The art of the Dresden Gallery : notes and observations upon the old and modern masters and paintings in the royal collection

Front matter

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Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. Early Italians ; Raphael and Correggio i

II. The Great Venetians . 43

Chapter I. Early Italians; Raphael And Correggio

The origins of the German galleries are interesting to note. The Munich Gallery grew up from a part of the old Bavarian Collection, absorbing the Dusseldorf Gallery, which was added about a century ago. Flemish and Dutch pictures were then purchased to complete the collection. The Berlin Gallery was only brought into existence in the nineteenth century, through the influence of the reigning Prussian Princes. Being founded at a time when historic continuity was beginning to be appreciated, it was planned with a feeling for consecutive order, and is famous for its systematic arrangement.

But when the Dresden Gallery was founded, by Elector Augustus (who was succeeded by August the Strong, followed by Augustus III.), the idea of

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an actual evolution in art had not been emphasized, and the standard was, simply, to display the art treasures without reference one to another. The collection was started in 1560, by the Elector Augustus, when he set up an art gallery above his own apartments in the Palace in Dresden. In 1694, August the Strong intentionally founded the gallery. It was an unfortunate period in art and architecture, taste being rococo, and historic continuity of no account. The collection of early sixteenth-century paintings, inherited by August the Strong, was the nucleus of the Dresden Gallery. There was no attempt made to secure earlier pictures at this time. This prince bought pictures which appealed to the taste of the eighteenth century, joyously acquiring numerous examples of the art then chiefly in vogue, Flemish and Dutch. Examples were obtained of Rubens, Jordaens, and Teniers, Dou, Metsu, Ter Borch, and Wouwermans, while Italian pictures by Giorgione, Albani, and Cima had been acquired.

More important was the progress of the Gallery under Augustus III., who governed from 1733 to 1763. This king’s minister, Graf von Briihl, directed the purchases, and the collection grew so that it was necessary to move into larger quarters. During the reign of August the Strong, two hundred pictures had been purchased; Augustus III., though

Earls Italians; IRapbael anb Correoalo 3 not important for his deeds of statesmanship, was full of artistic tastes, and the court was one of extravagant gorgeousness. The chief masterpieces of the Golden Era of art which are in Dresden were secured during this recklessly lavish period. Especially devoted to the riper Italians, Augustus III. added numerous examples of the florid post-Raphaelite period. Also he was the purchaser of the world-famed collection of Francisco III., Duke of Modena. Never before had so superb a collection been seen north of the Alps. Titian’s Tribute Money, the four great Correggios, the enormous paintings by Veronese, and celebrated pictures by Andrea del Sarto, Carracci, Guido Reni, Dosso Dossi, and Garofalo, as well as a Velasquez, a Holbein, and Rubens’s St. Jerome, were among them. This was rather the period for purchasers than for producers ; art critics were despatched to all the leading centres, and collecting became a royal craze. Between 1741 and 1742 the Dresden Gallery added seven hundred and fifteen pictures to its numbers. Even painters found that there was more profit in turning agent than in painting pictures themselves. It was through one of these, the artist Carlo Giovannini of Bologna, that negotiations were made to purchase the Sistine Madonna of Raphael from the monks at Piacenza. The Au-

4 Ube art of tbe Bresben Gallery gustan age in Saxony came to an end with the death of Augustus III.

During the nineteenth century very judicious management proved of great service to the Gallery, for pictures were bought with a higher motive than to please the taste of a single prince with exotic ideals. Intelligent directors, Johann Anton Riedel, C. F. Damiani, J. F. Matthai, and then the painters Julius Schnorr and Julius Hiibner, guided the expenditures and practical matters, by means of their tact and culture, at the same time educating the taste of the public, while ever since 1848, modern pictures have been purchased from time to time, as well as examples of the Old Masters. During the past ten years the gallery has kept specially abreast of the times, under the directorship of the celebrated Dr. Karl Woermann.

Pictures in Dresden are hu^g more with a view to their size and breadth, or to their minuteness and delicacy, than with an eye to consecutive progression. Each picture is placed in such a position and light as shall most enhance its peculiar worth. The larger pictures, which may easily be seen at a distance, are hung in the central halls, and effectively lighted from above; the smaller pictures are placed in little rooms or cabinets, leading out of the larger salons, and lighted from the side. This is the most satisfactory system of hanging for the

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Earls Italians; IRapbael ant> Correogfo 5 casual spectator; for the student of art, of course, it involves some travelling about, in order that one may examine paintings in their proper sequence. In preparing these observations I have thought it best, so far as practicable, to consider all the works of an artist together, and, as a rule, the cabinets so supplement the halls, that it is possible to do this without going far out of one’s way. I have retained the system of lettering and numbering for the halls and cabinets as used in the Official Catalogue; this unity of plan makes it easier to use both books without confusion.

In order to examine the pictures in appropriate order, it is well to begin in the series of cabinets at the extreme right, I, 2, 3, and 4, afterwards studying Hall D, proceeding thence by the precious little room in the corner, A on the plan, — where hangs but one picture, but that the greatest in the gallery, — the Sistine Madonna of Raphael.

One of the surest ways of determining the attribution of a picture is a close observation of the treatment of the hands and of the ears. The old masters gave little thought to these details; it was not until later that men realized that there was character in hands, and even in ears. Therefore, from giving these features little heed, they almost invariably fell into some special way of painting them, -—all the hands painted by Botticelli, for

6 Ube Brt of tbe 2>res5>en 6aUer$ instance, conform to one type, and the same may be said of the ears. Now, a critic who is on the lookout for such things, can say, almost confidently, “ Such and such a picture cannot be by Botticelli, for the hands are those painted by Filippino Lippi, or the ear is such an ear as only Mantegna painted,” and by comparing hundreds of instances, and finding, as they do, that a given man will always paint a given feature in a certain way, they are able to determine more accurately than ever before the origin of various works.

Morelli considers that the picture which is usually supposed to have been by Fra Angelico, is a feeble example of Benozzo Gozzoli. It is the nearest we come to either of these early artists in the Dresden Gallery, and should not be regarded as representative of the Florentines of that period. It is the Annunciation, and it hangs in the first cabinet, among the primitive painters.

There is a very decorative painting in this cabinet, No. 8, a Virgin and Child, probably a studiopiece from the school of Botticelli. The rich blues and green are very effective. The picture, if not an original, is at any rate a characteristic bit of work to have come from his studio, and is full of the naive sweetness of his studies. The tender details of the veil and robe-border are like the works of an illuminator, and the book-cover, lying on the jSarlg •fftaltans; IRapbael ant) Correggio 7 table by the Virgin and Child, is finished as if by a jeweller. The affectionate action of the child in turning to his mother is human, and the two faces are unusually beautiful, although St. John has an underfed look, and is evidently the work of an inferior painter. Near by hangs a set of pictures ascribed to Botticelli, representing scenes from the life of St. Zenobius. The colouring is hard and reddish, and the pictures very curious. In the first, a boy is being run over in the street; the second panel exhibits the mother of the boy taking him to the Saint, that a miracle may be performed upon him ; and in the third, St. Zenobius is restoring the healed child to his mother. In the fourth panel the death of the Saint is depicted. In the school piece, No. 10, the face of the Virgin recalls the Madonna in a tondo by Botticelli in the National Gallery of London.

There is a picture here ascribed to Lorenzo di Credi, which, twenty years ago, was believed to be by Leonardo da Vinci. Morelli considers it a Flemish copy of a picture by Verrocchio. The treatment is certainly Northern, and the hard, uncompromising surface of the flesh is not characteristic of Credi, although the general appearance, at a first glance, might lead one to suppose it an original. The child is hideously flabby, with fat lying in folds and rings, not at all like the flesh of a chubby child;

Ube Hrt of tbe Bresben Gallery in addition to which he is nearly cross-eyed. When this picture was ascribed to Leonardo, a baleful contagion seemed to spread among the European galleries. Berlin instantly produced a forgotten picture, and heralded it as. a Leonardo, and Munich, unwilling to be outdone, immediately discovered an example of his work lurking unsuspected in its collection. Turn from this picture to another example of Lorenzo di Credi, No. 15, and contrast it with the clear, delicate work, like that of an illuminated missal. The Virgin and Child in this picture are flanked by St. John the Evangelist and St. Sebastian. The composition is formal and decorative, — the two saints with their characteristic gestures, so full of mannered grace, are beautiful figures as supporters for the Virgin and Child. The infant is allowed the human interest of trying to reach forward to one of the saints.

The Virgin of the school of Filippino Lippi, with her sweet, long eyes, is very attractive.

A lovely, puce-pink tone pervades the portrait of a boy by Pinturicchio, which may be seen on the same wall with the Botticelli, in the first cabinet. The face is full of that young immaturity which might be seen in any boy of the streets to-day; put this charming little person into a newsboy’s shabby coat, cut his hair, and put a slouched round cap on his head, and lo ! the Bowery ! or Whitechapel !

FRANCESCO COSSA. — ANNUNCIATION

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There is an Annunciation here by the most important Ferrarese master, next to Cosimo Tura; this is Francesco Cossa, who lived in the latter half of the fifteenth century. In a decorated hall of florid Renaissance style, Mary and the Angel are seen; very ornate — very much out of keeping with the simple story. The details of the picture are quite suggestive of Crivelli’s conceits, but the colour and texture are harder and colder. A snail crawling on the ground may be symbolic of domestic peace, but is more probably a miniature freak of decorative zeal. Morelli scorns the idea that Cossa was influenced by van der Weyden; and yet, in the work of this artist, and also in that of Cosimo Tura, there are certain hard, German qualities in the expression of the faces, which give some excuse for this theory, which has been expressed. Cossa suffered a keen disappointment when, after he had, as he supposed, risen to the rank of a great master, his name appeared in the records of the artists decorating the Schifanoia Palace as only one of the workmen, on the same level as the others.

There is here a sweet little Virgin and Child by Giacomo Francia, a son and pupil of Francesco. The Child holds a little bird in his hand, and the young Baptist leans over the shoulder of the mother in an effort to see it.

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A dashing, rich picture, called “ A Loving Couple,” by some unknown Venetian painter, has a surface of enamel finish, and is enough like some of Giorgione’s work to have been given to him for awhile, but is no longer attributed with confidence to any special artist.

The Presentation of the Virgin, by Cima da Conegliano, is a naive and interesting composition, prefiguring, as it does, the great Titian’s Presentation in Venice. A literal transcript of the passage in Josephus is here made, “ Between the wall which separated the men from the women and the great porch of the Temple, were fifteen steps.” Here we have the fifteen steps, with the High Priest standing at the top, and the wall is seen as described. The great porch — a sort of open Renaissance loggia, with the tower of the Palazzo Vecchio at one corner — occupies the left side of the picture. The Virgin, a tiny child, in contadina costume, carrying a lighted candle, ascends the steps with reverence. As a concession to the Eastern setting, the bystanders are represented in turbans, and there are some curious interpretations of palmetto-trees, splaying forth into stiff, umbrella tops. It is particularly interesting to note that the old woman sitting on the lower step, with a basket of eggs, is almost exactly the figure as painted by Titian, with the same profile and head-dress. A j£arl£ Utalians; IRapfoael ant> Corceaato n boy with a cage of birds to sell sits with his arms akimbo, watching the little maiden’s progress, with some amusement.

There is a pleasant, bright picture by Ludovico Mazzolini, of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. The church dignitaries liked Mazzolini’s work, as it was brilliantly coloured, and had a popular appeal, so that he was often employed to paint religious scenes.

Ercole Roberti, who lived in the time of Tura and Cossa, is well represented by two interesting pictures, very decorative in colour and skilful in grouping. Christ on the way to Golgotha is the subject of one, while the other shows the Betrayal and the arrest of Jesus. This pair of panels hang on the same wall in the first cabinet. There is also a copy near them of Roberti’s picture in the National Gallery, the Gathering of Manna in the Wilderness. These paintings were acquired in 1750.

Here, too, is a charming Holy Family, by Mantegna, the handling of which has almost the force of a modern work. It has a glorious low tone, and a mellow quality, partly owing to the fact that it is painted in extremely transparent medium on a very rough, twilled canvas, — the paint is very thin, and the texture, therefore, of the whole is unusual in works of its period. Regarding its composition, i2 XLbc Brt of tbe E>rest»en ©alien?

too, it is graceful and unaffected. The picture was bought from Sir Charles Eastlake.

As we proceed into the next cabinet, we find a picture by Polidoro Veneziano (or Lanzani), who is better represented here than in any other gallery. A Venetian nobleman is seen in the act of presenting his daughter to St. Joseph, that she may be dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It might have been painted by Veronese himself. There is an effective portrait of a lady in mourning, which was ascribed to Pordenone, but later criticism has denied its authenticity.

The clear, pure tones of Cima da Conegliano show up with that brilliant translucency which some people admire so extravagantly in the full-length figure of the Saviour in the act of blessing. The fact that two men in the background are holding the bridle of an ass, suggests that it may have been the author’s intention to portray the Lord as he was about to start on the Entry into Jerusalem.

In Cabinet 3, Franciabigio, the companion of Andrea del Sarto, is seen in an important picture; Uriah is taking the fatal letter, while David gloatingly gazes down from the house-tops at Bathsheba, who is bathing recklessly in the foreground. She is surrounded by her maidens, one of whom carries a ewer, with the initials of the artist inscribed

Baris Utalians; IRapbael an£> Correaqto 13 upon it. The bath itself is decorated with the arms of the Medici.

The familiar picture, known as Correggio’s Magdalen, hangs here. In the first place she is too virginally fresh and youthful-looking. This repentant Magdalen may be a copy of some lost original by Correggio. The blue colour is much more like that used by van der Werfif, and it may well have been executed by a Flemish artist of that school. It was brought from Modena in 1746. This^ picture has been inexplicably popular; there is scarcely a child who has not seen some engraving or photograph of it. When Velasquez saw it, on one of his Italian journeys, it was owned by the Princes d’Este, and was carried with them on all their travels, and kept under lock and key, in a frame of silver set with precious stones.

Morelli records an amusing conversation, too long to quote in full, which he had with a German lady and her father, while standing before this Magdalen, which was then still attributed to Correggio. They talked for a time upon the subject of art critics and their iconoclastic tendencies, and then the lady asked Morelli if he did not consider the Magdalen the most beautiful and valuable picture in Dresden. Morelli had already told them that he was an art student, and they had no idea of his importance in the field of art. When he i4 tTbe Brt ot tbe Dresden (Bailers stated deliberately that he did not believe the picture to be a Correggio at all, but a seventeenth-century Flemish work, they drew back in horror. The lady remarked, “ Really this is too bad ! But perhaps you are only joking?” Morelli assured her that he was quite in earnest, and pointed out the various defects of the picture: the crude ultramarine blue, which was very like that used by van der Werff ; the affected long fingers; the laboured, oversmooth treatment of the foreground, and the coquettish lack of naivete in the general design ; he asked her to compare the trees with those in van der Werff’s pictures, Nos. 1817 and 1818, in the same gallery. She turned from him in self-sufficient scorn, “ You will never convince me,” she declared. “ You have evidently never read the writings of Raphael Mengs ; he was a great art critic, and he studied Correggio profoundly, and entered thoroughly into his mode of thought and feeling. In his eyes this picture was the finest of all the master’s works, and, moreover, our great poet, Schlegel, wrote one of his most charming sonnets in praise of this Magdalen.” At this juncture the lady’s father had the tact to suggest that she should recite this sonnet. She spared Morelli the doubtful joy of listening to her rendering of it, saying, “ To preach to deaf ears is useless.” Then she proceeded, tartly, “ Criticism is like fire, destroying all it comes

Earlg Italians; TRapbael anb Correggio 15 in contact with. A short time ago the critics attacked our beautiful Madonna by Holbein, and now they have the audacity to disparage Correggio’s world-renowned Magdalen. Such proceedings may be tolerated in Russia, where Nihilism is rampant, but in Germany, fortunately, we have so many admirable connoisseurs and students of art that such pernicious and revolutionary attempts will soon be stamped out. Let us go.” And they swept out of the gallery.

Mr. Frank Preston Stearns disputes earnestly Morelli’s dictum' upon Correggio’s Magdalen. To him the picture is absolutely convincing and characteristic, as it certainly would seem to many who have not applied to' it the most severe tests of scientific criticism. He, with Raphael Mengs, still believes it to be the finest of Correggio’s works.

Mr. G. B. Rose expresses well the attitude of the artistic world toward the Magdalen of Correggio. “ It is a lovely little jewel taken from Correggio’s crown,” he says; “A jewel that never belonged there, but which he had worn so long that we regret to see it go.”

The subject of the panel, No. 80, by Ubertini, is rather an interesting one. Four sons of a king, so runs the story in the Gesta Romanorum, fell to quarrelling for the crown of their father, at his death. At length they agreed to abide by the de-

16 ftbe Hrt ot tbe Btesben (Bailers cision of an arbitrator, who decreed that they should take the dead body of the king, and suspend it from a tree, and then shoot arrows at it ; and he who shot it through the heart should inherit the kingdom. The first arrow wounded the hand; the second pierced the cheek, and the third entered the heart of the corpse. Therefore the third son considered it certain that he should succeed to the kingdom. But the youngest wept and refused to aim an arrow at his father’s body; whereupon every one agreed that he was the only one fit to rule, and the others were banished.

Girolamo da Carpi is believed to have painted the picture, 144, hitherto ascribed to Dossi. It is a Judith holding the head of Holofernes. The influence of Parmeggianino may be traced in the work.

Ippolito Scarsella, who formed his style partly on Veronese, is the author of the interesting Holy Family in the Carpenter’s Shop, where St. Joseph is working with a saw exactly like the one now in use in modern Germany.

Bartolommeo Veneto’s half-length composition, the Daughter of Herodias with the head of John the Baptist on a charger, is full of rich red and green of a deep hue. This picture had long been ascribed to Leonardo. The jewels which the woman wears are attractive; a ruby is bound upon her

Earls Utallans; IRapbael anb Correggio 17 brow, while the neck of her dress is bordered by precious stones. She has the same strange crinkledwiry hair which frequently occurs in the paintings of Veneto. There is a portrait in Frankfort which is a good example of this peculiarity.

There is a superb portrait here which must strike all who see it as extremely vital. It is by Morando, or Cavazzola, of .Verona. He was a pupil of Domenico Morone, and was surely quite the equal of his master on this occasion. The portrait is of a man attired in velvet and fur, with scintillating cuffs of yellow and black metallic material of most lustrous effect. The subject is said to have been a member of a patrician family of Verona in the days when Morando was working. The artist lived from i486 to 1522. The face is that of a beardless elderly man; he wears a dark slouch cap.

In order to see the earliest examples of Sienese art which Dresden possesses (and they are hardly worth the trip), one must go down-stairs and quite along to the end of the corridor on the right as one descends; there, in the forty-third cabinet, may be seen the few unworthy examples of this great school. There are some other interesting early Italians, however.

A lovely bit, having the soft, moth-wing qualities of a fresco, is the decorative Virgin in a Garden, adoring her child, by Ambrogio Bevilacqua.

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This artist is the only distinctly Milanese painter in the gallery ; he worked at the end of the fifteenth century. The curious, delicately finished row of trees should be noticed, and also the mediaeval scrolls held by angels.

No. 21, a Madonna, by a follower of Rafaello de Capponi, has certain glowing, transparent greens in it which are worth noticing.

Of course, the Mecca of all visitors to the Dresden gallery is the small room in the farther corner where Raphael’s Sistine Madonna is enshrined alone. To many travellers this picture is a synonym for the gallery, and they hardly notice the numerous excellent masterpieces which intervene. It is our purpose to examine these other works, and try to do away with the popular impression that one visits the Dresden collection almost entirely to see this one great painting. I remember, I was standing in one of the smaller cabinets, one day, lost in admiration of a delicate Vermeer of Delft, when I heard a party of Americans approaching. Two learned-looking young ladies with eye-glasses were calling the wayward attention of their mother to the excellences of the Dutch school. But, although the good woman had evidently provided that her children should benefit by the higher culture, she had little use for it herself. “ Ain’t we ’most got to that Sistine Madonna ? ” she almost

Barlg Italians ; IRapbael anb Correggio 19 wailed. As the tired figure passed by, and as the trio moved out of sight, I registered an earnest hope that the poor weary soul would find refreshment in gazing into the wonderful eyes of the child in Mary’s arms. And perhaps the most important element in the greatness of that picture is its absolutely universal appeal. Be a man a critic or an ignoramus; be he professor or untutored peasant, there is a message for him. The Infinite has been brought as nearly into human presentment in those two faces as is possible in the realm of graphic art.

The general plan of the picture is in no way remarkable. The green curtains, which are probably introduced to suggest a sudden breaking of the heavenly vision upon the veiled eyes of earth, are stagey and unnecessary. It is claimed that the two little cherubs were an afterthought, and that the lines of the clouds over which they were painted can be traced through their surface.

The Sistine Madonna is the apotheosis of motherhood. The white effulgence which surrounds the figures is suitable to this altar of wondering divine innocence. The charm does not lie in the colour, but in the expression. The deepest and truest spiritual insight is here exhibited, and Raphael has made the nearest approach to painting the soul that has ever been achieved.

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When one considers his age, it seems almost incredible that a young man should have had sufficient knowledge of both worlds to paint such a flawless epitome of the Christian religion as the faces of this mother and her child. But, though Raphael’s life did not measure itself by scores of years, there is a truer scale of measurement — the gauging of life by emotion, by study, and by natural intellect. By this standard, Raphael’s life was as long as eternal things. What had been the mental history of the youth? Had he been taken up with watching money come and go, or had he spent his time in social frivolities? No; work — the truest of all experiences — had been his portion; not drudgery of work, tiring body and soul with its monotony, but buoyant, interesting, vital work, which filled his longings, and satisfied his ambitions, and made him independent of companionship or environment; work in which his mind and his technical skill were daily engaged, and in which he rejoiced with the strength and enthusiasm of an unspoiled vigour. The characters which he had constant need to study during these early years were the sacred men of Scripture ; the family of Our Lord; the subjects which he had been obliged to consider, and to consider deeply and seriously, before he could have painted them, were such as the Crucifixion, the Resurrection of Christ, j£arl£ Italians; IRapbael anb Correlate* 21 the Virgin as a loving mother, as a sorrowing mourner, and as a saint transfigured. He had to conceive the spiritual forms of the hierarchies of heaven, to render visible to an unlettered people the forms of angels and archangels, and to portray all manifestations of human and divine love. In his early days he painted that exquisite little Vision of a Young Knight, in London, with the two paths of life typified by the two women of opposite types; an allegory which showed that he was consciously turning to the right, and conscientiously trying to follow the uplifting vision of a virtuous progress. St. George, the warrior against evil — St. Michael destroying the demon of sloth, greed, and lust: these were the personages to whom his attention was necessarily turned, and his unconscious mental development was quickened by the thoughts with which it was fed.

Imagine the excitement of the youth, when, hardly twenty years old, he went to Florence, — the Mecca of sesthetic dreams in his day, — armed with a letter from the sister of the Duke of Urbino, to the Gonfalonier, Pietro Soderini ! “ He who1

presents this letter to you,” wrote Johanna, “ is Raphael, a painter of Urbino, endowed with great talent in art. He has decided to pass some time at Florence, in order to improve himself. ... As his father, who was dear to me, was full of good qual-

Uhc Hrt of tbe H>resOen (Bailer# ities, so the son is a modest young man of distinguished manners, and thus I bear him affection on every account, and wish that he should attain perfection. This is why I recommend him as earnestly as possible to your Highness, with an entreaty that it may please you, for the love of me, to show him help and protection on every opportunity. . . . From her who commends herself to you, and is willing to render any good offices in return, Johanna Feltra de Rovere.”