainty detail and lively incident. Halfway, as it were, between the two stands Lippi's "Annunciation" (666); there also there is much lovely detail, but we see in a moment that "in the Florentine, the detail is there for the sake of the picture; in the Venetian, the picture is there for the sake of the detail." Crivelli's picture shows us the furthest point of departure from the original type. Yet observe how much of the original survives. First, and this point is absolutely fixed in all mediæval representations of the subject, the angel Gabriel occupies the left-hand side, and the Blessed Virgin the right-hand side of the picture. Often (as in Giotto's frescoes in the Arena at Padua) the subject is divided into two halves by the intervention of the choir arch. In Italy, the Annunciation was always the subject employed for the decoration of the main entrance of church. For this purpose, the convenient architectural arrangement was to place a relief of the angel on one side, a relief of the Madonna on the other, and the doorway between them.[223] Similarly inside, the Annunciation was constantly employed to decorate the blank space beside an archway, and hence arose the custom of dividing the treatment. We may see examples in our Gallery in the wings (interior side) of the "Coronation" by Justus of Padua (701), and in the terminal panels of Landini's altar-piece (580A). To this peculiarity is perhaps due the wall, barrier, or column which so often marks off the figure of the Virgin from that of the angel. We find it here in the Duccio; also in Fra Angelico's picture (1406), and again in Crivelli's. Sometimes, however, there is no such division. See, for instance, Lippi's picture (666), and Manni's (1104). There is a reason for this difference. Lippi's, no doubt, was painted to fill the space over a doorway; Manni's was the apex of an altar-piece. The decorative function of the pictures governed their composition. Returning to the Duccio, we may notice as a third and nearly constant element, the angel's lilies--Annunciation lilies, as the Italians call them. Sometimes they are in a vase as here; sometimes (as in the Crivelli), the angel bears a lily in his hand. Next, it is noticeable that the action almost invariably takes place in a loggia--an arcade or cloister. The lectern or prie-dieu, which in Crivelli's picture and in very many others of the subject stands beside the Madonna, is a refinement on the earliest type as seen in Duccio and Fra Angelico. But whether with lectern or without, the Virgin is always represented with a book engaged in her devotions. Visitors who desire to trace the evolution of this subject should conclude their studies at the Tate Gallery, where, in Rossetti's "Ecce Ancilla Domini" and Mr. Hacker's "Annunciation," modern versions of the old subject are given. Rossetti's is one of the most imaginative in the whole range of art (see Ruskin's analysis cited in vol. ii. of this handbook, No. 1210).
1140. CHRIST HEALING THE BLIND.
Duccio (Sienese: about 1260-1340). See 566.
The departure from conventional forms, which was characteristic of Duccio, is conspicuous in this picture. Each of the disciples has an individual character, the entire group representing not conventional forms but living types of men. There is a piece of symbolism in the blind man who has already been healed which should not escape notice. Duccio is not content to represent the bare act of healing, but insists further upon the efficacy of the touch of Him who was the Light of the World, by making the blind man drop the staff of which he has no longer need. There is another piece of symbolism in the gradated scale by which he draws attention to the respective dignities of his characters--Christ being the tallest in the picture, the blind man the shortest (A. H. Macmurdo in Century Guild Hobby Horse, 1886, p. 119).
1141. SUPPOSED PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST.
Antonello da Messina (Venetian: 1444-1493). See 673.
A portrait in Antonello's second or Venetian manner. The portrait is the more interesting from the probability that it is of the painter himself. The inscription which so stated is said to have been sawn off by a former owner to fit the picture into a frame.[224] "It is the likeness of a man who is entirely self-possessed, nowise an idealist, yet one who would never be prompted to impetuous action. He has plenty of intelligence; nothing would escape those clear gray eyes;--scarcely, however, do they seem as if they would penetrate below the outward show of things. Considered from a technical point of view, the same subdued feeling is apparent. In the Louvre masterpiece (which this picture at once recalls), Antonello evidently braced himself for a supreme effort; in the National Gallery portrait we have an excellent example of his powers at his best period" (Times, May 31, 1883).
1143. THE PROCESSION TO CALVARY.
Ridolfo Ghirlandajo (Florentine: 1483-1561).
Ridolfo Bigordi, called Ghirlandajo, was the son of Domenico Ghirlandajo (see 1230), who gave him his first instruction in art. On the death of Domenico, Ridolfo was taken charge of by his uncle David, and perhaps received instruction also from Domenico's favourite pupil, Granacci. In 1503 Leonardo da Vinci came to Florence, and seems to have exercised a strong influence on the young Ridolfo. To this Leonardine period of our artist, the present picture, executed in 1505, belongs: some of the heads (which are of great force and beauty) seem to have been copied or imitated from Leonardo. To the same period and influence Morelli ascribes the "Annunciation," No. 1288 in the Uffizi, there attributed to Leonardo himself, and the "Portrait of a Goldsmith," similarly attributed in the Pitti. In Ridolfo's works after 1506 the influence of Raphael is discernible. Raphael was his fellow-student and contemporary, and between the two congenial youths an ardent friendship, Vasari tells us, sprang up. Raphael employed Ridolfo to fill in part of the blue drapery of the "Belle Jardinière", and invited him to Rome; but Ridolfo, "who had never, as the saying is, 'lost sight of the cupola' (of the Duomo), and could in no wise resolve on living out of Florence, would accept no proposal which might compel him to abandon his abode in his native place." At Florence Ridolfo found ample and congenial employment, not only in the production of pictures, but in artistic catering for the pageants of the Republic, and in the service of the Medici. He did not disdain, says Vasari, "to paint banners, standards, and matters of similar kind. He was an exceedingly prompt and rapid painter in many kinds of work, more particularly in the preparations for festivals; when the Emperor Charles V. arrived in Florence, he constructed a triumphal arch in ten days, and another arch at the gate of Prato was erected by this artist in a very short space of time, this work being constructed for the marriage of the most Illustrious Lady the Duchess Leonora." Among his pictures, the "St. Zenobio restoring a boy to life" and the burial of the same saint, in the Uffizi, are considered Ridolfo's masterpieces; they are remarkable for force of colour, and fine modelling in the heads. Ridolfo employed a number of young painters, and from this workshop issued many pictures which were sold to England, Germany, and Spain. He lived to be nearly eighty years old; and "though heavily afflicted with the gout, he still bore much love," says Vasari, "to all connected with art, and liked to hear of, and when he could to see, whatever was most commended in the way of buildings, pictures, and other works." He was buried with his forefathers in S. Maria Novella.
One of the pictures in the Gallery which are additionally interesting from being mentioned and praised by Vasari--who, by the way, was himself a friend of Ridolfo:
"In the Church of S. Gallo he depicted our Saviour Christ, bearing his Cross and accompanied by a large body of soldiers; the Madonna and the other Maries, weeping in bitter grief, are also represented, with San Giovanni and Santa Veronica, who presents the handkerchief to our Saviour; all these figures are delineated with infinite force and animation.[225] This work, in which there are many beautiful portraits from the life, and which is executed with much love and care, caused Ridolfo to acquire a great name; the portrait of his father is among the heads, as are those of certain among his disciples, and of some of his friends--Poggino, Scheggia, and Nunziata, for example, the head of the latter being one of extraordinary beauty" (v. 5).
It is interesting in this connection to notice that the procession to Calvary was one of the regulation subjects with mediæval painters (see for a picture of it, some two hundred years earlier, 1189), and familiarity bred contempt for the pathos of the scene; it became a mere opportunity for variegated compositions, and curiously enough two of the brightest pictures in the Gallery (this and 806) are of this subject. For the story of St. Veronica see 687.
1144. MADONNA AND CHILD.
Bazzi, called Il Sodoma (Lombard: 1477-1549).
The confusion in the use of the word "school" is illustrated in the case of Giovanni Antonio Bazzi (sometimes wrongly given as Razzi), called also Il Sodoma. He spent most of his life at Siena, and is often grouped therefore with the Sienese School. But he was born at Vercelli, in Piedmont--being the son of a shoemaker--and "ripened into an artist during the two years he spent at Milan with Leonardo da Vinci" (1498-1500). Sodoma is therefore, says Morelli (German Galleries, p. 428), to be reckoned as one of the Milanese-Lombard School. "Nay, I believe I should not be far wrong were I to maintain that the majority of the better works ascribed to Leonardo in private collections are by him.... Young Bazzi while at Milan seems to have taken Leonardo for his model, not only in art, but even in personal appearance and fancies. All his life he loved to play the cavalier, and, like Leonardo, always kept saddle-horses in his stable, and all kinds of queer animals in his house."[226] Vasari gives an amusing, though probably apocryphal, account of his excesses, and represents him as a lewd fellow of the baser sort, with whom no respectable person would have anything to do. But Raphael so respected Bazzi and his work that he introduced his portrait (erroneously called Perugino's) by the side of his own in his celebrated fresco of the "School of Athens." But at any rate Sodoma was a careless, jovial fellow--dividing his time between the studio and the stable; and when cash ran short or a horse ran wrong, he would meet his liabilities with a hastily dashed-off picture. This very Madonna may perhaps have paid off a racing debt.
"Sodoma," says a distinguished German critic, "had a poetic soul, full of glowing and deep feeling, a richly endowed creative mind, but no inclination for severe earnest work" (Jansen). His execution is unequal, but at his best he is one of the most attractive of all the Italian painters. No one will deny this who recalls the fresco, in the upper floor of the Farnesina Palace, of "The Marriage of Alexander and Roxana"--"one of the most enchanting pictures of the whole Renaissance," or who has studied the painter's work in the churches, the Gallery, and the Palazzo Publico of Siena. The figure of "St. Ansano" in the latter place may be taken as an example of the dignity which Sodoma was capable of imparting to his types. The "Christ bound to the Column" in the Siena gallery is a fine example of his power as a colourist and his command of pathetic expression; while in the figure of Eve in the "Limbo" in the same gallery, and in more than one Holy Family, we may see his innate sense of feminine beauty and grace. It is supposed that Sodoma went as a young man to Milan and there imbibed the influence of Leonardo da Vinci, but this theory (maintained by Morelli) of a close connection between Leonardo and Sodoma is not accepted by all critics. In 1501 he went to Siena, where, in the stagnation of the local school, he found ample openings for his abilities. To this period belong the series of frescoes representing the history of St. Benedict in the Convent of Monte Oliveto. In 1507 Sodoma was taken by the Sienese merchant, Agostino Chigi, to Rome. He began to decorate the Camera della Segnatura in the Vatican, but the Pope transferred the commission to Raphael. Sodoma was again in Rome in 1514, when he painted for Chigi the frescoes already referred to. In the interval he had returned to Siena, where he married the daughter of an innkeeper. From 1515 onwards he made Siena his headquarters. Copies of some of the works mentioned above may be seen in the Arundel Society's Collection.
This picture, which is hardly a satisfactory example of the painter, is one of those supposed by some critics to have been painted in the years 1518-20, during which he is believed to have revisited Milan. Others place it later in the artist's career. "Probably one of his late 'pot-boilers.' It was originally in the Rossini Collection at Pisa, and may have been painted there during the last years of the artist's life, while he was working at the choir decorations in the cathedral" (Sodoma, by the Contessa Priuli Bon, 1900, p. 92).
1145. SAMSON AND DELILAH.
Andrea Mantegna (Paduan: 1431-1506). See 274.
Samson, whose giant's strength lay in his hair, fell into the toils of Delilah (Judges xvi.), who delivered him to his enemies by cutting off his hair as he lay asleep. On the trunk of the olive tree behind, Mantegna has carved the moral he drew from the tale: "Foemina diabolo tribus assibus est mala peior" (woman is a worse evil than the devil by the three pennies which bind you to her).[227] But though Mantegna has taken his subject from the Bible, his treatment of it is in the classical spirit. "Apart from the fact that her attention is directed to the mechanical operation, Delilah's expression is one of absolute and entire unconcern. Look of cunning, or of deceit, or of triumph there is none. Mantegna was not the man to shirk expression when he deemed the subject required it; probably, therefore, he left the features impassive in obedience to the formula of a certain school of antique sculpture, that all violent emotion should be avoided" (see Times, June 18, 1883).
1147. HEADS OF NUNS.
Ambrogio Lorenzetti (Sienese: died about 1348).
Ambrogio, the younger brother of Pietro Lorenzetti (see 1113), was the greatest of the early Sienese painters. His series of frescoes in the Sala della Pace in the Palazzo Publico of Siena, typifying good and bad government, are known to every traveller. They are full both of artistic beauty and historical interest (see the description by Symonds in his Sketches and Studies, iii. 43). The heads of many of Ambrogio's allegorical figures are of great beauty and grandeur--especially that of Peace, which is of classical dignity and may possibly have been modelled on the lines of some antique sculpture.
The work before us is a mere shattered fragment of fresco (from a church in Siena), but it is enough to show the artist's feeling for the true portraiture that identifies character with likeness. The nuns' faces are typical of the strong yet tender qualities developed in a life of seclusion and self-sacrifice.
1148. CHRIST AT THE COLUMN.
Velazquez (Spanish; 1599-1660). See 197.
An intensely dramatic rendering of the central lesson of Christianity. The scene depicted is an episode from the Passion between the scourging and the crowning with thorns--a scene not given in the Gospels, and invented to produce a more vivid effect than representations of familiar scenes. The absence of all decorative accessories concentrates the attention at once on the figure of the Divine sufferer--bound by the wrists to the column. His hands are swollen and blackened by the cords; the blood has trickled down the shoulder--so terrible was the punishment--and the scourges and rod have been flung contemptuously at his feet. Yet abnegation of self and Divine compassion are stamped indelibly on his countenance, as he turns his head to the child who is kneeling in adoration. The guardian angel behind bids the child approach the Redeemer in prayer (hence the alternative title that has been given to the picture, "The Institution of Prayer"). From the wise and prudent the lessons of Christianity are often hidden, but Christ himself here reveals them unto babes. "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." A thin white line, a ray, reaches from the position of the heart to the Saviour's ear--
To see sad sights moves more than hear them told, For then the heart interprets to the ear The heavy motion that it doth behold.
The angel is a portrait (a preparatory study from a model is included amongst the collection of drawings made by Cean Bermudez). The downcast eye, the slightly pouting lips, as if about to weep, betray the harrowing expression of the moment. This expression shows fine invention, for it might have been more natural for the eye to follow the hand directing the child's attention to the figure. But the angel fears himself to look, lest he be overcome with grief. The tone of the picture is in keeping with its theme. There probably exists no other painting executed in such a decidedly gray, blackish-gray tone, although it is by no means colourless, as seen in the orange-brown and dull crimson of the angel's costume, which are peculiar to Velazquez. It is as if, after the terrible event that has here taken place, mourning Nature had strewn the scene with a fine shower of ashes, as after some tremendous volcanic outburst (Justi's Velazquez and his Times, pp. 241-248).
1149. MADONNA AND CHILD.
Marco d'Oggionno (Lombard: about 1470-1530).
Marco, called Oggionno from the village near Milan in which he was born, was one of the pupils and imitators of Leonardo. He made several copies of the master's "Last Supper," one of which is in the collection of the Royal Academy. His best original work on a large scale is the "Triumph of the Three Archangels over Satan," in the Brera. Among his smaller works, the "Infant Christ caressing St. John," at Hampton Court, is more successful than most. His works, says M. Müntz, "are wanting in vivacity of feeling and purity of drawing, and intensity of colour does duty for intensity of sentiment."
This is a characteristic example of the painter's work. He succeeded in catching a little of Leonardo's smile, "chilled as it were on the way" (Logan). The study in chalk for the Virgin's head is in the Dyce Collection in the South Kensington Museum.
1150. PORTRAIT OF A MAN.
Ascribed to Pontormo (Florentine: 1494-1557). See 1131.
1151. THE ENTOMBMENT.
Unknown (German: 15th Century).
A copy, in colour, of an engraving by Martin Schongauer (see 658).
1152. ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST.
Martino Piazza (Lombard: early 16th Century).
Martino and his brother Albertino were painters at Lodi, where they worked both together and separately; there are many altar-pieces in the churches of that place by them. This picture is a signed work of Martino alone. The brothers belonged to the school which was established in Milan and its neighbourhood before the arrival of Leonardo; but in many of Martino's work the new influence is discernible. "The curly hair, his high finish and chiaroscuro, derived from a study of Leonardo, are distinctive traits" (Catalogue of the Burlington Fine Arts Club's Exhibition, 1898, p. lxxvi.).
Compare the type of countenance and form of the rocks with those in Leonardo's picture, 1093. For the subject of this picture see under 25.
1154. GIRL WITH A LAMB.
Greuze (French: 1725-1805). See 206.
An unfinished study--characteristic of the touch of affectation often visible in Greuze's pictures of simplicity. Children fondling pet lambs are a favourite motive in art, but its treatment is seldom free from affectation. See, for instance, Murillo's St. John, 176.
1155. THE ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN.
Matteo di Giovanni (Sienese: 1435-1495).
Matteo, the son of Giovanni di Bartolo (a mercer),--called also Matteo di Siena--was the best Sienese painter of his time, and in this picture, which is perhaps his masterpiece, we have an epitome of all the most characteristic qualities of the earlier Sienese school--"its warm, delicate, and transparent colouring, its graceful outline, its religious sentiment, and its somewhat miniature-like execution. Matteo was the last of the series of painters who developed the art of Duccio, adhering to the traditions of the school of which that great master was the founder" (Layard). In the expression of passion and dramatic action that school was never successful, struggling to disguise weakness by overstraining expression. This weakness is conspicuous in Matteo's pictures of the "Massacre of the Innocents" (in S. Agostino and S. Maria de' Servi in Siena), and is not absent from his "Ecce Homo" and "St. Stephen" in this Gallery (247 and 1461). His best pictures at Siena are the "Madonna della Neve" in the chapel of that name, and the "Coronation of S. Barbara" in S. Domenico. He also designed one of the Sibyls (the Samian) on the marble pavement of the Duomo.
A picture in which the artist concentrates all he could command of gaiety and joyousness in colour, expression, action, and sentiment; and thus typical of the personal feeling, approximating to that of a lover to his mistress, which entered into Madonna worship. These pictures of coronations and assumptions of the Virgin are not merely tributes of devotion to the mother of God, but are poetic renderings of the recognition of women's queenship, of her rule not by force of law but by tenderness and sacrifice--
For lo! thy law is pass'd That this my love should manifestly be To serve and honour thee: And so I do: and my delight is full, Accepted for the servant of thy rule.
One may read the same spirit, perhaps, in the legend of St. Thomas and the Madonna, introduced in this picture--of St. Thomas, who ever doubted, but whose faith was confirmed by a woman's girdle. For the story is that the Virgin, taking pity on his unbelief, threw down to him her girdle, which he is here raising his hands to catch, as it falls from her throne, in order that this tangible proof remaining with him might remove all doubts for ever from his mind--
Lady, since I conceived Thy pleasurable aspect in my heart, My life has been apart In shining brightness and the place of truth; Which till that time, good sooth, Groped among shadows in a darken'd place.
D. G. ROSSETTI: Early Italian Poets.
1157. THE NATIVITY.
Bernardo Cavallino (Neapolitan: 1622-1654).
This painter was a pupil of Massimo Stanzioni (a rival of Spagnoletto), and showed such ability that "at first he created a jealous feeling in Massimo himself. Finding afterwards that his talent lay more in small figures than in large, he pursued that department and became very celebrated in his school. In the galleries of the Neapolitan nobility are to be seen by him, on canvas and copper, subjects both sacred and profane. Life was alone wanting to him, which he unfortunately shortened by his irregularities" (Lanzi, ii. 41).
A characteristic work in the "naturalistic" manner.
1159. THE CALLING OF ABRAHAM.
Gaspard Poussin (French: 1613-1675). See 31.
A very impressive picture in spite of the somewhat grotesque angel who accosts Abraham and points him to the Almighty seated in the clouds above (Genesis xii.). And indeed it is in his skies that Gaspard points us to the Infinite--in the open sky, stretching far away into that yellow horizon. To what does this strange distant space owe its attractive power?
"There is one thing that it has, or suggests, which no other object of sight suggests in equal degree, and that is--Infinity.... For the sky of night, though we may know it boundless, is dark; it is a studded vault, a roof that seems to shut us in and down; but the bright distance has no limit--we feel its infinity, as we rejoice in its purity of light.... Of the value of this mode of treatment (i.e. the rendering of open sky) there is a farther and more convincing proof than its adoption either by the innocence of the Florentine or the ardour of the Venetian, namely, that when retained or imitated from them by the landscape painters of the seventeenth century, when appearing in isolation from all other good, among the weaknesses and paltrinesses of Claude, the mannerisms of Gaspar, and the caricatures and brutalities of Salvator, it yet redeems and upholds all three, conquers all foulness by its purity, vindicates all folly by its dignity, and puts an uncomprehended power of permanent address to the human heart upon the lips of the senseless and the profane"[228] (Modern Painters, vol. ii. pt. iii. sec. i. ch. v. §§ 5, 12).
1160. THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI.
School of Giorgione (Venetian: early 16th century). See 269. See also (p. xx)
This picture--ascribed by Morelli and others to Catena (see 234)--is by some connected with the name of Giorgione. It displays, says Sir Edward Poynter, "the qualities which we should expect to find in a picture by Giorgione, and does not seem so far removed from the only absolutely authenticated work by him--the altar-piece at Castelfranco--as to make it impossible to attribute it to his hand. In qualities of drawing and composition it is superior to what we know of the work of Catena" (The National Gallery, i. 23). "The figures are Bellinesque, yet with that added touch of delicacy and refinement which Giorgione always knows how to impart. The richness of colouring, the depth of tone, the glamour of the whole, is far superior to anything we can point to with certainty as Catena's work; and no finer example of his 'Giorgionesque' phase is to be found than the sumptuous 'Warrior adoring the Infant Christ' (234) which hangs close by. Catena's work seems cold and studied beside the warmth and spontaneity of Giorgione's little panel" (Herbert Cook's Giorgione, p. 54). "Whoever painted it, it is worth many much larger canvases. The simple, flowing cast of the drapery, the general scheme of colour, and the quality of individual tints, such as the mellow yellow shaded with red, and the greenish-blue of the Virgin's mantle, are not like what I know of Catena. The lively, well-drawn child, with its supple limbs; the faces of the women, with full faces, short noses, and square jaws; the straight-necked horses, and many other things in this charming picture,--seem to me to proclaim a distinct, if unknown, master. Above all things distinct, perhaps, is the particular tone of reverence--naïve, quiet, but deep--that pervades the picture, a feeling which can scarcely have been imitated, but must have proceeded from the very character of the painter himself" (Monkhouse, In the National Gallery, p. 224).
1165. ST. HIPPOLYTUS AND ST. CATHERINE.
Il Moretto (Brescian: 1498-1555). See 299.
Two saints who were not divided in the manner of their martyrdom, and who are united therefore on the painter's canvas. Each holds the martyr's palm. St. Catherine places her left hand on the hilt of a sword--the instrument by which she was ultimately beheaded, whilst her foot rests upon the wheel on which she was to have been torn to death, had not an angel from heaven broken it. St. Hippolytus's death was not unlike that which had been devised for St. Catherine. He is clad in armour, for he was the soldier stationed as guard over St. Lawrence (see 747), but he is represented as bareheaded, and with his face upturned in reverence, for that "he was so moved by that illustrious martyr's invincible courage and affectionate exhortations that he became a Christian with all his family." Wherefore he was tied to the tails of wild horses and torn to death. On the fragment of stone in the foreground is an inscription in Latin, telling by what death the two saints glorified God--"Membris dissolvi voluerunt ne vinculis divellerentur aeternis:" they chose to be torn limb by limb rather than by renouncing their faith to be thus torn hereafter by eternal chains. The members of the body are the chains of the soul, and the martyrs freed themselves from temporary fetters rather than submit to the fetters of everlasting punishment.
1166. THE CRUCIFIXION.
Antonello da Messina (Venetian: 1444-1493). See 673.
Signed, and dated 1477, two years later than the very similar picture at Antwerp. Notice the harmonious colouring, and the expression of abandon and lassitude, following more poignant grief, in the Virgin's attitude, with her arms falling down on each knee. "The subject was never more truly felt, and the little figure of the Virgin at the foot of the cross contains in it an expression of concentrated grief I never saw equalled. The eyes are shut, the hands simply rest on the knees, but this very simplicity gives it a truth which far surpasses the extravagant attitudes of the later painters" (from a letter by Louisa, Lady Waterford, from whom the picture was purchased in 1884; see Hare's The Story of Two Noble Lives, iii. 77). This picture shows, says Mr. Gilbert, "the dawning loveliness of Venetian colour, as distinguished from the vivid beauty of the early Flemish. Instead of the minute definition of every object characteristic of the Van Eyck School, we find, spread over a scene of the utmost simplicity, a delicious silvery haze, melting into the warm tones of a shadowless foreground. In this small picture we may see already what Venice owed to Flanders--how Venice would enrich the gift" (Landscape in Art, p. 311).
1168. PORTRAIT OF A JESUIT.
Willem van der Vliet (Dutch: 1584-1642).
Works by this artist are rare and very little known. He belonged to Delft--a town as active in painting as in pottery. This picture is signed and dated 1631.
An admirable portrait. The Jesuit father, here depicted with so much quiet truth and skill, is a good representative of the great order which had at that time saved the Papacy. He is a student, but the crucifix is ever on his books. "The Jesuits appear," says Macaulay, "to have discovered the precise point to which intellectual culture can be carried without risk of intellectual emancipation." But he turns round from his book and looks with a smile of tender sadness on the spectator--he is ready to read your heart and to give you sympathy in return for confidences.
1169. MRS. ROBERT HOLLOND.
Ary Scheffer (French-Dutch: 1795-1858).
An artist who once enjoyed a great vogue (a version of this picture was bought in 1845 by the ex-Queen of the French for £1000), and whose pictures are historically interesting for their extraordinary absence of the colour-sense. Ary Scheffer's pictures, says Ruskin (Academy Notes, 1858, p. 40), are designed "on the assumption that the noblest ideal of colour is to be found in dust," and what he said in 1846 of the German School is equally true of Ary Scheffer:[229] "Brightness of colour is altogether inadmissible without purity and harmony; and the sacred painters must not be followed in their frankness of unshadowed colour, unless we can also follow them in its clearness. As far as I am acquainted with the modern schools of Germany, they seem to be entirely ignorant of the value of colour as an assistant of feeling, and to think that hardness, dryness, and opacity are its virtues as employed in religious art; whereas I hesitate not to affirm that in such art, more than in any other, clearness, luminousness, and intensity of hue are essential to right impression" (Modern Painters, vol. ii. pt. iii. sec. ii. ch. v. § 15). Ary Scheffer, whose father was court painter at Amsterdam, was born at Dordrecht. On the death of his father in 1809 his mother removed to Paris, and he became a pupil of Pierre Guérin. In 1826 he became drawing master in the Orleans family, and for the rest of his life he was attached to them. In 1830, in company with Thiers, he brought Louis Philippe, Duke of Orleans, to Paris; in 1848 he helped the king to fly, and went with him to Brussels. The events of the next few years shocked him so much that for a time he "could neither paint, eat, nor sleep," and he ceased altogether to exhibit. His best known works are "Paolo and Francesca" (1822), and "Dante and Beatrice" (1839). The former of these sold in 1842 for over £2000; but at the posthumous exhibition of his works, held shortly after his death, his reputation suffered greatly, and at subsequent sales the prices paid for his pictures went down with a rush. Their sentimentality made them popular for a while, but it could not save them from the condemnation due to their commonness of thought and poverty of colour.
A portrait of the lady--an English resident in Paris, and a friend of Ary Scheffer--who sat to him for St. Monica. The two pictures were bequeathed to the Gallery by her husband.
1170. ST. AUGUSTINE AND ST. MONICA.
Ary Scheffer (French-Dutch: 1795-1858).
To illustrate the popularity which Ary Scheffer enjoyed forty years ago, it may be interesting to cite what Mrs. Jameson said of this picture: "I saw in the atelier of the painter, Ary Scheffer, in 1845, an admirable picture of St. Augustine and his mother Monica. The two figures, not quite full-length, are seated; she holds his hand in both hers, looking up to heaven with an expression of enthusiastic undoubting faith;--'the son of so many tears cannot be cast away!' He also is looking up with an ardent, eager, but anxious, doubtful expression, which seems to say, 'Help thou my unbelief.' For profound and truthful feeling and significance, I know few things in the compass of modern art that can be compared to this picture" (Sacred and Legendary Art, 1850, p. 186).
1171. THE "ANSIDEI MADONNA."
Raphael (Urbino: 1483-1520).
The genius of Raphael Santi (or Raffaello Sanzio, as the modern Italians write his name) is an example of the force alike of hereditary transmission of gifts and of surrounding circumstances. He was the second son (born April 6) of Giovanni Santi (see 751), a painter and poet of Urbino. The son inherited the father's aptitude for painting; but as Giovanni died when Raphael was only eleven, the boy's actual teacher was Timoteo Viti, of whom there is a portrait in chalks by Raphael in the British Museum. The young Raphael's hereditary gifts were nurtured by the artistic atmosphere in which he lived. Urbino, the Athens of Umbria, was at this time one of the chief centres of artistic and intellectual life in Italy; the ducal palace contained a fine collection of pictures both by Italian and Flemish painters. Amongst the latter were some by Van Eyck, and it is perhaps to this influence that we may attribute the miniature-like care of Raphael's earliest work, which is conspicuous in the "Vision of a Knight," and may be seen again in the jewel painting here. An intense power of assimilation--of learning all things from all men--characterised Raphael throughout his life, and is one of the main causes of the width of range and catholicity of taste to which he owes his universal popularity. Thus when he went (probably not before 1500) to study under Perugino, he so quickly assimilated the style of that master that he has been credited with some of the design and even of the work in Perugino's masterpiece, just as some of his pictures were, says Vasari, mistaken for Perugino's. In 1504 he went to Florence, which was his headquarters for the next four years. He at once took a leading part in the artistic fraternity there, and put one great artist after another under contribution for some special power of drawing, beauty of colour, or grace of composition. Thus from Signorelli and Michelangelo he learnt to study the human form; it was at Florence, says Vasari, that Raphael began to study the nude and to make anatomical drawings from dissected corpses. From Leonardo da Vinci (sketches from whom by Raphael may be seen at Oxford) he learnt soft beauty of expression, and it is to this master's influence perhaps that the smile of his Madonnas may be traced. In 1508 Raphael was invited by the Pope Julius II. to Rome, and there he spent the greater part of his life--painting, besides innumerable altar-pieces and cabinet pictures, his famous cartoons and frescoes. And yet he was only thirty-seven when he died. His time was partly occupied too with portraiture, in which he excelled. In 1514 he accepted the responsible office of architect of St. Peter's, left vacant by the death of his friend Bramante. A year later he was installed as director of the excavations then in progress among the ruins of ancient Rome, and flung himself into the work with devoted ardour. In the heavy and multifarious work thus crowded upon him, Raphael employed many assistants, among whom were Giulio Romano, Giovanni da Udine, and Perino del Vaga, and in some of the pictures of his Roman period the master's own hand executed little more than the finishing touches. All that we know of Raphael's private life and character reflects that innate love of beauty which fused all he borrowed into something of his own. "All were surpassed by him," says Vasari, "in friendly courtesy as well as in art; all confessed the influence of his sweet and gracious disposition, which was so replete with excellence and so perfect in all the charities, that not only was he honoured by men but even by the very animals, who would constantly follow his steps and always loved him." In morals he was pure, and might indeed be called almost immaculate, judged by the lax standard of his age. The Cardinal Bibiena designed his niece for Raphael, but--
Rafael made a century of sonnets, Made and wrote them in a certain volume Dinted with the silver-pointed pencil Else he only used to draw Madonnas: These, the world might view--but one, the volume. Who that one, you ask? Your heart instructs you.
He lived a painter among princes--"a model," says Vasari, "of how we should comport ourselves towards great men," but also a prince among painters--jealous of none, kindly to all. "Whenever any other painter, whether known to him or not, requested any assistance, he would invariably leave his work to do him service; and his school--consisting of some fifty painters, all men of ability and distinction--continued in such unity and concord that all harsh feelings and evil dispositions became subdued and disappeared at the sight of him." And so when he died--having impaired his constitution by a life of ceaseless toil--Rome went into a paroxysm of grief, and flocked, as he lay in state, to catch a last sight of the "divine painter." He died on his birthday, April 6, and was buried in the Pantheon with great solemnities.
With regard to Raphael's position in the history of art, it is important to distinguish between his different "periods," which correspond, as will be seen, with the divisions of his life. The National Gallery is fortunate in having specimens of all the periods, and the importance of the pictures from this point of view is noted under the several numbers, but it may be convenient to summarise the matter briefly here. (1) First, or Perugian period, down to 1504--which again may perhaps be subdivided as explained under 213. During this period his works closely resemble Perugino's--the most typical of them are the "Sposalizio," at Milan, copied from Perugino's painting of the same subject, now at Caen; and the "Crucifixion," in Mr. L. Mond's Collection, of which Vasari says: "If it were not for the name of Raphael written upon it, it would be supposed by every one to be a work of Pietro Perugino." (2) Second, or Florentine period: 1504-1508. To this period belong the "Madonna del Granduca" at Florence, "La Belle Jardinière" at the Louvre, and in this country the Madonna at Lord Cowper's (Panshanger), the Bridgewater Madonna (929), the St. Catherine (168), and this "Ansidei Madonna." The importance of this picture in the history of art is that it shows the transition from the first to the second period, being dated (on the border of the Virgin's robe below her left arm) MDVI, 1506. A glance at the Perugino No. 288 will show how much of that master's influence remains. "To his earlier Perugian manner we ascribe," says Waagen (Treasures of Art in Great Britain, iii. 128), "the head of the Virgin, which, however, is the most beautiful and noble development of this whole style, the rather too round body of the otherwise very lovely child, the expression of ardent yearning in St. John, as well as the position of his feet, resembling that of St. Joseph in the 'Sposalizio,' the cast of the draperies of the Virgin and St. Nicholas, the use of several colours which have turned very dark, such as the blue in the robe of the Virgin, the green in the canopy, in the upper garment of St. Nicholas, and in the landscape, and the use of gold in the hems, in the glories, in the two Greek borders, and in the inscription SALVE MATER CHRISTI on the wooden throne." Another point of special value in this picture is that, like the Sistine Madonna, it is entirely by Raphael's own hand, no pupil or assistant having touched it. (3) Third, or Roman period, 1508-1520. The chief works of this period are the frescoes in the Vatican. But in this country there are the famous cartoons (at South Kensington), and in the National Gallery the portrait of Julius II. (27), and the Garvagh Madonna (744). The characteristics of this period are, besides the perfection of executive power, the substitution of classical for religious motive, and the straining after dramatic effect.
From the technical point of view, this division into three (or four) periods is instructive, but from the point of view of motive a better division is that between his earlier and his later work, the turning-point being his arrival in Rome. "In his twenty-fifth year," says Ruskin (Edinburgh Lectures on Architecture and Painting, p. 213), "one half-year only past the precise centre of his available life, he was sent for to Rome, to decorate the Vatican for Pope Julius II., and having until that time worked exclusively in the ancient and stern mediæval manner, he, in the first chamber which he decorated in that palace, wrote upon its walls the Mene, Tekel, Upharsin of the arts of Christianity. And he wrote it thus: On one wall of that chamber he placed a picture of the World or Kingdom of Theology, presided over by Christ. And on the side wall of that same chamber he placed the World or Kingdom of Poetry, presided over by Apollo. And from that spot, and from that hour, the intellect and the art of Italy date their degradation.... And it was brought about in great part by the very excellences of the man who had thus marked the commencement of decline. The perfection of execution and the beauty of feature which were attained in his works, and in those of his greatest contemporaries, rendered finish of execution and beauty of form the chief objects of all artists; and thenceforward execution was looked for rather than thought, and beauty rather than veracity.... The mediæval principles led up to Raphael, and the modern principles lead down from him." The position of Raphael in the history of art is thus closely parallel to that of his great contemporary Michael Angelo (see 790). In Michael Angelo the art of Florence reached its culmination and fell rapidly to Giulio Romano and Venusti. In Raphael the art of Umbria was perfected and led down to the conventional sentimentalities against which the "Pre-Raphaelites" have in modern times revolted.
The "Ansidei Madonna," so called from having been painted for the Ansidei family at Perugia,[230] was bought from the Duke of Marlborough by the nation for £70,000--more than three times the highest price ever before paid for a picture, and equal to more than £14 per square inch. The importance of the picture to the student has been partly described above; but to this must be added its unusual size and excellent state of preservation, and the fact that whilst on the one hand the National Gallery had before no chef d'oeuvre of Raphael, the number of such works not already placed in foreign galleries was very small.[231] On its own merits the "Ansidei Madonna" is by common consent one of the most perfect pictures in the world. It has all the essentials of the greatest art. First it is "wrought in entirely consistent and permanent materials. The gold is represented by painting, not laid on with real gold, and the painting is so secure that nearly four hundred years have produced in it no harmful change." "The exquisite purity of the colour and the silvery and luminous quality of its tones"[232] are as remarkable to-day as they must have been when the panel left the painter's easel. Secondly, "the figures are in perfect peace. Those are the two first attributes of the best art. Faultless workmanship and perfect serenity; a continuous, not momentary, action, or entire inaction; you are to be interested, in the living creatures, not in what is happening to them. Then the third attribute of the best art is that it compels you to think of the spirit of the creature, and therefore of its face, more than of its body. And the fourth is that in the face you shall be led to see only beauty or joy--never vileness, vice, or pain" (Relation between Michael Angelo and Tintoret, pp. 14, 15). In fulfilling these essentials of the highest art, the picture becomes also one of the noblest embodiments of Christianity. Raphael is above all the painter of motherhood and childhood--of the self-forgetting love of the one, and the fearless faith of the other--the human relationship which of all others is the most divine. On either side are two saints--types both of them of the peace of Christianity. In the figure of St. John the Baptist on the left--with his rough camel skin upon him, and an expression of ecstatic contemplation on his face--the joy that comes from a life of self-sacrifice is made manifest; in that of the good Bishop Nicholas of Bari, the peace that comes from knowledge. The three balls at his feet are a favourite emblem of the saint; typical partly of the mystery of the Trinity, but referring also to the three purses of gold which he is said to have thrown into a poor man's window that his daughters might not be portionless. Further we may notice how the same impression of infinite peace is conveyed by the landscape, and especially by the open sky visible on either side of the throne. This open sky "is of all visible things the least material, the least finite, the farthest withdrawn from the earth prison-house, the most typical of the nature of God, the most suggestive of the glory of His dwelling-place. For the sky of night, though we may know it boundless, is dark; it is a studded vault, a roof that seems to shut us in and down; but the bright distance has no limit: we feel its infinity, as we rejoice in its purity of light" (Modern Painters, vol. ii. pt. iii. sec. i. ch. v. § 5).[233]
It has been said above that the Ansidei Madonna is "by common consent one of the most perfect pictures in the world." Criticisms which have been published since its acquisition by the National Gallery require that statement to be modified. Thus, Mr. G. A. Storey, R.A., in the course of a public lecture, has remarked that "as compared with Raphael's other works, the Ansidei Madonna lacked the touch of nature, the play and harmony that were characteristic of the master. All the heads were looking in the same direction, and the figure of the Virgin was scarcely graceful. Nor was there the unity necessary to a complete composition, for each figure seemed unconnected with the rest, and, indeed, they seemed to be almost unconscious of each other's existence." Mr. Ford Madox Brown (Magazine of Art, Feb. 1890) is more severe still. "The Bishop saint of Bari," he says, "is certainly a fine figure, worthy of the master it is attributed to. The Virgin and Child, however, are for sentiment just like two wax doll lay figures, making it hard to conceive how the same mighty hand can have produced anything so tame; while the figure of the Baptist, with ill-drawn legs, is positively repulsive both for pose and for expression of countenance. Surely Raphael could have had no hand in it." Mr. Pater, on the other hand, commends the Ansidei Madonna to students of Raphael as more worthy of admiration than any other work of the master: "I find there, at first sight, with something of the pleasure one has in a proposition of Euclid, a sense of the power of the understanding, in the economy with which he has reduced his material to the simplest terms. He is painting in Florence, but for Perugia, and sends it a specimen of its own old art--Mary and the babe enthroned, with St. Nicholas and the Baptist in attendance on either side. The kind of thing people there had already seen so many times, but done better, in a sense not to be measured by degrees, with a wholly original freedom and life and grace, though he perhaps is unaware, done better as a whole, because better in every minute particular, than ever before. The scrupulous scholar, aged twenty-three, is now indeed a master, but still goes carefully. Note, therefore, how much mere exclusion counts for in the positive effect of his work. There is a saying that the true artist is known best by what he omits. Yes, because the whole question of good taste is involved precisely in such jealous omission. Note this, for instance, in the familiar Apennine background, with its blue hills and brown towns, faultless, for once--for once only--and observe, in the Umbrian pictures around, how often such background is marred by grotesque natural, or architectural detail, by incongruous or childish incident. In this cool, pearl-gray, quiet place, where colour tells for double,--the jewelled cope, the painted book in the hand of Mary, the chaplet of red coral,--one is reminded that among all classical writers Raphael's preference was for the faultless Virgil. How orderly, how divinely clean and sweet the flesh, the vesture, the floor, the earth and sky! Ah, say rather the hand, the method of the painter! There is an unmistakable pledge of strength, of movement and animation in the cast of the Baptist's countenance, but reserved, repressed. Strange, Raphael has given him a staff of transparent crystal. Keep, then, to that picture as the embodied formula of Raphael's genius. Amid all he has here already achieved, full, we may think, of the quiet assurance of what is to come, his attitude is still that of the scholar; he seems still to be saying, before all things, from first to last, 'I am utterly purposed that I will not offend'" (Miscellaneous Studies, p. 53).
1172. CHARLES THE FIRST.
Van Dyck (Flemish: 1599-1641). See 49.
This famous picture was one of many equestrian portraits of Charles I. which Van Dyck painted at his court. It is, however, unique among them. In all the others,--the Windsor picture, the replica at Hampton Court, and the pictures in the Earl of Warwick's and the Marquis of Lothian's Collections, the king faces the spectator, and rides, as it were, straight out of the picture, the horse being white. The size, proportions, and composition of this picture are different. The horse is dun-coloured, and the king is seen in profile. A small picture at Buckingham Palace was probably the original design or sketch of it. It was sold after Charles's death for £150 by the Parliament, and in 1885 was bought by another Parliament--from the Duke of Marlborough--for the great price of £17,500 (see under 1171).
It is a courtier's portrait of the idol of the cavaliers--a portrait of the good side of a bad king. Notice first the prominence given to the noble horse (cf. under 156), almost to the point of clumsiness. Then in Charles himself, note the stately bearing, the personal dignity, the almost feminine refinement. It is a portrait of personal courage--with no suspicion of any fatal want of presence of mind; of dignity--with the obstinacy, which was its reverse side, left out. In such a portrait "of a Cavalier by a Cavalier" Van Dyck's work is invested with an enduring pathos for all Englishmen. One remembers only, in looking upon this picture of him, Charles's graces, not his faults. One thinks of him as the man who "nothing common did, nor mean, upon that memorable scene." And so considered, how eloquent becomes the isolation in which the painter has here left him. With him, indeed, is Sir Thomas Morton, his equerry, but the king does not see him. Bareheaded he sits, gazing into futurity.
1173. AN UNKNOWN SUBJECT.
School of Giorgione (Venetian: 16th Century). See 269.
Another picture of the golden age (cf. 1123) such as Giorgione, we are told, loved to paint,--"men and women enjoying the golden tranquillity; here is seen the haughty lion, there the humble lamb; in another part we behold the swift flying hart, with many other terrestrial animals." The picture before us precisely agrees with this general description, but the particular subject of it is unknown.[234] A child, it would seem, is being initiated into some order of the golden age--he is being dedicated, perhaps, to a life of song, for the stately personage on the throne wears the poet's crown of wild olive, whilst the young man on the steps below him lightly touches a lute, and has books by his side. The page bears a rich dish of fruits and herbs, for the golden age is vegetarian; whilst fawns and a leopard, with a peacock and other birds, attend the court of the king of song. When in the Bohn Collection, this picture was ascribed to Giorgione. For some interesting remarks on its possible authorship and subject, see the Times, December 22, 1885, where resemblances in this picture to pictures of Carpaccio and Pordenone, as well as of Giorgione, are pointed out. Sir Edward Poynter says that the picture "has considerable affinity with the two pictures attributed to Giorgione in the Uffizzi Gallery at Florence, but is weaker in execution and effect, especially in the landscape" (The National Gallery, i. 26). "True," says Mr. Herbert Cook, "the landscape has been renovated; true, the Giorgionesque depth and richness is gone, the mellow glow of the 'Epiphany' (1160) is sadly wanting; but who can deny the charm of the picturesque scenery, which vividly recalls the landscape background elsewhere in the master's own work? who can fail to admire the natural and unstudied grouping of the figures, the artlessness of the whole, the loving simplicity with which the painter has done his work? Sincerity and naïveté are too apparent for this to be the work of any but a quite young artist, and one whose style is so thoroughly 'Giorgionesque' as to be none other than the young Giorgione himself. In my opinion, this is one of his earliest essays into the region of romance, painted probably before his twenty-first year" (Giorgione, p. 92).
1188. THE BETRAYAL OF CHRIST.
1189. THE PROCESSION TO CALVARY.
Ugolino (Sienese: died 1339).
Ugolino was one of the founders of the Sienese School. So great was his reputation that he was unanimously chosen by the Florentines, in preference to their own artists, to paint the altar-pieces of their two great churches; whilst another picture that he painted for them was credited with miraculous powers. These little pictures are portions of the one painted by him for the high altar of Sta. Croce. "He always adhered," says Vasari (i. 138), "in great part to the Greek manner, as one who, having grown old in that method, was induced by a sort of obstinacy to follow the manner of Cimabue, rather than that of Giotto." The points which have been already noticed as characteristic of his contemporary, Duccio (see 566), may be traced equally in Ugolino.
Notice in 1188 that the disciples are not mere conventional types, but that an attempt is made to give them each an individuality, and to express their characters on their faces. The same expressions may be noticed again in 1189. It is interesting, too, to observe how the first attempts of painting (as of poetry) to express action were epic, rather than dramatic. The painter tries to tell the whole story at once; here is Judas giving the traitor's kiss, there is Peter cutting off the ear of the high priest's servant, and beside them are all the other characters of the story (cf. under 579). As art advances, it becomes on the other hand dramatic; the painter seizes on the essential point and makes his picture out of that. The difference may be seen by contrasting Ugolino's picture with one of the same subject at Florence by Giotto, which Ruskin thus describes: "See what choice Giotto made of his moments. Plenty of choice for him--in pain. The Flagellation--the Mocking--the Bearing the Cross; all habitually given by the Margheritones, and their school, as extremes of pain. 'No,' thinks Giotto. 'There was worse than all that. Many a good man has been mocked, spitefully entreated, spitted on, slain. But who was ever so betrayed?' ... He paints the laying hands on him in the garden, but with only two principal figures--Judas and Peter, of course: Judas and Peter were always principal in the old Byzantine composition,--Judas giving the kiss, Peter cutting off the servant's ear. But the two are here not merely principal, but almost alone in sight, all the other figures thrown back; and Peter is not at all concerned about the servant, or his struggle with him. He has got him down, but looks back suddenly at Judas giving the kiss. 'What!--you are the traitor, then--you!' 'Yes,' says Giotto; 'and you, also, in an hour more'" (Mornings in Florence, ii. 41).
1190. A BOY'S PORTRAIT.
Ascribed to Clouet (French: about 1510-1572). See 660.
This picture was presented to the Gallery by Mr. G. F. Watts, R.A., and it is interesting to note the sage-green background which Mr. Watts has himself sometimes employed.
1192, 1193. SKETCHES FOR ALTAR-PIECES
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Venetian: 1692-1769).
Tiepolo, one of the leaders in the revival of Venetian art (see under 1100), was the Paul Veronese of the eighteenth century. "Living," says Sir F. Burton, "in the era of periwig in art as a dress, he was at a sore disadvantage as compared with his great prototype of the sixteenth century; but he steered a pretty clear course between vapid classicality and buckram fashion. Gifted with a brilliant fancy, and master of all the resources of his art, Tiepolo formed a style which, whatever its shortcomings, is splendidly decorative. In his easel pictures, he is at his very best. Here he was not tempted by vast surfaces into that looseness of composition and hastiness of execution that often lessen the value of his frescoes; here, therefore, he could indulge his feeling for compact architectonic arrangement, display force of harmonious colour, and exercise a brilliant method of handling akin to that of Paul Veronese." Tiepolo worked for most of his life at Venice; but went also to execute commissions at Milan, Wurzburg (where his paintings in the Archbishop's Palace may still be seen), and Madrid, in which latter city he died. Of his frescoes at Venice the finest are those of "Antony and Cleopatra" in the Palazzo Labia. Copies of these are in the Arundel Society's Collection.
"Touched in with all the brilliant, flashing, dexterous bravura of the last of the rear-guard of the Venetians. The pictorial art of Venice finished with Tiepolo, and it seemed as if he was resolved that it should not die ignominiously, for in spirit and gaiety he was little inferior to Veronese himself. He had not the stronger qualities of his model; Veronese's grasp of character, his air of nobility, his profound and imaginative harmonies of colour, are wanting in the eighteenth century painter" (Times, December 22, 1885).
1194. CHRIST DRIVING OUT THE TRADERS.
Marcello Venusti (Florentine: 1515-1579).
Venusti, a native of Como, was a pupil of Perino del Vaga, but best known as assistant to Michelangelo, of whose works he supplied copies with variations to suit different patrons. In the oil copy of "The Last Judgment," now at Naples, he introduced in the left-hand corner a portrait of the master himself. He was also employed to put into colour designs made by Michelangelo.
There are drawings by Michelangelo in the British Museum for the figures in this composition. Notice how everything is sacrificed to violent action and contorted position--the money-changers whom Christ is driving out of the Temple are composed as it were for a ballet of limbs. Notice also the "debased" architectural background--the absurdly distorted pillars with their puerile capitals.
1195. THE BIRTH OF VENUS.
Rubens (Flemish: 1577-1640). See 38.
A finished study for a salver which was executed in silver for Charles I.
"The central oval shows a goddess borne along and attended on the surface of the waves by nymphs and tritons; sea gods and goddesses, riding on aquatic monsters, disport themselves in the broad flat border surrounding the central panel. Rubens may be said to have here surpassed himself in those qualities of movement and brilliant execution in which he was unrivalled. His form, often florid in contour, although always supple, has here a grace and beauty entirely in harmony with the classic theme, and the personages are inspired with that immortal gaiety which has so rarely found expression, save in the work of the master's contemporary, our national poet, since it vanished at the final decay of Greek art and literature. Of a piece with the delightful imaginative qualities so prodigally lavished on the present panel is the truly marvellous execution. The hand has played over the surface with a lightness and delicacy surprising even to those familiar with the touch of the master in his first sketches for important compositions. The method employed is simple and direct; the figures have been outlined in pen and ink, then a general glaze has been spread over the entire surface, on which the forms were modelled in white and gray, the ultimate result being a warm silvery tone" (Times, December 22, 1885).
This design, which was sold at the Hamilton sale (1882) for £1680, was bought for the nation three years later at the Beckett Denison sale for £672.
1196. A COMBAT BETWEEN LOVE AND CHASTITY.
Unknown (Florentine School; 15th Century).
Probably by some unknown disciple of Botticelli. Formerly ascribed to Botticelli himself--an ascription which, owing to the absence of that master's predominating facial type, as well as to the accuracy of landscape such as he never attempted, has now been abandoned. But the exquisite workmanship--visible only in a good light--of the shield and the quiver indicates the hand of one of the goldsmith painters, whilst the allegorical invention and the atmosphere of imaginative poetry have "the true Botticellian ring" (see Times, December 22, 1885; see also Morelli's Borghese Gallery, p. 87 n.). The picture is one of a series which were probably painted for furniture-panels. The one giving the sequel to our story, and representing Chastity on a triumphal car, with Love sitting bound in front, is in the Turin Gallery.
Chastity clothed only in white innocence is assailed by Love. She receives his arrows on a shield of polished steel; the points of the arrows break and burst forth into tiny golden flames--each temptation only causing the sacred fire of Chastity to burn more brightly. The scene is laid in a romantic landscape where everything is pure and beautiful. The field is enamelled with flowers--
Where the virgins are soft as the roses they twine; And all, save the spirit of man, is divine.
Beyond, in the bend of a river, two swans float on its tranquil surface: a tall oak sapling rises straight and firm, and over all rests a clear blue sky. The picture recalls the scene in Milton's Comus--
My sister is not so defenceless left As you may imagine; she has a hidden strength, Which you remember not.
Second Brother. What hidden strength, Unless the strength of Heaven, if you mean that?
First Brother. I mean that too, but yet a hidden strength Which, if Heaven gave it, may be term'd her own. 'Tis Chastity, my brother, Chastity; She that has that, is clad in complete steel.
1199. MADONNA AND CHILD.
Unknown (Florentine: 15th Century). See also (p. xxi)
On the right is St. John; on the left an angel crowned with a chaplet of roses and bearing the annunciation lily. Notice that the frame ornamented with modelled stucco forms part of the picture, and is indeed part of the same panel.
1200, 1201. GROUPS OF SAINTS.
Macrino d'Alba (Lombard: about 1470-1528).
Macrino was born at Alba in Piedmont. "There is no foundation for the belief that his name was Giangiacomo Fava. His early Lombard training was considerably modified by a visit to Rome, and a study of the Florentine masters and Ghirlandajo's influence is to be seen in his work. His pictures are easily recognisable from the frequent recurrence of similar types and attitudes" (Catalogue of the Burlington Fine Arts Club's Exhibition, 1898, p. lxxvii.). The dates on his works range from 1496 to 1508. They are to be found in the Certosa of Pavia, at Alba, and in the Turin Gallery. He belongs to the pre-Leonardo school of Lombardy, and was perhaps a pupil of Vincenzo Foppa (729).
In the first group (1200) are St. Peter Martyr (for whom see 812), with the knife and plenty of blood on his head, and a bishop in full robes. In the second (1201), St. Thomas Aquinas looking with an almost comic squint at a crucifix, and John the Baptist. On the pages of St. Thomas's book are the words in Latin, "I have kept the commandments of my father"; on those of St John the Baptist, "Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world."
1202. MADONNA AND CHILD, WITH SAINTS.
Bonifazio, the elder (Veronese: about 1490-1540).
Morelli disentangles from the confusions of art-historians and critics three different painters of this name, whom he calls respectively Bonifazio Veronese I., Bonifazio Veronese II., and Bonifazio Veneziano (see German Galleries, pp. 184-194). The elder Bonifazio Veronese, the painter of this picture, was a pupil of Palma Vecchio, and one of the most brilliant of the later Venetian painters. "His bright conception," says Morelli, "and the light gracefulness of his figures seem to me never to belie his native home, Verona; yet, as a technician, he is an out-and-out Venetian. While the chords of his colouring are neither so delicate and startling as in Giorgione, nor so profound and powerful as in Palma and Titian, nor so ingenious as in Lotto, yet they wield a peculiar charm over the eye of the spectator by their bright, cheerful, and harmonious lustre." Bonifazio's earlier works have been frequently ascribed to Palma. Such was the case with the present picture, a work of gorgeous colour and in admirable preservation. In his later works the influence of Giorgione makes itself felt. A much-damaged picture by Bonifazio at Hampton Court, "Diana and Actæon," was long ascribed to Giorgione. Venice possesses many works of this "God-made painter," as Ruskin calls him. None is finer than the "Dives and Lazarus" in the Accademia, a picture of sumptuous colour and exquisitely poetical sentiment. In the Brera at Milan is another splendid work by Bonifazio, long attributed to Giorgione--the "Finding of Moses," a subject of which he was fond, and into which he introduced numerous figures in the gorgeous Venetian costumes of his day.
A composition belonging to a class which Palma Vecchio brought into favour, and which the Italians call Sante Conversazioni--groups, in restful attitudes, framed in sunny landscapes, with blue mountain distances. Bonifazio's landscape backgrounds are very fine, and he was fond, like Titian, of introducing into them the scenery of the Dolomite mountains. On the right is St. Catherine holding a fragment of her wheel, while the youthful St. John the Baptist, standing on another fragment, stoops to kiss the infant Christ's foot--an action symbolical of the kingship of the Saviour ("Thou hast put all things under him"). On the left is St. James--with his staff, borne always by him as the first of the apostles who departed to fulfil the Gospel mission, and dressed as a pilgrim--Campostella, where his body was reputed to be, being in the middle ages a favourite place of pilgrimage. Behind St. James is St. Jerome. Notice the significance of the incident in the middle distance--a shepherd asleep, while a wolf is devouring a sheep ("But the Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep").
1203. MADONNA AND CHILD.
Cariani (Bergamese: about 1480-1541).
Of Giovanni Busi, called Cariani, no personal details are known. He was born near Bergamo, and many works by this fine colourist are in the galleries of that town. Others may be seen at the Brera in Milan. Cariani, who seems to have resided at Venice, is supposed to have been a pupil of his fellow-countryman, Palma Vecchio. Morelli thus distinguishes Cariani's style from that of Bonifazio Veronese (see 1202), who was also a pupil of Palma: "The type of the Madonna in Cariani is rustic, but more energetic and serious, less worldly than in Bonifazio, whose holy virgins and female martyrs, with their soft, sweet expression and gentle grace, often border on the sentimental. These masters also differ in the harmony of their colours: the Bergamese is pithy and powerful, but often heavy and dull; the Veronese, clear, lovely, and brilliant; Bonifazio's landscapes are the lightest among those of the Venetians, those in Cariani's pictures are brownish, and the lines far from beautiful" (Italian Masters in German Galleries, 1883, p. 193).
Notice the rustic type of the Madonna; she is a daughter of the mountains--the mountains above Bergamo, from which the painter came, and which figure in the background. The picture is a characteristic piece of provincial art; the expression of "a simple, sturdy, energetic mountain-folk who do not always know how to unite refinement and grace with their inbred strength and vigour" (Morelli, ibid. p. 4). The picture is "interesting mainly," says Mr. Monkhouse, "for its costumes, its light-heartedness and florid colour, and as another of those Sante Conversazioni of which his master, Palma, was the inventor, and which took the place of the more holy 'Holy Families' of an earlier art,--pictures in which the Virgin became a simple woman of a wholly mundane beauty, and the saints but her friends in rich costumes, enjoying themselves somewhat sadly in the open air" (In the National Gallery, p. 248).
1206. LANDSCAPE AND FIGURES.
Salvator Rosa (Neapolitan: 1615-1673). See 84.
A good example of Salvator's scenic effects in landscape. The sense of power in the painting, the "vigorous imagination, the dexterous and clever composition" of Salvator are well shown; but "all are rendered valueless by coarseness of feeling, and habitual non-reference to nature." (See for further examination of Salvator's deficiencies in this respect Modern Painters, vol. i. pt. ii. sec. i. ch. vii. § 5, sec. iii. ch. iii. § 7, sec. vi. ch. i. § 11; vol. ii. pt. iii. sec. ii. ch. ii. § 19.)
1211, 1212. SCENES AT A TOURNAMENT.
Domenico Morone (Veronese: 1442-1508?)
Domenico Morone was in 1493 called upon by the Veronese authorities in conjunction with Liberale (1134) to adjudicate upon an artistic dispute. It seems, therefore, that he was recognised as a leading painter of the day. This also is Vasari's estimate: Domenico, he says, was in higher repute than any other painter of Verona, Liberale alone excepted. Little, however, is known to us about Domenico. Only two pictures are known to bear his signature; one of these, a "Madonna and Child," is in the Berlin Gallery. He was the father of the better known Francesco Morone (285).
Possibly scenes from the fêtes at the marriage of Isabella d'Este and Francesco Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua.[235] Domenico Morone, called Pellacane, the dog-skinner, from his father's occupation, may have been present at the marriage ceremony, which took place in 1490; but at any rate these little pictures are of historical interest as contemporary illustrations. The scene in both is a tilt court, with its seat of honour in the middle. In the first the knights are tilting, the marquis being on his throne and the seats filled with ladies. In the second the tilting is over, courtiers and ladies are dancing in the side compartments; whilst in the centre a knight in full armour, but bareheaded, awaits his award of victory from Isabella and her husband, who are standing on the dais. There is much artistic merit in the sprightly way in which such momentary actions as that of the page going to spring over the partition in 1212 are rendered (see Times, July 24, 1886).
1213. PORTRAIT OF A PROFESSOR.
Gentile Bellini (Venetian: 1427-1507).
Gentile was the elder brother of Giovanni (189), and was named after Gentile da Fabriano under whom his father had studied. In 1464, after severe training in his father's school, he moved from Padua to Venice, and was employed by the State. His high reputation is shown by the fact that, when in 1479 the Sultan Mahomet II. applied to the Venetians to send him a good painter, he was deputed by them to go to Constantinople. His visit there was marked by a well-known incident. He showed the Sultan a picture of Herodias's daughter with the head of John the Baptist. The Sultan objected to the bleeding head as untrue to nature, and to prove his point ordered a slave to be beheaded in Bellini's presence. The painter fled from the scene of such experiments, but the influence of his visit is to be seen in the oriental costumes which he was fond of introducing into his pictures (as in the studies in the British Museum and the library of Windsor Castle). The portrait of the great Ottoman conqueror acquired by the late Sir Henry Layard is an autograph replica of the work painted by Gentile at Constantinople. On his return to Venice he was taken into the permanent employment of the State, and executed many works in the Ducal Palace and elsewhere; some were destroyed in the fire of 1577, others remain. In 1486 Titian, then a boy of nine, entered Gentile's studio. Easel pictures by him are very scarce. His principal works are at Venice, and are the most valuable record extant of the city as it was in his time. They are described and highly praised by Ruskin in his Guide to the Academy at Venice. In the same style is the "St. Mark preaching at Alexandria," now in the Brera at Milan. This work, left unfinished when Gentile died, was completed, as his will enjoined, by Giovanni.
Supposed to be a portrait of Girolamo Malatini, Professor of Mathematics in Venice (notice his brass compasses), who is said to have taught Gentile and his brother Giovanni the rules of perspective. "The portrait fully justifies the fame that Gentile had acquired as a painter of portraits, and shows him the forerunner of Titian" (Layard's edition of "Kugler," i. 306). The prominence given in this picture to the sitter's hands should be noticed. The older tradition strictly limited portraiture to the representation of the head only, or at most to the bust. Afterwards the expressiveness of the human hand per se came to be recognised (see Mr. Herbert Cook's Giorgione, p. 19, and compare the portraits Nos. 808 and 1440).
1214. CORIOLANUS, VOLUMNIA, AND VETURIA.
Michele da Verona (Veronese: 1470-1523?)
Michele, a pupil of Domenico Morone (1211), was a contemporary and sometimes an assistant of Cavazzola (735). The works of the two are easily distinguishable. Michele, says Morelli, "is more pointed in the foldings of his draperies, as well as in the fingers of his hands, which are always rather stumpy in Cavazzola. In conception, however, Cavazzola is far above Michele, and also more elegant and noble in his drawing" (German Galleries, p. 54). Many of Michele's works are to be seen at Verona. His landscape backgrounds, as in the present picture, are interesting.
Coriolanus, a noble Roman, so called from Corioli, a city of the Volscians he had taken, bore himself haughtily, and was banished. Nursing his revenge, he threw himself into the arms of the Volscians, determined henceforth to bear himself "As if a man were author of himself, And knew no other kin," and advanced at their head upon Rome. The Romans, in terror, endeavoured in vain to appease him, and at last sent out his wife, Volumnia, with her child, here kneeling before him, and his mother, Veturia (Volumnia in Shakespeare's play), to intercede. In their presence "the strong man gave way; he throws himself on his knee, and is restored once more to human love"--
Like a dull actor now, I have forgot my part ... O, a kiss Long as my exile, sweet as my revenge! Now, by the jealous queen of heaven, that kiss I carried from thee, dear; and my true lip Hath virgin'd it e'er since. Ye gods! I prate, And the most noble mother of the world Leave unsaluted: sink, my knee, i' the earth.
SHAKESPEARE: Coriolanus, Act v. Sc. 3.
1215. MADONNA AND CHILD.
Domenico Veneziano (died 1461). See 766.
For the history of this picture (now withdrawn from exhibition) see under 766. The restorations of 1851 there referred to were in great part removed after the acquisition of the picture by the National Gallery. But "it was found, late in 1904, that its state threatened its immediate destruction, and it was hoped that the mischief might be arrested by re-lining. The pigment was, however, found to be falling from the plaster ground in such a way that re-lining, which would affect only the adherence of the ground to the canvas backing, was useless, and very reluctant recourse was had to the process of transferring the picture itself to canvas. This transfer resulted in such a loss to the picture that it has been withdrawn from public exhibition, and, for the present, it is thought better to leave it as a genuine picture, of interest to connoisseurs, rather than subject it to the extensive repainting without which it would hardly be intelligible to the ordinary visitor" (Director's Report, 1905). A small copy of the picture is exhibited among the Arundel Society's Collection.
1216, 1216 a & b. THE FALL OF THE REBEL ANGELS.
Spinello Aretino (Tuscan: about 1333-1410). See 581.
These fragments of a fresco, now transferred to canvas, are of particular interest from the following mention of it by Vasari. He relates how Spinello Aretino, after executing important works in various cities of Italy, returned to his native city, Arezzo, and very shortly settled down to decorate the church of S. Maria degli Angeli. The subject chosen was certain stories from the life of St. Michael. "At the high altar," says Vasari, "he represented Lucifer fixing his seat in the North, with the fall of the angels, who are changed into devils as they descend to the earth. In the air appears St. Michael in combat with the old serpent of seven heads and ten horns, while beneath and in the centre of the picture is Lucifer, already changed into a most hideous beast. And so anxious was the artist to make him frightful and horrible that it is said--such is sometimes the power of imagination--that the figure he had painted appeared to him in his sleep, demanding to know where the painter had seen him looking so ugly as that, and wherefore he permitted his pencils to offer him, the said Lucifer, so mortifying an affront." Vasari attributes a fatal result to this vision. "The artist awoke," he says, "in such extremity of terror that he was unable to cry out, but shook and trembled so violently that his wife, awakening, hastened to his assistance. But the shock was so great that he was on the point of expiring suddenly from this accident, and did not in fact survive it beyond a very short time, during which he remained in a dispirited condition, with eyes from which all intelligence had departed" (i. 269). In fact, however, Spinello lived many years and executed several important works after the date in question. Some years ago the church of the Angeli was dismantled, and the greater portion of the frescoes perished. Sir A. H. Layard, who was passing Arezzo at the time, was fortunately able to secure a large piece of the principal fresco. The fragment is from the centre of the composition, and contains a portion of the figure of Michael and six of the angels following him. The archangel, with raised sword, is striking at the dragon; his attendants, armed with spears and swords, thrust down the demons. Besides these figures, Sir A. H. Layard was able to save a portion of the decorated border of the fresco (1216 A & B). These he presented to the nation in 1886.
1217. THE ISRAELITES GATHERING MANNA.
Ercole Roberti de' Grandi (Ferrarese: 1450-1496). See 1127.
"The lithe and sinewy form in the nude figure of the young man, the accurate draughtsmanship, the firm modelling, the care and study bestowed even on the tiny figures in the background, the dramatic intention and impression of vitality, indicate a familiarity with the works of Mantegna" (Times, July 24, 1886). The artist exhibits, adds Sir F. Burton, "no less appreciation of natural grace in the female figures than of dignity in the principal male personages."
1218, 1219. JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHREN.
Francesco Ubertini (Florentine: 1494-1557).
Francesco, the son of Ubertino, a goldsmith, called Il Bacchiacca, studied first under Perugino, and afterwards with Franciabigio and Andrea del Sarto. He was also at one time in Rome, where he lived on terms of intimacy with Giulio Romano and Benvenuto Cellini; he is mentioned in Cellini's Autobiography. He was "more particularly successful," says Vasari, "in the execution of small figures, which he executed to perfection and with infinite patience. Ultimately Bacchiacca was received into the service of the Duke Cosimo, seeing that he was excellent in the delineation of all kinds of animals, and was therefore employed to decorate a study for his Excellency, which he did with great ability, covering the same with birds of various kinds, together with rare plants and foliage. At a later period he painted in fresco the grotto of a fountain which is in the garden of the Pitti Palace, and also prepared the designs for hangings of a bed to be richly embroidered all over with stories in small figures, this being considered the most gorgeous decoration of the kind that has ever been executed in similar work, seeing that the designs of Francesco have been worked in embroidery, thickly mingled with pearls and other costly material, by Antonio, the brother of Francesco, who is an excellent master in embroidery" (iv. 492). It would appear from Vasari's account that Francesco's works consisted of predelle for altar-pieces, and pictorial adornments for wedding chests, and other pieces of "art furniture."[236] Morelli, however, in an interesting chapter on Bacchiacca (Roman Galleries, pp. 103-113), claims for him a much more important position, ascribing to him among other works the charming and celebrated "Portrait of a Boy" in the Louvre, commonly attributed to Raphael.
The present panels decorated the room in the house at Florence, from which Pontormo's picture of Joseph also comes (see under 1131); they were doubtless painted for "cassoni," or large chests which were used by the Italians of the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries as wardrobes. "In those palmy days art was welcomed everywhere in Italy, and had a share in all the concerns of men, and in all the events and festivities of daily life. The nobles took a delight in enriching their palaces, their country houses, and the chapels in their churches, with paintings and sculpture, and even required that their household furniture should, whilst useful, be graceful and beautiful." Our panels were purchased many years ago from the heirs of the Borgherini.
Several incidents occur in each of the two pictures, but the main figures constantly recur, and we recognise them by their dress and look. (1218). On the left, in this picture, are Joseph's brethren travelling in search of corn towards the land of Egypt, quaint figures in fantastic dresses, with little Benjamin, a child in a blue frock, and Reuben weeping, and another brother trying in vain to console him. "And the famine was sore in the land.... And the men took ... Benjamin; and rose up, and went down to Egypt" (Genesis xliii. 1, 15). On the right in the same picture is Joseph welcoming his brothers in the portico of the palace, Pharaoh's armed guard outside looking rather grimly and inhospitably on the intruders. The landscape is green and picturesque. It is noticeable that blue (the colour of hope) is here made sacred to Joseph and Benjamin, the children of promise, who are in every instance dressed alike.
(1219). In the companion panel the further history of Joseph and his brethren is depicted in three scenes or compartments, divided by pillars. On the left are the brothers unloading the donkey of the empty meal-jars, now to be filled through Joseph's kindness. In the centre is Joseph making himself known to his eleven brethren. He is gazing tenderly on little Benjamin, who advances towards him in the foreground. "And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph: doth my father yet live?" (Genesis xlv. 3). On the right are seen the brethren departing homeward, and the mule laden with Benjamin and the filled meal-bags is being driven off.
1220. THE VIRGIN AND CHILD
L' Ingegno (Umbrian: painted 1484-1511).
This is the only picture, says the Official Catalogue, which can be authenticated "with something like certainty" as the work of Andrea di Luigi, of Assisi. His name occurs in receipts and registers from 1505 to 1511, in the capacity of procurator, arbitrator, auditor to the magistracy, and finally of papal cashier at Assisi. It was perhaps this "talent" for affairs that won him the name of "L' Ingegno." Vasari says he was the most promising disciple of Perugino, and the resemblance to that artist in this picture is strong. Compare for instance even so small a thing as the dress patterns here with those in 288, as also the close resemblance to the "purist" landscape there described.
1221. "DARBY AND JOAN."
Abraham de Pape (Dutch: died 1666).
This painter, a friend and pupil of Gerard Dou, was a well-to-do citizen of Leyden. He was twice Dean of the Painters' Guild in that place. This picture (formerly in the Blenheim Collection) is considered one of the best of his works. The painter's name is inscribed on the wooden cupboard on the wall above the spinning-wheel.
1222. A STUDY OF FOLIAGE, BIRDS, ETC.
Melchior de Hondecoeter (Dutch: 1636-1695). See 202.
Formerly ascribed to Otto Marseus; but the defaced part of the signature has recently been deciphered as being that of Hondecoeter, dated 1668.
1227. VIRGIN AND CHILD
Marcello Venusti (Florentine: 1515-1579). See 1194.
Also St. Joseph and St. John the Baptist, with the skin of a wild beast quaintly treated as a head-dress. A picture from a composition by Michael Angelo, known as "Il Silenzio."
1229. VIRGIN AND CHILD.
Luis de Morales (Spanish: 1509-1586).
Luis de Morales was born at Badajos, and is one of the most native of Spanish artists. He did not resort to Italy, such foreign influence as is discernible in him being rather that of the Flemings; and the religious sanctity of his work won him the surname of "the Divine." "His subjects, always devotional, were," we are told, "mostly of the saddest, as the Saviour in his hour of suffering, or dead in his mother's arms, or the weeping Madonna. His object was to excite devotion through images of pain, and to this end the forms are attenuated and the faces disfigured by the marks of past or present anguish." He was very largely commissioned by churches and convents, and his fame spread over Spain. He was called to the court of Philip II. in 1563, but was dismissed as soon as he had painted one picture, and thereafter he fell into great poverty. He had appeared at court, it is said, "in the style of a grand seigneur" which seemed to the king and his courtiers absurd in a mere painter, and was the cause of their disfavour. Some years later, however, the king, learning of his poverty, granted him a pension. In his earlier period, Morales painted crowded compositions with numerous figures; in his later, smaller pictures, such as the one before us.
1230. PORTRAIT OF A GIRL.
Domenico Ghirlandajo (Florentine: 1449-1494).
The name of Ghirlandajo is one of the great landmarks in the history of Florentine art. He was the first to introduce portraits into "historical" pictures for their own sake, and his series of frescoes in S. Maria Novella is particularly interesting for the numerous portraits of his friends and patrons, dressed in the costume of the period and introduced into scenes of Florentine life and architecture. "There is a bishop," says Vasari, "in his episcopal vestments and with spectacles on his nose"--Ghirlandajo was the first master who ventured to paint a figure wearing spectacles--"he is chanting the prayers for the dead; and the fact that we do not hear him alone demonstrates to us that he is not alive, but merely painted." These groups of men and women in Ghirlandajo's sacred compositions stand by in the costume of their day as spectators of the incidents represented. He introduced also the architecture of Florence in the richest display and in complete perspective; and thus in his subjects taken from sacred story he has left us "an exalted picture of life as it presented itself to him in that day." "In the technical management of fresco Ghirlandajo exhibits an unsurpassed finish, and worked in it with extraordinary facility. He is said to have expressed a wish that he might be allowed to paint in fresco the whole of the walls which enclosed the city of Florence." He was carried off by the plague in his forty-fifth year, but he had already completed a very large body of work. He was the son of a silk-broker named Bigordi. He and his brother David, who was also a painter, were apprenticed to a goldsmith. Their master probably manufactured the garlands of gold and silver which were so much in favour with the women of Florence, and the young men coming from his shop thus acquired the name of del Ghirlandajo. Domenico early showed his bent by the striking likenesses he drew of the people who passed by the goldsmith's shop. He remained to the end of his life, says Ruskin, "a goldsmith with a gift of portraiture." As early as 1475 his reputation was established, for in that year he was called to Rome to paint in the Sistine Chapel, where his "Calling of Peter and Andrew" is still well preserved. Among the frescoes executed after his return to Florence may be mentioned the "St. Jerome" in the church of the Ognissanti, the history of "St. Francis" in the Trinita, and the famous series in the choir of S. Maria Novella. Copies from several of these works may be seen in the Arundel Society's Collection. They are described by Ruskin in his Mornings in Florence (see also Praeterita, vol. ii., and numerous incidental references in Modern Painters). Ghirlandajo had not, perhaps, Giotto's dramatic instinct for the heart of his subjects, but his frescoes are remarkable, not only for their brilliantly decorative effect, but for their noble and dignified realism. In the Uffizi at Florence are his best easel pictures. There is also a fine "Visitation" in the Louvre. Ghirlandajo was celebrated further as a worker in mosaic (e.g. the mosaic over the north door of the Cathedral at Florence). He was twice married. The painter Ridolfo (1143) was a son by his first wife. Amongst his other pupils were Granacci and Michael Angelo.
The girl is of the same type--with the same hair, "yellow as ripe corn," and the same dainty primness--as the lady in Mr. Willett's picture (for some years on loan in the National Gallery, and now in the collection of M. Rodolphe Kann at Paris), but she was perhaps of humbler station--a simple flower in her hair and a coral necklace being her only ornaments.
1231. PORTRAIT OF A GENTLEMAN.
Sir Antonio More (Flemish: 1512-1578). See 1094.
"A man in the prime of life, attributed to Sir Antonio Moro; the signature is perhaps apocryphal. There is little doubt, however, that the attribution is correct; the manipulation shows all the prodigious power of Moro. His capacity for seizing character and the fine tone of his flesh colour are all here. The execution suggests the brilliant study of Hubert Goltzius, by Moro, in the Brussels Gallery. That masterpiece was stated to have been painted in an hour; the present head bears every indication of almost equally rapid brush work" (Times, September 19, 1887).
1232. PORTRAIT OF A GENTLEMAN.
Heinrich Aldegrever (Westphalian: about 1502-1555).
"Aldegrever is a son of the Renaissance, but he has not altogether escaped the old Franconian stiffness and provincialism.... His real strength is in engraving.... He worked also as a goldsmith, and his ornamental designs are numerous. We also know of a small number of woodcuts by him" (Woltmann, ii. 234). His pictures are very rare. The flower and ring which figure in the best known portrait by him at Vienna are again met with here, but this picture is less stiff and formal than that.
1233. THE BLOOD OF THE REDEEMER.
Giovanni Bellini (Venetian: 1426-1516). See 189.
A devotional picture recalling such reminiscences of mediæval mysticism as are found in many of our hymns--
Come let us stand beneath his Cross: So may the blood from out his side Fall gently on us drop by drop. Jesus our Lord is crucified.
"A cold sky with underlit clouds suggests the still and solemn hour of early dawn, a fitting time for the advent of this weird and livid apparition. Gaunt, bloodless, and with attenuated limbs, the Redeemer, we recognise, has passed through the Valley of 'the Shadow of Death'--not victoriously; there is no light of triumph in the lustreless eyes; no palm nor crown awaits this victim of relentless hate, the type of infinite despair and eternal sacrifice" (Times, September 19, 1887)--
Sunrise is close: the upper sky is blue That has been darkness; and the day is new, Bleaching yon little town: where the white hue, Spread blank on the horizon, skirts The night-mass there is strife and wavy rush Of beams in flush.... The dawn is blue among the hills and white Above their tops; a gladness creeps in sight Across the silver-russet slopes, but night Obscures the mortal ebb and flow Flushing Thy veins; Thy lips in strife for breath Are full of death.
("Michael Field" in Sight and Song.)
The looks and gestures of the Saviour seem to demonstrate that the blood which pours from His riven side is freely given for the redemption of the world. In the details of the picture, which careless observers might mistake for mere chance accessories, there is an allegorical meaning. The paved terrace with the open doorway symbolises the Paradise regained by the Blood of the Sacrificed, the ideal Church, the Church of the New Covenant, in contradistinction to the Hortus Inclusus, the garden enclosed, without a door, which was the type of the Old Covenant. The antique reliefs are pagan prototypes of the Christian sacrifice. On the right is Mucius Scaevola, before Lars Porsena, thrusting his hand into the fire,--the ancient type of heroism and readiness to suffer; on the opposite side is a pagan sacrifice, with Pan playing the pipes, signifying the propitiatory sacrifices of the ancients, and thus foreshadowing the Sacrifice on the Cross. The landscape background carries out the same ideas. On the right is a barren hill with leafless trees, and at its base some ancient ruins and a crumbling fountain. In contrast to this on the opposite side is a prosperous and well-fortified city, lying amid meadows; a church tower; the sky above is rosy with the light of early dawn. Figures are seen turning from the ancient ruins and making their way along the path which leads to a new and better home, the Christian city (Richter's Lectures on the National Gallery, p. 37).
This little picture is among the earliest of Bellini's works. The abnormal length of the figure of Christ and the exaggerated length and straightness of the forearms are points which should be noticed in this connection, resembling as they do characteristics of other early works by the painter, and also the drawings of his father, Jacopo. But "already, in spite of the archaism of form, he shows a feeling for atmospheric tonality; the ruin to the right and the two figures near it are, as painters say, in their place; that is to say, the treatment as regards relations of tone is such as the linear perspective would lead us to expect. Still more surprising is the way in which the eye is led down the valley to free spaces of luminous air" (Roger Fry: Giovanni Bellini, p. 18). The subject is a rare one in Italian art. Mr. Fry gives a reproduction of a similar figure in a picture by Crivelli in the Poldi Pezzoli Collection at Milan; and Dr. Richter, one from a woodcut in Savonarola's treatise on "Humility," first printed in 1492.
1234. "A MUSE INSPIRING A COURT POET."
Dosso Dossi (Ferrarese: 1479-1542). See 640.
Called a "court poet" because, one may suppose, of his sleek and uninspired appearance; but poets do not always look their parts, and 'tis the function of the Muse "to mould the secret gold." But perhaps the artist had some gently sarcastic intention, for it is but a small sprig that the Muse has spared to the poet from her garland. The head of the poet is clearly a portrait. That of the Muse "is as fine in technique and condition as anything in the whole range of Dossi's work" (Benson).
1239, 1240. THE MURDER OF THE INNOCENTS.
Girolamo Mocetto (Venetian: worked 1484-1514).
Mocetto was a native of Verona, but a pupil of Giovanni Bellini at Venice. He was "one of the earliest," says Lanzi (ii. 167), "and least polished among Bellini's disciples." And it is interesting to contrast the accomplished and beautiful work of the master (1233) with the almost ludicrous imperfections of these two pictures by the pupil. Notice especially the absurd attitude of the attendant to the left, in 1239; and in 1240, the expression of grief in the mother. Mocetto's claim to distinction rests rather on his rare engravings, executed from the designs of Giovanni Bellini and Mantegna. He "was also the painter of the great window in the church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo (Venice), which, although badly restored, still remains a magnificent work" (Layard, i. 332).
These works probably formed the wings of a triptych. In the former scene Herod directs the massacre which has already begun; in the second, the massacre is at its height.
1241. CHRIST PREACHING IN THE TEMPLE.
Pedro Campaña (Flemish-Italian: 1503-1580).
The painter of this picture forms an interesting link in the history of art. "In Spain the influence exercised over the national school by the northern Gothic masters was weakened at an early stage by the Italian Renaissance. Strange to say, a Fleming, who had learned his art in the school of Michael Angelo, was the chief instrument by which Italy asserted her power. Peter de Kampencer, to whom the Spaniards gave the name of Pedro Campaña, was born in Brussels. He left Italy, where he had enjoyed the protection of Cardinal Grimani, for Seville (1548), where he founded an academy." Luis de Morales (see 1229) is said to have been among his disciples. One of his masterpieces, a "Descent from the Cross," in Santa Cruz, was the picture which Murillo was never tired of admiring (see the story told under 13). Besides such large altar-pieces, "he was accustomed," says Lanzi (i. 402, Bohn's edition), "to paint small pictures, which were eagerly sought after by the English, and transferred to their country, where they were highly prized." In 1560 Campaña returned to his native city, and became official painter to the tapestry works there.
The subject of this "celebrated picture" (as Lanzi calls it) is "The Magdalen led by St. Martha to the Temple, to hear the preaching of Christ." Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, is identified in legend with the Magdalen, and her conversion is said to have begun with the incident here depicted. The kneeling figure of the Magdalen is conspicuous amongst the women listeners; she is encouraged by Martha, who points to the preacher (see Mrs. Jameson's Sacred and Legendary Art, p. 219, ed. 1850, for other representations of this subject).
1243. PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG MAN.
C. W. Heimbach (German: 1613-1678).
Dated 1662. Notice the characteristic "steeple-crowned" hat.
1247. THE CARD PLAYERS.
Nicolas Maes (Dutch: 1632-1693). See 153.
This picture, purchased in 1888 at the sale of the Gatton Park (Lord Oxenbridge's) Collection, was stated by the auctioneer to be by Rembrandt, but there is little doubt that it is really by his disciple, Maes; though, as it is larger than most of the known works by that master, other critics have ascribed it to another pupil of Rembrandt, Carl Faber, or Fabricius. "In any case it is unmistakably of the Rembrandt school, and owes its inspiration to the method of presentation peculiar to the master. From every technical point of view it is first-rate. It is infused with the largeness of style, the just appreciation of character, and the glowing colour, to be found in Rembrandt's matured works. It is the turn of the girl to play. She regards her hand in evident perplexity, doubtful which card to throw down. The man is apparently sure of his game" (Times, June 4, 1888).
1248. PORTRAIT OF A LADY.
Bartholomeus van der Helst (Dutch: 1611-1670). See 140.
The sitter belonged to the Braganza family. So prematurely demure is this plain little girl that, in spite of the fact that her hair is "down" and that she wears a round nursery cap, she is dignified with the title of "A Lady." She is certainly every inch a grown-up lady in her rich brocade dress, pearl necklace, and costly feathers. Van der Helst gave special attention, says Sir F. Burton, to "the discrimination of stuffs, and his skill in reproducing the lustre and shimmer of jewellery or gold embroidery and the delicacy of the lace-worker's art has never been equalled." The picture is signed, and dated 1645.
1251. PORTRAIT OF A MAN.
Frans Hals (Dutch: 1580-1666). See 1021.
It is only at Haarlem that the full power of Hals can be seen; but this picture shows something of his dash and facility. There is, indeed, upon it a stamp of power and individuality, alike in conception and treatment, which makes it one of the most interesting portraits in the Gallery. It is signed with the painter's monogram, and dated 1633. Possibly it is a portrait of the painter himself; and certainly it shows the type of a man to which Hals belonged--Hals, the dashing volunteer who fought in the military guilds, the good-for-nothing, daredevil fellow who loved his glass and was none too faithful in his domestic relations, whose excesses brought him finally to penury, but whose high spirit and unfailing dash enabled him to remain true, through it all, to the calling of his art.
1252. A FRUIT-PIECE.
Frans Snyders (Flemish: 1579-1657).
Snyders was one of the principal Flemish painters of animals and still life, and his talents were so much admired by Rubens that the latter often employed him to paint fruit, game, and other accessories in his pictures. Rubens in exchange sometimes drew the figures in pictures by Snyders, whom, as a last proof of affection, he appointed by will to manage the sale of his works of art. Snyders received many commissions, too, from the Archduke Albert and from Philip III. of Spain. His earlier pictures were confined to representations--such as this one of fruit and vegetables, or of dead game and fish. In the establishment of his parents, who were proprietors of a large eating-house, he had ample opportunity of studying such models. "Snyders is not to be surpassed," says Sir F. Burton, "in the painting of fruit. With his fine appreciation of colour, and his large method of handling, he reproduced with few but masterly touches the characteristic surface of each luscious product of the garden, with greater truth to nature than was generally attained by those painters who sought it by means of minute and laborious imitation." Afterwards Snyders enlarged his scope, and produced those scenes of the chase for which he became celebrated. The vigour which Snyders threw into these productions is extraordinary, but pictures of animals in savage chase or butchered agony do not appeal to all tastes. "I know no pictures," says Ruskin, "more shameful to humanity than the boar and lion hunts of Rubens and Snyders, signs of disgrace all the deeper because the powers desecrated are so great. The painter of the village ale-house sign may, not dishonourably, paint the fox-hunt for the village squire; but the occupation of magnificent art power in giving semblance of perpetuity to those bodily pangs which Nature has mercifully ordained to be transient, and in forcing us, by the fascination of its stormy skill, to dwell on that from which eyes of merciful men should instinctively turn away, and eyes of high-minded men scornfully, is dishonourable alike in the power which it degrades, and the joy to which it betrays" (Modern Painters, vol. v. pt. ix. ch. vi. § 19).
1255. A STUDY OF STILL LIFE.
Jan Jans van de Velde (Dutch: born 1622).
This rare painter, perhaps the son of Jan van de Velde, the engraver, was settled at Amsterdam in 1642. Besides being a painter he was in business as a broker, and was described in the marriage register as a silver-wire drawer. This picture is dated 1656.
1256. A STUDY OF STILL LIFE.
Herman Steenwyck (Dutch: 17th Century).
This Steenwyck is not to be confused with the painter of architectural interiors (see 1132). Herman, and a brother, Pieter, were painters of still-life subjects at Leyden.
1257. THE BIRTH OF THE VIRGIN.
Murillo (Spanish: 1618-1682). See 13.
A sketch for the large picture now in the Louvre (No. 540). "Like so many of the sketches of Murillo, it is so light in touch," says one of the critics, "so exquisite in colour, as to be, from an artistic point of view, preferable to the finished picture." This, however, is not the only advantage which Murillo gains from smallness of scale. There is a prettiness, and even a sentimentality, permissible on a small scale which offends the dignity of a large canvas. Thus, the "affectation" of the attendant angels is far less "absurd" here than in the large picture. "One of the cherubs shrinks back," adds Mr. Eastlake in his Louvre catalogue, "frightened at a dog, which seems a strangely human act of weakness; another holds up a piece of baby-linen, with a provokingly fantastic air." But herein we have the very characteristics which make the religious sentiment of Murillo's pictures interesting. In the early Italian pictures the Virgin is a great lady, living in a fine house or spacious cloister. But in Spain the symbols of devotion passed into realities; and a combination of mysticism in conception with realism in treatment is the distinguishing "note" of the Spanish religious school. One could not wish for a prettier presentment of this mingled note than is afforded by this little sketch, with its angels half in ecstatic adoration over the "Lily of Eden," and half in human playfulness--a sketch which seems to combine with the frank realities of a humble nursery the religious sentiment of Keble's Christian Year:--
Ave Maria! blessed maid! Lily of Eden's fragrant shade, Who can express the love That nurtured thee so pure and sweet, Making thy heart a shelter meet For Jesus' Holy Dove!
1258. A STUDY OF STILL LIFE
J. B. S. Chardin (French: 1699-1779).
Jean Baptiste Siméon Chardin was the contemporary of Boucher (1090), and his pictures may serve to remind us that there was a bourgeoisie in France as well as a noblesse when Louis XV. was king. The simple subject of this picture--a loaf of brown bread, with a bottle of wine, spread out on a piece of old newspaper--takes us far away from the luxurious trifling of the Court painters. Chardin followed the path of frank realism, treating, however, all his subjects with refinement. To Dutch precision he added Gallic grace. He painted either still life (as here) or scenes from the domestic life of the people (as in 1664, and in a picture in the Dulwich Gallery). His treatment was devoid of affectation, and his colouring fresh and agreeable. "He is the best colourist in the Salon," said Diderot of him in his lifetime. Chardin, in the exercise of his honest industry, knew how difficult it was to excel, and said on one occasion to Diderot and the other critics, "Gently, good sirs, gently! Out of all the pictures that are here seek the very worst; and know that two thousand unhappy wretches have bitten their brushes in two with their teeth, in despair of ever doing even so badly." Chardin's fellow-workers appreciated his merits, and he was elected a member of the Academy in 1728, becoming Treasurer of that body in 1755. There is a large collection of his works in the Louvre. They fell into disrepute during the succeeding reign of David and the "classical" school, but they have again won a high position in the estimation of those who know. This picture (which is signed, and dated 1754) was presented to the Gallery; for No. 1664, purchased in 1898, the sum of £721 was paid.
Chardin's pictures show that instinctive "power of reticence" which is one of the secrets of fine art. "It is what gives value to such humble efforts as the study of still-life subjects, and raises them--as in the works of the French painters, Chardin especially, and of some of the Dutch painters--above the level of mere mechanical imitations, and transforms them into works capable of giving us real pleasure" (Poynter's Lectures on Art, p. 195).
1260-1270. EARLY GREEK PORTRAITS.
These eleven portraits are part of the find by Mr. Flinders Petrie, in his excavations at Hawara, in the Fayoum (Middle Egypt), and are of great interest as supplying a fresh link in the historical development of art as exhibited in the National Gallery. Here is portraiture in its infancy. But even these portraits, done probably by Græco-Egyptian artists in the second or third century A.D., are later developments from an earlier stage. They were affixed to the outside covering of mummies in a position corresponding to the head of the corpse:[237] the exact arrangement can be seen in two mummies from the same "find," now in the British Museum. "They are derived," says Miss Amelia B. Edwards, "by a clearly traced process of evolution from the portrait-heads first modelled in stucco upon Egyptian mummy cases, and then painted. From coloured portraiture in high relief to coloured portraiture on flexible canvas, where a certain amount of relief was obtained by the prominence of the bandaged face beneath, was one step; and from the flexible canvas to the panel upon which the semblance of relief was given by light and shadow and foreshortening was another and far more important step. It marked the transition from the Eastern to the Western school of painting." The portraits are painted with pigments of rich colour on thin panels of cedar wood, wax being the medium employed. "The rather lumpy surface or impasto which comes from the use of a wax medium is very obvious. The melted wax rapidly hardened when the brush touched the cold surface of the panel, and so prevented the pigment from being laid in a smooth, even manner. The wood was not, like stucco, sufficiently absorbent for the subsequent application of heat to get rid of the lumpy surface by driving the superfluous wax below the surface" (Middleton's Remains of Ancient Rome, i. 100). The persons buried with these panel portraits were mostly of Greek origin; but some--as, for instance, the man (No. 1265, presented by Mr. Haworth)--seemed rather to be of the Roman type. The faces exhibit all variations, from living grace to the emptiest vacuity. It has been suggested that "the better portraits were painted from the life, whilst in other cases the painter was perhaps only sent for after death, and this may account for the vague and lifeless looks of many of the portraits, inanimate in spite of the wide, open, and vacuous smile." It will be noticed that "the style of the portraits is usually conventional precisely in those details which make the difference between one living face and another. The eyes, which more than any other feature should impart the living expression in all these cases, are executed in a perfunctory and formal manner. And they are, moreover, in many cases too large for the face. This is not merely due to the inability of the artists, for many of these portraits show a real grasp of character and a distinct technical skill in the modelling, notably in that, perhaps, most difficult of tasks, the indication of the play of muscles around the mouth. Under these circumstances I think no one will deny that the measure of success achieved in some of the best of these portraits is very remarkable. The old man in particular (1265) shows a breadth of style and a quiet humour which reminds us of some of the Dutch masters of the Teniers school. Of course there are good and bad among them; the quality probably depended to some extent upon the price which the relative could afford to pay. One wonders what the price may have been, especially when we read of the enormous sums which great pictures fetched in the palmy days of Greek painting. Most of these people seem to have been well to do, as the gold wreaths of the men and the jewellery of the women prove" (Cecil Smith, ch. vi. of W. M. F. Petrie's Hawara, Biahmu, and Arsinoe: 1889). No. 1261 retains the greater part of a gilt gesso border, stamped or modelled with a wavy tendril and bud pattern.
1277. A MAN'S PORTRAIT.
Nicolas Maes (Dutch: 1632-1693). See 153.
Signed, and dated 1666. A singularly lifelike portrait of a singularly unattractive face.
1278. A CONVIVIAL PARTY.
Hendrik Gerritsz Pot (Dutch: about 1600-1656).
The picture is signed HP (on the side of the projecting chimney). Several pictures--chiefly conversation-pieces and portraits (including one of Charles I. in the Louvre)--bear these initials. They are supposed to belong to the above-named artist, of whom it is recorded that he visited England and made portraits of the king.
An ordinary scene of the kind, but there is a pleasant touch in the little dog who furtively licks the hand of its half-tipsy master.
1280. CHRIST APPEARING AFTER HIS RESURRECTION
Unknown (Early Flemish: 15th Century).
The Virgin Mary sits on the edge of an old-fashioned bedstead. Christ, with the marks of the wounds in breast and feet, faces her, and behind him is a great company of saints, kneeling. Highly finished throughout.
1282. SAN ZENOBIO RESTORING TO LIFE A DEAD CHILD.
Jacopo Chimenti da Empoli (Florentine: 1554-1640).
Chimenti, of Empoli, near Florence, was "an imitator of Andrea del Sarto, and distinguished for his Madonnas; he was distinguished also for his love of good eating, and acquired from his contemporaries the nickname of L' Empilo, instead of L' Empoli, which is as much as to say stewpan" (Wornum, Epochs of Painting, p. 356). He was largely employed in the churches of Florence and the neighbourhood. His best production is his "St. Ives" in the Uffizi: "in noble conception and truth and glow of colour it reminds us of the best of the old Florentine masters."
St. Zenobio (died A.D. 417) was a Bishop of Florence, famous in his time for his eloquence and good works, and a favourite saint with the Florentines in after ages. The following is the legend painted in this picture:--"A French lady of noble lineage, who was performing a pilgrimage to Rome, stopped at Florence on the way, in order to see the good bishop Zenobio, of whom she had heard so much, and having received his blessing she proceeded to Rome, leaving in his care her little son. The day before her return to Florence, the child died. She was overwhelmed with grief, and took the child and laid him down at the feet of St. Zenobio, who, by the efficacy of his prayers, restored the child to life, and gave him back to the arms of his mother" (Mrs. Jameson, Sacred and Legendary Art, p. 415).
1284. ST. FRANCIS AND ST. MARK.
Antonio Vivarini (Venetian: died 1470). See 768.
A companion panel to the one already in the Gallery; see 768. The design of the pedestal is, it will be seen, the same in both.
1285. PORTRAIT OF NAPOLEON I.
Horace Vernet (French: 1789-1863).
Emile John Horace Vernet, soldier and artist, was the grandson of Claude Joseph Vernet (236). He was decorated in 1814 by Napoleon for his gallant conduct before the enemy at the Barrière de Clichy, on which occasion he served in a regiment of hussars. In the Louvre there is a picture by him representing the defence of Paris on that occasion. On the fall of the Empire he left France for a time, but he gradually won the favour of the court. In 1833 he joined the French army at Algiers, and there gathered material for the huge battle-pieces which he painted for Louis Philippe. The Crimean War furnished him with another congenial set of subjects. His work had a great vogue in its day, but owed more to its patriotic and stirring subject-matter than to abiding artistic qualities.
Less ideal than the beautiful sketch which David made of Napoleon as First Consul, or the later conventional pictures painted for a generation which had not seen the original. There is no dreamy intensity in the eyes, and no engaging smile. The famous lock in the centre of the forehead is there, and the face is still handsome, imposing, and resolute; but there is already something of the heaviness which presaged his fall.
1286. A BOY DRINKING.
Murillo (Spanish: 1618-1682). See 13.
"The boy is resting his left arm on a table and holding a square bottle, like one of those used for schiedam. The head is finely modelled, with a firm, broad touch; the bright eyes are deep set under the brow, and they betray eager delight in the draught he is taking. The flesh tones are unusually pure and bright for Murillo. The picture seems to be that which, named 'A Spanish Youth Drinking,' was sold in 1836 with Lord Charles Townshend's collection for £414. With the Earl of Clare's pictures was sold, in 1864, 'A Peasant holding a Bottle and drinking from a Glass,' which had belonged to Prince Talleyrand and Lord C. Townshend,' for £1365" (Athenæum).
1287. INTERIOR OF AN ART GALLERY.
Dutch School (17th Century).
Of interest alike for its technical skill and for its historical information. No less than forty-two pictures hang upon the walls of the "Art Gallery," and the collection is very interesting as showing the taste of an amateur of the period. In addition to these, there are globes, gems, maps, engravings, nautical instruments, pieces of sculpture, and other "objects of vertu"--all painted with miniature-like delicacy. Especially charming is an elaborately inlaid cabinet with china and other "curios" upon it. Notice also the fine Persian carpet. The art treasures are being eagerly scanned by several groups of connoisseurs, whilst--with a touch, perhaps, of satiric intent--a monkey is perched on the window-sill, criticising the critics. It is interesting to note that with only three exceptions all the paintings depicted in the Art Gallery are in black frames. This was the common practice with the Low Country painters. Several of the latest additions to the Dutch pictures in the Gallery are in their original black frames. The famous Teniers at Vienna of "The Archduke's Gallery" is an equally apt illustration of the taste of Dutch and Flemish painters (Athenæum, 2nd January 1892).
1288. FROST SCENE.
Aart van der Neer (Dutch: 1619-1692). See 152.
1289. LANDSCAPE WITH CATTLE.
Cuyp (Dutch: 1620-1691). See 53.
A characteristic little work. In the distance is a ruined castle-keep in the water, which may be the same building as that depicted in No. 824.
1291. THE ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN.
Juan de Valdes Leal (Spanish: 1630-1691).
Valdes Leal, who was born at Cordova, settled afterwards at Seville, where he became the first President of the Academy in that city. It is to him that some critics have assigned the "Dead Orlando" in this room (741). His most famous picture--"one of the most repulsive, but also most impressive ever painted," says Mr. W. B. Scott--is "The Two Dead Men," in the Hospital of Charity at Seville, representing a charnel house with the partially-decayed corpses of a bishop and a noble. So dreadful is the realism that Murillo said he never could approach the picture without fancying he smelt the horror. "Ah, my compeer," replied the flattered realist, "it is not my fault; you have taken all the sweet fruit out of the basket and left only the rotten."
In the present picture Valdes Leal has picked sweet fruit too; indeed it is over sweet. The donatrix of the picture and her son are shown in either corner, while in the midst the Virgin ascends to Heaven, surrounded by bands of angels. The picture is thoroughly characteristic, in its florid type of sentiment, of the Spanish school.
1292. A FAMILY GROUP.
Jan van Bylert (Dutch: 1603-1671).
A painter of Utrecht; entered the Guild of Painters there in 1630, and repeatedly filled the office of its Dean. Studied at Utrecht under A. Bloemaert, and afterwards visited Italy and France. His works are numerous in the galleries of Amsterdam and Utrecht.
They are plain old people, truth to tell, this group of two Dutch housewives and a Dutch burgher, and they are somewhat too obviously sitting for their portraits. How prim and neat all the surroundings are! how pretty is the trailing rose on the balustrade! and with what quiet, unobtrusive fidelity the whole picture is painted!
1293. MUSICAL PASTIME.
Jan Miense Molenaer (Dutch: died 1668).
This painter, the best of three artists of the same name, "excelled in representing peasant interiors and scenes of rustic life in a quiet style and in skilfully graduated tints. His colouring is warm and clear; his drawing spirited, and his touch full of life. Besides this, he possessed a certain refinement, and his humour never overstepped the bounds of decency. While his works retain characteristics peculiar to him, they manifest also something of the styles of Steen, Brauwer, and Ostade" (Havard: The Dutch School, p. 159). He was a native of Haarlem, and afterwards settled in Amsterdam. His earlier works (such as the present picture) suggest the tutelage of Frans Hals; the later works show the influence of Rembrandt.
This picture (which is signed on the side of the foot-warmer) is a capital example of the artist. "The fair faces of the singers are very spontaneously expressive of their gaiety, and have something of the animation of Jan Steen without his vulgar types and occasional grimace."
1294. AN ALLEGORICAL SUBJECT.
William van de Poorter (Dutch: painted 1630-1645).
This painter was a native of Haarlem, where he belonged to the Guild of Painters, and was a pupil of Rembrandt. In this picture the light, coming from the top on our left, falls on the globe and figure with Rembrandtesque effect.
The subject is perhaps a "Vigil of Arms," and may depict a knight or king passing the night before his investiture in the seclusion of a private chapel. On the altar before which he stands are a globe, two crowns, and several documents. His left hand is turned slightly forward, as if to call attention to the action, while in his right hand he holds a sceptre with its point resting on the globe. On the floor in front of the altar lie his arms and armour; behind, hangs his banner. On his head is a laurel wreath; and over a bright breastplate he wears the richly embroidered robe of his order.
1295. MADONNA AND CHILD, WITH SAINTS.
Girolamo Giovenone (Lombard: early 16th Century).
Giovenone was a native of Vercelli, in which city several fine pictures by him are preserved. Other painters who worked, or were born, at Vercelli are Macrino d' Alba (1200), Lanini (700), and Gaudenzio Ferrari (1465). By some critics our picture is assigned to another painter of the same school, Defendente Ferrari (see Catalogue of the Burlington Fine Arts Club's Exhibition, 1898, p. lxxix.). Examples of both painters may be seen in the Turin Gallery.
The Virgin and Child are flanked by the kneeling figures of two men, perhaps brothers, who were doubtless the donors of the picture. Behind each of them stands his patron saint, patting the devotee approvingly on the back. The Virgin's face is charming; so also are two little angels, who are quaintly perched up aloft, one on either side sitting on ledges of the canopied throne. The picture is a good example of symmetry--almost exaggerated, one may think--in composition.
1296, 1297. LANDSCAPES.
Giuseppe Zais (Venetian: died 1784).
Zais, a Venetian, was a pupil of the Florentine landscape and decorative painter Zuccarelli (1702-1788) who settled for many years at Venice. Zuccarelli in 1752 came to this country, where in 1768 he became an original member of the Royal Academy. The works of Zais also for a time attracted the attention of English amateurs, but he died a pauper in the hospital of Treviso.
Amusing examples of the so-called "pastoral landscape," which found favour in the last century--the landscape painted "in praise of the country by men who lived in coffee-houses." Zais was nearly contemporary with Longhi, and shows us the same Venetians in villeggiatura whom Longhi shows us in town (see 1100 and 1101). In 1286 we see some "picturesque" farm-buildings on one side of a stream, with a "picturesque" cow-herd asleep; whilst on the other side is a party of gay ladies--dressed in crinolines and bows, and devoid of hats, shawls, or wraps--flirting with beaux. The companion picture (1297) is conceived in the same style; but the ladies are here fishing, though, to judge from the amateurishness of their proceeding, they are not likely to catch fish.
1298. LANDSCAPE: RIVER SCENE.
Joachim Patinir (Early Flemish: died 1524). See 715.
This picture, acquired in Florence in 1889 together with two by Zais (1296, 1297), was for some years attributed to the Venetian school. It is now recognised as a work of Patinir. The heavy blue tone of that painter's distances here gives way to a lighter colour; but the fantastic landscape has strong resemblances to No. 716. If by Patinir, the work is unique in being one of pure landscape, with no scriptural incident. "The earliest independent landscape that we possess by an old master, the first admission that inanimate nature pure and simple is worth making a picture of. In the left corner is the artist sketching, which is a sort of guarantee that he worked in the open air, and that he had been struck with the beauty of some such prospect.... He has been so used to regard landscape as an accessory that he does not dare to paint it except from a distance, or on any but a minute scale, and he enlivens it with signs of human industry in the raft and the limekiln. It is as though a landscape had stepped out of the background of some old picture, and asserted its independence with fear and trembling" (Monkhouse: In the National Gallery, p. 202).
1299. PORTRAIT OF A YOUTH.
Domenico Ghirlandajo (Florentine: 1449-1494). See 1230.
It is interesting to compare this portrait with Botticelli's of a somewhat similar subject (No. 626). Both were probably "good likenesses"; but Ghirlandajo's is less forcible and impressive than Botticelli's.
1300. VIRGIN AND CHILD.
Unknown (Milanese School: 15th-16th Century).
Apparently by a follower of Leonardo.
1301. PORTRAIT OF SAVONAROLA.
Unknown (Florentine: 15th Century).
A portrait of the great patriot-priest of Florence (1452-1498), whose strange career is familiar to all readers of George Eliot's Romola. Ultimately he was condemned to death, with his two disciples; and on the back of the portrait is a representation of their execution. They were hung on a cross, and burnt.
1302. THE SOUL OF ST. BERTIN.
1303. A CHOIR OF ANGELS.
Simon Marmion (French: 1425-1489).
These two panels are the uppermost portions of an altar-screen painted for the Abbey Church of St. Bertin at St. Omer. The remaining portions are now in the King's Palace at the Hague. These shutters, and a diptych belonging to the Duc d'Aumale, are the only works that have come down to us of Marmion, a painter of Valenciennes, worthy (according to the chroniclers of his time) of great admiration. The two panels before us had been reposing for thirty years in a lumber-room at the South Kensington Museum.
1304. MARCUS CURTIUS.
Unknown (Umbrian School: 16th Century).
So described in the Official Catalogue. By Signor Frizzoni the picture is considered to be of the Florentine school, and is ascribed to Francesco Ubertini, for whom see No. 1218 (Archivio Storico dell' Arte, 1895, p. 104).
The subject is supposed to be that of the Roman youth who sacrificed himself by leaping into a chasm which (said the oracle) would never close until Rome threw into it the most precious thing she had. What did Rome possess more precious than her arms and courage, said Curtius as he prepared to leap, in full armour, into the gulf. If this be the subject here represented, the picture shows in an interesting way the frank anachronism of the early painters, for the local colour is certainly not that of the Roman Forum, where Curtius took his self-sacrificing leap. The picture bears strong resemblance to Raphael's earlier manner, as any visitor will see who compares it with the "Vision of a Knight" (213). "Michael Field" has put the sentiment of the picture into verse in Sight and Song:--
He comes from yonder castle on the steep, No Roman, but a lovely Christian knight, With azure vest and florid mantle bright, Blown, golden hair and youthful face flushed deep For glory in the triumph of the leap. Though his mild, amber horse rears back at sight Of the red flames, though poised for thrust his right Hand grasps a knife, his countenance doth keep Soft as Saint Michael's with the devil at bay. So sweet it is to cast one's life away In the fresh pride and perfume of its breath! He smiles to think how soon the cleft will close: And see, a sun-brimmed cloud above him throws Its white effulgence, as he fares to death.
1305. A FAMILY GROUP.
G. Donck (Dutch: 17th Century).
There are other signed pictures by this little known painter in private collections in Vienna. They bear the dates 1627 and 1635.
Portraits of Jan van Hensbeeck and his wife, Maria Koeck, with their infant child between them.
1308. PORTRAIT OF A MAN.
J. B. Martinez del Mazo (Spanish: 1610-1687).
Juan Bautista Martinez del Mazo, the favourite pupil and the son-in-law of Velazquez, whom he succeeded in 1661 as painter to the Spanish Court. In portraiture Mazo was an imitator of the great master; he also painted hunting pieces and landscapes. His view of Zaragoza, now in the Madrid Gallery, is celebrated.
A very short thick-set figure; possibly a portrait of one of Philip IV.'s court dwarfs.
1309. PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG MAN.
Bernardino Licinio (Venetian: painted 1524-1541).
The above are the earliest and latest dates on his pictures. He was a native of Pordenone, in Friuli; a pupil and relative of the better known painter who is called after that place. There are two pictures by Bernardino at Hampton Court--"A Lady playing on the virginals," of rich though muddy colouring; and "A Family Group" (dated 1524)--monotonous in composition, but brilliant in colour (see Mary Logan's Guide, p. 25). He also painted altar-pieces, among which one in the Frari at Venice is the best.
A young man with feminine features. His black gown, lined with gray fur, is left open at the chest and discloses a gold chain and pendant. On the stone plinth whereon he leans is an inscription, "Stephanus Nani. abavro XVII. MDXXVIII·Lycinivs. P."
1310. "ECCE HOMO!"
Cima da Conegliano (Venetian: 1460-1518). See 300.
This picture was sold as a Carlo Dolci; but the attribution was an obvious absurdity. There is no resemblance whatever between the affected sentimentality of Dolci and the sincere pathos of this picture. Its deep and rich colouring also is very different from Dolci's. Sir Frederick Burton labelled his trouvaille "Giovanni Bellini." But its attribution to Cima is now accepted. "This type of Christ," says Mr. Claude Phillips, "of a perfect, manly beauty, of a divine meekness tempering majesty, dates back not to Gian Bellino but to Cima. The preferred type of the elder master is more passionate, more human. Our own Incredulity of St. Thomas, by Cima, shows in a much more perfunctory fashion a Christ similarly conceived" (The Earlier Work of Titian, p. 31 n.). To the same effect a writer in the Academy (July 26, 1890) says: "The modelling--not precise or searching enough for Giambellino--resembles that of his gifted pupil, the parted lips being one of his especial characteristics, as may be noted in his great 'Incredulity of St Thomas' (816). The treatment of the heavy wig-like masses of the hair, with its fine lines, is very similar to that of the Saviour's parted locks in the larger work, while a certain want of flexibility in the muscles of the face is also a distinguishing mark of the master. More striking still is the coincidence that from the head of Christ issue in both instances single rays, disposed in three distinct and separate fasciculi--an arrangement not found, as far as we are aware, in the works of Giovanni Bellini, and never common in Italian art. The peculiarly brilliant blue of the drapery is paralleled by that of the little 'St. Jerome' from the Hamilton Palace Collection, and approached by that of the 'Virgin and Child'--both these panels being sufficiently representative examples of Cima. Comparison has in these remarks been restricted to works in the National Gallery, as being most readily available for purposes of verification. The influence of Antonello--from whom Bellini himself borrowed so much--is, in the new acquisition, undeniable, and may account for a virility and an intensity of pathos not often reached even in the better productions of the sympathetic Bellinesque painter to whom we would attribute it."
1311. A WINTER SCENE.
Jan Beerestraaten (Dutch: 1622-1687).
This painter was the son of a cooper of Amsterdam. He travelled much in Holland, staying in all the towns he visited, and copying their monuments, squares, and thoroughfares, and leaving everywhere on his route a great number of sketches and pictures. He painted Italian views also, but these pictures may have been founded on local sketches by other Dutch artists. "His manner of painting was vigorous; delicate finish and precision of touch were less his aim than freedom of handling combined with broad contrasts of tone, where the colour, of a subdued richness, shows brilliancy and often loses itself in harmonies of gray" (Official Catalogue, and Havard's Dutch School, p. 239).
The castle is that of Muiden, between Amsterdam and Naarden. The fortified village is in the distance. On the left is the Zuyder Zee. Signed in the foreground, and dated 1658.
1312. THE VILLAGE COBBLER.
Jan Victoors (Dutch: 1620-1672).
Victoors, a native of Amsterdam, was a pupil of Rembrandt, and attempted biblical subjects in the style of his master; a picture by him in this kind may be seen in the Dulwich Gallery. But he is seen at his best in portraits and domestic subjects, such as that treated in the present picture.
1313. THE ORIGIN OF "THE MILKY WAY."
Tintoretto (Venetian: 1518-1594). See 16.
This work, acquired from the Earl of Darnley, is a particularly welcome addition to the National Gallery; for the two works by Tintoret previously in the collection,--the "St. George and the Dragon" and "Christ Washing the Disciples' Feet,"--though fairly representative of his more sombre mood, give no idea whatever of such radiant forms and sweeping harmonies as those with which he decorated the Ducal Palace at Venice. This picture immediately recalls these last-mentioned works, for it was doubtless designed as the centre-piece for some painted ceiling. The picture is a very beautiful representation of a classic myth of the Milky Way. Hermes, it is told, carried the infant Hercules to Olympus, and put him to the breast of Juno while she lay asleep; but, as she awoke, she pushed the child from her, and the milk thus spilled produced the Milky Way. In this picture, however, we see Jupiter himself descending through the air and bearing the child in his arms. Juno is rising undraped from her couch, surrounded by little loves, and attended by peacocks--emblems of her royal state as Queen of Heaven; while in the deep-blue firmament is the eagle carrying the thunderbolt of Jupiter. From her bosom issue long lacteal jets that seem, as it were, to crystallise into stars. Sumptuous draperies float around the ground, and in most poetical composition Tintoret has thus "mingled with their gorgeous dyes The milky baldric of the skies." There is a study for the picture in the Accademia at Venice.
1314. THE AMBASSADORS.
Hans Holbein, the Younger (German: 1497-1543).
Hans Holbein--"the greatest master," says Ruskin, "of the German, or any northern school"--is closely identified with England, and at least seventy important works by him are, it is calculated, in this country. He is called "the younger," to distinguish him from his father of the same name, who was also a celebrated painter.[238] The son was born at Augsburg, but migrated early in life to Basle--then a centre of literary and artistic activity. There he formed a friendship with Erasmus, a portrait of whom from his hand is now one of the treasures of the Basle Museum. Both at Basle and at Lucerne Holbein was engaged in portraiture, house-decorating, and designs for goldsmiths' work. Ruskin traces to Holbein's surroundings at Basle the serious temper which characterises much of his art. "A grave man, knowing what steps of men keep truest time to the chanting of Death. Having grave friends also;--the same singing heard far off, it seems to me, or, perhaps even low in the room, by that family of Sir Thomas More; or mingling with the hum of bees in the meadows outside the towered wall of Basle; or making the words of the book more tuneable, which meditative Erasmus looks upon. Nay, that same soft death-music is on the lips even of Holbein's Madonna." The reference here is to the famous "Darmstadt Madonna," which was painted about 1526. In that year, leaving his wife and child behind him, Holbein set out for England, with letters from Erasmus to Sir Thomas More, who received him with honour. From 1528 to 1532 he was again in Basle. In the latter year he returned to England to find More in disgrace, and no longer able to assist him. Holbein, however, met with a warm reception from the German merchants of the Steelyard, and painted portraits of many of them. To this same period also the present picture belongs. Gradually he became known at court, and from 1536 onwards he was in the service of Henry VIII., whose high opinion of Holbein is recorded in the King's rebuke to one of his courtiers for insulting the painter: "You have not to do with Holbein, but with me; and I tell you that of seven peasants I can make seven lords, but not one Holbein." The portrait of Christina of Denmark, lent by the Duke of Norfolk, was one of those painted for the King. He paid during these years several visits to the Continent, but died in this country--being carried off by the plague--in 1543.
It is as a portrait-painter that Holbein is best known. His work in this kind is, says Ruskin, "true and thorough; accomplished in the highest as the most literary sense, with a calm entireness of unaffected resolution, which sacrifices nothing, forgets nothing, and fears nothing." Of his fidelity in portraiture and his fine perfection in accessories, we have a magnificent example in the picture before us, to which what Ruskin says of Holbein's "George Gyzen" (at Berlin) equally applies. "In some qualities of force and grace it is inferior. But it is inexhaustible. Every detail of it wins, retains, rewards the attention with a continually increasing sense of wonderfulness. So far as it reaches, it contains the absolute facts of colour, form, and character rendered with an inaccessible faithfulness. There is no question respecting things which it is best worth while to know, or things which it is unnecessary to state, or which might be overlooked with advantage. What were visible to Holbein, are visible to us; we may despise if we will; deny or doubt, we shall not; if we care to know anything concerning them, great or small, so much as may by the eye be known is for ever knowable, reliable, and indisputable." But Holbein, as we have seen, was much more than a portrait-painter. Few artists, indeed, have excelled him in "majestic range of capacity." His "Madonna" at Darmstadt, referred to above (the better known copy of which is at Dresden), is one of the great religious pictures of the world. (A copy of it is in the Arundel Society's Collection.) He was also a fresco-painter, a designer for glass painting, and a draughtsman for woodcuts; his designs for the "Dance of Death" being the typical expression in Northern art of the spirit of the Reformation. (For Ruskin's estimate of Holbein, see further Sir Joshua & Holbein, reprinted in On the Old Road, vol. i., and Ariadne Florentina, passim.)
This celebrated picture is, says Mr. Sidney Colvin, the most important among Holbein's works--after the Darmstadt Madonna--that are extant in good preservation, important alike as to scale, and as to richness and multiplicity of accessories and costumes. It is also one of those most characteristic of the master, both in his excellences and in his faults. "There are more completely satisfying works among his single-figure portraits, in some of which we find a greater artistic unity--as, for instance, in the portrait of 'Christina, Duchess of Milan.' Among the faults in the present work may be noticed the short proportions of the figures in relation to the heads--an effect exaggerated in the case of the personage on our left by the fashion of the broad surcoat with its great puffed sleeves. It must further be admitted that Holbein, who in decorative and ornamental design was one of the most inventive, adroit, and powerful composers that ever lived, has in this instance seemed to let his composition take care of itself.[239] The figures are placed at either end of the desk, with a certain naïf stiffness almost recalling the pose of a photographic group. Moreover, masterly and energetic as are the heads in modelling, in expression they are somewhat rigid, harsh, and staring. Yet, all deductions made, with what an effective and potent grasp does the picture hold us! The colouring is richer and more varied than in any other painting of the master." The accessories are painted with "such strong minuteness of reality and diligent, though never paltry, emphasis of detail, that their due subordination to the whole and to the personages would seem impossible. But the subordination is there all the same, and how it comes is Holbein's secret. The total effect is one of singularly rich, if somewhat rigid grandeur;[240] the persons dominating as they should; the faces and hands remaining the master features of the picture. The heads, with their hard gaze, lay hold on the spectator masterfully, so that he cannot forget them after he has passed away" (Art Journal, January 1890). The brilliance of the picture, now that the discoloured varnish which formerly concealed many of its beauties has been removed, is very remarkable.[241] Every colour appears to have stood; and after 370 years the picture remains in its pristine freshness.
The identity of the personages portrayed in the picture had long been a subject for critical conjecture among the ingenious. The picture was traditionally known as "The Ambassadors," and the name of almost every ambassador of the period had at one time or another been suggested; while other critics, maintaining that the traditional title rested on no good authority, went further afield and sought to identify the personages with various poets and men of letters, to whom the accessories in the picture seemed appropriate.[242] The matter has now, however, been finally set at rest by the discovery of a seventeenth-century manuscript, which gives a description of the picture and records its history during the first 120 years of its existence.[243] This manuscript, presented by Miss Mary Hervey (who discovered it), is now hung in another part of the Gallery (in the small room marked A on our plan). The traditional title of the picture is confirmed, for the portraits are of Jean de Dinteville (on the left), French Ambassador in England, and George de Selve (on the right), Bishop of Lavaur, and subsequently Ambassador at Venice. The two men, we learn from the MS., were friends; and in 1533, the year in which the picture was painted, George de Selve came to England, by permission of the French king, on a visit to Jean de Dinteville: "and the two, having there met with an excellent painter of Holland, employed him to make this picture, which has been carefully preserved in the same place at Polizy up to the year 1653."
The document itself is convincing, and its identification of the personages agrees with what may be learnt from an examination of the picture. There are three inscriptions on it. One is on the sheath of the dagger which hangs from the girdle of the personage on the spectator's left. This inscription is: "ÆT. SVÆ 29." On the edges of a clasped book, upon which the second personage leans, is another inscription: "ÆTATIS SVÆ 25." Thirdly, in the shadow cast on the floor by the chief personage is the inscription: "IOHANNES HOLBEIN PINGEBAT, 1533." Jean de Dinteville, Seigneur of Polizy, Bailly of Troyes, Chevalier de l'Ordre du Roi,--the order of St. Michael, which he wears in the picture,--was born September 21, 1504, and was, therefore, in his 29th year, or just the age required by the picture, at the time of his first Embassy to England in 1533. He remained in this country from February to November of that year, returning again as Ambassador in 1536. At a later period of his life he became paralysed and retired to his estate at Polizy, where he occupied the enforced leisure of his ill-health in building and embellishing the château, of which a vaulted undercroft and a few other striking fragments, including an inscription and some dates, yet remain as a monument to his tastes. He died in 1555. On the globe, which stands on the lower shelf of the what-not, the names are all of continents, countries, or great cities,--Paris, Lyons, Bayonne, Genoa, Rome, Nuremberg,--with the single exception that, in the east of France, we find the name of what is little more than a village. This name is Polizy.
George de Selve, Bishop of Lavaur, was one of six brothers, nearly all of whom attained distinction as Ambassadors. In 1526, at the early age of 18, he was appointed to the See of Lavaur, but he was not consecrated until 1534, when he was 26. It follows from these dates that in 1533, the year in which he sat to Holbein, he was 25 years old, or precisely of the age recorded in the picture. His non-episcopal dress is explained by the fact that he was only consecrated in the following year, the same in which he was appointed Ambassador at Venice. In 1536 he was transferred to Rome, where he remained two years, and in 1540 we find him intrusted with an important mission to Charles V. Having voluntarily returned to his diocese when at the zenith of his career, in order to devote himself completely to his episcopal duties, he died in 1542 (N.S.) at the early age of 34. His profound learning, his piety, his keen interest in all intellectual pursuits, make him one of the remarkable figures of his day.
Some further description of the details may assist the spectator in his examination of the picture. The background is hung with green damask, which in the upper left-hand corner reveals a silver crucifix. Jean de Dinteville, the figure on the left, habited in the rich costume of the period of Henry VIII. and Francis I., wears a heavy gold chain with the badge (as already explained) of the French Order of St. Michael. In his right hand he holds a richly-chased gold dagger, "the design of which is manifestly Holbein's own; and beside it hangs a large green and gold silk tassel, in itself a miracle of painting." In his black bonnet is a jewel formed of a silver skull set in gold. The other personage is more soberly attired. He wears a loose, long-sleeved gown of mulberry and black brocade, lined with sable, and the four-cornered black cap, "which was in that age the common headgear of scholars, university doctors, and ecclesiastics in undress." "The contrast between the swordsman on one side and the gownsman on the other is characteristic of the era and profession of the two ambassadors." The upper shelf of the stand, or what-not, between the two figures is covered with a Turkish rug, very beautifully painted, and on this are several mathematical and astronomical instruments, and, close to the principal personage, a celestial globe. Conspicuous on the lower shelf is a lute, of which one of the strings was broken and curled up over the unbroken one. On the lower shelf also are a case of flutes; an open music-book, containing part of the score and words of the Lutheran hymn, "Komm, heiliger Geist";[245] a smaller book on arithmetic, kept partly open by a small square, a pair of compasses, and a terrestrial hand-globe (in direct line below the other globe). On this globe the famous line drawn by Pope Alexander VI. in 1493 between the spheres of influence of Spain and Portugal is marked. Underneath the what-not is the lute-case; and a fine mosaic adorns the floor. The design of this is (as Miss Hervey points out) an accurate copy of the well-known mosaic pavement in the Sanctuary of Westminster Abbey, for the construction of which marbles and workmen were brought from Italy by Abbot Richard Ware in the reign of Henry III. "Nothing brings the English sojourn of the great painter more closely home to us than to fancy him wandering through the aisles of the venerable Abbey--venerable even then--to sketch the outlines of the historic pavement trodden by so many generations before and since that time."
On the floor is a mysterious-looking object, which puzzled the connoisseurs for centuries. Even the late Mr. Wornum could make nothing of it; and in his book on Holbein (1867) dismissed it as "a singular object which looks like the bones of some fish." The puzzle was first solved by Dr. Woodward in 1873, when the picture was hung in the "Old Masters" Exhibition. The curious fish-like object is simply the anamorphosis--the distorted projection--of a human skull. It was probably drawn from the reflection in a cylindrical mirror; and it is seen to be an accurate representation when viewed from the proper point. If the spectator cannot discover this for himself, the attendant will readily assist him. One must stand at a little distance off and look in the direction of the length of the object from the right hand in order to "find the skull." Pictorial puzzles such as the skull were at the time not uncommon. Allusions to such things are to be found in old inventories of pictures; and Shakespeare in Richard II. says:
Like pérspectives, which, rightly gazed upon, Show nothing but confusion: eyed awry Distinguish form.--Act II. Sc. 2.
Similarly, Canon Ainger has pointed out that in Twelfth Night, when the Duke first becomes aware that Viola and Sebastian, who had up to that time from their exact likeness been thought the same person, are really two, he cries out that here is a puzzle in nature corresponding to those in art, where an object varies according to the point of view from which it is regarded:
A natural perspective--that is and is not!
As to the interpretation and significance of the puzzle, authorities differ. Some see in the skull only a punning signature of the painter's name (hohl bein, hollow bone, holbein). Others discover in it a recondite allusion to Cranmer (crâne-mère). Others again, when the identity of the personages was still in dispute, sought to connect the skull with the death of one or other of them; most ingenious and far-fetched theories were elaborated by Sir F. Burton and others with this object. Probably, however, the distorted skull is only a variant on the memento mori, which occurs very frequently in portraits of the time (see, for instance, No. 1036). It may be (as Miss Hervey suggests) that Dinteville had adopted the death's-head as his personal badge or devise. He suffered from ill-health, and in a letter to his brother describes himself as "the most melancholy ambassador that ever was seen."
There is still a field open to conjecture with regard to the elaborate accessories described above. Mr. Sidney Colvin thinks, indeed, that the globes, quadrant, music-book, etc., are probably simply introduced by the painter to show his skill of hand for the satisfaction of his patrons, the choice of objects having been made partly in compliment to them as persons interested in music and the sciences, partly because they were the properties readiest to hand in the society of such men as Kratzer, the astronomer, and the German merchant goldsmiths of the Steelyard, among whom Holbein lived (Times, Dec. 10, 1895). Miss Hervey sees in the accessories "a record, probably unique in the domain of art, of the thoughts and studies, the hopes and fears, which swayed the country and generation of Jean de Dinteville. The objects selected for illustration precisely represent the pursuits and occupations most in vogue at the time in France. Geometry and Mechanics, the foundations of the builder's art, just then attaining classical expression in the lovely creations of the French Renaissance; Music, especially that of the lute, which was so fashionable that every Frenchman of exalted position carried a lutist in his train; the ingeniously contrived and artistically rendered devise; these, as the literature of the period abundantly testifies, were among the favourite studies and pastimes of the Court of France." Dinteville "must have devoted many an hour to thinking out with the painter the elaborate details." A different contention has been argued with much ability by Mr. Alfred Marks:--
The scheme of the picture is very unusual. At either end of a table of two stages stands a figure in a ceremonious attitude. Between these figures, the two stages of the table, occupying the middle and most prominent portion of the picture, are loaded with numerous accessories. The method of their display forbids us to suppose that, as suggested by Mr. Colvin, they are here merely to show the painter's skill of hand. Indeed, the whole scheme of the picture--pose of figures and arrangement of accessories--tells of some occasion which the picture is designed to commemorate, or, let us say, perhaps, some occasion of which advantage has been taken to place the personages in a situation of more than ordinary interest. What this occasion was the picture, as we shall find, declares with sufficient plainness. Holbein's symbolism was simple and direct. Does he desire to convey that his sitter is a merchant? The figure is represented as holding a bond; other bonds lie on a table, together with a seal and a pen. Or, if he is portraying an astronomer, he introduces a quadrant, dials, compasses, and other instruments of the craft. In the "Two Ambassadors" the symbolism is, from the nature of the case, not personal to each of the two figures, but applicable to the occasion. The lute, instrument of harmony, was already, as has been shown by Mr. Dickes [see Magazine of Art, December 1891 and June 1892], the accepted symbol of a treaty; the suggestion is strengthened by the introduction of a case of flutes. The occasion commemorated is, therefore, a treaty. Nor are we left in doubt as to the nature of this treaty; the globes celestial and terrestrial, the compasses, dials, quadrants, merchants' calculating book, clearly indicate that the treaty was one relating to commerce or navigation.
Mr. Marks discovers in support of his theory that in 1533 (the date of the picture) some agreement was arrived at between King Henry VIII. and the French Ambassador with regard to certain grievances of French merchants. George de Selve, as we have seen, came over to England with the French King's permission and assisted Dinteville, it is suggested, in the arrangement, the conclusion of which is celebrated by Holbein's picture (Times, Dec. 7, 12, 23, 1895).
With regard to the provenance of the picture, in the year 1653 it was still, as we have seen, at the château of Polizy. The next known notices of it occur in a Rouen catalogue of 1787, and in the Galerie des Peintres (1792) of J. R. P. Lebrun (husband of the artist Vigée-Lebrun), who had the picture in his possession, and states that he had sold it, and that it was then in England. It seems probable that it came into the hands of the dealer Vandergutsch, and that from him it was purchased by the second Earl of Radnor about 1808 or 1809, in whose family it became an heirloom. In 1891 it was purchased from the present earl for the nation.[246]
1315. THE ADMIRAL PULIDO PAREJA.
Velazquez (Spanish: 1599-1660). See 197.
One of the master's most famous works. "In the year 1639," says Palomino, "he made the picture of Don Adrian Pulido Pareja, a native of Madrid, Knight of the Order of Santiago, Admiral of the Fleet of New Spain, who about that time was here transacting various official matters with His Majesty. This portrait is life size, and is among the most famous painted by Velazquez, on which account he put his name to it, which he otherwise seldom did: Didacus Velazquez fecit; Philip IV. à cubiculo eiusque Pictor, anno 1639." The painter's signature was not the only thing which served at the time to stamp the picture as one of special excellence. The King one day was paying his customary visit to the painter; Philip mistook the picture for the admiral himself, and rebuked him for tarrying in Madrid when he had been ordered away. Perceiving his mistake, he addressed Velazquez with the words: 'I assure you I was deceived.' "This, of course," says Mr. Colvin, "is one of the common legends which abound in the art history of all countries, from Greece to Japan; but it is almost possible to believe the tale when we look at the picture. Something of the rugged flashing power and fierce eagerness of the sitter seems to have passed into the painter's hand, and the method of execution he has chosen emphasises and harmonises with the character of the subject. The rude soldier-sailor in his handsome suit stands in bodily and spiritual presence before us, and seems snorting with impatience to be off to the fight once more."
Pulido, the subject of the picture, was a captain who distinguished himself greatly during the siege of Fontarabia, in the war with France. "The browned face with gleams of white light belongs," says Professor Justi, in describing the picture, "to a not uncommon Castilian type, of which this is an exceptionally stout, sturdy, grim specimen. The thick black shady eyebrows, very bushy and nearly meeting above the nose, the perpendicular wrinkle right in the middle of the forehead, the up-twirled mustachio,--the whole enframed in an abundant mass of black hair parted on one side and profusely crowning the defiant head,--bespeak the dauntless soldier as he stood on the ramparts of Fontarabia, as he will yet stand on the quarter-deck of the Admiral's ship in the hottest of the fight. There is nothing of the courtier in the attitude, for he stands bolt upright, like a soldier before his commanding officer. We see at once that he is not the man to hesitate about risking his own life or that of others in the deadly jaws of a breach. Both hands wear the yellow leather gloves, the right holding the Admiral's staff, the left a very broad-brimmed felt hat. On his breast is the red, gold-hemmed scarf and the red enamelled decoration of the Order of Santiago"--which the King had bestowed upon him for his gallantry in the siege.
With regard to the technique of the picture, Palomino tells us that Velazquez painted it with brushes of unusual length, in order to work with greater force and effect standing at a distance. "It appears in fact (says Professor Justi) to have been very broadly treated, with more fiery vigour than delicacy. The light yellow-gray ground--dark above, and without any relation to the limits of wall and floor--has been specially prepared with reference to the black velvet costume. Don Adrian stands a little to the left, his glance directed towards the observer, legs[247] brought close together, feet almost at a right angle. The colour is applied more freely than usual, the otherwise rarely employed dazzling white patches on the deep lace collar, flowered satin sleeves, plumes, bows on the knees, and accoutrements, helping the illusion."
1316. AN ITALIAN NOBLEMAN.
Moroni (Bergamese: 1525-1578). See 697.
Inferior in charm and interest to some of the other Moronis previously in the National Gallery, and to many of the master's marvellous pictures in the Carrara Collection at Bergamo. "Only," says a recent critic, "in the expressive look in the dreamy eyes, and in the drawing and painting of the left arm, clothed in chain-armour, do we find interest." Another, and more favourable, critic (Mr. Sidney Colvin) says: "Dignity and directness of presentment, richness of quality and mellowness of tone, with a colour-sense never more powerfully shown than when the scheme is one of flesh-colour with simple black and white on gray--these are the universal qualities of Venetian portrait-painting.... This is a thoroughly characteristic example in an excellent state. We already possess a portrait by the same hand, composed of much the same elements (1022): a man in a close-fitting black suit, showing chain-armour on the sleeves, a broken column, a wall, and a glimpse of sky. The two will make admirable pendants."
1317. THE MARRIAGE OF THE VIRGIN.
Unknown (Sienese School: 14th or early 15th Century).
This is one of the stock subjects in which the evolution of Italian art may be most clearly traced. Everybody knows the beautiful and celebrated "Sposalizio" of Raphael at Milan, which in its turn was copied, with some characteristic modifications, from Perugino's picture, now at Caen. Comparing those versions of the subject with an early one such as this, every one will be struck by the difference in general effect, but not less remarkable are the resemblances. The type, so far as the component parts are concerned, remains constant. The basis of the tale which Italian painters told for century after century is found in two of the apocryphal gospels. In them we read how the "Virgin of the Lord" was brought up, like Samuel, within the precincts of the temple, and how the High Priest summoned the suitors to an ordeal. Every man of them was to take a rod, and he whose rod should miraculously put forth leaves and blossom was to be chosen as husband. The common features of all "Sposalizio" pictures adhere closely to this legend. Thus the action always takes place within or just outside the temple. In the centre stands the High Priest with a long gray beard and (almost always) a high-peaked mitre, the Italian painters' idea of a Jewish ephod. He joins the hands of the pair in betrothal. The rod of Joseph blossoms, and above its foliage hovers the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. One of the suitors is about to strike Joseph in his passion; another is engaged in breaking his rod in vexation. Raphael makes the mien of the suitors much more gentle. He leaves out "the passionate suitor" altogether, but gives to the "disappointed suitor" a prominent place as an opportunity for a graceful attitude. In this picture he is very much in the background (in the extreme left-hand corner).
1318. "UNFAITHFULNESS."
Paolo Veronese (Veronese: 1528-1588). See 26.
One of a series: see under 1324-26.
1319. VIEW IN ROME.
Claude (French: 1600-1682). See 2.
On the right of the composition are an ancient Ionic portico (seen from the side) and a statue of Apollo, surrounded by trees. On the left is a wooded slope, beyond which, in the middle distance, is seen the church of Sta. Trinita de' Monti with other buildings.
1320, 1321. A MAN AND HIS WIFE.
Cornelis Janssens (Dutch: 1594-1664).
This painter--Cornelis Janssens van Ceulen--is believed to have been born in London. He was taken into the service of James I., whose portrait he painted several times. In the National Portrait Gallery are portraits by him of Sir Edward Coke and Lord Coventry. His reputation waned somewhat after the arrival of Van Dyck, whose portrait he painted and whose influence may be noticed in the pictures now before us. In the Dulwich Gallery are two pictures formerly ascribed to Van Dyck, but now to Janssens. In 1648 "Cornelius Johnson, picture-drawer" was permitted by the Speaker's warrant to pass beyond seas with such goods and chattels as belonged to himself. On his return to Holland, he seems to have worked at Middelburg, at the Hague, and at Amsterdam. Pictures by him may be seen in all those places. His portraits are sometimes stiff in conception, but are remarkable for the "lively tranquillity of the countenances." None of the artists excelled him in painting the lace collars and cuffs which were the reigning fashion of the time.
The man is Aglonius Voon; the woman (presumably his wife), Cornelia Remoens: the names are inscribed above their heads.
1323. PIERO DI MEDICI.
Angelo Bronzino (Florentine: 1502-1572). See 649.
A portrait of Piero, son of Cosimo the elder--surnamed "Il Gottoso," The Gouty--who died in 1469. Bronzino was employed to paint the portraits of many members of the Medici family. No. 704 is a contemporary portrait of one of the later Dukes.
1324. "SCORN."
1325. "RESPECT."
1326. "HAPPY UNION."
Paolo Veronese (Veronese: 1528-1588). See 26.
The four Veroneses (1325, 1324, 1318, and 1326), acquired from Cobham Hall, "obviously formed a series, or portions of a series, of enrichments for a ceiling, and must be looked at accordingly. They exhibit the decorative power of Veronese at a very high pitch in respect to colour, composition, and action, while his characteristically large and bold style of design and draughtsmanship are most fortunately employed upon them. One may readily conceive the magnificence of the saloon for which they were executed, and of which they must have been the chief ornaments. Sumptuous as they are now, their superb qualities would be enhanced if they could be seen with all their original accompaniments of gilding, carved frames, and magnificent furniture" (Athenæum, August 16, 1890).
The subjects of the pictures are moral allegories, and they go in pairs. Thus we have first "Respect" (1325) and "Scorn" (1324). In the former picture, a nude female figure--whose beautiful face recalls that of the "St. Helena" (see No. 1041)--is seen recumbent on a couch, asleep or lost in dreams. Cupid is leading a warrior, clad in sumptuous costume, but he turns aside, held back by an older man, in chivalrous respect. He is contrasted in the companion picture with another male figure, who lies prostrate while a Cupid tramples in scorn upon him. On the left two females (contrasting with the two men in the former pictures) are hurrying away. The elder carries an ermine, the emblem of purity, and guides the younger and more beautiful woman whom she has rescued from peril.
In the other two pictures the faithfulness and unfaithfulness of woman are similarly contrasted. In "Unfaithfulness" (1318) a nude female figure, seated on a bank with her back turned to the spectator, extends her arm towards a man who grasps her right hand, while she with her left is employed in furtively delivering a letter to a more youthful lover on the other side. He is of the same type as the figure of Alexander in the Family of Darius (294). Finally, in "Happy Union" (1326) the painter shows us the reward of faithfulness. Here a Cupid is introducing a warrior to a queenly figure--whom we may take to personify Fame or Fortune--seated on a globe at the entrance to some palace. She is placing a wreath upon the man's brow; he is led by a beautiful woman who carries a palm which she is about to present to him. She in her turn is guided by a little Love who has hold of a golden chain around her waist. A dog is also in attendance. It is a pretty trait of the Venetian schools, the frequency with which a pet dog is introduced into scenes of domestic felicity.
The prices paid for these pictures are interesting. They belonged at one time to Queen Christina of Sweden, and afterwards passed into the Orleans Collection. At the sale of that collection, the Tintoret fetched £50, and the four Veroneses £198. Lord Darnley made a handsome "unearned increment" out of them. For the Tintoret and one of the Veroneses (1318) the nation paid £2500. For two more of the Veroneses the same price was paid. The fourth Veronese (1325) was presented by Lord Darnley.
1327. A WINTER SCENE.
Jan van Goyen (Dutch: 1596-1656). See 137.
The scene is an arm of the Maes, near Dordrecht; the ice being covered with skaters, hockey-players, and others. The figures are treated with considerable humour. In the distance rises the tall ruin, which is shown in so many of Cuyp's pictures. Van Goyen's signature and the date 1642 are conspicuous on a sleigh in the foreground.
1329. AN INTERIOR.
Quiryn Brekelenham (Dutch: 1625-1668).
A native of Zwammerdam near Leyden, in which town he joined the Guild of St. Luke in 1648. He was a pupil of Gerard Dou, but did not adopt the high finish of that master; his style may be called an admixture of that of Dou with that of Rembrandt. He was a painter of quiet interiors, industrious households, and kitchen scenes. "Inspired by Rembrandt's teaching, he placed his figures in a beautiful amber light. They are neither too graceful nor too striking, but singularly lifelike and truthful. The scenes in which he delights are always quiet, modest, and sober in movement and expression. His touch is free, supple, and soft" (Havard: The Dutch School, p. 182). Some of his best works are in the Ryks Museum at Amsterdam. Our picture is signed, and dated 1653.
1330. THE TRANSFIGURATION.
Duccio (Sienese: about 1260-1340). See 566.
"Clinging more closely to Byzantine traditions than any other of the works of Duccio in the Gallery, is the panel of 'The Transfiguration,' with the folds of the drapery indicated by gold lines. The elements of this ancient design, like those of nearly all the Byzantine conceptions of scenes of sacred history, were never wholly departed from; they remain still quite recognisable in 'The Transfiguration' of Raphael" (Monkhouse: In the National Gallery, p. 16).
1331. VIRGIN AND CHILD.
Bernardino Fungai (Sienese: about 1460-1516).
"In flatness, absence of chiaroscuro, and use of gilding, he partakes of the Sienese School," resembling, for instance, Matteo di Giovanni (1155). "But he is rather pleasing in his children and angels, where he is influenced by Perugino; also in his landscapes, which, though peculiar in their faint blue distance, recall Pinturicchio. A characteristic of the master is the heaviness of his hands at the fingers' ends" (Layard's edition of "Kugler," i. 205). Fungai may best be studied in the Accademia of Siena.
The style of this painter is dismissed by Lanzi as "dry," and by another authority as "dry and stiff." There is a certain stiffness, undoubtedly--due probably in part to religious symbolism--in the hands of the Virgin and in the upraised finger of the Child, and in those of the otherwise human and chubby cherubim. But there is nothing dry or stiff in the pretty faces of these children, or in the gracious and beautiful face of the mother. She is clad in a white-and-gold brocade of very beautiful pattern. "One of the finest of the kind known to us, it appears," says the Athenæum, "to be of Venetian origin, and is a pure and perfect diaper, instinct with the choicest Gothic grace and harmony of line, and betraying but the slightest touch of Orientalism. This circumstance attests that the brocade did not come from a Sicilian loom, while other elements prohibit us from ascribing it to an ultramontane craftsman." The landscape background, which has sadly darkened, has many quaint figures--on one side Mary, Joseph, and a cow; on the other, the Three Kings and their attendants.
1332. GEORGE, 1ST EARL OF BERKELEY.
G. Netscher (Dutch: 1639-1784). See 843.
The first Earl of Berkeley--a man of considerable note in his day, and the author of a religious work to which some complimentary couplets by Waller have given a kind of immortality--was born in 1628 and died in 1698. He was one of the Commissioners nominated in 1660 to proceed to the Hague to invite Charles to return to the kingdom, and shortly afterwards he received various important appointments. In 1688, after the flight of the King, he was one of the lords assembled at the Guildhall to draw up the celebrated declaration constituting themselves a provisional government until such time as the Prince of Orange should arrive.
1333. THE DEPOSITION FROM THE CROSS.
Tiepolo (Venetian: 1692-1769). See 1192.
1334. THE FORTUNE-TELLER.
Pietro Longhi (Venetian: 1702-1762). See 1100.
A girl, in the hooped dress and three-cornered hat of the 18th century, is having her hand read by a fortune-teller, while a cloaked cavalier, standing near in a white domino, watches the result.
1335. THE MADONNA.
Unknown (French School: 15th Century).
The face is most delicately executed; the white head-cloth and gown are covered by a blue mantle, which is jewelled and embroidered at the edge. The originally gold background is now brown; the nimbus of the Virgin is punctured in a beautiful foliated design.
1336. THE DEATH OF DIDO.
Ascribed to Liberale da Verona (Veronese: 1451-1535). See 1134.
Painted probably to adorn the front of a cassone or marriage-chest. "The buildings of the forum in which the pyre stands are copied from well-known monuments at Verona. In the background on the left are seen two spectators in the everyday costume of the artist's contemporaries. The one on the left-hand side seems from his dress to be a German. Dürer has portrayed himself in an exactly similar way. The identity of the person thus represented will always remain hypothetical; nevertheless, the soldier leaning on his lance, on the extreme right, points directly to Dürer, for the figure is taken from a well-known engraving by him" (Dr. Richter in the Art Journal, February 1895).
1337. "ECCE HOMO!"
Bazzi (Lombard: 1477-1549). See 1144.
Probably part of a picture of Christ bearing His Cross. The face wears a gentle, grave, and dignified expression on features of a noble type.
1338. THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS.
1339. THE NATIVITY OF ST. JOHN.
Bernhard Fabritius (Dutch: painted 1650-1672).
Of this painter very little is known. He was a member of the Painters' Guild at Leyden, and it is clear from his works that he was a disciple of Rembrandt.
(1338). The subject is treated with Dutch directness. It is a Dutch interior with Dutch peasants. An opening in the roof discloses a peep of landscape in the light of early dawn.
(1339). Somewhat more academic in treatment. The infant saint lies in a wicker cradle, at the foot of which lies St. Elizabeth, who offers an apple to another child standing by the side of its nurse or mother. To the right of the picture St. Zacharias writes on a tablet the record of the birth.
1340. LANDSCAPE.
Roeland Roghman (Dutch: 1597-1686).
Roghman is a landscape-painter widely known by his drawings and etchings. He was a friend of Rembrandt. His pictures usually represent views in Holland and on the borders of Germany, but he travelled also in the Tyrol. His works "exhibit a close attention to nature in the forms, but his colour is dark and disagreeable" (Bryan).
1341. A WOODLAND SCENE.
Cornelius Decker (Dutch: died 1678). See 134.
1342. LANDSCAPE.
J. de Wet (Dutch: 17th Century).
This is the only landscape subject known to bear the signature of J. de Wet; other works so signed are of biblical subjects. A Jan de Wet, a native of Hamburg, was a pupil of Rembrandt,--a tutelage not inconsistent with the style of this picture.
1343. AMSTERDAM MUSKETEERS ON PARADE.
Unknown (Dutch School: about 1650).
Formerly attributed to Govert Flinck (1615-1660), who was a pupil of Rembrandt, and was commissioned to paint many considerable works for the Town Hall of Amsterdam. Observe the group of officers on the left; one bears a standard embroidered with the arms of that city.
1344. A LANDSCAPE.
Salomon Ruysdael (Dutch: 1600-1670).
A good example of one of the founders of the Haarlem School of Landscape, uncle of the more famous Jacob Ruysdael. Like his nephew, he was a member of the sect of Mennonites. He appears to have had some talent for business; he was a prominent officer to the Haarlem Guild of St. Luke, and there is a story of his having invented a sort of imitation marble, by the sale of which he was able to live in easier circumstances than the majority of his artistic brethren. Salomon's work resembles much that of Van Goyen (see 137), and it is difficult to distinguish early works by the two painters. Afterwards they diverged. "Van Goyen prefers the round forms of the clouds that on a fine summer day overhang the Maas; his brush always plays with the delicacy of their shadows, and loves to turn a landscape into what the moderns would call 'a harmony of gray and silver.' Salomon Ruysdael is by no means so reticent in the matter of colour. His skies in his later period are frankly blue" (Quarterly Review, October 1891).
There is in this picture "a peculiarly sharp, clear, and firm touch, very like that of Stark of Norwich. The warm, deep-toned evening sky is admirable" (Athenæum). The picture is signed, and dated 1659.
1345. LANDSCAPE.
Jan Wouwerman (Dutch: 1629-1666).
Jan was a younger brother and pupil of the more famous Philips (see 878). Some works by another brother, Pieter, may be seen in the Dulwich Gallery.
1346. A WINTER SCENE.
Hendrik van Avercamp (Dutch: 1585-1663).
A characteristically animated work by the Mute of Kampen, as this painter was called. He was the son of a schoolmaster. He was born dumb, and documents have been discovered in which his mother speaks of her "dumb and pitiable son." Having shown an early talent for drawing, he was placed with a painter at Amsterdam, and there and at the Hague he practised until 1625. He afterwards joined his widowed mother at Kampen. In her will of 1633 she made provision for him "in order that he may not be a burden on his brothers and sister." He loved especially to depict lively scenes of winter sport. He defines his figures sharply against the ice and snow. "The refined modulations of tint and the delicacies of aerial perspective, aimed at by painters of such scenes in the middle of the 17th century, are seldom found in Avercamp's works" (Official Catalogue).
1347. FARMYARD SCENE.
Isaak van Ostade (Dutch: 1621-1649). See 847.
The crisp touch and golden light in this Cuyp-like picture will please all lovers of Dutch art.
1348. LANDSCAPE WITH GOAT AND KID.
Adrian van de Velde (Dutch: 1635-1672). See 867.
A pleasant twilight effect.
1352. LANDSCAPE.
F. de Moucheron (Dutch: 1633-1686). See 842.
The signature of the artist is on the cornice of one of the buildings. Possibly Lingelbach (see 837), who often worked with Moucheron, painted the figures.
1353. LANDSCAPE WITH SATYRS.
Martin Ryckhaert (Flemish: 1587-1631).
Martin Ryckhaert was a son of the elder, and brother of the younger, David Ryckhaert. He studied, and for some years practised his art, in Italy. He is entered in the register of the Painters' Guild at Antwerp as "a painter with one arm," and is so represented in the portrait by Van Dyck in the Dresden Gallery.
1375. CHRIST IN THE HOUSE OF MARTHA.
Velazquez (Spanish: 1590-1660). See 197.
A picture of the earliest, or Seville period of the painter. Though professedly a religious subject, it is in reality one of the bodegones, or tavern-pieces, which had come into favour at Seville during the end of the sixteenth century--naturalistic studies of the tavern and the kitchen. "They are certainly to be valued," says Pacheco, "when painted as Velazquez paints them, for in this branch he has attained such an eminence that he has left room for no rival. They deserve high esteem; for with these elements and with portraiture he discovered the true imitation of Nature." In the background, shown through a window or square opening in the wall, is seen an inner chamber with Christ addressing Martha, who stands, and Mary, who kneels before Him.
1376. A DUEL IN THE PRADO (A SKETCH).
Velazquez (Spanish: 1599-1660). See 197.
Note that some of the figures in the foreground closely resemble the group in "The Boar Hunt" (No. 197).
1377. THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS.
Venetian School (16th Century).
Formerly ascribed to Savoldo (see 1031). "In its deep and striking chiaroscuro it reminds one of a greater and later artist, Bassano, and even of the earlier works of Velazquez. It is a very interesting picture, full of imagination, especially in its landscape, and generally in fine condition. For light and effective painting, look at the pigeons in the basket on the right" (Monkhouse: In the National Gallery, p. 261). This picture was bequeathed by the late Sir William Gregory, one of the Trustees of the Gallery, who secured it for the paltry sum of £12: 10s., and was (as we know from his "Autobiography") justly proud of his bargain.[248]
1378. AN INTERIOR WITH FIGURES.
Jan Steen (Dutch: 1626-1679). See 856.
Another of Sir William's bequests, and, like the preceding, "a bargain." "A French dealer," he wrote, "offered me £250 the day after I had bought it for £2: 3s." An itinerant musician enters the kitchen in a village inn or country farmhouse, and salutes the buxom lady of the house with a fantastic gesture of courtesy. A flute sticks out of his pocket.
1380. FRUIT AND FLOWER PIECE.
Jan van Os (Dutch: 1744-1808). See 1015.
1381. THE HOLY WOMEN AT THE SEPULCHRE.
Francesco Mantegna (Paduan: about 1470-1517.) See 639.
For the subject, see 576. Notice the pool in the foreground on which are two water-fowl, while a tortoise crawls towards it. This picture is the same size as 639 and 1106, and the three beautiful little panels doubtless formed a series--now at last brought together again, having been long separated in three different collections.
1383. "LA JEUNE FEMME AU CLAVECIN."
Jan Vermeer of Delft (Dutch: 1632-1675).
This picture formerly belonged to the celebrated French critic Thoré (who wrote under the name of "W. Bürger"), to whom belongs the credit of having rescued Vermeer from oblivion. He was famous in his own day, being one of the chiefs of the Delft Guild of Artists. But after his death his works were dispersed or destroyed or ascribed to Pieter de Hooch, and his very existence was forgotten till "Bürger's" researches rehabilitated him (see Gazette des Beaux Arts, 1866, pp. 297, 458, 542). He was born in Delft, and was for a short time a pupil of Carel Fabritius, a painter who was deeply imbued with the spirit and manner of Rembrandt. Vermeer obtained good prices for his pictures, but his circumstances cannot have been flourishing, for his widow had to apply to the court of insolvency to be placed under a curator. His works are now rare and costly: for the present picture £2400 was paid. The artist with whom Vermeer has the closest affinity is De Hooch. At an auction in Amsterdam in the middle of the 17th century a De Hooch is praised as being "nearly equal to the famous Van der Meer of Delft," and there is often some confusion between the works of the two painters. Substitute red for blue, it has been said, and a Vermeer becomes a De Hooch. Both painters are remarkable for the quality of light displayed in their interiors, and Vermeer has never been surpassed in the cool general effect which he produced. "Though in perfection of execution," says M. Havard, "the one rivals the other, they differ singularly in their use of the brush. Whilst Hooch has a vigorous and supple touch, Vermeer on the other hand, proceeding by short steps, paints in small patches, and then connects the whole by glazing in a manner peculiar to himself, which produces a vibrating effect, a characteristic of this original painter which we cannot forget" (The Dutch School, p. 186). Beauty of tone and perfect harmony are conspicuous in all his works, which in some other respects exhibit marked differences, for "the Sphinx of Delft" (as Bürger calls him) had several manners. It is supposed that he worked for a time under Rembrandt. The picture of four life-sized figures in the Dresden Gallery called "Les Courtisanes," and dated 1656, suggests the influence of that master. During the last ten or twelve years of his life he adopted a second manner, of greater delicacy and subtlety. In all his works there is a singular completeness and charm. He is a master in rendering momentary expression, and his pictures attract by the successful delineation of character, as well as by the skill with which he makes his figures move in light and air. He has also a complete mastery of perspective, and in his effects of light upon flat surfaces he is unsurpassed.
This picture is a good example of the qualities described above.[249] "The head, however, has unfortunately suffered from over-cleaning, showing the gray under-painting which gives the picture a colder aspect than it would otherwise have" (Official Catalogue). The picture has a very good "pedigree," Bürger, to whom it once belonged, having traced it back, through the Solly and Danser-Nyman Collections, to an anonymous sale catalogue of 1714.
1386. SOLDIERS QUARRELLING OVER THEIR BOOTY.
1387. PLAYERS AT TRIC-TRAC.
W. C. Duyster (Dutch: 1599-1635).
These pictures are by one of the rarest of the Dutch masters--William Cornells Duyster, a painter of Amsterdam. They were acquired from a family in whose possession they have been ever since they were brought over to this country by an officer in the army of William III. The fine execution and brilliant condition of the pictures make them decidedly attractive. They are both signed; 1386, on a box in the foreground; 1387, on the border of the beautifully-painted tablecloth.
1390. A SEA-PIECE.
Ruysdael (Dutch: 1628-1682). See 627.
An excellent example of Ruysdael's sea-pieces, in which he was not surpassed by any painter of the time. The view represented is the shore at Scheveningen. This picture, for which the sum of £3045 was paid by the nation, changed hands in 1872 for £68 as one of a pair!
1393. A MEDITERRANEAN SEAPORT.
Claude Joseph Vernet (French: 1714-1789). See 236.
The frigate is flying the Dutch tricolor flag. At the foot of the fortified wall is a party of Turkish or Albanian merchants.
1397. AN OLD WOMAN SEWING.
Unknown (Dutch School: 17th Century).
On the wall behind is an engraved portrait of a gentleman, with an inscription in which the name, Jan van Aach, and the date 1655 occur. The name is possibly that of the unknown painter.
1399. PORTRAIT OF A GENTLEMAN.
Gerard Terburg (Dutch: 1617-1681). See 864.
This and the following picture were in the collection of the late Sir Charles Eastlake. By the provisions of his will, they were to be offered to the National Gallery at the prices he paid for them, viz. £25 and £75.
1400. CHRIST BEFORE PILATE.
Rembrandt (Dutch: 1606-1669). See 45.
This sketch is the original study for the etching of the same subject done in 1636. It is signed with the artist's name underneath the clock which is above the arched entrance on the right.
1401. A FRUIT-PIECE.
Pieter Snyers (Flemish: 1681-1752).
A painter of fruit and flower pieces, landscapes, portraits, and figure subjects of low life; was Director of the Royal Academy of Antwerp.
Fowls, cray-fish, artichokes, lobsters, peaches, plums, strawberries, asparagus, radishes, and peonies--"all represented of natural size and distributed in picturesque confusion." The artist's signature is included, as if embroidered on the corner of the tablecloth.
1406. THE ANNUNCIATION.
School of Fra Angelico (Florentine: 1387-1455). See 663.
"Through an arched opening behind the Virgin we see a sort of cloister garth. There are daisies on the sward, and in a pot stands a tall lily. A similar opening behind the Archangel reveals another part of the garth, enclosed on all sides by a rose trellis. Beyond the trellis are visible a hill and a convent resembling that of San Miniato, rows of cypresses, and more distinct peaks in fuller light. The embroideries, the angel's plumage, and both the nimbi, are represented in real gold, while the last are incised in radial lines, so that, like the wings, their brilliance is distinct, and they shimmer in the light. On the capitals of two of the columns of the cloister the red annulets upon a silver shield of the Albizzi family are seen" (Athenæum). The composition of this not very attractive picture recalls the Annunciations by Fra Angelico, at Cortona and in the Madrid Gallery respectively.
1409. THE MARRIAGE OF ST. CATHERINE.
Andrea Cordelle Agii (Venetian: School of Bellini).
This picture is a repetition of one by Andrea Previtali in the sacristy of the Church of San Giobbe at Venice, and the painter has been supposed to be the same as Previtali. This, however, is probably not the case. The present picture is signed (on a cartellino) "1504: Andreas Cordelli Agy dissipulus Jovannis Bellini pinxit." He similarly describes himself as a pupil of John Bellini on a picture in the Poldi Pezzoli Gallery at Milan. Judging from his name, "twists and needles," he or his father was probably a pedlar (Layard's edition of "Kugler," i. 334).
"The conjecture that Andrea Previtali is identical with Andrea Cordelle Agii seems to me," says Morelli, "untenable. Both were fellow-scholars in the workshop of Giovanni Bellini, and it is undeniable that in some of their works they closely resemble each other; but this may be explained by the fact that the one probably copied the cartoons or even the pictures of the other. The few signed works which I have met with by Cordelle Agii appear to me, however, to be more refined and lifelike in expression, and his landscapes are warmer and less vividly green in tone, than those of Previtali" (Roman Galleries, p. 237 n.). As a picture by Previtali hangs close by (No. 695), the reader is in a position to consider the justness of the critic's remarks for himself.
1410. VIRGIN AND CHILD
Borgognone (Lombard: about 1455-1523). See 298.
The nimbus which surrounds the Virgin's head is inscribed in gold with the words AVE. MARIA. GRATIA. PLENA. DOM. The background is interesting. On the right is no doubt a faithful view of part of the old façade of the Certosa of Pavia before it was completed. On the left are other buildings which appear to be part of a convent, with Carthusian friars walking in front. This picture is earlier in date than Borgognone's "Two St. Catherines" (298); it is "more rigid in style and a capital example of the painter's less ambitious work" (Catalogue of the Burlington Fine Arts Club's Exhibition, 1898, p. xxxvii.).
1411. A DIPTYCH.
Ercole Roberti de' Grandi (Ferrarese: 1450-1496). See 1127.
On the left the Adoration of the Shepherds. There is much natural charm in the figure of the Virgin bending over the manger. On the right the dead figure of Christ, with St. Jerome and St. Francis in the middle distance receiving the stigmata. Very delicately finished.
1412. VIRGIN AND CHILD, WITH ST. JOHN.
Filippino Lippi (Florentine: 1457-1504). See 293. See also (p. xxi)
Formerly ascribed to Botticelli.[250] Notice the beautifully painted white eglantine and jasmine blossoms in the vase on the balcony. The youthful St. John is an attractive figure, very characteristic of this group of painters.
1415. PORTRAIT OF A LADY.
Gerard Dou (Dutch; 1613-1675). See 192.
"An old inscription on the back of the panel states that this picture is a portrait of Anna Maria van Schurmann; but it will be observed that the portrait by Jan Lievens (1095), supposed to represent the same lady, differs in the colour of the hair, and has other points of variation, which preclude the possibility of both having been painted from the same person" (Official Catalogue).
1416. VIRGIN AND CHILD, WITH SAINTS.
Filippo Mazzola (Parmese: died 1505).
The Mazzola family affords one of the many instances in the history of painting of artistic heredity. Filippo's two brothers were also painters, and his son was the more famous Parmigiano (see under 33). The Mazzoli were much employed in Parma, but their work seldom rose above mediocrity. By Filippo--called delle erbette from the plants which he was fond of introducing into his pictures--there are religious-subject pictures to be seen at Parma. But he is best known for his portraits, in which the influence of Antonello da Messina is to be traced (see Morelli's German Galleries, p. 418). An excellent one in the Brera bears his signature.
This picture is in its original frame, of early cinque-cento pattern, richly carved, gilt, and painted. A somewhat similar frame has recently been given to the "Vision of St. Eustace" (1436).
1417. CHRIST'S AGONY IN THE GARDEN.
Andrea Mantegna (Paduan: 1431-1506). See 274.
A celebrated picture (painted in 1459 for Giacomo Marcello, Podestà of Padua), and a specially interesting acquisition to our Gallery--first, as belonging to an earlier period of the master than his other important works here; and secondly, for its strong family likeness to the picture of the same subject by his brother-in-law, Giovanni Bellini, which, hangs in an adjoining room (No. 726). At the time when these pictures were painted Giovanni and Andrea were working at Padua under the influence of Giovanni's father, Jacopo Bellini (Vasari has some family gossip on this subject, ii. 265); and the original suggestion for the treatment of the subject in both pictures appears in Jacopo's sketch-book, now in the British Museum. A prominent object in the distance (an Italian version of Jerusalem) is a little gilt equestrian statue, which was evidently suggested by Donatello's equestrian statue of Gattamelata, still to be seen at Padua. The foreshortening of the apostles suggests the work of Uccello (see 583), who is known to have painted in that city. The picture has been described as "a marvellous combination of the fantastic and the realistic"; note for curious details the rabbits and storks, and the cormorant on the withered tree. This picture is more quaint than Bellini's; but Bellini's is the more original. "Mantegna's," says Mr. Monkhouse, "exhibits only a strong personal treatment of old conventions: Bellini's proclaims the dawn of a new world of art. What was old in the pictures--the Christ kneeling on a little hill, with the sleepy apostles in foreshortened attitudes in the foreground, the angelic vision on a cloud, and the suggestion of a neighbouring city--are common to both pictures. What was new--the fresh observation of nature for its own sake--is found only in Bellini's. We see this in the smouldering clouds of sunset, the light thrown on the distant buildings, the half-shade on the cliffs, the bringing-out of the figures into something like the real open, sun-illumined air, the attempt at solution of the problem of the tone of a face and figure relieved right against the sky" (In the National Gallery, 1895, p. 192).
1417a. ILLUMINATED INITIAL LETTER.
The letter D: enclosed within it is painted "The Agony in the Garden," copied from the preceding picture by Mantegna. The picture and this letter were both in the collection of Lord Northbrook.
1418. ST. JEROME IN HIS STUDY.
Antonello da Messina (Venetian: 1444-1493).
A celebrated little picture, with a long critical history, for as early as 1529 the writer known as the "anonimo of Morelli" mentions it as being variously attributed to Van Eyck, to Memlinc, and to Antonello, while he himself ascribed it tentatively to "Jacometto" (Jacopo de' Barbari). The influence of the Flemish School is obvious, says Sir Edward Poynter, "in the Gothic character of the architecture, the general arrangement of the picture, and the finish of the details. But the head of the saint has an energy of character highly characteristic of Antonello, and the buildings in the glimpse of landscape seen through the window on the left are distinctly Italian in character" (The National Gallery, i. 14). It is interesting to compare this picture with the version of the same subject commonly ascribed to Bellini (694). Observe, here, "the lion walking along the cloister, holding up a suffering paw, and the puss curled up on a platform at the saint's feet. Evidently this St. Jerome was a lover of animals, and, like Canon Liddon, more especially of cats" ("The Beasts of the National Gallery," by Sophia Beale, in Good Words, July 1895).
1419. THE LEGEND OF ST. GILES.
Unknown (Flemish School: 15th Century). See also (p. xxi)
"St. Giles, patron saint of Edinburgh, and of woods, cripples, lepers, and beggars, was an Athenian prince, revered for his miraculous gifts. Having healed a sick man whom he found in a church by laying his cloak over him, and fearing danger to his soul from the fame which this event obtained him, he withdrew to a solitary cave, where he lived as a hermit, nourished only by wild herbs and the milk of a doe which had followed him. One day the King of France, hunting near this retreat, shot the doe, and, pursuing it, came upon the aged hermit holding in his arms the doe, which was pierced by the arrow through his hand. The King, seeing he was a man of God, begged forgiveness, and wished to persuade St. Giles to return with him; but he refused to quit his solitude, and remained in the cave till his death" (Saints and their Symbols, by E. A. G., 1881, p. 95).
Here we see the saint, clad in hermit's robes, protecting the doe, which has fled from the hunting party towards him; his right hand is transfixed by an arrow, intended for the animal. The King kneels to implore forgiveness. He is attended by a companion, who is supposed to represent the painter of the picture. Notice the irises in the foreground, and to the right a plant of mullein, finished with great delicacy. "Remarkable as an example of extraordinary finish and enamel-like splendour of colour. Remarkable also for the flood of even, gay daylight diffused over it, such as makes us think of the more moderate among recent plein air transcripts from nature. But the painter shows more of that intense humanity, of that command over delicate shades of character and facial expression which are the highest characteristic of the great Netherlandish masters of his time" (Claude Phillips, in National Review, Dec. 1894).
1420. A VIEW IN HAARLEM.
Gerrit Berck-Heyde (Dutch: 1638-1698).
Gerrit, and his elder brother, Job, were the sons of a butcher at Haarlem. Gerrit was very skilful in lineal perspective, and reproduced with remarkable fidelity the most complicated architectural views. The brothers worked together a great deal, and Job often painted the figures in Gerrit's pictures. "The pictures of both brothers are remarkable for a broad style of painting, for brilliant sunlight, and careful, but not over elaborate, drawing of details, and the figures are invariably well grouped" (Official Catalogue).
A view of the painter's favourite subject, the market-place of Haarlem. The picture is signed, and dated 1674.
1421. A TERRACE SCENE.
Jan Steen (Dutch: 1626-1679). See 856.
1422. THE HOLY FAMILY.
Eustache Le Sueur (French: 1616-1655)
Le Sueur, sometimes styled "the French Raphael," was the son of a wood-carver at Paris, and became one of the original members of the French Academy. His works, in spite of the early age at which he died, are very numerous. He was assisted in the production of them by three brothers and his brothers-in-law. Several of his most important pictures are to be seen at the Louvre.
This little picture is a good example of the painter's characteristics--with its somewhat crude colour, but considerable gracefulness, especially in the figure of the Virgin.
1423. PORTRAIT OF A LADY.
Jan A. Ravesteijn (Dutch: 1572-1657).
This artist was born at the Hague, where his most important works are to be found. He was admitted into the Painters' Guild there in 1598. He was a pupil of Frans Hals, and was much employed in painting the large groups of portraits--of archers, magistrates, etc.--which were in vogue at the time. Ravesteijn's groups are somewhat more formal than those of Rembrandt, Hals, and Van der Helst, but are full of life and character. He knew how to give dignity to his sitters, and his pictures are inferior only to those of the great masters just mentioned.
1424. TOBIAS AND THE ANGEL.
Adam Elsheimer (German: 1578-1620). See 1014.
A favourite subject with this painter. It was etched in 1613 by Count Gondt, who was the painter's chief benefactor; he purchased some of Elsheimer's choicest pictures, and engraved seven of them. The copper-plate of this subject fell into the hands of Rembrandt, and was partly erased and altered by him into another subject.
1425. PORTRAIT GROUP.
Le Nain (French: 1588-1648).
There were three brothers of this name, the sons of a sergeant at Laon, who all worked together as painters in Paris, and became members of the Academy in 1648, in which year two of them died. Mathieu painted historical subjects; he lived till 1677. The very interesting and pleasing pictures, such as the present one, most generally known as the works of Le Nain, were probably painted by the other brothers--Louis and Antoine--conjointly. Antoine was born in 1588; Louis in 1593. Their works consist of familiar objects and incidents, such as the "Peasants" and the "Blacksmith's Forge" in the Louvre; they have a direct air of truth and realism, which is very remarkable in contrast to the artificial taste by which other French painters of the same period were inspired. Another work by the brothers may be seen at Dulwich.
1427. THE DEAD CHRIST: A PIETÀ.
Hans Baldung (German-Swabian: 1476-1545). See 245.
Signed and dated "Hans Baldung, 1512." The Virgin's attitude is expressive of intense sorrow. "Her mouth is drawn convulsively down in the manner usual in the pictures of Burgkmair and the school and epoch to which he and Baldung belonged. On our right is St. John. Behind the group is Joseph of Arimathea. Behind, God the Father appears, robed in blue under a red mantle, and holding across His knees the drooping corpse of the Redeemer. Clouds form the background, and among them the Holy Ghost is hovering. The heads of all the figures bear plain nimbi of metallic gold. The draperies, except the loin-cloth of Christ, are somewhat tortured in the manner of the German painters of the fifteenth century. On the front of the balcony in which they are placed are depicted the donor and his family; in one corner is their escutcheon, bearing three money bags and a broad bar" (Athenæum, Jan. 11, 1895).
1429. THE ROTUNDA AT RANELAGH.
Canaletto (Venetian: 1697-1768). See 127.
The interior of the Rotunda in Ranelagh Gardens (at Chelsea), which were opened as a rival to Vauxhall in 1742, and at once became the rage. "Ranelagh has totally beat Vauxhall," wrote Walpole in 1744; "nobody goes anywhere else." "When I first entered Ranelagh," said Dr. Johnson, "it gave me an expansion and gay sensation in my mind such as I never experienced anywhere else." Smollett describes it in his novels as an "enchanted palace." "Ranelagh," said Rogers ("Table-Talk"), "was a very pleasant place of amusement. There persons of inferior rank mingled with the highest nobility of Britain. All was so orderly and still that you could hear the whisking sound of the ladies' trains as the immense assembly walked round and round the room. If you chose, you might have tea, which was served up in the neatest equipage possible." The dining boxes under the arcade on the ground level are shown in the picture, as well as the orchestra, the musicians, and the numerous gaily-dressed promenaders. On the back of the original canvas was an inscription by the artist, recording that the picture was painted in London in 1754.
1430. ARCHITECTURAL SUBJECT WITH FIGURES.
Domenico Beccafumi (Sienese: 1486-1551).
Of this painter there is a very interesting account in Vasari. His surname was adopted from his patron, on whose estate Domenico's father was a labourer. Like Giotto, Domenico was observed one day drawing on the ground, while minding his father's sheep, and his master sent him to school and made an artist of him. His style was first formed on that of Perugino, whose pictures in Siena he copied. In 1510 he went to Rome to study the works of Michael Angelo and Raphael; but returning to Siena in 1512, he became a close imitator of Bazzi (1144), who had recently settled in the city. Unlike Bazzi, Domenico was (adds Vasari) "most orderly and well conducted, lived as it beseemed a Christian to do, and passed the greater part of his time alone." "It will nevertheless sometimes happen," adds Vasari, "that such as are called good fellows and merry companions are more sought after than are the virtuous and upright." In the matter of artistic commissions, however, Beccafumi was well employed, in painting both altar-pieces for churches and frescoes of classical subjects for the houses of wealthy citizens. Some of the latter still remain in situ, while the Accademia contains Beccafumi's best works in the other sort. It was he who executed the mosaics of light and dark marbles which form the pavement of the choir of the Duomo. He also practised sculpture and did eight angels in bronze for the Duomo. He hastened his death, says Vasari, "by labouring day and night at his castings of metal which he would also finish and polish himself, working entirely alone, and refusing to accept any assistance whatever." He occupied his leisure time in cultivating a small property outside the city gates. He could not work, he told Vasari, removed from the air of Siena.
A picture corresponding in general character to several described by Vasari. It is probably intended as a fantastic treatment of the visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon, or of Esther before Ahasuerus.
1431. THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST.
Ascribed to Perugino (Umbrian: 1446-1523). See 288.
Around this little picture of the Umbrian School, bought by Sir Edward Poynter at Rome in 1894, a fierce battle of the critics has raged. Sir Edward's own description may first be cited:--"A perfectly genuine work by a scholar of Perugino, probably done in his studio, and, in my opinion, possibly by the young Raphael. The most characteristic point, besides the beautiful painting of the figure of the Saviour, is the drawing of the hands, which is precisely Raphael's. On the other hand, the heads are not specially Raphaelesque, nor is the colour as pure and transparent as is usual even in his early work; at the same time, such characteristics as do not agree with what we know of his work might possibly be due to its being a youthful performance. The painting of the trees is quite peculiar, and different from the treatment to be found in the works of Perugino, or, indeed, of any work of the school that I had seen. Some two or three years afterwards I saw the predella painting of 'St. John Preaching' by Raphael, belonging to the Marquis of Lansdowne, and was very interested to find in it the same treatment of the leaves of the trees--that is to say, that, instead of the minute and delicate sprays of foliage, so characteristic of Perugino's own work and of, so far as I know, most of his followers, the trees have only a few sprays of large and freely painted leaves." According to many of Sir Edward's critics, the picture is a "detestable little production"; while one of them ascribes it, as a work of the nineteenth century, to Micheli, "a maker of old masters." (See a copious correspondence in the Athenæum and the Times, during March and April, 1907).
1432. THE MARRIAGE OF ST. CATHERINE.
Gerard David (Early Flemish: 1460-1523). See 1045.
This picture (formerly ascribed to Hugo van der Goes) was, like No. 1045, painted for the Collegiate Church of St. Donatian at Bruges. Until the end of the last century it adorned the altar of St. Catherine in that church. The details of the picture are carried out with marvellous care and finish, and the whole displays the utmost perfection of execution. The expression of the figures, is, however, hardly so animated or idealised as in No. 1045. But "the Canon's intelligent head is admirably modelled and painted, and the figure of St. Catherine is executed with rare perfection. The jewellery, stuff, and draperies are all rendered with David's usual skill; while the background, with its rich vegetation, vigorously coloured trees, and picturesque buildings, is hardly surpassed by that of any of his other pictures." The scene of the mystical marriage (for the subject, see under 249) is laid in the emblematic walled garden ("a garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse"), surrounded by a vineyard (in which is an angel gathering grapes). On the right of the picture are seated St. Barbara, holding an open book, and St. Mary Magdalene with the vase of precious ointment in her lap. In front of St. Catherine kneels the donor of the picture, Richard de Visch van der Capelle, Canon and Cantor of the Church; he is accompanied by his greyhound, on whose collar is a shield bearing the Canon's arms. Before him, on the floor, lie a breviary of blue velvet and his precentor's staff. The workmanship of this staff is a good instance of the painter's minute precision. The staff is surmounted by a group representing the Holy Trinity adored by a monk and a cardinal. It was painted from a staff presented to the church in 1338, and the picture precisely corresponds to a description of the staff, to be found in an old inventory of the church property (see authorities cited in the Official Catalogue from Mr. Weale's description in the Academy, xiv. p. 391).
The picture was exhibited at Paris in 1881 under the name of Hugo van der Goes, and was sold for 54,100 francs. It ultimately passed into the possession of Mr. Lyne Stephens, by whom in 1895 it was bequeathed to the National Gallery.
1433. PORTRAIT OF A LADY.
Unknown (Flemish School: 15th Century).
Notice the transparent starched muslin head-dress which, coming down as low as the eyebrows and covering the ears, yet allows the forehead and ears, and a high cap of gold and white brocade, to be seen through its thin texture.
1434. A BETROTHAL.
Velazquez (Spanish: 1599-1660). See 197. See also (p. xxi)
An unfinished picture once in the possession of Sir Edwin Landseer, and presented to the Gallery by Lord Savile, who has given a very interesting surmise of the subject: "It is evidently the representation of a betrothal in a private family, probably that of Velazquez himself. If this surmise be correct, the principal male figure would be Velazquez as a Knight of the Order of Santiago, the red cross of which, though half concealed, is seen on his cloak; the mother presenting her child would be his daughter, the wife of the artist Del Mazo, his pupil and son-in-law, and the girl, their daughter, the grandchild of Velazquez. The foreground is occupied on the right by a half-length figure of the poet Quevedo, with a huge pair of horn spectacles, as he is represented in his portrait by Velazquez at Apsley House, though here he is a much older man. He was a great friend of Velazquez, and in this picture may represent the witness to the betrothal of the artist's grandchild. On the right is a negro, probably Juan Pareja, the favourite slave of Velazquez, who is conveying a basket of fruit to his young mistress. Velazquez himself is waiting, pen in hand, for the 'promesso sposo,' who, though not shown in the picture, may be entering the room by the portière which an attendant is raising; but he is seen by the little bride elect, who waves a salute to him with the flower in her hand. [Contrast, as a pretty little incident, the dog who is running towards the door and barking at the stranger.] It is not surprising that a painting of this unusual character should give rise to doubt as to the correctness of its attribution, and it has been suggested that it is the work of Del Mazo, the pupil of Velazquez; but if that artist had been commissioned to paint the portrait of a knight of Santiago, his sitter would scarcely have been satisfied with the scanty indication of that celebrated order shown in this picture. If, however, as I believe, the knight of Santiago represents Velazquez himself, the half-hidden cross of that order assumes an aspect that may have an important bearing on the questions of the authorship of the picture, the date of the work, and the cause of its being unfinished. Stirling-Maxwell, in his admirable and exhaustive Annals of the Artists of Spain, relates that Philip IV. in 1658 conferred on Velazquez the habit of the Order of Santiago; but it was not for many months later that the artist was invested with its insignia, owing to the formalities required by the Order to prove his pedigree. The King, impatient at this delay, sent for the President of the Order and the documents connected with the case, and having looked at them his Majesty said to the President, 'Place on record that the evidence satisfies me.' The half-concealed red cross of Santiago in the picture was sufficient for Velazquez to show that he was entitled to the Order, but, with the modesty and conscientiousness that distinguished him, he did not design the insignia on his breast, where it is worn, apparently not feeling justified in so doing until after his investiture. This, however, did not occur till November 1659. It is evident, therefore, that the picture must have been painted in 1658, after he had received the habit, but not the insignia, of the Order. That the picture was left unfinished was doubtless due to the onerous duties with which Velazquez was charged by the King in preparing the meeting on the Bidassoa, in 1660, of the French and Spanish Courts, to celebrate the nuptials of Louis XIV. and the Infanta Maria Teresa. These duties doubled the official fatigues and shortened the life of Velazquez, who died shortly after his return to Madrid in August of the same year. There is, therefore, good reason to believe that the picture in the National Gallery is the last ever painted by Velazquez" (letter to the Times, May 11, 1895).
1436. THE VISION OF ST. EUSTACE.
Vittore Pisano (Veronese: 1380-1452). See 776.
"The minute but unobtrusive finish of the picture is," says the Official Catalogue, "astonishing. Of the coats of the horse, dogs, stag, and other wild animals introduced every hair is drawn; and of the wild birds, every feather; nor are they less remarkable for the beauty of the drawing and the admirable character displayed, in which it may be truly said this painter has never been excelled. Numerous studies of animals of the highest beauty are to be found in collections of drawings throughout Europe, some of them evidently done in preparation for this picture." St. Eustace, whose name before his conversion was Placidus, was a Roman soldier, a captain of the guards in the reign of the Emperor Trajan. He was a great lover of the chase, and "one day, while hunting in the forest, he saw before him a stag of marvellous beauty. He pursued it eagerly, and the stag fled before him, and ascended a high rock. Then Placidus, looking up, beheld, between the horns of the stag, a cross of radiant light, and on it the image of the crucified Redeemer; and being astonished and dazzled by this vision, he fell on his knees, and a voice, which seemed to come from the crucifix, cried to him, and said, 'Placidus! why dost thou pursue me? I am Christ, whom thou hast hitherto served without knowing me. Dost thou now believe?' And Placidus fell with his face to the earth, and said, 'Lord, I believe!' And when he looked up again the wondrous vision had departed. And he returned to his house and was baptized with his wife and children" (Mrs. Jameson: Sacred and Legendary Art, 1850, p. 466). For a representation of the very similar legend of St. Hubert, see No. 783. This beautiful picture (from Lord Ashburnham's Collection) has been placed in a very elaborate frame in the Italian style: compare No. 1416.
1437. THE DESCENT OF THE HOLY GHOST.
Barnaba da Modena (painted about 1365).
A specimen, very well preserved, of the Giottesque period of Italian art. The painter, a native of Modena, appears to have worked chiefly in Piedmont and Pisa. Examples of his work may be seen in the Galleries of Pisa, Turin, Frankfort, and Berlin. It is pointed out as noticeable, in the Official Catalogue, that the drapery of the Virgin Mary is treated in the hieratic or Byzantine manner, while that of the Apostles is in the naturalistic manner of Giotto. For a similar instance of transitional treatment, see Duccio's "Transfiguration," No. 1330.
1438. HEAD OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST.
Unknown (Lombard School: 16th Century).
A head of great beauty and much pathos of expression. An inscription on the background gives the date of the picture, 1511.
1439. FISHING IN THE RIVER.
Salomon Ruysdael (Dutch: 1600-1670). See 1344.
An early work. Signed, and dated 1631. "The sky is partly covered with soft, gray clouds, and the whole scene gives the impression of a still and peaceful summer's day."
1440. ST. DOMINIC.
Giovanni Bellini (Venetian: 1427-1516). See 189. See also (p. xxi)
The portrait of a monk (on the parapet is an inscription recording that it is a likeness of Brother Theodore of Urbino) in the character of St. Dominic. He wears the Dominican robe, and the name of the saint is inscribed on the label of the book which he holds, and carries the usual attributes of the saint, the lily and a book (on the label of which are the words "Sanctus Dominicus"). The inscription is dated 1515, so that if genuine this must be one of the painter's last works. No. 808 is another portrait of a monk ascribed to the same painter--in character as one of the saints (St. Peter Martyr). Signor Frizzoni attributes both of them to Gentile Bellini.
1441. THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS.
Perugino (Umbrian: 1446-1523). See 288.
This fresco from the church at Fontignano, near Castello della Pieve, was left unfinished when the painter died there in 1523, in his 77th year; it is believed to be his last work (see Vasari, ii. 323). The fresco was transferred to canvas and removed in 1843. It was purchased in 1862 from Mr. Spence of Florence, by the South Kensington Museum. "The hand had not lost its cunning, and there is much of the early sweetness in this huge fresco. There is the charm of its faded blues and purples, the haze of its shimmering sunshine, and the tender reverence of the kneeling figures" (G. C. Williamson: Perugino, o, p. 110).
1442. SHIPS IN A GALE.
Bakhuizen (Dutch: 1631-1708). See 204.
1443. INTERIOR OF A CHURCH.
H. Steenwyck (Flemish: 1580-1649). See 1132.
A funeral service is being celebrated in the nave, while in the foreground is a christening procession.
1444. PEASANTS WARMING THEMSELVES.
Gerard von Honthorst (Dutch: 1590-1656).
This artist went early in life to Rome, where he acquired the style of Caravaggio (see 172). "His rude contrasts of opaque shade and brilliant light, his luminous effects produced by the light of a torch or flambeau, and the naturalism of his works, caused him to be much sought after in Italy, where this style was in fashion," and acquired for him the name of "Gherardo della Notte." He returned to Utrecht, his birthplace, in 1623, and in 1628 was commissioned by Charles I. to decorate the palace of Whitehall. While in England he also painted the portraits of the Court and many of the nobility. Several of his portraits are to be seen in the National Portrait Gallery.
1445, 1446. STUDIES OF FLOWERS.
Rachel Ruysch (Dutch: 1664-1750).
One of the few female painters represented in the Gallery. Rachel Ruysch was the daughter of a professor of anatomy, and began to study art at an early age. She married Julian Pool, a portrait-painter, and had a large family. She continued the practice of her art until she reached an advanced age, always signing her pictures with her maiden name. Notwithstanding her industry, the number of her pictures is somewhat small, and it was jokingly said in her time that "she produced more children than pictures." The labour she devoted to her work was astonishing; two pictures alone are said to have occupied her for seven years; and these she bestowed on one of her daughters as a marriage portion. She was admirable in her manner of grouping as well as in pencilling; each flower is relieved by its neighbour, and all are kept in perfect harmony. She was fond of introducing among her flowers the insects peculiar to them (notice the butterfly in 1446); and these she depicted with microscopic accuracy. "Had her colouring been less cold, she would certainly have equalled her illustrious rival, Van Huysum" (Bryan's Dictionary of Painters, and Havard's Dutch School, p. 268).
1447. A HUNTING PARTY.
Adam Frans van der Meulen (Flemish: 1632-1694).
This painter, a native of Brussels, had a great facility in battlepieces. Some of these found their way to France, and attracted the notice of the painter Le Brun. On his recommendation Van der Meulen was invited to the French Court, and was at first employed on designs for the Gobelins tapestries. Afterwards he accompanied Louis XIV. on his campaigns, and, brush in hand, was present at all the principal sieges and battles of that monarch. These he afterwards painted for the King; he also depicted many hunting scenes and cavalcades. His works are to be seen at the Louvre and Versailles.
The present picture (signed, and dated 1662) shows us some such scene in the life of the Court. The suite is bareheaded, and it is clearly some personage of importance--possibly Louis XIV. himself--who is seated at the window of the carriage. The background of open country with blue distance is very pleasantly rendered.
1448. A VILLAGE GREEN IN FRANCE.
François S. Bonvin (French: 1817-1888).
A painter of still life and interiors as well as of landscape; for thirty years a constant exhibitor at the Salon; given the Order of the Legion of Honour in 1870.
Signed, and dated 1869, at Verberie--a pleasantly-situated spot in the department of the Oise, eleven miles north-east of Senlis.
1449. CARDINAL RICHELIEU.
Philippe de Champaigne (French: 1602-1674). See 798.
"The central head in No. 798 was evidently used as a study for this portrait. The Cardinal, in the crimson silk robes of his office, with the cross of the Order of St. Louis hung by a blue ribbon round his neck, stands as if just risen from the chair of state behind him."
1450. THE HOLY FAMILY.
Sebastiano del Piombo (Venetian: 1485-1547). See 1.
"In the mixture of the Venetian element," it has been said, "with the severe forms and masses of the Michelangelesque feeling consists the charm of Sebastiano's best works" (Layard, ii. 562). The "superb composition" before us, says Sir Edward Poynter, "shows the influence of Michelangelo in every line." It was formerly in the collection of the late Mr. Thomas Baring, and was purchased from the Earl of Northbrook in 1895. It was Mr. Baring's favourite picture in his collection.
1451. INTERIOR OF A CHURCH.
Gerrit Berck-Heyde (Dutch: 1638-1698). See 1420.
The nave of a Gothic church in Holland, during sermon-time (the preacher is in the pulpit against one of the columns on the right). The women sit on chairs; the men in seats raised in tiers. Some stand listening to the sermon, and an elderly man on the left is warning two children to be quiet. In the centre a boy is playing with a dog, to which a woman directs the attention of the child with her. On the pavement is the artist's signature, dated 1673.
1454. A GONDOLA.
Francesco Guardi (Venetian: 1712-1793). See 210.
1455. THE CIRCUMCISION.
Giovanni Bellini (Venetian: 1426-1516). See 189.
A picture of Bellini's earlier period, the original of numerous versions and copies in private and public galleries, presented to the National Gallery by one of the trustees, the Earl of Carlisle. The Virgin is "one of those magnificent Venetian women whose morbidezza profoundly moved the painters of their country, marked by a grave, suave, and restful expression, instinct with unconscious dignity; this is the countenance of a Venetian woman to the life, not over refined, but full of repose, the repose of vigour and conscious strength, not the languor of debility" (Athenæum). The diaper of the High Priest's robe contains figures of antelopes, a curious instance of the straightforward mode of the artist, who, no doubt, employed as a model a veritable robe, and one of Oriental or Sicilian origin. Embroideries of this category were frequently used in Venice of old. The same Oriental embroidery is to be seen in pictures by other Venetian artists in which the High Priest is introduced.
1456. VIRGIN AND CHILD, WITH ANGELS.
Unknown (Italian School: 15th Century).
Below is a portion of the original frame with three small quatrefoil medallions in which are half-length figures of the Saviour, the Virgin, and St. John. The picture, which was presented to the Gallery by one of the trustees, Mr. J.P. Heseltine, is ascribed to the school of Gentile da Fabriano (about 1360-1440), "the Umbrian Fra Angelico," whose delight in splendour and gold ornaments is so naïve.
1457. CHRIST DRIVING THE TRADERS OUT OF THE TEMPLE.
Domenico Theotocopuli (Spanish: 1548-1625). See 1122.
1459. THE WINE CONTRACT.
Gerhard van den Eeckhout (Dutch: 1621-1674).
This painter, the son of a goldsmith at Amsterdam, was one of the first to enter Rembrandt's school. He was a favourite pupil, and lived in close intimacy with the master. His biblical subjects--examples of which are at the Louvre, the Hague, and Amsterdam--were painted in close imitation of Rembrandt. He owed to his master not only his subjects, but their figures, costumes, and attitudes; he could not, however, borrow Rembrandt's warmth and intensity. His portraits are more successful.
A group of the four chiefs of the Wine Guild of Amsterdam seated in conversation over some deeds. The picture is signed, and dated 1657.
1461. ST. SEBASTIAN.
Matteo di Giovanni (Sienese: 1435-1495). See 1155.
This and No. 247 by the same artist are, says Sir Edward Poynter, "excellent examples of tempera painting of the fifteenth century, in good preservation and unvarnished." The panel is surrounded by the original gilt mouldings.
1462. SEA-PIECE WITH SHIPPING.
Hendrik Dubbels (Dutch: 1620-1676).
This painter, "the master of Bakhuizen (see under 204), was one of the first, after the success of his pupil was confirmed, to adopt his subjects and to copy his manner" (Havard: The Dutch School, p. 256). His works, however, bear little resemblance to Bakhuizen's: they are more like Van de Cappelle. Many of his pictures are to be found in private collections. The present picture, with its luminous atmospheric effects, is an excellent example. Observe on the leeboard of one of the barges the signature, I. H. D., possibly Jan Hendrik Dubbels. There were three painters of the name, Hendrik, Dirk, and Jan.
1465. CHRIST RISING FROM THE TOMB.
Gaudenzio Ferrari (Lombard: 1481-1549).
A welcome addition to the Gallery, as being the work (though not a specially important work) of a great and most indefatigable painter not previously represented. Gaudenzio was a native of Valduggia (in the Val Sesia); his father was a painter; his mother's surname was Vinzio, and in his early work he often signed his pictures after her, "Gaudentius Vincius." He passed his life exclusively in Piedmont and Lombardy, where nearly all his works are still to be found--at Vercelli, Novara, Saronno, and Milan. The most important of them are at Varallo, on the Sacro Monte and in the church at its foot. In some of the chapels on the Sacro Monte he not only painted the frescoes in the background but also executed the terra-cotta figures, thus carrying out the scheme of uniting painting and sculpture in a single design. His "Crucifixion Chapel," the most important of his works in this kind, has on this account been described as "the most daring among Italian works of art." Gaudenzio, who was nearly contemporary with Luini, first studied at Milan in the school of Stefano Scotto (whose portrait he is believed to have introduced more than once in his work at Varallo). The story that he visited Rome and made the acquaintance of Raphael rests on no authority, and probably arose from a certain similarity in his works to the charm of Raphael. But this is a similarity, not of what is called "influence," but of age and temperament. "The influence of Perugino or of Raphael," says Morelli, "is not more and not less perceptible in Ferrari's paintings than in those of nearly all the great masters of that happy period, generally called the golden age of Italian art, during which Gaudenzio and Luini held much the same place in their own school as Raphael does in the Umbrian, Cavazzola (Morando) and Carotto in the Veronese, Garofalo and Dosso in the Ferrarese, and Fra Bartolommeo and Andrea del Sarto in the Florentine. Gaudenzio, it is true, has not the grace of Luini, neither are his works so perfect in execution as those of his rival; but take him for all in all, as regards inventive genius, dramatic life, and picturesqueness, he stands far above Luini. In his hot haste Ferrari often loses his balance, and becomes quaint and affected; many of his larger compositions, too, are overcrowded with figures; but in his best works he is inferior to very few of his contemporaries, and occasionally, as in some of those groups of men and women in the great 'Crucifixion' at Varallo, he might challenge a comparison with Raphael himself" (German Galleries, p. 441). The best and fullest account of Gaudenzio, in English, is to be found in Mr. Samuel Butler's interesting work on Varallo, entitled Ex Voto (Trübner, 1888).
Christ, holding the resurrection banner in His hand, rises from a marble tomb. The painter, who was a child of the mountains, gives us a background of blue hills. The picture was the centre compartment of an altar-piece in a church at Magianico, near Lecco, on the Lake of Como. This composition was copied with variations by Gaudenzio's follower Giuseppe Giovenone in a picture now at Turin.
1466. THE WALK TO EMMAUS.
Lelio Orsi (Parmese: 1511-1586).
This painter, highly esteemed in his own day and of considerable talent, has remained less known than many others of inferior merit--a fact which is due, as Lanzi observes (ii. 357), to his having divided his time between Reggio and Novellara, comparatively obscure towns in the Emilia. He was born at Reggio, and was much employed there by the Gonzagi. He is supposed to have been a pupil of Correggio, whose works he is known to have copied, and of whom he was a personal friend. In 1546 he was banished for some unknown offence, and was not permitted to return to Reggio till 1552. During these years he settled at Novellara, where again he was employed by the Gonzagas. He must also have visited Rome, and studied the works of Michael Angelo. Most of Orsi's frescoes have perished. Some of his pictures are in the Gallery at Modena. He was celebrated in his day no less as an architect than as a painter.
There is an element of picturesqueness and almost modern romanticism in this picture. Christ and the disciples wear broad-brimmed hats and the dress of Italian peasants (cf. No. 753).
1468. THE CRUCIFIXION.
Spinello Aretino (Tuscan: about 1333-1410). See 581. See also (p. xxi)
A picture, some 500 years old, in excellent preservation, retaining its bright colours and the varied expressions of the faces. It is in its original frame, surmounted by a Gothic canopy. Two upright panels on each side contain figures of St. John the Baptist and St. Paul (left), St. James the Greater and St. Bartholomew (right). In circular medallions below are the Virgin and Child, with saints.
1469. STILL LIFE.
W. K. Heda (Dutch: 1594-1678)
One of the painters "of the kitchen and dining-room--painters who devoted themselves to painting copper and silver vessels, pottery, and porcelain, modest saucepans, crystal cups, glass bowls, and goblets of chased silver. The first to cultivate this new style of still life was Willem Klaasz Heda. He was born at Haarlem. He was a clever and careful painter, and must have left behind him a considerable number of works; but, nevertheless, his pictures are excessively rare. They generally consist of a carved silver cup, a plate, and a cut lemon--three subjects which the painter rendered with marvellous truthfulness, the whole surrounded by a few accessories rising out of a brown background" (Havard: The Dutch School, p. 272).
1470. A BATTLE SCENE.
J. Weier (German: 17th Century).
This picture is signed I. Weier, and dated 1645. It may be either by Jacob Weier, of Hamburg, who died in 1670; or by Johann Matthias Weier, of the same town, who was a pupil of Wouwerman, and died, a very old man, in 1690.
1471. THE PICNIC ("MARIENDA CAMPESTRE").
Francisco Goya (Spanish: 1746-1828).
This painter--of greater genius and of a more national spirit, says Sir William Stirling-Maxwell, than any his century produced--was the son of humble parents. Until the age of 16 he lived without any knowledge of art, when his passion for painting was awakened by a monk of Santa Fé, near Saragossa, after which he was admitted into the studio of José Luxan Martinez, who had been educated in Italy. He distinguished himself at this time, not so much in the studio as in the streets, in the quarrels of painters and confraternities, sometimes ending in bloodshed. At Madrid, to which city he afterwards escaped, his mode of life appears to have been anything but that of an orderly citizen. Being a good musician, and gifted with a voice, he sallied forth nightly, serenading the caged beauties of the capital, with whom he seems to have been a general favourite, and whose portraits he painted. In consequence of a street brawl in Madrid he fled to Italy, in company with a party of bull-fighters, and resided at Rome, where he fraternised with Louis David. In 1774 he returned to Spain, married, and settled down to his profession. He soon attracted the notice of Mengs, the King's painter, by some designs which he executed for the royal manufactory of tapestry, and became a popular artist of that capital, and a prime favourite with its fashionable society. In 1789 he was appointed painter-in-ordinary to Charles IV., a post which he continued to hold under Ferdinand VII. He was so largely employed that he was able to maintain a fine villa near Madrid, where he entertained in the grand style. Among distinguished persons who sat to him was the Duke of Wellington, but on his making a remark which raised the artist's choler, Goya seized a plaster cast and hurled it at the Duke's head. The artist's declining years were spent in retirement at Bordeaux, where he died at the age of 82.
"Goya's earlier life indicated," says W. B. Scott, "the character of his painting--bizarre and wild, with a gleam of infernal splendour in his choice of beauty. He was an inventor, and gives us the most vivid and novel sensations, although he serves us with vinegar as well as wine." "Much that was bizarre and tumultuous, the strangeness of charm, a certain curious and sombre side of beauty, the sense of the strength of a personality, the reflection of extravagant gaiety, or excessive horror, Goya was able to render in a manner that had never been seen before" (Goya, by W. Rothenstein: 1900). He was in no way the slave to the technicalities of the studio or academical rules. In sacred subjects, which he painted by no means con amore, he affects the hard style of David and his French followers. But it was otherwise in those more congenial works in which his hand spoke as his fancy prompted, and in which he poured forth the gaiety of his art or the gall of his sarcasm. There the daubing boldness of the execution rivals the coarseness of the idea or the rudeness of the jest. His colours were laid on as often with sticks, sponges, or dish-clouts as with the brush. "Smearing his canvas with paint," says Gautier of him, "as a mason plasters a wall, he would add the delicate touches of sentiment with a dash of his thumb." So dexterous was he in turning all materials to artistic account that during morning visits to his friends he would take the sandbox from the inkstand, and, strewing the contents on the table, amuse them with caricatures traced in an instant by his ready finger. His versatility is proverbial; in addition to numerous oil paintings he executed many crayon sketches, engravings, and etchings. It is by the latter that he is perhaps best known. "The Caprices" are the most surprising, showing humanity in all the stages of brutality and ugliness, with a mélange of beauty and demonology quite unexampled. (W.B. Scott, The Spanish School; Bryan's Dictionary of Painters; and Stirling-Maxwell, Annals of the Artists of Spain.) The three following pictures are representative of Goya's several styles--scenes of country life, demoniacal fancies, and portraiture.
From the collection of the Duke of Ossuna at Madrid. Théophile Gautier described Goya--in the language of hyperbole--as "a combination of Watteau and Rembrandt," and in this picture we have a Watteau-like subject, treated, however, in a more grotesque fashion than that of the charming French painter of rural fêtes.
1472. "THE BEWITCHED."
Francisco Goya (Spanish: 1746-1828). See 1471.
A scene from a play ("El hechizado por fuerza"), showing a player on the stage, dressed as a padre in complete black, and in the act of pouring oil into a lamp which is held by an obsequious demon, while a team of ghostly and affrighted mules are rearing in the background. Goya, who has been called the Hogarth of Spain, specially delighted in satirising the clergy, whose enchantments and incantations he parodied, and whom he was fond of portraying in the form of asses or apes.
1473. PORTRAIT OF DOÑA ISABEL CORBO DE PORCEL.
Francisco Goya (Spanish: 1746-1828). See 1471.
"The lady was evidently a plump and rosy voluptuous woman, having large and liquid eyes with much dilated pupils, as well as coarse and full lips, and wearing her loose brown tresses about her eyes and ears, while a black mantilla fell from a lofty comb upon her shoulders. It is obvious--and this accounts for the lady's flushed carnations and glittering pupils, not frequent elements in Goya's work--that she prepared herself for sitting, not only by blacking her eyelids with kohl, but using belladonna to dilate her eyes, and rouge for her cheeks" (Athenæum, July 4, 1896). This portrait, says Sir Edward Poynter, "is perhaps as good an example as could be found of the brilliancy of execution and vivid portrayal of character which characterise Goya at his best."
1476. JUPITER AND SEMELE.
Andrea Schiavone (Venetian: 1522-1582).
Andrea Meldolla, called Il Schiavone (from his birthplace in Dalmatia, the country of the Slaves), was born of poor parents, and died, we are told, "after a life of much suffering as well as labour"--his works, by which the dealers enriched themselves, barely supplying him with the means of existence. He was employed at very small remuneration to paint the outside of houses and panels for furniture. It is said that he was rescued from obscurity by Titian. He was a good colourist, and had considerable imagination. "The colouring of Schiavone," says Zanetti, "was much admired by Tintoret, who kept a painting by that artist in his studio and advised others to do the same." Among the illustrious painters who followed Tintoret's advice was our own Lord Leighton, from whose collection the present picture was bought.
The picture illustrates the myth which told how Jupiter came to Semele, whom he loved, attended by clouds, lightning, and thunderbolts. This panel was doubtless painted, as described above, for some piece of furniture.
1478. THE CRUCIFIXION.
Giovanni Mansueti (Venetian: born about 1450).
Of the life of this painter little is known. The registers of San Giovanni, Venice, tell us that he was lame; and by his own authority we learn that he was a pupil of Giovanni Bellini, and a believer in the miracle of the Cross, which took place in 1474, and forms the subject of a picture by him, now in the Academy of Venice. His pictures in that collection are interesting as illustrating Venetian costume and architecture, and Ruskin finds "much that is delightful in them." Mansueti's figures, says Kugler (i. 332), are short and stumpy, and he lacks the variety of expression and action of Gentile Bellini, and the brilliancy of colour and fancy of Carpaccio.
This picture--which is not a very ambitious or characteristic illustration of the painter--gives a symbolic representation of the Crucifixion. "In front of an architectural screen--on the right and left of which is an open tabernacle in sculptured stone, enclosing, instead of the usual statue of the Virgin or a saint, an angel singing, and holding an instrument of the Passion of our Saviour--lie the spear, and the sponge upon the reed. Between these is a Majesty of the usual type, the flesh of the Redeemer being, doubtless owing to the partial fading of the carnations or the fact of the under-paint coming through, more greenish and opaque than the Venetian artists, especially the school of Bellini, affected. At the foot of the group the Magdalen kneels in the act of kissing the Saviour's feet. On her left stands the Virgin, and on the same side are two men, representing, of course, the Magi and the shepherds who attended the nativity of our Lord. On our right stand SS. John the Baptist and Peter, in front of whom kneels a man who holds the pincers as an implement of the Passion. The picture, as becomes its origin, is bright in colour as well as in its effect and local tints, very carefully and almost laboriously as well as timidly drawn; the architecture would not discredit Peter Neeffs" (Athenæum, 24th October 1896). The picture is signed, and dated 1492.
1479. A WINTER SCENE ON THE ICE.
Hendrik van Avercamp (Dutch: 1586-1663). See 1346.
A winter scene such as Mr. Pater describes in his Imaginary Portraits (p. 91), with "all the delicate poetry together with all the delicate comfort of the frosty season," in "the leafless branches, the furred dresses of the skaters, the warmth of the red-brick house fronts, and the gleam of pale sunlight."
1481. A PHILOSOPHER.
Cornelis Pietersz Bega (Dutch: 1620-1664).
This painter, who lived and died at Haarlem, was the son of a sculptor and a pupil of Adrian van Ostade. "Though," says Havard (p. 148), "a more finished draughtsman, with more regard for grace of form and for the beauty of his figures, in all other respects he was very inferior to Ostade. When we notice his dry and heavy execution, his ruddy flesh-colouring, and his opaque shadows, we are surprised that he should have so far neglected the examples placed before him."
This picture, executed throughout with extreme care and finish, is signed, and dated 1663.
1489, 1490. PORTRAITS OF VENETIAN SENATORS.
(Venetian School: 16th Century.)
Transferred from the South Kensington Museum, where the portraits were attributed to Tintoret.
1493. LANDSCAPE, WITH VIEW OF THE CARRARA MOUNTAINS.
G. Costa (Italian: born 1826).
Giovanni Costa, Professor in the Florentine Academy of Fine Arts, is distinguished alike as a painter and a patriot. He fought in the Venetian campaign of 1848, was a follower of Mazzini, in 1853 joined the Piedmontese regiment of lancers known as the Aosta Cavalleggieri, served on Garibaldi's staff at Mentana, and in 1870 fought his way through the streets of Rome at the head of the Italian army, and was the first to enter the Capitol. This ended his military career; but he afterwards served on the Municipal Council of Rome and interested himself specially in the prevention of inundations of the Tiber. It was in 1852 that Costa first began the study of landscape painting, in which he was destined to become the greatest ornament of the modern Italian School. His home was in the Alban Hills, near Rome, and afterwards at Florence, where in 1859 he inaugurated the "open-air school" in Italy. In 1864 he returned to Rome, and in 1870 was appointed to his professorship at Florence. In the earlier portion of his artistic career, Costa exhibited at Paris (with Corot, Troyon, and others); afterwards he found in England his chief patrons, and many of his pupils. In 1853, at Rome, he made the acquaintance of Leighton, whose intimate friend he remained until the President's death. Another celebrated English artist with whom Costa was intimate was Mason; there is considerable affinity in some respects between the work of the two men. The Italian painter has depicted almost every part of his beautiful country. He has been called "the Italian Millet," for the feeling of sublimity which he knows so well how to impart to the simplicities of peasant life; while in works of pure landscape he especially excels in giving to blue mountains, reedy banks, and olive-grown shores a poetical charm. (See an interesting account of Professor Costa, largely autobiographical, in the Magazine of Art, vol. vi. His personal reminiscences of Mason and Leighton have been published in the Cornhill Magazine, March 1897.)
The scenery of the Carrara Mountains is a favourite subject of the painter. In his pictures of these mountains, "seen across a broad expanse of plain through a misty atmosphere, he invests forms undeniably grand in themselves with a more solemn splendour and a deepened poetry."
1495. CHRIST DISPUTING WITH THE DOCTORS.
Ludovico Mazzolino (Ferrarese: 1480-1528). See 169.
This brilliant and characteristic little picture, containing twenty-eight delicately and elaborately finished figures, is enriched with one of Mazzolino's usual backgrounds of marble bas-reliefs. The lower of them represents Moses showing the Tables of the Law to the Israelites. The upper, the battle between the Israelites and the Philistines, with David beheading Goliath.
1653. PORTRAIT OF HERSELF.
Madame Vigée Le Brun (French: 1755-1842).
All visitors to Paris know this charming artist. Her two portraits of herself with her little girl in her arms are in the Louvre, and engravings or photographs of them are in every printseller's window. They are characteristic of her refined drawing, her limpid and transparent colour, her graceful sentiment. She excelled in rendering the candour of innocence, the charm of childhood, and maternal tenderness. She aimed rather at a certain ideal of soft and smiling beauty than at realism of portraiture. Some of her personages, even those in the highest ranks of life, seem, it has been well said, to have traversed the sentimental scenes of the tender Greuze, and she was fond of enveloping her sitters in semi-allegorical surroundings. If she cannot be reckoned among the great portrait-painters, she yet shows a power which is rare among artists of her sex, and a charming style of her own which will always make her works attractive. Madame le Brun was herself one of the most beautiful and accomplished women of her time. Elizabeth Louise Vigée was born in Paris, and her early years were spent in the studio of her father, who was a painter, and among other artistic surroundings. Her own talents rapidly developed; by the time she was 15 she had many commissions, and at 20 she was already celebrated. Her beauty and social charm soon gained for her the friendship of the greatest men and women of the day, including La Harpe, D'Alembert, and Marie Antoinette. With the Queen she was a great favourite. She painted her portrait in 1779, and afterwards no less than thirty times. She was made a member of the Royal Academy of Painting in 1780, but when the Revolution broke out she left Paris in haste. She went from capital to capital; in each in turn the charm of her person and manner made her many friends, and she was always full of commissions. In 1795 she settled for some years at St. Petersburg, where she enjoyed the favour of the Imperial Court. In 1802 she came for three years to England, where she painted portraits of the Prince of Wales and Lord Byron, among others. She was a favourite wherever she went, but in spite of all the adulation she received she remained simple and natural to the end. When she returned to Paris, her salon became the rendezvous of the most distinguished writers, painters, and politicians of that brilliant period, and her Souvenirs, published in 1837, are crowded with interesting sketches of her friends. In this frank and engaging autobiography she gives us particulars of the worthless husband--M. Le Brun, a picture-dealer whom she had married when she was 20. He squandered her fortune, but she found unfailing consolation in the daughter whom she presses to her in those portraits in the Louvre. She outlived both her daughter and her husband by many years and died at the age of 87.
This portrait was painted by the artist in her 27th year. Its acquisition for the National Gallery is specially interesting, for it was painted in emulation of the celebrated "Chapeau de Paille" of Rubens (No. 852). She had seen and admired that work at Antwerp in 1782, and determined to represent herself in a similar effect of shadow and reflected light. The portrait had so great a success that it gained her admission to the Académie, where she was received in the following year, 1783.
1660. PORTRAIT OF HIMSELF.
Adrian van der Werff (Dutch: 1659-1722).
"The painter who by his astounding success did most after Gerard de Lairesse to lead the art of painting into a perverse path was Adrian van der Werff. He was born at Kralinger-Ambacht, near Rotterdam, and received lessons in drawing from Cornelis Picollet, and then entered the studio of Eglon van der Neer, where he made rapid progress. At first he seemed inclined to follow the bent of his master, but he deserted the study of nature for the pursuit of the ideal, and in doing so he fell into cold sentimentality and tasteless affectation. His groups became pretentious, his heads monotonous, his bodies have no life, and his flesh-colouring assumes the polish and the tint of ivory. These defects, however, did not prevent his misleading a certain number of people who believed themselves to be connoisseurs. The Duke of Wolfenbüttel and other high personages of his time contended for the possession of his pictures at enormous prices, and praised the merits of their favourite artist to the skies. No one more assisted him in his career, and in the making of his reputation, than the Elector-Palatine John William, who, not satisfied with giving him very considerable commissions, also conferred upon him the title of Chevalier, and ennobled his family. (The artist signs himself on occasion 'Chevalier van Werff'). The compositions which he painted for his patron are now to be seen at Munich" (Havard: The Dutch School, p. 280). There is in the Dulwich Gallery a "Judgment of Paris" by Van der Werff--a celebrated work painted in 1718 for the Duke of Orleans and much admired by Sir Joshua Reynolds. The heads are wanting in expression and the flesh is bloodless, but the painting is of the greatest finish. There are also pictures by him in the Wallace Collection. "The cold porcelain-like colour," says Mr. Phillips in his catalogue, "and mechanical finish of this artist in the treatment of the nude are much less appreciated by modern connoisseurs than they were by his contemporaries. Still his general accomplishment and the certainty of his execution, in a vicious and wholly conventional style, are not to be denied."
In our picture "the courtly painter of polished, lascivious nudities faces the spectator in a wig of the period of Louis Quatorze, looking as dignified and impersonal as the painters of that particular age did manage to look in their portraits." The statue of Fame, holding a wreath, is characteristic. The portrait is signed, and dated 1685.
1661, 1662. WINGS OF THE ALTAR-PIECE, No. 1093.
Ambrogio de Predis (Milanese: about 1450-1515).
This long-forgotten painter was rediscovered by Morelli in 1880, who claimed for him a considerable place in the Milanese school. This claim has since been historically confirmed by the document, referred to in the notes to No. 1093, showing that Ambrogio de Predis was at work in Milan with Leonardo da Vinci, employed as his assistant to paint the wings of the altar-piece of which the central portion was the "Vierge aux Rochers." By a fortunate purchase these wings by Ambrogio now hang in our Gallery, on either side of Leonardo's picture. Ambrogio's best work was in portraiture, of which an example (one of the two signed and dated by the artist) is also in our Gallery (No. 1665). Ambrogio and his brother Bernardino were sons of a certain Lorenzo Preda of Milan. There is also a Cristoforo de Predis, a miniaturist, one of whose miniatures (representing Galeazzo Maria Sforza) is in the Wallace Collection, and it is probable that from him Ambrogio received his first education in art. In 1482 he was established as Court Painter to Ludovico il Moro. In 1493 he accompanied Bianca Maria Sforza on the occasion of her marriage to the Emperor Maximilian, but was back again at Milan in 1494. In 1502 we find him at Innsbruck, where he seems to have settled. In 1506 he designed some tapestries for the Emperor, after which year nothing more is known of him. In the Vienna Gallery is a signed portrait by him of the Emperor, dated 1502, and to him Morelli ascribes the celebrated profile portrait of Bianca Maria in the Ambrosiana at Milan (there erroneously called Beatrice Sforza), hitherto assigned to Leonardo. Among other portraits now ascribed to Ambrogio are the "Page" in the Morelli Collection at Bergamo, and "Fr. Brivio" in the Poldi Pezzoli Collection at Milan. De Predis is "a conscientious and careful painter, though his drawing and modelling are often defective, particularly in the representation of the hand." He "seems to have been an artist of some individuality, even after coming under Leonardo's influence. He was by nature too much of a miniaturist to concern himself with the larger problems of painting, and was very limited in his range--even his portraits are uniformly treated. He seems, judging by his drawings, to have sought to improve himself by a careful and conscientious study of Leonardo's work, and when he had the advantage of the master's guiding hand he could produce works (like these angels) one of which, though lacking the qualities of profound art, has a certain charm and even dignity of its own" (Catalogue of Milanese Pictures at the Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1898, p. li.; Morelli's German Galleries, pp. 413-415; Roman Galleries, pp. 180-189).
The angel in 1661 may, as suggested above, have been designed, or begun, by Leonardo himself; that in 1662 must be entirely the work of Ambrogio. These paintings remained in their place, as we have seen under 1093, up to 1787. They were purchased in 1878 from Duke Jean Melzi d'Erie at Milan for £2160.
1664. "LA FONTAINE."
J. B. S. Chardin (French: 1699-1779). See 1258.
The woman is drawing water from a copper "fontaine" into a black jug.
1665. PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG MAN.
Ambrogio de Predis (Milanese: about 1450-1515). See 1661.
In his right hand he holds a scroll which bears the painter's signature AM. PR., the date 1494, and the words AN. 20. Formerly in the possession of the Archinti family, and supposed to represent Francesco di Bartolommeo Archinto (1474-1551), who was Governor of Chiavenna. A very refined portrait; but Morelli points out that the hand is "coarse and wanting in life."
1674. A BURGOMASTER.
Rembrandt (Dutch: 1606-1669). See 45.
"The costume and rapid execution of this magnificent picture point rather," says Sir Edward Poynter, "to its being a study than a portrait painted on commission." Probably also the title by which the picture has long been known is a mistake: a Burgomaster would not be painted in such dingy and fantastic garb. The old man was no doubt a model dressed up by Rembrandt in studio "properties." The knotted stick which he holds in his hands may be recognised in the painter's portrait of himself in Lord Ilchester's possession (No. 61 in the Academy Exhibition of 1899). That portrait is dated 1658, and this picture probably belongs to the same period. The picturesque but nondescript headgear worn by the "burgomaster" may have belonged to the master himself in those latter days when all relics of the former splendours had vanished. Whoever he may have been, the "Burgomaster," as he lives for ever on Rembrandt's canvas, is a striking personage; the refined, intellectual face recalls to some spectators one of the late ornaments of the Episcopal Bench in our own day. The portrait is a masterpiece alike of character-reading and of modelling.
1675. PORTRAIT OF AN OLD LADY.
Rembrandt (Dutch: 1606-1669). See 45.
A noble portrait. Rembrandt was a painter who reverenced old age, and gave its dignity and beauty to faces the least promising. We may notice especially the pathetic eyes,--with an expression at once so living and so sorrowful, and the character in the hands which Rembrandt never failed to give his sitters. The old lady wears a large white ruff, "evidently clinging to the costume of her earlier years, for ruffs had long been out of fashion at the time when the picture was painted." The picture has been known as the Burgomaster's Wife, but this description is without authority or probability. There is another portrait of the same old lady in Lord Wantage's possession (No. 15 in the Academy Exhibition, 1899). Lord Wantage's picture is dated 1661.
The two magnificent pictures just described, which hold their own triumphantly even on a wall of masterpieces,[251] were formerly in possession of Sir William Middleton, Bart., great-uncle to Lady de Saumarez, and were exhibited at the British Institution in 1858. Since that date they had been lost to sight until they were purchased for the National Gallery in 1899.[252] They are believed to have been in possession of the Lee family, Lady de Saumarez's ancestors, from the time that they were painted, but they may have come into the family with a certain John van Enkoren, a Dutch gentleman, who married a second cousin of Sir William Middleton.
1676. CHRIST DISPUTING WITH THE DOCTORS.
Francesco de Herrera, the elder (Spanish: 1576-1656).
Francesco de Herrera, the elder--so called to distinguish him from a son of the same name who was also a painter--was the first to throw off the timid conventional style hitherto in vogue, and to adopt the bold and vigorous manner which became characteristic of the school of Seville. He drew, we are told, with charred reeds, and painted with a housepainter's brush. It is said that on occasions he would employ a servant to smear the paints on his canvas with a coarse brush, and then himself shape the rough masses into figures and draperies. In the Louvre there is an important picture by Herrera, "St. Basil dictating his Doctrine," of which Théophile Gautier said that it was "dashed off with an unimaginable fury of the brush, and blazed with the flashing of some auto-da-fè." In the Earl of Clarendon's Collection are three powerful pictures (shown at the New Gallery, 1895-96) representing scenes in the life of St. Bonaventura. But most of Herrera's extant works, in oil and fresco, remain at Seville. The vigour of his style was equalled by the impetuosity of his temper. Pupils flocked round him, but the violence of his outbursts drove them away. Among this number was Velazquez. He perverted his talent as an engraver of medals to the work of coining, and when suspected of this offence fled for sanctuary to the Jesuits' College. There he painted a picture which was shown to Philip IV. "What need," said the King, "has a man gifted with abilities like yours of silver and gold? Go, you are free; and take care that you do not get into this scrape again." He could not, however, change his violent habits, and his children, we are told, robbed him and fled from his house. In 1650 Herrera removed to Madrid, where he had the pleasure, or mortification, of seeing his former pupil, Velazquez, at the height of his fame.
A work in the painter's less impetuous style, but marked by the vigour characteristic of the Spanish and Italian "naturalists."
1680. PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG MAN.
Dutch School (17th Century).
An admirable portrait of a young man with long golden hair, looking out at the spectator. The picture is signed J. Karel du Jardin. It has sometimes been attributed to the well-known painter of that name (see 826), and been said to be a portrait of the artist by himself. But the initial J. does not confirm this theory.
1682. VIRGIN AND CHILD.
Francesco di Giorgio (Sienese: 1439-1502).
Francesco di Giorgio Martini was one of the most distinguished architects and engineers of his time. He wrote a treatise on "Civil and Military Architecture," and was a great authority, says Vasari, on "all instruments required for the purposes of war." There are two altar-pieces by him in the Siena Academy, and he also occasionally produced works in sculpture: "this he could do very conveniently, being a man of fair possessions as well as of remarkable ability, wherefore he did not work for the sake of gain, but for his own pleasure, and when he felt inclined, to the end that he might leave honourable memorials of his existence behind him."
"This quaint little picture represents the Virgin in the attitude of walking, leading the Infant Saviour by the hand. She wears a white dress, shaded blue, with a small gold pattern delicately painted upon it, and a rose-coloured mantle lined with dark green, and holds in her right hand a branch of roses. The drapery falls with much grace, and she looks down with a sweet expression to the Child" (National Gallery Report, 1899).
1683. STUDY OF A HORSE.
Cuyp (Dutch: 1620-1691). See 53.
The glossy texture of the horse is well rendered.
1686. STUDY OF FLOWERS.
Henri Fantin-Latour (French: 1836-1904).
Ignace Henri Jean Théodore Fantin-Latour was born at Grenoble, the son of a famous pastellist. He first exhibited at the Salon in 1861. In 1864 his "Hommage à Delacroix" created a sensation. In this country, where he was a constant exhibitor at the Royal Academy, he is best known for his exquisite studies of roses and other flowers. But he was also a painter of portraits (see No. 1952) and of romantic subjects inspired by his musical tastes. In portraiture, a thorough, though a sympathetic, realist (witness his "Monet's studio at the Batignolles" in the Luxembourg),--he becomes fanciful when he enters the domain of romance. A favourite medium was lithography, in which he excelled; the British Museum has a fine set of proofs. His subjects are taken from the motives used in the musical dramas of Wagner and Berlioz.
Late summer flowers, chiefly roses, in a vase on a wooden table. The background, as usual with this painter, is of a flat tone of warm gray.
1689. A MAN AND WIFE.
Mabuse (Flemish: about 1470-1541). See 656.
Portraits, uncompromising in thoroughness, of a severe and uncompromising couple. "This masterpiece," says Sir Edward Poynter, "combines with a high perfection of finish and modelling, every detail being finished with the utmost care, even to the stubble of the man's beard, great breadth of effect and a beautiful quality of light and shade" (National Gallery Report, 1900). The portraits, formerly in the collection of Captain A. F. Dawson, used to be attributed to Quentin Matsys. Some authorities ascribe them to his brother, Jan. Others believe that the work belongs to the German school. The attribution to Mabuse is made in the Director's Report for 1900.
1694. VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH ST. JOHN.
Fra Bartolommeo (Florentine: 1475-1517).
Bartolommeo di Pagholo del Fattorino, one of the greatest of the Florentine masters, is commonly known as Baccio della Porta, or Fra Bartolommeo. He was born at the village of Savignano, near Prato, and was sent while still a lad to the studio of Cosimo Rosselli at Florence, where he lived with some kinsfolk in a house near the gate of San Piero Gattolini (now the Porta Romana). The neighbours, seeing him come and go to his work, and ignoring surnames with the custom of the time, distinguished him from all the other Bartholemews as Baccio della Porta. "He was loved in Florence," says Vasari, "for his virtue, for he was very diligent at his work, quiet and good-natured, fearing God, living a tranquil life, flying all vicious practices, and taking great pleasure in preaching, and the society of worthy and sober persons." In the studio of Rosselli he made the acquaintance of Mariotto Albertinelli, as erratic, gay, and idle as his companion was pure, gentle, and austere. Between the two young men a warm friendship sprang up, which continued unbroken till the death of Albertinelli in 1515. When Fra Bartolommeo temporarily relinquished the practice of art in 1500, Albertinelli took up his abandoned canvases, and from 1509 onwards the two men worked in formal partnership. The religious spirit of Bartolommeo had been profoundly impressed by Savonarola's preaching. To the famous bonfire, into which the people cast their pomps and vanities, our painter brought all the studies and drawings which he had made from the nude. He was among the band of faithful followers who shut themselves up with Savonarola in San Marco. "Having very little courage," says Vasari, "being indeed of a timid and even cowardly disposition, he lost heart on hearing the clamours of an attack, which was made upon the convent shortly after, and seeing some wounded and others killed, he began to have grievous doubts respecting his position. Thereupon he made a vow, that if he might be permitted to escape from the rage of that strife, he would instantly assume the religious habit of the Dominicans." This he did in the year 1500, and for some time afterwards his brush was idle. When he resumed work, it was on condition that the convent received all the produce of his labours. In 1506, when Raphael visited Florence, he formed a friendship with Fra Bartolommeo, in whose work he doubtless found something to assimilate. Some years afterwards, Fra Bartolommeo went to Rome, where he painted a figure of St. Paul, and part of one of St. Peter (now in the Quirinal), leaving Raphael to finish the work. Fra Bartolommeo suffered from ill-health, and died at the early age of 42.
The contributions made by Fra Bartolommeo to Italian art were fourfold. He exhibited a scientific scheme of composition based on principles of strict symmetry, and in this respect he was the precursor of Raphael. In colouring he was equal to the best of his contemporaries; in his better works brilliance is combined with harmony of tone in a very charming manner. In some of his works, however, the attempt to adopt the chiaroscuro of Leonardo led to an over-darkening of the shadows. Vasari noticed even in his day that the use of printer's-black and ivory-black had caused some of Fra Bartolommeo's shadows to become unduly heavy. In his landscape backgrounds, Fra Bartolommeo showed a considerable advance on his predecessors. "Everything is true and harmonious, up to its intention, which is to be simple, calm, consistent, and real,--real, and yet breathing an idyllic beauty." Lastly, he was the inventor of the "lay figure." "He always considered it advisable," says Vasari, "to have the living object before him when he worked; and the better to execute his draperies, arms, and things of similar kind, he caused a figure, the site of life, to be made in wood, with the limbs moveable at the joints, and on this he then arranged the real draperies."
Fra Bartolommeo's range was limited. He is seen at his best not in works (such as the fresco of the "Last Judgment," now in the picture gallery of the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova) which call for the exercise of powerful imagination, but in Madonna pieces. "Nature made Fra Bartolommeo," says Symonds, "the painter of adoration." He excels in the poetry of simple religious feeling. His works are rare outside Italy. Copies from some of his frescoes at Florence are in the Arundel Society's Collection; but the treasure city of Fra Bartolommeo at his best is Lucca. Few figures in Italian art have been more often copied and photographed than his charming little angel who sings at the foot of the Madonna's throne in the Cathedral of Lucca.
Fra Bartolommeo's pictures "sum up," says Ruskin, "the principles of great Italian religious art in its finest period,--serenely luminous sky,--full light on the faces; local colour the dominant power over a chiaroscuro more perfect because subordinate; absolute serenity of emotion and gesture; and rigid symmetry in composition." And elsewhere he speaks of "the precious and pure passages of intense feeling and heavenly light, holy and undefined, and glorious with the changeless passion of eternity, which sanctify with their shadeless peace the deep and noble conceptions of the early school of Italy--of Fra Bartolommeo, Perugino, and the early mind of Raffaelle" (Modern Painters, vol. i. pt. ii. sec. ii. ch. i. § 22, and epilogue of 1883 to vol. ii.). Some trace of these characteristics may be found in the present picture. It is bright in colour, balanced in composition, simple in feeling, and shows a charming Tuscan landscape. Thoroughly Tuscan also is the type of peasant Madonna, with her brown hair tied up in a blue handkerchief. The infant Christ is almost grotesque, but the little St. John may take his place among Fra Bartolommeo's collection of sweet child-faces. Our picture[253] is ascribed to the years 1507-9. In the Corsini Gallery at Rome is a repetition of it done at a later period, with the figures, life-sized, reversed, and with St. Joseph added to complete the pyramidal composition.
1695. LANDSCAPE WITH NYMPHS.
Venetian School (early 16th Century).
From the South Kensington Museum: very characteristic of the Venetian school is the beautiful blue distance.
1696. MADONNA AND CHILD.
Giovanni Bellini (Venetian: 1426-1516). See 189.
A fragment of a fresco, painted in 1481 and originally brought from the church of Magre, near Schio, in the neighbourhood of Vicenza. The work, if by Bellini, is somewhat earlier than the "Madonna and Child" (280) of our Gallery.[254] "We have," says Mr. Roger Fry, "no example of Bellini's fresco work by which to judge it. It may therefore be argued that the weak construction of the Virgin's figure and the poor drawing of the child are the result of Bellini's want of familiarity with the medium, nor can it be denied that the weaknesses are exaggerations of certain peculiarities of Bellini's own design. This is particularly noticeable in the drawing of the child, which approaches very nearly in type and expression the child of the 'Madonna between the Magdalen and St. Catherine' of the Academy at Venice. But in no undoubted work by Bellini is the drawing so clumsy as this. Much, however, may be attributed to restoration, particularly in the Infant Christ, and it is impossible to deny the great beauty of the colour--a peculiar golden glow which is very unusual in fresco, and is indeed a translation into that medium of the golden richness of Bellini's tempera and oil pieces. The Madonna's expression has a certain tenderness and charm which is characteristic of Bellini, but it lacks the definite realisation of a mood which he almost invariably compassed" (The Pilot, Jan. 5, 1901). On the other hand, according to a well-known critic, writing in the Daily Telegraph, "the wistfulness of the Virgin is not the wistfulness of Giambellino, but rather that of Bartolommeo Montagna or some kindred painter of the school of Vicenza. Again, the type of the Virgin and the adjustment of her headgear recall the severe yet passionate master of Vicenza just named, under the influence, not so much of Giovanni Bellini as of the elder school of Venice--that of the Vivarini."
1699. THE LESSON.
Jan Vermeer of Delft (Dutch: 1632-1675). See 1383. See also (p. xxi)
A "symphony in black and white"; cool in effect, almost to the point of austerity and chilliness. The faces are full of expression. The master turns in expectation to the pupil, as much as to say "Come, don't you know?" The pupil is ready with his answer, and seems to appeal for encouragement: "That is right, is it not?" There is a severe absence of details; everything in the picture is made to contribute to the colour scheme. "The play of cool light on the faces and hands, on the man's black dress, and the gray tablecloth with its patches of blue shadow; the design of the man's large hat against the dark background, the almost pathetic charm of the fair-haired boy's expression, the regular black and white of the tiled floor,--all seem chosen for their pictorial value alone and skilfully composed into this grave, almost austere harmony. The largeness of design and rejection of all superfluous detail in this picture connect it with Vermeer's more daring compositions" (M. H. Witt, in the Nineteenth Century, October 1900). Only one life-size group by the master is certainly authenticated--the signed "Courtesans" at Dresden. The attribution of our picture to the master is uncertain.
1700. PORTRAIT OF A GENTLEMAN.
Unknown (Dutch School: 17th Century).
A strong face, finely painted. The iron-gray of the man's hair combines harmoniously with the lawn collar and cuffs; a harmony in black and gray.
1701. LANDSCAPE WITH WATERMILL.
Allart van Everdingen (Dutch: 1612-1675).
This painter, an elder contemporary and precursor of Ruysdael, was born at Alkmaar. He studied successively under Roelandt Savery at Utrecht and Pieter Molyn at Haarlem. In a voyage which he made to the Baltic he was shipwrecked on the coast of Norway, and he remained for some time in that country. On returning to his native land he reproduced the scenes among which he had dwelt--torrents edged around by huge firs springing out from sombre masses of rock, and throwing their spray into large stretches of transparent water. A large number of studies from nature remain from his hand, and these he composed into pictures. His works had some vogue in Holland, where they provided a counter-attraction to the views of the softer and more smiling country which the "Italianisers" were offering to the public. If Ruysdael did not himself go to Norway, it must have been Everdingen's Norwegian scenes that inspired him. Everdingen's "colouring is simple and pure, his touch broad and facile, and it is evident that every object in his pictures was studied from nature." He was also an accomplished etcher. He died at Amsterdam.
1776. THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS.
Signorelli (Cortona: 1441-1523). See 1128.
A predella picture; characteristic of the master, and in good preservation. Formerly in the possession of Count Colonna Ferretti (a nephew of Pius IX.) at Cortona.
1786. THE LAKE OF THUN.
Alexandre Calame (Swiss: 1810-1864).
This painter is of some interest in the history of painting as one of the pioneers who discovered for artistic purposes the picturesqueness of Switzerland. He was born at Vevay, and was the son--not (as sometimes stated) of a simple mason, but--of a clever stone-cutter. He was very delicate as a child, and an accident at school deprived him of the sight of his right eye. As a youth, Calame obtained employment in a bank at Geneva. He further aided the narrow resources of his home by making little Swiss views in colour, which the shopkeepers took up. Foreigners were glad to bring them away as travelling memorials, in place of photographs, which did not then exist. His employer, M. Diodati, noticing young Calame's talent for art, generously enabled him to obtain instruction. He made rapid progress, and became headmaster of a drawing-school in Geneva. In 1837 he began contributing to foreign exhibitions views of Switzerland, and these won for him a considerable reputation. He visited England in 1850, and here, as in other countries, his works found many purchasers. In the South Kensington Museum there is a large collection of his Swiss views in water-colour. He was a lithographer and engraver, as well as a painter, and his plates of Swiss landscapes were at one time well known. He received commissions from many European sovereigns, and was visited by all the great personages who passed through Geneva.
In France, indeed, art-circles were cool towards him. "Un Calame, deux Calames, trois Calames--que de calamités" ran the phrase every year in the Paris Salon. But in Germany he found warm admirers and formed several imitators. His lithographed studies of trees, and his landscapes for copying remained in use for some decades as a medium of instruction in drawing. He was a conscientious workman, who finished the whole of his canvas or paper with equal industry, and his drawing was correct. But his colouring is insipid, and his atmosphere somewhat heavy. "By painting he understood the illumination of drawings, and his drawing was that of an engraver. Sentiment is replaced by correct manipulation, and in the deep blue mirror of his Alpine lakes, as in the luminous red of his Alpine summits, there is always to be seen the illuminator who has first drawn the contours with a neat pencil and pedantic correctness" (Muther's History of Modern Painting, ii. 322). Calame's fertility was very great. His note-books contain the record of 450 finished pictures in oil, 500 studies, and 1200 water-colours (E. Rambert: Alexandre Calame. Sa vie et son oeuvre, Paris, 1884).
The mountain in our picture is the Blumlis Alp: an afternoon effect.
1810. PORTRAIT OF A BOY.
François Duchatel (Flemish: 1616-1694).
This painter, whose works are very rare, is said to have been a pupil of David Teniers, the younger. In some of his pictures representing village festivals he followed the style of that master; in others, of family groups, his work rather resembles that of Gonzales Coques. His most important picture is in the Museum at Ghent. It represents the "Inauguration of Charles II., King of Spain, as Count of Flanders," and comprises about a thousand small figures. Duchatel was born at Brussels. He worked for some time in Paris in conjunction with his fellow-countryman Van der Meulen (see 1447). The picture before us, with its vigorous touch and warm colour, shows that Duchatel was an accomplished portrait-painter.
1812. THE AGONY IN THE GARDEN.
Ascribed to Lo Spagna. (See 1032).
"The figure of the Saviour and the angel are identical with those in the picture by Lo Spagna in the National Gallery numbered 1032, but the execution of the work points to possibly a different hand. It was ascribed by Passavant to Raphael. On the back of the panel are incised the initials G. D. H. in a monogram surmounted by a crown, and an inscription on paper of probably the 18th century; 'All' Illmo et Eccmo Giovanni Hiccolini (sic) Imbascatore (sic) di Toscana in Roma.' It was exhibited in the Art Treasures Exhibition at Manchester in 1857 (No. 146) under the name of Raphael, when it belonged to Mr. Henry Farrer, who had it from Russia" (National Gallery Report, 1900).
1842. HEADS OF ANGELS.
Tuscan School (15th century). See also (p. xxi)
A characteristic fragment of fresco.
1843. THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI.
Benedetto Bonfigli (Umbrian: 1420-1496).
A characteristic, if unimportant, example of one of the early masters of the Umbrian School. Bonfigli (or Buonfiglio) was a native of Perugia, and his principal work, a series of frescoes, full of quaint costume and fantastic detail, representing the lives of St. Louis of Toulouse and St. Herculanus, is in the Palazzo del Consiglio there.
There is much naïvete in the surprised expression of the seated Sir Joseph, and much dainty charm in the youths with their vessels of gold.
1845. THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.
Paris Bordone (Venetian: 1503-1570). See 637.
The Saviour holds in his hand a scroll inscribed "Ecce sum lux mundi," but the expression is vapid.
1847. THE VIRGIN CROWNED BY ANGELS.
Luca Signorelli (Umbrian: 1441-1523). See 1128.
This important picture, in a splendid frame of the period, is of special interest from the record of authenticity which it bears. On the cartellino at the foot, is an inscription informing us that "the noble picture before us was an offering of devotion by Master Aloiusius, a French physician, and Thomasina his wife," that "Luca Signorelli, the illustrious painter of Cortona" was the artist, and that the date was 1515. In the archives of the little town of Montone, near Umbertide, a deed, dated September 10, 1515, has been discovered, which informs us further that the picture was painted for Master Aloiusius, living at Montone, for the chapel of St. Christina at that place, by Luca Signorelli "on account of their mutual and cordial friendship, and in consideration of the free services which he had received, and in future hopes to receive, from the said Aloiusius." The physician on his part undertakes in the same deed to give free medical attendance henceforth to the said Luca, and to any member of his household. The place for which the picture was painted accounts for the figure of St. Christina, on the right of the Virgin. Among her adventures was being tied to a millstone and cast into the Lake of Bolsena, but angels upheld the millstone, and she floated back to land. The legend explains also the charming view of a lake seen beneath the feet of the Virgin. The altar-piece was discovered by Signor Mancini in a cellar at Montone, much obscured by neglect, and was for some time in his collection at Città di Castello. It has now been cleaned, and is apparently in fine condition.
The date of the picture shows that it was painted towards the end of the artist's life, when he was 74 years of age, and some critics have found in the work signs that the master's hand was losing its cunning. Certainly the composition of the principal lines--with the upper figure at each side in line with the lower--is somewhat awkward, and the St. Christina is a heavy figure with a meaningless expression. That of St. Sebastian, however, is vigorous; the central group of the Madonna and Child borne by cherubims is impressive; the angels above are very fine, and St. Jerome and St. Nicholas of Bari are good. The details of St. Nicholas's robe and mitre deserve study. It is amusing to note that two of the critics who scarify the picture single out the landscape--the one, as the worst part of it, the other, as its redeeming feature.
1848. PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG MAN.
Abraham Raguineau (Dutch: 1623-1681).
This painter, born in London, settled at the Hague, where he seems to have met with little prosperity. At a later time, he was living at Leyden, and was writing-master to the Prince of Orange.
The picture is signed, and dated (1657), at the top of the oval on the left, and is the only known signed work of the painter in existence. It shows us a pleasant-looking, if somewhat characterless youth, aged 18 (as the description states), whose coat, shirt, and collar make a delicate study in cool grey tones.
1849. THE NATIVITY.
Jacopo Pacchiarotto (Sienese: 1474-1540).
The story of this painter and revolutionist--who, joining the Bardotti and taking part in popular risings in Siena, was concealed by the monks in a tomb, beside a newly-buried corpse--is familiar from Browning's humorous telling of it in his Pacchiarotto and how he worked in Distemper. He was originally a pupil of Bernardino Fungai (see 1331); but his later work shows the influence of Fra Bartolommeo and Raphael.
"He appears to have studied Raphael," says Lanzi, "with the greatest care; and there are heads and whole figures so lively, and with such grace in the features, that to some connoisseurs they seem to possess the ideal." Certainly there is a liveliness and an appropriateness of expression about the figures in this picture which distinguish it from the stiff mannerism of earlier Sienese pictures. Kneeling in adoration are St. John the Baptist and St. Jerome (with the stone, in his character as penitent). St. Stephen, behind St. John, carries on his head the stone, as symbol of his martyrdom. Behind St. Jerome is St. Nicholas of Bari, a finely rendered portrait of venerable age. Of the figures in the niche-shaped panels in the frame, that, at the top on the left, of the Angel of the Annunciation is particularly graceful. The panels of the predella show the Agony in the Garden, the Betrayal, the Crucifixion, the Deposition, and the Resurrection.
1850. A SCENE ON THE ICE.
Andries Vermeulen (Dutch: 1763-1814). See 1447.
1851. THE INTERIOR OF A STABLE.
Dutch School (17th century).
1860. PORTRAIT OF A LADY.
Ascribed to Sir Antonio More (Flemish: 1572-1578).
1872. VIRGIN AND CHILD.
Alvise Vivarini (Venetian, painted 1461-1503).
All visitors to Venice are familiar with a picture, in the church of the Redentore, of the Madonna and Sleeping Child, with two playing angels; there is a bird on the curtain above, and some fruit on the parapet below. It is one of the most charming little pictures in Venice, and is usually shown as a work of Giovanni Bellini. Modern criticism assigns it, however, to Alvise Vivarini, to whom an important place in the history of Venetian painting is now accorded as an artist developing on lines independent of the Bellinis, and as the Master of Lorenzo Lotto.[255] That he was largely employed in the Ducal Palace we know from Vasari, who describes his works there, commending more particularly their fine perspective and "portraits from the life so well depicted as to prove that this master copied nature very faithfully." These works, begun in 1489 and stopped by the artist's death in 1503, were destroyed in the fire of 1577. Of his extant works, the earliest one, which is dated (1475), is at Montefiorentino. The altar-piece in the Venice Academy is dated 1480, and that in the Berlin Gallery is probably of the same period. To a later date are assigned the Madonnas of the Redentore and S. Giovanni in Bragora at Venice, and the present picture. His latest work, finished after his death by Marco Basaiti, is the large altar-piece of St. Ambrose in the Frari.
This picture (which is signed on a cartellino on the parapet) is, says Mr. Berenson, "delightful as a composition. The Madonna is seen down to the waist, holding the Child on a parapet, while behind her, to the left, a window opens out on a charming landscape. The Madonna's face has a tinge of almost Botticellian melancholy, as in Lotto's Recanati altarpiece. The Child is almost the putto on the right in the Redentore picture, but somewhat more bony. The draperies already have the freedom of Alvise's latest works." The picture, formerly in the Manfrini Gallery, was presented by Mr. Charles Loeser in 1898.
1895. BARON WAHA DE LINTER OF NAMUR.
Jacob Jordaens (Flemish: 1593-1678).
Jordaens, who stands next to Rubens and Van Dyck among the great Flemish painters, was a fellow-pupil with the former under Adam Van Noort, whose daughter he married in 1616. In the same year he became a member of the Painter's Guild of St. Luke, being described as a "water-colourist"; his first works were in fact paintings in distemper and cartoons for the tapestry workers. By 1620 his fame as a painter of pictures was established. His works, which are very numerous, are of all kinds of subjects, but he is little represented in British Galleries. Examples may be seen, however, in the Wallace Collection and the Dulwich Gallery.
The name of the sitter is on the frame; his coat of arms and crest, with the inscription "Aetatis suae 63, 1626," are on the upper corner of the picture. It is a fine portrait, characteristic of the exuberance and vigour which mark the work of Jordaens.
1896. INTERIOR OF A CHURCH.
Pieter Saenredam (Dutch: 1597-1665).
Saenredam, who lived at Haarlem, is one of the leading Dutch painters of architecture. His interiors in particular are remarkable for their luminous effect. Another example of them may be seen at Dulwich.
The church is the Domkerk at Utrecht. Notice the boy making a caricature on the wall; underneath this is the artist's signature.
1897. THE CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN.
Lorenzo Monaco (Florentine: 1370-1425).
Don Lorenzo was born at Siena, but became a Camaldose monk of the Convent of the Angeli at Florence, his early practice being that of a miniaturist. In the principal of his known works--an altar-piece of 1413 now in the Uffizi at Florence, Mr. Roger Fry bids us note the cunning with which the painter "weaves together his flowing curves," the "rare charm in his ætherial, unstructural draperies," and "a kind of visible music" in his design (Monthly Review, June 1901).
Something of these qualities may be seen in the long and slender figures of our picture. The decorativeness of its patterns, and the architectural details, should also be noticed. The picture, formerly in a church at Certaldo, is in its original Gothic frame. Crowe and Cavalcaselle (vol. i. p. 554) suppose the picture to have formed part of a larger altar-piece of which the two wings are in our gallery, ascribed to the school of Taddeo Gaddi (Nos. 215, 216). But the different scale of the figures in them negatives this supposition.
1903. LANDSCAPE, WITH DOGS AND GAME.
Jan Fyt (Dutch: 1609-1661). See 1003. See also (p. xxi)
1909. THE EXECUTION OF LADY JANE GREY.
Paul Delaroche (French: 1797-1856).
Hippolyte, or (as he called himself) Paul, Delaroche, was the popular French painter of his time, and this is one of his best known pictures. He turned to historical illustration as affording scope for an art which should reconcile the "classical" with the "romantic." He was the embodiment in the art of painting, as someone has put it, of Louis Philippe's maxim of the juste-milieu. To the same class with the present picture belong his "Death of Queen Elizabeth" (Louvre), "The Princes in the Tower" (familiar from engravings), and several works in the Wallace Collection. Ruskin, while not enamoured of his pictures (see Fors Clavigera, Letter 35), allows that his "honest effort to grasp the reality of conceived scenes" compares favourably with "the deathful formalism and fallacy of what was once called 'Historical Art,'" and that his kindly-meant talent has "contributed greatly to the instruction of innumerable households" (Works, vol. xix. pp. 50, 205). Théophile Gautier, more contemptuously, described Delaroche's art as that of "historical illustration for the family use of the bourgeoisie," and the vogue which it enjoyed all over Europe set the fashion for what became a prevailing style of "stage-dramatic representation" in painting. In 1833 (the date on our picture) Delaroche was appointed a professor at the École des Beaux-Arts, and from 1837-1841 he was engaged upon the principal work of his life, the decoration of the amphitheatre of that school--the idea of his design being an assemblage of the chiefs of the arts in past ages to witness the triumphs of the labourers in his own age. He was assisted in this colossal work by many pupils; among them was Edward Armitage, R. A. (see vol. ii. No. 759), who has given an interesting account of the manner of their co-operation (see Report of the Commissioners on the Royal Academy, 1863, p. 64). The "Hemicycle" was much damaged by fire in 1853, and was restored after the death of Delaroche by Robert Henry.
The scene is in the Tower, February 12, 1554. Lady Jane Grey, condemned for treason, has been blindfolded, and is being led to the block by the Lieutenant of the Tower.
1914. A ROYAL CHÂTEAU IN HOLLAND.
1915. A DUTCH CHURCH AND MARKET PLACE.
Jan van der Heyden (Dutch: 1637-1712). See 866.
The château in the former picture is "The House in the Wood" (Huis ten Bosch), built in 1647, in which the first Peace Conference was held at The Hague.
1917. AN ITALIAN LANDSCAPE.
Jan Both (Dutch: 1610-1662). See 71.
A fine example of the "soft golden tones" noted in our account of Both as characteristic of his best works.
1918. MARKET PLACE AT THE HAGUE.
Paul Constantin La Fargue (Dutch: died 1782).
The work of an artist (best known by his drawings and etchings) who painted many small pictures of his native city, The Hague.
A scene in the Groén Market; the tower of the Groote Kerk in the background.
1925. PORTRAIT OF A MAN.
Lucas Cranach (German: 1472-1553). See 291.
Upon the shield to the left is the painter's crest, as in No. 291; with the date 1524. The head is fine and full of character; the hands are less successful.
1930. PORTRAIT OF A LADY AS ST. MARGARET.
Francisco Zurbaran (Spanish: 1598-1662). See 230.
Zurbaran, it has been said, was "a great though not a professed, portrait painter." The lady is St. Margaret only in virtue of the dragon, the emblem of the saint; otherwise this is a portrait of a young lady in a fanciful country costume.
1937. PORTRAIT OF A LADY.
Bartholomeus van der Helst (Dutch: 1611-1670). See 140.
This picture, said to be a portrait of a lady of the house of Braganza, was formerly in the collection of Mr. Beckford at Fonthill. It is signed, and dated 1645. The "careful finish," which Sir Joshua Reynolds commended in the work of Van der Helst, may be well studied here in the rich and beautiful costume and jewellery.
1938. PORTRAIT OF HIS FATHER.
Albrecht Dürer (German: 1471-1528).
The acquisition of this picture adds to the Gallery a fine example of the great artist, who in all the characteristics of his art is the central representative of the German spirit,--"its combination of the wild and rugged with the homely and the tender, its meditative depth, its enigmatic gloom, its sincerity and energy, its iron diligence and discipline." The range of his powers is shown not only in his works that survive, but in the estimation in which he was held by his contemporaries. When he went to Venice they "praised his beautiful colouring," Bellini honoured him with his friendship, "and he was everywhere treated," so he wrote, "as a gentleman." Raphael sent him some drawings, on one of which this note in Dürer's handwriting may still be seen: "Raphael of Urbino, who has been so highly esteemed by the Pope, drew these naked figures, and sent them to Albrecht Dürer in Nuremberg to show him his hand." He was a writer as well as an artist. "Painting," said Melanchthon, "was the least of his accomplishments"; whilst of his personal qualities Luther bore testimony when he wrote: "As for Dürer, assuredly affection bids us mourn for one who was the best of men.... May he rest in peace with his fathers: Amen!"
He was born at Nuremberg--the son of a goldsmith and the third of eighteen children--and Albert of Nuremberg he remained to the end--the painter of a city distinguished for its "self-restrained, contented, quaint domesticity." His first training was from his father in the goldsmith's trade; next, when fifteen, he was apprenticed for three and a half years to Wohlgemuth, the chief painter of the town; and lastly came his Wanderjahre, a long course of travel and study in foreign lands. In 1494 he settled down at Nuremberg, and there, with the exception of a visit to Venice in 1505-1506 (see p. 190 n.), and to the Netherlands in 1520-1521, he passed the remainder of his life in the busy and honoured exercise of the various branches of his art. He had married, at the age of twenty-three, a well-to-do merchant's daughter. The stories which have long passed current with regard to her being imperious, avaricious, and fretful, have been entirely discredited on closer knowledge of the facts. The marriage was childless, but husband and wife lived throughout on terms both of affection and companionship. As for examples of Dürer's work, the widely-spread prints of the "Knight and Death" and the "Melancholia" give the best idea of his powers of imagination; while in actual specimens of his handiwork in drawing, the British Museum is the second richest collection in the world.
The best commentary on this picture is the description of his father which Dürer wrote in a history of his family:--
"My dear father became a goldsmith, a pure and skilful man. He passed his life in great toil and stern, hard labour, having nothing for his support save what he earned with his hand for himself, his wife, and his children; so that he had little enough. He underwent, moreover, manifold afflictions, trials, and adversities. But he won just praise from all who knew him, for he lived an honourable, Christian life; was a man patient of spirit, mild and peaceable to all, and very thankful towards God. For himself he had little need of company and worldly pleasures: he was also of few words, and was a God-fearing man. This my dear father was very careful with his children to bring them up in the fear of God; for it was his highest wish to train them well that they might be pleasing in the sight both of God and man. Wherefore his daily speech to us was that we should love God and deal truly with our neighbours."
It is just such a man that the painter here sets before us. "The face is pathetic with the deep furrows ploughed in by seventy years of labour and sorrow. Yet as he stands there, so quietly, for his son to paint him, there is just a trace of pleasure and pride lurking in the kind old face" (Conway's Literary Remains of Dürer, p. 35). An inscription on the top of the panel records that it was painted in 1497, when the father was seventy and the son twenty-six. There are three other versions of the picture--at Munich, Frankfort, and Syon House respectively, and the question which is the original has been much disputed. The present picture (exhibited at the Old Masters, 1903) was bought, with No. 1937, for £10,000 from the Marquis of Northampton.
1939. VIRGIN AND CHILD, WITH SAINTS.
French School (15th century).
A little picture almost as delicately wrought as an illuminated page in a missal. The donor is kneeling in the door of the Gothic chapel. The Virgin and Child are in "a garden enclosed," where columbines spring up at her feet; at the top of the picture are two small figures of St Michael driving out Satan.
1944. "PORTRAIT OF ARIOSTO."
Titian (Venetian: 1477-1576). See 4.
This superb portrait, though traditionally called "Ariosto," bears no resemblance to the poet. It is the picture of an Italian aristocrat of the Renaissance that the painter sets before us; of a man refined and luxurious, unimpassioned, and somewhat cynical. Immortalised by art, he looks out upon us with a somewhat scornful glance; the handsome head is one of those thoroughly individualised representations which, once studied, fix themselves indelibly in the memory. Sober and yet sumptuous in colour, the picture is enveloped in a luminous haze; and the costume, with the quilted sleeve of steely grey, is a masterpiece of technique.
The picture, which is signed on the parapet Titianus V. (with another V. at the further end of the parapet), belongs to Titian's earlier period, when he was under the influence of Giorgione, to which master indeed it is sometimes attributed.[256] There are several versions of the picture, including one in Lord Rosebery's collection at Mentmore.[257] The present picture (Old Masters, 1895) was bought by Sir George Donaldson from Cobham Hall (Lord Darnley) for £30,000, and sold by him for the same price to the nation; a portion of the sum (£9000) being contributed by Mr. W. W. Astor, Mr. Alfred Beit, Lord Burton, Lord Iveagh, Mr. Pierpont Morgan, and Lady Wantage.
1951. PORTRAIT OF DR. PERAL.
Francisco Goya (Spanish: 1746-1828). See 1471.
"Perhaps as good an example as could be found of the brilliancy and execution and vivid portrayal of character which characterise this artist at his best" (Official Catalogue).
1952. MR. AND MRS. EDWIN EDWARDS.
Henri Fantin-Latour (French: 1836-1904). See 1686.
A fine example of this artist's portraiture, representing old friends of the French painter, with whom he stayed when in this country. Mr. Edwards, landscape painter in water-colours and etcher (1823-1879), is examining a print with an expert's eye. His wife, perhaps less happily posed (because seemingly disconnected with the other figure), looks out at the spectator with her arms folded. Mrs. Edwards who presented this picture to the nation in 1904 died in 1907. "Nearly every one of Fantin-Latour's pictures in this country passed through her hands, and have her private marks, by which she was able to identify them after a lapse of many years."
1953. THE VIRGIN AND CHILD.
Lazzaro Bastiani (Venetian: about 1425-1512). See 750.
In the background is the festoon of fruit, familiar to us in Crivelli's pictures.
1969. A GREEK CAPTIVE.
Henriette Browne (French: 1829-1901).
2057. VENUS WITH THE MIRROR.
Velazquez (Spanish: 1599-1660). See 197.
This celebrated picture--commonly called "Venus and Cupid," but known in Spain as the "Venus del Espejo"--is one of the master's rare studies of the nude, and it is characteristic of his genius. The subject is professedly mythological, but Velazquez seeks no adventitious interest from legendary association or idealistic grace. Here, as everywhere, his standpoint is frankly realistic, whilst the work is saved from commonness by purity of colour and sincerity of artistic purpose. It has been truly said that the flesh-painting here makes many another picture in the Gallery look lifeless and unreal. The face of "Venus" in the mirror--with broad features enframed in plainly dressed hair--does not realise the promise of the pretty outline of the head with the brown hair tied in a knot; and it has been suggested (by Dr. Justi) that "perhaps the damsel did not wish to be recognised." However this may be, the very plainness of the face emphasises the artist's intention. The picturesqueness of the outline and modulations of the back in a youthful female figure was the artistic effect which he set himself to render.
The history of the picture is well authenticated.[258] It was painted about 1650, and passed into the possession of the Duke of Alba on his marriage in 1688 with Doña Catalina de Haro of Guzmom, Condessa-Duquesa de Olivares, the picture forming part of her dowry. It is mentioned in an inventory of the paintings belonging to her family as "a Venus of life size reclining nude with a child who holds up for her a mirror into which she gazes. This picture is an original work by Don Diego Velazquez." In an account of the Duke of Alba's palace in 1776 it is described as "the very celebrated Venus depicted from the back, in the reclining posture, with her face reflected in a mirror towards which she directs her gaze." Subsequently the picture became the property of the Spanish statesmen, Godoy. In 1808 it was sold and brought to this country; and purchased through Mr. Buchanan for the sum of £500, by Mr. Morritt, the friend of Sir Walter Scott. It became an heirloom in Mr. Morritt's family at Rokeby Hall, Teesdale. "Twice," says Dr. Justi in his life of Velazquez, "in 1879 and 1885 I had the privilege of seeing it there and convincing myself of its faultless preservation and the original brilliancy and freshness of its colour." It was exhibited in 1857 among the "Art Treasures" at Manchester and in 1890 at the "Old Masters." It was ultimately sold under an order of the Court of Chancery, the price obtained being £30,500. It passed into the hands of Messrs. Agnew, and its sale out of this country was believed to be imminent when the National Art Collections Fund came to the rescue and raised by subscription the amount now necessary for its purchase.
The sum paid was £45,000,[259] and the picture was presented by the Fund to the nation.
2058. SUNNY DAYS IN THE FOREST.
Diaz (French: 1809-1876).
Narciso Virgilio Diaz de la Peña, one of the members of "the Barbizon School" (see p. 698), was born, of Spanish extraction, at Bordeaux. Left an orphan at the age of ten, he was adopted by a Protestant clergyman, living at Bellevue, near Sèvres. He was of a truant disposition, and sleeping once upon the grass in the woods he was bitten by a viper; the accident cost him his left leg, and he had to go through life with a wooden one, which he called his pilon. In after years, when his pictures were rejected at the Salon, he would make a hole in the canvas with his wooden leg, saying with a laugh "what's the use of being rich? I can't have my pilon set in diamonds." His early years were of uncertain fortune, spent in earning a precarious living, sometimes as a painter on china at Sèvres, sometimes as an errand-boy in the streets. But he had confidence in his talent, and gradually found a market for his pictures. These were at first of figures, flowers, or other genre. A meeting in 1830 with Théodore Rousseau sent him to Fontainebleau and nature. For Rousseau, he entertained the most profound admiration, the story of "the toast of Diaz," is well known. Diaz had been preferred to Rousseau in admission to the Legion of Honour. In attending a dinner given in 1851 to the new officiers, Diaz rose and invited the company to drink "À Rousseau, notre maître oublié!" Of his figure-subjects, one of the best "La Fée aux Perles" is in the Louvre, but it is on his landscapes that his fame chiefly rests. "Go into the forest," it has been said, "lose yourself among its trees, and you can only say 'À Diaz'." To him, however, the forest was not, as to some others of the school, or as to Ruysdael, sombre or serious. It was a keyboard on which to play colour-fantasies. "You paint stinging-nettles," he said to Millet, "I prefer roses." "Pearls," said Théophile Gautier of his pictures, "brilliant as precious stones, prismatic gems and rainbow jewels." His pictures have been called not so much landscapes, as "tree-scapes." "Have you seen my last stem?" he used to say himself to his visitors. But it was the play of sunlight on the stems that he chiefly loved. Diaz is the colourist of the Barbizon School.
The acquisition of this sparkling little picture of a glade in the forest of Fontainebleau, lit by the afternoon sun, marked somewhat of an era in the history of the National Gallery. It was the first illustration on its walls of the modern French school of landscape.
2062. CHRIST TEACHING FROM ST. PETER'S SHIP.
Herman Saftleven (Dutch: 1609-1685).
This painter, whose landscapes were praised by connoisseurs of the time as "distinguished by great care and accuracy," was born at Rotterdam, was a pupil of Jan van Goyen, and worked chiefly at Rotterdam and Utrecht. He painted many views on the Rhine and Maas; and one of the former, in the Dulwich Gallery, dated 1656, is among his best works.
The scene is the Lake of Gennesaret; the people are assembled on the shore to hear the words of Christ who is seated in St. Peter's ship (Luke v. 1-3).
2069. THE "MADONNA OF THE TOWER."
Raphael (Urbino: 1483-1520). See 1171.
This picture is attributed to the earlier portion of Raphael's "Roman period" (see p. 569); to about the same time, that is, as that of the "Garvagh Madonna" (No. 744). It takes its commonly accepted name from the small tower which may be seen in the distance of the landscape background; it is sometimes referred to as "The Madonna with the Standing Child," or "The Virgin with the Downcast Eyes," or "The Rogers Madonna." It is painted on canvas, and has suffered much from accident and repainting; but the feeling of the picture is thoroughly Raphaelesque in purity of colour and charm of expression. The mother's face is full of affection, sweet and yet serious; while the Child looks out of the canvas, "as if unconscious of all but the joy of the moment."
The picture was formerly in the Orleans collection, whence it was purchased by Mr. Willett in 1792 for £150. It next passed into the collection of Mr. Henry Hope, at whose sale in 1816 it was bought for 59 guineas by Samuel Rogers, the poet. "In the atmosphere of St. James's Place," says a chronicler of the works from the Orleans Collection which passed into the possession of Rogers, "they may safely be said to have been worshipped with a purer incense than they ever received before. We may be pardoned for recalling a few of them. Foremost was a Raphael, one of the master's sweetest compositions, the Child standing with one foot on his mother's hand. It had been reduced by ruthless rubbings to a mere shadow, but the beauty was ineffaceable: hanging--how well remembered!--in the best light on the left-hand wall in the drawing-room. Then two glorious Titians--one of them, Christ appearing to the Magdalene" (Quarterly Review, Oct. 1888). The picture last mentioned is also now in the National Gallery (No. 270) which possesses further from his collection, Nos. 269, 271, 276, 279. At his sale in 1856 the Raphael was bought for 480 guineas by Mr. R. J. Mackintosh, son of the historian, who exhibited it at Manchester in the Art Treasures Exhibition of 1857; it was also shown at the Old Masters in 1902. From him it passed to Miss Eva Mackintosh who has now (1906) presented it to the nation. In the British Museum there is a cartoon of the picture.
2078. THE HARBOUR OF TROUVILLE.
Louis Eugène Boudin (French: 1825-1898).
A view from within the harbour looking out to the open sea "between the piers." Signed and dated "E. Boudin, '88," with the title on the back in the artist's handwriting, "Entre les jetées, Trouville." This picture by a fine sea-painter was presented by the National Art Collections Fund.
2081. LULLI AND HIS FELLOW MUSICIANS AT THE FRENCH COURT.
Hyacinthe Rigaud (French, 1659-1743). See 903.
Jean Baptiste de Lulli (or Lully) was the celebrated composer (1633-1687) for whose music Louis XIV. had a great predilection. For him the King created a new company of musicians called Les Petits Violons or La Bande des Seize. Lulli composed also the incidental music for Molière's plays. The portraits of Lulli, says a contemporary, are fairly like him, but he was smaller and stouter than they show.
2082. A FLORENTINE LADY; on the reverse, A SYMBOLIC ANGEL.
School of Botticelli (Florentine: 1447-1510). See 1034.
The portrait is supposed to represent the unknown artist's wife; the angel holds an armillary sphere.
2083. PORTRAIT OF DR. BATTISTA FIERA.
Lorenzo Costa (Ferrarese: 1460-1535). See 629.
The portrait, "warts and all," of a theologian, physician, and poet of Mantua. So he is described under the engraving of this picture, which is the frontispiece to a book published at Padua in 1649 and entitled Baptistae Fierae Mantuani Medici sua aetate clarissimi Coena notis illustrata a Carolo Avantio Rhodigino. The portrait, a chef d'oeuvre of a painter whose portraits are rare, was shown at the Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1894.
2084. A YOUNG MAN IN BLACK.
Florentine School.
"This picture has been attributed to Piero Pollajuolo and to the painter known as 'Amico di Sandro'" (National Gallery Report, 1906).
2085. BIANCA CAPELLO.
School of Bronzino (Florentine: 1502-1572). See 649.
2086. THE GATE WITH A ROUND TOWER.
2087. A PASTORAL LANDSCAPE.
Francesco Zuccarelli (Florentine: 1702-1788).
This painter of decorative landscape was much employed in England, and during a sojourn here from 1752 to 1773 he became one of the foundation members of our Royal Academy.
2088. CHRIST TEACHING.
Bernardino Luini (Lombard: about 1475-1533). See 18.
The face, attitude, and design are the same as in the Christ of No. 18; but the beautiful expression is absent.
2089. MADONNA AND CHILD.
Lombard School: 16th century.
Fresco on plaster; not unlike the work of Beltraffio.
2090, 2091. ANGELS.
Moretto (Brescian: 1498-1555). See 299.
Companion figures, with wreaths of roses, inscribed (on the first) _Ave Regina_, (on the second) Coelorum.
2092, 2093. ST. JOSEPH AND ST. JEROME.
Moretto (Brescian: 1498-1555). See 299.
2094. IL CAVALIERE.
Moroni (Bergamese: 1525-1578). See 697.
2095. A MAN IN BLACK.
Alvise Vivarini (Venetian: painted 1461-1503). See 1872.
A fine portrait, hitherto attributed to Antonello da Messina, but now assigned to Vivarini, on the analogy of similar busts attributed by Mr. Berenson to that painter.
2096. THE MAN WITH A BEARD.
Romanino (Brescian: about 1485-1566). See 297.
2097. THE LADY WITH THE CARNATIONS.
Paris Bordone (Venetian: 1500-1570). See 637.
2098. S. MARIA DELLA SALUTE, VENICE.
2099. THE DUCAL PALACE, VENICE
Francesco Guardi (Venetian: 1712-1793). See 210.
Excellent examples of the best manner of this painter.
2100. THE MARRIAGE OF THE EMPEROR FREDERICK I.
Tiepolo (Venetian: 1692-1769). See 1192, 1193.
It is mentioned in the account of Tiepolo (under Nos. 1192, 1193) that he executed wall-decorations in the Royal Palace, formerly the episcopal residence, at Wurzburg. The present picture is almost the same in composition as one of those. The subject--the marriage of Frederick Barbarossa in 1156, to Beatrix, daughter of the Count of Burgundy--lends itself well to Tiepolo's "feeling for splendour," and swift mastery of decorative effect. The Imperial banner, emblazoned with the black eagle, is borne by a warrior. The bishops of Wurzburg were princes of the Empire.
2101. ESTHER AT THE THRONE OF AHASUERUS.
Sebastiano Ricci (Venetian: 1659-1734). See 857.
An illustration of the Book of Esther (xv. 7-16); "Then lifting up his countenance that shone with majesty, he looked very fiercely upon her, and the queen fell down and was pale and fainted," etc.
2102, 2103. TOWN AND RIVER SCENES.
Jacopo Marieschi (Venetian: 1711-1794).
By this painter, an imitator of Canaletto, two views of Venice were bought by the National Gallery from the Beauconsin Collection, but they were consigned to the National Gallery of Dublin.
2104. A MAN WITH A WIDE COLLAR.
Enrico Fiammingo.
This painter of whom little is known, was a follower of Spagnoletto and Guido.
2105. A MAN WITH A POINTED BEARD.
Annibale Carracci (Bolognese: 1560-1609). See 9.
2106. PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST.
Benedetto Gennari (Bolognese: 1633-1715).
The artist was the nephew and scholar of Guercino. He came to England in 1674, and was for some time in the service of Charles II. and James II. "I once saw," says Lanzi, "a Bathsheba of Guercino, along with a copy by one of the Gennari. The former appeared as if newly painted at the time, and the latter as if many years previously, such was its inferiority in strength of hand.... Benedetto subsequently formed for himself a style in England, more polished and careful, and exemplified it more particularly in his portraits."
2107. HAGAR IN THE DESERT.
Salvator Rosa (Neapolitan: 1615-1673). See 84.
2118. MADONNA AND CHILD.
Giovanni Francesco da Rimini (Umbrian: dated 1406).
2127. PORTRAIT OF THE MARCHESE GIOVANNI BATTISTA CATTANEO.
Van Dyck (Flemish: 1599-1641). See 49.
It has been said in our notice of Van Dyck that many of his best works are to be seen in Genoa. Two of the portraits made during his "Genoese period" are now in our Gallery; having found their way to Paris and thence to England from the palace of the Marchese Cattaneo in Genoa, and having been bought by the Trustees from Messrs. Colnaghi. The price paid for the picture before us was £13,500. The portrait has not the pathetic charm of the "Gevartius" (52), to which it now forms a pendant; but in strength and vitality it is one of the painter's masterpieces. The Marchese lives before us, instinct with nervous energy; seeming, as has been well said, "at once to interrogate the spectator, and haughtily to repel interrogation."
2129. UNE PARADE.
Gabriel Jacques de Saint Aubin (French: 1724-1780).
A pupil of Boucher; painter, first of heroic and then of domestic subjects; also an etcher.
Spectators watching a turn with the foils by two mountebanks.
2130. THE WATER LANE.
Jan Siberechts (Flemish: 1627-1703).
It is very fitting that this painter, whose works in Continental galleries are rare, should be represented in ours; for it was the Duke of Buckingham, who brought him into vogue. Passing through Antwerp, the Duke was attracted by his work, and took him in his train to England, where, according to Walpole, he was much employed by the aristocracy. "Among the landscapes of the Flemish school," says an enthusiastic critic (A. J. Wauters), "there is not one of whom we think more highly. If his colouring lacks the brilliancy and the soft transparency of the tones of Rubens, it offers others both rare and unexpected at a time when the Flemish landscape was yet enslaved by conventional laws. Sieberechts boldly met the difficulties offered by open-air scenes and foreshadowed the daring colouring attempted by modern realism. His landscapes are true pastorals. He understood the art of giving his farm-girls and hinds real attitudes, taken from life; and how to make the various hues of vermilion and silver, blue and yellow of their costumes harmonise boldly together, which makes his works so charming, and gives them such a free and entirely personal character."
2133, 2134. "ROSES" AND "APPLES."
Henri Fantin-Latour (French: 1836-1904). See 1686.
2135. THE MARSH OF ARLEUX-DU-NORD.
J. B. C. Corot (French: 1796-1875).
Corot is one of those original painters who bring new aspects of nature and modes of beauty into ken. He is usually classed with the Barbizon School (see p. 691), but he stands alone with a peculiarly subtle and individual note of his own. "Rousseau," he once said, "is an eagle; I am only a lark." His mood, though often tinged with melancholy, is tender, and delicate; what he loved was not the grandiose in form or colour, but rather all that was glimmering, uncertain, evanescent--such as the "shade by the light quivering aspen made," or delicate effects, at early dawn, or in moonlight. To read his letter on "the day of a landscapist"[260] is the best introduction to his art. "One rises early, at three o'clock in the morning before the sun is up, one goes and sits down at the foot of a tree, one looks and waits; he does not see much at first. Nature resembles a white tablecloth, where he can hardly distinguish the profiles of some of the masses. Everything is scented, everything trembles with the fresh breeze of the dawn." And then, again, when the sun has set: "Bien! bien! twilight commences. There is now in the sky only that soft vaporous colour of pale citron. One is losing sight of everything, but one still feels that everything is there. The birds, those voices of the flowers, say their evening prayer, the dew scatters pearls upon the grass, the nymphs fly ... everything is again darkened; the pond alone glitters. Good, there is my picture completed." It was only gradually that Corot reached the style upon which his fame rests. He was born in Paris of humble parents, and served for some years in a draper's shop. He was twenty-two before he was able to follow his artistic bent. He made the usual classical tour to Italy, and it was not till 1843 that he began to reveal the characteristic charm which he had found in French landscape. He painted what few eyes are wont to see and had to create the taste by which he was to be admired. But affluence came to him, and he gave as readily as he received. Many stories are told of his benevolence, and the love which he inspired is recorded in the title, "le père Corot," by which he was called. As a mark of their esteem his fellow-artists presented him with a gold medal shortly before his death. His last words were characteristic of his art and his life. It was his practice to sketch early and late in the open air, dreaming his pictures as he studied, and to "paint his dreams" in the studio. "Last night," he said as he lay on his death-bed, "I saw in a dream a landscape with a rosy sky; it will be marvellous to paint." He was seen to draw in the air with his fingers. "Mon Dieu" he said, "how beautiful that is; the most beautiful landscape I have ever seen." His old housekeeper offered to bring him his breakfast. He smiled and said, "To-day Père Corot will breakfast above."
This little picture is characteristic of one of Corot's tastes. "He loved," we are told, "water in indetermined clearness and in the shining glance of light, leaving it here in shadow and touching it there with brightness. He loved morning before sunrise, when the white mists hover over pools like a light veil of gauze; he had a passion for evening which was almost greater; he loved the softer vapours which gather in the gloom." (Muther.) The picture was painted in 1871, and was purchased by Fantin-Latour at the posthumous sale of Corot's works.
2136. ENGRAVED PORTRAIT OF LULLY, THE MUSICIAN. See 2081.
2143. LADY STANDING BY A SPINET.
Jacob Ochtervelt (Dutch: died before 1710).
Jacob Ochtervelt (sometimes called wrongly Jan, and Achtervelt or Uchtervelt) was born probably at Rotterdam. He formed his style on the model of Terburg, to whom his pictures are sometimes attributed (see, for instance, an example in the Venice Academy formerly given to Terburg).
A beautiful example of a painter, by whom pictures in good condition are rare--a harmony in pink and grey and brown. There is poetical feeling, too, in the lady's attitude and the man who looks up intently at her; as also some humour in the dog turning his attention to an intruder.
2144. LA MARCHESA CATTANEO.
Van Dyck (Flemish: 1599-1641). See 49.
A companion picture to No. 2127.
2162. PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST.
Joseph Ducreux (French: 1735-1802).
The artist is dressed as a French Abbé, with powdered hair.
2163. THE MAGDALEN.
Mabuse (Flemish: 1470-1541). See 656.
2204. INTERIOR OF A CHURCH.
Hendrick Steenwyck (Flemish: 1580-1649). See 1132.
Dated 1615. The nave of a Gothic church; in the distance a funeral procession is entering the choir; beggars and dogs in the foreground.
2205. INTERIOR OF A CHURCH.
Pieter Neeffs (Flemish: 1577-1661). See 924.
A night scene in a church of Renaissance architecture. On a tomb on the floor is an inscription--"632 Hier legt begraven Henri Steenwick."
2206. VESPERS.
2207. AFTER VESPERS.
Pieter Neeffs.
The chapel in No. 2207 is the same as that on the left in No. 2206.
2209. ULRICUS SIROSENIUS, DUKE OF EAST FRIESLAND.
Cornelissen (Dutch: about 1475-1555). See 657.
The title is written on the back of the oak panel. The Duke's sword is inscribed--"Victor est qui nomen Domini pugnavit." Among other versions of this portrait is one in the Oldenburg Gallery, attributed to Lucas van Leyden. Another (in the Duke of Rutland's collection) has Dürer's monogram.
2211. JACQUELINE DE BOURGOGNE.
Mabuse (Flemish: about 1470-1541). See 656.
The beautiful costume and jewellery should be noticed; the girl holds an orrery. This picture was shown in the Golden Fleece Exhibition at Bruges in 1907.
2216. "LA MAIN CHAUDE."
Jean François de Troy (French: 1679-1752).
This painter (pupil of his father, François de Troy) was employed by Louis XIV. to execute designs for tapestry in the grand style, and he carved out much decorative work. Sets of some of the tapestries from his designs are in the State Apartments in Windsor Castle. Subsequently, he adopted the style of Watteau, and painted "conversations galantes," such as in the example before us. Other specimens of his work may be seen in the Victoria and Albert Museum, and in the Wallace collection.
2217. ELISA BONAPARTE, GRAND DUCHESS OF TUSCANY.
J. L. David (French: 1748-1825).
Jacques Louis David, the founder of the "classical school" in France and for many years the Dictator of French art, was a nephew of Boucher, from whom he received his first instruction. His celebrated "Oath of the Horatii" (1784) and "Brutus" (1789), and other works of the kind, are in the Louvre. They were not without influence on the politics of the time, and David was elected a representative of Paris in the Convention in 1792. He became a follower of Robespierre, and naturally escaped execution. Abandoning politics, he became acquainted with Napoleon, who made him his First Painter. On the restoration of the Bourbons, he sought refuge in Brussels, where he died. Many of his Napoleonic pictures are at Versailles.
A vigorous portrait-sketch of Elisa, sister of Napoleon, whom he made Duchess of Tuscany, with the titles of Duchess of Lucca and Princess of Piombino. She was born in 1777 and died in 1820. We see her here in white empire costume.
2218. MADAME MALIBRAN.
J. A. D. Ingres (French: 1780-1867).
A study of the famous singer; attributed to Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, a pupil of David, who imparted a grace of his own to the Classical School.
2251. PORTRAIT OF BONA OF SAVOY.
Ambrogio de Predis (Milanese: about 1450-1515). See 1661.
This striking full-length figure of a lady, richly attired and wearing jewels, was No. 7 in the exhibition of pictures by Milanese masters at the Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1894. It was then described as a portrait of Beatrice d'Este.
2256. RIVER SCENE.
2257. ILEX TREES, VILLEFRANCHE.
Henri Harpignies (French: born 1819).
These two pictures, recently presented to the Gallery, are slight examples of the work, in oil and water-colour, of an artist who travelled with Corot and continued that master's method of interpreting nature.
2258. A WOODLAND SCENE.
Georges Michel (French: 1763-1843).
A good example of an artist who has been called "the Ruysdael of Montmartre."
2281. THE VIRGIN AND CHILD.
Lorenzo Lotto (Venetian: 1480-1556). See 699.
The Virgin, a pretty woman prettily dressed, is seated between St. Jerome and St. Anthony of Padua, who holds in his hand a "Madonna lily." This bright and dainty picture belongs to the year 1522 (see Berenson's Lorenzo Lotto, 1895, p. 187).
2282. THE BOHEMIANS.
Philips Wouwerman (Dutch: 1619-1668). See 878.
2283. DAWN.
Aart van der Neer (Dutch: 1603-1677). See 152.
2285. A FAMILY GROUP.
Frans Hals (Dutch: 1580-1666). See 1021.
An important accession to the Gallery, as an example of the large portrait-groups in which Hals excelled. The composition whereby the ten figures are all brought into a group is ingenious--the part played by the direction of the elder boy's attention to the other being in this respect important--though in colour the harmony is somewhat disturbed by the emphatic lights of the lace and linen worn by each member of the group. There is individual character in all the portraits; among the figures which most compel admiration are those of the mother, full of quiet dignity, of the eldest daughter, standing on the right with a work-basket in her hand (both beautifully painted), and of the little girl seated in front. The picture unknown to the connoisseurs before its acquisition for the National Gallery--was purchased in 1908 from Lord Talbot de Malahide for £25,000.
2288. PORTRAIT OF DR. FORLENZE.
Jacques Antoine Vallin (French: 1770-1838).
Dr. J. N. B. Forlenze (1769-1833) was a physician and man of fashion in Naples. He had visited England and studied under John Hunter; and practised as an oculist in Paris. This portrait was exhibited at the Salon in 1808.
2289. ATTILA: AN ALLEGORY.
F. V. E. Delacroix (French: 1798-1863).
Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix was the chief of the "Romantic" school in painting, which in literature was represented by de Musset, George Sand, and Victor Hugo. The Romanticists revolted against the art of the Classicists as cold, formal, and colourless. Delacroix, whose admiration was for Byron in poetry and for Rubens in painting, sought before all things passion, emotion, and colour. He had, says Silvestre, "the sun in his head and a thunderstorm in his heart, and his grandiose and awe-inspiring brush sounded the entire gamut of human emotion." He loved strong colour, and he was one of many French artists who were influenced by the sight of Constable's pictures in the Salon. His pictures were as fiercely assailed, as they were furiously painted. "It is the massacre of painting," said Baron Gros of Delacroix's "Massacre of Chios." "I became the abomination of painting," said the artist, "I was refused water and salt;" but, he added, "I was enchanted with myself," and he won his way into favour. He was born at Charenton St. Maurice, near Paris. His father, who held high office under the First Empire, had been a partisan of the violent faction during the Revolution, and, like some other revolutionaries, was more consumed with public ardour than concerned with private affairs. The boy was exposed to accidents and neglect in his childhood which make one wonder that he survived. He had poor health throughout life, and there was in him a hectic strain which was reflected in his art. In 1817 he entered the studio of Guérin, where he had Ary Scheffer (see 1169) for a fellow-pupil and antagonist, and afterwards he worked under Baron Gros. He was deeply stirred by the War of Greek Independence; and a visit which he paid to Morocco and Algiers in 1831 had the effect of enriching his sense of colour. He had a strong supporter in Thiers, through whose influence he received many important commissions for public works--in the decoration of the Louvre, the Luxembourg, and the Chamber of Deputies. Our picture was a design for the latter. These and other large works occupied him till 1855; and at last in 1857 he was admitted into the French Academy.
In this characteristic design the spirit of Ruthless Conquest is personified in the figure of Attila, the leader of the Huns, called "The Scourge of God." He drives before him, beneath a blood-red sky and amid the ghosts of the slain, figures emblematic of Beauty, Art, and Pleasure.
2290. PARC DE SANSAC, INDRE-ET-LOIRE.
Armand Charnay (French: born 1844).
Jean Marie Armand Charnay, born at Charlieu (Loire); in 1864 entered the École des Beaux-Arts; genre and landscape painter.
This picture of autumn in the walks of a French château was presented by the artist.
2291. PORTRAIT OF CARDINAL DE RETZ.
Philippe de Champaigne (French: 1602-1674). See 798.
A portrait, in Cardinal's cape and skull-cap, of Jean François Paul de Gondi (1614-1679), Archbishop of Paris, and afterwards Cardinal de Retz. As Archbishop, he aided the rising of the Fronde against Mazarin. In 1652 he was arrested and imprisoned; he escaped, and for some years wandered abroad. In 1662 he was received into favour by Louis XIV., and in his later years was often employed as an envoy to Rome. He is described as having been in his youth short, near-sighted, ugly, and exceedingly awkward.
2292. PORTRAIT OF A LADY.
Michiel Jansz van Mirevelt (Dutch: 1567-1641).
Mirevelt (or Miereveld) was the son of an engraver on precious metals at Delft, and was trained as an engraver. He afterwards entered the studio of Blocklandt at Utrecht, and devoted himself to historical painting, still-life, and other subjects. Presently he painted the portraits of some of the princes of the House of Nassau, and these were so much admired that he came into continuous request in that branch of art. Sandrart relates that Mirevelt claimed to have painted nearly 10,000 portraits; doubtless an exaggeration, but "it may be said that it was he who made the custom of having portraits painted general in the United Provinces. His painting, thin, clean finished, and rather cold, was intended to please his elegant clients" (Havard).
This lady's stomacher embroidered with rows of pearls and pleated lace ruff are finely painted.
2293. HOLY FAMILY.
Ascribed to Luca Penni (Roman: born about 1500).
One of the scholars and assistants of Raphael; after whose death Penni is said to have attached himself to Perino del Vaga. Subsequently he became an engraver.
2294. PORTRAIT OF GALILEO.
Passignano (Florentine: 1558-1638).
Domenico Cresti, called Il Passignano from his native place, a village near Florence, was a pupil of Zuccaro. Moving to Venice, he studied for a while under Paolo Veronese, whose works he greatly admired and whose manner he followed. His facility and rapidity caused a play upon his surname, and he was called "Passa ognuno."
The great astronomer (1564-1642) is represented with astrolabe, books, diagram, and compasses.
2295. PORTRAIT OF A MILITARY COMMANDER.
Frans Pourbus, the younger (Flemish: 1569-1622).
Pourbus, son of Frans Pourbus the elder, was born at Antwerp, and by 1591 was a master in the Guild of St. Luke. He was employed by the Archduke Albert at Antwerp, at whose court he attracted the notice of the Duke of Mantua. The Duke took him into his service (1600-1609), and he shared with Rubens the title of Painter to the Ducal Court. At Mantua he worked at "a collection of the most beautiful women in the world, whether princesses or private ladies." Like Rubens, Pourbus was occasionally employed as Ambassador, and a mission to Paris caused him to forsake Italy for France. Eleanor of Mantua was a sister of Marie de' Medici, and Pourbus finally settled in Paris as Painter to the Queen. There is a portrait of the queen by him at Hampton Court.
2423. LITHOGRAPHS OF HORSES.
J. L. A. T. Géricault (French: 1791-1824).
Jean Louis André Théodore Géricault, animal and historical painter, was a precursor of the revolt of the Romanticists against the Classicists, which was carried further by Delacroix (see 2289). His most famous picture, "The Raft of the Medusa" (Louvre), was exhibited at the Salon in 1819 and excited much controversy. He was the son of a prosperous advocate; and as a young man became a member of the Jockey Club, and lived the life of the jeunesse dorée. He had some instruction in art from Charles Vernet and Guérin, but his real master was Rubens in the Louvre. In 1816 he went to Italy. After 1819 he visited England, where he practised the then new art of lithography. His picture of "The Derby at Epsom" (1821) is in the Louvre.
2439. A RIVER SCENE.
P. E. Théodore Rousseau (French: 1812-1867).
Rousseau, one of the founders of the modern school of landscape in France, had to fight his way to fame through many difficulties and much neglect. The toast of Diaz, "à notre maître oublié," has been already recorded (p. 691). For thirteen years (1835-1848) his pictures were rejected from the Salon; and official honours came to him tardily. He had his revenge in the Exhibition of 1855, when his rejected pictures "came back as victorious exiles," and again in that of 1867, when he was chosen president of the jury. But he was of a sensitive and jealous disposition; he was estranged from his best friend, Dupré, and chagrin at being passed over for promotion in the Legion of Honour in 1867 is said to have hastened his death. A pleasanter episode in his life is his generous and timely help to Millet. The heads of the two artists are carved together on his tombstone in the cemetery of Chailly, near Barbizon. He was born in Paris, the son of a merchant-tailor. He studied painting under Rémond and Guillon Lethière, and first exhibited at the Salon in 1831. His pictures in successive years were loudly trumpeted by Thoré as those of an innovator, and for that reason perhaps excited the more hostility among the old school. His favourite ground was the forest of Fontainebleau, and he made his home at Barbizon, studying every aspect of nature with intense application. "It is a good composition," he wrote, "when the objects represented are not there solely as they are, but when they contain under a natural appearance the sentiments which they have stirred in our souls. If we contest that the trees have power of thought, at any rate we may allow that they can make us think; and in return for all the modesty of which they make use to elevate our thoughts, we owe them, as recompense, not arrogant freedom or pedantic and classic style, but the sincerity of a grateful attention in the reproduction of their being." There is a good example of his forest-pictures in the Wallace Collection.
Rousseau was the most various of the landscape painters of his time. In the present picture we see him in a peaceful mood; another picture (2635) is of a stormy sky.
2475. CHRISTINA, DUCHESS OF MILAN.
Hans Holbein (German: 1497-1543). See 1314.
Amongst Holbein's duties as painter to Henry VIII. was that of taking portraits of the ladies whom he proposed in turn to wed. After the death of Jane Seymour, the first favourite was the lady before us, "the demure half-smile not yet faded from her eyes"--Christina, daughter of Christian II. of Denmark, niece of the Emperor Charles V., and widow of the Duke of Milan. Reasons of state suggested her marriage to Henry VIII., and Holbein was sent to Brussels, where the Duchess was residing. Our portrait was painted a few years later than "The Ambassadors," from a sketch made at Brussels on March 12, 1538. The circumstances are entertainingly told in the letters of the English envoy, John Hutton, to Thomas Cromwell. On the 10th August Hutton had sent off a portrait by another artist to Henry VIII., that he might judge of the appearance of the young Duchess before making her a proposal of marriage. The next evening "Mr. Haunce" (i.e. Hans Holbein) arrived in company of a servant of the king, whereupon Hutton sent off an express-courier to fetch back the picture he had already despatched, "for that in my opinion," he said, "it was not so perfect as the case required, neither as the said Mr. Haunce could make it." "The next day following at one of the clock in the afternoon, the said Lord Benedick came for Mr. Haunce, who, having but three hours' space, both showed himself to be master of that science, for it is very perfect; the other is but slobbered in comparison to it, as, by the sight of both, your Lordships shall well perceive."
The original--the study, sketch, or miniature, the result of three hours' hard work--has disappeared; but the picture which the master made from it after he came home is now before us. The portrait, it would seem, did not make the king less anxious for the match--which, however, was broken off, it will be remembered, after long negotiations, by the hostility of the emperor. The duchess, in spite of her tender years, seems--and the picture does not belie the supposition--to have had a character of her own. The story of her reply, "that she had but one head, but that if she had two, one should be at the service of his majesty," is, indeed, now discredited; but her actual answer, "You know I am the Emperor's poor servant and must follow his pleasure," was, in the light of subsequent events, equally to the point. The English envoy specially reported "her honest countenance and the few words she wisely spoke."
The beautiful portrait before us was retained by Henry VIII., and through the Lumley, Pembroke, and Arundel Collections it passed into that of the Dukes of Norfolk. "Whether as a pictorial record of an interesting chapter of our history, or as an example of the presentment of a fresh and winning young personality by the most masterful and at the same time most reserved and refined methods of the painter's craft, the picture counts among the very noblest of the art treasures still left in England. That it is so left is mainly due to the splendid generosity of a small group of private donors, the chief of whom elude our public thanks by choosing firmly to remain anonymous. At the eleventh hour, when the picture was on the very point of leaving our shores to enrich a private gallery in America, these benefactors came forward and enabled the Committee of the National Art-Collections' Fund to present the masterpiece to the nation." The price paid was £72,000. (Report of the National Art-Collections' Fund, 1909; Froude's History of England, ch. xv.) The picture had for many years been lent to the National Gallery by the Duke of Norfolk.[261]
2480. THE FISH MARKET.
Philippe Rousseau (French: 1816-1887).
Born in Paris; first exhibited at the Salon in 1834, "A View in Normandy"; afterwards made his reputation, and attained great popularity as a painter of still-life.
2482. VIRGIN AND CHILD.
Benvenuto da Siena (Sienese: 1436-1518).
This painter is better seen in the larger picture, No. 909.
2483. VIRGIN AND CHILD.
Fiorenzo di Lorenzo (Umbrian: 1440-1521).
2484. VIRGIN AND CHILD.
L'Ingegno (Umbrian: painted 1484-1511). See 1220.
The donor and his wife kneel in adoration before the Virgin and Child enthroned between St. Dominic and St. Catherine of Siena. The picture was formerly in Lord Dudley's collection.
2485. SALOME.
Cesare da Sesto (Lombard: 1477-1523).
Leonardo da Vinci was "very successfully installed," says Vasari, "by Cesare da Sesto, who was also a Milanese." Cesare was born at Sesto Calende on the Lago Maggiore, and is supposed to have worked under Leonardo in Milan, 1507-1512. At Rome he was, according to Lomazzo, an intimate friend of Raphael.
The daughter of Herodias, with a face of haunting beauty, points to a vase, over which the executioner holds the head of John the Baptist. The table on which it rests has sphinxes for supports. This picture is a replica with variations of the one by Cesare in the Vienna Gallery, and is said to have come from the Barberini Palace in 1799.
2486. A CONCERT.
Ercole Roberti de' Grandi (Ferrarese: 1450-1496). See 1127.
This picture was No. 14 at the Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1894, where it was ascribed to Lorenzo Costa. "In type, the woman resembles one of the daughters of Bentivoglio II., and it may be that this group of musicians contains family portraits of the reigning house of the Bentivogli at Bologna."
2487. BARTOLOMMEO BIANCHINI.
Francia (Bolognese: 1450-1517). See 180.
This picture, an early work by Francia, is an admirable example of the artist as a portrait-painter. It is "a marvel of fine condition, and betrays the technique of the goldsmith seeking for the quality of enamel. Bianchini was a Bolognese senator, collector, poet, and friend of Francia." Upon a "Holy Family" in the Berlin Museum is inscribed--
Bartholomei sumptu Bianchini maxima matrum Hic vivit manibus, Francia, picta tuis.
Our portrait, from the collection of the Princesse de Sagan, was No. 23 at the Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1894.
2488. THE HOLY FAMILY.
Luca Signorelli (Cortona: 1441-1523). See 1128.
2489. THE YOUNG FLORENTINE.
Domenico Ghirlandajo (Florentine: 1449-1494). See 1230.
The portrait of the man in his red-coloured robe and black skull-cap is set against a landscape background. Many other examples of a like treatment will have been noticed by the visitor; as, for instance, in the fine portrait by Ridolfo Ghirlandajo (2491). And it is interesting to observe how long this convention survived, though with variations. The advantage of introducing an object of locally dark colour behind the head was perceived, and a background of curtain or other drapery was used; but a piece of it was drawn back, so as still to display landscape. See, e.g., Basaiti's portrait (2498). Or, again, a window was opened with the same purpose. See, e.g., Piombo's portrait of a Venetian lady as Salome (2493) and Cariani's of a Venetian magnate (2494). A corresponding development may be traced in Madonna pictures. Often the Virgin and Child are placed in an open landscape, as in the beautiful "Madonna of the Meadow" (599). When they are brought indoors a curtain is drawn back (2503), or a window opened--e.g. 2496, 2609, and (Flemish School) 2595.
2490. COSTANZA DE' MEDICI.
Lorenzo di Credi (Florentine: 1459-1537). See 593.
The inscription records that the lady was the wife of Francis, Duke of Gaeta. This portrait was formerly ascribed to D. Ghirlandajo.
2491. GIROLAMO BENEVIENI.
Ridolfo Ghirlandajo (Florentine: 1483-1561). See 1143.
This fine portrait is of "a very learned man," and an intimate friend of Lorenzo di Credi, who also, as Vasari relates, painted him. The background is studied from that in Leonardo's "Mona Lisa."
2492. VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH ANGELS ADORING.
Jacopo del Sellaio (Florentine: 1442-1493).
This painter is mentioned by Vasari as among the pupils of Fra Filippo Lippi. He worked in the manner of Botticelli, and No. 916 in our gallery is now ascribed to him.
2493. SALOME.
Sebastiano del Piombo (Venetian: 1485-1547). See 1.
2494. AN ITALIAN GENTLEMAN.
Cariani (Bergamese: about 1480-1541). See 1203.
A vigorously-painted portrait of a personage of some importance or self-importance; perhaps, as the official catalogue suggests, "the principal citizen of some provincial town." His robe is of gold brocade, and he handles his gold chain. It may be a view of his town that is shown through the open window.
2495. "OUR LADY OF THE LAURELS."
Cariani (Bergamese: about 1480-1541). See 1203.
This fine picture, known as La Vierge aux Lauriers from its background of a laurel-bush (and roses), was formerly in the Leuchtenberg Collection at St. Petersburg, where it was ascribed to Giorgione.
2496. VIRGIN AND CHILD.
Beltraffio (Lombard: 1467-1516). See 728.
2497. VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH ST. JOHN.
School of Botticelli (Florentine: 1447-1510). See 1034.
2498. A YOUNG VENETIAN.
Marco Basaiti (Venetian: painted 1500-1521). See 281.
Signed on the parapet. The young Venetians, it will be noticed, wore their hair long, and carried great weights of it at the sides of their faces: compare, e.g., No. 1121 (Catena), 2509 (Vivarini).
2499. VIRGIN AND CHILD.
Marco Basaiti (Venetian: painted 1500-1521).
This picture, if No. 599 be indeed by the same hand, must be an early work; the face and figure, both of mother and of child, are ugly and ungainly. The picture is signed in the left corner.
2500. VIRGIN AND CHILD.
Andrea Previtali (Bergamese: about 1480-1528). See 695.
2501. SALVATOR MUNDI.
Previtali (Bergamese: about 1480-1528). See 695.
Inscribed on the parapet "Andreas Privitalus, p." and dated 1518.
2502. VIRGIN AND CHILD.
Bastiano Mainardi (Tuscan: died 1513).
This painter was the pupil, favourite assistant, and brother-in-law of Domenico Ghirlandajo (see 1230). He was born at San Gimignano, in the churches of which place pictures by him are to be seen.
The beautiful painting of jewellery, and the fine patterns, should not escape notice.
2503. HOLY FAMILY.
Antonio da Solario (Venetian: 15th-16th century).
This beautiful picture is signed on a cartellino "Antonius da Solario V"(enetus).
2504. VIRGIN AND CHILD.
Cesare da Sesto (Milanese: 1477-1523). See 2485.
2505. DAVID AND JONATHAN.
Cima da Conegliano (Venetian: 1460-1518). See 300.
This little picture, of David (carrying the head of Goliath) walking with Jonathan, was formerly in the Modici collection at Naples.
2506. VIRGIN AND CHILD.
Cima (Venetian: 1460-1518).
Formerly in the Patrizi collection at Rome.
2507. PORTRAIT OF A LADY.
Bartolommeo Veneziano (painted 1505-1530). See 287.
From the Castellani collection.
2508. VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH ANGELS.
Unknown (Florentine School: 15th century).
Two charming angels, of whom one is garlanded with roses, hold the child before the Virgin. The scene is laid within the walls of the mystical garden ("a garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse"), behind which rise "Noah's ark" trees.
2509. PORTRAIT OF A YOUTH.
Alvise Vivarini (Venetian: painted 1461-1503). See 1872.
"The portrait of a boy of fifteen or sixteen, a little defiant or shy, yet frank in look, with a blond zazzera (head of hair) cropped short over the eyebrows, wearing a coat of pale turquoise blue. Formerly in the Duchatel collection at Paris, where it was seen by Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle." By them ascribed to Andrea da Solario (see 734); formerly, to Antonello (see 673); now, on the authority of Mr. Berenson, to Alvise: see Berenson's Lorenzo Lotto, pp. 110-1.
2510. A PORTRAIT.
Unknown (Umbrian School: 15th century).
Possibly a portrait of the young Raphael.
2511. A MUSICIAN.
Giulio Campi (Cremona: 1502-1572).
A master at the School of Cremona, who worked in the great church there with Boccaccino (see 806). There are also works by him at Mantua, where he is said to have studied under Giulio Romano.
2512. THE MAGDALEN.
Correggio (Parmese: 1494-1534). See 10.
"The art of Correggio with its deep sense of beauty and its tender sensibility was peculiarly fitted," says Signor Ricci, "to give life and grace to the figure of the Magdalen. He introduced it in many of his large compositions, and made it the subject of several separate studies, but not one of the latter has survived." If this be an authentic work, the statement requires correction; but the head of the Magdalen is not convincingly Correggiesque.
2513. VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH SAINTS.
Tiepolo (Venetian: 1692-1769). See 1192.
2514-2516. VIEWS IN VENICE.
Canaletto (Venetian: 1697-1768). See 127.
No. 2514 shows the Grand Canal, with the church of the Scalzi; No. 2515, the square of St. Mark's, seen through an archway; No. 2516, the Colonnade of the Procuratie Nuove. The white spots with which the figures are picked out are not a happy instance of Canaletto's workmanship.
2517-2523. VARIOUS VIEWS.
Guardi (Venetian: 1712-1793). See 210.
No. 2517, "Buildings and Figures"; 2518, "Gothic Archway and Figures"; 2519, "Venetian Courtyard"; 2520, "Quay-side with Warehouses"; 2521, "Ruins"; 2522, "Treasure-Seekers"; 2523, "View through an Archway."
2524. THE TOWER OF MESTRE.
Guardi (Venetian: 1712-1793). See 210.
It was at Mestre that travellers in old days took gondola for Venice, and the tower was a familiar landmark. Ruskin mentions it in his description of the approach to Venice (Stones, vol. i. last chapter).
2525. VENICE: PIAZZA DI SAN MARCO.
Guardi (Venetian: 1712-1793).
A good example of the deep, rich colour which Guardi gives to his Venetian subjects: see under 210.
2526. PEASANT AND CHILD.
Unknown (Spanish: 17th century).
This unfinished picture (once in the collection of the Earl of Clare) has been ascribed to Pedro Nuñez de Villavicencio (1630-1700). He was a Knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, a distinguished amateur-painter and a favourite pupil of Murillo, who died in his arms.
2527. CHARLES MORDAUNT, EARL OF MONMOUTH.
Juan Giacchinetti Gonzalez (Spanish: 1630-1696).
A portrait-painter, who was a great admirer of Titian and a diligent copyist of his works. He was the son of a Burgundian jeweller settled at Madrid, and he was born in that city. He removed to Italy, where he was called, from his skill in portraiture, Il Borgognone dalle teste (the Burgundian of the heads). He practised his art in Brescia and Bergamo, and died in the latter city.
2528. THE MAN WITH THE GLOVE.
Frans Hals (Dutch: 1580-1666). See 1021.
An excellent example of the "irresistible verve" which Hals brings to his portraits, especially to those of men: see under 1021. To what is there said, it may be interesting to add the opinion of Sir Joshua Reynolds. "In the work of Frank Hals, the portrait-painter may observe the composition of a face, the features well put together, as the painters express it; from whence proceeds that strong-marked character of individual nature, which is so remarkable in his portraits, and is not found in an equal degree in any other painter. If he had joined to this most difficult part of the art, a patience in finishing what he had so correctly planned, he might justly have claimed the place which Vandyck, all things considered, so justly holds as the first of portrait-painters" (Sixth Discourse).
2529. THE LADY WITH THE FAN.
Frans Hals (Dutch: 1580-1666). See 1021.
2530. PORTRAIT OF A LADY.
Cornelis Janssens (Dutch: 1594-1664). See 1320.
Sir Joshua Reynolds has some interesting remarks on the technique of Janssens. "There is a kind of finishing," he says, "which may safely be condemned, as it seems to counteract its own purpose; that is, when the artist, to avoid that hardness which proceeds from the outline cutting against the ground, softens and blends the colours to excess: this is what the ignorant call high finishing, but which tends to destroy the brilliancy of colour, and the true effect of representation; which consists very much in preserving the same proportion of sharpness and bluntness that is found in natural objects. This extreme softening, instead of producing the effect of softness, gives the appearance of ivory, or some other hard substance, highly polished. The portraits of Cornelius Janssen appear to have this defect, and consequently want that suppleness which is the characteristic of flesh; whereas, in the works of Vandyck, we find that true mixture of softness and hardness perfectly observed" (Eleventh Discourse).
2531. CHURCH OF ST. BAVON, HAARLEM.
Pieter Saenredam (Dutch: 1597-1665). See 1896.
In No. 1451 (by Berck-Heyde) we see the interior of the same church; in the present picture, no public service is going on. In each case a dog is a church-goer; here in front of the pew on the left, where a man kneels down in prayer, a dog kneels up.
2532. A WOMAN DRIVING SHEEP.
2533. A SANDY LANE.
Jan Wynants (Dutch: about 1615-1679). See 883.
2534. RIVER SCENE, WITH HORSEMAN.
Aart van der Neer (Dutch: 1603-1677). See 152.
2535. JUDITH.
Eglon Hendrik van der Neer (Dutch: 1635-1703).
Eglon was the pupil of his father, the landscape-painter, Aart van der Neer; but the son's taste took the direction rather of interiors and portraits. He also painted some Biblical subjects.
A costume piece: note the richly embroidered white satin dress of Judith.
2536. MOONLIGHT.
2537. LANDSCAPE: WITH A CART IN THE FOREGROUND.
Aart van der Neer (Dutch: 1603-1677). See 152.
2538. DIANA BATHING.
Rembrandt (Dutch: 1606-1669). See 43.
A characteristically "Rembrandtesque" effect, the light concentrated on the principal figure.
2539. A MAN WITH A CAP.
Rembrandt (Dutch: 1606-1669). See 43.
This fine portrait-study was formerly in the collection of the Duke of Sutherland.
2540. THE HURDY-GURDY.
Adrian van Ostade (Dutch: 1610-1685). See 846.
Peasants listening to a man playing the hurdy-gurdy. Signed in the left foreground "A. V. Ostade, 1653." Formerly in the collection of Lord Dudley (at whose sale in 1892 it fetched £1470).
2541. THE COBBLER.
2542. COURTSHIP.
2543. A MAN WITH A JUG.
Adrian van Ostade (Dutch: 1610-1685). See 846.
2544. THE CART.
Isaac van Ostade (Dutch: 1621-1649). See 847.
2545. RIVER SCENE.
2546. LADY AND CHILD IN A LANDSCAPE.
Cuyp (Dutch: 1620-1691). See 53.
2547. CATTLE WITH HERDSMEN.
Cuyp (Dutch: 1620-1691). See 53.
Shown at the Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition in 1857.
2548. BOY HOLDING A GREY HORSE.
Cuyp (Dutch: 1620-1691). See 53.
2549. THE TAILOR'S SHOP.
2550. THE AFTERNOON NAP.
Quiryn Brekelenham (Dutch: 1625-1668). See 1329.
2551. A WOMAN SCOURING PANS.
Pieter van den Bosch (Dutch: 1613-1660).
A painter of Amsterdam. The year of his death is not known; 1660 is the date of the last mention of him in extant documents. A deed of 1645 records that the painter bound himself, at a yearly fee of 1200 gulden, to work exclusively for a certain picture-dealer, from 7 a.m. till dusk, daily, Sundays and Festivals alone excepted.
2552. REFUSING THE GLASS.
Pieter de Hooch (Dutch: 1630-about 1677). See 794.
Formerly in the collections of Pierre de Grand Pré (Paris) and the Earl of Shaftesbury.
2553. A LADY AT HER TOILET.
Jacob Ochtervelt (Dutch: died before 1710). See 2143.
2554. SADDLING A HORSE.
Wouwerman (Dutch: 1619-1668). See 878.
2555. WOMAN ASLEEP.
2556. THE PEDLAR.
2557. MERRY MAKERS.
Jan Steen (Dutch: 1626-1679). See 856.
2558. GRACE BEFORE MEAT.
Jan Steen (Dutch: 1626-1679). See 856.
Steen, though he loved scenes of rollicking conviviality and was fond of sly humour, by no means confined himself to such moods. His brush traced every episode of family life, and this little piece is as pretty as one of the "Graces for Children" in Herrick's Noble Numbers:--
What God gives, and what we take, 'Tis a gift for Christ his sake; Be the meal of Beans and Pease, God be thanked for those and these.
This picture was formerly in the Leuchtenberg Collection at St. Petersburg.
2559. THE OYSTER FEAST.
2560. THE SKITTLE PLAYERS.
Jan Steen (Dutch: 1626-1679). See 856.
2561. VIEW NEAR HAARLEM.
Ruysdael (Dutch: 1628-1682). See 627.
A beautiful example of the master, who has signed it in full in the centre of the foreground. It will be noticed that the point of view is much the same, and that the effect of sunlight in the middle distance is the same, as in the large picture, No. 990. One may ask the question which Fromentin puts of a like instance: "The two landscapes are, the one on a large scale, the other on a small, a repetition of the same subject. Is the little canvas the study which served as text for the large? Did Ruysdael design, or did he paint from nature? Was he inspired, or did he copy directly? That is his secret. In any case the two works are charming."
2562. COUNTRY SCENE, WITH RUINED CASTLE.
Ruysdael (Dutch: 1628-1682). See 627.
This is one of the best known of Ruysdael's small pictures, much prized for its luminous quality: its pedigree has been traced through famous collections for over 100 years. In the Bredel sale (1875) it fetched £2310; in the Dudley sale (1892), £1470. It is No. 786 in vol. iv. (1912) of Smith's Catalogue Raisonné.
2563. THE ENTRANCE TO THE FOREST.
2564. A COTTAGE ON A ROCKY HILL.
2565. COTTAGE AND HAYSTACK.
2566. SKIRTS OF A FOREST.
2567. A STORMY SEA-PIECE.
Ruysdael (Dutch: 1628-1682). See 627.
2568. A LADY AT THE VIRGINALS.
Jan Vermeer (Dutch: 1632-1675). See 1383.
No. 15 at the Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1900, where it was thus described: "A lady seated on the right facing to left; she wears a yellow skirt with blue overdress, the sleeves trimmed with lace, and turns her face to the spectator as she plays. Her clavichord stands upon a marble table and is open, showing a landscape painted inside the cover; a viol da gamba and bow are in the left-hand bottom corner, and a blue and yellow curtain above; a picture with three figures hangs on the wall behind. Signed to the right of the lady's head, J V Meer."
2569. THREE BOORS DRINKING.
Adrian Brouwer (Dutch-Flemish: 1605-1638).
Brouwer, Flemish by birth, Dutch by adoption, rivalled his contemporary, the younger Teniers, as a genre painter. His realism is as humorous as it is vigorous. His pictures, says M. Havard, "are marvels of arrangement and colouring. They are sober in conception, and exhibit exquisite modelling, remarkable softness, and light and shade full of transparency and truthfulness; qualities which, during his lifetime, obtained for Brouwer the admiration of his brother-artists and the enthusiasm of Rubens," who, as is known from extant documents, possessed several of his pictures. His portrait was painted by Van Dyck to be placed in a collection of the most celebrated portrait-painters.
Brouwer led an exciting life, and has been the subject of several biographies, which have alternately covered him with scandal and whitewashed him. Documents unearthed during recent years support the earlier accounts, which represent this painter of topers as a jovial, reckless, dissipated Bohemian; though his epitaph may yet have partly told truth in describing him as "a man of great mind, who rejected every splendour of the world, and who despised gain and riches." The documents are set out by Wurzbach (Niederländisches Künstler-Lexicon, 1906). Taking all the evidence together, we may picture Brouwer as a genial fellow, fond of adventure, slow in setting to work, quick in spending, inclined to libertinism and drink, constantly running into debt, a sworn foe of shams and parade, fond of his joke, a lover of poetry, and popular among all who knew him. One of the stories told of him well illustrates his mocking contempt of fashionable vanities. At Amsterdam he had bought himself some coarse linen, which he had made up into a fashionable suit and then painted with a flowered pattern. Brouwer's costume became the talk of the town, and shops were ransacked to furnish copies of it; till one night at the theatre, the artist jumped on to the stage, wiped off his pattern with a wet cloth, and laughed at his audience. He was born at Oudenarde, ran away from home, had exciting adventures on the way, and turned up in Amsterdam and Haarlem. He is said to have entered the studio of Frans Hals, and to have been very badly treated there. He is known to have been an artist of repute, moving also in literary circles, in Amsterdam and Haarlem, 1625-27. He is next heard of at Antwerp, where in 1631-32 he was admitted into the Painters' Guild. Three years later he became a member of the section of the Guild for exercising rhetoric. He was cast into the state prison, probably on suspicion of espionage; and during the seven months of his incarceration, succeeded in running up new debts to the extent of £400--a feat which may be explained by the fact that the prison amenities included an excellent wine-tavern. He died--of his dissipations, according to some, but quite as probably of the plague--and was buried in the cemetery, and afterwards in the Convent Church of the Carmelites. His pictures are rare. The Wallace Collection, the Victoria and Albert Museum (Ionides Collection), and the Dulwich Gallery have each one good example. It has been suggested that the Landscape, No. 72 in our Gallery, hitherto attributed to Rembrandt, is by Brouwer.
2570, 2571. WOODY LANDSCAPES.
Hobbema (Dutch: 1638-1709). See 685.
2572. THE LITTLE FARM.
Adrian van de Velde (Dutch: 1636-1672). See 867.
No. 57 in the Exhibition of Dutch Masters at the Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1900, when it was thus described: "In the centre, among sparse trees in leaf, stands a small farm; to left a man accompanied by a woman on horseback, driving a flock of sheep to pasture; in the left foreground a pool of water, with a cow drinking; in the centre, two herdsmen, with cows, sheep, and goats lying down and feeding. Cool daylight with light clouds spreading over blue sky." Signed in the centre "A. v. Velde 1663."
2573. SEA-SCAPE: WINDY DAY.
2574. CALM: SHIPPING.
Willem van de Velde (Dutch: 1633-1707). See 149.
2575. A MUSICAL PARTY.
Anthonie Palamedes (Dutch: 1601-1673).
Palamedes was the son of a gem-engraver at Delft. He became Dean of the Painters' Guild. He painted portraits and small "conversation pieces," and sometimes supplied figures for the architectural pictures of his friend Dirk van Delen (see 1010). "The light and spirited pose of his figures, his bold touch, and the skill with which he makes the outline of his little groups stand out, please the eye" (Havard).
2576. A FAMILY GROUP.
Pieter Codde (Dutch: 1599-1678).
A painter of Amsterdam much influenced by Frans Hals.
2577. A STIFF BREEZE.
2578. A WINDMILL BY A RIVER.
2579. SCENE ON THE ICE.
2580. RIVER SCENE.
Jan van Goyen (Dutch: 1596-1656). See 137.
2681. A. VAN LEEUWENHOEK, F.R.S.
Nicolas Maes (Dutch: 1632-1693). See 153.
A portrait of the eminent Dutch savant (1632-1723) who has been called "the father of scientific microscopy." He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1680.
2582. FRUIT AND FLOWERS.
David de Heem (Dutch: 1570-1632).
David de Heem, the elder, born at Utrecht, was the father of the more celebrated still-life painter of the same name. He and his son were the founders of the "still-life" school in their country.
Except for the snail, this brightly-coloured arrangement of oysters, a lemon, a plum, cherries and nuts, with a glass of wine, is not unlike the kind of arrangement of actual eatables and drinkables which one may see to-day in the shop-windows of Italian restaurants in London. Nor, in all probability, was the motive of the picture different. "The painting of still-life in Holland," says M. Havard, "was originally sign-painting. Inn-keepers and game-dealers had real pictures as signs, painted upon their shop-fronts, and we know of several of these simple masterpieces which have found their way into important collections" (The Dutch School, p. 260).
2583. CATTLE IN A STORMY LANDSCAPE.
Paul Potter (Dutch: 1625-1654). See 849.
Signed, and dated 1647; formerly in the collection of Mr. Hope, of Deepdene.
2584. A LADY HOLDING A MIRROR.
Pieter Codde (Dutch: 1579-1678). See 2576.
2585. ST. MARY MAGDALEN.
Adrian Ysenbrandt (Flemish: died 1551).
Ysenbrandt was an assistant of Gerard David (see 1045). He came to Bruges, and was admitted into the Painters' Guild in 1510; he worked there till his death. He acquired a reputation for skill in painting the nude and the human countenance; his carefulness of execution and the sweetness of expression which he gave to his faces were much admired. Many of his pictures were sent to Spain (see W. H. Weale in the Burlington Magazine, vol. ii.).
This picture of the Magdalen, before whom an angel holds a crucifix, was in the Exhibition of the Primitives at Bruges in 1902. The artist's careful execution may be noted in the beautifully illuminated MS.
2586. COAST SCENE.
2587. A CALM.
2588. A DUTCH GALLIOT.
Jan van de Cappelle (Dutch: painted 1650-1680). See 865.
2589. THE YOUNG ASTROLOGER.
Frans van Mieris (Dutch: 1635-1681). See 840.
2590. A WOMAN AT A WINDOW.
2591. THE FORGE.
Gabriel Metsu (Dutch: 1630-1667). See 838.
2592. FRUIT PIECE.
W. K. Heda (Dutch: 1594-1678). See 1469.
2593. PORTRAIT OF A MAN.
Petrus Cristus (Flemish: about 1410-1472).
Cristus was born at Baerle, near Ghent. He purchased the right of citizenship at Bruges in 1444--that is, four years after the death of Jan van Eyck. He cannot therefore have been a pupil of that master, as has often been surmised; but he belongs to the school of the Van Eycks "by his realistic style, by the extreme care he bestowed on details, by his bold and powerful colouring, and by the tasteful arrangement of his draperies and interiors. But his works can never be mistaken for those of Van Eyck; his outline is often harsh, his types are wanting in character; his figures, designed and executed with very inferior skill, are not painted in the same impressive manner as those of the great master" (Wauters). The portrait of a Venetian consul (No. 696) is ascribed to him.
Acquired by Mr. Salting from the Earl of Northbrook's collection; No. 10 at the Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1892--remarkable for the preciseness and microscopic minuteness of hand displayed in it. The portrait of a devout and studious young man. He holds an open book; and on the wall of his chamber there is hung a board on which an illuminated sheet of vellum, edged with a narrow red riband, has been nailed. The miniature at the top of it represents the Vernacle (our Lord's head with cruciform nimbus and rays); and below is a rhymed prayer, headed Incipit oratio ad sanctam Veronicam, and continuing "Salve sancta facies Nostri redemptoris," etc.
2594. THE DUKE OF CLEVES.
Hans Memlinc (Early Flemish: 1430-1494). See 686.
2595. VIRGIN AND CHILD.
Dierick Bouts (Early Flemish: about 1410-1475).
Dirk Bouts, Thieiri Bouts, Dierick of Haarlem, or Thieiri Stuerbout (by all of which names he has been called) was Dutch by birth, being born at Haarlem. At some unknown date he migrated to Flanders, and established himself at Louvain, where he was appointed Painter to the Town. In 1468 he delivered to the Council two beautiful pictures (now in the Museum of Brussels) representing "The Judgment of the Emperor Otho." His colouring, says M. Havard, "is clear and brilliant. Red and green assume under his brush the brilliancy of the ruby and the emerald. His draperies are of unusual softness, and have none of that stiffness of fold which is peculiar to Jan van Eyck and some of his pupils. His flesh tints are of a warm and vivid tone, and his shadows are remarkably transparent. But his merit is manifested especially in his picturesque and original manner of arranging his compositions. He is besides remarkable for the care and distinctness with which he treats the landscapes in the background of his pictures." Little is known of his life, and the ascription of various works to him is conjectural. To him, in the latest revision of labels in our Gallery, are now attributed Nos. 664, 774, and 943.
2596. ST. JEROME.
Gerard David (Early Flemish: 1460-1523). See 1045.
2597. THREE VENETIAN GENTLEMEN AND A CHILD.
Johannes Stephen Calcar (Venetian: 1499-1546).
"In the year 1545 I became known to," says Vasari, "and contracted much friendship with Giovanni Calcar, a Flemish painter of great merit, who so successfully practised the Italian manner that his works were not always perceived to be those of a Fleming; but he died at Naples while still young, and when the fairest hopes had been conceived respecting his future progress." He worked first at Dordrecht; but in 1536 went to Venice, where he entered Titian's studio. He became a good master, says Vasari elsewhere, "whether for large or small figures, and in portraits was most admirable. By his hand--and they must do him honour to all time--were the designs for anatomical studies which the most admirable Andrea Vessalio caused to be engraved on copper and published with his works" (vol. v. p. 403).
2598. DIANA AND ENDYMION.
Rubens (Flemish: 1577-1640). See 38.
A sketch painted about 1636.
2599. A VISIT TO THE DOCTOR.
2600. CARD PLAYERS.
2601. AN OLD WOMAN READING.
David Teniers (Flemish: 1610-1694). See 154.
2602. A MAN WITH A RING.
Unknown (Flemish: 16th Century).
2603. VIRGIN AND CHILD.
Unknown (School of Cologne: early 16th Century).
By the master of the "Death of the Virgin" (a picture in the Munich Gallery), a painter of Cologne, the teacher, it is said, of Bruyn. The donor of the picture, with spectacles and a large straw hat, stands at a desk, reading. (The curious in such matters may consult Notes and Queries, 1890, for other early instances of spectacles in art.) The picture was No. 48 (Plate 23) in the Burlington Fine Art Club's Exhibition of Early Netherlandish Pictures, 1892.
2604. PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG MAN.
Christopher Amberger (German: 1490-1563).
This painter, who worked at Augsburg, probably studied under Hans Burgkmair, and the painting of Hans Holbein the younger had an evident effect on his style, so much so that his works have been sometimes mistaken for those of Holbein. In 1532 he painted the portrait of Charles V.; and Sandrart tells us that this portrait was considered by the Emperor equal to any of the pictures painted of him by Titian. He certainly honoured the artist by giving him a gold chain and medal on the occasion (Bryan's Dictionary of Painters).
2605. DR. FUCHSIUS.
Bartolomaus Bruyn (School of Cologne: died 1556).
This artist painted both religious subjects and portraits. His earlier works in the former kind recall the style of "The Master of the 'Death of the Virgin'" (see above, 2603). Bruyn was the last really eminent painter of the Cologne School. He was a municipal councillor of that town in 1550 and 1553.
A portrait of the celebrated German physician, Leonhard Fuchs (1501-1566), one of the fathers of scientific botany. He has obtained, says Hallam, a verdant immortality in the familiar flower which bears his name, the fuchsia. He espoused the doctrines of the Reformation; in our portrait he holds a paper inscribed (in German) "The word of the Lord endureth for ever."
2606. THE MADONNA ENTHRONED.
Unknown (Flemish: 16th Century).
In the centre of the triptych, the Virgin sits on a throne of Flemish renaissance design. On the right, St. Ambrose; on the left, St. Louis of Toulouse. The royal rank of the latter Saint (nephew of St. Louis, King of France, and son of Charles of Anjou, King of Naples), who renounced his succession and became Bishop of Toulouse, is commonly indicated as here, by fleur-de-lys upon a blue ground.
2607. A MAN WITH A MEDALLION.
Unknown (Flemish: 15-16th Century).
2608. VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH ANGELS.
Robert Campin (Early Flemish: died 1444).
Campin, a native of Hainault, settled at Tournai in about the year 1406, and quickly made a reputation, becoming painter-in-ordinary to the town. Between 1423 and 1428 there are records showing that he filled several offices in the Painters' Guild and amassed a considerable fortune. He had several apprentices; among them, Roger Van der Weyden (see 711), who was with him from 1426 to 1432. He made many designs for tapestry and seems to have been charged with the designing of all municipal art work in whatever kind (W. H. Weale, in the Burlington Magazine, vol. xi.).
2609. VIRGIN AND CHILD IN AN APARTMENT.
Campin (Early Flemish: died 1444).
The Virgin is of the same unlovely type as in the picture ascribed to Bouts, No. 2595. Behind her head is a screen of plaited straw.
2610. ANTOINE DE BOURBON.
Corneille de Lyons (French: 16th Century).
Two painters are catalogued under this name, father and son, who are sometimes distinguished as "Corneille le Grand" and "Corneille le Petit." The elder was a Flemish painter, who became naturalised in France in 1547. In 1540 he was appointed Painter to the Dauphin; in 1551, Painter to the King. He is mentioned in a poem of 1544, and in a deed of 1564. Several portraits in the Museum of Versailles and at Chantilly are ascribed to him. (See Henri Bouchot's Les Clouet et Corneille de Lyon.)
2611. A MAN IN BLACK.
Corneille de Lyons (French: 16th Century).
2612. LOUIS XI., KING OF FRANCE, 1423-1483.
2613. PHILIP AND MARGARET OF BURGUNDY.
Unknown (French: 15th Century).
These pictures are of the early Burgundian School.
2614. A LADY AS MARY MAGDALEN.
Unknown (French School: 15th Century).
Notice the pearl embroidery.
2615. MARY, QUEEN OF FRANCE.
Unknown (French School: 15th Century).
Formerly supposed to represent Mary Tudor, sister of Henry VIII., born in 1498.
2616. PORTRAIT OF A LADY.
2617. THE DUCHESS D'ANGOULÊME.
Unknown (French School: 15th Century).
2618. VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH ANGELS.
Unknown (French School: 15th Century).
Possibly by an artist of the Catalonian school.
2619. LANDSCAPE.
Nicolas Poussin (French: 1593-1665). See 39.
2620. THE HAPPY MOTHER.
Jean Honoré Fragonard (French: 1732-1806).
The only poets who seized the spirit of the France of the eighteenth century were, said the brothers Goncourt, two painters: Watteau and Fragonard. It was Fragonard, says Sir Claude Phillips, "whose frank passion, whose irresistible élan lighted up the decline of the century much as the imaginativeness of Watteau, his reticence and wistful charm even in the midst of voluptuousness, lighted up its first years. He is the Ovid of French painting." He was born at Grasse near Cannes; and the pupil, in Paris, first of Chardin and then of Boucher (see 1258, 1090). Having won the Prix de Rome in 1752, he travelled in Italy, drawing all the sights and monuments, and studying the old masters. The works of Tiepolo (see 1192) especially attracted him, and something of their brilliant, flashing bravura was to be characteristic of Fragonard himself. Soon after his return to Paris, a picture of "Coresus and Callirhoë" made a sensation in the Salon, and inspired what Lord Morley calls "an elaborate but not very felicitous criticism" by Diderot. Fragonard did not return, however, to compositions in the classical style; he found his métier, and a highly lucrative practice, in pictures of sentimental genre, audaciously amorous in subject, and of masterly grace and lightness in execution. Some of his most famous works in this sort are to be seen in the Wallace Collection. The beautifully decorative canvases, the "Roman d'Amour de la Jeunesse," which were exhibited in London in 1898 and are now in Mr. Pierpont Morgan's collection, were a commission from Madame du Barry, who, however, for reasons which have not been clearly explained, declined them. From Mademoiselle Guimard, the dancer, and queen of the monde galant, Fragonard had received a like commission; and the story is well known of the revenge taken by the painter when he threw up the task, and transformed his portrait of the lady as Terpsichore into Tisiphone. In 1794 Fragonard retired for security from the Terror to Grasse, and on his return to Paris he found his vogue gone. The Revolution had killed the taste for his amorous trifles. The reign of the Classical School of David had begun; and Fragonard died in comparative oblivion and poverty.
In 1769 Fragonard had married Marie Anne Gérard, the miniature painter; and to the succeeding years belong, says his biographer (the Baron de Portalis), many pictures of which the theme is the cradle. Our picture is of that kind.
2621. WILLOWS.
Charles François Daubigny (French: 1817-1878).
Daubigny was the youngest member of the "Barbizon" group; and, though he has artistic affinity with them, and regarded Corot as his master, he painted not in their chosen district, but on the banks of the Oise. His landscapes have not the poetry of Corot's, nor the force of Rousseau's; but they are more comfortable, as it were, and human. Corot's world might be inhabited by dryads; in Rousseau's landscapes man is subordinate or overpowered; Daubigny paints nature as the pleasant abode of human beings fond of the country--commons not too remote from a garden wall, the banks of pleasant streams where men may boat or fish. The country with him is full of fresh air. "There is a story told of a poor young man, afflicted with consumption, who coming suddenly before a work of Daubigny, exclaimed, 'Ah, I can breathe better now'" (Thomson's Barbizon School, p. 283).
Daubigny's life is in accord with what have been suggested above as characteristic notes of his art. He had no privations, storms, or struggles. He was born at Paris, in an artistic family; and as a youth assisted his father in painting boxes, clock-cases and the like. He was a delicate child, and had lived much with his nurse Bazot at Valmondois on the Oise, where too he afterwards spent many holidays and where in later years he made his home. At the age of 18 he went to Italy, where the pictures of Claude especially attracted him. On his return he was engaged for a time as a picture-restorer. He studied with Paul Delaroche, but struck out a line for himself in landscape pictures and etchings, and his works gradually found favour. He had a boat made for voyaging on the Oise and Seine, and this served as a floating studio. He built himself a house at Auvers on the Oise, which was decorated with paintings by Corot and other artist-friends. In 1866 he was invited by Leighton and others to visit England, and he exhibited at the Academy. In 1859 he had been made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, and in 1874 he was promoted to the grade of Officer. On his death-bed he said to those about him "Adieu; I am going to see above if friend Corot has found me any motifs for landscapes."
Sunset effect on a lake; with brilliant colours piercing through the trees to the water. Signed, and dated 1874.
2622. THE BANKS OF A RIVER.
Daubigny (French: 1817-1878). See 2621.
An earlier picture (signed, and dated 1859). The small house-boat or barge in the foreground may be the painter's floating studio, mentioned above.
2623. ALDERS.
2624. THE GARDEN WALL.
Daubigny (French: 1817-1878). See 2621.
2625. THE BENT TREE.
J. B. C. Corot (French: 1796-1875). See 2135.
This beautiful picture was formerly in the collection of the late Mr. Alexander Young, one of the earliest purchasers of Corots in England, and was generally considered the gem of his collection of works by that master. The writer of an account of the Young Collection calls attention, in describing this picture, to "the wonderful gradation of tones in the trees and foreground, the subtle beauty of the distant view, the massing and treatment of the trees against the luminous sky, the dignified restraint of the colour scheme" (Studio, vol. 39).
2626. THE WOOD GATHERER.
Corot (French: 1796-1875). See 2135.
Also from the Young Collection.
2627. EVENING ON THE LAKE.
Corot (French: 1796-1875). See 2135.
Formerly in the collection of Lord Leighton. That Corot liked the effect of trees stretching out a graceful arm across the water may be seen by comparing this picture with No. 2625.
2628. NOON.
2629. A FLOOD.
Corot (French: 1796-1875). See 2135.
2630. COWS STANDING IN A MARSH.
Corot (French: 1796-1875). See 2135.
How simple are the ingredients out of which Corot makes a picture! A marsh, two cows with a herdsman, and four willows; but all are suffused in a beautiful haze, and wrought into an exquisite harmony of tone and colour. Like all Corot's pictures, this should be seen from some little distance; the more it is observed, the more will its charm be felt.
2631. THE FISHERMAN'S HUT.
Corot (French: 1796-1875). See 2135.
An exquisite harmony in tender green and pink.
2632. THE STORM.
2633. COMMON WITH STORMY SUNSET.
Diaz (French: 1809-1876). See 2058.
2634. RIVER SCENE.
Jules Dupré (French: 1812-1889).
Dupré, the last of the romantic school of French landscape, the friend and the survivor by many years of Millet and Rousseau, was born at Nantes. He began by painting on china, in the studio at Sèvres of his uncle, Arsène Gillet, to whom also Diaz was at one time apprenticed. At the age of 22 he was already exhibiting at the Salon; and unlike other members of the group, he was well treated by the artistic powers of the day. During a visit to England he became acquainted with Constable. He lived at Isle-Adam near Paris.
2635. SUNSET AT AUVERGNE.
Théodore Rousseau (French: 1812-1867). See 2439.
2636. THE WHISPER.
Jean François Millet (French: 1814-1875).
Millet, the peasant painter of France, occupies an important place in the history of modern art. He heard, as he said, le cri de la terre; and it is this to which he gave expression in painting. Gambetta well described the characteristics of Millet and his great contemporary. Rousseau (see 2439) "revealed the forest; Millet was the painter of the seasons, the fields, and the peasants." Rousseau and others of the school were painters of the country, of work-a-day nature; Millet painted the country-labourers. He did not idealise them, but he showed, with deep poetry, the dignity of their labour. This is the spirit of the great pictures--"The Sower," "The Gleaners," "The Angelus," by which through engravings and other reproductions he is most widely known. The depth of impression which those works are found to make was the result of intense feeling and infinite pains on the part of the artist. "The Angelus" hung on the point of finish for many months. "I mean," he said, "I mean the bells to be heard sounding, and only natural truth of expression can produce the effect." When a visitor wanted to buy "The Sheepfold," Millet would not let it go. "It is not complete," he said; "you cannot hear the dog bark in there yet." The life and character of Millet were in accord with his work. He was born of peasant ancestry, and the boy grew up, as Mr. Henley says, "in an environment of toil, sincerity, and devoutness. He was fostered upon the Bible and the great book of nature." "Wake up, my little François," was his grandmother's morning salutation, "the birds have long been singing the glory of God." He learned Latin from the parish priest, and he soon became a student of Virgil. He followed his father out into the fields, and thenceforward, as became the eldest boy in a large family, worked hard at grafting and ploughing, sowing and reaping, scything and sheaving and planting, and all the many duties of husbandmen. The life he painted was the life he knew and had led. The spirit in which he painted it was that of his own reverent, and somewhat melancholy, temperament. In 1849 he moved from Paris to Barbizon, on the borders of the Forest of Fontainebleau, which henceforward was his home. "If you could but see," he wrote, "how beautiful the forest is! It is so calm, with such a terrible grandeur, that I feel myself really afraid in it." "The most joyful thing I know," he wrote in a letter of 1851, "is the peace, the silence that one enjoys in the woods or in the tilled lands. One sees a poor, heavily laden creature with a bundle of faggots advancing from a narrow path in the fields. The manner in which this figure comes suddenly before one is a momentary reminder of the fundamental condition of human life and toil. On the tilled land around, one watches figures hoeing and digging. One sees how this or that one rises and wipes away the sweat with the back of his hand. 'In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread.' Is that merry, enlivening work, as some people would like to persuade us? And yet it is here that I find the true humanity, the great poetry."
Like most innovators, Millet had to create the taste by which he was to be admired; and, though the tale of his struggles and poverty is sometimes exaggerated, he had many discouragements and times of difficulty. He was neither "classical" nor "romantic," and both of those schools of art looked askance at him. He was born at Gruchy, near Cherbourg; and till the age of 18 lived the life of a peasant. As there were then other sons to help on the farm, his father, who had long noticed the lad's artistic talent, took him to Cherbourg, where he received some instruction under Mouchel and Langlois successively, and where the Town Council gave him assistance in pursuing his studies. The death of his father recalled him for a while to the farm; but in 1837, at the age of 23, he went to Paris and entered the studio of Delaroche (see 1909). His studio-nickname was "The Man of the Woods." He tried to sell works in his own style, but found no market for them, and had to take instead to painting pastorals, etc., in the manner of Boucher and Watteau. He married in 1841; his wife died in 1844, and in 1845 he married again. For a time, he attained a certain vogue as a painter of the nude, and a classical picture of OEdipus in the Salon of 1847 attracted some attention. In 1849, as already said, he settled at Barbizon, and it is from 1850 onwards that his great works date. They did not sell, or they commanded very small prices. One was bought by his devoted friend, Rousseau; for "The Angelus" he received £100. Within 20 years of his death, it fetched £22,120 at public auction. But the reputation of Millet grew gradually in his lifetime, and in 1868 he was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. He is buried beside Rousseau at Chailly, near Barbizon.
This little "pastoral," in which a girl reclines on a rock, while a naked child whispers in her ear, belongs to the painter's earlier period.
2669. ST. CLEMENT AND DONOR.
Le Mâitre de Jean Perréal (French: 15th century).
Attributed to the master of Jean Perréal (called Jean de Paris, who lived about 1463-1529); painter to Louis XII.
St. Clement, in cope and mitre (as Bishop of Rome), rests his right hand on the shoulder of the Donor; and in his left hand carries an anchor (the emblem referring to the legend of the Saint having been cast into the sea bound to an anchor). Londoners are familiar with the emblem, as it surmounts the steeple of St. Clement Danes in the Strand.
2670. LADY HOLDING A ROSARY.
Unknown (Flemish: 16th century).
2671. A PIETÀ.
Francia (Bolognese: 1450-1517). See 179.
2672. A VENETIAN GENTLEMAN.
Alvise Vivarini (Venetian: painted 1461-1503). See 1872.
This striking and powerful portrait is signed by the artist on the parapet. It was formerly in the Bonomi-Cereda Collection at Milan (see Berenson's Lorenzo Lotto, p. 107).
2673. NARCISSUS.
Beltraffio (Lombard: 1467-1516). See 728.