,,the ,,old ,,masters ,,and ,,their ,,pictures ,for the ,use of ,schools and ,learners in ,art ,,by ,,sarah ,,tytler ,,author ,,of ,,papers ,,for ,,thoughtful ,,girls ,,etc4 ,,new ,,and ,,enlarged ,,edition 99 99 99 99 99 ,,london ,,isbister ,,and ,,company ,,limited #ae #af ,,tavistock ,,street ,,covent ,,garden #ahic ,the ,right of ,translation is ,reserved ,,london3 ,,printed ,,by ,j4,s4 ,,virtue ,,and ,,co41 ,,limited1 ,,city ,,road4 ,,preface ,,to ,,first ,,edition4 ,i wish to say1 in a very few words1 that this book is intended to be a simple account of the great ,old ,masters in painting of every age and country1 with descriptions of their most famous works1 for the use of learners and outsiders in art4 ,the book is not1 and could not well be1 exhaustive in its nature4 ,i have avoided definitions of schools1 considering that these should form a later and more elaborate portion of art education1 and preferring to group my 'painters' according to what ,i hold to be the primitive arrangements of time1 country1 and rank in art4 ,,preface ,,to ,,new ,,edition4 ,the restrictions with regard to space under which the little volume called ,the ,old ,masters was originally written1 caused me to omit1 to my regret1 many names great1 though not first1 in art4 ,the circulation which the book has attained induces me to do what ,i can to remedy the defect1 and render the volume more useful by adding two chapters--the one on ,italian and the other on ,german1 ,dutch1 and ,flemish masters4 ,these chapters consist almost entirely of condensed notes taken from two trustworthy sources1 to which ,i have been already much indebted--,sir ,c1 and ,lady ,eastlake's version of ,kugler's ,handbook of ,italian ,art1 and ,dr4 ,waagen's ,handbook1--remodelled from ,kugler--of ,german1 ,dutch1 and ,flemish art1 revised by ,j4,a4 ,crowe4 ,i have purposely given numerous records of those ,dutch painters whose art has been specially popular in ,england and who are in some cases better represented in our country than in their own4 ,,contents4 ,,chap4 ,,page ,i4 ,,early ,,italian ,,art--,,giotto1 #abgf-accg--;,,andrea ,,pisano1 #abhj-acde--,,orcagna1 #acae-acgf--;,,ghiberti1 #acha-adee--,,masaccio1 #adjb-adbh ,,or #adbi--;,,fra ,,angelico1 #achg-adee #a ,,ii4 ,,early ,,flemish ,,art--,,the ,,van ,,eycks1 #acff-addb--,,mabuse1 ,,about #adgj-aecb--,,memling1 ,,about #adgh-adii--,,quintin ,,matsys1 #adfj-aecj ,,or #ca #da ,,iii4 ,,in ,,early ,,schools ,,of ,,italian ,,art--,,the ,,bellini1 #adbb-aeab--,,mantegna1 #adca-aejf--;,,ghirlandajo1 #addi-adih--- ,,il ,,francia1 #adej-aeah--;,,fra ,,bartolommeo1 #adfi-aeag--;,,andrea ,,del ,,sarto1 #adhh-aecj #ec ,,iv4 ,,lionardo ,,da ,,vinci4 #adeb-aeai--,,michael ,,angelo1 #adge-aefd--,,raphael1 #adhc-aebj--,,titian1 #adgg-aeff #hc ,v4 ,,german ,,art--,,albrecht ,d,ue,r,e,r1 #adga-aebh #afi ,,vi4 ,,later ,,italian ,,art--,,giorgione1 #adgg-aeaa--;,,correggio1 ,,about #adic-aecd--,,tintoretto1 #aeab-aeid--,,veronese1 #aecj-aehh #aha ,,vii4 ,,carracci1 #aeee-afji--;,,guido ,,reni1 #aege-afdb--;,,domenichino1 #aeha-afda--,,salvator ,,rosa1 #afae-afgc #bab ,,viii4 ,,later ,,flemish ,,art--,,rubens1 #aegg-afdj--,,rembrandt1 #afjf ,,or #afjh-affi--,,teniers1 ,,father ,,and ,,son1 #aehb-afid--,,wouvverman1 #afbj-affh--;,,cuyp1 #afje2 ,,still ,,living1 #afch--,,paul ,,potter1 #afbe-afed--;,,cornelius ,,de ,,heem1 #afcj #bbe ,,ix4 ,,spanish ,,art--,,velasquez1 #aeii-affj--,,murillo1 #afah-afhb #bfj ,x4 ,,french ,,art--,,nicolas ,,poussin1 #aeid-affe--;,,claude ,,lorraine1 #afjj-afhb--;,,charles ,,le ,,brun1 #afai-afij--,,watteau1 #afhd-agba--;,,greuze1 #agbf-ahje #bhf ,,xi4 ,,foreign ,,artists ,,in ,,england--,,holbein1 #adid-aedc--,,van ,,dyck1 #aeii-afda--,,lely1 #afah-afhj--;,,canaletto1 #afig-agfh--,,kneller1 #afdf-agbc #cji ,,xii4 ,,italian ,,masters ,,from ,,the ,,fourteenth ,,to ,,the ,,seventeenth ,,centuries--,,taddeo ,,gaddi1 #acjj1 ,,supposed ,,to ,,have ,,died #acff--;,,fra ,,filippo1 #adab-adfi--;,,benozzo ,,gozzoli1 #adbd-adif--,,luca ,,signorelli1 #adda1 ,,supposed ,,to ,,have ,,died ,,about #aebd--;,,botticelli1 #addg-aeae--,,perugino1 #addf-aebb--;,,carpaccio1 ,,date ,,and ,,place ,,of ,,birth ,,and ,,death ,,unknown--,,crivelli1 ,,filippino ,,lipi1 ,,earlier ,,than #adfj--;,,antonella ,,da ,,messina1 ,,believed ,,to ,,have ,,died ,,at ,,venice1 #adaf--;,,garopalo1 #adha-aeei--,,luini1 ,,date ,,of ,,birth ,,unknown1 ,,supposed ,,to ,,have ,,died ,,about #aecj--,,palma1 ,,about #adhj-aebh--,,pardenone1 #adhc-aech--,,lo ,,spagna1 ,,date ,,of ,,birth ,,unknown1 #aecc--;,,giulio ,,romano1 #adib-aedf--,,paris ,,bordone1 #aejj-aegj--;,,il ,,parmigianino1 #aejc-aedj--;,,baroccio1 #aebh-afab--;,,caravaggio1 #aefi-afji--,,lo ,,spagnoletto1 #aeic-afef--;,,guercino1 #aeib-afff--;,,albano1 #aegh-affj--,,sassoferrato1 #afje-afae--,,vasari1 #aeab-aegd--,,sofonisba ,,anguisciola1 #aece1 ,,about #afbf--,,lavinia ,,fontana1 #aeeb-afad #cfd ,,xiii4 ,,german1 ,,flemish1 ,,and ,,dutch ,,artists ,,from ,,the ,,fifteenth ,,to ,,the ,,eighteenth ,,century--,,van ,,der ,,weyden1 ,a ,,contemporary ,,of ,,the ,,van ,,eycks1 #acff-addb--,,van ,,leyden1 #adid-aecc--,,van ,,somer1 #aegj-afbd--,,snyders1 #aegi-afeg--;,g4 ,,honthorst1 #aeib-affb--;,,jan ,,steen1 #afbf-afgi--;,,gerard ,,dow1 #afac-afhj--;,,de ,,hooch1 ,,dates ,,of ,,birth ,,and ,,death ,,unknown--,,van ,,ostade1 #afaj-afhe--,,maas1 #afcb-afic--,,metzu1 #afae4 ,,still ,,alive ,,in #affg--,,terburg1 #afjh-afha--,,netcher1 #afci-afhd--;,,bol1 #afaa-afhj--,,van ,,der ,,helst1 #afac-afgj--,,ruysdael1 #afbe 787-#afhb--;,,hobbema1 #afch-agji--;,,berchem1 #afbj-afhc--;,,both #afjj 787-#afej787 ,,du ,,jardin1 #afbe-afgh--;,,adrian ,,van ,,de ,,velde1 #afci-afgb--,,van ,,der ,,heyden1 #afcg-agab--;,,de ,,witte1 #afjg-afib--,,van ,,der ,,neer1 #afai 787-#afhc--,,william ,,van ,,de ,,velde1 ,,the ,,younger1 #afcc-agjg--;,,backhuysen1 #afca-agjh--,,van ,,de ,,capella1 ,,about #afec--;,,hondecoeter1 #afcf-afie--;,,jan ,,weenix1 #afdd-agai--,,pater ,,segers1 #aeij-affa--,,van ,,huysum1 #afhb-agdi--,,van ,,der ,,werff1 #afei-agbb--,,mengs1 #agbh-aggd #cia 99 99 99 99 99 ,,the ,,old ,,masters ,,and ,,their ,,pictures4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,chapter ,i4 ,,early ,,italian ,,art--,,giotto1 #abgf-accg--;,,andrea ,,pisano4 #abhj-acde--,,orcagna1 #acae-acgf ,,ghiberti1 #acha-adee--,,masaccio1 #adjb-adbh ,,or #adbi--;,,fra ,,angelico1 #achg-adee4 ,a pencil and paper1 a box of colours1 and a scrap-book1 form so often a child's favourite toys that one might expect that a very large portion of men and women would prove painters4 ,but1 as we grow in years and knowledge1 the discrepancy between nature and our attempts to copy nature1 strike us more and more1 until we turn in dissatisfaction and disgust from the vain effort4 ,there was only one old woman in an ,esquimaux tribe who could be called forward to draw with a stick on the sand a sufficiently graphic likeness of the ,erebus and the ,terror4 ,it is only a few groups of men belonging to different countries1 throughout the centuries1 who have been able to give us paintings to which we turn in wonder and admiration1 and say that these are in their degree fair exponents of nature4 ,the old painter's half-haughty1 half-humble protest was true--it is ',god ,almighty1' who in raising here and there men above their fellows1 'makes painters4' ,but let us be thankful that the old propensity to delight in a facsimile1 or in an idealized version of nature1 survives in the very common satisfaction and joy--whether cultivated or uncultivated--- derived from looking at pictures1 thinking over their details1 striving to understand the meaning of the painters1 and proceeding farther to consider the lives and times which throw light on works of genius4 ,music itself is not more universally and gladly listened and responded to1 than pictures are looked at and remembered4 ,thus ,i have no fear of failing to interest you1 my readers1 in my subject if ,i can only treat it sympathetically1--enter at a humble distance into the spirit of the painters and of their paintings1 and place before you some of the paintings by reverent and loving word-painting such as others have achieved1 and such as ,i may strive to attain to1 that you may be in a sort early familiar with these paintings1 before you see them in engravings and photographs1 and on canvas and in fresco1 as ,i trust you may be privileged to see many of them1 when you may hail them not only for what they are1 the glories of art1 but for what they have been to you in thoughts of beauty and high desires4 ,of the old ,greek paintings1 of which there are left isolated specimens dug up in ,herculaneum and ,pompeii1 ,i cannot afford to say anything1 and of the more modern ,greek art which was spread over ,europe after the fall of ,constantinople ,i need on ,europe the birth-place of painting as of other arts1 that ,greek painting which illustrated early ,christianity1 was painting in its decline and decay1 borrowing not only superstitious conventionalities1 but barbaric attributes of gilding and blazoning to hide its infirmity and poverty4 ,virgins of the same weak and meaningless type1 between attenuated saints or angels1 and doll-like child-,christs in the one invariable attitude holding up two fingers of a baby hand to bless the spectator and worshippers1 were for ever repeated4 ,in a similar manner the instances of rude or meagre contemporary paintings with which the early ,christians adorned their places of worship and the sepulchres of their dead in the basilicas and catacombs of ,rome1 are very curious and interesting for their antiquity and their associations1 and as illustrations of faith2 but they present no intrinsic beauty or worth4 ,they are not only clumsy and childish designs ill executed1 but they are rendered unintelligible to all save the initiated in such hieroglyphics1 by offering an elaborate ground-work of type1 antitype1 and symbol1 on which the artist probably spent a large part of his strength4 ,lambs and lilies1 serpents1 vines1 fishes1 dolphins1 phoenixes1 cocks1 anchors1 and javelins played nearly as conspicuous a part in this art as did the dead believer1 or his or her patron saint1 who might have been supposed to form the principal figure in the picture4 ,italian art existed in these small beginnings1 in the gorgeous but quaintly formal or fantastic devices of illuminated missals1 and in the stiff spasmodic efforts of here and there an artist spirit such as the old ,florentine ,cimabue's1 when a great man heralded a great epoch4 ,but first ,i should like to mention the means by which art then worked4 ,painting on board and on plastered walls1 the second styled painting in fresco1 preceded painting on canvas4 ,colours were mixed with water or with size1 egg1 or fig-juice--the latter practices termed tempera 7in ,english in distemper7 before oil was used to mix colours4 ,but painters did not confine themselves then to painting with pencil or brush1 else they might have attained technical excellence sooner4 ,it has been well said that the poems of the middle ages were written in stone2 so the earlier painters painted in stone1 in that mosaic work which one of them called--referring to its durability--'painting for eternity2' and in metals4 ,many of them were the sons of jewellers or jewellers themselves2 they worked in iron as well as in gold and silver1 and they were sculptors and architects as well as painters2 engineers also1 so far as engineering in the construction of roads1 bridges1 and canals1 was known in those days4 ,the ,greek knowledge of anatomy was well-nigh lost1 so that drawing was incorrect and form bad4 ,the idea of showing degrees of distance1 and the management of light and shade1 were feebly developed4 ,even the fore-shortening of figures was so difficult to the old ,italian painters that they could not carry it into the extremities1 and men and women seem as though standing on the points of their toes4 ,landscape-painting did not exist farther than that a rock or a bush1 or a few blue lines1 with fishes out of proportion prominently interposed1 indicated1 as on the old stage1 that a desert1 a forest1 or a sea1 was to play its part in the story of the picture4 ,so also portrait-painting was not thought of1 unless it occurred in the likeness of a great man belonging to the time and place of the painter1 who was the donor of some picture to chapel or monastery1 or of the painter himself1 alike introduced into sacred groups and scenes2 for pictures were uniformly of a religious character1 until a little later1 when they merged into allegorical representations1 just as one remembers that miracle plays passed into moral plays before ordinary human life was reproduced4 ,until this period1 what we call dramatic expression in making a striking situation1 or even in bringing the look of joy or sorrow1 pleasure or pain1 into a face1 had hardly been attained4 ,perhaps you will ask1 what merit had the old paintings of the middle ages to compensate for so many great disadvantages and incongruities8 ,certainly before the time ,i have reached1 they have1 with rare exceptions1 little merit1 save that fascination of pathos1 half-comic1 half-tragic1 which belongs to the struggling dawn of all great endeavours1 and especially of all endeavours in art4 ,but just at this epoch1 art1 in one man1 took a great stride1 began1 as ,i shall try to show1 to exert an influence so true1 deep1 and high that it extends1 in the noblest forms1 to the present day1 and much more than compensates to the thoughtful and poetic for a protracted train of technical blunders and deficiencies4 ,giotto1 known also as ,magister ,joctus1 was born in #abgf near ,florence4 ,i dare say many have heard one legend of him1 and ,i mean to tell the legends of the painters1 because even when they are most doubtful they give the most striking indications of the times and the light in which painters and their paintings were regarded by the world of artists1 and by the world at large2 but so far as ,i have heard this legend of ,giotto has not been disproven4 ,the only objection which can be urged against it1 is that it is found preserved in various countries1 of very different individuals--a crowning objection also to the legend of ,william ,tell4 ,giotto was a shepherd boy keeping his father's sheep and amusing himself by drawing with chalk on a stone the favourites of the flock1 when his drawings attracted the attention of a traveller passing from the heights into the valley4 ,this traveller was the well-born and highly-esteemed painter ,cimabue1 who was so delighted with the little lad's rough outlines1 that getting the consent of ,giotto's father1 ,cimabue adopted the boy1 carried him off to the city of ,florence1 introduced him to his studio1 and so far as man could supplement the work of ,god1 made a painter of the youthful genius4 ,i may add here a later legend of ,giotto4 ,pope ,boniface ,,viii1 requested specimens of skill from various artists with the view to the appointment of a painter to decorate ,st ,peter's4 ,giotto1 either in impatient disdain1 or to show a careless triumph of skill1 with one flourish of his hand1 without the aid of compass1 executed a perfect circle in red chalk1 and sent the circle as his contribution to the specimens required by the ,pope4 ,the audacious specimen was accepted as the most conclusive1 ,giotto was chosen as the ,pope's painter for the occasion1 and from the incident arose the ,italian proverb 'round as the o of ,giotto4' ,giotto was the friend of ,dante1 ,petrarch1 and ,boccaccio1 especially of ,dante1 to whom the grandeur of some of the painter's designs has been vaguely enough attributed4 ,the poet of the ',inferno' wrote of his friend3 '444444444 ,cimabue thought ,to lord it over painting's field2 and now ,the cry is ,giotto's1 and his name eclipsed4' ,petrarch bequeathed in his will a ,madonna by ,giotto and mentioned it as a rare treasure of art4 ,boccaccio wrote a merry anecdote of his comrade the painter's wit1 in the course of which he referred with notable plain-speaking to ,giotto's 'flat currish' plainness of face4 ,the impression handed down of ,giotto's character is that of an independent1 high-spirited man1 full of invention1 full of imagination1 and also1 by a precious combination1 full of shrewdness and common sense2 a man genial1 given to repartee1 and at the same time not deficient in the tact which deprives repartee of its sting4 ,while he was working to ,king ,robert of ,naples1 the king1 who was watching the painter on a very hot day1 said1 with a shrug1 ',if ,i were you1 ,giotto1 ,i would leave off work and rest myself this fine day1 ',and so would ,i1 sire1 if ,i were you1' replied the wag4 ,i need scarcely add that ,giotto was a man highly esteemed and very prosperous in his day2 one account reports him as the head and the father of four sons and four daughters4 ,i have purposely written first of the fame1 the reputed character1 and the circumstances of ,giotto before ,i proceed to his work4 ,this great work was1 in brief1 to breathe into painting the living soul which had till then--in mediaeval times--been largely absent4 ,giotto went to ,nature for his inspiration1 and not content with the immense innovation of superseding by the actual representation of men and women in outline1 tint1 and attitude1 the rigid traditions of his predecessors1 he put men's passions in their faces--the melancholy looked sad1 the gay glad4 ,this result1 to us so simple1 filled ,giotto's lively countrymen1 who had seldom seen it1 with astonishment and delight4 ,they cried out as at a marvel when he made the commonest deed even coarsely lifelike1 as in the case of a sailor in a boat1 who turned round with his hand before his face and spat into the sea2 and when he illustrated the deed with the corresponding expression1 as in the thrill of eagerness that perceptibly pervaded the whole figure of a thirsty man who stooped down to drink4 ,but ,giotto was no mere realist though he was a great realist2 he was also in the highest light an idealist4 ,his sense of harmony and beauty was true and noble2 he rose above the real into 'the things unseen and eternal1' of which the real is but a rough manifestation4 ,he was the first to paint a crucifixion robbed of the horrible triumph of physical power1 and of the agony which is at its bidding1 and invested with the divinity of awe and love4 ,giotto's work did not end with himself2 he was the founder of the earliest worthy school of ,italian art1 so worthy in this very glorious idealism1 that1 as ,i have already said1 the men whose praise is most to be coveted1 have learned to turn back to ,giotto and his immediate successors1 and1 forgetting and forgiving all their ignorance1 crudeness1 quaintness1 to dwell never wearied1 and extol without measure these oldest masters' dignity of spirit1 the earnestness of their originality1 the solemnity and heedfulness of their labour4 ,it would seem as if skill and polish1 with the amount of attention which they appropriate1 with their elevation of manner over matter1 and thence their lowered standard1 are apt to rob from or blur in men these highest qualifications of genius1 for it is true that judges miss even in the ,lionardo1 ,michael ,angelo1 and ,raphael of a later and much more accomplished generation1 and1 to a far greater extent1 in the ,rubens of another and still later day1 the perfect simplicity1 the unalloyed fervour1 the purity of tenderness in ,giotto1 ,orcagna1 ,fra ,angelico1 and in their ,flemish brethren1 the ,van ,eycks and ,mabuse4 ,the difference between the two classes of painters in not so wide as that between the smooth and brilliant epigrammatic poets of ,anne's and the ruggedly rich dramatists of ,elizabeth's reign1 neither was there the unmistakable preponderance of such a mighty genius as that of ,shakespeare granted to the first decade1 still the distinction was the same in kind4#a ,i wish you1 my readers1 to note it in the very commencement1 and to learn1 like the thoughtful students of painting1 to put aside any half-childish over-estimate of the absurdity of a blue stroke transfixing a huge flounder-like fish as a likeness of a sea1 7which you have been accustomed to see translucid1 in breakers and foam1 in modern marine pictures17 or your quick sense of the ugliness of straight figures with long hands1 wooden feet1 and clinging draperies1 while your eyes have been familiar with well-modelled frames and limbs and flowing lines4 ,but we must look deeper if we would not be slaves to superficial prettiness1 or even superficial correctness2 we must try to go into the spirit of a painting and value it more in proportion as it teaches art's noblest lesson--the divinity of the divine1 the serenity of utmost strength1 the single-heartedness of passion4 ,i have only space to tell you of three or four of the famous works of ,giotto4 ,first1 his allegories in the great church1 in honour of ,st ,francis1 at ,assisi1 in relation to which1 writing of its ,german architect1 an author says3 ',he built boldly against the mountain1 piling one church upon another2 the upper vast1 lofty1 and admitting through its broad windows the bright rays of the sun3 the lower as if in the bowels of the earth--low1 solemn1 and almost shutting out the light of day4 ,around the lofty edifice grew the convent1 a vast building1 resting upon a long line of arches clinging to the hill-sides4 ,as the evening draws nigh1 casting its deep shadows across the valley1 the traveller beneath gazes upwards with feelings of wonder and delight at this graceful arcade supporting the massy convent2 the ancient towers and walls of the silent town gathering around1 and the purple rocks rising high above--all still glowing in the lingering sunbeams--a scene scarcely to be surpassed in any clime for its sublime beauty4' ,the upper church contains frescoes wonderfully fresh1 by ,cimabue1 of ,scriptural subjects1 and frescoes of scenes from the life vowed to poverty of ,st ,francis4 ,in the lower church1 over the tomb of ,st ,francis1 are the four masterpieces with which we have to do4 ,these are the three vows of the order figuratively represented4 ,mark the fitness and grandeur of two of the figures1 the suggestion of which has been attributed to ,dante1 the woman ,chastity seated beyond assault in her rocky fortress1 and ,obedience bowing the neck to curb and yoke4 ,the fourth fresco pictures the saint who died1 'covered by another's cloak cast over his wasted body eaten with sores1' enthroned and glorified amidst the host of ,heaven4 ,i have chosen the second example of the art of ,giotto because you may with comparative ease see it for yourselves4 ,it is in the ,national ,gallery1 ,london1 having belonged to the collection of the late ,samuel ,rogers4 ,it is a fragment of an old fresco which had been part of a series illustrating the life of ,john the ,baptist in the church of the ,carmine1 ,florence1 a church which was destroyed by fire in #agga4 ,the fragment in the ,national ,gallery has two fine heads of apostles bending sorrowfully over the body of ,st ,john4 ,though it is not necessary to do it1 in strict justice1 because good work rises superior to all accidents of comparison as well as accidents of circumstance1 one must remember in regarding this1 the stilted and frozen figures and faces1 which1 before ,giotto broke their bonds and inspired them1 had professed to tell the ,bible's stories4 ,the third instance ,i have chosen to quote is ,giotto's portrait of ,dante which was so strangely lost for many years4 ,the portrait occurs in a painting1 the first recorded performance of ,giotto's1 in which he was said to have introduced the likeness of many of his contemporaries1 on the wall of the ,palazzo dell' ,podesta or ,council ,chamber of ,florence4 ,during the banishment of ,dante the wall was plastered or white-washed over1 through the influence of his enemies1 and though believed to exist1 the picture was hidden down to #ahdj1 when1 after various futile efforts to recover it1 the figures were again brought to light4 ,this portrait of ,dante is altogether removed from the later portraits of the indignant and weary man1 of whom the ,italian market-women said that he had been in ,hell as well as in exile4 ,giotto's ,dante on the walls of the ,council ,chamber is a noble young man of thirty1 full of ambitious hope and early distinction4 ,the face is slightly pointed1 with broad forehead1 hazel eyes1 straight brows and nose1 mouth and chin a little projecting4 ,the close cloak or vest with sleeves1 and cap in folds hanging down on the shoulder1 the hand holding the triple fruit1 in prognostication of the harvest of virtue and renown which was to be so bitter as well as so glorious1 are all in keeping and have a majesty of their own4 ,the picture is probably known by engravings to many of my readers4 ,the last example of ,giotto's1 is the one which of all his works is most potent and patent in its beauty1 and has struck1 and1 in so far as we can tell1 will for ages strike1 with its greatness multitudes of widely different degrees of cultivation whose intellectual capacity is as far apart as their critical faculty4 ,i mean the matchless ,campanile or bell-tower 'towering over the ,dome of ,brunelleschi' at ,florence1 formed of coloured marbles--for which ,giotto framed the designs1 and even executed with his own hands the models for the sculpture4 ,with this lovely sight ,dean ,alford's description is more in keeping than the prosaic saying of ,charles ,v41 that 'the ,campanile ought to be kept under glass4' ,dean ,alford's enthusiasm thus expresses itself3 ',a mass of varied light written on the cloudless sky of unfathomed blue2 varied but blended1 as never in any other building that we had seen2 the warm yellow of the lighter marbles separated but not disunited by the ever-recurring bands of dark2 or glowing into red where the kisses of the sun had been hottest2 or fading again into white where the shadows mostly haunted1 or where the renovating hand had been waging conflict with decay4' ,it is known that ,giotto1 together with his friend ,dante1 died before this--,giotto's last great work--was finally constructed by ,giotto's pupil1 ,taddeo ,gaddi1 and that therefore neither of the friends could have really looked on ',giotto's ,tower1' though ,italian ,ciceroni point out1 and strangers love to contemplate1 the very stone on which ',grim ,dante' sat and gazed with admiration in the calm light of evening on the enduring memorial of the painter4 ,giotto died in the year #accf or #accg1 his biographer adds1 'no less a good ,christian than an excellent painter1' and in token of his faith he painted one crucifixion in which he introduced his own figure 'kneeling in an attitude of deep devotion and contrition at the foot of the ,cross4' ,the good taste of such an act has been questioned1 so has been the practice which painted the ,virgin ,mother now as a brown ,italian1 now as a red and white ,fleming1 and again as a flaxen-haired ,german or as a swarthy ,spaniard1 and draped her and all the minor figures in the grandest drama the world ever saw--as well as the characters in older ,scripture histories1 in the ,florentine1 ,venetian1 and ,antwerp fashions of the day4 ,the defence of the practice is1 that the ,bible is for universal time1 that its ,virgin ,mother1 its apostles and saints1 were types of other mothers and of other heroes running down the stream of history2 that even the one central and holy figure1 if ,he may be represented at all1 as the ,divine brother of all humanity1 may be clad not inaptly in the garments of all4 ,it appears to me that there is reason in this answer1 and that viewed in its light the criticism which constantly demands historic fidelity is both carping and narrow4 ,i do not mean1 however1 to underrate historic accuracy in itself1 or to depreciate that longing for completeness in every particular1 which drives our modern painters to the ,east to study patiently for months the aspects of nature under its ,oriental climate1 with its peculiar people and animals1 its ancient costumes and architecture4 ,giotto was buried with suitable honours by a city which1 like the rest of the nation1 has magnified its painters amongst its great men1 in the church of ,santa ,maria del ,fiore1 where his master ,cimabue had been buried4 ,lorenzo de' ,medici afterwards placed over ,giotto's tomb his effigy in marble4 ,in chronicling ancient art ,i must here diverge a little4 ,i have already mentioned how closely painting was in the beginning allied with working in metals as well as with sculpture and architecture4 ,it is thus necessary to write of a magnificent work in metal1 the study and admiration of generations of painters1 begun in the life of ,giotto1 and completed in two divisions1 extending over a period of nearly a hundred years4 ,we shall proceed to deal with the first division1 and recur to the second a little later4 ,the old ,italian cities4 ,they were then the great merchant cities of the world1 more or less republican in their constitution4 ,they stood to the citizens1 who rarely left their walls1 at once as peculiar possessions and as native countries rather than as cities alone1 while they excited all the patriotism1 pride1 and love that were elsewhere expended on a whole country--which after all was held as belonging largely to its king and nobles4 ,the old ,italian merchant guilds1 and wealthy merchants as individuals1 vied with each other in signalizing their good citizenship by presenting--as gifts identified with their names--to their cities1 those palace buildings1 chapels1 paintings1 gates1 which are the delight of the world to this day4 ,it was a merchant guild which thought happily of giving to ,florence the bronze gates to the baptistery of ,san ,giovanni or ,st ,john the ,baptist1 attached to the ,cathedral4 ,after some competition the gates were intrusted to ,andrea ,pisano1 one of a great group of painters1 sculptors1 and architects linked together and named1 as so often happened in ,italy1 for their place of birth1 ,pisa4 ,andrea executed a series of beautiful reliefs from the life of ,john the ,baptist1 which were cast in #accj1 gilt1 and placed in the centre door-way4 ,i shall leave the rest of the gates1 still more exquisitely wrought1 till their proper time1 only observing that the ,pisani group of carvers and founders are supposed to have attained their extraordinary superiority in skill and grace1 even over such a painter as ,giotto1 in consequence of one of them1 ,nicola ,pisano1 having given his attention to the study of some ancient ,greek sarcophagi preserved at ,pisa4 ,passing for a while from the gates of ,st ,john of ,florence1 we come back to painting and a painter1 and with them to another monument--in itself very noble and curious in its mouldering age1 of the old ,italians' love to their cities4 ,andrea ,orcagna1 otherwise known as ,andrea di ,cione1 one of a brotherhood of painters1 was born in ,florence about #acae4 ,his greatest works are in the ,campo ,santa of ,pisa4 ,this wonderful 'holy field' is a grand legacy1 so far as dilapidation1 alas1 will let it be1 of the old painters4 ,originally a place of burial1 though no longer used as such1 it is enclosed by high walls and an arcade1 something like the cloisters of a cathedral or college running round1 and having on the north and east sides chapels where masses for the dead were celebrated4 ,the space in the centre was filled with earth brought from the ,holy ,land by the merchant ships of ,pisa4 ,it is covered with turf1 having tall cypress-trees at the corners1 and a little cross in the centre4 ,the arcade is pierced with sixty-two windows1 and contains on its marble pavement hundreds of monuments--among them the ,greek sarcophagi studied by ,nicola ,pisano4 ,but the great distinction of the ,campo ,santa 7of which there are many photographs7 are the walls opposite the windows of the arcade painted with ,scriptural subjects by artists of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries1 for the decoration of the walls was continued at intervals1 during two hundred years4 ,the havoc wrought by time and damp has been terrible2 not only are the pictures faded and discoloured1 but of the earliest only mutilated fragments1 'here an arm and there a head1' remain4 ,giotto's illustrations of the book of ,job have thus perished4 ,still ,orcagna's work has partially escaped1 and left us indications of what it was in his and its youth1 when ,michael ,angelo and ,raphael did not disdain to borrow from it in design and arrangement4 ,dean ,alford has thus described ,orcagna's mournful1 thoughtful ',triumph of ,death3' ',the picture is one of crowded action1 and contains very many personages4 ,the action may be supposed to begin in the lower corner on the right hand4 ,there we see what appears to be a wedding-party seated in festivity under a grove of orange-trees laden with fruit4 ,over two of them a pair entertaining them with merry strains4 ,but close to them on the left comes swooping down on bats' wings1 and armed with the inevitable scythe1 the genius of ,death4 ,her wild hair streams in the wind1 her bosom is invulnerable1 being closed in a trellised armour of steel4 ,beneath her1 on the ground1 are a heap of corpses1 shown by their attire to be the great and wealthy of the world4 ,three winged figures1 two fiends and one angel1 are drawing souls1 in the form of children1 out of the mouths of three of these corpses4 ,above1 the air is full of flying spirits1 angels and demons3 the former beautiful and saintly1 the latter hideous and bestial4 ,some are dragging1 or bearing upwards1 human souls3 others are on their way to fetch them from the heaps of dead3 others1 again1 are flying about apparently without aim4 ,further yet to the left1 a company of wretched ones1 lame and in rags1 are invoking ,death with outstretched arms to come to their relief2 but she sweeps by and heeds them not4 ',dividing one half of the picture from the other1 is a high range of rocks1 terminating in a fiery mountain1 into which the demons are casting the unhappy souls which they have carried off4 ,beyond that seems to be a repetition of the same lesson respecting ,death in another form4 ,a party of knights and dames are issuing on horseback from a mountain pass4 ,in the left hand of the picture there lie in their path three corpses in coffins1 with coronets on their heads4 ,one is newly dead2 on the second1 decay has begun its work2 the third is reduced to a grinning skeleton4 ,the impression produced on the gay party by the sight is very various4 ,some look on carelessly2 one holds his nose in disgust2 one1 a lady jewelled and crowned1 leans her head on her hand in solemn thought4 ,above1 on a rising ground1 an aged monk 7it is said1 ,saint ,macarius7 is holding a scroll1 and pointing out to passengers the moral of the sight which meets them4 ,the path winds up a hill crowned with a church1 and by its side at various points are hermits sitting in calm security1 or following peaceful occupations4 ,one of them is milking a doe2 another is reading2 a third is calmly contemplating from a distance the valley of ,death4 ,about them are various animals and birds4 ,the idea evidently intended to be conveyed is that deliverance from the fear of death is to be found not in gaiety and dissipation1 but in contemplation and communion with ,god4 ',such is the wonderful fresco1 and the execution is as wonderful as the conception4 ,belonging as the painter did to a rude and early period of art1 he yet had the power of endowing his figures with both majesty and tenderness of expression4' ,the ,last ,judgment is no less solemn and sad1 with hope tempering its sadness4 ,mrs ,jameson's note of it is3 ',above1 in the centre1 ,christ and the ,virgin are throned in separate glories4 ,he turns to the left1 towards the condemned1 while he uncovers the wound in his side1 and raises his right arm with a menacing gesture1 his countenance full of majestic wrath4 ,the ,virgin1 on the right of her ,son1 is the picture of heavenly mercy1 and1 as if terrified at the words of eternal condemnation1 she turns away4 ,on either side are ranged the ,prophets of the ,old ,testament1 the ,apostles and other saints1 severe1 solemn1 dignified figures4 ,angels1 holding the instruments of the ,passion1 hover over ,christ and the ,virgin2 under them is a group of archangels4 ,the archangel ,michael stands in the midst holding a scroll in each hand2 immediately before him another archangel1 supposed to represent ,raphael1 the guardian angel of humanity1 cowers down1 shuddering1 while two others sound the awful trumpets of doom4 ,lower down is the earth where men are seen rising from their graves2 armed angels direct them to the right and left4 ,here is seen ,king ,solomon1 who1 whilst he rises1 seems doubtful to which side he should turn2 here a hypocritical monk1 whom an angel draws back by the hair from the host of the youth in a gay and rich costume1 whom another angel leads away to ,paradise4 ,there is wonderful and even terrible power of expression in some of the heads2 and it is said that among them are many portraits of contemporaries1 but unfortunately no circumstantial traditions as to particular figures have reached us4' ,one of ,orcagna's altar-pieces1 that of 'the coronation of the ,virgin1' containing upwards of a hundred figures1 and with the colouring still rich1 is in our ,national ,gallery4 ,as an architect1 ,orcagna designed the famous ,loggia de' ,lanzi of the grand ducal palace at ,florence4 ,now ,i must take you back to the bronze gates of the ,baptistery in their triumphant completion nearly a hundred years after the first gate was executed by ,andrea ,pisano4 ,i should have liked1 but for our limits1 to tell in full the legend of the election of ,lorenzo ,ghiberti1 the step-son of a goldsmith1 and skilled in chasing and enamelling1 to design the second gate2 when yet a lad of twenty-three1 how he and two other young men1 one of them still younger than ,ghiberti1 were declared the most promising competitors in the trial for the work2 how the last two voluntarily withdrew from the contest1 magnanimously proclaiming ,lorenzo ,ghiberti their superior2 how all the three lived to be famous1 the one as a founder in metal1 the others as an architect and a sculptor1 and remained sworn brothers in art till death4 ,lorenzo ,ghiberti has left us an expression of the feeling with which he set about his task1 an expression so suggestive that1 even had we no other indication1 it is enough to stamp the true and tender nature of the man4 ,he prepared for his achievement 'with infinite diligence and love'--the words deserve to be pondered over4 ,he took at least twenty-two years to his work1 receiving for it eleven hundred florins4 ,he chose his subjects from the life and death of the ,lord1 working them out in twenty panels1 ten on each side of the folding doors1 and below these were eight panels containing full-length figures of the four evangelists and four doctors of the ,latin ,church1 with a complete border of fruit and foliage1 having heads of prophets and sibyls interspersed4 ,so entire was the satisfaction the superb gate gave1 that ,lorenzo was not merely loaded with praise1 he received a commission to design and cast a third and central gate which should surpass the others1 that were thenceforth to be the side entrances4 ,for his second gate ,lorenzo ,ghiberti repaired to the ,old ,testament for subjects1 beginning with the creation and ending with the meeting of ,solomon and the ,queen of ,sheba1 and represented them in ten compartments enclosed in a rich border of fruit and foliage1 with twenty-four full-length figures of the ,hebrew heroes and prophets1 clearly and delicately designed and finished1 occupying corresponding niches4 ,this crowning gate engaged the founder upwards of eighteen years--forty-nine years are given as the term of the work of both the gates4 ,the single defect which is found in those marvellous gates--left to us as a testimony of what the life-long devotion of genius could produce--is that they abound floridly both in ornament and action1 in place of being severely simple and restrained according to the classical standard4 ,michael ,angelo called these gates 'worthy to be the gates of ,paradise1' and they are still one of the glories of ,florence4 ,casts of the gates are to be found in the ,school for ,art at ,kensington1 and at the ,crystal ,palace4 ,a young village boy learned to draw and model from ,ghiberti's gates4 ,he in his turn was to create in the ,brancacci ,chapel of the ,church of the ,carmine at ,florence a school of painters scarcely less renowned and powerful in its effects than that produced by the works in the ,campo ,santa4 ,you will find the ,italian painters not unfrequently known by nicknames1 quite as often by their father's trades as by their father's surnames1 and still oftener by the town which was their place of birth or nurture4 ,this ,tom village birth-place1 was commonly called ,masaccio1 short for ,tomasaccio1 'hulking ,tom1' as ,i have heard it translated1 on account of his indifferent1 slovenly habits4 ,i think there is a tradition that he entered a studio in ,florence as a colour boy1 and electrified the painter and his scholars1 by brownie like freaks of painting at their unfinished work1 in their absence1 better than any of his masters1 and by the dexterity with which he perpetrated the frolic of putting the facsimile of a fly on one of the faces on the easels4 ,his end was a tragic conclusion to such light comedy4 ,at the age of twenty-six1 he quitted ,florence for ,rome so suddenly that he left his finest frescoes unfinished4 ,it was said that he was summoned thither by the ,pope4 ,at ,rome1 where little or nothing of ,masaccio's life is known1 he died shortly afterwards1 not without a suspicion of his having been poisoned4 ,a curious anecdote exists of the identification of the time when he forsook ,florence to meet his death in ,rome4 ,just as we have read1 that the period of the death of ,massinger the dramatist has been settled by an entry in an old parish register1 'died1 ,philip ,massinger a stranger1' so there has been found some quaint equivalent to a modern tax-paper which had been delivered at the dwelling of ,masaccio when the word 'gone' was written down4 ,there is a further tradition--not very probable under the circumstances--that ,masaccio is buried1 without name or stone1 under the ,brancacci ,chapel4 ,be that as it may1 he very early rose to eminence1 surpassing all his predecessors in drawing and colouring1 and he combined with those acquirements such animation and variety of expression in his characters1 that it was said of him 'he painted souls as well as bodies1' while his invention was not less bold and fresh4 ,it is difficult to indicate ,masaccio's pictures because some of them have been repainted and destroyed4 ,as to those in the ,brancacci ,chapel from the life of ,st ,peter1 7with the exception of two17 considerable confusion has arisen as to which are ,masaccio's1 and which belong to his scholar ,filippino ,lippi4 ,the fresco which ,masaccio left unfinished1 that of the ,apostles ,peter and ,paul raising a dead youth 7from traditional history71 was finished by ,lippi4 ,in the fresco of ,peter baptizing the converts1 generally attributed to ,masaccio1 there is a lad who has thrown off his garments1 and stands shivering with cold1 whose figure1 according to authority1 formed an epoch in art4 ,lionardo da ,vinci1 ,michael ,angelo1 ,andrea del ,sarto1 ,fra ,bartolommeo1 all studied their art in this chapel4 ,raphael borrowed the grand figure of ,st ,paul preaching at ,athens in one of the cartoons1 from one of ,masaccio's or ,filippo ,lippi's frescoes4 ,masaccio's excellence as an artist1 reached at an immature age1 is very remarkable4 ,i have come to the last and probably the best appreciated among modems of the early ,italian painters4 ,fra ,angelico da ,fiesole1 the gentle devout monk whom ,italians called ',il ,beato1' the ,blessed1 and who probably did receive the distinction of beatification1 a distinction only second in the ,roman ,catholic ,church to that of canonization4 ,he was born at the lovely little mountain-town of ,fiesole near ,florence1 #achg1 and his worldly name1 which he bore only till his twenty-first year1 was ,guido ,petri de ,mugello4 ,in his youth1 with his gift already recognized1 so that he might well have won ease and honour in the world1 he entered the ,dominican ,convent of ,st ,mark1 ,florence1 for what he deemed the good and peace of his soul4 ,he seldom afterwards left it1 and that only as directed by his convent superior1 or summoned by the ,pope4 ,he was a man devoid of personal ambition1 pure1 humble1 and meek4 ,when offered the ,archbishopric of ,florence as a tribute to his sanctity1 he declined it on account of his unworthiness for the office4 ,he would not work for money1 and only painted at the command of his prior4 ,he began his painting with fasting and work1 he steadfastly refused to make any alteration in the originals4 ,it is said that he was found dead at his easel with a completed picture before him4 ,it is not wonderful1 that from such a man should come one side of the perfection of that idealism which ,giotto had begun4 ,fra ,angelico's angels1 saints1 ,saviour1 and ,virgin are more divinely calm1 pure1 sweet1 endowed with a more exulting saintliness1 a more immortal youth and joy1 and a more utter self-abnegation and sympathetic tenderness than are to be found in the saints and the angels1 the ,saviour and the ,virgin of other painters4 ,neither is it surprising that ,fra ,angelico's defects1 besides that of the bad drawing which shows more in his large than in his small pictures1 are those of a want of human knowledge1 power1 and freedom4 ,his wicked--even his more earthly-souled characters1 are weak and faulty in action4 ,what should the reverent and guileless dreamer know1 unless indeed by inspiration of the rude conflicts1 the fire and fury of human passions intensified in the malice and anguish of devils8 ,but ,fra ,angelico's singular successes far transcend his failures4 ,in addition to the sublime serenity and positive radiance of expression which he could impart to his heads1 his notions of grouping and draping were full of grace1 sometimes of splendour and magnificence4 ,in harmony with his happy temperament and fortunes1 he was fond of gay yet delicate colours 'like spring flowers1' and used a profusion of gold ornaments which do not seem out of keeping in his pictures4 ,the most of ,fra ,angelico's pictures are in ,florence--the best in his own old convent of ,st ,mark1 where he lovingly adorned not only chapter-hall and court1 but the cells of his brother friars4 ,a crucifix with adoring saints worshipping their crucified ,saviour is regarded as his masterpiece in ,st ,mark's4 ,a famous coronation of the ,virgin1 which ,fra ,angelico painted for a church in his native town1 and which is now in the ,louvre1 ,paris1 is thus described by ,mrs ,jameson3 ',it represents a throne under a rich ,gothic canopy1 to which there is an ascent of nine steps2 on the highest kneels the ,virgin1 veiled1 her hands crossed on her bosom4 ,she is clothed in a red tunic1 a blue robe over it1 and a royal mantle with a rich border flowing down behind4 ,the features are most delicately lovely1 and the expression of the face full of humility and adoration4 ,christ1 seated on the throne1 bends forward1 and is in the act of placing the crown on her head2 on each side are twelve angels1 who are playing a heavenly concert with guitars1 tambourines1 trumpets1 viols1 and other musical instruments2 lower than these1 on each side1 are forty holy personages of the ,old and ,new ,testament2 and at the foot of the throne kneel several saints1 male and female1 among them ,st ,catherine with her wheel1 ,st ,agnes with her lamb1 and ,st ,cecilia crowned with flowers4 ,beneath the principal picture there is a row of seven small ones1 forming a border1 and representing various incidents in the life of ,st ,dominic4' ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,early ,,flemish ,,art--,,the ,,van ,,eycks1 #acff-addb--,,mabuse1 ,,matsys1 #adfj-aecj ,,or #ca4 ,in the ,low ,countries painting had very much the same history that it had in ,italy1 but the dates are later1 and there may be a longer interval given to each stage of development4 ,religious painting1 profuse in symbolism1 with masses of details elaborately worked in1 meets us in the first place4 ,this style of painting reached its culmination1 in which it included 7as it did not include in its representation in the ,italian pictures7 many and varied excellencies1 among them the establishment of painting in oil in the pictures of the ,flemish family of painters--the ,van ,eycks4 ,before going into the little that is known of the family history of the ,van ,eycks1 ,i should like to call attention to the numerous painter families in the middle ages4 ,what a union1 and repose1 and happy sympathy of art-life it indicates1 which we appear to restlessness and separate interests of modern life4 ,the ,van ,eycks consisted of no less than four members of a family1 three brothers1 ,hubert1 ,john1 and ,lambert1 and one sister1 ,margaret1 devoted1 like her brothers1 to her art4 ,there is a suggestion that they belonged to a small village of ,limburg called ,eyck1 and repaired to ,bruges in order to pursue their art4 ,hubert was thirty years older than ,john1 and it is said that he was a serious-minded man as well as an ardent painter1 and belonged to the religious fraternity of our ,lady of ,ghent4 ,he died in #adbf4 ,john1 though of so much consideration in his profession as to be believed to be 'the ,flemish ,painter' sent by ,duke ,philip the ,good of ,flanders and ,burgundy with a mission to ,portugal to solicit the hand of a princess in marriage1 is reported to have died very poor in #addi1 and has the suspicion attached to him of having been a lover of pleasure and a spendthrift4 ,of ,lambert1 the third brother1 almost nothing is known2 indeed1 the fact of his existence has only lately come to light4 ,margaret lived and died unmarried1 and belonged1 like her brother ,hubert1 to the religious society of our ,lady of ,ghent4 ,she died about #adcb4 ,the invention of painting in oil1 for which the ,van ,eycks are commonly known1 was not literally that of mixing colours with oil1 which was occasionally done before their day4 ,it was the combining oil with resin1 so as to produce at once a good varnish1 and avoid the necessity of drying pictures in the sun1 a bright thought1 which may stand in the same rank with the construction1 by ,james ,watt1 of that valve which rendered practicable the application of steam to machinery4 ,the thought1 occasioned by the cracking of a picture in tempera exposed to the sun1 is due to ,hubert ,van ,eyck4 ,the great picture of the ,van ,eycks1 which was worked at for a number of years by both ,hubert and ,john1 and1 as some reckon1 touched by the whole family1 is the ',adoration of the ,lamb1' at ,st ,bavon's1 ,ghent4 ,i should like to give a faint idea of this extraordinary picture1 which was painted for a burgomaster of ,ghent and his wife in order to adorn their mortuary chapel in the cathedral4 ,it was an altar piece on separate panels1 now broken up and dispersed1 only a portion of it being retained in ,ghent4 ,it may strike some as strange that a picture should be on panels1 but those of the old pictures which were not on plastered walls were commonly on panels1 many of them on the lids and sides of chests and presses which were used to hold sacred vessels and priestly raiment4 ,when the wings of the ,van ,eycks' altar-piece of the ',adoration of the ,lamb' were opened on festivals1 the subjects of the upper central picture were seen1 consisting of the ,triune ,god1 a majestic figure1 and at his side in stately calm the ,virgin and the ,baptist4 ,on the inside of the wings were angels1 at the two extremities ,adam and ,eve4 ,the lower central picture shows the ,lamb of the ,revelation1 whose blood flows into a cup2 over it is the dove of the ,holy ,spirit4 ,angels1 who hold the instruments of the ,passion1 worship the ,lamb4 ,four groups of many persons advance from the sides1 these are the holy martyrs1 men and women1 priests and laymen4 ,in the foreground is the fountain of life2 in the distance are the towers of the heavenly ,jerusalem4 ,on the wings other groups are coming up to adore the ,lamb2 on the left those who have laboured for the ,kingdom of the ,lord by worldly deeds--the soldiers of ,christ led by ,st ,george1 ,st ,sebastian1 and ,st ,michael1 the patron saints of the old ,flemish guilds1 followed by emperors and kings--a goodly company4 ,beyond the soldiers and princes1 on the left1 are the righteous judges1 also on horseback4 ,in front of them1 on a splendidly caparisoned gray1 rides a mild1 benevolent old man in blue velvet trimmed with fur4 ,this is the likeness of ,hubert ,van ,eyck1 painted after his death by his brother ,john1 and ,john himself is in the group1 clothed in black1 with a shrewd1 sharp countenance4 ,on the self-renunciation have served the ,lamb in the spirit1 hermits and pilgrims1 among them ,st ,christopher1 ,st ,anthony1 ,st ,paul the hermit1 ,mary ,magdalene1 and ,st ,mary of ,egypt4 ,a compartment underneath1 which represented hell1 finished the whole--yet only the whole on one side1 for the wings when closed presented another series of finely thought-out and finished pictures--the ,annunciation2 figures of ,micah and ,zechariah2 statues of the two ,st ,johns1 with the likenesses of the donors who gave to the world so great a work of art1 kneeling humbly side by side1 the burgomaster somewhat mean-looking in such company in spite of the proof of his liberality1 but his wife noble enough in feature and expression to have been the originator of this glory of early ,flemish painting4 ,the upper part of the picture is painted on a gold ground1 round the central figure of the ,lamb is vivid green grass with masses of trees and flowers--indeed there is much lovely landscape no longer indicated by a rock or a bush1 but betokening close observation of nature1 whether in a fruitful valley1 or a rocky defile1 or mountain ridges with fleecy clouds overhead4 ,the expression of the immense number of figures is as varied and characteristic as their grouping4#b ,hubert ,van ,eyck died while this work was in progress1 and it was finished by his brother ,john six years after ,hubert's death4 ,when one thinks of the intense application and devotion which such a work costs1 and recalls the bronze gates of ,st ,john that occupied ,lorenzo ,ghiberti #di years1 and when we read1 as we shall read a few chapters farther on1 of large paintings which were begun and ended in so many days--even so many hours1 one can better understand what is the essential difference between the works of the early and the later painters1 a difference which no skill1 no power even can bridge over4 ,john ,van ,eyck1 who had lived late enough to have departed from the painting of sacred pictures alone1 so that he left portraits and an otter hunt among his works1 is three times represented in our ,national ,gallery1 in three greatly esteemed portraits1 one a double portrait1 believed to be the likenesses of the painter and his wife1 standing hand in hand with a terrier dog at their feet4 ,gossaert1 called de ,mabuse from his native town of ,mabeuze1 sometimes signing his name ,joannes ,malbodius1 followed in the steps of the ,van ,eycks1 particularly in his great picture of the ',adoration of the ,kings1' which is at ,castle ,howard1 the seat of the ,earl of ,carlisle4 ,mabuse was in ,england and painted the children of ,henry ,,vii1 in a picture1 which is at ,hampton ,court4 ,there is a picture in the palace of ,holyrood1 ,edinburgh1 which has been attributed to ,mabuse4 ,it represents on the sides of a triptych or diptych 7somewhat like a folding screen7 ,james ,,iii4 and his queen with attendants4 ,the fur on the queen's dress displays already that marvellous technical skill for which ,flemish painting is so celebrated4 ,hans ,memling belonged to ,bruges4 ,there is a tradition of him1 which is to a certain extent disproven1 that he was a poor soldier relieved by the hospital of ,st ,john1 ,bruges1 and that in gratitude he executed for the hospital the well-known reliquary of ,st ,ursula4 ,however it might have originated1 this is the most noted work of a painter1 who was distinguished frequently by his minute missal-like painting 7he was also an illuminator of missals71 in which he would introduce fifteen hundred small figures in a picture two feet eight inches1 by six feet five inches in size1 and work out every detail with the utmost niceness and care4 ,the reliquary1 or 'chasse1' is a wooden coffer or shrine about four feet in length1 its style and form those of a rich ,gothic church1 its purpose to hold an arm of the saint4 ,the whole exterior is covered with miniatures by ,memling1 nearly the whole of them giving incidents in the legendary history of ,st ,ursula1 a 'virgin princess of ,brittany1' or of ,england1 who1 setting out with eleven thousand companions1 her lover1 and an escort of knights on a pilgrimage to ,rome1 was1 with her whole company1 met and murdered1 by a horde of heathen ,huns1 when they had reached ,cologne1 on their return4 ,my readers may be aware that the supposed bones of the virgins and ,st ,ursula form the ghastly adornment of the church founded in her honour at ,cologne4 ,it is absolutely filled with bones1 built into the walls1 stowed under the pavement1 ranged in glass cases about the choir4 ,hans ,memling's is a pleasanter commemoration of ,st ,ursula4 ,quintin ,matsys1 the blacksmith of ,antwerp1 was born at ,louvain about #adfj4 ,though he worked first as a smith he is said by ,kugler to have belonged to a family of painters1 which somewhat takes from the romance1 though it adds to the probability of his story4 ,another painter in ,antwerp having offered the hand and dowry of his daughter--beloved by ,quintin ,matsys--as a prize to the painter who should paint the best picture in a competition for her hand1 the doughty smith took up the art1 entered the lists1 and carried off the maiden and her portion from all his more experienced rivals4 ,the vitality of the legend is indicated by the inscription on a tablet to the memory of ,quintin ,matsys in the ,cathedral1 ,antwerp4 ,the ,latin inscription reads thus in ,english3 ',twas love connubial taught the smith to paint1' ,quintin ,matsys lived and died a respected burgher of ,antwerp1 a member of the great ,antwerp painters' guild of ,st ,luke4 ,he was twice married1 and had thirteen children4 ,whatever might have been his source of inspiration1 ,quintin ,matsys was an apt scholar4 ,his ',descent from the ,cross1' now in the ,museum1 ,antwerp1 was the ',descent from the ,cross1' and the picture in the ,cathedral1 until superseded by ,rubens' masterpiece on the same subject4 ,still ,quintin ,matsys version remains1 and is in some respects an unsurpassed picture4 ,there is a traditional grouping of this ,divine tragedy1 and ,quintin ,matsys has followed the tradition4 ,the body of the ,lord is supported by two venerable old men--,joseph of ,arimathea and ,nicodemus--while the holy women anoint the wounds of the ,saviour2 the ,virgin swooning with grief is supported by ,st ,john4 ,the figures are full of individuality1 and their action is instinct with pathos4 ,for this picture ,quintin ,matsys--popular painter as he was--got only three hundred florins1 equivalent to twenty-five pounds 7although1 of course1 the value of money was much greater in those days74 ,the ,joiners' ,company1 for whom he painted the ',descent from the ,cross1' sold the picture to the ,city of ,antwerp for five times the original amount1 and it is said ,queen ,elizabeth offered the ,city nearly twenty times the first sum for it1 in vain4 ,quintin ,matsys painted frequently half-length figures of the ,virgin and ,child1 an example of which is in the ,national ,gallery4 ,he excelled in the 'figure painting' of familiar subjects1 then just beginning to be established1 affording a token of the direction which the future eminence of the ,flemish painters would take4 ,one of his famous pictures of this kind is ',the ,misers1' in the ,queen's collection at ,windsor4 ,two figures in the ,flemish costume of the time1 are seated at a table2 before them are a heap of money and a book1 in which one is writing with his right hand1 while he tells down the money with his left4 ,the faces express craft and cupidity4 ,the details of the ink-horn on the table1 and the bird on its perch behind1 have the ,flemish graphic exactness4 ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,in ,,early ,,schools ,,of ,,italian ,,art--,,the ,,bellini1 #adbb-aeab--,,mantegna1 #adca-aejf--;,,ghirlandajo1 #addi-adih--;,,il ,,francia1 #adej-aeah--;,,fra ,,bartolommeo1 #adfi-aeag--;,,andrea ,,del ,,sarto1 #adhh-aecj4 ,i have come to the period when ,italian art is divided into many schools--,paduan1 ,venetian1 ,umbrian1 ,florentine1 ,roman1 ,bolognese1 etc41 etc4 ,with the schools and their definitions ,i do not mean to meddle1 except it may be to mention to which school a great painter belonged4 ,another difficulty meets me here4 ,i have been trying so far as ,i could to give the representative painters in the order of time4 ,i can no longer follow this rule strictly1 and the grouping of this chapter is made on the principle of leading my readers up by some of the predecessors who linked the older to the later ,italian painters1 and by some of the contemporaries of these later painters1 to that central four1 ,lionardo da ,vinci1 ,michael ,angelo1 ,raphael1 and ,titian1 who occupy so great a place in the history of art4 ,in the brothers ,bellini and their native ,venice1 we must first deal with that excellence of colouring for which the ,venetian painters were signally noted1 while they comparatively neglected and underrated drawing4 ,a somewhat fanciful theory has been started1 that as ,venice1 ,holland1 and ,england have been distinguished for colour in art1 and as all those ,states are by the sea1 so a sea atmosphere has something to do with a passion for colour4 ,within more reasonable bounds1 in reference to the ,venetians1 is the consideration that no colouring is richer1 mellower1 more exquisitely tinted than that which belongs to the blue ,italian sky over the blue ,adriatic1 with those merged shades of violet1 green1 and amber1 and that magical soft haze which has to do with a moist climate4 ,the two brothers ,gentile and ,gian or ,john ,bellini1 the latter the more famous of the two1 were the sons of an old ,venetian painter1 with regard to whom the worthy speech is preserved1 that he said it was like the ,tuscans for son to beat father1 and he hoped1 in ,god's name1 that ,giovanni or ,gian would outstrip him1 and ,gentile1 the elder1 outstrip both4 ,the brothers worked together and were true and affectionate brothers1 encouraging and appreciating each other4 ,gentile was sent by the ,doge at the request of the ,sultan--either ,mahommed ,,ii1 or ,bajazet ,,ii41 to ,constantinople1 where ,gentile ,bellini painted the portrait of the ,sultan and the ,sultana his mother1 now in the ,british ,museum4 ,the painter also painted the head of ,john the ,baptist in a charger as an offering--only too suitable--from him to the ,grand ,turk4 ,the legend goes on to tell that in the course of the presentation of the gift1 an incident occurred which induced ,gentile ,bellini to quit the ,ottoman ,court with all haste4 ,the ,sultan had criticized the appearance of the neck in ,john the ,baptist's severed head1 and when ,gentile ventured to defend his work1 the ,sultan proceeded to prove the correctness of his criticism1 by drawing his scimitar and cutting off at a stroke the head of a kneeling slave1 and pointing to the spouting blood and the shrinking muscle1 gave the horrified painter a lesson in practical anatomy4 ,on ,gentile's return from the ,east1 he was pensioned by his ,state1 and lived on painting1 till he was eighty years of age1 dying in #aeja4 ,gian ,bellini is said to have obtained by a piece of deceit1 which is not in keeping with his manly and honourable character1 the secret1 naturally coveted by a ,venetian1 of mixing colours with resin and oil4 ,a ,venetian painter had brought the secret from ,flanders1 and communicated it to a friend1 who1 in turn1 communicated it to a third painter1 and was murdered by that third painter for his pains1 so greedy and criminal was the craving1 not only to possess1 but to be as far as possible the sole possessor of1 the grand discovery4 ,gian ,bellini was much less guilty1 if he were really guilty4 ,disguised as a ,venetian nobleman1 he proposed to sit for his portrait to that ,antonella who first brought the secret from ,flanders1 and while ,antonella worked with unsuspicious openness1 ,gian ,bellini watched the process and stole the secret4 ,gian ,bellini lived to the age of ninety1 and had among his admirers the poet ,ariosto and ,albrecht ,duerer4 ,the latter saw ,gian ,bellini in his age1 and said of him1 when foolish mockers had risen up to scout at the old man1 and his art now become classic1 ',he is very old1 but he is still the best of our painters4' ,gian ,bellini had illustrious pupils1 including in their number ,titian and ,giorgione4 ,the portraits of ,gentile and ,gian1 which are preserved in a painting by ,gian1 show ,gentile fair-complexioned and red-haired1 and ,gian with dark hair4 ,gian ,bellini is considered to have been less gifted with imagination than some of his great brother artists2 but he has proved himself a man of high moral sense1 and while he stopped short at the boundary between the seen and the unseen1 it is certain he must still have painted with much of 'the divine patience' and devout consecration of all his powers1 and of every part of his work1 which are the attributes of the earliest ,italian painters4 ,when he and his brother began to paint1 ,venetian art had already taken its distinctive character for open-air effects1 rich scenic details in architecture1 furniture and dress 7said to be conspicuous in commercial communities71 and a growing tendency to portraiture4 ,gian went with the tide1 but he guided it to noble results4 ,his simplicity and good sense1 with his purity and dignity of mind1 were always present4 ,he introduced into his pictures 'singing boys1 dancing cherubs1 glittering thrones1 and dewy flowers1' pressing the outer world into his service and that of religious art4 ,it is said also that his ,madonnas seem 'amiable beings imbued with a lofty grace2' while his saints are 'powerful and noble forms4' ,but he never descended to the paltry or the vulgar4 ,he knew from the depths of his own soul how to invest a face with moral grandeur4 ,especially in his representations of our ,saviour ,gian ,bellini 'displays a perception of moral power and grandeur seldom equalled in the history of art4' ,the example given is that of the single figure of the ,lord in the ,dresden ,gallery1 where the ,son of ,god1 without nimbus1 or glory1 stands forth as the 'ideal of elevated humanity4' ,the greater portion of ,gian ,bellini's pictures remain in the churches and galleries of ,venice4 ,but the first great work at which the two brothers in their youth worked in company--the painting of the ,hall of ,council in the palace of the ,doge1 with a series of historical and legendary pictures of the ,venetian wars with the ,emperor ,frederick ,barbarossa 7#aagg71 including the ,doge ,ziani's receiving from the ,pope the gold ring with which the ,doge espoused the ,adriatic1 in token of perpetual dominion over the sea--was unfortunately destroyed by fire in #aegg4 ,giovanni ,bellini's greatest work1 now at ,st ,salvatore1 is ,christ at ,emmaus1 with ,venetian senators and a ,turkish dragoman introduced as spectators of the risen ,lord4 ,of another great work at ,vicenza1 painted in ,gian ,bellini's old age1 when neither his skill nor his strength was abated1 ',the ,baptism of ,christ1' ,dean ,alford writes thus3 ',let us remain long and look earnestly1 for there is indeed much to be seen4 ,that central figure1 standing with hands folded on ,his bosom1 so gentle1 so majestic1 so perfect in blameless humanity1 oh what labour of reverent thought2 what toil of ceaseless meditation2 what changes of fair purpose1 oscillating into clearest vision of ideal truth1 must it have cost the great painter1 before he put forth that which we see now6 ,it is as impossible to find aught but love and majesty in the ,divine countenance1 as it is to discover a blemish on the complexion of that body1 which seems to give forth light from itself1 as ,he stands in obedience1 fulfilling all righteousness4 ',and even on the accessories to this figure1 we see the same loving and reverent toil bestowed4 ,the cincture1 where alone the body is hidden from view1 is no web of man's weaving2 or1 if it were1 it is of hers whose heart was full of divine thoughts as she wove3 so bright and clear is the tint1 so exquisitely careful and delicate every fold where light may play or colour vary4 ,and look under the sacred feet1 on the ground blessed by their pressure2 no dash of hurrying brush has been there3 less than a long day's light1 eve1 did not suffice to give in individual shape and shade every minutest pebble and mote of that shore of ,jordan4 ,every one of them was worth painting1 for we are viewing them as in the light of ,his presence who made them all and knew them all4 ',and now let us pass to the other figures3 to that living and glowing angelic group in the left hand of the picture4 ,three of the heavenly host are present1 variously affected by that which they behold4 ,the first1 next the spectator1 in the corner of the picture1 is standing in silent adoration1 tender and gentle in expression1 the hands together1 but only the points of the fingers touching1 his very reverence being chastened by angelic modesty2 the second turns on that which he sees a look of earnest inquiry1 but kneels as he looks2 and indeed that which he sees is one of the things which angels desire to look into4 ,the third1 a majestic herald-like figure1 stands1 as one speaking1 looking to the spectator1 with his right hand on his garment1 and his left out as in demonstration1 unmistakeably saying to us who look on1 ,behold what love is here6 ,then1 hardly noticing what might well be much noticed1 the grand dark figure of the ,baptist on the right1 let us observe how beautifully and accurately all the features of the landscape are given4' ,of the same work another critic records3 ',the attendant angels in this work 7signed by the artist7 are of special interest1 instinct with an indefinable purity and depth of reverential tenderness elsewhere hardly rivalled4 ,but the picture1 like that in ,s4 ,giovanni ,crisostomo1 with which it is nearly contemporary1 is almost more interesting from the astonishing truth and beauty of its landscape portions4 ,these form here a feature more important1 perhaps1 than in any work of that period2 the stratification and form of the rocks in the foreground1 the palms and other trees relieved against the lucid distance1 and the mountain-ranges of tender blue beyond1 are as much beyond praise for their beauty and their truth1 as they have been beyond imitation from the solidity and transparent strength of their execution6 ,the minute finish is ,nature's1 and the colouring more gem-like than gems4' ,no praise can exceed that bestowed on ,gian ,bellini's colouring for its intensity and transparency4 ',many of his draperies are like crystal of the clearest and deepest colour1' declares an authority2 and another states' his best works have a clear jewel brightness1 an internal gem-like fire such as warms a summer twilight4 ,the shadows are intense and yet transparent1 like the ,adriatic waves when they lie out of the sun under the palace bridges4' ,portrait-painting1 just beginning1 was established in ,venice1 its later stronghold1 by ,gian ,bellini4 ,his truthful portrait of the ,doge ,loredano1 one of the earliest of that series of ,doges' portraits which once hung in state in the ducal palace1 is now in our ,national ,gallery4 ,of ,gentile ,bellini1 whose work was softer1 but less vigorous than his brother's1 the best painting extant is that at ,milan of ,st ,mark preaching at ,alexandria1 in which the painter showed how he had profited by his residence at ,constantinople in the introduction of much rich ,turkish costume1 and of an animal unknown to ,europe at the time--a camelopard4 ,andrea ,mantegna was born near ,padua4 ,he was the son of a farmer4 ,his early history1 according to tradition1 is very similar to that of ,giotto4 ,just as ,cimabue adopted ,giotto1 ,squarcione1 a painter who had travelled in ,italy and ,greece1 and made a great collection of antiques1 from which he taught in a famous school of painters1 adopted ,andrea ,mantegna at the early age of ten years4 ,it was long believed that ,mantegna1 in the end1 forfeited the favour of his master by marrying ,nicolosa ,bellini1 the sister of ,gentile and ,gian ,bellini1 whose father was the great rival of ,squarcione2 and farther1 that ,mantegna's style of painting had been considered ,bellini4 ,modern researches1 which have substituted another surname for that of ,bellini as the surname of ,andrea ,mantegna's wife1 contradict this story4 ,andrea ,mantegna1 a man of much energy and fancy1 entered young into the service of the ,gonzaga lords of ,mantua1 receiving from them a salary of thirty pounds a year and a piece of land1 on which the painter built a house1 and painted it within and without--the latter one of the first examples of artistic waste1 followed later by ,tintoret and ,veronese1 regardless of the fact that painting could not survive in the open air of ,northern ,italy4 ,andrea ,mantegna had his home at ,mantua1 except when he was called to ,rome to paint for the ,pope1 ,innocent ,,viii4 ,an anecdote is told by ,mrs ,jameson of this commission4 ,it seems the ,pope's payments were irregular2 and one day when he visited his painter at work1 and his ,holiness asked the meaning of a certain allegorical female figure in the design1 ,andrea answered1 with somewhat audacious point1 that he was trying to represent ,patience4 ,the ,pope1 understanding the allusion1 paid the painter in his own coin1 by remarking in reply1 ',if you would place ,patience in fitting company1 you would paint ,discretion at her side4' ,andrea took the hint1 said no more1 and when his work was finished not only received his money1 but was munificently rewarded4 ,andrea ,mantegna had two sons and a daughter4 ,one of his sons painted with his father1 and1 after ,andrea ,mantegna's death1 completed some of his pictures4 ,andrea ,mantegna's early study of antique sculpture moulded his whole life's work4 ,he took great delight in modelling1 in perspective1 of which he made himself a master1 and in chiaroscuro1 or light and shade4 ,had his powers of invention and grace not kept pace with his skill1 he would have been a stiff and formal worker2 as it was1 he carried the austerity of sculpture into painting1 and his greatest work1 the ',triumph of ,julius ,caesar1' would have been better suited for the chiselled frieze of a temple than it is for the painted frieze of the hall of a palace4 ,yet he was a great leader and teacher in art1 and the true proportions of his drawing are grand1 if his colouring is harsh4 ,i am happy to say that ,mantegna's ',triumph of ,julius ,caesar' is in ,england at ,hampton ,court1 having been bought from the ,duke of ,mantua by ,charles ,i4 ,these cartoons1 nine in number1 are sketches in water-colour or distemper on paper fixed on cloth4 ,they are faded and dilapidated1 as they well may be1 considering the slightness of the materials and their age1 about four hundred years4 ,at the same time1 they are1 after the cartoons of ,raphael 7which formed part of the same art collection of ,charles ,i471 perhaps the most valuable and interesting relic of art in ,england4 ,the series of the ',triumph' contain the different parts1 originally separated by pillars1 of a long and splendid procession4 ,there are trumpeters and standard bearers1 the statues of the gods borne aloft1 battering-rams and heaps of glittering armour1 trophies of conquest in huge vases filled with coin1 garlanded oxen1 and elephants4 ,the second last of the series1 presents the ranks of captives forming part of the show1 rebellious men1 submissive women1 and unconscious children--a moving picture4 ,in the last of the series comes the great conqueror in his chariot1 a youth in the crowd following him1 carrying his banner1 on which is inscribed ,caesar's notable despatch1 ',veni1 vidi1 vici2' ',i came1 ,i saw1 ,i conquered4' ,another of ,mantegna's best pictures is in distemper--in which1 and on fresco1 ,mantegna chiefly painted1--and is in the ,louvre1 ,paris4 ,it is the ,madonna of ,victory1 so called from its being painted to commemorate the deliverance of ,italy from the ,french army under ,charles ,,viii41 a name which has acquired a sardonic meaning from the ultimate destination of the picture4 ,this picture--which represents the ,virgin and ,child on a throne1 in an arbour of fruit and flowers1 between the archangels1 ,michael and ,st ,maurice1 in complete armour1 with the patron saints of ,mantua and the infant ,st ,john in the front1 and the ,marquis ,ludovico of ,mantua and his wife1 ,isabella ,d',este1 kneeling to return thanks--was painted by ,mantegna at the age of seventy years2 and1 as if the art of the man had mellowed with time1 it is the softest and tenderest of his pictures in execution4 ,a beautiful ,madonna of ,mantegna's1 still later in time1 is in the ,national ,gallery4 ,when ,mantegna was sixty years old he took up the art of engraving1 and prosecuted it with zeal and success1 being one of the earliest painters who engraved his own pictures1 and this accomplishment spread them abroad a hundredfold4 ,domenico ,ghirlandajo was properly ,domenico ,bicordi1 but inherited from his father1 a goldsmith in ,florence1#c the by-name of ,ghirlandajo or ,garland-maker--a distinctive appellation said to have been acquired by the elder man from his skill in making silver garlands for the heads of ,florentine women and children4 ,domenico ,ghirlandajo worked at his father's craft till he was twenty-four years of age1 when1 having in the mean time evinced great cleverness in taking the likenesses of the frequenters of ,ghirlandajo the elder's shop1 the future painter abandoned the goldsmith's trade for art pure and simple4 ,he soon vindicated the wisdom of the step which he had taken by giving proofs of something of the strength of ,masaccio1 united with a reflection of the feeling of ,fra ,angelico4 ,ghirlandajo was summoned soon to ,rome to paint in the ,sistine ,chapel1 afterwards to be so glorious2 but his greatest works were done in the prime of his manhood1 in his native city1 ,florence1 where he was chosen as the teacher of ,michael ,angelo1 who was apprenticed to ,ghirlandajo for three years4 ,while still in the flower of his age and crowned with golden opinions1 being1 it is said with effusion1 'the delight of his city1' ,ghirlandajo died after a short illness1 in ,ghirlandajo's time ,florence had reached her meridian1 and her citizens outvied each other in the magnificence of their gifts to their fair mother city4 ,ghirlandajo was fitted to be their painter2 himself a generous-spirited artist1 in the exuberance of life and power1 he wished that his fellow-citizens would give him all the walls of the city to cover with frescoes4 ,he was content with the specified sum for his painting1 desiring more the approbation of his employers than additional crowns4 ,his genius lying largely in the direction of portrait painting1 he introduced frequently the portraits of contemporaries1 causing them to figure as spectators of his sacred scenes4 ,one of these contemporaries thus presented1 was ,amerigo ,vespucci1 who was to give his name to a continent4 ,another was a ,florentine beauty1 a woman of rank1 ,ginevra de ,benci4 ,ghirlandajo was lavish in his employment of rich ,florentine costumes and architecture4 ,he even made the legends of the saints and the histories of the ,bible appear as if they had happened under the shadow of ,brunelleschi's duomo and ,giotto's campanile1 and within sound of the flow of the ,arno4 ,in the peculiar colouring used in fresco painting ,ghirlandajo excelled4 ,he painted a chapel for a ,florentine citizen1 ,francesco ,sasetti1 in the church of the ,trinita1 ,florence1 with scenes from the life of ,st ,francis4 ,of these1 the death of ,st ,francis1 surrounded by the sorrowing monks of his order1 with the figures of ,francesco ,sasetti and his wife1 ,madonna ,nera1 on one side of the picture1 is considered the best4 ,as a curious illustration of the modernizing practice of ,ghirlandajo1 he has painted an old priest at the foot of the bier1 chanting the litanies for the dying1 with spectacles on his nose1 the earliest known representation of these useful instruments4 ,ghirlandajo painted during four years the choir of the church of ,santa ,maria ,novella1 ,florence1 for one of the great ,florentine benefactors1 ,giovanni ,tornabuone1 and there are to be seen some of ,ghirlandajo's finest frescoes from the history of ,john the ,baptist and the ,virgin4 ,a ,madonna and ,child with angels in the ,national ,gallery is attributed to ,ghirlandajo4 ,francesco ,francia1 or ,il ,francia1 was born at ,bologna1 and was the son of a carpenter1 whose surname was ,raibaloni1 but ,francesco assumed the name of his master1 a goldsmith1 and worked himself at a goldsmith's trade till he was forty years of age4 ,indeed he may be said never to have relinquished his connection with the trade1 and certainly he was no more ashamed of it than of his calling as a painter1 for he signed himself indiscriminately 'goldsmith' and 'painter1' and sometimes whimsically put 'goldsmith' to his paintings and 'painter' to his jewellery4 ,he was a famous designer of dies for coins and medals1 and it is quite probable1 as a countryman of his own has sought to prove1 that he was the celebrated type-cutter1 known as ',francesco da ,bologna4' ,but it is with ,francesco 'pictor' that we have to do4 ,though he only began to prosecute the painter's art in middle age1 he rose with remarkable rapidity to eminence1 was the great painter of ,lombardy in his day1 rivalling ,squarcione1 ,mantegna's teacher in his school1 which numbered two hundred scholars1 and becoming the founder of the early ,bolognese school of painters4 ,francia is said to have been very handsome in person1 with a kindly disposition and an agreeable manner4 ,he was on terms of cordial friendship with ,raphael1 then in his youth1 and thirty years ,il ,francia's junior4 ,il ,francia addressed an enthusiastic sonnet to ,raphael1 and there is extant a letter of ,raphael's to ,il ,francia1 excusing himself for not sending his friend ,raphael's portrait1 and making an exchange of sketches1 that of his ',nativity' for the drawing of ,il ,francia's ',judith2' while it was to ,il ,francia's care that ,raphael committed his picture of ,st ,cecilia1 when it was first sent to ,bologna4 ,these relations between the men and their characters throw discredit on the tradition that ,il ,francia died from jealous grief caused by the sight of ,raphael's ',st ,cecilia4' ,as ,il ,francia was seventy years of age at the time of his death1 one may well attribute it to physical causes4 ,il ,francia had at least one son1 and another kinsman1 painters1 whose paintings were so good as to be occasionally confounded with those of ,il ,francia4 ,il ,francia is thought to have united1 in his works1 a certain calm sedateness and frank sincerity to the dreamy imaginativeness of some of his contemporaries4 ,his finest works are considered to be the frescoes from the life of ,st ,cecilia in the church of ,st ,cecilia at ,bologna4 ,of a ,madonna and ,child1 by ,francia1 at ,bologna1 ,i shall write down another of ,dean ,alford's descriptions1--many of which ,i have given for this1 among other reasons1 that these descriptions are not technical or professional1 but the expression of the ardent admiration and grateful comprehension of a sympathetic spectator4 ',he1' speaking of the ,divine ,child1 'is lying in simple nakedness on a rich red carpet1 and is supported by a white pillar1 over which the carpet passes4 ,of these accessories every thread is most delicately and carefully painted2 no slovenly washes of meretricious colour where ,he is to be served1 before whom all things are open2 no perfunctory sparing of toil in serving ,him who has given us all that is best4 ,on his right hand kneels the ,virgin ,mother in adoration1 her very face a magnificat--praise1 lowliness1 confidence2 next to her1 ,joseph1 telling by his looks the wonderful story1 deeply but simply4 ,two beautiful angels kneel1 one on either side--hereafter1 perhaps1 to kneel in like manner in the tomb4 ,their faces seemed to me notable for that which ,i have no doubt the painter intended to express1--the pure abstraction of reverent adoration1 unmingled with human sympathies4 ,the face and figure of the ,divine ,infant are full of majesty1 as he holds his hands in blessing towards the spectator1 who symbolizes the world which ,he has come to save4 ,close to him on the ground1 on his right branch in trustful repose2 on his left springs a plant of the meadow-trefoil4 ,thus lightly and reverently has the master touched the mystery of the ,blessed ,trinity3 the goldfinch symbolizing by its colours1 the trefoil by the form of its leaf4' ,in our own ,national ,gallery is a picture by ,il ,francia of the enthroned ,virgin and ,child and her mother1 ,st ,anne1 who is presenting a peach to the infant ,christ2 at the foot of the throne is the little ,st ,john2 to the right and left are ,st ,paul with the sword1 ,st ,sebastian bound to a pillar and pierced with arrows1 and ,st ,lawrence with the emblematical grid-iron1 etc4 etc4 ,opposite this picture hangs1 what once formed part of it1 a solemn1 sorrowful ,pieta1 as the ,italians call a picture representing the dead ,redeemer mourned over by the ,virgin and by the other holy women4 ,these pictures were bought by our ,government from the ,duke of ,lucca for three thousand five hundred pounds4 ,fra ,bartolommeo4 ,we come to a second gentle monk1 not unlike ,fra ,angelico in his nature1 but far less happy than ,fra ,angelico1 in having been born in stormy times4 ,fra ,bartolommeo1 called also ,baccio della ,porta1 or ,bartholomew of the gate1 from the situation of his lodgings when a young man1 but scarcely known in ,italy by any other name than that of ,il ,frate1 or the ,friar1 was born near ,florence1 and trained from his boyhood to be a painter4 ,in his youth1 however1 a terrible public event convulsed ,florence1 and revolutionized ,baccio della ,porta's life4 ,he had been employed to paint in that notable ,dominican convent of ,st ,mark1 where ,savonarola1 its devoted friar1 was denouncing the sins of the times1 including the profligate luxury of the nobles and the degradation of the representatives of the ,church4 ,carried away by the fervour and sincerity of the speaker1 ,baccio joined the enthusiasts who cast into a burning pile the instruments of pride1 vanity1 and godless intellect denounced by the preacher4 ,baccio's sacrifice to the flaming heap of splendid furniture and dress1 and worldly books1 was all his designs from profane subjects and studies of the undraped figure4 ,a little later ,savonarola was excommunicated by the ,pope and perished as a martyr2 and ,baccio1 timid from his natural temper1 distracted by doubt1 and altogether horror-stricken1 took a monk's vows1 and entered the same convent of ,st ,mark1 where for four years he never touched a pencil4 ,at the request of his superior ,fra ,bartolommeo painted again1 and when ,raphael visited ,florence1 and came with all his conquering sweetness and graciousness to greet the monk in his cell1 something of ,il ,frate's old love for his art1 and delight in its exercise1 returned4 ,he even visited ,rome1 but there his health failed him1 and the great works of ,lionardo1 ,michael ,angelo1 and ,raphael1 when he compared his own with theirs1 seemed to crush and overwhelm him4 ,but he painted better for his visit to ,rome1 even as he had painted better for his intimacy with ,raphael4 ,nay1 it is said ,raphael himself painted better on account of his brotherly regard for1 and confidence in1 ,fra ,bartolommeo4 ,fra ,bartolommeo died aged forty-eight years4 ,among his best pupils was a nun of ,st ,catherine's1 known as ,suor ,plautilla4 ,to ,il ,frate1 as a painter1 is attributed great softness and harmony1 and even majesty1 though1 like ,fra ,angelico1 he was often deficient in strength4 ,he was great in the management of draperies1 for the better study of which he is said to have invented the lay figure4 ,he indulged in the introduction into his pictures of rich architecture4 ,he was fond of painting boy-angels--in which he excelled--playing frequently on musical instruments1 or holding a canopy over the ,virgin4 ,very few of his works are out of ,italy2 the most are in ,florence1 especially in the ,pitti ,palace4 ,his two greatest works are the ,madonna della ,misericordia1 or the ,madonna of ,mercy1 at ,lucca1 where the ,virgin stands with outstretched arms pleading for the suppliants1 whom she shelters under the canopy1 and who look to her as she looks to her ,son1--and the grand single figure of ,st ,mark1 with his ,gospel in his hand1 in the ,pitti ,palace1 ,florence4 ,sir ,david ,wilkie said of the ,madonna of ,mercy1 'that it contained the merits of ,raphael1 of ,titian1 of ,rembrandt1 and of ,rubens4' ,andrea ,vanucchi1 commonly called ,andrea del ,sarto1 from the occupation of his father1 who was a tailor 7in ,italian1 sarto71 was born at ,florence in #adhh4 ,he was first a goldsmith1 but soon turned painter1 winning early the commendatory title of ',andrea senza errori1' or ',andrea the ,faultless4' ,his life is a miserable and tragic history4 ,in the early flush of his genius and industry1 with its just crown of fame and success1 he conceived a passion for a beautiful but worthless woman1 whom1 in spite of the opposition of his friends1 he married4 ,she rendered his home degraded and wretched1 and his friends and scholars fell off from him4 ,in disgust he quitted ,florence1 and entered the service of ,francis ,i1 of ,france2 but his wife1 for whom his regard was a desperate infatuation1 imperiously summoned him back to ,florence1 to which he returned1 bringing with him a large sum of money1 entrusted to him by the king for the purchase of works of art4 ,instigated by his wife1 ,andrea del ,sarto used this money for his1 or rather her1 purposes1 and dared not return to ,france4 ,even in his native ,florence he was loaded with reproach and shame4 ,he died of the plague at the age of fifty-five years1 according to tradition1 plundered and abandoned in his extremity by the base woman for whom he had sacrificed principle and honour4 ,we may read the grievous story of ,andrea del ,sarto1 written by one of the greatest of ,england's modern poets4 ,as may be imagined1 ,andrea del ,sarto's excellence lay in the charm of his execution4 ,his works were deficient in earnestness and high feeling1 and some will have it1 that1 evilly haunted as he was1 he perpetually painted in his ,madonnas the beautiful but base-souled face of the woman who ruined him4 ,andrea del ,sarto's best works are in ,florence1 particularly in the cloisters of the convent of the ,annunziata4 ,in the court of the same convent is his famous ,riposo 7or rest of the ,holy ,family on their way to ,egypt71 which is known as the ',madonna of the ,sack1' from the circumstance of ,joseph in the picture leaning against a sack4 ,this picture has held a high place in art for hundreds of years4 ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,lionardo ,,da ,,vinci1 #adeb-aeai--,,michael ,,angelo1 #adge-aefd--,,raphael1 #adhc-aebj--,,titian1 #adgg-aeff4 ,we have arrived at the triumph of art1 not1 indeed1 in unconsciousness and devotion1 but in fulness and completeness1 as shown in the works of four of the greatest painters and men whom the world ever saw4 ,of the first1 ,lionardo da ,vinci1 born at ,vinci in the neighbourhood of ,florence1 #adeb1 it may be said that the many-sidedness which characterized ,italians--above all ,italians of his day--reached its height in him4 ,not only was he a painter1 a sculptor1 an architect1 and engineer1 but also one of the boldest speculators of the generation which gave birth to ,columbus1 and was not less original and ingenious than he was universally accomplished--an ,admirable ,crichton among painters4 ,there is a theory that this many-sidedness is a proof of the greatest men1 indicating a man who might have been great in any way1 who1 had his destiny not found and left him a painter1 would have been equally great as a philosopher1 a man of science1 a poet1 or a statesman4 ,it may be so2 but the life of ,lionardo tends also to illustrate the disadvantage of too wide a grasp and diffusion of genius4 ,beginning much and finishing little1 not because he was idle or fickle1 but because his schemes were so colossal and his aims so high1 he spent his time in preparation for the attainment of perfect excellence1 which eluded him4 ,lionardo was the pioneer1 the teacher of others1 rather than the complete fulfiller of his own dreams2 and the life of the proud1 passionate man was1 to him self mortification4 ,this result might1 in a sense1 have been avoided2 but ,lionardo1 great as he was1 proved also one of those unfortunate men whose noblest efforts are met and marred by calamities which could have hardly been foreseen or prevented4 ,lionardo da ,vinci was the son of a notary1 and early showed a taste for painting as well as for arithmetic and mathematics4 ,he was apprenticed to a painter1 but he also sedulously studied physics4 ,he is said1 indeed1 to have made marvellous guesses at truth1 in chemistry1 botany1 astronomy1 and particularly1 as helping him in his art1 anatomy4 ,he was1 according to other accounts1 a man of noble person1 like ,ghirlandajo4 ,and one can scarcely doubt this who looks at ,lionardo's portrait painted by himself1 or at any engraving from it1 and remarks the grand presence of the man in his cap and furred cloak2 his piercing wistful eyes2 stately outline of nose2 and sensitive mouth1 unshaded by his magnificent flowing beard4 ,he was endowed with surprising bodily strength1 and was skilled in the knightly exercises of riding1 fencing1 and dancing4 ,he was a lover of social pleasure1 and inclined to indulge in expensive habits4 ,while a lad he amused himself by inventing machines for swimming1 diving1 and flying1 as well as a compass1 a hygrometer1 etc4 etc4 ,in a combination from the attributes of the toads1 lizards1 bats1 etc4 etc41 with which his studies in natural history had made him familiar1 he painted a nondescript monster1 which he showed suddenly to his father1 whom it filled with horror4 ,but the horror did not prevent the old lawyer selling the wild phantasmagoria for a large sum of money4 ,as something beyond amusement1 ,lionardo planned a canal to unite ,florence with ,pisa 7while he executed other canals in the course of his life71 and suggested the daring but not impossible idea of raising en masse1 by means of levers1 the old church of ,san ,giovanni1 ,florence1 till it should stand several feet above its original level1 and so get rid of the half-sunken appearance which destroyed the effect of the fine old building4 ,he visited the most frequented places1 carrying always with him his sketch-book1 in which to note down his observations2 he followed criminals to execution in order to witness the pangs of despair2 he invited peasants to his house and told them laughable stories1 that he might pick up from their faces the essence of comic expression4#d ,a mania for truth--alike in great and little things--possessed him4 ,lionardo entered young into the service of the ,gonzaga family of ,milan1 being1 according to one statement1 chosen for the office which he was to fill1 as the first singer in improvisatore of his time 7among his other inventions he devised a peculiar kind of lyre74 ,he showed no want of confidence in asserting his claims to be elected1 for after declaring the various works he would undertake1 he added with regard to painting--',i can do what can be done1 as well as any man1 be he who he may4' ,he received from the ,duke a salary of five hundred crowns a year4 ,he was fourteen years at the court of ,milan1 where1 among other works1 he painted his ',cenacolo1' or ',last ,supper1' one of the grandest pictures ever produced4 ,he painted it1 contrary to the usual practice1 in oils upon the plastered walls of the refectory of the ,dominican convent1 ,milan4 ,the situation was damp1 and the material used proved so unsuitable for work on plaster1 that1 even before it was exposed to the reverses which in the course of a ,french occupation of ,milan converted the refectory into a stable1 the colours had altogether faded1 and the very substance of the picture was crumbling into ruin4 ,the equestrian statue of the old ,duke of ,milan by ,lionardo excited so much delight in its first freshness1 that it was carried in triumph through the city1 and during the progress it was accidentally broken4 ,lionardo began another1 but funds failed for its completion1 and afterwards the ,french used the original clay model as a target for their bowmen4 ,lionardo returned to ,florence1 and found his great rival1 ,michael ,angelo1 already in the field4 ,both of the men1 conscious of mighty gifts1 were intolerant of rivalry4 ,to ,lionardo especially1 as being much the elder man1 the originator and promoter of many of the new views in art which his opponent had adopted1 the competition was very distasteful1 and to ,michael ,angelo he used the bitter sarcasm which has been handed down to us1 ',i was famous before you were born4' ,nevertheless ,lionardo consented to compete with ,michael ,angelo for the painting in fresco of one side of the council-hall1 by the order of the gonfaloniere for the year4 ,lionardo chose for his subject a victory of the ,florentines over the ,milanese1 while ,michael ,angelo took a scene from the ,pisan campaigns4 ,not only was the work never done 7some say partly because ,lionardo would delay in order to make experiments in oils7 on account of political troubles1 but the very cartoons of the two masters1 which all the artists of the day flocked to see1 have been broken up1 dispersed1 and lost2 and of one only1 that of ,michael ,angelo1 a small copy remains1 while but a fragment from ,lionardo's was preserved in a copy made by ,rubens4 ,lionardo went to ,rome in the pontificate of ,leo ,x41 but there his quarrel with ,michael ,angelo broke out more violently than ever4 ,the ,pope too1 who loved better a gentler1 more accommodating spirit1 seemed to slight ,lionardo1 and the great painter not only quitted ,rome in disgust1 but withdrew his services altogether from ungrateful ,italy4 ,at ,pavia ,lionardo was presented to ,francis ,i1 of ,france1 who1 zealous in patronizing art1 engaged the painter to follow ,francis's fortunes at a salary of seven hundred crowns a year4 ,lionardo spent the remainder of his life in ,france4 ,his health had long been declining before he died1 aged sixty-seven years1 at ,cloux1 near ,amboise4 ,he had risen high in the favour of ,francis4 ,from this circumstance1 and the generous1 chivalrous nature of the king1 there doubtless arose the tradition that ,francis visited ,lionardo on his death-bed2 and that1 while in the act of gently assisting him to raise himself1 the painter died in the king's arms4 ,court chronicles do their best to demolish this story1 by proving ,francis to have been at ,st ,germain on the day when ,lionardo died at ,cloux4 ,lionardo was never married1 and he left what worldly goods he possessed to a favourite scholar4 ,besides his greater works1 he filled many ,,ms4 volumes1 some with singularly accurate studies and sketches1 maps1 plans for machines1 scores for music 7three volumes of these are in the ,royal ,library at ,windsor71 and some with writing1 which is written--probably to serve as a sort of cipher--from right to left1 instead of from left to right4 ,one of his writings is a valuable ',treatise' on painting2 other writings are on scientific and philosophic subjects1 and in these ,lionardo is believed to have anticipated some of the discoveries which were reached by lines of close reasoning centuries later4 ,lionardo's genius as a painter was expressed by his uniting1 in the very highest degree1 truth and imagination4 ,he was the shrewdest observer of ordinary life1 and he could also realize the higher mysteries and profounder feelings of human nature4 ,he drew exceedingly well4 ,of transparent lights and shadows1 or chiaroscuro1 he was the greatest master2 but he was not a good colourist4 ,his works are very rare1 and many which are attributed to him are the pictures of his scholars1 for he founded one of the great schools of ,milan or ,lombardy4 ,there is a tradition that he was1 as ,holbein was once believed to be1 ambidextrous1 or capable of using his left hand as well as his right1 and that he painted with two brushes--one in each hand4 ,thus more than fully armed1 ,lionardo da ,vinci looms out on us like a ,titan through the mists of centuries1 and he preaches to us the simple homily1 that not even a ,titan can command worldly success2 that such men must look to ends as the reward of their travail1 and before undertaking it they must count the cost1 and be prepared to renounce the luxurious tastes which clung to ,lionardo1 and which were not for him or for such men as he was4 ,lionardo's great painting was his ',last ,supper1' of which1 happily1 good copies exist1 as well as the wreck of the picture itself4 ,the original is now1 after it is too late1 carefully guarded and protected in its old place in the ,dominican convent of the ,madonna della ,grazia1 ,milan4 ,the assembled company sit at a long table1 ,christ being seated in the middle1 the disciples forming two separate groups on each side of the ,saviour4 ,the gradations of age are preserved1 from the tender youth of ,john to the grey hairs of ,simon2 and all the varied emotions of mind1 from the deepest sorrow and anxiety to the eager desire of revenge1 are here portrayed4 ,the well-known words of ,christ1 ',one of you shall betray me1' have caused the liveliest emotion4 ,the two groups to the left of ,christ are full of impassioned excitement1 the figures in the first turning to the ,saviour1 those in the second speaking to each other1--horror1 astonishment1 suspicion1 doubt1 alternating in the various expressions4 ,on the other hand1 stillness1 low whispers1 indirect observations1 are the prevailing expressions in the groups on the right4 ,in the middle of the first group sits the betrayer2 a cunning1 sharp profile1 he looks up hastily to ,christ1 as if speaking the words1 ',master1 is it ,i8' while1 true to the ,scriptural account1 his left hand and ,christ's right hand approach1 as if unconsciously1 the dish that stands before them4#e ,a sketch of the head of ,christ for the original picture1 which has been preserved on a torn and soiled piece of paper at ,brera1 expresses the most elevated seriousness1 together with ,divine gentleness pain on account of the faithless disciple1 a full presentiment of his own death1 and resignation to the will of the ,father4 ,it gives a faint idea of what the master may have accomplished in the finished picture4 ,during his stay at ,florence ,lionardo painted a portrait of that ,ginevra ,benci already mentioned as painted by ,ghirlandajo2 and a still more famous portrait by ,lionardo was that of ,mona ,lisa1 the wife of his friend ,giocondo4 ,this picture is also known as ',la ,jaconde4' ,i wish to call attention to it because it is the first of four surpassingly beautiful portraits of women which four great painters gave in succession to the world4 ,the others1 to be spoken of afterwards1 are ,raphael's ',fornarina1' ,titian's ',bella ,donna1' and ,rubens' ',straw ,hat4' ,about the original of ',la ,jaconde' there never has been a mystery such as there has been about the others4 ,at this portrait the unsatisfied painter worked at intervals for four years1 and when he left it he pronounced it still unfinished4 ',la ,jaconde' is now in the ,louvre in nearly ruined condition1 yet a judge says of it that even now 'there is something in this wonderful head of the ripest southern beauty1 with its airy background of a rocky landscape1 which exercises a peculiar fascination over the mind4' ,there is a painting of the ,madonna and ,child ,christ said to be by ,lionardo1 and probably1 at least1 by one of his school1 and which belongs1 ,i think1 to the ,duke of ,buccleuch1 and was exhibited lately among the works of the old masters4 ,the group has at once something touching and exalted in its treatment4 ,the ,divine ,child in the ,mother's arms is strangely attracted by the sight of a cross1 and turns towards it with ineffable longing1 while the ,virgin ,mother1 with a pang of foreboding1 clasping the child in her arms1 seeks to draw him back4 ,the fragment of the cartoon in which ,lionardo competed with ,michael ,angelo1 may be held to survive in the fine painting by ,rubens called 'the ,battle of the ,standard4' ,of a famous ,madonna and ,st ,anne1 by ,lionardo1 the original cartoon in black chalk is preserved under glass in our ,royal ,academy4#f ,michael ,angelo ,buonarroti1 born at ,castel ,caprese near ,tuscany1 #adge1 is the next of these universal geniuses1 a term which we are accustomed to hold in contempt1 because we have only seen it exemplified in parody4 ,after ,lionardo1 indeed1 ,michael ,angelo1 though he was also painter1 sculptor1 architect1 engineer1 poet1 musician1 might almost be regarded as restricted in his pursuits1 yet still so manifold was he1 that men have loved to make a play upon his name and call him ',michael the angel1' and to speak of him as of a king among men4 ,michael ,angelo was of noble descent1 and though his ancient house had fallen into comparative poverty1 his father was mayor or podesta of ,chiusi1 and governor of the castle of ,chiusi and ,caprese4 ,michael ,angelo was destined for the profession of the law1 but so early vindicated his taste for art1 that at the age of thirteen years he was apprenticed to ,ghirlandajo4 ,lorenzo the ,magnificent was then ruling ,florence1 and he had made a collection of antique models in his palace and gardens1 and constituted it an academy for young artists4 ,in this academy ,michael ,angelo developed a strong bias for sculpture1 and won the direct patronage of the ,medici4 ,to this period of his life belong two characteristic anecdotes4 ,in a struggle with a fellow-student1 ,michael ,angelo received a blow from a mallet in his face1 which1 breaking bone and cartilage1 lent to his nose the rugged bend1 ',the bar of ,michael ,angelo4' ,an ill-advised member of the ,medician house1 while entertaining a party of guests during a snowstorm1 sent out the indignant artist to make a snow man within sight of the palace windows4 ,these anecdotes bear indirectly on the ruling qualities of ,michael ,angelo--qualities so integral that they are wrought into his marble and painted on his canvas--proud independence and energy4 ,before going farther ,i wish to guard against a common misapprehension of ,michael ,angelo--that he was a haughty1 arrogant man1 absolutely narrow in his half-idolatrous1 half-human worship of art4 ,michael ,angelo was severe in place of being sweet2 he was impatient of contradiction2 he was careless and scornful of ceremony2 and in his very wrath at flattery and hypocrisy1 he was liable to sin against his own honesty and sincerity4 ,but he was a man with a lofty sense of duty and a profound reverence for ,god4 ,he was1 unlike ,lionardo1 consistently simple1 frugal1 and temperate1 throughout his long life4 ,if he held up a high standard to others1 and enforced it on them with hardness1 he held up a higher standard to himself1 and enforced it on himself more hardly still4 ,he was a thoroughly unworldly man1 and actions which had their root in unworldliness have been ascribed unjustly to a kind of ,lucifer pride4 ,greed1 and the meanness of greed1 were unknown to him4 ,he worked for the last ten years of his life 7under no less than five different ,popes7 at his designs for ,st ,peter's1 steadfastly refusing pay for the work1 saying that he did it for the honour of ,god and his own honour4 ,he made many enemies and suffered from their enmity1 but ,i cannot learn that1 except in one instance1 he was guilty of dealing an unworthy blow at his opponents4 ,he was generous to his scholars1 and without jealousy of them1 suffering them to use his designs for their own purposes4 ,he said1 ',i have no friends1 ,i need none1 ,i wish for none2' but that was in feeling himself 'alone before ,heaven2' and of the friends whom he did possess1 he loved them all the more devotedly and faithfully1 because they were few in number4 ,one need only be told of his love for his old servant ,urbino1 whom he presented with two thousand crowns to render him independent of service2 and when the servant was seized with his last illness ,michael ,angelo nursed him tenderly1 sleeping in his clothes on a couch that he might be ready to attend his patient4 ,when his cares were ended1 ,michael ,angelo wrote to a correspondent--',my ,urbino is dead--to my infinite grief and sorrow4 ,living1 he served me truly2 and in his death he taught me how to die4 ,of ,michael ,angelo's more equal friendship with ,vittoria ,colonna ,i hope my readers will read at leisure for themselves4 ,no nobler1 truer friendship ever existed4 ,it began when the high-born and beautiful1 gifted1 and devout ,marchesa de ,pescara--most loyal of wives and widows1 was forty-eight1 and ,michael ,angelo sixty-four years of age4 ,after a few years of privileged intercourse and correspondence1 which were the happiest years in ,michael ,angelo's life1 it ended for this world when he stood mourning by her lifeless clay4 ',i was born a rough model1 and it was for thee to reform and re-make me1' the great painter had written humbly of himself to his liege lady4#g ,italy1 in ,michael ,angelo's time1 as ,germany in ,albert ,duerer's1 was all quickened and astir with the new wave of religious thought which brought about the ,reformation4 ,ochino and ,peter ,martyr1 treading in the footsteps of ,savonarola1 had preached to eager listeners1 but 'in ,italy men did not adopt ,lutheranism1 though they approached it2' and in all the crowd of great ,italian artists of the day1 ,michael ,angelo shows deepest traces of the conflict--of its trouble1 its seriousness1 its nobleness4 ,he only1 among his brethren1 acted out his belief that the things of the world sank into insignificance before those thoughts of ,god and immortality which were alone fully worthy of the soul4 ,and it was1 as to a religious work for which he was fitted1 that he at last gave himself up to the raising of ,st ,peter's4 ,we shall have next in order the life of a man who had all the winning qualities which ,michael ,angelo wanted1 but we shall hardly1 through the whole range of history1 find a nobler man than ,michael ,angelo4 ,after his first visit to ,rome1 #adif1 ,michael ,angelo executed his colossal statue of ,david4 ,in #aejc he entered into the competition with ,lionardo for the painting of one end of the ,council-hall1 in ,florence1 which has been already mentioned4 ,for this object he drew as his cartoon1 ',pisan soldiers surprised while bathing by a sudden trumpet call to arms4' ,the grand cartoon1 of which only a small copy exists1 was said to have been torn to pieces as an act of revenge by a fellow-sculptor1 whom ,michael ,angelo had offended4 ,michael ,angelo was invited to ,rome by ,julius ,,ii4 in #aejd to aid in erecting the unapproachable monument which the ,pope projected raising for himself4 ,then commenced a series of contentions and struggles between the imperious and petulant ,pope and the haughty1 uncompromising painter1 in which the latter certainly had the best of it4 ,at one time in the course of the quarrel1 ,michael ,angelo departed from ,rome without permission or apology1 and stoutly refused to return1 though followed hotly by no less than five different couriers1 armed with threats and promises1 and urged to make the reparation by his own gonfaloniere4 ,at last a meeting and a reconciliation between ,michael ,angelo and the ,pope were effected at ,bologna4 ,michael ,angelo designed for ,pope ,julius ,,ii1 not only the statue of ,pope ,julius at ,bologna1 which was finally converted into a cannon1 and turned against the very man whose effigy it had originally presented1 but also for that tomb which was never completed1 the famous figure of ,moses seated1 grasping his beard with one hand4 ,while employed at the tomb1 ,michael ,angelo1 then in his fortieth year1 was desired by the ,pope to undertake the decoration of the ceiling of the ,sistine ,chapel4 ,here1 again1 the hand of an enemy is said to have been at work4 ,michael ,angelo1 with the first place as a sculptor1 was inexperienced in fresco painting2 while ,raphael1 who was taking the place of ,lionardo as ,michael ,angelo's most formidable rival 7yet whom it is said ,michael ,angelo pointed out as the fittest painter of the ceiling71 and who was then engaged in painting the ,vatican chambers1 had already achieved the utmost renown4 ,it was anticipated by secret hostility1 so records tradition1 that ,michael ,angelo would fail signally in the unaccustomed work1 and that his merit as an artist would pale altogether before that of ,raphael's4 ,i need hardly write how entirely malice was balked in the verdict to which posterity has set its seal4 ,michael ,angelo brought artists from ,florence to help him in his great undertaking1 for over the chapel1 whose walls had already been painted by older artists--among them ,ghirlandajo1 was an enormous vault of #aej feet in length by #ej in breadth1 which ,michael ,angelo was required to cover with designs representing the ,fall and ,redemption of ,man4 ,but the painter was unable to bear what seemed to him the bungling attempts of his assistants2 so dismissing them all and destroying their work1 he shut himself up1 and working in solitude and secrecy1 set himself to evolve from his own inner consciousness the gigantic scenes of a tremendous drama4 ,in #bb months 7or1 as ,kugler holds1 in three years1 including the time spent on the designs7 he finished gloriously the work1 the magnitude of which one must see to comprehend4 ,on ,all ,saints' ,day1 #aeab1 the ceiling was uncovered1 and ,michael ,angelo was hailed1 little though he cared for such clamorous hailing1 as a painter indeed4 ,for this piece of work ,michael ,angelo received #cjjj crowns4 ,pope ,julius died1 and was succeeded by ,leo ,x4 of the ,medician house1 but1 in spite of early associations as well as of mother country1 ,michael ,angelo was no more acceptable to the ,pope--a brilliantly polished1 easy-tempered man of the world1 who filled the chair of ,st ,peter's1 than ,lionardo had been4 ,leo ,x1 greatly preferred ,raphael1 to whom all manner of pleasantness as well as of courteous deference was natural1 to the two others4 ,at the same time1 ,leo employed ,michael ,angelo1 though it was more as an architect than as a painter1 and rather at ,florence than at ,rome4 ,at ,florence ,michael ,angelo executed for ,pope ,clement ,,vii41 another ,medici1 the mortuary chapel of ,san ,lorenzo1 with its six great statues1 those of the cousins ,lorenzo de ,medici and ,giuliano de ,medici1 the first called by the ,florentines ',il ,pensiero1' or ',pensive ,thought1' with the four colossal recumbent figures named respectively the ,night1 the ,morning1 the ,dawn1 and the ,twilight4 ,in #aecg ,michael ,angelo was employed by his fellow citizens to fortify his native city against the return of his old patrons the ,medici1 and the city held out for nine months4 ,pope ,paul ,,iii41 an old man when elected to the popedom1 but bent on signalizing his pontificate with as splendid works of art as those which had rendered the reigns of his predecessors illustrious1 summoned another man1 grown elderly1 ,michael ,angelo1 upwards of sixty years1 reluctant to accept the commission1 to finish the decoration of the ,sistine ,chapel2 and ,michael ,angelo painted on the wall1 at the upper end1 his painting1 ',the ,last ,judgment4' ,the picture is forty-seven feet high by forty-three wide1 and it occupied the painter eight years4 ,it was during its progress that ,michael ,angelo entered on his friendship with ,vittoria ,colonna4 ,for the chapel called the ,paolina or ,pauline ,chapel ,michael ,angelo also painted less-known frescoes1 but from that time he devoted his life to ,st ,peter's4 ,he had said that he would take the old ,pantheon and 'suspend it in air1' and he did what he said1 though he did not live to see the great cathedral completed4 ,his sovereign1 the ,grand ,duke of ,florence1 endeavoured in vain with magnificent offers to lure the painter back to his native city4 ,michael ,angelo protested that to leave ,rome then would be 'a sin and a shame1 and the ruin of the greatest religious monument in ,christian ,europe4' ,michael ,angelo1 like ,lionardo1 did not marry2 he died at ,rome in #aefc1 in his eighty-ninth year4 ,his nephew and principal heir1#h by the orders of the ,grand ,duke of ,florence1 and it is believed according to ,michael ,angelo's own wish1 removed the painter's body to ,florence1 where it was buried with all honours in the church of ,santa ,croce there4 ,the traits which recall ,michael ,angelo personally to us1 are the prominent arch of the nose1 the shaggy brows1 the tangled beard1 the gaunt grandeur of a figure like that of one of his prophets4 ,while ,michael ,angelo lived1 one ,pope rose on his approach1 and seated the painter on his right hand1 and another ,pope declined to sit down in his painter's presence2 but the reason given for the last condescension1 is that the ,pope feared that the painter would follow his example4 ,and if the ,grand ,duke ,cosmo uncovered before ,michael ,angelo1 and stood hat in hand while speaking to him1 we may have the explanation in another assertion1 that 'sovereigns asked ,michael ,angelo to put on his cap1 because the painter would do it unasked4' ,the solitary instance in which ,michael ,angelo is represented as taking an unfair advantage of an antagonist1 is in connection with the painter's rivalry in his art with ,raphael4 ,michael ,angelo undervalued the genius of ,raphael1 and was disgusted by what the older man considered the immoderate admiration bestowed on the younger4 ,a favourite pupil of ,michael ,angelo's was ,sebastian ,del ,piombo1 who being a ,venetian by birth was an excellent colourist4 ,for one of his pictures--the very ',raising of ,lazarus' now in the ,national ,gallery1 which the ,pope had ordered at the same time that he had ordered ,raphael's ',transfiguration'--it is rumoured that ,michael ,angelo gave the designs and even drew the figures1 leaving ,sebastian the credit1 and trusting that without ,michael ,angelo's name appearing in the work1 by the help of his drawing in addition to ,sebastian's superb colouring1 ,raphael would be eclipsed1 and that by a painter comparatively obscure4 ,the unwarrantable inference that the whole work was that of one painter1 constituted a stratagem altogether unworthy of ,michael ,angelo1 and if it had any existence1 its getting wind disappointed and foiled its authors4 ,when the story was repeated to ,raphael1 his sole protest is said to have been to the effect that he was glad that ,michael ,angelo esteemed him so highly as to enter the lists with him4 ,we can judge of ,michael ,angelo's attainments as a poet1 even without having recourse to the original ,italian1 by ,wordsworth's translations of some of the ,italian master's sonnets1 and by ,mr ,john ,edward ,taylor's translations of selections from ,michael ,angelo's poems4 ,michael ,angelo was greater as an architect and a sculptor than as a painter1 because his power and delight lay in the mastery of form1 and in the assertion1 through that mastery1 of the idealism of genius4 ,it is not necessary to speak here of the mighty harmonies and the ineffable dignity of simplicity1 somewhat marred by the departure from ,michael ,angelo's designs1 in ,st ,peter's4 ,it has been the fashion to praise them to the skies1 and it has been a later fashion to decry them1 in awarding a preference to the solemn shades and the dim rich dreaminess of ,gothic architecture4 ,both fashions come to this1 after all1 that beauty1 like these great men of genius of old1 is many-sided4 ,in ,michael ,angelo's works of sculpture a weird charm attaches to his monuments in honour of the ,medici in the chapel of ,san ,lorenzo1 ,florence4 ,perhaps something of this weirdness has to do with the tragic history of the men1 and with a certain mystery which has always shrouded the sculptor's meaning in these monuments4 ,mrs ,jameson quotes an account of ,michael ,angelo at work4 ,an eye-witness has left us a very graphic description of the energy with which1 even in old age1 ,michael ,angelo handled his chisel3--,i can say that ,i have seen ,michael ,angelo at the age of sixty1 and1 with a body announcing weakness1 make more chips of marble fly about in a quarter of an hour than would three of the strongest young sculptors in an hour1--a thing almost incredible to him who has not beheld it4 ,he went to work with such impetuosity and fury of manner1 that ,i feared almost every moment to see the block split into pieces4 ,it would seem as if1 inflamed by the idea of greatness which inspired him1 this great man attacked with a ,vigenere4 ,in painting ,michael ,angelo regarded colouring as of secondary importance4 ,he is not known to have executed one painting in oil1 and he treated oil and easel-painting generally as work only fit for women or idle men4 ,while he approached the sublime in his painting1 it was by no means faultless4 ,even in form his efforts were apt to tend to heaviness and exaggeration1 and the fascination which robust muscular delineation had for him1 betrayed him into materialism4 ,fuseli's criticism of ,michael ,angelo's work1 that ,michael ,angelo's women were female men1 and his children diminutive giants1 is judged correct4 ,incomparably the greatest painting of ,michael ,angelo's is his ceiling of the ,sistine ,chapel4 ,it includes upwards of #bjj figures1 the greater part colossal1 as they were to be looked at1 in the distance1 from below4 ',the ceiling of the ,sistine ,chapel contains the most perfect works done by ,michael ,angelo in his long and active life4 ,here his great spirit appears in noblest dignity1 in its highest purity2 here the attention is not disturbed by that arbitrary display to which his great power not unfrequently seduced him in other works4 ,the ceiling forms a flattened arch in its section2 the central portion1 which is a plain surface1 contains a series of large and small pictures1 representing the most important events recorded in the book of ,genesis--the ,creation and ,fall of ,man1 with its immediate consequences4 ,in the large triangular compartments at the springing of the vault are sitting figures of the ,prophets and ,sibyls1 as the foretellers of the coming ,saviour4 ,in the soffits of the recesses between these compartments1 and in the arches underneath1 immediately above the windows1 are the ancestors of the ,virgin1 the series leading the mind directly to the ,saviour4 ,the external of these numerous representations is formed by an architectural frame-work of peculiar composition1 which encloses the single subjects1 tends to make the principal masses conspicuous1 and gives to the whole an appearance of that solidity and support so necessary1 but so seldom attended to in soffit decorations1 which may be considered as if suspended4 ,a great number of figures are also connected with the frame-work2 those in unimportant situations are executed in the colour of stone or bronze2 in the more important1 in natural colours4 ,these serve to support the architectural forms1 to fill up and to connect the whole4 ,they may be best described as the living and embodied genii of architecture4 ,it required the unlimited power of an architect1 sculptor1 and painter1 to conceive a structural whole of so much grandeur1 to design the decorative figures with the significant repose required by the sculpturesque character1 and yet to preserve their subordination to the principal subjects1 and to keep the latter in the proportions and relations best adapted to the space to be filled4'--,kugler4 ,the pictures from the ,old ,testament1 beginning from the altar1 are3-- #a4 ,the ,separation of ,light and ,darkness4 #b4 ,the ,creation of the ,sun and ,moon4 #c4 ,the ,creation of ,trees and ,plants4 #d4 ,the ,creation of ,adam4 #e4 ,the ,creation of ,eve4 #f4 ,the ,fall and the ,expulsion from ,paradise4 #g4 ,the ,sacrifice of ,noah4 #h4 ,the ,deluge4 #i4 ,the ,intoxication of ,noah4 ',the scenes from ,genesis are the most sublime representations of these subjects2--the ,creating ,spirit is unveiled before us4 ,the peculiar type which the painter has here given of the form of the ,almighty ,father has been frequently imitated by his followers1 and even by ,raphael1 but has been surpassed by none4 ,michael ,angelo has represented him in majestic flight1 sweeping through the air1 surrounded by genii1 partly supporting1 partly borne along with him1 covered by his floating drapery2 they are the distinct syllables1 the separate virtues of his creating word4 ,in the first 7large7 compartment we see him with extended hands1 assigning to the sun and moon their respective paths4 ,in the second1 he awakens the first man to life4 ,adam lies stretched on the verge of the earth in the act of raising himself2 the ,creator touches him with the point of his finger1 and appears thus to endow him with feeling and life4 ,this picture displays a wonderful depth of thought in the composition1 and the utmost elevation and majesty in the general treatment and execution4 ,the third subject is not less important1 representing the ,fall of ,man1 and his ,expulsion from ,paradise4 ,the tree of knowledge stands in the midst2 the serpent 7the upper part of the body being that of a woman7 is twined around the stem2 she bends down towards the guilty pair1 who are in the act of plucking the forbidden fruit4 ,the figures are nobly graceful1 particularly that of ,eve4 ,close to the serpent hovers the angel with the sword1 ready to drive the fallen beings out of ,paradise4 ,in this double action1 this union of two separate moments1 there is something peculiarly poetic and significant3 it is guilt and punishment in one picture4 ,the sudden and lightning-like appearance of the avenging angel behind the demon of darkness has a most impressive effect4'--,kugler4 ,the lower portion of the ceiling is divided into triangles1 occupied by the ,prophets and ,sibyls in solemn contemplation1 accompanied by angels and genii4 ,beginning from the left of the entrance their order is-- #a4 ,joel4 #b4 ,sibylla ,erythraea4 #c4 ,ezekiel4 #d4 ,sibylla ,persica4 #e4 ,jonah4 #f4 ,sibylla ,libyca4 #g4 ,daniel4 #h4 ,sibylla ,cumaea4 #i4 ,isaiah4 #aj4 ,sibylla ,delphica4 ',the prophets and sibyls in the triangular compartments of the curved portion of the ceiling are the largest figures in the whole work2 these1 too1 are among the most wonderful forms that modern art has called into life4 ,they are all represented seated1 employed with books or rolled manuscripts2 genii stand near or behind them4 ,these mighty beings sit before us pensive1 meditative1 inquiring1 or looking upwards with inspired countenances4 ,their forms and movements1 indicated by the grand lines and masses of the drapery1 are majestic and dignified4 ,we see in them beings1 who1 while they feel and bear the sorrows of a corrupt and sinful world1 have power to look for consolation into the secrets of the future4 ,yet the greatest variety prevails in the attitudes and expression3 each figure is full of individuality4 ,zacharias is an aged man1 busied in calm and circumspect investigation2 ,jeremiah is bowed down1 absorbed in thought1 the thought of deep and bitter grief2 ,ezekiel turns with hasty movements to the genius next to him1 who points upwards with joyful expectation1 etc4 ,the sibyls are equally characteristic3 the ,persian1 a lofty1 majestic woman1 very aged2 the ,erythraean1 full of power1 like the warrior goddess of wisdom2 the ,delphic1 like ,cassandra1 youthfully soft and graceful1 but with strength to bear the awful seriousness of revelation4'--,kugler4 ',the belief of the ,roman ,catholic ,church in the testimony of the sibyl is shown by the well-known hymn1 said to have been composed by ,pope ,innocent ,,iii1 at the close of the thirteenth century1 beginning with the verse-- ,dies irae1 dies illa1 ,solvet saeclum in favilla ,teste ,david cum ,sibylla4 ,it may be inferred that this hymn1 admitted into the liturgy of the ,roman ,church1 gave sanction to the adoption of the sibyls into ,christian art4 ,they are seen from this time accompanying the prophets and apostles1 in the cyclical decorations of the church4444 ,but the highest honour that art has rendered to the sibyls has been by the hand of ,michael ,angelo1 on the ceiling of the ,sistine ,chapel4 ,here in the conception of a mysterious order of women1 placed above and without all considerations of the graceful or the individual1 the great master was peculiarly in his element4 ,they exactly fitted his standard1 of art1 not always sympathetic1 nor comprehensible to the average human mind1 of which the grand in form and the abstract in expression were the first and last conditions4 ,in this respect1 the sibyls on the ,sistine ,chapel ceiling are more ,michael ,angelesque than their companions the prophets4 ,for these1 while types of the highest monumental treatment1 are yet men1 while the sibyls belong to a distinct class of beings1 who convey the impression of the very obscurity in which their history is wrapt--creatures who have lived far from the abodes of men1 who are alike devoid of the expression of feminine sweetness1 human sympathy1 or sacramental beauty2 who are neither ,christians nor ,jewesses1 ,witches nor ,graces1 yet living1 grand1 beautiful1 and true1 according to laws revealed to the great ,florentine genius only4 ,thus their figures may be said to be unique1 as the offspring of a peculiar sympathy between the master's mind and his subject4 ,to this sympathy may be ascribed the prominence and size given them1 both prophets and sibyls1 as compared to their usual relation to the subjects they environ4 ,they sit here on twelve throne-like niches1 more like presiding deities1 each wrapt in self-contemplation1 than as tributary witnesses to the truth and omnipotence of ,him they are intended to announce4 ,thus they form a gigantic frame-work round the subjects of the ,creation1 of which the birth of ,eve1 as the type of the ,nativity1 is the intentional centre4 ,for some reason1 the twelve figures are not prophets and sibyls alternately--there being only five sibyls to seven prophets1--so that the prophets come together at one angle4 ,books and scrolls are given indiscriminately to them4 ',the ,sibylla ,persica1 supposed to be the oldest of the sisterhood1 holds the book close to her eyes1 as if from dimness of sight1 which fact1 contradicted as it is by a frame of obviously ,herculean strength1 gives a mysterious intentness to the action4 ',the ,sibylla ,libyca1 of equally powerful proportions1 but less closely draped1 is grandly wringing herself to lift a massive volume from a height above her head on to her knees4 ',the ,sibylla ,cumana1 also aged1 and with her head covered1 is reading with her volume at a distance from her eyes4 ',the ,sibylla ,delphica1 with waving hair escaping from her turban1 is a beautiful young being1 the most human of all1 gazing into vacancy or futurity4 ,she holds a scroll4 ',the ,sibylla ,erythraea1 grand1 bare-headed creature1 sits reading intently with crossed legs1 about to turn over her book4 ',the prophets are equally grand in structure1 and though1 as we have said1 not more than men1 yet they are the only men that could well bear the juxtaposition with their stupendous female colleagues4 ,ezekiel1 between ,erythraea and ,persica1 has a scroll in his hand that hangs by his side1 just cast down1 as he turns eagerly to listen to some voice4 ',jeremiah1 a magnificent figure1 with elbow on knee and head on hand1 wrapt in meditation appropriate to one called to utter lamentation and woe4 ,he has neither book nor scroll4 ',jonah is also without either4 ,his position is strained and ungraceful1 looking upwards1 and apparently remonstrating with the ,almighty upon the destruction of the gourd1 a few leaves of which are seen above him4 ,his hands are placed together with a strange and trivial action1 supposed to denote the counting on his fingers the number of days he was in the fish's belly4 ,a formless marine monster is seen at his side4 ',daniel has a book on his lap1 with one hand on it4 ,he is young1 and a piece of lion's skin seems to allude to his history4'#i ,in the recesses between the prophets and sibyls are a series of lovely family groups1 representing the genealogy of the ,virgin1 and expressive of calm expectation of the future4 ,the four corners of the ceiling contain groups illustrative of the power of the ,lord displayed in the especial deliverances of his chosen people4 ,near the altar are3 ,right1 ,the ,deliverance of the ,israelites by the ,brazen ,serpent4 ,left1 ,the ,execution of ,haman4 ,near the entrance are3 ,right1 ,judith and ,holofernes4 ,left1 ,david and ,goliath4#aj ,michael ,angelo was thirty-nine years of age when he painted the ceiling of the ,sistine4 ,when he began to paint the ',day of ,judgment' he was above sixty years of age1 and his great rival1 ,raphael1 had already been dead thirteen years4 ,the picture of the ',day of ,judgment1' with much that renders it marvellous and awful1 has a certain coarseness of conception and execution4 ,the moment chosen is that in which the ,lord says1 ',depart from me1 ye cursed1' and the idea and even attributes of the principal figure are taken from ,orcagna's old painting in the ,campo ,santo4 ,but with all ,michael ,angelo's advantages1 he has by no means improved on the original idea4 ,he has robbed the figure of the ,lord of its transcendant majesty2 he has not been able to impart to the ranks of the blessed the look of blessedness which ',il ,beato' himself might have conveyed4 ,the chief excellence of the picture is in the ranks of the condemned1 who writhe and rebel against their agonies4 ,no wonder that the picture is sombre and dreadful4 ,of the allegorical figures of ',night' and ',morning' in the chapel of ,san ,lorenzo1 there are casts at the ,crystal ,palace4 ,a comparison and a contrast have been instituted between ,michael ,angelo and ,milton1 and ,raphael and ,shakespeare4 ,there may be something in them1 but1 as in the case of broken metaphors1 they will not bear being pushed to a logical conclusion or picked to pieces4 ,the very transparent comparison which matches ,michael ,angelo with his own countryman1 ,dante1 is after all more felicitous and truer4 ,michael ,angelo with ,lionardo are the great chiefs of the ,florentine ,school4 ,raphael ,sanzio1 or ,santi of ,urbino1 the head of the ,roman ,school1 was one of those very exceptional men who seem born to happiness1 to inspire love and only love1 to pass through the world making friends and disarming enemies1 who are fully armed to confer pleasure while almost incapable of either inflicting or receiving pain4 ,to this day his exceptional fortune stands ,raphael's memory in good stead1 since for one man or woman who yearns after the austere righteousness and priceless tenderness of ,michael ,angelo1 there are ten who yield with all their hearts to the gay1 sweet gentleness and generosity of ,raphael4 ,no doubt it was also in his favour as a painter1 that though a man of highly cultivated tastes1 'in close intimacy and correspondence with most of the celebrated men of his time1 and interested in all that was going forward1' he did not1 especially in his youth1 spend his strength on a variety of studies1 but devoted himself to painting4 ,while he thus vindicated his share of the breadth of genius of his country and time1 by giving to the world the loveliest ,madonnas and ,child-,christs1 the most dramatic of battle-pieces1 the finest of portraits1 his noble and graceful fertility of invention and matchless skill of execution were confined to and concentrated on painting4 ,he did not diverge long or far into the sister arts of architecture and sculpture1 though his classic researches in the excavations of ,rome were keen and zealous2 a heap of ruins having given to the world in #aejd the group of the that a writer of his day could record that ',raphael had sought and found in ,rome another ,rome4' ,raphael was born in the town of ,urbino1 and was the son of a painter of the ,umbrian ,school1 who very early destined the boy to his future career1 and promoted his destination by all the efforts in ,giovanni ,santi's power1 including the intention of sending away and apprenticing the little lad to the best master of his time1 ,perugino1 so called from the town where he resided1 ,perugia4 ,raphael's mother died when he was only eight years of age1 and his father died when he was no more than eleven years1 before the plans for his education were put into action4 ,but no stroke of outward calamity1 or loss--however severe1 could annul ,raphael's birthright of universal favour4 ,his step-mother1 the uncles who were his guardians1 his clever1 perverse1 unscrupulous master1 all joined in a common love of ,raphael and determination to promote his interests4 ,raphael at the age of twelve years went to ,perugia to work under ,perugino1 and remained with his master till he was nearly twenty years of age4 ,in that interval he painted industriously1 making constant progress1 always in the somewhat hard1 but finished1 style of ,perugino1 while already showing a predilection for what was to prove ,raphael's favourite subject1 the ,madonna and ,child4 ,at this period he painted his famous ,lo ,sposalizio or the ',espousals1' the marriage of the ,virgin ,mary with ,joseph1 now at ,milan4 ,in #aejd he visited ,florence1 remaining only for a short time1 but making the acquaintance of ,fra ,bartolommeo and ,ghirlandajo1 seeing the cartoons of ,lionardo and ,michael ,angelo1 and from that time displaying a marked improvement in drawing4 ,indeed nothing is more conspicuous in ,raphael's genius in contra-distinction to ,michael ,angelo's1 than the receptive character of ,raphael's mind1 his power of catching up an impression from without1 and the candour and humility with which he availed himself unhesitatingly of the assistance lent him by others4 ,returning soon to ,florence1 ,raphael remained there till #aejh1 when he was twenty-five years1 drawing closer the valuable friendships he had already formed1 and advancing with rapid strides in his art1 until his renown was spread all over ,italy1 and with reason1 since already1 while still young1 he had painted his ',madonna of the ,goldfinch1' in the ,florentine ,gallery1 and his ',la ,belle ,jardiniere1' or ,madonna in a garden among flowers1 now in the ,louvre4 ,in his twenty-fifth year ,raphael was summoned to ,rome to paint for ,pope ,julius ,,ii4 ,my readers will remember that ,michael ,angelo in the abrupt severity of his prime of manhood1 was soon to paint the ceiling of the ,sistine ,chapel for the same despotic and art-loving ,pope1 who had brought ,raphael hardly more than a stripling to paint the ',camere' or ',stanze' chambers of the ,vatican4 ,the first of the halls which ,raphael painted 7though not the first in order7 is called the ,camera della ,segnatura 7in ,english1 signature71 and represents ,theology1 ,poetry1 ,philosophy1 with the ,sciences1 ,arts1 and ,jurisprudence4 ,the second is the ',stanza d',eliodoro1' or the room of ,heliodorus1 and contains the grandest painting of all1 in the expulsion of ,heliodorus from the ,temple of ,jerusalem 7taken from ,maccabees71 the ,miracle of ,bolsena1 ,attila1 king of the ,huns1 terrified by the apparition of ,st ,peter and ,st ,paul1 and ,st ,peter delivered from prison4 ,the third stanza painted by ,raphael is the ',stanza dell' ,incendio' 7the conflagration71 so called from the extinguishing of the fire in the ,borgo by a supposed miracle1 being the most conspicuous scene in representations of events taken from the lives of ,popes ,leo ,,iii1 and ,,iv42 and the fourth chamber1 which was left unfinished by ,raphael1 and completed by his scholars1 is the ',sala di ,constantino1' and contains incidents from the life of the ,emperor ,constantine1 including the splendid battle-piece between ,constantine and ,maxentius4 ,at these chambers1 or at the designs for them1 during the popedoms of ,julius ,,ii41 who died in the course of the painting of the ,camere1 and ,leo ,x41 for a period of twelve years1 till ,raphael's death in #aebj1 after which the ',sala di ,constantino' was completed by his scholars4 ,raphael has also left in the ,vatican a series of small pictures from the ,old ,testament1 known as ,raphael's ,bible4 ,this series decorates the thirteen cupolas of the ',loggie1' or open galleries1 running round three sides of an open court4 ,another work undertaken by ,raphael should have still more interest for us4 ,leo ,x41 resolving to substitute woven for painted tapestry round the lower walls of the interior of the ,sistine ,chapel1 commanded ,raphael to furnish drawings to the ,flemish weavers1 and thence arose eleven cartoons1 seven of which have been preserved1 have become the property of ,england1 and are the glory of the ,kensington ,museum4 ,the subjects of the cartoons in the seven which have been saved1 are ',the ,death of ,ananias1' ',elymas the ,sorcerer struck with ,blindness1' ',the ,healing of the ,lame ,man at the ,beautiful ,gate of the ,temple1' ',the ,miraculous ,draught of ,fishes1' ',paul and ,barnabas at ,lystra1' ',st ,paul ,preaching at ,athens1' and ',the ,charge to ,st ,peter4' ,the four cartoons which are lost1 were ',the ,stoning of ,st ,stephen1' ',the ,conversion of ,st ,paul1' ',paul in ,prison1' and ',the ,coronation of the ,virgin4' ,in those cartoons figures above life-size were drawn with chalk upon strong paper1 and coloured in distemper1 and ,raphael received for his work four hundred and thirty gold ducats 7about ,l#fej71 while the ,flemish weavers received for their work in wools1 silk1 and gold1 fifty thousand gold ducats4 ,the designs were cut up in strips for the weavers' use1 and while some strips were destroyed1 the rest lay in a warehouse at ,arras1 till ,rubens became aware of their existence1 and advised ,charles ,i1 to buy the set1 to be employed in the tapestry manufactory established by ,james ,i4 at ,mortlake4 ,brought to this country in the slips which the weavers had copied1 the fate of the cartoons was still precarious4 ,cromwell bought them in ,charles ,i4's art collection1 and ,louis ,,xiv1 sought1 but failed1 to re-buy them4 ,they fell into farther neglect1 and were well-nigh forgotten1 when ,sir ,godfrey ,kneller recalled them to notice1 and induced ,william ,,iii1 to have the slips pasted together1 and stretched upon linen1 and put in a room set apart for them at ,hampton ,court1 whence they were transferred1 within the last ten years1 for the greater advantage of artists and the public1 to ,kensington ,museum4 ,the woven tapestries for which the cartoons were designed had quite as chequered a career4 ,in the two sacks of ,rome by ,french soldiers1 the tapestries were seized1 carried off1 and two of them burnt for the bullion in the thread4 ,at last they were restored to the ,vatican1 where they hang in their faded magnificence1 a monument of ,leo ,x1 and of ,raphael4 ,an additional set of ten tapestry cartoons were supplied to the ,vatican by ,raphael's scholars4 ,raphael painted for the ,chigi family in their palace1 which is now the ,villa ,farnesina1 scenes from the history of ,cupid and ,psyche1 and the ,triumph of ,galatea1 subjects which show how the passion for classical mythology that distinguishes the next generation1 was beginning to work4 ,to these last years belong his ',madonna di ,san ,sisto1' so named from its having been painted for the convent of ,st ,sixtus at ,piacenza1 and his last picture1 the ',transfiguration1' with which he was still engaged when death met him unexpectedly4 ,raphael1 as the ,italians say1 lived more like a 'principe' 7prince7 than a 'pittore' 7painter74 ,he had a house in ,rome1 and a villa in the neighbourhood1 and on his death left a considerable fortune to his heirs4 ,there has not been wanting a rumour that his life of a principe was a dissipated and prodigal life2 but this ugly rumour1 even if it had more evidence to support it1 is abundantly disproven by the nature of ,raphael's work1 and by the enormous amount of that work1 granting him the utmost assistance from his crowd of scholars4 ,he had innumerable commissions1 and retained an immense school from all parts of ,italy1 the members of which adored their master4 ,raphael had the additional advantage of having many of his pictures well engraved by a contemporary engraver named ,raimondi4 ,like ,giotto1 ,raphael was the friend of the most distinguished ,italians of his day1 including ,count ,castiglione1 and the poet ,ariosto4 ,he was notably the warm friend of his fellow-painters both at home and abroad1 with the exception of ,michael ,angelo4 ,a drawing of his own1 which ,raphael sent1 in his kindly interchange of such sketches1 to ,albert ,duerer1 is1 ,i think1 preserved at ,nueremberg4 ,the sovereign princes of ,italy1 above all ,leo ,x41 were not contented with being munificent patrons to ,raphael1 they treated him with the most marked consideration4 ,the ,cardinal ,bibbiena proposed the painter's marriage with his niece1 ensuring her a dowry of three thousand gold crowns1 but ,maria di ,bibbiena died young1 ere the marriage could be accomplished2 and ,raphael1 who was said to be little disposed to the match1 did not long survive her4 ,he caught cold1 as some report1 from his engrossing personal superintendence of the ,roman excavations2 and1 as others declare1 from his courtly assiduity in keeping an appointment with the ,pope1 was attacked by fever1 and died on his birth-day1 ,april #fth1 #aebj1 having completed his thirty-seventh year4 ,all ,rome and ,italy mourned for him4 ,when his body lay in state1 to be looked at and wept over by multitudes1 his great unfinished picture of the ',transfiguration' was hung above the bed4 ,he was buried in a spot chosen by himself in his lifetime1 and1 as it happened1 not far from the resting-place of his promised bride4 ,doubts having been raised as to ,raphael's grave1 search was made1 and his body was exhumed in #ahcc1 and re-buried with great pomp4 ,raphael's life and that of ,rubens form the ideal painter's life--bountiful1 splendid1 unclouded1 and terminating ere it sees eclipse or decay--to all in whom the artistic temperament is united to a genial1 sensuous1 pleasure-loving nature4 ,raphael was not above the middle height1 and slightly made4 ,he was sallow in colour1 with brown eyes1 and a full yet delicate mouth2 but his beautiful face1 like that of our ,english ,shakespeare1 is familiar to most of us4 ,with regard to ,raphael's face1 the amount of womanliness in it is a striking characteristic4 ,one hears sometimes that no man's character is complete without its share of womanliness3 surely ,raphael had a double share1 for womanliness is the most distinctive quality in his face1 along with that vague shade of pensiveness which we find not infrequently1 but strangely enough1 in those faces which have been associated with the happiest spirits and the brightest fortunes4 ,raphael and his scholars painted and drew about nine hundred pictures and sketches1 including a hundred and twenty ,madonnas1 eight of which are in private collections in ,england4 ,of ,raphael's greatness1 ,kugler writes that 'it is not so much in kind as in degree4 ,no master left behind so many really excellent works as he1 whose days were so early numbered2 in none has there been observed so little that is unpleasant4' ,all authorities agree in ascribing much of ,raphael's power to his purely unselfish nature and aim4 ,his excellence seems to lie in the nearly perfect expression of material beauty and harmony1 together with grandeur of design and noble working out of thought4 ,we shall see that this devotion to material beauty has been made something of a reproach to ,raphael1 as it certainly degenerated into a snare in the hands of his followers1 while unquestionably the universal appreciation of ,raphael's work1 distinguished from the partial appreciation bestowed on the great works of others1 proceeds from this evident material beauty which is open to all4 ,then1 again1 ,raphael1 far more than ,andrea del ,sarto1 deserved to be called 'faultless2' and this general absence of defects and equality of excellence is a great element of ,raphael's wide popularity2 for1 as one can observe for one's self1 in regarding a work of art1 there is always a large proportion of the spectators who will seize on an error1 dwell on it1 and be incapable of shaking off its influence1 and rising into the higher rank of critics1 who discover and ponder over beauties4 ,i would have it considered also1 that this equality of excellence does not necessarily proceed always from a higher aim1 but may arise rather from an unconsciously lower aim4 ,the single reproach brought against ,raphael as a painter is that--according to some witnesses only1 for most deny the implication--,raphael so delighted in material beauty that he became enslaved by it1 till it diminished his spiritual insight4 ,it is an incontestable truth that in ,raphael1 as in all the great ,italian painters of his century1 there was a falling away from the simple earnestness1 the exceeding reverence1 the endless patience1 the self-abstraction1 and self-devotion of the earliest ,italian and ,flemish painters4 ,therefore there has been within the last fifty or sixty years that movement in modern art1 which is called ,pre-raphaelitism1 and which is1 in fact1 a revolt against subjection to ,raphael1 and his supposed undue exaltation of material beauty1 and subjection of truth to beauty--so called4 ,but we must not fall into the grave mistake of imagining that there was any want of vigour and variety in ,raphael's grace and tenderness1 or that he could not in his greatest works rise into a grandeur in keeping with his subject4 ,tire as we may of hearing ,raphael called the king of painters1 as the ,greeks tired of hearing ,aristides called 'the just1' this fact remains3 no painter has left behind him such a mass of surpassingly good work2 in no other work is there the same charm of greatest beauty and harmony4 ,it is hard for me to give you an idea in so short a space of ,raphael's work4 ,i must content myself with quoting descriptions of two of his ,stanze1 those of the ,heliodorus and the ,segnatura4 ',heliodorus driven out of the ,temple 7#b ,maccabees iii474 ,in the background ,onias the priest is represented praying for ,divine interposition2--in the foreground ,heliodorus1 pursued by two avenging angels1 is endeavouring to bear away the treasures of the temple4 ,amid the group on the left is seen ,julius ,,ii41 in his chair of state1 attended by his secretaries4 ,one of the bearers in front is ,marc-,antonio ,raimondi1 the engraver of ,raphael's designs4 ,the man with the inscription1 ,jo ,petro de ,folicariis ,cremonen1 was secretary of briefs to ,pope ,julius4 ,here you may fancy you hear the thundering approach of the heavenly warrior1 and the neighing of his steed2 while in the different groups who are plundering the treasures of the temple1 and in those who gaze intently on the sudden consternation of ,heliodorus1 without being able to divine its cause1 we see the expression of terror1 amazement1 joy1 humility1 and every passion to which human nature is exposed4'#aa ',the ,stanza della ,segnatura is so called from a judicial assembly once held here4 ,the frescoes in this chamber are illustrative of the ,virtues of ,theology1 ,philosophy1 ,poetry1 and ,jurisprudence1 who are represented on the ceiling by ,raphael1 in the midst of arabesques by ,sodoma4 ,the square pictures by ,raphael refer3--the ,fall of ,man to ,theology2 the ,study of the ,globe to ,philosophy2 the ,flaying of ,marsyas to ,poetry2 and the ,judgment of ,solomon to ,jurisprudence4 ',entrance ,wall4--,the ,school of ,athens4 ,raphael consulted ,ariosto as to the arrangement of its #eb figures4 ,in the centre1 on the steps of a portico1 are seen ,plato and ,aristotle1 ,plato pointing to heaven and ,aristotle to earth4 ,on the left is ,socrates conversing with his pupils1 amongst whom is a young warrior1 probably ,alcibiades4 ,lying upon the steps in front is ,diogenes4 ,to his left1 ,pythagoras is writing on his knee1 and near him1 with ink and pen1 is ,empedocles4 ,the white mantle is ,francesco ,maria della ,rovere1 nephew of ,julius ,,ii4 ,on the right is ,archimedes drawing a geometrical problem upon the floor4 ,the young man near him with uplifted hands is ,federigo ,,ii41 ,duke of ,mantua4 ,behind these are ,zoroaster1 ,ptolemy1 one with a terrestrial1 the other with a celestial globe1 addressing two figures1 which represent ,raphael and his master ,perugino4 ,the drawing in brown upon the socle beneath this fresco1 is by ,pierino del ,vaga1 and represents the death of ,archimedes4 ',right ,wall4--,parnassus4 ,apollo surrounded by the ,muses2 on his right1 ,homer1 ,virgil1 and ,dante4 ,below on the right1 ,sappho1 supposed to be addressing ,corinna1 ,petrarch1 ,propertius1 and ,anacreon2 on the left ,pindar and ,horace1 ,sannazzaro1 ,boccaccio1 and others4 ,beneath this1 in grisaille1 are1--,alexander placing the poems of ,homer in the tomb of ,achilles1 and ,augustus preventing the burning of ,virgil's ,a,eneid4 ',left ,wall4--,above the window are ,prudence1 ,fortitude1 and ,temperance4 ,on the left1 ,justinian delivers the ,pandects to ,tribonian4 ,on the right1 ,gregory ,,ix4 7with the features of ,julius ,,ii47 delivers the ,decretals to a jurist2--,cardinal de' ,medici1 afterwards ,leo ,x41 ,cardinal ,farnese1 afterwards ,paul ,,iii41 and ,cardinal del ,monte1 are represented near the ,pope4 ,in the socle beneath is ,solon addressing the people of ,athens4 ',wall of ,egress4--,the ,disputa4 ,so called from an impression that it represents a ,dispute upon the ,sacrament4 ,in the upper part of the composition the heavenly host are present2 ,christ between the ,virgin and ,st ,john the ,baptist2 on the left1 ,st ,peter1 ,adam1 ,st ,john1 ,david1 ,st ,stephen1 and another2 and on the right1 ,st ,paul1 ,abraham1 ,st ,james1 ,moses1 ,st ,lawrence1 and ,st ,george4 ,below is an altar surrounded by the ,latin fathers1 ,gregory1 ,jerome1 ,ambrose1 and ,augustine4 ,near ,st ,augustine stand ,st ,thomas ,aquinas1 ,st ,anacletus1 with the palm of a martyr1 and ,cardinal ,buenaventura reading4 ,those in front are ,innocent ,,iii41 and in the background1 ,dante1 near whom a monk in a black hood is pointed out as ,savonarola4 ,the ,dominican on the extreme left is supposed to be ,fra ,angelico4 ,the other figures are uncertain4' 444 ',raphael commenced his work in the ,vatican by painting the ceiling and the four walls in the room called della ,segnatura1 on the surface of which he had to represent four great compositions1 which embraced the principal divisions of the encyclopedia of that period2 namely1 ,theology1 ,philosophy1 ,poetry1 and ,jurisprudence4 ',it will be conceived1 that to an artist imbued with the traditions of the ,umbrian ,school1 the first of these subjects was an unparalleled piece of good fortune3 and ,raphael1 long familiar with the allegorical treatment of religious compositions1 turned it here to the most admirable account2 and1 not content with the suggestions of his own genius1 he availed himself of all the instruction he could derive from the intelligence of others4 ,from these combined inspirations resulted1 to the eternal glory of the ,catholic faith and of ,christian art1 a composition without a rival in the history of painting1 and1 we may also add1 without a name2 for to call it lyric or epic is not enough1 unless1 indeed1 we mean1 by using these expressions1 to compare it with the allegorical epic of ,dante1 alone worthy to be ranked with this marvellous production of the pencil of ,raphael4 ',let no one consider this praise as idle and groundless1 for it is ,raphael himself who forces the comparison upon us1 by placing the figure of ,dante among the favourite sons of the ,muses2 and1 what is still more striking1 by draping the allegorical figure of ,theology in the very colours in which ,dante has represented ,beatrice2 namely1 the white veil1 the red tunic1 and the green mantle1 while on her head he has placed the olive crown4 ',of the four allegorical figures which occupy the compartments of the ceiling1 and which were all painted immediately after ,raphael's arrival in ,rome1 ,theology and ,poetry are incontestably the most remarkable4 ,the latter would be easily distinguished by the calm inspiration of her glance1 even were she without her wings1 her starry crown1 and her azure robe1 all having allusion to the elevated region towards which it is her privilege to soar4 ,the figure of ,theology is quite as admirably suited to the subject she personifies2 she points to the upper part of the grand composition1 which takes its name from her1 and in which the artist has provided inexhaustible food for the sagacity and enthusiasm of the spectator4 ',this work consists of two grand divisions1--,heaven and ,earth--which are united to one another by that mystical bond1 the ,sacrament of the ,eucharist4 ,the personages whom the ,church has most honoured for learning and holiness1 are ranged in picturesque and animated groups on either side of the altar1 on which the consecrated wafer is exposed4 ,st ,augustine dictates his thoughts to one of his disciples2 ,st ,gregory1 in his pontifical robes1 seems absorbed in contemplation of celestial glory2 ,st ,ambrose1 in a slightly different attitude1 appears to be chanting the ,te ,deum2 while ,st ,jerome1 seated1 rests his hands on a large book1 which he holds on his knees4 ,pietro ,lombardo1 ,duns ,scotus1 ,st ,thomas ,aquinas1 ,pope ,anacletus1 ,st ,buenaventura1 and ,innocent ,,iii41 are no less happily characterized2 while1 behind all these illustrious men1 whom the ,church and succeeding generations have agreed to honour1 ,raphael has ventured to introduce ,dante with his laurel crown1 and1 with still greater boldness1 the monk ,savonarola1 publicly burnt ten years before as a heretic4 ',in the glory1 which forms the upper part of the picture1 the ,three ,persons of the ,trinity are represented1 surrounded by patriarchs1 apostles1 and saints3 it may1 in fact1 be considered in some sort as a resume of all the favourite compositions produced during the last hundred years by the ,umbrian ,school4 ,a great number of the types1 and particularly those of ,christ and the ,virgin1 are to be found in the earlier works of ,raphael himself4 ,the ,umbrian artists1 from having so long exclusively employed themselves on mystical subjects1 had certainly attained to a marvellous perfection in the representation of celestial beatitude1 and of those ineffable things of which it has been said that the heart of man cannot conceive them1 far less1 therefore1 the pencil of man portray2 and ,raphael1 surpassing them in all1 and even in this instance1 while surpassing himself1 appears to have fixed the limits1 beyond which ,christian art1 properly so called1 has never since been able to advance4'#ab ,of ,raphael's ,madonnas1 ,i should like to speak of three4 ,the ,madonna di ,san ,sisto3 ',it represents the ,virgin standing in a majestic attitude2 the infant ,saviour enthroned in her arms2 and around her head a glory of innumerable cherubs melting into light4 ,kneeling before her we see on one side ,st ,sixtus1 on the other ,st ,barbara1 and beneath her feet two heavenly cherubs gaze up in adoration4 ,in execution1 as in design1 this is probably the most perfect picture in the world4 ,it is painted throughout by ,raphael's own hand2 and as no sketch or study of any part of it was ever known to exist1 and as the execution must have been1 from the thinness and delicacy of the colours1 wonderfully rapid1 it is supposed that he painted it at once on the canvas--a creation rather than a picture4 ,in the beginning of the last century the ,elector of ,saxony1 ,augustus ,,iii41 purchased this picture from the monks of the convent for the sum of sixty thousand florins 7about ,l#fjjj71 and it now forms the chief boast and ornament of the ,dresden ,gallery'#ac ,the ,madonna del ,cardellino 7our ,lady of the ,goldfinch73 ',the ,virgin is sitting on a rock1 in a flowery meadow4 ,behind are the usual light and feathery trees1 growing on the bank of a stream1 which passes off to the left in a rocky bend1 and is crossed by a bridge of a single arch4 ,to the right1 the opposite bank slopes upward in a gentle glade1 across which is a village1 backed by two distant mountain-peaks4 ',in front of the sitting matronly figure of the ,virgin are the holy children1 our ,lord and the ,baptist1 one on either side of her right knee4 ,she has been reading1 and the approach of ,st ,john has caused her to look off her book 7which is open in her left hand7 at the new comer1 which she does with a look of holy love and gentleness1 at the same time caressingly drawing him to her with her right hand1 which touches his little body under the right arm4 ,in both hands1 which rest across the ,virgin's knee1 he holds a captive goldfinch1 which he has brought1 with childish glee1 as an offering to the ,holy ,child4 ,the infant ,jesus1 standing between his mother's knees1 with one foot placed on her foot1 and her hand1 with the open book1 close above his shoulder1 regards the ,baptist with an upward look of gentle solemnity1 at the same time that he holds his bent hand over the head of the bird4 ',so much for mere description4 ,the inner feeling of the picture1 the motive which has prompted it1 has surely hardly ever been surpassed4 ,the ,blessed ,virgin1 in casting her arm round the infant ,st ,john1 looks down on him with a holy complacency for the testimony which he is to bear to her ,son4 ,notice the human boyish glee with which the ,baptist presents the captured goldfinch1 and1 on the other hand1 the divine look1 even of majesty and creative love1 with which the infant ,jesus1 laying his hand on the head of the bird1 half reproves ,st ,john1 as it were saying1 ,love them and hurt them not4 ,notice1 too1 the unfrightened calm of the bird itself1 passive under the hand of its loving ,creator4 ,all these are features of the very highest power of human art4 ',again1 in accompaniments1 all is as it should be4 ,the ,virgin1 modestly and beautifully draped2 ,st ,john1 girt about the loins1 not only in accord with his well-known prophetic costume1 but also as partaking of sinful humanity1 and therefore needing such cincture3 the ,child ,redeemer1 with a slight cincture1 just to suggest motherly care1 but not over the part usually concealed1 as indeed it never ought to be1 seeing that in ,him was no sin1 and that it is this spotless purity which is ever the leading idea in representations of ,him as an infant4 ,notice1 too1 his foot1 beautifully resting on that of his mother2 the unity between them being thus wonderfully though slightly kept up4 ,her eye has just been dwelling on the book of the ,prophecies open in her hand2 and thus the spectator's thought is ruled in accordance with the high mission of the ,holy ,one of ,god1 and thrown forward into the grand and blessed future4 ,it is a holy and wonderful picture2 ,i had not seen any in ,italy which had struck or refreshed me more4'#ad ,and allow me to write two or three words with regard to the ',madonna della ,sedia1' or our ,lady of the ,chair1 an engraving of which used to charm me when a child4 ,the ,virgin1 very young and simple-looking in her loveliness1 is seated on a low chair1 clasping the ,divine ,child1 who is leaning in weariness on her breast4 ,in the original picture1 ,st ,john with his cross is standing--a boy at the ,virgin's knee1 but he is absent from the old engraving4 ,the meek adoring tenderness in the face of the mother1 the holy ingenuousness in that of the child1 are expressions to be long studied4 ,of ,raphael's cartoons1 which1 so many of us can see for ourselves1 ,i cannot trust myself to do more than to repeat what strikes me as a singularly apt phrase of ,hazlitt's1 given by ,mrs ,jameson1 that the cartoons are instances in which 'the corruptible has put on incorruption4' ,that from the very slightness of the materials employed1 and the very injuries which the cartoons have sustained1 we have the greatest triumph of art1 where 'the sense of power supersedes the appearance of effort1' and where the result is the more majestic for being in ruins4 ',all other pictures look like oil and varnish1 we are stopped and attracted by the colouring1 the penciling1 the finishing1 the instrumentality of art2 but the on the canvas4444 ,there is nothing between us and the subject2 we look through a frame and see ,scripture histories1 and amidst the wreck of colour and the mouldering of material beauty1 nothing is left but a universe of thought1 or the broad imminent shadows of calm contemplation and majestic pains4' ,and that ,raphael did not neglect the minutest details in these sketches1 will be seen by the accompanying note3 ',the foreground of ,raphael's two cartoons1 ,the ,miraculous ,draught of ,fishes1 and ,the ,charge to ,peter1 are covered with plants of the common sea cole-wort1 of which the sinuated leaves and clustered blossoms would have exhausted the patience of any other artist2 but have appeared worthy of prolonged and thoughtful labour to the great mind of ,raphael4'--,ruskin4 ,whole clusters of anecdotes gather round the cartoons1 which1 as they have to do with the work and not the worker1 ,i leave untouched1 with regret4 ,but ,i must forewarn my readers by mentioning some of the refuted criticisms which have been applied to the cartoons4 ,reading the criticisms and their answers ought to render us modest and wary in 'picking holes' in great pictures1 as forward and flippant critics1 old and young1 are tempted to pick them4 ,with regard to the ',miraculous ,draught of ,fishes1' a great outcry was once set up that ,raphael had made the boat too little to hold the figures he has placed in it4 ,but ,raphael made the boat little advisedly2 if he had not done so1 the picture would have been 'all boat1' a contingency scarcely to be desired2 on the other hand1 if ,raphael had diminished the figures to suit the size of the boat1 these figures would not have suited those of the other cartoons1 and the cartoon would have lost greatly in dignity and effect4 ,in the cartoon of the ',death of ,ananias1' carping objectors were ready to suggest that ,raphael had committed an error in time by introducing ,sapphira in the background counting her ill-gotten gains1 at the moment when her no less guilty husband has fallen down in the agonies of death4 ,it was hours afterwards that ,sapphira entered into the presence of the apostles4 ,but we must know that time and space do not exist for painters1 who have to tell their story at one stroke1 as it were4 ,in the treating of the ',lame ,man at the ,beautiful ,gate of the ,temple1' some authorities have found fault with ,raphael for breaking the composition into parts by the introduction of pillars1 and1 farther1 that the shafts are not straight4 ,yet by this treatment ,raphael has concentrated the principal action in a sort of frame1 and thus has been enabled to give more freedom of action to the remaining figures in the other divisions of the picture4 ',it is evident1 moreover1 that had the shafts been perfectly straight1 according to the severest law of good taste in architecture1 the effect would have been extremely disagreeable to the eye2 by their winding form they harmonize with the manifold forms of the moving figures around1 and they illustrate1 by their elaborate elegance1 the ,scripture phrase1 the gate which is called ,beautiful4'--,mrs ,jameson4 ,of ,raphael's portraits ,i must mention that wonderful portrait of ,leo ,x41 often reckoned the best portrait in the world for truth of likeness and excellence of painting1 and those of the so-called ',fornarina1' or 'baker'4 ,two ,fornarinas are at ,rome and one at ,florence4 ,there is a story that the original of the first two pictures was a girl of the people to whom ,raphael was attached2 and there is this to be said for the tradition1 that there is an acknowledged coarseness in the very beauty of the half-draped ,fornarina of the ,barberini ,palace4 ,the ',fornarina' of ,florence is the portrait of a noble woman1 holding the fur-trimming of her mantle with her right hand1 and it is said that the picture can hardly represent the same individual as that twice represented in ,rome4 ,according to one guess the last ',fornarina' is ,vittoria ,colonna1 the ,marchesa de ,pescara1 painted by ,seba ,piombo1 instead of by ,raphael2 and according to another1 the ,roman ',fornarina' is no ,fornarina beloved by ,raphael1 but ,beatrice ,pio1 a celebrated improvisatrice of the time4 ,an 'innovation of modern times is to spell ,raphael's name in ,england as the modern ,italians spelt it1 ,raffaelle1 a word of four syllables1 and yet to pronounce this ,italian word as if it were ,english1 as ,raphael4 ,vasari wrote ,raffaello2 he himself wrote ,raphael on his pictures1 and has signed the only autograph letter we have of his1 ,raphaello4'#ae ,titian1 or ,tiziano ,vecelli1 the greatest painter of the ,venetian ,school1 reckoned worthy to be named with ,lionardo1 ,michael ,angelo and ,raphael1 was born of good family at ,capo del ,cadore in the ,venetian ,state1 in #adgg4 ,there is a tradition that while other painters made their first essays in art with chalk or charcoal1 the boy ,titian1 who lived to be a glorious colourist1 made his earliest trials in painting with the juice of flowers4 ,titian studied in ,venice under the ,bellini1 and had ,giorgione1 who was born in the same year1 for his fellow-scholar1 at first his friend1 later his rival4 ,when a young man ,titian spent some time in ,ferrara2 there he painted his ',bacchus and ,ariadne1' and a portrait of ,lucrezia ,borgia4 ,in #aeab1 when ,titian was thirty-five years of age1 he was commissioned by the ,venetians to continue the works in the great council-hall1 which the advanced age of ,gian ,bellini kept him from finishing4 ,along with this commission ,titian was appointed in #aeaf to the office of la ,sanseria1 which gave him the duty and privilege of painting the portraits of the ,doges as long as he held the office2 coupled with the office was a salary of one hundred and twenty crowns a year4 ,titian lived to paint five ,doges2 two others1 his age1 equal to that of ,gian ,bellini1 prevented him from painting4 ,in #aeaf1 ,titian painted his greatest sacred picture1 the ',assumption of the ,virgin4' ,in the same year he painted the poet ,ariosto1 who mentions the painter with high honour in his verse4 ,in #aecj1 ,titian1 a man of fifty-three years1 was at ,bologna1 where there was a meeting between ,charles ,v1 and ,pope ,clement ,,vii41 when he was presented to both princes4 ,charles ,v1 and ,philip ,,ii1 became afterwards great patrons and admirers of ,titian1 and it is of ,charles ,v4 and ,titian that a legend1 to which ,i have already referred1 is told4 ,the ,emperor1 visiting the painter while he was at work1 stooped down and picked up a pencil1 which ,titian had let fall1 to the confusion and distress of the painter1 when ,charles paid the princely compliment1 ',titian is worthy of being served by ,caesar4' ,titian painted many portraits of ,charles ,v41 and of the members of his house4 ,as ,maximilian had created ,albrecht ,duerer a noble of the ,empire1 ,charles ,v1 created ,titian a ,count ,palatine1 and a ,knight of the ,order of ,st ,iago1 with a pension1 which was continued by ,philip ,,ii41 of four hundred crowns a year4 ,it is doubtful whether ,titian ever visited the ,spain of his patrons1 but ,madrid possesses forty-three of his pictures1 among them some of his finest works4 ,titian went to ,rome in his later years1 but declined to abandon for ,rome the painter's native ,venice1 which had lavished her favours on her son4 ,he lived in great splendour1 paying annual summer visits to his birth-place of ,cadore1 and occasionally dwelling again for a time at ,ferrara1 ,urbino1 ,bologna4 ,in two instances he joined the ,emperor at ,augsburgh4 ,when ,henry ,,iii1 of ,france landed at ,venice1 he was entertained en grand seigneur by ,titian1 then a very old man2 and when the king asked the price of some pictures which pleased him1 ,titian at once presented them as a gift to his royal guest4 ,titian married1 as has been recently ascertained1 and had three children1--two sons1 the elder a worthless and scandalous priest2 the second a good son and accomplished painter2 and a daughter1 the beautiful ,lavinia1 so often painted by her father1 and whose name will live with his4 ,titian survived his wife thirty-six years2 and his daughter1 who had married1 and was the mother of several children1 six years4 ,his second son and fellow-painter died of the same plague which struck down ,titian1 in #aeff1 at the ripe age of eighty-nine years4 ,titian is said to have been a man of irritable and passionate temper4 ,the hatred between him and the painter1 ,pordenone1 was so bitter1 that the latter thought his life in danger1 and painted with his shield and poniard lying ready to his hand4 ,titian grasped with imperious tenacity his supremacy as a painter1 sedulously kept the secrets of his skill1 and was most unmagnanimously jealous of the attainments of his scholars4 ,no defect of temper1 however1 kept ,titian from having two inseparable convivial companions--one of them the architect1 ,sansovino1 and the other the profligate wit1 ,aretino1 who was pleased to style himself the 'friend of ,titian and the scourge of princes4' ,though ,titian is said1 in the panic of the great plague1 to have died not only neglected1 but plundered before his eyes1 still ,venice prized him so highly1 that she made in his favour the single exception of a public funeral1 during the appalling devastation wrought by the pestilence4 ,from an engraving of a portrait of ,titian by himself1 which is before me1 ,i can give the best idea of his person4 ,he looks like one of the merchant princes1 whom he painted so often and so well1 in richly furred gown1 massive chain1 and small cap1 far off his broad forehead3 a stately figure1 with a face--in its aquiline nose and keen eyes1 full of sagacity and fire1 which no years could tame4 ,towards the close of ,titian's life1 there was none who even approached the old ,venetian painter in the art which he practised freely to the last4 ,painting in ,italy was everywhere losing its pre-eminence4 ,it had become1 even when it was not so nominally1 thoroughly secularized2--and with reason1 for the painters by their art-creed and by their lives were fitter to represent gods and goddesses1 in whom no man believed1 than to give earnest expression to a living faith4 ,even ,titian1 great as he was1 proved a better painter of heathen mythology than of sacred subjects4 ,but within certain limits and in certain directions1 ,titian stands unequalled4 ,he has a high place for composition and for drawing1 and his colouring was1 beyond comparison1 grand and true4 ,he was great as a landscape painter1 and he was the best portrait painter whom the world ever saw4 ,in his painting is seen1 not1 indeed1 the life of the spirit1 but the life of the senses 'in its fullest power1' and in ,titian there was such large mastery of this life1 that in his freedom there was no violence1 but the calmness of supreme strength1 the serenity of perfect satisfaction4 ,his painting was a reflection of the old ,greek idea of the life of humanity as a joyous existence1 so long as the sun of youth1 maturity1 health1 and good fortune shone1 without even that strain of foreboding pain1 and desperate closing with fate1 which troubled the bliss of ancient poet or sculptor4 ,a large proportion of ,titian's principal pictures are at ,venice and ,madrid4 ,among ,titian's finest sacred pictures1 are his ',assumption of the ,virgin1' now in the ,academy1 ,venice1 where 'the ,madonna1 a powerful figure1 is borne rapidly upwards1 as if divinely impelled2 441 fascinating groups of infant angels surround her1 beneath stand the apostles1 looking up with solemn gestures2' and his ',entombment of ,christ1' a picture which is also in ,venice4 ,titian's ,madonnas were not so numerous as his ,venuses1 many of which are judged excellent examples of the master4 ,his ',bacchus and ,ariadne1' in the ,national ,gallery1 is described by ,mrs ,jameson1 'as presenting1 on a small scale1 an epitome of all the beauties which characterize ,titian1 in the rich1 picturesque1 animated composition1 in the ardour of ,bacchus1 who flings himself from his car to pursue ,ariadne2 the dancing bacchanals1 the frantic grace of the bacchante1 and the little joyous satyr in front1 trailing the head of the sacrifice4' ,titian's landscapes are the noble backgrounds to many of his pictures4 ,these landscapes were not only free1 but full4 ',the great masters of ,italy1 almost without exception1 and ,titian1 perhaps1 more than any other 7for he had the highest knowledge of landscape71 are in the constant habit of rendering every detail of their foregrounds with the most laborious botanical fidelity2 witness the ,bacchus and ,ariadne1 in which the foreground is occupied by the common blue iris1 the aquilegia1 and the wild rose2 every stamen of which latter is given1 while the blossoms and leaves of the columbine 7a difficult flower to draw7 have been studied with the most exquisite accuracy4'--,ruskin4 ,in portraits1 ,titian conveyed to the sitters and transferred to his canvas1 not only a life-likeness1 but a positively noble dignity in that likeness4 ,what in ,van ,dyck and ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds was the bestowing of high breeding and dainty refinement1 became under ,titian's brush dignity1 pure and simple1 very quiet1 and wonderfully real4 ,there is this peculiarity in connection with the number of portraits which ,titian executed1 that many of them have descended to us without further titles than those of ',a ,venetian ,senator1' ',a ,lady1' etc41 etc41 yet of the individual life of the originals no one can doubt4 ,with regard to ,titian's portraits of women1 ,i have already referred to those of his beautiful daughter1 ,lavinia4 ,in one portrait1 in the ,berlin ,museum1 she is holding a plate of fruit2 in another1 in ,england1 the plate of fruit is changed into a casket of jewels2 in a third1 at ,madrid1 ,lavinia is ,herodias1 and bears a charger with the head of ,john the ,baptist4 ,a ',violante'--as some say1 the daughter of ,titian's scholar1 ,palma1 though dates disprove this--sat frequently to ,titian1 and is said to have been loved by him4 ,i have written1 in connection with ,lionardo's ',jaconde' and ,raphael's ',fornarina1' of ,titian's ',bella ,donna4' ,he has various ',bellas1' but1 as far as ,i know1 this is the ',bella ,donna1'--'a splendid1 serious beauty1 in a red and blue silk dress1' in the ,sciarra ,gallery1 ,rome4 ,i have read that critics were at one time puzzled by the singular yellow1 almost straw colour1 appearing profusely in the hair of the women of the ,venetian painters of this time1 and that it was only by consulting contemporary records that it was learnt that the ,venetian women indulged in the weak and false vanity of dyeing their black hair a pale yellow--a process1 in the course of which the women drew the hair through the crown of a broad-brimmed hat1 and spreading it over the brim1 submitted patiently to bleaching the hair in a southern sun4 ,among ,titian's portraits of men1 those of the ',emperor ,charles ,v4' and the ',duke of ,alva' are among the most famous4 ,titian painted1 and painted wonderfully1 to the very last4 ,he was eighty-one when he painted the ',martyrdom of ,st ,lawrence1' one of his largest and grandest compositions1 and in the last year of his life he painted--leaving it not quite completed1--a ',pieta2' showing that his hand owned the weight of years1#af but the conception of the subject is still animated and striking1 the colours still glowing2 while1 ,titian-like1 the light still flows around the mighty group in every gradation of tone4 ,,chapter ,v4 ,,german ,,art--,,albrecht ,d,ue,r,e,r1 #adga-aebh4 ,albrecht ,duerer carries us to a different country and a different race4 ,and he who has been called the father of ,german painting is thoroughly ,german1 not only in his ,saxon honesty1 sedateness1 and strength1 but in the curious mixture of simplicity1 subtlety1 homeliness1 and fantasticalness1 which are still found side by side in ,german genius4 ,albrecht ,duerer was born at that fittest birth-place for the great ,german painter1 quaint old ,nuremberg1 in #adga4 ,he was the son of a goldsmith1 and one of a family of eighteen children2 a home school in which he may have learnt early the noble1 manly lessons of self-denial and endurance1 which he practised long and well4 ,he was trained to his father's trade until the lad's bent became so unmistakable that he was wisely transferred to the studio of a painter to serve his apprenticeship to art4 ,when the ,nuremberg apprenticeship was completed1 ,albrecht followed the ,german custom1 very valuable to him1 of serving another and a 'wandering apprenticeship1' which carried him betimes through ,germany1 the ,netherlands1 and ,italy1 painting and studying as he went4 ,he painted his own portrait about this time1 showing himself a comely1 pleasant1 and pleased young fellow1 in a curious holiday suit of plaited low-bodied shirt1 jerkin1 and mantle across the shoulder1 with a profusion of long fair curls1 of which he was said to have been vain1 arranged elaborately on each side1 the blue eyes looking with frank confidence out of the blonde face4 ,he painted himself a little later with the brave kindly face grown mature1 and the wisdom of the spirit shining in the eyes1 and weighing on the brows4 ,on his return from his travels1 ,albrecht ,duerer's father arranged his son's marriage with the daughter of a musician in ,nuremberg4 ,the inducement to the marriage seems to have been1 on the father's part1 the dowry1 and on the son's the beauty of the bride4 ,how unhappy the union proved1 without any fault of ,albrecht's1 has been the theme of so many stories1 that ,i am half inclined to think that some of us must be more familiar with ,albrecht ,duerer's wedded life than with any other part of his history4 ,it seems to me1 that there is considerable exaggeration in these stories1 for granted that ,agnes ,duerer was a shrew and a miser1 was ,albrecht ,duerer the man to be entirely1 or greatly1 at such a woman's mercy8 ,taking matters at their worst1 dishonour and disgrace did not come near the great painter4 ,he was esteemed1 as he deserved to be2 he had a true friend in his comrade ,pirkheimer2 he had his art2 he had the peace of a good conscience2 he had the highest of all consolations in his faith in ,heaven4 ,certainly it is not from ,albrecht himself that the tale of his domestic wretchedness has come4 ,he was as manfully patient and silent as one might have expected in a man upright1 firm1 and self-reliant as he was tender4 ,i do not think it is good for men1 and especially for women1 to indulge in egotistical sentimentality1 and to believe that such a woman as ,agnes ,duerer could utterly thwart and wreck the life of a man like ,albrecht4 ,it is not true to life1 in the first place2 and it is dishonouring to the man1 in the second2 for although1 doubtless1 there are men who are driven to destruction or heart-broken by even the follies of women1 these men have not the stout hearts1 the loyal spirits1 the manly mould of ,albrecht ,duerer4 ,but making every allowance for the high colours with which a tale that has grown stale is apt to be daubed1 ,i am forced to admit the inference that a mean1 sordid1 contentious woman probably did as much as was in her power to harass and fret one of the best men in ,germany1 or in the world4 ,luckily for himself1 ,albrecht was a severe student1 had much engrossing work which carried him abroad1 and travelled once at least far away from the harassing and galling home discipline4 ,for anything further1 ,i believe that ,albrecht loved his greedy1 scolding wife1 whose fair face he painted frequently in his pictures1 and whom he left at last well and carefully provided for1 as he bore with her to the end4 ,in #aejf ,albrecht ,duerer re-visited ,italy alone1 making a stay of eight months in ,venice1 where he formed his friendship with the old ,gian ,bellini1 and where ,albrecht had the misfortune to show the proofs and plans of his engravings to the ,italian engraver1 ,raimondi1 who engraved ,raphael's paintings1 and who proved himself base enough to steal and make use of ,albrecht ,duerer's designs to the ,german's serious loss and inconvenience4 ,a little later ,albrecht ,duerer1 accompanied by his wife1 visited the ,netherlands4 ,the ,emperor ,maximilian treated the painter with great favour1 and a legend survives of their relations3--,duerer was painting so large a subject that he required steps to reach it4 ,the ,emperor1 who was present1 required a nobleman of his suite to steady the steps for the painter1 an employment which the nobleman declined as unworthy of his rank1 when the ,emperor himself stepped forward and supplied the necessary aid1 remarking1 ',sir1 understand that ,i can make ,albrecht a noble like and above you' 7,maximilian had just raised ,albrecht ,duerer to the rank of noble of the empire71 'but neither ,i nor any one else can make an artist like him4' ,we may compare this story with a similar and later story of ,holbein and ,henry ,,viii41 and with another earlier story1 having a slight variation1 of ,titian and ,charles ,v4 ,the universality of the story shakes one's belief in its individual application1 but at least the legend1 with different names1 remains as an indication of popular homage to genius4 ,while executing a large amount of work for the great towns and sovereign princes of ,germany1 some of whom were said to consult the painter on their military operations1 relying on his knowledge of mathematics1 and his being able to apply it to military engineering and fortification1 ,albrecht ,duerer was constantly improving and advancing in his art1 laying down his prejudices1 and acquiring fresh ideas1 as well as fresh information1 according to the slow but sure process of the true ,german mind1 till his last work was incomparably his best4 ,germany was then in the terrible throes of the ,reformation1 and ,albrecht ,duerer1 who has left us the portraits of several of the great ,reformers1 is believed to have been no uninterested spectator of the struggle1 and to have held1 like his fellow-painter1 ,lucas ,cranach--though in ,albrecht ,duerer's case the change was never openly professed--the doctrines of the ,reformation4 ,there is a portrait of ,albrecht ,duerer1 painted by himself1 in his later years4 7,by the way1 ,albrecht was not averse to painting his own portrait as well as that of his friend ,pirkheimer1 and of making the fullest claim to his work by introducing into his religious and historical pictures his own figure holding a flag or tablet1 inscribed with his name in the quiet self-assertion of a man who was neither ashamed of himself1 nor of anything he did47 ,in that last portrait1 ,albrecht is a thoughtful1 care-worn man1 with his fair locks shorn4 ,some will attribute the change to ,agnes ,duerer1 but ,i imagine it proceeds simply from the noble scars of work and time2 and that when ,albrecht ,duerer died in his fifty-seventh year1 if it were in sourness and bitterness of spirit1 as some of his biographers have stated1 that sourness and bitterness were quite as much owing to the grievous troubles of his time and country1 which so large-minded a man was sure to lay to heart1 as to any domestic trouble4 ,albrecht ,duerer was greatly beloved by his own city of ,nuremberg1 where his memory continues to be cherished4 ,his quaint house still stands1 and his tomb bears the motto ',emigravit1' ',for the great painter never dies4' ,albrecht ,duerer's name ranks with the names of the first painters of any time or country1 though his work as a painter was1 as in the case of ,william ,hogarth1 subservient to his work as an engraver4 ,with the knowledge of a later generation to that of the earliest ,italian and ,flemish painters1 ,albrecht ,duerer had much of their singleness of purpose1 assiduity of application1 and profound feeling4 ,he had to labour against a tendency to uncouthness in stiff lines and angular figures2 to petty elaboration of details2 and to that grotesqueness which1 while it suited in some respects his allegorical engravings1 marred his historical paintings1 so that he was known to regret the wasted fantastic crowding and confusion of his earlier work4 ,from the ,italians and ,flemings he learnt simplicity1 and a more correct sense of material beauty4 ,the purity1 truth1 and depth of the man's spirit1 from which ideal beauty proceeds1 no man could add to4 ,among ,albrecht ,duerer's greatest paintings are his ',adoration of the ,trinity' at ,vienna1 his ',adam and ,eve' at ,florence1 and that last picture of ',the ,apostles1' presented by ,albrecht ,duerer to his native city1 'in remembrance of his career as an artist1 and at the same time as conveying to his fellow-citizens an earnest and lasting exhortation suited to that stormy period4' ,the prominence given to the ,bible in the picture1 points to it as the last appeal in the great spiritual struggle4 ,with regard to this noble masterly picture1 ,kugler has written1 ',well might the artist now close his eyes4 ,he had in this picture attained the summit of art2 here he stands side by side with the greatest masters known in history4' ,but ,i prefer to say something of ,albrecht ,duerer's engravings1 which are more characteristic of him and far more widely known than his paintings2 and to speak first of those two wonderful and beautiful allegories1 ',knight1 ,death1 and the ,devil1' and ',melancolia4' ,in the first1 which is an embodiment of weird ,german romance as well as of high ,christian faith1 the solitary ,knight1 with his furrowed face and battered armour1 rides steadfastly on through the dark glen1 unmoved by his grisly companions1 skeleton ,death on the lame horse1 and the foul ,fiend in person4 ,contrast this sketch and its thoughtful touching meaning with the hollow ghastliness of ,holbein's ',dance of ,death4' ,in ',melancolia' a grand winged woman sits absorbed in sorrowful thought1 while surrounded by all the appliances of philosophy1 science1 art1 mechanics1 all the discoveries made before and in ,albrecht ,duerer's day1 in the book1 the chart1 the lever1 the crystal1 the crucible1 the plane1 the hammer4 ,the intention of this picture has been disputed1 but the best explanation of it is that which regards the woman as pondering on the humanly unsolved and insoluble mystery of the sin and sorrow of life4 ,in three large series of woodcuts1 known as the ,greater and the ,lesser ,passion of the ,lord1 and the ,life of the ,virgin1 and taken partly from sacred history and partly from tradition1 ,albrecht ,duerer exceeded himself in true beauty1 simple majesty1 and pathos4 ,photographs have spread widely these fine woodcuts1 and there is1 at least1 one which ,i think my readers may have seen1 ',the ,bearing of the ,cross1' in which the blessed ,saviour sinks under his burden4 ,in the series of the ,life of the ,virgin there is a ',repose in ,egypt1' which has a naive homeliness in its grace and serenity4 ,the woodcut represents a courtyard with a dwelling built in the ruins of an ancient palace4 ,the ,virgin sits spinning with a distaff and spindle beside the ,holy ,child's cradle1 by which beautiful angels worship4 ,joseph is busy at his carpenter's work1 and a number of little angels1 in merry sport1 assist him with his labours4#ag ,i shall mention only one more work of ,albrecht ,duerer's1 that which is known as the ,emperor ,maximilian's ,prayer ,book4 ,this is pen-and-ink sketches for the borders of a book 7as the old missals were illuminated71 which are now preserved in the ,royal ,library1 ,munich4 ,in these little drawings the fancy of the great artist held high revel1 by no means confining itself to serious subjects1 such as apostles1 monks1 or even men in armour1 but indulging in the most whimsical vagaries1 with regard to little ,german old women1 imps1 piping squirrels1 with cocks and hens hurrying to listen to the melody4 ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,later ,,italian ,,art--,,giorgione1 #adgg-aeaa--;,,correggio4 ,,about #adic-aecd--,,tintoretto1 #aeab-aegd--,,veronese1 #aecj-aehh4 ,giorgio ,barbarelli1 known as ',giorgione1--in ,italian1 'big1' or1 as ,i have heard it better translated1 'strapping ,george'--was born at ,castelfranco1 in ,treviso1 about #adgg1 the same year in which ,titian was born4 ,nothing is known of his youth before he came to ,venice and studied in the school of ,gian ,bellini along with ,titian4 ,the two men were friends in those days1 but soon quarrelled1 and ,giorgione's early death completed their separation4 ,titian was impatient and arrogant2 ,giorgione seems to have been one of those proud1 shy1 sensitive men--possibly morbidly sensitive1 with whom it is always difficult to deal2 but it is recorded of him1 as it is not recorded of his great compeer1 that ,giorgione was frank and friendly as an artist1 however moody and fitful he might be as a man4 ,giorgione soon became known4 ,according to one account1 he painted the facade of the house which he dwelt in1 for an advertisement of his abilities as a painter1 a device which was entirely successful in procuring him commissions2 but unfortunately for posterity1 these were frequently to paint other facades1 sometimes in company with ,titian2 grand work1 which has inevitably perished1 if not by fire1 by time and by the sea-damp of ,venice1 for to ,venice ,giorgione belonged1 and there is no sign that he ever left it4 ,he had no school1 and his love of music and society--the last taste found not seldom1 an apparent anomaly1 in silent1 brooding natures--might tend to withdraw him from his art4 ,he has left a trace of his love for music in his pictures of ',concerts' and of ',pastorals1' in which musical performances are made prominent4 ,in ,giorgione1 with his romantic1 idealizing temperament1 genre#ah pictures took this form1 while he is known to have painted from ,ovid and from the ,italian tales of his time4 ,he was employed frequently to paint scenes on panels1 for the richly ornamented ,venetian furniture4 ,giorgione was not without a bent to realism in his very idealism1 and is said to have been the first ,italian painter who 'imitated the real texture of stuffs and painted draperies from the actual material4' ,giorgione died at the early age of thirty-three years1 in #aeaa4 ,one account represents him as dying of the plague1 others attribute his death to a sadder cause4 ,he is said to have had a friend and fellow-painter who betrayed their friendship1 and carried off the girl whom ,giorgione loved4 ,stung to the quick by the double falsehood1 the tradition goes on to state that ,giorgione fell into despair with life and all it held1 and so died4 ,a portrait of ,giorgione is in the ,munich ,gallery2 it is that of a very handsome beardless lad1 'with a peculiar melancholy in the dark glowing eyes4' ,giorgione was1 like ,titian1 grand and free in drawing and composition1 and superb in colour4#ai ,mrs ,jameson has drawn a nice distinction between the two painters as colourists4 ,that the colours of ,giorgione 'appear as if lighted from within1 and those of ,titian from without2' that 'the epithet glowing applies best to ,giorgione1 that of golden to ,titian4' ,giorgione's historic pictures are rare1 his sacred pictures rarer still2 among the last is a ',finding of ,moses1' now in ,milan1 thus described by ,mrs ,jameson3 ',in the centre sits the princess under a tree2 she looks with surprise and tenderness on the child1 which is brought to her by one of her attendants2 the squire1 or seneschal1 of the princess1 with knights and ladies1 stand around2 on one side two lovers are seated on the grass2 on the other are musicians and singers1 pages with dogs4 ,all the figures are in the ,venetian costume2 the colouring is splendid1 and the grace and harmony of the whole composition is even the more enchanting from the naivete of the conception4 ,this picture1 like many others of the same age and style1 reminds us of those poems and tales of the middle ages1 in which ,david and ,jonathan figure as preux chevaliers1 and ,sir ,alexander of ,macedon and ,sir ,paris of ,troy fight tournaments in honour of ladies' eyes and the blessed ,virgin4 ,they must be tried by their own aim and standard1 not by the severity of antiquarian criticism4' ,in portraits ,giorgione has only been exceeded by ,titian4 ,in the ,national ,gallery there is an unimportant ',st ,peter the ,martyr1' and a finer ',maestro di ,capella giving a music lesson1' which ,kugler assigns to ,giorgione1 though it has been given elsewhere to ,titian4 ,the 'refined voluptuousness and impassioned sombreness' of ,giorgione's painting have instituted a comparison between him and ,lord ,byron as a poet4 ,correggio's real name was ,antonio ,allegri1 and he has his popular name from his birth-place of ,correggio1 now called ,reggio2 although at one time there existed an impression that ,correggio meant 'correct1' from the painter's exceedingly clever feats of fore-shortening4 ,his father is believed to have been a well-to-do tradesman1 and the lad is said to have had an uncle a painter1 who probably influenced his nephew4 ,but ,correggio had a greater master1 though but for a very short time1 in ,andrea ,mantegna1 who died when ,correggio was still a young boy4 ,mantegna's son kept on his father's school1 and from him ,correggio might have received more regular instruction4 ,he early attained excellence1 and in the teeth of the legends which lingered in ,parma for a full century1 his genius received prompt notice and patronage4 ,he married young1 and from records which have come to light1 he received a considerable portion with his wife4 ,the year after his marriage1 when he was no more than six-and-twenty1 ,correggio was appointed to paint in fresco the cupola of the church of ,san ,giovanni at ,parma1 and chose for his subject the ',ascension of ,christ2' for this work and that of the ',coronation of the ,virgin1' painted over the high altar1 ,correggio got five hundred gold crowns1 equivalent to ,l#aejj4 ,he was invited to ,mantua1 where he painted from the mythology for the ,duke of ,mantua4 ,indeed1 so far and wide had the preference for mythological subjects penetrated1 that one of ,correggio's earliest works was ',diana returning from the ,chase2' painted for the decoration of the parlour of the ,abbess of the convent of ,san ,paulo1 ,parma4 ,correggio was a second time called upon to paint a great religious work in ,parma--this time in the cathedral1 for which he selected ',the ,assumption of the ,virgin4' ,a few of the cartoons for these frescoes were discovered thirty or forty years ago1 rolled up and lying forgotten in a garret in ,parma2 they1 are now in the ,british ,museum4 ,in #aecc1 ,correggio1 then residing in his native town1 was one of the witnesses to the marriage of his sovereign1 the ,lord of ,correggio4 ,in the following year the painter had engaged to paint an altar-piece for an employer1 who paid ,correggio in advance twenty-five gold crowns1 but the latter dying very soon afterwards1 in the forty-first year of his age1 #aecd1 his father1 who was still alive1 was in circumstances to repay the advance on the picture1 which had not been painted4 ,correggio is said to have been modest and retiring in disposition1 and this1 together with the fact that1 like ,giorgione1 he did not have a school1 has been suggested as the source of the traditions which prevailed so long in ,italy4 ,these traditions described the painter as a man born in indigent circumstances1 living obscurely in spite of his genius 7there is a picture of ,correggio's in ,england1 which was said to have been given in payment for his entertainment at an inn71 and leading to the end a life of such ill-requited labour1 that having been paid for his last picture in copper money1 and being under the necessity of carrying it home in order to relieve the destitution of his family1 he broke down under the burden1 and overcome by heat and weariness1 drank a rash draught of water1 which caused fever and death4 ,the story1 disproven as it is1 is often alluded to still1 and remains as a foil to those flattering and courtly anecdotes which ,i have been repeating of royal and imperial homage paid to ,duerer1 ,titian1 and ,holbein4 ,i fancy the last-mentioned stories may have grown from small beginnings1 and circulated purely in the artist world2 but that the former is an utterance of the engrained persuasion of the great world without1 that art as a means of livelihood is essentially non-remunerative in the sense of money-getting4 ,modest as ,correggio may have been1 he was not without pride in his art4 ,after looking for the first time on the ,st ,cecilia of ,raphael1 ,correggio is reported to have exclaimed with exultation1 ',and ,i too am a painter4' ,he left behind him on his death a son and a daughter1 the former living to be a painter of no great name4 ,in the picture of ,correggio in the attitude of painting1 painted by himself1 we see him a handsome spare man with something of a romantic cavalier air1 engaged in his chosen art4 ,correggio's pictures go to prove that under his seemingly quiet exterior he was a man of the liveliest sensibilities and the keenest perceptions1 ,his pictures1 unlike ,titian's in their repose1 are full of motion and excitement4 ,correggio is spoken of as a painter who delighted 'in the buoyance of childish glee1 the bliss of earthly1 the fervour of heavenly love1' whose radiant sphere of art sorrow rarely clouded2 but when sorrow did enter1 it borrowed from the painter's own quivering heart the very sharpness of anguish4 ,the same authority tells us of ,correggio1 that he has painted 'the very heart-throbs of humanity4' ,but it seems as if such a nature1 with its self-conscious veil of forced stillness1 must have had a tendency to vehemence and excess2 and so we hear that ,correggio's fore-shortening was sometimes violent1 and the energy of his actors spasmodic2 thus the cruelly smart contemporary criticism was pronounced on his frescoes of the ',assumption of the ,virgin1' in which legs and arms in wild play are chiefly conspicuous from below1 that ,correggio had prepared for the ,parmese 'a fricassee of frogs4' ,in addition1 the great modern critic1 ,mr ,ruskin1 has boldly accused ,correggio 'both of weakness and meretriciousness1' and there is this to be said of a nature so highly strung as ,correggio's was strung1 that it was not a healthily balanced nature4 ,but if the painter were really inferior in his sense of form and expression to his great predecessors1 he was so great in one department1 that in it he was held worthy1 not only to found the school of ,parma1 but to be classed with the first four painters of ,italy4 ,that chiarascuro1 or treatment of light and shade1 in which ,lionardo and ,andrea ,mantegna were no mean proficients1 was brought to such perfection by ,correggio1 that1 as ,mrs ,jameson has sought to illustrate technical expressions1 'you seem to look through4 ,correggio's shadows1 and to see beyond them the genuine texture of the flesh4' ,in undulating grace of motion1 in melting softness of outline1 fixed on a canvas1 he surpassed all rivals1 including ,raphael2 and this widely attractive quality 7'luscious refinement1' ,mr ,ruskin terms it7 in connection with ,correggio's ardent1 if undisciplined sensibility1 has rendered him one of the most valued of painters2 his best paintings being highly prized and costly as the easel pictures attributed to ,raphael4 ,sir ,w4 ,stirling ,maxwell writes that an old ,duke of ,modena was suspected of having caused ,correggio's ',notte' to be stolen from a church at ,reggio1 and that the princes of ,este were wont to carry ',the ,magdalene ,reading' with them on their journeys1 while the king of ,poland kept it under lock and key in a frame of jewelled silver4 ,among ,correggio's masterpieces1 besides his frescoes1 there is at ,parma his picture called ',day1' from the broad flood of daylight in the picture 7and doubtless in contrast to his famous ',notte' or ',night1' in the ,dresden ,gallery74 ,here is a ,virgin and ,child1 with ,st ,jerome presenting to them his translation of the ,scriptures1 and the ,magdalene bending to kiss in adoration the feet of the infant ,saviour4 ,in the ,dresden ,gallery in addition to the ',notte' are five pictures1 one of the marriage of ,st ,catherine as the ,church--the bride1 espoused with a ring to the infant ,saviour1 a favourite subject of ,italian painters1 and a specially favourite subject with ,correggio2 and another1 the ,magdalene reading1 half shrouded with her flowing hair1 so well known by engravings4 ,i must say a few more words of the ',notte1'--it is a nativity illuminated entirely by the unearthly glory shining from the ,child ,christ4 ,virgin and ,child are bathed and half lost in the fair radiance1 which falls softly on a shepherd and maiden1 leaving the rest of the figures1 the stalled beasts1 and the surroundings of the stable1 in dim shadow4 ,in our ,national ,gallery there are fine specimens of ,correggio4 ,there is an ',ecce ,homo'3 ,christ crowned with thorns1 holding out his bound hands1 with a ,roman soldier softening into pity1 ,pilate hardening in indifference1 and the ,virgin fainting with sorrow4 ,there are also 'the ,virgin with the ,basket1' so named from the little basket in front of the picture2 and 'a ,holy ,family2' and there is a highly-esteemed picture from a mythological subject1 ',mercury teaching ,cupid to read in the presence of ,venus4' ,we must return to the ,venice of ,titian1 and see how his successors1 with much more of the true painter in them than the fast degenerating scholars of other ,italian schools1 were mere men1 if great men1 matched with ,titian4 ,tintoretto is only ,tintoretto or ,tintoret because his father was a dyer1 and ',il ,tintoretto' is in ,italian1 'the little dyer4' ,tintoretto's real name was one more in keeping with his pretensions1 ,jacopo ,robusti4 ,he was born in ,venice1 in #aeab1 and early fore-shadowed his future career by drawing all kinds of objects on the walls of his father's dye-house1 an exercise which did not offend or dismay the elder ,robusti1 but1 on the contrary1 induced him to put the boy into the school of ,titian1 where ,tintoretto only remained a short time4 ,titian did not choose to impart what could be imparted of his art to his scholars1 and1 in all probability1 ,tintoretto was no deferential and submissive scholar4 ,there is a tradition that ,titian expelled this scholar from his academy1 saying of the dyer's son1 that 'he would never be anything but a dauber4' ,tintoret was not to be daunted4 ,he lived to be a bold-tempered1 dashing man1 and he must have been defiant1 even in his boyhood1 as he was swaggering in his youth1 when he set up an academy of his own1 and inscribed above the door1 ',the drawing of ,michael ,angelo and the colouring of ,titian4' ,he had studied and taught himself from casts and theories since he left the school of ,titian1 and then1 with worldly wisdom equal to his daring1 he commenced his artistic career by accepting every commission1 good or bad1 and taking what pay he could get for his work2 but1 unfortunately for him and for the world1 he executed his work1 as might have been expected1 in the same headlong1 indiscriminate spirit1 acquiring the name of ',il ,furioso' from the rapidity and recklessness of his manner of painting4 ,often he did not even give himself the trouble of making any sketch or design of his pictures beforehand1 but composed as he painted4 ,self-confident to presumption1 he took for his inspirations the merest impulses1 and considerably marred the effect of his unquestionably grand genius by gross haste and carelessness4 ,he was a successful man in his day1 as so energetic and unscrupulous a man was likely enough to be1 and his fellow-citizens1 who saw principally on the surface1#bj were charmed beyond measure by his tremendous capacity for invention1 his dramatic vigour1 his gorgeous1 rampant richness and glare2 or1 by contrast1 his dead dulness of ornament and colouring2 and were not too greatly offended by his occasional untruthfulness in drawing and colouring1 and the inequality of his careless1 slovenly1 powerful achievements4 ,yet even ,tintoret's fascinated contemporaries said of him that he 'used three pencils3 one gold1 one silver1 one lead4' ,naturally ,tintoretto painted an immense number of pictures1 to only three of which1 however1 he appended his name4 ,these were1 ',the ,crucifixion1' and ',the ,miracle of the ,slave1' two of fifty-seven pictures which he painted for the school of ,st ,roch alone1 in ,venice2 the other was the ',marriage at ,cana1' in the church of ,santa ,maria della ,saluto1 ,venice4 ,there is an authentic story told of ,tintoretto in his age1 which is in touching contrast to what is otherwise known of the man4 ,dominico1 who was a painter1 ,tintoret had a daughter1 ,marietta1 very dear to him1 who was also a painter--indeed1 so gifted a portrait painter1 as to have been repeatedly invited to foreign courts to practise her art1 invitations which she declined1 because she would not be parted from her father4 ,to ,tintoret's great grief1 this daughter died as she was thirty years of age1 and her father was in his seventy-eighth year4 ,when her end was unmistakably near1 the old man took brush and canvas and struggled desperately to preserve a last impression of the beloved child's face1 over which death was casting its shadow4 ,tintoretto died four years later1 in #aeid4 ,his portrait is that of a man who holds his head high and resolutely2 he has1 strange to say1 a somewhat commonplace face1 with its massive nose1 full eye1 short curly beard and hail4 ,the forehead is not very broad1 but the head is 'long1' as ,scotch people say1 and they count long-headedness not only an indication of self-esteem1 but of practical shrewdness4 ,tintoret's power was native1 and had received little training2 it is a proof of the strength of that power that he could not quench it4 ,his faults1 as a painter1 ,i have already had to chronicle in the sketch of the man4 ,he was greatest on large canvases1 where his recklessness was lost in his strength2 and in portraits1 where his quickness in seizing striking traits more than equalled that rapidity of conclusion in realizing1 and still more notably in classifying1 character1 which1 to say the least1 is liable to error4 ,even before ,tintoretto lived sacred subjects and art had entirely changed places4 ,in the days of ,fra ,angelico and the ,van ,eycks1 art was the means by which painters brought before men sacred subjects1 to whose design painters looked with more or less of conviction and feeling4 ,by the time that ,tintoret painted1 sacred subjects were the means by which painters showed their art2 means1 the design of which was largely lost sight of1 and which might be freely tortured and twisted1 falsified1 well-nigh burlesqued1 if1 by so doing1 painters could better display their originality1 skill1 and mastery of technicalities4 ,sacred subjects had become more and more human in the lower sense1 and less and less divine4 ,a man who had so little reverence as ,tintoret showed for his own higher self1 his fellow-men1 and his art1 would scarcely seem well qualified to take up sacred subjects4 ,but criticism is entirely and hopelessly divided on the question1 for while some authorities hold that he made of the awful scene of the ,crucifixion a merely historical and decidedly theatrical procession1 other authorities maintain that he preserved in that 'great composition' 'repose and dignity1 solemnity and reverence4' ,here is ,m4 ,charles ,blanc1 the ,french art critic's opinion of ,tintoret's largest work1 seventy-four feet in length and thirty feet in height3 ,the ,glory of ,paradise1 in the great hall or throne-room of the ,doge's ,palace3-- ',if the shadows had not become so black1 such a picture would have had something of sublimity2 but that sky1 without transparency1 the lights of which1 even1 are of a burnt and baked colour1 has rather the air of a lit-up ,erebus than of a ,paradise4 ,four hundred figures are in motion in this vast enclosure1 some naked1 others draped1 but draped uniformly in a staring red or a hard blue1 which form as many spots1 in some sort symmetrical4 ,the manner is quick2 a little loose1 but confident4 ,the models are neither taken from nature nor from the ideal1 they are drawn from practice1 and are in general only turns of the head1 without beauty and without delicacy4 ,the angels are agitated like demons2 and the whole--coarse enough in execution as in thought1 is imposing nevertheless by mass1 movement1 and number4 ,it is the striking image of a multitude in the air1 a rout in the heavens1 or rather in purgatory4' ,here1 again1 is ,mr ,ruskin's unequalled estimate of ,tintoret's works3 ',i should exhaust the patience of the reader if ,ion the various stupendous developments of the imagination of ,tintoret in the ,scuola di ,san ,rocco alone4 ,i would fain join awhile in that solemn pause of the journey into ,egypt1 where the silver boughs of the shadowy trees lace with their tremulous lines the alternate folds of fair cloud1 flushed by faint crimson light1 and lie across the streams of blue between those rosy islands like the white wakes of wandering ships2 or watch beside the sleep of the disciples among those mossy leaves that lie so heavily on the dead of the night beneath the descent of the angel of the agony1 and toss fearfully above the motion of the torches as the troop of the betrayer emerges out of the hollows of the olives2 or wait through the hour of accusing beside the judgment-seat of ,pilate1 where all is unseen1 unfelt1 except the one figure that stands with its head bowed down1 pale like the pillar of moonlight1 half bathed in the glory of the ,godhead1 half wrapt in the whiteness of the shroud4 ,of these and all other thoughts of indescribable power that are now fading from the walls of those neglected chambers1 ,i may perhaps endeavour at a future time to preserve some image and shadow more faithfully than by words2 but ,i shall at present terminate our series of illustrations by reference to a work of less touching1 but more tremendous appeal2 the ,last ,judgment in the church of ,santa ,maria dell' ,orto4' ',by ,tintoret only has this unimaginable event been grappled with in its verity2 not typically1 nor symbolically1 but as they may see it who shall not sleep1 but be changed4 ,only one traditional circumstance he has received with ,dante and ,michael ,angelo1 the ,boat of the ,condemned2 but the impetuosity of his mind bursts out even in the adoption of this image2 he has not stopped at the scowling ferryman of the one1 nor at the sweeping blow and demon-dragging of the other2 but1 seized ,hylas-like by the limbs1 and tearing up the earth in his agony1 the victim is dashed into his destruction2 nor is it the sluggish ,lethe1 nor the fiery lake1 that bears the cursed vessel1 but the oceans of the earth and the waters of the firmament gathered into one white1 ghastly cataract2 the river of the wrath of ,god1 roaring down into the gulf where the world has melted with its fervent heat1 choked with the ruin of nations1 and the limbs of its corpses tossed out of its whirling like water-wheels4 ,bat-like1 out of the holes1 and caverns1 and shadows of the earth1 the bones gather1 and the clay-heaps heave1 rattling and adhering into half-kneaded anatomies1 that crawl1 and startle1 and struggle up among the putrid weeds1 with the clay clinging to their clotted hair1 and their heavy eyes sealed by the earth darkness yet1 like his of old who went his way unseeing to the ,siloam pool2 shaking off one by one the dreams of the prison-house1 hardly hearing the clangour of the trumpets of the armies of ,god2 blinded yet more1 as they awake1 by the white light of the new heaven1 until the great vortex of the four winds bears up their bodies to the judgment-seat2 the ,firmament is all full of them1 a very dust of human souls1 that drifts1 and floats1 and falls in the interminable1 inevitable light2 the bright clouds are darkened with them as with thick snow2 currents of atom life in the arteries of heaven1 now soaring up slowly1 and higher and higher still1 till the eye and thought can follow no farther1 borne up1 wingless1 by their inward faith1 and by the angel powers invisible1 now hurled in countless drifts of horror before the breath of their condemnation4' ,there is only one little work1 of small consequence1 by ,tintoretto in the ,national ,gallery1 but there are nearly a dozen in the ,royal ,galleries1 as ,charles ,i4 was an admirer and buyer of ',tintorettos4' ,two ,tintorettos which belonged to ,king ,charles ,i1 are at ,hampton ,court2 the one is ',esther fainting before ,ahasuerus1' and the other the ',nine ,muses4' ,with another ',esther' ,i have been familiar from childhood by an old engraving4 ,in the congenial to ,tintoret1 and he has certainly revelled in the sumptuousness of the mighty ,eastern tyrant1 in royal mantle and ermine tippet1 seated on his throne1 and stretching his jewelled sceptre to ,esther1 who is in the rich costume of a ,venetian lady of the period1 and sinking into the arms of her watchful maids1 with a fair baby face1 and little helpless hands1 having dainty frills round the wrists1 which scarcely answer to our notion of the attributes of the magnanimous1 if meek1 ,jewish heroine4 ,paul ,cagliari of ,verona is far better known as ,paul ,veronese4 ,he was born in ,verona in #aecj1 and was the son of a sculptor4 ,he was taught by his father to draw and model1 but abandoned sculpture for the sister art of painting1 which was more akin to his tastes1 and which he followed in the studio of an uncle who was a fair painter4 ,quitting ,verona1 ,paul ,veronese repaired to ,venice1 studying the works of ,titian and ,tintoret1 and settling in their city1 finding no want of patronage even in a field so fully appropriated before he came to take his place there4 ,his first great work was the painting of the church of ,st ,sebastian1 with scenes from the history of ,esther4 ,whether he chose the subject or whether it was assigned to him1 it belonged even more to him than to ,tintoret1 for ,veronese was the most magnificent of the magnificent ,venetian painters4 ,from that date he was kept in constant employment by the wealthy and luxurious ,venetians4 ,he visited ,rome in the suite of the ,venetian ambassador in #aefc1 when he was in his thirty-fourth year1 and he was invited to ,spain to assist in the decoration of the ,escurial by ,philip ,,ii41 but refused the invitation4 ,veronese is said to have been a man of kindly spirit1 generous and devout4 ,in painting for churches and convents1 he would consent to receive the smallest remuneration1 sometimes not more than the price of his colours and canvas4 ,for his fine picture now in the ,louvre1 the ',marriage of ,cana1' he is believed not to have had more than forty pounds in our money4 ,he died when he was but fifty-eight years of age1 in #aehh4 ,he had married and left sons who were painters1 and worked with their father4 ,he had a brother1 ,benedotto1 who was also a painter1 and who is thought to have painted many of the architectural backgrounds to ,veronese's pictures4 ,veronese's portrait1 which he has left us1 gives the idea of a more earnest and impressionable man than ,tintoret4 ,a man in middle age1 bald-headed1 with a furrowed brow1 cheeks a little hollowed1 head slightly thrown back1 and a somewhat anxious as well as intent expression of face2 what of the dress is seen1 being a plain doublet with turned-over collar1 and a cloak arranged in a fold across the breast1 and hanging over the right shoulder like a shepherd's 'maud' or plaid4 ,looking at the engraving1 and hearing of ,paul ,veronese's amiability and piety1 one has little difficulty in thinking of the magnificent painter1 as a single-hearted1 simple-minded man1 neither vain nor boastful1 nor masterful save by the gift of genius4 ,i have called ,paul ,veronese a magnificent painter1 and magnificence is the great attribute of his style2 but before going farther into his merits and defects1 ,i should like to quote to you a passage from ,mr ,ruskin1 the most eloquent and dogmatic of art critics1 prefacing the passage with the statement that the true lesson which it teaches is particularly needful for women1 who1 if they love art at all1 are apt to regard it chiefly for its sentiment1 and to undervalue such proper painter's work1 such breadth and affluence and glory of handling1 as are to be met with on the canvases of painters like ,veronese and ,rubens4 ',but ,i perceive a tendency among some of the more thoughtful critics of the day to forget the business of a painter is to paint1 and so altogether to despise those men1 ,veronese and ,rubens for instance1 who were painters1 par excellence1 and in whom the expressional qualities are subordinate4 ,now it is well1 when we have strong moral or poetical feeling manifested in painting1 to mark this as the best part of the work2 but it is not well to consider as a thing of small account the painter's language in which that feeling is conveyed2 for if that language be not good and lovely1 the man may indeed be a just moralist or a great poet1 but he is not a painter1 and it was wrong of him to paint4' ,it was said of ,paul ,veronese1 that while he had not 'the brilliance and depth of ,titian' or the 'prodigious facility' of ,tintoret1 yet1 in some respects1 ,veronese surpassed both4 ,but he was certainly deficient in a sense of suitability and probability4 ,he1 of all painters1 carried to an outrageous extent the practice1 which ,i have defended in some degree1 of painting sacred and historical subjects as if they had happened in his own day and city4 ,he violated taste and even reason in painting every scene1 lofty or humble1 sacred or profane1 alike1 with the pomp of splendour and richness of ornament which were the fashion of the time2 but he had a vivid perception of character1 and a certain greatness of mind which redeemed his plethora of gorgeousness from monotony or vulgarity4 ,veronese is reported to have been far more correct and careful in drawing than was ,tintoret1 while ,veronese's prodigality of colour was a mellowed version of ,tintoret's glare or deadness4 ,one of ,veronese's best pictures is the ',marriage of ,cana1' painted originally for the refectory of the convent of ,san ,giorgio1 ,venice1 and now in the ,louvre4 ',it is not less than thirty feet long and twenty feet high1 and contains about one hundred and thirty figures1 life size4 ,the ,marriage ,feast of the ,galilean citizen is represented with a pomp worthy of ,ormuz or of ,ind4 ,a sumptuous hall of the richest architecture2 lofty columns1 long lines of marble balustrades rising against the sky2 a crowd of guests splendidly attired1 some wearing orders of knighthood1 are seated at tables covered with gorgeous vases of gold and silver1 attended by slaves1 jesters1 pages1 and musicians4 ,in the midst of all this dazzling pomp1 this display of festive enjoyment1 these moving figures1 these lavish colours in glowing approximation1 we begin after a while to distinguish the principal personages1 our ,saviour1 the ,virgin ,mary1 the twelve ,apostles1 mingled with ,venetian senators and ladies1 clothed in the rich costume of the sixteenth century2 monks1 friars1 poets1 artists1 all portraits of personages existing in his own time2 while in a group of musicians he has introduced himself and ,tintoretto playing the violoncello1 while ,titian plays the bass4 ,the bride in this picture is said to be the portrait of ,eleanor of ,austria1 the sister of ,charles ,v1 and second wife of ,francis ,i4'#ba ,though ,veronese is not greatly esteemed as a portrait painter1 it so happens that the highly-prized picture of his in our ,national ,gallery1 called ',the ,family of ,darius before ,alexander1' is understood to be family portraits of the ,pisani family in the characters of ,alexander1 the ,persian queen1 etc41 etc4 ,another of ,veronese's pictures in the ,national ,gallery is ',the ,consecration of ,st ,nicholas1 ,bishop of ,myra4' ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,,carracci1 #aeee-afji--;,,guido ,,reni1 #aege-afdb--;,,domenichino1 #aeha-afda--,,salvator ,,rosa1 #afae-afgc4 ,in the falling away of the schools of ,italy1 and especially of the followers of ,michael ,angelo and ,raphael1 into mannerism and exaggeration1 fitly expressed in delineation of heathen gods and goddesses1 there arose a cluster of painters in the ,north of ,italy who had considerable influence on art4 ,the ,carracci included a group of painters1 the founders of the later ,bolognese ,school4 ,lodovico1 the elder of the three1 was born at ,bologna1 #aeee4 ,he was educated as a painter1 and was so slow in his education1 that he received from his fellow-scholars the nickname of ',il ,bue' 7the ox74 ,but his perseverance surmounted every obstacle4 ,he visited the different ,italian towns1 and studied the works of art which contained1 arriving at the conclusion that he might acquire and combine the excellences of each4 ,this combination1 which could only be a splendid patch-work without unity1 was the great aim of his life1 and was the origin of the term eclectic applied to his school4 ,its whole tendency was to technical excellence1 and in this tendency1 however it might achieve its end1 painting showed a marked decline4 ,as an example of the motives and objects supplied by the school1 ,i must borrow some lines from a sonnet of the period written by ,agostino ,carracci3 ',let him1 who a good painter would be1 ,acquire the drawing of ,rome1 ,venetian action1 and ,venetian shadow1 ,and the dignified colouring of ,lombardy1 ,the terrible manner of ,michael ,angelo1 ,titian's truth and nature1 ,the sovereign purity of ,correggio's style1 ,and the true symmetry of ,raphael2 99 99 99 99 99 ,and a little of ,parmegiano'a grace1 ,but without so much study and toil1 ,let him only apply himself to imitate the works ,which our ,niccolino has left us here4' ,lodovico opened a school of painting at ,bologna1 in which he was for a time largely assisted by his cousins4 ,he died #afai4 ,agostino ,carracci1 cousin of ,lodovico1 was born at ,bologna in #aeei4 ,his father was a tailor1 and ,agostino himself began life as a jeweller4 ,he became a painter and an engraver in turn1 devoting himself chiefly to engraving4 ,towards the beginning of the seventeenth century he was with his more famous brother1 ,annibale1 at ,rome1 where he assisted in painting the ,farnese ,gallery1 designing and executing the two frescoes of ,galatea and ,aurora with such success1 according to his contemporaries1 that it was popularly said that 'the engraver had surpassed the painter in the ,farnese4' ,jealousy arose between the brothers in consequence1 and they separated1 not before ,annibale had perpetrated upon ,agostino a small1 but malicious1 practical joke1 which has been handed down to us4 ,agostino was fond of the society of people of rank1 and ,annibale1 aware of his brother's weakness1 took the opportunity1 when ,agostino was surrounded by some of his aristocratic friends1 to present him with a caricature of the two brothers' father and mother1 engaged in their tailoring work4 ,agostino died at ,parma when he was a little over forty1 and was buried in the cathedral there1 in #afjb4 ,annibale1 ,agostino's younger brother1 was born in #aefj4 ,it was intended by his parents that he should follow their trade and be a tailor1 but he was persuaded by his cousin ,lodovico to become a painter4 ,after visiting ,parma1 ,venice1 and ,bologna1 he worked with his cousin and teacher for ten years4 ,annibale was invited to ,rome by the ,cardinal ,odoardo ,farnese1 to decorate the great hall of his palace in the ,piazza ,farnese1 with scenes from the heathen mythology1 for which work he received a monthly salary of ten scudi1 about two guineas1 with maintenance for himself and two servants1 and a farther gift of five hundred scudi4 ,it was a parsimonious payment1 and the parsimony is said to have preyed on the mind and affected the health of ,annibale1 and a visit to ,naples1 where he1 in common with not a few artists1 suffered from the jealous persecutions of the ,neapolitan painters1 completed the breaking up of his constitution4 ,he painted1 with the assistance of ,albani1 the frescoes in the chapel of ,san ,diego in ,san ,giacomo degli ,spagnole1 and pressed upon his assistant more than half of his pay4 ,annibale's health had already given way1 and after a long illness he died1 when forty-nine years of age1 at ,rome1 #afji1 and was buried near ,raphael in the ,pantheon4 ,the merit of the ,carracci lay in their power of execution1 and in a certain 'bold naturalism1 or rather animalism1' which they added to their able imitations1 for their pictures are not so much their own1 as ',after ,titian1' ',after ,correggio1' etc4 ,in this intent regard to style1 and this perfecting of means to an end1 thought and in a manner neglected4 ,yet to the ,carracci1 and their school1 is owing a certain studied air of solemnity and sadness in ',ecce ,homos1' and ',pietas1' which1 in proportion to its art1 has a powerful effect on many beholders1 who prefer conventionality to freedom2 or rather1 who fail to distinguish conventionality in its traces4 ,annibale was the most original while the least learned of the ,carracci2 yet1 even of ,annibale1 it could be said that he lacked enthusiasm in his subjects4 ,his best productions are his mythological subjects in the ,farnese ,palace4 ,a celebrated picture of his1 that of the ',three ,marys' 7a dead ,christ1 the ,madonna1 and the two other ,marys71 is at ,castle ,howard1 and has been exhibited at ,manchester1 and ,i think also at ,leeds4 ,at ,manchester it attracted the greatest attention and admiration4 ,i believe this was not only because ,annibale ,carracci in the ',three ,marys' does attain to a most piteous mournfulness of sentiment1 but because such work as that of the ,carracci finds readiest acceptance from a general public1 which delights in striking1 superficial effects4 ,the same reason1 in conjunction with the decline of ,italian art1 may account for the great number of the ,carracci school and followers4 ,annibale ,carracci was one of the first who practised landscape painting and genre pictures1 such as ',the ,greedy ,eater1' as separate branches of art4 ,two of ,annibale's landscapes are in the ,national ,gallery4 ,guido ,reni1 commonly called ',guido1' was born at ,bologna1 #aege4 ,his father was a musician1 and ,guido was intended for the same calling1 but finally became a painter and student in the school of the ,carracci4 ,he followed ,annibale ,carracci to ,rome1 and dwelt there for twenty years4 ,he obtained great repute and favour1 but taking offence at some supposed injustice1 he left ,rome1 and settled at last in ,bologna1 where he established a large school4 ,though he made great sums of money1 which might have enabled him to live in the splendour which he coveted1 on account of his addiction to gambling and his grossly extravagant habits1 he was constantly in debt1 and driven to tax his genius to the utmost1 and to sell its fruits for what they would bring1 irrespective of what he owed to himself1 his art1 and to the giver of all good gifts4 ,he died at ,bologna1 and was buried with much pomp in the church of ,san ,dominico1 #afdb4 ,of ,guido we hear that he had three styles3 the first1 after the vigorous manner of ,michael ,angelo2 the second1 in the prevailing ornamental taste of the ,rome of his day and the ,carracci4 ,this is considered ,guido's best style1 and is distinguished by its subtle management of light and shade4 ,his third1 which is called his 'silvery style1' from its greys1 degenerated into insipidity1 with little wonder1 seeing that at this stage he sold his time at so much per hour to picture-dealers1 who stood over him1 watch in hand1 to see that he fulfilled his bargain1 and carried away the saints he manufactured wet from the easel4 ,such manufactory took him only three hours1 sometimes less4 ,his charges had risen from five guineas for a head1 and twenty guineas for a whole figure1 to twenty times that amount4 ,he painted few portraits1 but many 'fancy' heads of saints4 ,nearly three hundred pictures by ,guido are believed to be in existence4 ,guido's individual distinction was his refined sense of beauty1 but it was over-ruled by 'cold calculation1' and developed into a mere abstract conception of 'empty grace' without heart or soul4 ,his finest work is the large painting of ',phoebus and ,aurora' in a pavilion of the ,rospigliosi ,palace at ,rome4 ,in our ,national ,gallery there are nine specimens of ,guido's works1 including one of his best ',ecce ,homos1' which belonged to the collection of ,samuel ,rogers4 ,domenico ,zampieri1 commonly called ,domenichino1 was another ,bolognese painter1 and another eminent scholar of the ,carracci4 ,he was born in #aeha1 and1 after studying under a ,flemish painter1 passed into the school of the ,carracci4 ,while yet a very young man1 ,domenichino was invited to ,rome1 where he soon earned a high reputation1 competing successfully with his former fellow-scholar1 ,guido4 ,domenichino's ',flagellation of ,st ,andrew1' and ',communion of ,st ,jerome1' in payment of which he only received about five guineas2 his ',martyrdom of ,st ,sebastian1' and his ',four ,evangelists1' which are among his masterpieces1 were all painted in ,rome1 and remain in ,rome4 ,domenichino is said to have excited the extreme hostility of rival painters1 and to have suffered especially from the malice of the ,neapolitans1 when he was invited to work among them4 ,after a cruel struggle ,domenichino died in ,naples1 not without a horrible suspicion of having being poisoned1 at the age of sixty1 in #afda4 ,one of his enemies--a ,roman on this occasion--destroyed what was left of ,domenichino's work in ,naples4 ,the painter's fate was a miserable one1 and by a coincidence between his fortune and his taste in subjects1 he has identified his name with terrible representations of martyrdoms4 ,kugler writes that martyrdom as a subject for painting1 which had been sparingly used by ,raphael and his scholars1 had come into fashion in ,domenichino's time1 for 'painters and poets sought for passionate emotion1 and these subjects 7martyrdoms7 supplied them with plentiful food4' ,sensationalism is the florid hectic of art's decay1 whether in painting or in literature4 ,domenichino is accredited with more taste than fancy4 ,he made free use of the compositions of even contemporary artists1 while he individualized these compositions4 ,his good and bad qualities are those of his school1 already quoted1 and perhaps it is in keeping with these qualities that the excellence of ,domenichino's works lies in subordinate parts and subordinate characters4 ,there are examples of ,domenichino in the ,national ,gallery4 ,i shall close my long list of the great ,italian painters of the past with one who was quite apart from and opposed to the ,carracci school1 and whose triumphs and failures were essentially his own4 ,salvator ,rosa1 born in #afae near ,naples1 was the son of an architect4 ,in opposition to his father ,salvator ,rosa became a painter4 ,having succeeded in selling his sketches to a celebrated buyer1 the bold young ,neapolitan started for ,rome at the age of twenty years2 and ,rome1 'the ,jerusalem of ,painters1' became thenceforth ,salvator ,rosa's head-quarters1 though the character of the man was such as to force him to change his quarters not once or twice only in his life1 and thus he stayed some time1 in turn1 at ,naples1 ,viterbo1 ,volterra1 and ,florence4 ,at ,volterra the aggressive nature of the painter broke forth in a series of written satires on a medley of subjects--music1 poetry 7both of which ,salvator himself cultivated71 painting1 war1 ,babylon1 and envy4 ,these incongruous satires excited the violent indignation of the individuals against whom ,salvator's wit was aimed1 and their efforts at revenge1 together with his own turbulent spirit1 drove him from place to place4 ,salvator ,rosa was at ,naples #afdg1 and took part in the riots1 so famous in song and story1 which made ,masaniello1 the young fisherman1 for a time ,captain-,general and ,master of ,naples1 when it was1 according to law1 a ,spanish dependency governed by a viceroy4 ,salvator was in the ,compagnia della ,morte commanded by ,falcone1 a battle painter1 during the troubles1 a wild enough post to please the wild painter1 even had he not been in addition a personal adherent of the ruling spirit ,masaniello1 whom ,salvator ,rosa painted more than once4 ,after so eventful a life1 the painter died peaceably enough in his fifty-ninth year1 of dropsy1 at ,rome1 and left a considerable fortune to his only son4 ,salvator ,rosa was the incarnation of the arrogant1 fickle1 fierce ,neapolitan spirit1 and he carried it out sufficiently in an undisciplined1 stormy life1 without the addition of the popular legend that he had at one time joined a troop of banditti1 and indulged in their excesses4 ,the legend seems to have a familiarity with mountain passes1 and his love of peopling them appropriately with banditti in action4 ,salvator ,rosa was a dashing battle painter1 a mediocre historical painter1 and an excellent portrait painter as well as landscape painter4 ,but it is chiefly by the savage grandeur of his mountain or forest landscapes1 with their fitting dramatis personae1 that he has won his renown4 ,mr ,ruskin1 while he allows ,salvator's gift of imagination1 denounces him for the reckless carelessness and untruthfulness to nature of his painting4 ,many of ,salvator ,rosa's pictures are in the ,pitti ,palace in ,florence1 and many are in ,england4 ,,chapter ,,viii4 ,,rubens1 #aegg-afdj--,,rembrandt1 #afjf ,,or #afjh-affi--,,teniers1 ,,father ,,and ,,son1 #aehb-afid--,,wouverman1 #afbj-affh--;,,cuyp1 #afje2 ,,still ,,living1 #afch--,,paul ,,potter1 #afbe-afed--;,,cornelius ,,de ,,heem1 #afcj4 ,a long interval elapsed between the ,van ,eycks and ,quintin ,matsys1 and ,rubens2 but if ,flemish art was slow of growth and was only developed after long pauses1 it made up for its slowness and delays by the burst of triumph into which ,flemish and ,dutch art broke forth in ,rubens and his school1 in ,rembrandt and ,cuyp and ,ruysdael4 ,peter ,paul ,rubens was born at ,siegen in ,westphalia1 on the day of ,st ,peter and ,st ,paul1 #aegg4 ,but though ,rubens was born out of ,antwerp1 he was a citizen of ,antwerp by descent as well as by so many later associations4 ,his father1 ,john ,rubens1 a lawyer1 an imprudent1 thriftless man in character and habits1 had been compelled to leave ,antwerp in consequence of religious disturbances which broke out there about the time that the northern provinces1 more at one and more decided in their union than the southern provinces1 established their independence4 ,rubens spent his early boyhood at ,cologne1 but on the death of his father when he was ten years of age1 his mother1 a good and 'discreet' woman1 to whom the painter owed much1 and confessed his debt1 returned with her family to ,antwerp4 ,his mother had destined him for his father's profession1 but did not oppose her son's preference for art4 ,after studying under two different artists1 and becoming a master in the guild of ,st ,luke1 ,rubens went to ,italy in #afjj1 when he was a young man of three-and-twenty years of age4 ,he was eight years absent1 entering the service of the ducal sovereign of ,mantua1 being sent by him on a diplomatic mission to ,madrid to ,philip ,,iii1 of ,spain1 visiting on his own account ,rome1 where he found the ,carracci and ,guido#bb at the height of their fame1 ,venice and ,genoa1 'leaving portraits where he went4' ,with ,genoa1 its architecture1 and its situation1 ,rubens was specially charmed1 but he quitted it in haste1 being summoned home to attend the death-bed of his mother1 from whom he had parted eight years before2 and arriving too late to see her in life4 ,a man of strong feelings in sorrow as in joy1 he withdrew into retirement1 and resided for his season of mourning in a religious house4 ,loving ,italy with a painter's enthusiasm1 so that to the latest day of his life he generally wrote in ,italian1 and loved to sign his name ',pietro ,paolo ,rubens1' he had intended to return and settle in ,mantua1 but having been named court painter to the ,governess of the ,netherlands1 ,clara ,eugenia1 and her husband ,albert1 ,rubens had sufficient patriotism and sufficient worldly foresight to induce him to relinquish his idea1 and establish himself in his native ,antwerp4 ,he was already a man of eminence in his profession1 and a man of mark out of it4 ,go where he would he made friends1 and he so recommended himself to his royal patrons by his natural suavity1 tact1 and sagacity1 that he was not only in the utmost favour with them as a right courtly painter1 but was employed by them1 once and again1 on delicate1 difficult1 private embassies4 ,but it was not only to his patrons that ,rubens was endeared1 he was emphatically what men call 'a good fellow1' alike to superiors1 equals1 and inferiors2 a frank1 honest1 bountiful1 and generous man4 ,his love of courts and their splendour was the chivalrous homage which a man of his cast of mind paid to the dignity and picturesqueness of high estate4 ,he married a year after his mother's death1 when he was in his thirty-third year4 ,his first wife1 ,isabella ,brant1 was a connection of his own 7and so was his second wife74 ,he built and painted1 in fresco1 a fine house in ,antwerp1 and laid out a pleasant garden1 which contained a rotunda1 filled with his collection of pictures by the ,italian masters1 antique gems1 etc4 etc41 already gathered abroad4 ,he set himself to keep house in a liberal fashion1 to dispense benefits1 and to entertain friends--above all1 to paint with might and main in company with his great school1 the members of which1 like those of ,raphael's school where ,raphael was concerned1 were1 for the most part1 ,rubens' devoted comrades4 ,counting his work not only as the great object1 but the great zest of his life1 never did painter receive such sweeping and accumulating commissions1 and never1 even by ,tintoret1 were commissions executed with such undaunted1 unhesitating expedition4 ,withal ,rubens frequently left his studio and went abroad1 either to act as an unofficial ambassador1 or to paint at the special request of some foreign sovereign4 ,thus he was residing in ,paris in #afbj1 planning for ,marie de ,medici the series of remarkable pictures which commemorated her marriage with ,henry ,,iv4 7,when ,i was a little girl1 ,i went occasionally to a country house1 the show place of the neighbourhood1 where there were copies of this series of ,rubens' pictures4 ,i can remember yet looking at them with utter bewilderment1 caused by the dubious taste that impelled ,rubens to indulge in the oddest mixture of royal personages1 high church dignitaries1 patron saints1 and gods and goddesses47 ,in #afbh ,rubens was in ,spain on a mission from his sovereign to her kinsman1 ,philip ,,iv42 in the following year he was in ,england1 on a service of a similar description to ,charles ,i41 from whom1 even as ,rubens had already received it from ,king ,philip1 the painter had the honour of knighthood4 ,in the mean time ,rubens' first wife died1 after a union of seventeen years1 in #afbf2 and four years later1 in #afcj1 the painter1 when he was a man of fifty years1 re-married another connection of his own1 ,helena ,fourment1 a girl only in her sixteenth year4 ,both of his wives were handsome1 fair1 full-formed ,flemish beauties4 ,elizabeth 7in ,spanish1 ,isabella7 ,brant's beauty was of a finer order than that of her successor1 expressing larger capacity of affection and intellect4 ,but on ,helena ,fourment ,rubens doted1 while to both women he seems to have been affectionately attached4 ,he has painted them so often1 that the face of no painter's wife is so familiar to the art world1 and even to the greater world without1 as are the faces of these two women1 and above all1 that of ,helena ,fourment4 ,he had seven children1 who frequently figure in their mothers' portraits4 ,he has left notable portraits of his two sons by his first wife1 of his eldest daughter1 ,clara ,eugenia1 when eight years of age1 and of his daughter ,elizabeth1 a buxom baby1 dressed in velvet and point lace1 playing with toys4 ,after a life of unbroken success and the highest honours1 the last distinction conferred on ,rubens was1 that he was chosen to arrange the gala1 and to be the right-hand man who should conduct the ,cardinal ,infant1 the successor of ,clara ,eugenia1 on his first entrance into ,antwerp4 ,but the hand of premature disease and death1 which not even he could resist1 was already on the great painter2 his constitution had been undermined by repeated attacks of gout1 and he died at the age of sixty years1 in #afdj4 ,he was the possessor of great wealth at the time of his death1 and only a part of his collection1 which was then sold1 brought so large a sum in those days1 as twenty thousand pounds4 ,rubens' second wife1 ,helena ,fourment1 to whom he had been married ten years1 survived him1 a widow at twenty-six years of age ,rubens' portrait is even better known than those of his wives1 for1 as ,i have said of ,raphael in his popularity1 ,rubens in his life is the beau-ideal of a painter to the many4 ,the portrait is worthy of the man1 with something gallant in the manliness1 and with thought tempering what might have been too much of bravado and too much of debonnairete in the traits4 ,his features are handsome in their ,flemish fulness1 and match well with hazel eyes1 chestnut hair1 and a ruddy complexion2 his long moustache is turned up1 and he wears the pointed beard which we see so often in the portraits by ,rubens' scholar1 ,van ,dyck4 ,the great flapping hat1 worn alike by men and women1 slightly cocked to one side1 is the perfection of picturesque head gear4 ,equally picturesque1 and not in the slightest degree effeminate on a man like ,rubens1 is the falling collar of pointed mechlin1 just seen above the cloak draped in large folds4 ,in his own day ,rubens was without a rival as a painter4 ,in a much later day ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds pronounced ,rubens 'perhaps the greatest master in the mechanical part of the art1 the best workman with his tools that ever exercised a pencil4' ,his consummate excellence lay in his execution and colouring4 ,it is brought as a reproach against his painting1 that his noblest characters1 even his sacred characters1 were but big1 brawny1 red and white ,flemings4 ,his imagination only reached a certain height1 and yet1 if it were a very earthly ,flemish imagination1 it could be grandly1 as it was always vigorously1 earthly and ,flemish4 ,at the same time he could be deficient where proportion1 and even where all the laws of art1 are concerned4 ,it is right that ,i should1 with regret and shame1 say this of ,rubens1 whose geniality bordered on joviality1 and whose age was a grosser age than our own1 that he debased his genius by some foul and revolting pictures4 ,of the general distinction between ,rubens and some of his predecessors ,i should like to quote ,mr ,ruskin's passage in his defence3 ',a man long trained to love the monk's vision of ,fra ,angelico1 turns in proud and ineffable disgust from the first work of ,rubens1 which he encounters on his return across the ,alps4 ,but is he right in his indignation8 ,he has forgotten that1 while ,angelico prayed and wept in his olive shade1 there was different work doing in the dank fields of ,flanders3--wild seas to be banked out2 endless canals to be dug1 and boundless marshes to be drained2 hard ploughing and harrowing of the frosty clay2 careful breeding of the stout horses and cattle2 close setting of brick-walls against cold winds and snow2 much hardening of hands1 and gross stoutening of bodies in all this2 gross jovialities of harvest homes1 and ,christmas feasts1 which were to be the reward of it2 rough affections1 and sluggish imaginations2 fleshy1 substantial1 iron-shod humanities1 but humanities still1--humanities which ,god had his eye upon1 and which won perhaps1 here and there1 as much favour in ,his sight as the wasted aspects of the whispering monks of ,florence 7,heaven forbid that it should not be so1 since the most of us cannot be monks1 but must be ploughmen and reapers still74 ,and are we to suppose there is no nobility in ,rubens' masculine and universal sympathy with all this1 and with his large human rendering of it1 gentleman though he was by birth1 and feeling1 and education1 and place1 and1 when he chose1 lordly in conception also8 ,he had his faults--perhaps great and lamentable faults1--though more those of his time and his country than his own2 he has neither cloister-breeding nor boudoir-breeding1 and is very unfit to paint either in missals or annuals2 but he has an open sky and wide-world breeding in him that we may not be offended with1 fit alike for king's court1 knight's camp1 or peasants cottage4' ,rubens' works are very many1 nearly four thousand pictures and sketches being attributed to him and his scholars4 ,many are still at ,antwerp1 many at ,madrid1 but most are at ,munich1 where1 in one great saloon and cabinet1 there are ninety-five pictures by ,rubens4 ,in ,england1 at ,blenheim1 there are fifteen pictures by ,rubens1 as the great ,duchess of ,marlborough would give any price for his works4 ,i can only indicate a very few examples in the different branches of art which he made his own4 ,first1 of his ',descent from the ,cross3' it is a single large group1 distinguished by luminous colouring and correct drawing1 and with regard to which the mass of white sheet against which the body of ,christ is in relief in the picture1 has been regarded as a bold artistic venture4 ,an enthusiastic admirer has called it 'a most wonderful monument of the daring genius of the painter4 ,the grandest picture in the world for composition1 drawing1 and colouring4' ,its defects are held to be 'the bustle of the incidents and the dreadfully true delineation of merely physical agony--too terrible1 real1 picturesque1 but not sublime--- an earthly tragedy1 not a divine mystery4' ',remit the anguish of that lighted stare2 ,close those wan lips6 let that thorn-wounded brow ,stream not with blood4' ,there is a tradition that an accident happened to the picture while ,rubens was painting it1 and that ,van ,dyck remedied the accident by re-painting the cheek and chin of the ,virgin and the arm of the ,magdalene4 ,with regard to another picture of ,rubens at ,antwerp1 ',the ,assumption of the ,virgin1' it is said that he painted it in sixteen days1 for sixteen hundred florins1 his usual terms being a hundred florins a-day4 ',the ,virgin and ,serpent' 7from the #abth chapter of ,revelation7 in the ,munich gallery is very splendid4 ,the ,virgin with the new-born ,saviour in her arms is mounting on the wings of an eagle1 surrounded by a flood of light4 ,the serpent1 encircling the moon on which she stands1 is writhing beneath her feet4 ,god the ,father is extending his protecting sceptre over her from above4 ,the archangel1 clothed in armour1 is in fearful combat with the seven-headed dragon1 which is endeavouring to devour the child4 ,although struck by lightning1 the dragon is striving to twist his tail round the legs of the angel1 and seizes the cloak of the ,virgin with one of his hands4 ,other infernal monsters are writhing with impotent rage1 and falling with the dragon into the abyss4' ',nothing was more characteristic of ,rubens than his choice of subjects from the mythology of the ,greeks and the works of the ancient poets2 and in nothing did he display more freedom1 originality1 and poetry4' ,among his most famous mythological pictures is the ',battle of the ,amazons1' now at ,munich4 ',the women are driven back by the ,greeks over the river ,thermodon2 two horses are in savage combat on the bridge2 one ,amazon is torn from her horse2 a second is dragged along by a sable steed1 and falling headlong into the river1 where others are swimming and struggling4 ,no other battle-piece1 save that of the ,amazons1 can compare with ,raphael's ,battle of ,constantine4' ,another great picture is ,the ',carrying off of ,proserpine4' ',pluto in his car is driven by fiery brown steeds1 and is bearing away the goddess1 resisting and struggling4 ,the picture absolutely glows with genial fire4 ,the forms in it are more slender than is general with ,rubens4 ,among the companions of ,proserpine the figure of ,diana is conspicuous for grace and beauty4 ,the victorious god of love hovers before the chariot1 and the blue ocean1 warmly tinted with the sunbeams1 forms a splendid back-ground4'#bc ,rubens was famous for the loveliness and grace of his paintings of children4 ,perhaps the most beautiful is that of ',the ,infant ,jesus and ,john playing with a ,lamb4' ,rubens was a great animal painter4 ,one of his celebrated animal pictures is ',daniel in the ,lions' ,den1' now at ,hamilton ,palace1 in which each lion is a king of beasts checked in his fiercest have been painted by ,rubens in a fit of pique at a false report which had been circulated that he could not paint animals1 and that those in his pictures were supplied by the animal-painter1 his friend and scholar1 ,schneyders4 ,rubens' landscapes are not the least renowned of his pictures4 ,he gave to his own rich but prosaic ,flanders1 all the breadth and breeziness and matchless aerial effects of a master of painting1 and a true lover of nature under every aspect1 who can indeed distinguish1 under the most ordinary aspect1 those hidden treasures which all but a lover and a man of genius would pass by4 ,his ',prairie of ,laacken1' 'with the sun of ,flanders piercing the dense yellow clouds with the force of fire1' is of great repute4 ,among his famous portraits ,i shall mention that called ',the ,four ,philosophers' 7,justus ,lepsius1 ,hugo ,grotius1 ,rubens1 and his brother71 with peaked beards and moustaches1 in turned-over collars1 ruffs and fur-trimmed robes1 having books and pens1 a dog1 and a classic bust as accessories4 ,the open pillared door is wreathed with a spray from without1 and there is a landscape in the background4 ,this portrait is full of power1 freedom1 and splendid painting4 ,another portrait contains that sweetest of ,rubens' not often sweet faces1 called 'the ,lady in the ,straw ,hat4' ,rubens himself did not name the picture otherwise in his catalogue4 ,tradition says the original was ,mdlle ,lundens1 the beauty of the seventeen provinces1 and that she died young and unmarried4 ,connoisseurs value the picture because of the triumph of skill by which ,rubens has painted brilliantly a face so much in the shade2 to those who are not connoisseurs ,i imagine the picture must speak for itself1 in its graceful1 tender beauty4 ,forming part of the collection of the late ,sir ,robert ,peel 7,i think he gave three thousand pounds for 'the ,lady in the ,straw ,hat'71 which has been bought for the country1 this beautiful portrait is now in the ,national ,gallery4 ,and now ,i must speak of the picture of the ,arundel ,family4 ,but first1 a word about ,thomas1 ,earl of ,arundel4 ,it is impossible to write an ,english work on art and omit a brief account of one of ,england's greatest art benefactors4 ,thomas1 ,earl of ,arundel1 representing in his day the great house of ,howard1 had a love of art which approached to a mania2 and without being so outrageously vain as ,sir ,kenelm ,digby1 there is no doubt that the ,earl counted on his art collection as a source of personal distinction4 ,james ,i41 himself an art collector1 so far humoured the ,earl in his taste as to present him with ,lord ,somerset's forfeited collection1 valued at a thousand pounds4 ,but ,charles ,i1 and the ,earl became rival collectors1 and little love was lost between them4 ,the ,earl of ,arundel impairing even his great revenues in the pursuit1 employed agents and ambassadors--notably ,petty and ,evelyn--all over ,europe1 to obtain for him drawings1 pictures1 ancient marbles1 gems1 etc41 etc4 ,when the civil wars broke out1 ,lord ,arundel conveyed his priceless collection for safety to ,antwerp and ,padua4 ,eventually it was divided among his sons and scattered far and wide4 ,the only portion of it which fell to the nation1 in the course of another generation1 was the ,greek ,marbles1 known as the ,arundel ,marbles1 which were finally presented to the ,university of ,oxford4 ,but in ,rubens' day all this grand collection was intact1 and displayed in galleries at ,arundel ,house1 which the mob thought fit to nickname ',tart ,hall2' and through these galleries ,rubens was conducted by the ,earl4 ,lord ,arundel desired to have an ,arundel family portrait painted for him by ,rubens4 ,the ,earl was rather given to having ,arundel family portraits1 for there are no less than three in which he figures4 ,one by ,van ,somer1 in which the hero is pointing somewhat comically with his truncheon to the statues of his collection in the background1 and the last one projected by ,van ,dyck1 but executed by an inferior artist1 in which various family pieces of armour1 swords1 and shields1 worn at ,flodden1 or belonging to the poet ,earl of ,surrey1 are introduced in the hands of the sons of the family4 ,but it is with ,rubens' ',arundel ,family1' which1 we must remember1 ranks second in ,english family pictures1 that we have to do4 ,thomas1 ,earl of ,arundel1 and the ,lady ,alathea1#bd are under a portico with twisted columns1 like those in ,raphael's cartoons2 a rich curtain1 and a landscape with a large mansion are seen beyond4 ,the ,countess is seated in a chair of state1 with one hand on the head of a white greyhound2 she wears a black satin gown1 laced ruff1 gold bracelets1 and pearl necklace4 ,her hair is light1 and decked with pearls and plumes4 ,the ,earl stands behind with a hand on her chair4 ,his head is uncovered1 the short hair inclining to grey2 the whiskers and beard pointed4 ,his vest is olive-coloured1 and he has a brown mantle lined with crimson over the shoulders beneath his ruff4 ,there is a little boy--,earl ,thomas's grandson1 ,philip ,howard1 afterwards ,cardinal ,howard1 in crimson velvet1 trimmed with gold lace1 and a dwarf on the other side of the dog1 with one hand on its back4 ,among other masterpieces of ,rubens1 including the ',straw ,hat1' which are in the ,national ,gallery1 there are the ',rape of the ,sabines1' and the landscape ',autumn1' which has a view of his country chateau1 de ,stein1 near ,mechlin4 ,in ,dulwich ,gallery there is an interesting portrait by ,rubens of an elderly lady in a great ,spanish ruff1 which is believed to be the portrait of his mother4 ,rembrandt ,van ,rhyn is said to have been born near ,leyden about #afjf or #afjh1 for there is a doubt as to the exact date4 ,his father was a miller or maltster1 and there is a theory that ,rembrandt acquired some of his effects of light and shade from the impressions made upon him during his life in the mill4 ,he was a pupil at the ,latin school of ,leyden1 and a scholar in studios both at ,leyden and ,amsterdam4 ,in #afcj1 when ,rembrandt was a mere lad1 he seems to have settled in ,amsterdam1 and married there in #afcd1 when he was six or eight and twenty years of age1 a young ,dutchwoman possessed of a considerable fortune1 which1 in case of her death and of ,rembrandt's re-marriage1 was to pass to her children1 a provision that in the end wrought ,rembrandt's ruin4 ,the troubles of his country in the painter's time rendered his prices comparatively small and precarious1 and ,rembrandt1 like ,rubens1 without ,rubens' wealth1 was eager in making an art collection and surrounding himself with those very forms of beauty in the great ,italian masters' works1 in the appreciation of which the ,dutch master--judged by his own works--might have been reckoned deficient4 ,rembrandt's wife died after eight years of marriage1 and left him with one surviving son1 ,titus1 and ,rembrandt1 having re-married1 was called upon to give up the lad's inheritance4 ,this call1 together with the expenditure of the sums which ,rembrandt had lavished on his collection1 was too heavy upon funds never very ample1 and the painter1 after struggling with his difficulties1 became a bankrupt in #afef4 ,his son took possession of ,rembrandt's house1 and from the sale of the painter's art collection and other resources eventually recovered his mother's fortune1 but ,rembrandt himself never rose above the misery1 degradation1 and poverty of this period4 ,he lived thirteen years longer1 but it was in obscurity--out of which the only records which reach us1 are stories of miserly habits acquired too late to serve their purpose1 a desperate resort to low company dating from his first wife's death1 and his gradual downfall4 ,rubens and ,rembrandt have been sometimes contrasted as the painters of light and of darkness2 the contrast extended to their lives4 ,it will read like a humorous anti-climax after so sad a history1 when ,i add that no other painter painted his own likeness so often as ,rembrandt painted his4 ,in the engraving before me the face is heavy and stolid-seeming enough to be that of a typical ,dutchman4 ,the eye-brows are slightly knit over the broad nose2 the full lips are scantily shaded by a moustache2 there is no hair on the well-fleshed cheeks and double chin4 ,rembrandt wears a flat cap and ear-rings4 ,he has two rows of a chain across his doublet1 and one hand thrust beneath the cloak hanging across his breast4 ,rembrandt's great merits were his strong truthfulness1 and his almost equally powerful sense of a peculiar kind of picturesqueness4 ,it seems as if the ,german weirdness perceptible in ,albrecht ,duerer had in ,rembrandt taken a homelier1 but a more comprehensible and effective ,dutch form4 ,kugler argues1 that the long winter1 with its short dark days1 of ,northern ,europe produces in its inhabitants instinctive delight in hearth-warmth and light1 and that the pleasure in looking at ,rembrandt's pictures is traceable to this influence4 ,it is in scenes by fire-light1 camp-light1 torch-light1 that he triumphs1 and his somewhat grim but very real romance owes its origin to the endless suggestions of the deep black shadows which belong to these artificial lights4 ,there is this objection to be urged to the theory1 that ,rembrandt was also a good painter of his own flat ,dutch landscape1 painting it1 however1 rather under the sombre dimness of clouds and tempests than in the brightness of sunshine4 ,but whatever its source1 there is a charm so widely felt in that wonderfully perfect surrounding of uncertainty1 suspicion1 and alarm1 with which ,rembrandt has encompassed so many of his otherwise prosaic1 coarse1 and sometimes vulgar ,dutch men and women1 that we have coined a new word to express the charm1 and speak of groups and incidents being ,rembrandtesque1 as we speak of their being picturesque4 ,rembrandt did not always leave the vague thrill of doubt1 terror1 or even horror1 which he sought to produce1 to imagination working in the mysterious depths of his shadows4 ,a very famous picture of his is ',dr ,deeman 7an anatomist7 demonstrating from a dead subject4' ,in another picture a man stealing from the gloom is in the act of stabbing in the back the unconscious man in the foreground4#be ,rembrandt's originality is as undoubted as his ability1 and he was as great in etching as in painting4 ,his defect as a painter was the frequent absence of any evidence in his work of a sense of refinement1 grace1 or even beauty2 this can be said of him who spent means not his own on gathering together images of beauty and grace produced by the pencils and brushes of others4 ,many of ,rembrandt's pictures are in the galleries of ,amsterdam and the ,hague1 and we have many in ,london4 ,the ,national ,gallery has several examples1 including two of ,rembrandt's portraits4 ,passing over ,van ,dyck1 whom ,i reserve1 as ,i have reserved ,holbein1 to class among the foreign painters resident in or closely connected with ,england1 ,i come to the ,teniers--father and son4 ,david the elder was born at ,antwerp in #aehb1 and ,david the younger also at ,antwerp1 in #afaj4 ,david the younger is decidedly the more eminent painter1 though the works of the father are often mistaken for those of the son4 ,the two ,teniers' class of subjects was the same1 being ordinarily 'fairs1 markets1 peasants' merry-makings1 beer-houses1 guard rooms4' ,david the younger had great popularity1 was court painter to the ,archduke of ,austria1 and earned such an independence1 that he bought for himself a chateau at the village of ,perck1 not very far from the ,chateau de ,stein of ,rubens1 with whom ,david ,teniers was on terms of friendly intimacy4 ,there ,teniers1 like his great associate1 lived in the utmost state and bounty1 entertaining the noblest of the land4 ,david ,teniers married twice1 his first wife being the daughter of one of a family of ,flemish painters1 who were known1 according to their respective proclivities in art1 by the names of ,peasant ,breughel1 ,velvet ,breughel1 and ,hell ,breughel4 ,teniers had many children4 ,the elder ,teniers died at ,antwerp in #afdi2 the younger died at ,brussels1 and was buried at ,perck1 in #afid4 ,the distinction of the ,teniers was the extreme fidelity and cleverness with which they copied 7but did not explain7 the life they knew--the homeliest1 humblest aspect of life4 ,they brought out with marvellous accuracy all its traits1 except1 indeed1 the underlying strain of poetry1 which1 while it redeems plainness1 sordidness1 and even coarseness1 is as true to life as is its veriest prose4 ,with those who ask a literal copy of life1 whether high or low1 and ask no more1 the ,teniers and their school must always be in the highest favour2 and to those who are wearied and sceptical of blunders and failures in seeking that underlying strain of life1 the mere rugged genuineness of the ,teniers' work recommends itself1 and is not without its own pathos2 while to very many superficial observers the simple homeliness of the life which the ,teniers chose to represent1 prevents the observers from missing what should be present in every life4 ,men and women are only conscious of the defect when the painters wander1 now and then1 into higher spheres and into sacred subjects1 and there is the unavoidable recoil from gross blindness4 ,i have taken the ,teniers as the representatives of a numerous school of ,flemish and ,dutch artists1 whose works abound in this country4 ,david ,teniers the younger appears at his best1 several times1 in ,dulwich ,gallery and the ,national ,gallery4 ,philip ,wouverman was born at ,haarlem in #afbj4 ,he was the son of a painter1 able1 but unrecognized in his own day4 ,philip ,wouverman found few patrons1 disposed of his pictures by hard bargains to dealers1 was tempted by his want of success to abjure his art1 and even went so far1 according to tradition1 as to burn his studies and sketches1 in order to prevent his son pursuing the career which had been to him a career of bitter disappointment4 ,he died at ,haarlem1 #affh1 when he was no more than forty-eight years of age4 ,yet some nine hundred paintings bear 7many of them falsely7 ,wouverman's name4 ,with all the truth and excellent execution of his contemporaries and countrymen'1 ,philip ,wouverman1 who had1 as he thought1 missed his mark1 had something which those successful men lacked--he had not only a feeling for grace1 but a touch of sentiment4 ,his scenes are commonly 'road-side inns1 hunts1 fights2' but along with an inclination to adopt a higher class of actors--knights and ladies1 instead of peasants--there is a more refined treatment and a dash of tenderness and melancholy--the last possibly born of his own disastrous fortunes4 ,in his love of horses and dogs1 as adjuncts to his groups1 he had as great a fondness for a special white horse1 as ,paul ,potter had for black and white cattle4 ,albert ,cuyp was born at ,dort in #afje4 ,he was a brewer by trade1 and only painted as an amateur4 ,in spite of this1 he was a great landscape painter1 and has given delight to thousands by his power of expressing his own love of nature4 ,little is known of ,cuyp's life1 and the date of his death is uncertain1 farther than it was later than #afch4 ,in affected enthusiasm1 ,cuyp has been called the ,dutch ,claude1 but in reality1 ,cuyp surpassed1 ,claude in some respects4 ,the distinction1 which ,mr ,ruskin draws between them1 is that1 while ,claude1 in the sense of beauty1 is the superior to ,cuyp1 in the sense of truth ,claude is the inferior4 ,besides ,cuyp's landscapes1 he painted portraits1 and what is called 'still life' 7dead game1 fruit or flower pieces1 etc471 but ,cuyp's triumph was found in his skies1 with their 'clearness and coolness1' and in 'expressions of yellow sunlight4' ,mr ,ruskin admits1 while he is proceeding to censure ,cuyp1 parts might be chosen out of the good pictures of ,cuyp which have never been equalled in art4' ,on another occasion1 ,mr ,ruskin has this passage full of dry humour in reference to ,cuyp3 ',again1 look at the large ,cuyp in ,dulwich ,gallery1 which ,mr ,hazlitt considers finest in the world1 and of which he very complimentarily says1 the tender green of the valleys1 the gleaming lake1 the purple light of the hills have an effect ought to have apologized before now for not having studied sufficiently in ,covent ,garden to be provided with terms of correct and classical criticism4 ,one of my friends begged me to observe1 the other day1 that ,claude was pulpy2 another added the yet more gratifying information that he was juicy2 and it is now happily discovered that ,cuyp is downy4 ,now ,i dare say that the sky of this first-rate ,cuyp is very like an unripe nectarine3 all that ,i have to say about it is1 that it is exceedingly unlike a sky4 ,we may see for ourselves ,cuyp's lovely landscapes both in the ,national ,gallery and at ,dulwich4 ,paul ,potter was born at ,enkhuysen1 in ,north ,holland1 in #afbe1 and was the son of a painter4 ,paul ,potter settled1 while still very young1 at the ,hague as an animal painter1 and died in his thirtieth year1 in #afed4 ,his career1 which was thus brief1 had promised to be very successful1 and he had established his fame1 while no more than twenty-two years of age1 by painting for ,prince ,maurice of ,nassau that which continues his most renowned1 though probably not his best picture1 his ',young ,bull1' for some time in the ,louvre1 now restored to the painter's native country1 and placed in the ,museum at the ,hague4 ,this picture is considered nearly faultless as a vigorous1 if somewhat coarse1 representation of animal life in the main figure2 but ,paul ,potter's later pictures1 especially his smaller pictures of pastures with cattle feeding1 having fine colouring and fine treatment of light1 are now regarded as equally good in their essential excellences1 and of wider scope4 ,paul ,potter etched as well as painted4 ,there is no example of ,paul ,potter in the ,national ,gallery4 ,jan ,david de ,heem#bf and his son ,cornelius1 the father born in #afjc1 the son in #afcj1 and ,maria ,von ,oesterwyck1 the elder man's pupil1 were eminent ,flemish and ,dutch flower and fruit painters4 ,the gorgeous bloom and mellow ripeness in some of the flower and fruit pieces of ,flemish and ,dutch painters1 like those ,i have mentioned1 are beyond description4 ,i would have you look at them for yourselves1 where they are well represented1 in the ,dulwich ,gallery2 ,i would have you notice also how1 as travellers declare of the splendour of tropical flowers1 that they are deficient in the tender sweetness and grace of our more sober-tinted and less lavishly-blossoming ,english flowers2 so these ,flemish and ,dutch full blown flower pieces have not a trace of the sentiment which modern flower painters cannot help seeking1 with good result or bad result1 to introduce into every tuft of primroses or of violets1 if not into every cluster of grapes and bunch of cherries4 ,from a fact which ,i have already mentioned1 that so many ,flemish and ,dutch pictures1 which we may often come across1 are in ,england1 ,i am sorry that my space will not suffer me to give a few special words to other famous painters of these schools or school1 for they merge into one1 to ,snyders1 ,jan ,steen1 ,gerard ,dow1 ,ruysdael1 ,hobbema1 ,van de ,velde1 etc41 etc4 ,,chapter ,,ix4 ,,spanish ,,art--,,velasquez1 #aeii-affj--,,murillo1 #afah-afhb4 ,spanish art1 from its dawn to the time of ,velasquez1 had been of a 'severely devotional character1' austere and formal2 and although one man did not work a revolution by his independent example1 he did something to humanize and widen art4 ,in the rich city of ,seville in #aeii1 ,diego ,rodriguez1 de ,silva y ,velasquez1--and not1 as he is incorrectly called1 ,diego ,velasquez de ,silva1 was born1 and1 according to an ,andalusian fashion1 took his mother's name of ,velasquez1 while his father was of the ,portuguese house de ,silva4 ,velasquez was gently born1 though his father was in no higher position than that of a lawyer in ,seville4 ,the painter was well educated1 though1 according to his ,english biographer 7,sir ,w4 ,stirling ,maxwell71 'he was still more diligent in drawing on his grammars and copybooks than in turning them to their legitimate use4' ,the lad's evident bent induced his father to painter4 ,he studied in two different ,spanish studios1 and married the daughter of his second master1 whom the talents1 assiduity1 and good qualities of ,velasquez had already strongly attached to the young painter4 ,from the first1 ,velasquez struck out what was then a new line in ,spanish art4 ,he gave himself up to the materialistic studies1 to which the ,flemish and ,dutch painters were prone1 painting diligently 'still life' in every form1 taking his living subjects from the streets and way-sides1 and keeping a peasant lad as an apprentice1 'who served him for a study in different actions and postures 7sometimes crying1 sometimes laughing71 till ,velasquez had grappled with every variety of expression4' ,the result of those studies was ,velasquez's famous picture of the ',aguador1' or water-carrier of ,seville1 which was carried off by ,joseph ,buonaparte in his flight from ,spain1 taken in his carriage at ,vittoria1 and finally presented by ,ferdinand ,,vii1 of ,spain1 as a grateful offering to the ,duke of ,wellington1 in whose gallery at ,apsley ,house the picture remains4 ',it is a composition of three figures1' ,sir ,w4 ,stirling ,maxwell writes2 'a sunburnt way-worn seller of water1 dressed in a tattered brown jerkin1 with his huge earthen jars1 and two lads1 one of whom receives a sparkling glass of the pure element1 whilst his companion quenches his thirst from a pipkin4 ,the execution of the heads and all the details is perfect2 and the ragged trader dispensing a few maravidi's worth of his simple stock1 maintains1 during the transaction1 a grave dignity of deportment1 highly ,spanish and characteristic1 and worthy of an emperor pledging a great vassal in ,tokay4' ,just such a group may still be seen1 or was to be seen till very lately1 in the quaint streets of ,seville4 ,i have read an anecdote of ,velasquez and this picture1 which is quite probable1 though ,i cannot vouch for its accuracy4 ,it is said that1 while painting the water-carrier day after day1 when he had been engaged with his work for several hours1 ,velasquez found himself vexed by perceiving1 as it were1 the effect of a shadow cast by some of the drapery4 ,small flaw as it might have been1 it appeared to him to interfere with and spoil the picture4 ,again and again1 in endeavouring to do away with this 'shadow1' ,velasquez undid portions of his work1 and had to repeat them next day1 but always1 towards the end of his task1 the invidious shadow stole upon his vision4 ,at last a friend1 who was present and full of admiration for the picture1 heard ,velasquez exclaim1 ',that shadow again6' and saw him seize a brush and prepare to dash it across the canvas4 ,the friend remonstrated1 besought1 and by main force held back the painter1 and at last induced him to leave the picture untouched till next day1 when ,velasquez discovered1 to his great relief1 that the shadow had been in his own wearied young eyes1 and not in his admirable representation of the ',water-carrier4' ,velasquez was in ,madrid in #afbc1 when he was in his twenty-fifth year1 and having been introduced by the ,prime ,minister1 ,olivares1 to the ,king of ,spain1 ,philip ,,iv41 a king who was only known to smile once or twice in his lifetime1 whose government was careless and blundering1 but who had the reputation of being a man of some intelligence and very considerable taste1--,velasquez was received into the king's service with a monthly salary of twenty ducats1 and employed to paint the royal portrait4 ,from the time that he became court painter1 ,velasquez was largely occupied in painting portraits of members of the royal family1 with special repetitions of the likeness of his most ,catholic ,majesty4 ,with ,velasquez's first portrait of ,philip in armour1 mounted on an ,andalusian charger1 the king was so pleased1 that he permitted the picture to be publicly exhibited1 amidst the plaudits of the spectators1 in front of the church of ,san ,felipe el ,real in ,madrid4 ,nor was the exhibition a barren honour to the painter1 for the king not only 'talked of collecting and in future ,velasquez should have the monopoly of the royal countenance1' he paid three hundred ducats for the picture4 ,about this time our own ,charles ,i41 then ,prince of ,wales1 went in his incognito of ,charles ,smith to ,madrid on his romantic adventure of seeking to woo and win1 personally1 the ,infanta of ,spain1 and ,velasquez is said to have gained ,charles's notice1 and to have at least begun a portrait of him4 ,if it were ever completed it has been lost1 a misfortune which has caused spurious pictures1 purporting to be the real work1 to be offered to the public4 ,sir ,w4 ,stirling ,maxwell holds1 with great show of truth1 that this visit of ,charles to ,madrid1 when its altars were 'glowing' with the pictures of ,titian1 confirmed the unhappy king's taste for art4 ,in #afbh ,rubens came to ,madrid as an envoy from the governess of the ,netherlands1 and the two painters1 who had many points in common1 and who had already corresponded1 became fast friends4 ,by the advice of ,rubens1 ,velasquez was induced to put into execution his cherished desire of visiting ,italy1 the king granting his favourite painter leave of absence1 the continuance of his salary1 and a special sum for his expenses4 ,velasquez went to ,venice first1 and afterwards to ,rome1 where he was offered1 and declined1 a suite of apartments in the ,vatican1 asking only free access to the papal galleries4 ,there he copied many portions of ,michael ,angelo's ',last ,judgment'--not a hundred years old1 and 'yet undimmed by the morning and evening incense of centuries1' and portions of the frescoes of ,raphael4 ,at ,rome ,velasquez found there before him1 ,domenichino1 ,guido ,reni1 alternating 'between the excitements of the gaming table and the sweet creations of his smooth flowing pencil2' ',nicolas ,poussin1 an adventurer fresh from his ,norman village2 and ,claude ,gelee1 a pastry-cook's runaway apprentice from ,lorraine4'#bg ,velasquez remained a year in ,rome4 ,besides his studies he painted three original pictures1 one of them1 ',joseph's ,coat1' well known among the painter's comparatively rare religious works1 and now in the ,escurial4 ,in this picture his biographer acknowledges1 that 'choosing rather to display his unrivalled skill in delineating vulgar forms than to risk his reputation in the pursuit of a more refined and idealized style1' ,velasquez's ',hebrew patriarchs are swineherds of ,estramadura or shepherds of the ,sierra ,morena4' ,from ,rome ,velasquez proceeded to ,naples1 where he was enabled by his prudence and forbearance to face without injury the disgraceful 'reign of terror' which the ,neapolitan artists had established in the south of ,italy4 ,the ,neapolitan artists more than any other ,italian artists are believed to have influenced ,velasquez's style4 ,in #afci ,velasquez painted his principal religious work1 ',the ,crucifixion1' for the nunnery of ,san ,placido in ,madrid1 a painting in which his power has triumphed successfully over his halting imagination4 ,with regard to the many court groups which ,velasquez was constantly taking1 ,i may quote ,sir ,w4 ,stirling ,maxwell's amusing paragraph about a curious variety of human beings in the ,court ,gallery4 ',the ,alcazar of ,madrid abounded with dwarfs in the days of ,philip ,,iv41 who was very fond of having them about him1 and collected curious specimens of the race1 like other rarities4 ,the ,queen of ,spain's gallery is1 in consequence1 rich in portraits of these little monsters1 executed by ,velasquez4 ,they are1 for the most part1 very ugly1 displaying1 sometimes in an extreme degree1 the deformities peculiar to their stunted growth4 ,maria ,barbola1 immortalized by a place in one of ,velasquez's most celebrated pictures1 was a little dame about three feet and a half in height1 with the head and shoulders of a large woman1 and a countenance much underjawed1 and almost ferocious in expression4 ,her companion1 ,nicolasito ,pertusano1 although better proportioned than the lady1 and of a more amicable aspect1 was very inferior in elegance as a royal plaything to his contemporary1 the valiant ,sir ,geoffrey ,hudson2 or his successor in the next reign1 the pretty ,luisillo of ,queen ,louisa of ,orleans4 ,velasquez painted many portraits of these little creatures1 generally seated on the ground2 and there is a large picture in the ,louvre representing two of them leading by a cord a great spotted hound1 to which they bear the same proportion that men of the usual size bear to a horse4' ,in #afdh ,velasquez again visited ,italy1 sent by the king this time to collect works of art for the royal galleries and the academy about to be founded4 ,velasquez went by ,genoa1 ,milan1 ,venice 7buying there chiefly the works of ,tintoret71 and ,parma1 to ,rome and ,naples1 returning to ,rome4 ,at ,rome ,velasquez painted his splendidly characteristic portrait of the ,pope ,innocent ,x41 'a man of coarse features and surly expression1 and perhaps the ugliest of all the successors of ,st ,peter4' ,back at ,madrid1 ,philip continued to load ,velasquez and his family with favours1 appointing the painter ,quarter-,master-,general of the king's household with a salary of three thousand ducats a year1 and the right of carrying at his girdle a key which opened every lock in the palace4 ,philip is said to have raised ,velasquez to knighthood in a manner as gracious as the manner of ,charles ,v1 when he lifted up ,titian's pencil4 ,in painting one of his most renowned pictures1 to which ,i shall refer again1 ',the ,maids of ,honour1' ,velasquez included himself at work on a large picture of the royal family4 ,the painter represented himself with the key of his office at his girdle1 and on his breast the red cross of the ,order of ,santiago4 ,philip1 who came every day to see the progress of this picture1 remarked in reference to the figure of the artist1 that 'one thing was yet wanting1 and taking up the brush painted the knightly insignia with his own royal fingers1 thus conferring the accolade with a weapon not recognized in chivalry4' ,as it is believed1 ,velasquez's court office1 with all its prestige and influence1 helped in causing his death4 ,king ,philip went in ,june1 #affj1 to the ,isle of ,pheasants in the river ,bidassa1 where1 on ground which was neither ,spanish nor ,french1 the ,spanish and ,french courts were to meet and celebrate with the greatest magnificence the marriage of the ,grand ,monarque and the ,infanta ,maria ,teresa4 ,one of ,velasquez's official duties was to prepare lodgings for the king on his journeys1 and in this instance the lodging included not only the decoration of the castle of ,fuenterrabia1 but the erection of a sumptuous pavilion in which the interviews of the assembled kings and queens and their revelries were to be held4 ,velasquez did his part of the preparations1 and doubtless shared in the royal festivities1 but returned to ,madrid so worn out by his undertaking1 and by constant attendance on his master1 that he was seized with tertian fever1 of which he died a few days later1 while but in his sixty-first year1 to the great grief of his countrymen1 and above all of his king4 ,velasquez's wife1 ,dona ,juana1 died eight days after her husband1 and was buried in his grave4 ,the couple left one surviving child1 a daughter1 married to a painter4 ,in one picture1 now at ,vienna1 ,velasquez gives a glimpse of his family life at a time when it would seem that he had four sons and two daughters1 so that the fortunate painter's home had not been free from one shadow--that of death1 which must have robbed him of five of his children4 ,in this pleasant picture1 'his wife dressed in a brown tunic over a red petticoat1 sits in the foreground of a large room1 with a pretty little girl leaning on her knees1 and the rest of her children grouped around her2 behind are the men in deep shadow1 one of them1 perhaps1 being ,mazo1 the lover or the husband of the eldest daughter1 and a nurse with a child2 and in an alcove ,velasquez himself appears1 standing before his easel1 at work on a portrait of ,philip ,,iv4 ,this is one of the most important works of the master out of the ,peninsula2 the faces of the family sparkle on the sober background like gems4 ,as a piece of easy actual life1 the composition has never been surpassed1 and perhaps it excels even ,the ,meninas1 inasmuch as the hoops and dwarfs of the palace have not intruded upon the domestic privacy of the painter's home1 in the northern gallery4'#bh ,velasquez seems to have been a man of honour and amiability4 ,he filled a difficult office at the most jealous court in ,europe with credit4 ,he was true to his friends1 and helpful to his brother artists4 ,his biographer writes of ,velasquez as handsome in person1 and describes his costume when he appeared for the last time with his king in the galas at ,pheasants' ,isle3--'over a dress richly laced with silver he wore the usual ,castilian ruff1 and a short cloak embroidered with the red cross of ,santiago2 the badge of the order1 sparkling with brilliants1 was suspended from his neck by a gold chain2 and the scabbard and hilt of his sword were of silver1 exquisitely chased1 and of ,italian workmanship4' ,in the likeness of ,velasquez1 which is the frontispiece of ,sir ,w4 ,stirling ,maxwell's ',life1' the painter appears as a man of swarthy complexion1 with a long compressed upper lip1 unconcealed by his long1 elaborately trimmed moustache2 his hair1 or wig1 is arranged in two large frizzed bunches on each side of a face which is inclined to be lantern-jawed4 ,he wears a dark doublet with a 'standing white collar4' ,velasquez's excellence as a painter was to be found1 like that of ,rembrandt1 in his truth to nature2 but the field of truth presented to the stately ,spaniard1 while it had its own ample share of humour1 was a widely different field from that which offered itself to the ,dutch burgher4 ,together with absolute truth1 ,velasquez had the ease and facility in expressing truth which are only acquired by a great master4 ,like ,rubens1 ,velasquez made essays in many branches of painting4 ,in sacred art1 if we except his ',crucifixion1' he did not attain a high place4 ,with regard to his landscapes1 ,sir ,david ,wilkie bore witness3--',titian seems his model1 but he has also the breadth and picturesque effect for which ,claude and ,salvator ,rosa are remarkable2' and ,sir ,david added of those landscapes1 'they have the very same sun we see1 and the air we breathe1 the very soul and spirit of nature4' ,velasquez's genre pictures1 to which ,i shall refer by and by1 are excellent1 but the fate was kind which confined him largely to portrait painting4 ,it was brought as a reproach against ,velasquez in his lifetime1 that he could paint a head and nothing else1 to which he replied with mingled spirit1 sense1 and good nature1 that his detractors flattered him1 'for he knew nobody of whom it could be said that he painted a head thoroughly well4' ,sir ,w4 ,stirling ,maxwell asserts of ,velasquez's portrait painting1 that no artist 'ever followed nature with more catholic fidelity2 his cavaliers are as natural as his boors2 he neither refined the vulgar1 nor vulgarized the refined1' and goes on to quote this among other criticism3--'his portraits baffle description and praise2 he drew the minds of men2 they live1 breathe1 and are ready to walk out of the frames4' ,sir ,william winds up with the enthusiastic declaration1 ',such pictures as these are real history2 we know the persons of ,philip ,,iv1 and ,olivares1 as familiarly as if we had paced the avenues of the ,pardo with ,digby and ,howell1 and perhaps we think more favourably of their characters4' ,i shall borrow still further from ,sir ,w4 ,stirling ,maxwell's graphic and entertaining book1 descriptions of two of ,velasquez's genre pictures1 ',the ,maids of ,honour1' and the more celebrated ',spinners1' both at ,madrid4 ',the scene 7of the first7 is a long room in a quarter of the old palace which was called the prince's quarter1 and the subject1 ,velasquez at work on a large picture of the royal family4 ,to the extreme right of the composition is seen the back of the easel and the canvas on which he is engaged2 and beyond it spalette1 pausing to converse1 and to observe the effect of his performance4 ,in the centre stands the little ,infanta ,maria ,margarita1 taking a cup of water from a salver which ,dona ,maria ,augustina ,sarmiento1 maid of honour to the queen1 presents kneeling4 ,to the left1 ,dona ,isabel de ,velasco1 another menina1 seems to be dropping a courtesy2 and the dwarfs1 ,maria ,barbolo and ,nicolas ,pertusano1 stand in the foreground1 the little man putting his foot on the quarters of a great tawny hound1 which despises the aggression1 and continues in a state of solemn repose4 ,some paces behind these figures1 ,dona ,marcela de ,ulloa1 a lady of honour in nun-like weeds1 and a guardadimas1 are seen in conversation2 at the far end of the room an open door gives a view of a staircase1 up which ,don ,josef ,nieto1 queen's apasentador1 is retiring2 and near this door there hangs on the wall a mirror1 which1 reflecting the countenance of the king and queen1 shows that they form part of the principal group1 although placed beyond the bounds of the picture4 ,the room is hung with paintings which ,palomino assures us are works of ,rubens2 and it is lighted by three windows in the left wall1 and by the open door at the end1 an arrangement of which an artist will at once comprehend the difficulties4 ,the perfection of art which conceals art1 was never better attained than in this picture4 ,velasquez seems to have anticipated the discovery of ,daguerre1 and taking a real room1 and real chance grouped people1 to have fixed them1 as it were by magic1 for all time on his canvas4 ,the little fair-haired ,infanta is a pleasing study of childhood2 with the hanging-lip and full cheek of the ,austrian family1 she has a fresh complexion and lovely blue eyes1 and gives a promise of beauty which as empress she never fulfilled4 ,her young attendants1 girls of thirteen or fourteen1 contrast agreeably with the ill-favoured dwarf beside them2 they are very pretty1 especially ,dona ,isabel de ,velasco1 who died a reigning beauty1 and their hands are painted with peculiar delicacy4 ,their dresses are highly absurd1 their figures being concealed by long stiff corsets and prodigious hoops2 for these were the days when the mode was-- ,supporters1 pooters1 fardingales1 above the loynes to weare2 and the guardainfante1 the oval hoop peculiar to ,spain1 was in full blow2 and the robes of a dowager might have curtained the tun of ,heidelberg1 and the powers of ,velasquez were baffled by the perverse fancy of ,fribble1 the woman's tailor4 ,the gentle and majestic hound1 stretching himself and winking drowsily1 is admirably painted1 and seems a descendant of the royal breed immortalized by ,titian in portraits of the ,emperor ,charles and his son4' ',the ,spinners3' ',the scene is a large weaving-room1 in which an old woman and young one sit1 the first at her spinning-wheel1 and the second winding yarn1 with three girls beside them1 one of whom plays with a cat4 ,in the background1 standing within an alcove filled with the light from an unseen window1 are two other women displaying a large piece of tapestry to a lady customer1 whose graceful figure recalls that which has given its name to ,terburg's picture of ,the ,satin ,gown4 ,of the composition1 the painter ,mengs observed1 it seemed as if the hand had no part in it1 and it had been the work of pure thought4' ,velasquez1 who must have seen many a bull fight1 has left the world a fine example of field sports in ',the ,boar ,hunt1' in our ,national ,gallery1 a picture which was bought for two thousand two hundred pounds from ,lord ,cowley4 ,when ambassador at the ,court of ,spain1 it was given to him by ,ferdinand ,,vii4 ,in a circular pen in the ,pardo1 ',philip ,,iv4 and a party of cavaliers display their skill in slaying boars1 to a few ladies1 who sit secure in heavy old-fashioned blue coaches1' while motley groups of courtiers and peasants1 huntsmen and hounds1 postilions and their mules fill the foreground4 ,sir ,edwin ,landseer remarked of this picture that he had never before seen 'so much large art on so small a scale4' ,bartolome ,estevan ,murillo was born at ,seville in #afah1 and was therefore nearly twenty years younger than his great countryman ,velasquez4 ,murillo seems to have been of obscure origin1 and to have begun his life in humble circumstances4 ,there are traditions of his being self-taught1 of his studying ragged boys1 himself little more than a boy1 in the gypsy quarter of ,triana in ,seville2 of his painting in the marketplace1 where he probably found the originals of the heads of saints and ,madonnas 7by which he made a little money in selling them for ,south ,america7 in the peasants who came to ,seville with their fruit and vegetables4 ,in #afdb1 ,murillo1 then twenty-four years of age1 visited ,madrid1 and was kindly received1 and aided in his art by his senior and fellow artist1 the court painter1 ,velasquez4 ,it had been ,murillo's intention to proceed to ,england to study under ,van ,dyck1 but the death of the latter put a stop to the project4 ,murillo was prevented from making the painter's pilgrimage to ,italy by want of means1 but the loss of culture was so far supplied by the instructions given to him by ,velasquez4 ,in #afde1 when ,murillo was twenty-seven years of age1 he returned to ,seville1 and settled there1 becoming as successful as he deserved2 and being acknowledged as the head of the school of ,seville1 where he established the ,academy of ,art1 and was its first president4 ,murillo married1 in #afdh1 a lady of some fortune1 and was accustomed to entertain at his house the most exclusive society of ,seville4 ,in #afhb1 ,murillo was at ,cadiz painting a picture of the marriage of ,st ,catherine in the church of the ,capuchins there1 when1 in consequence of the accidental fall of the scaffolding1 he received so severe an injury1 that he was forced to leave his work incomplete1 and to return to ,seville1 where he died within a few weeks1 aged sixty-four years4 ,he had two sons1 and an only daughter1 who was a nun1 having taken the veil eight years before her father's death4 ,murillo appears to have been in character a gentle1 enthusiastic man1 not without a touch of fun and frolic4 ,he would remain for hours in the sacristy of the cathedral of ,seville before 'the solemn awful picture of the ',deposition from the ,cross1' by ,pedro de ,campana4 ,when ,murillo was asked by the sacristan why he stood thus gazing there1 the painter answered1 ',i am waiting till these holy men have finished their work4' ,by his own desire1 ,murillo was buried before this picture4 ,before another 'too truthful picture of ,las dos ,cadaveres' in the small church of the hospital of the ,caridad1 ,murillo used to hold his nose4 ,one of ,murillo's pictures has the odd name of ',la ,virgen ,sarvilleta1' or the ,virgin of the ,napkin4 ,murillo was working at the ,convento de la ,merced1 which is almost filled with his works1 when the cook of the convent begged a memorial of him1 offering as the canvas a napkin1 on which ,murillo at once painted a 'brilliant glowing ,madonna1' with a child1 'which seems quite to bound forward out of the picture4'#bi ,murillo's portrait by himself represents him in a dark doublet having wide sleeves and a square collar closed in front4 ,his thumb is in his pallet1 and the other hand1 with fingers taper and delicate as those of a hand by ,van ,dyck1 holds one of his brushes4 ,the smooth face1 with regular features1 is pale and thoughtful1 and with the womanliness of the aspect increased from the dark hair1 which is divided slightly to one side1 being allowed to fall down in long wavy curls on the shoulders4 ,in spite of the naturalistic studies of his early youth1 and even of the naturalistic treatment which he gave to his first religious work1 ,murillo was possessed of greater and higher imagination than ,velasquez could claim1 and the longer ,murillo lived and worked the more refined and exalted his ideas became4 ,unlike ,velasquez1 ,murillo was a great religious painter1 and during the last years of his life he painted sacred subjects almost exclusively4 ,but1 like ,velasquez1 ,murillo was eminently a ,spanish painter--his virgins are dark-eyed1 olive-complexioned maidens1 and even his ,holy ,child is a ,spanish babe4 ,without the elevation and the training of the best ,italian painters1 ,murillo has left abundant proofs of great original genius4 ,the painter's works are widely circulated1 but the chief are still in ,seville4 ,six are in the church of the ,caridad1 and these six include his famous ',moses striking the ,rock1' and his ',miracle of the ,loaves and ,fishes2' seven ',murillos' are in the ,convento de la ,merced1 among them ,murillo's own favourite picture1 which he called ',mi ,cicadro' of ',st ,thomas of ,villaneuva4' ',st ,thomas was the favourite preacher of ,charles ,v41 and was created ,archbishop of ,valencia1 where he seemed to spend the whole of his revenues in charity1 yet never contracted any debt1 so that his people used to believe that angels must minister to his temporal wants4 ,he is represented at his cathedral door1 distributing alms1 robed in black1 with a white mitre4 ,a poor cripple kneels at his feet1 and other mendicants are grouped around4' ,in the cathedral1 ,seville1 is ,murillo's ',angel de la ,guarda1' 'in which a glorious seraph1 with spreading wings1 leads a little trustful child by the hand1 and directs him to look beyond earth into the heavenly light2' and his ',st ,antonio4' ',the saint is represented kneeling in a cell1 of which all the poor details are faithfully given1 while the long arcade of the cloister can be seen through the half-open door4 ,above1 in a transparent light1 which grows from himself1 the ,child ,jesus appears1 and descends1 floating through wreaths of angels1 drawn down by the power of prayer4'#cj ,another of ,murillo's renowned pictures is that of the patron saints of ,seville1 ',santa ,rufina and ,santa ,justina1' who were stoned to death for refusing to bow down to the image of ,venus4 ,with regard to ,murillo's pictures of flower-girls and beggar-boys1 ,i think my readers are sure to have seen an engraving of one of the former1 ',the ,flower-,girl1' as it is called1 with a face as fresh and radiant as her flowers4 ,in the ,national ,gallery there is a large ,holy ,family of ,murillo's1 and in ,dulwich ,gallery there is a laughing boy1 an irresistible specimen of brown-cheeked1 white-teethed drollery4 ,,chapter ,x4 ,,art--,,nicolas ,,poussin1 #aeid-affe--;,,claude#ca ,,lorraine1 #afjj-afhb--;,,charles ,,le ,,brun1 #afai-afij--,,watteau1 #afhd-agba--;,,greuze1 #agbf-ahje4 ,nicolas ,poussin was born at ,andely in ,normandy in #aeid4 ,of his parentage little seems to have been ascertained1 but it is believed that he was well educated1 and his classical learning in after life was reckoned great4 ,he was regularly trained to be a painter under a master in his native town1 and afterwards in ,paris4 ,dissatisfied with the patronage which he received in ,paris1 ,poussin went to ,rome when he was about thirty years of age4 ,in ,rome he is said to have lived on familiar terms with a sculptor whose devotion to antique art influenced his taste1 and lent it the strong classical bent which it retained4 ,poussin studied regularly in the school of ,domenichino4 ,after some delay in attracting public notice1 ',the ,death of ,germanicus1' and ',the ,capture of ,jerusalem1' which ,poussin painted for ,cardinal ,barberini1 won general approval4 ,in #afbi1 when ,nicolas ,poussin was in his thirty-fifth year1 he married the sister of his pupil1 ,gaspar ,dughet1 who took ,poussin's name1 and is known as a painter1 inferior to his master1 by the name of ,gaspar ,poussin4 ,nicolas ,poussin returned to ,paris when he was a middle-aged man1 was presented to the king1 ,louis ,,xiii41 by ,cardinal ,richelieu1 and offered apartments in the ,tuileries1 with the title of painter in ordinary1 and a salary of a hundred and twenty pounds a year4 ,poussin agreed to settle in ,paris1 but on his going back to ,rome to fetch his wife1 and on the ,king of ,france's dying1 the attractions of the ,eternal ,city proved too great for the painter1 and in place of removing his home to his native country1 he lived for the rest of his years in ,rome1 and died there in #affe1 when he was seventy-one years of age4 ,except what can be judged of him from his work1 ,i do not know that much has been gathered of the private character and life of ,nicolas ,poussin1 notwithstanding that there was a biography written of him fifty years ago by ,lady ,calcott1 and that his letters have been published in ,paris4 ,in the absence of conclusive testimony one may conclude with some probability that he was 'quiet1' like his best paintings2 a man who minded his own business1 and did not trouble the world by astonishing actions1 good or bad4#cb ,in painting his own picture1 from which an engraving has been taken1 ,poussin's classical preferences seem to have passed into the likeness1 for in the dress of the seventeenth century1 the cloak 7not unlike a toga71 the massive hand with the heavy signet-ring resting on what looks like a closed portfolio1 the painter has something of the severe air and haughty expression of an old ,roman2 still more1 perhaps1 of the ,french-,romans1 if ,i may call them so1 of whom revolutionary times nearly two centuries later1 afforded so many examples4 ,this is a handsome1 dignified face1 with austerity in its pride4 ,the slightly curled hair is thrown back with a certain consciousness from the knit brow1 and from the shoulders4 ,there is only the faintest shadow of a moustache over the cleanly cut1 firmly closed mouth4 ,poussin painted largely1 and his pictures have been often engraved4 ,with harmonious composition1 good drawing and colouring1 his pictures alike profited and suffered from the classical atmosphere in which they had their being4 ,they gained in that correctness which in its highest form becomes noble truthfulness1 but they lost in freedom4 ,the figures in the pictures had frequently the statuesqueness which in sculpture suits the material1 but in painting is stiffness4 ,nicolas ,poussin had an exceptional reputation for a historical painter in his day4 ,as a landscape painter1 ,mr ,ruskin1 while waging war with ,nicolas ,poussin's brother-in-law and assumed namesake1 ,gaspar1 notably excepts ,nicolas from his severest strictures1 and treats his efforts in landscape painting with marked respect4 ,at the same time1 however1 the critic censures the painter for a want of thorough acquaintance with nature1 and the laws of nature1 ignorance not uncommon in any day1 and nearly universal in ,nicolas ,poussin's day4 ',the great master of elevated ideal landscape1' ,mr ,ruskin calls ,nicolas ,poussin1 and illustrates his excellence in one respect1 after contrasting it with the slovenliness of ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds1 by describing the vine in ,poussin's ',nursing of ,jupiter1' in the ,dulwich ,gallery1 thus3-- ',every vine-leaf1 drawn with consummate skill and untiring diligence1 produces not only a true group of the most perfect grace and beauty1 but one which in its pure and simple truth belongs to every age of nature1 and adapts itself to the history of all time4' ',one of the finest landscapes that ancient art has produced1 the work of a really great mind1' ,mr ,ruskin distinguishes the ',phocian' of ,nicolas ,poussin in the ,national ,gallery1 before proceeding to point out its faults4 ,again1 ,mr ,ruskin1 writing of the street in the centre of another landscape by ,nicolas ,poussin1 indicates it with emphasis3--'the street in the centre of the really great landscape of ,poussin 7great in feeling1 at least7 marked #bfj in the ,dulwich ,gallery1' ,the criticism with which ,mr ,ruskin follows up this praise is so perfect a bit of word-painting1 that ,i cannot refrain from writing it down here4 ',the houses are dead square masses1 with a light side and a dark side1 and black touches for windows4 ,there is no suggestion of anything in any of the spaces1 the light wall is dead grey1 the dark wall dead grey1 and the windows dead black4 ,how differently would nature have treated us4 ,she would have let us see the ,indian corn hanging on the walls1 and the image of the ,virgin of the tiled eaves1 and the deep ribbed tiles with the doves upon them1 and the carved ,roman capital built into the wall1 and the white and blue stripes of the mattresses stuffed out of the windows1 and the flapping corners of the neat blinds4 ,all would have been there2 not as such1 not like the corn1 nor blinds1 nor tiles1 not to be comprehended nor understood1 but a confusion of yellow and black spots and strokes1 carried far too fine for the eye to follow2 microscopic in its minuteness1 and filling every atom and space with mystery1 out of which would have arranged itself the general impression of truth and life4' ,once more1 ,mr ,ruskin freely admits that 'all the landscape of ,nicolas ,poussin is imagination4' ,mr ,ruskin's first definition of ideal landscape is in this manner4 ,every different tree and leaf1 every bud1 has a perfect form1 which1 were it not for disease or accident1 it would have attained2 just as every individual human face has an ideal form1 which but for sin and suffering it would present3 and the ideal landscape-painter has realized the perfect form1 and offers it to the world1 and that in a sense quite distinct from the fallacy of improving nature4 ,but ,i wish to take my readers further into imaginative landscape1 and to show it to them1 if possible1 under additional lights4 ,i despair of succeeding if ,i cannot do it by one or two simple examples4 ,in passing through a gallery we may stop before a picture to be struck1 almost startled1 by the exact copy which it presents of some scene in nature2 how like the clouds in the sky1 the leaves on the trees1 the very plumage of the birds6 ,but pass on to another picture which may or may not have the same exact likeness1 and we are possessed with quite another feeling2 instead of being merely surprised by the cleverness of the imitation1 we feel a thrill of delight at a reproduction of nature4 ,in this picture there are not only the clouds we remember1 but we can almost feel the shadows which they cast1 and the air which stirs them4 ,these tree-leaves are not only green1 or yellow1 or russet1 they are tender1 or crisp living leaves4 ,one half expects to see the birds' throats swell1 and hear the sweetness or the shrillness of their songs4 ,the first picture1 with all its correctness1 brightness1 richness1 or delicacy it may be1 remains bare1 hard1 and barren1 compared to the second4 ,i cannot explain to my readers the cause of the difference1 ,i can ,only show it to them as they may see it for themselves1 and say that ,i suppose it proceeds from this--that the second painter has seen farther into the heart of nature than the first1 and has been able by subtler touches to make us see with his eyes4 ,but imaginative landscape is much more than this vivid feeling and expression of nature2 there is not a cloud1 or leaf1 or bird too many or out of keeping with the place and the hour4 ,the clouds are the very clouds of sunset1 or sunrise1 or high noon--clouds differing widely from each other1 as you have no doubt observed4 ,the trees are the beeches1 or chestnuts1 or pines1 which would grow on the conformation of rocks1 in the sheltered nook1 or on the breezy upland2 the birds are the linnets or the larks1 the thrushes or the lapwings1 which frequent these special trees1 and may be seen and heard at this particular hour4 ,again1 landscape often tells a story1 and tells it inimitably4 ,my readers have heard of the ballad of the ',two ,corbies1' which the writer of the ballad has made to meet and tell gruesomely where and on what carrion their feast has been4 ,suppose the writer of the ballad had been a painter1 he might have painted the story as intelligibly by the lone hill-side1 the bleaching bones of the faithful hound and gallant grey1 the two loathly blue-black birds satiated with their prey4 ,there is a significant old ,scotch song with a ballad ring1 by ,lady ,nairne1 two verses of which form each a complete picture not only of different seasons1 but of different phases of feeling--happiness and misery4 ',bonnie ran the burnie down1 ,wandering and winding2 ,sweetly sang the birds aboon1 ,care never minding4 ',but now the burn comes down apace1 ,roaring and reaming1 ,and for the wee birdies' sang ,wild howlets screaming4' ,imagine these two verses painted1 and the painter1 from a lack of comprehension1 introducing the 'wild howlets screaming' beside the burnie1 'wandering and winding1' and the 'wee birdies' foolishly and inconsequently singing with their feeble song drowned in the rush of the burn 7no longer a burnie71 'roaring and reaming1' when the 'spate' is spreading desolation on every side4 ,don't you see how the picture would be spoilt1 and the story of complete contrast left untold8 ,i have taken advisedly an extreme and1 therefore an unlikely case of halting imagination4 ,but in imaginative landscape every 'white flower with its purple stain1' every crushed butterfly1 is made to play its part in the whole1 and at the same time due proportion is never lost sight of1 and the less is always kept subordinate to the greater4 ,i have already had occasion to mention examples of ,nicolas ,poussin in the ,national ,gallery and in ,dulwich ,gallery4 ,claude ,gelee1 better known as ,claude ,lorraine1 was a native of ,lorraine1 and was born at ,chateau de ,chamagne in the ,vosges1 in #afjj4 ,his parents were in humble life1 and apprenticed ,claude to a baker and pastry-cook4 ,according to some biographers the cooks of ,lorraine were in such request that they occasionally repaired to ,rome with their apprentices in their train to serve the successor of ,st ,peter1 and ,claude was thus carried1 in the way of trade1 to the city which might well have been the goal of his ambition4 ,according to other writers of art histories1 ,claude abandoned the kneading-trough and the oven2 and it was as a runaway apprentice that by some occult means he reached ,rome4 ,and when he had arrived he entered into the service of a landscape painter of good repute1 to whom he was colour-boy as well as cook4 ,the last is the account1 so far1 which ,claude gave of himself to a friend1 and it is hardly likely either that he misrepresented his history1 or that his friend invented such details1 though lately ,french authorities have questioned the authenticity of the narrative4 ,claude remained for nearly the entire remainder of a long life in ,rome4 ,he only once re-visited ,france1 while he was yet a young man1 under thirty years of age1 in #afbe or #afbg4 ,he is supposed to have painted his earliest pictures and executed his etchings about this time1 #afcj and to have painted his best pictures fifteen years later1 when he was in the maturity of his life and powers4 ,he was counted successful during his life time1 as a landscape painter1 but did not amass a larger fortune than about two thousand pounds4#cc ,he was a slow and careful painter 7working a fortnight at a picture with little apparent progress72 his painstaking work1 and his custom of keeping a book1 in which he verified his pictures1 are about the most that ,i can tell you of the habits of one of the foreign painters1 who has been most fully represented in ,england1 and was long in the highest favour with ,english lovers of art4 ,claude ,lorraine died at ,rome in the eighty-third year of his age1 in #afhb4 ,claude ,lorraine's name has become a very vexed name with art critics4 ,there was a time when he had an unsurpassed reputation as a landscape painter4 ,the possession of a ,claude was enough to confer art glory on a country-house1 and possibly for this reason ,england1 in public and private collections1 has more ',claudes' than are held by any other country4 ,but ,claude's admirers1 among whom ,sir ,george ,beaumont1 the great art critic of his generation1 took the lead1 have had their day1 and1 if they have not by any means passed away1 are on the wane4 ,the wrathful indignation of the ,english landscape painter1 ,turner1 at the praise which was so glibly lavished on ,claude--an indignation that caused ,turner to bequeath two of his own landscape paintings to the trustees of the ,national ,gallery1 on the caustic condition that they should always be placed between the two celebrated ',claudes1' known as ',the ,marriage of ,isaac and ,rebecca' and ',the ,embarkation of the ,queen of ,sheba'--helped to shake the ,english art world's faith in its former idol4 ,mr ,ruskin's adoption and proclamation of ,turner's opinion shook the old faith still further4 ,this reversal of a verdict with regard to ,claude is peculiar2 it is by no means uncommon for the decision of contemporaries to be set aside1 and we shall hear of an instance presently1 in the case of the painter ,le ,brun4 ,in fact1 it is often ominous with regard to a man's future fame1 when he is 'cried up to the skies' in his own day4 ,the probability may be that his easy success has been won by something superficial and fleeting4 ,but ,claude's great popularity has been in another generation1 and with another nation4 ,english taste may have been in fault2 or another explanation seems preferable--that ,claude's sense of beauty was great1 with all its faults of expression1 and he gave such glimpses of a beautiful world as the gazers on his pictures were capable of receiving1 which to them proved irresistible4 ,while ,claude adopted an original style as a landscape painter1 so far as his contemporaries were concerned1 he was to such a degree self taught1 and only partially taught1 that it is said he never learnt to paint figures--those in his pictures were painted by other painters1 and that ,claude even painted animals badly4 ,mr ,ruskin has been hard on ,claude1 whether justly or unjustly1 ,i cannot pretend to say4 ,the critic denies the painter not only a sense of truth in art1 but all imagination as a landscape painter ',of men of name1' ,mr ,ruskin writes1 ',perhaps ,claude is the best instance of a want of imagination1 nearly total1 borne out by painful but untaught study of nature1 and much feeling for abstract beauty of form1 with none whatever for harmony of expression4' ,mr ,ruskin condemns in the strongest terms 'the mourning and murky olive browns and verdigris greens1 in which ,claude1 with the industry and intelligence of a ,sevres china painter1 drags the laborious bramble leaves over his childish foreground4' ,but ,mr ,ruskin himself acknowledges1 with a reservation1 ,claude's charm in foliage1 and pronounces more conditionally his power1 when it was at its best1 in skies--a region in which the greater1 as well as the less1 ,poussin was declared to fail signally2 'a perfectly genuine and untouched sky of ,claude1' ,mr ,ruskin writes1 'is indeed most perfect1 and beyond praise1 in all qualities of air2 though even with him ,i often feel rather that there is a great deal of pleasant air between me and the firmament1 than that the firmament itself is only air4' ,when all has been said that can be said1 let us look at a mellow or a sunny ,claude on any wall where it may hang1 and judge for ourselves of the satisfaction it is calculated to give4 ,claude was fond of painting scenes on the ,tiber and in the ,roman ,campagna1 but while he tried to reproduce the hills and woodlands of ,italy1 he did not seek to paint the mountain landscapes of the ,apennines4 ,besides ,claude's numerous works in ,england and scattered through other countries1 some of his finest paintings are in the ,doria and ,sciarra palaces in ,rome4 ,he rarely put his name to his works2 when he did so he signed it frequently ',claudio1' sometimes ',claudius4' ,i have spoken of his book of sketches1 in which he had been wont to note on the back of the sketch the date of the completed picture1 and to whom sold4 ,this book he called the ',libro di ,verita1' or1 ,book of ,truth1 and its apparent use was to check the sale of spurious paintings in ,claude's name1 even during his lifetime4 ,the ',book of ,truth' is in possession of the ,duke of ,devonshire1 and has been employed in recent years with reference to the end for which it seemed designed1 so woe to that country-house which has long pride that ',claude' does not happen to have a place in the ',book of ,truth1' though ,i do not know that it is at all certain that ,claude took the precaution of inscribing every painting which he painted after a certain date in the ',book of ,truth4' ,claude ,lorraine is well represented in the ,national ,gallery4 ,engravings of his pictures are common4 ,charles le ,brun was born in ,paris1 in #afai4 ,he was trained to be a painter1 and went young to ,rome1 studying there for six years under the guidance of ,nicolas ,poussin4 ,le ,brun returned to ,paris1 and1 through the patronage of the ,chancellor ,segnier1 was introduced to the court1 and got the most favourable opportunities of practising his profession with worldly success4 ,he speedily acquired a great name1 and was appointed painter to the ,king1 ,louis ,,xiv4 ,le ,brun had enough influence with his royal master1 and with the great minister ,colbert1 to succeed in establishing1 while the painter was yet a young man1 the ,royal ,academy of ,art1 of which he was the first member1 and virtually the head1 holding1 in his own person1 the directorship of the ,gobelin tapestry works1 which was to be the privilege of a member of the ,academy4 ,le ,brun continued in the utmost favour with the ,king1 who1 not content with employing the painter largely at ,fontainebleau and in ,versailles1 invested him with the order of ,st ,michael1 bestowed on him letters of nobility1 and visited him frequently at his work1 occasions when there were not wanting adroit courtiers to liken the ,grand ,monarque to the ,emperor ,charles ,v41 and ,le ,brun to ,titian4 ,le ,brun seems to have been a man of energy1 confidence1 and industry1 neither mentally before nor after his time1 and by no means too retiring1 meditative1 or original1 to fail to profit by his outward good fortune4 ,he wrote1 as well as painted1 artistic treatises1 which were received as oracular utterances1 and entirely deferred to in the schools of his day4 ,he died at ,paris in #afij1 when he was in his seventieth year4 ,le ,brun's real merits as a painter were limited to respectable abilities and acquirements1 together with florid quickness and ease1 and such an eye to what was splendid and scenic as suited admirably a decorator of palaces in an age which prized sumptuousness1 and an exaggeration of dramatic effect1 over every other quality4 ,nicolas ,poussin's quiet refinement of style became in ,le ,brun what is called academic 7conventionally learned71 pompous1 and grandiose1 and men decidedly preferred the degeneration4 ,but later critics1 who have not the natural partiality of the ,french to the old master1 return to their first loves1 and condemn ,le ,brun's swelling violence1 both in the tints and poses of his figures4 ,among his most famous works1 which have been magnificently engraved1 are his ',battles of ,alexander4' ,antoine ,watteau was born at ,valenciennes in #afhd4 ,a very different painter from ,le ,brun1 he was yet as characteristic of ,french art in the reign of ,louis ,,xiv4 ,i think my readers must be familiar with his name1 and ,i dare say they associate it1 as ,i do1 not only with the fans which were painted largely after his designs1 but with mock pastorals and ,sevres china4 ,i don't know if his birth-place at ,valenciennes1 with its chief product of dainty lace1 had anything to do with it1 but the other items of poor ,watteau's history are considerably removed from the very artificial grace which one connects with his name4 ,he was the son of a carpenter1 and struggled up1 by the hard instrumentality of third-rate masters and of picture-dealers1 to the rank which he attained among artists1 taking his stand from the first1 however1 as the painter of well-bred1 well-apparelled people--the frequenters of bals masques1 and fetes champetres1 who were only playing at shepherds and shepherdesses4 ,watteau was elected an ,academician in #agag1 when he was thirty-three years of age1 and he afterwards came to ,england1 but did not remain there4 ,he died of consumption at ,nogent-sur-,marne in #agba1 when he was thirty-six years of age4#cd ,watteau's gifts were his grace and brilliance on a small scale4 ,he did not draw well2 as to design1 his composition may be said to be suited to such a work as the collection of 'fashionable figures1' which he engraved and left behind him4 ,yet1 if we were to see at this moment some of his exquisite groups of ladies in sacques and ,watteau hats1 and cavaliers in flowing wigs and lace1 cravats1 ,i have no doubt that the most of us would admire them much1 for they are exceedingly pretty1 and exceeding prettiness is attractive1 particularly to women4 ,but ,i would have my readers to remember that this art is a finical and soulless art1 after all4 ,i would fain have them take this as their maxim1 ',that the art is greatest which conveys to the mind of the spectator1 by any means whatsoever1 the greatest number of the greatest ideas4' ,jean ,baptiste ,greuze was born at ,tournus in ,burgundy in #agbf4 ,he studied painting from his youth in the studios of artists at ,lyons1 ,paris1 and ,rome1 and his studies resulted in his being a celebrated genre painter4 ,he only painted one historical picture1 but1 with the touchy vanity which seemed natural to the man1 he ranked his genre pictures as high art2 and when he was placed in the ordinary list of genre painters on his election as a member of the ,french ,academy of ,painting1 ,greuze resented the imputation1 and withdrew from the ,academy4 ,he died in #ahje1 aged seventy-nine years4 ,greuze was a showy1 clever1 but neither earnest nor truthful painter of domestic subjects and family pictures4 ,his pictures of women and heads of girls1 the expression in some of which has been severely condemned1 are among his best known works1 and by these he is represented in the ,national ,gallery4#ce ,,chapter ,,xi4 ,,holbein1 #adid-aedc--,,van ,,dyck1 #aeii-afda--,,lely1 #afah-afhj--;,,canaletto1 #afig-agfh--,,kneller1 #afdf-agbc4 ,hans ,holbein1 sometimes entitled ,hans the ,younger1 was born at ,augsburg about #adid or #adie4 ,he was the son of a painter1 and belonged to a family of painters1 one or more of whom had preceded ,hans ,holbein in leaving ,augsburg1 and taking up his residence at ,basle4 ,there ,holbein was under the patronage of1 and on terms of friendly intercourse with1 the great scholar ,erasmus4 ,one bad result proceeded from this friendly familiarity1 that of establishing or originating the charge that ,holbein1 as a young man1 at least1 was coarse and dissipated in his habits4 ,the evidence is sufficiently curious4 ,there is still in existence the copy of a ,latin book1 called the ',praise of ,folly1' written by ,erasmus1 which ,holbein1 not being a scholar1 could not have read for himself1 but which1 according to tradition1 ,erasmus himself1 or some other friend1 read to him1 while ,holbein was so delighted with the satire that he covered the margin of the book with illustrative sketches4 7,the sketches remain1 and are unmistakably ,holbein's47 ,opposite a passage1 recording the want of common sense and energy in many learned men1 ,holbein had drawn the figure of a student1 and written below1 ',erasmus4' ,the book coming again into the hands of ,erasmus1 he was offended with the liberty taken by the painter41 and sought to retaliate in kind by writing below the sketch of a rude boor drinking1 ',holbein4' ,in spite of the rough jesting1 the friendship between scholar and painter was not interrupted4 ,in these early days ,holbein sometimes practised painting on glass1 after the example of some of his kinsmen4 ,at ,basle1 ,holbein painted what is considered his finest work1 the ',meier ,madonna1' now at ,darmstadt1 with a copy in the ,dresden ,gallery1 and there he executed the designs for his series of woodcuts of the ',dance of ,death4' ,at ,basle ,holbein married1 while still a young man4 ,the presumption that the painter's marriage1 like that of his countryman1 ,albert ,duerer1 was unhappy1 has rested on the foundation that he left his wife and her children behind when he repaired to ,england1 and that although he re-visited ,basle1 and saw his wife and family1 they did not return with him to ,england4 ,a fancied confirmation to the unhappiness of the marriage is found in the expression of the wife in a portrait which ,holbein painted of her and his children when he was at ,basle4 ',cross-looking and red-eyed1' one critic calls the unlucky woman2 another describes her as 'a plain1 coarse-looking1 middle-aged woman1' with an expression 'certainly mysterious and unpleasant4' ,holbein's latest biographer#cf has proved that the forsaken wife1 ,elssbeth ,schmid1 was a widow with one son when ,holbein married her1 and has conjectured that she was probably not only older than ,holbein1 but in circumstances which rendered her independent of her husband4 ,so far the critic has done something to clear ,hans ,holbein from the miserable accusation often brought against him1 that he abandoned his wife and children to starve at ,basle1 while he sunned himself in such court favour as could be found in ,england4 ,but1 indeed1 while ,hans ,holbein may have been honest and humane enough to have been above such base suspicions1 there is no trace of him which survives that goes to disprove the probability that he was a self-willed1 not over-scrupulous man1 if he was also a vigorous and thorough worker4 ,holbein came to ,england about #aebf or #aebg1 when he must have been thirty-one or thirty-two years of age1 and repaired to ,chelsea to the house of ,sir ,thomas ,more1 to whom the painter brought a letter of introduction1 and still better credentials in the present1 from ,erasmus to ,more1 of the portrait of ,erasmus1 painted by ,hans ,holbein4 ,there are so many portraits and copies of portraits of ,erasmus1 not only by ,holbein1 but by other painters--for ,erasmus was painted by ,albert ,duerer and ,quintin ,matsys1--that this special portrait1 like the true ,holbein family portrait of the ,more family1 remains very much a subject of speculation4 ,most of us must be well acquainted with the delightful account which ,erasmus gave of ,sir ,thomas ,more's country-house at ,chelsea1 and the life of its occupants4 ,it has been cited hundreds of times as an example of what an ,english family has been1 and what it may be in dutiful discipline1 simple industry1 and high cultivation1 when ,sir ,thomas's young daughters repeated psalms in ,latin to beguile the time in the drudging process of churning the butter4 ,during ,holbein's residence in or visits to the ,mores' house at ,chelsea1 he sketched or painted the original of the ,more family picture4 ,holbein was introduced to ,henry ,,viii1 by ,sir ,thomas ,more1 and was immediately taken into favour by the king1 and received into his service1 with a lodging in the palace1 a general salary of thirty pounds a year1 and separate payment for his paintings4 ,according to ,horace ,walpole1 ,holbein's palace lodging was probably 'the little study called the new library' of square glazed bricks of different colours1 designed by the painter at ,whitehall4 7,this gateway1 with the porch at ,wilton1 were the painter's chief architectural achievements47 ,by another statement1 ,holbein's house was on ,london ,bridge1 where it was destroyed in the great fire4 ,i have already alluded to the anecdote of the value which ,henry ,,viii1 put on ,holbein4 ,it was to this effect3 that when an aggrieved courtier complained to the king that the painter had taken precedence of him--a nobleman1 the king replied1 ',i have many noblemen1 but ,i have only one ,hans ,holbein4' ,in fact1 ,holbein received nothing save kindness from ,henry ,,viii42 and for that matter1 there seemed to be something in common between bluff ,king ,hal and the equally bluff ,german ,hans4 ,but on one occasion ,hans ,holbein was said to have run the risk of forfeiting his imperious master's favour by the too favourable miniature which the painter was accused of painting of ,anne of ,cleves4 ,at ,henry's court ,holbein painted many a member of the royal family1 noble and knight1 and ,english gentleman and lady4 ,his fortune had made him a portrait painter1 but he was fully equal to other branches of art1 as shown by his ',meier ,madonna1' and still more by the designs which have been preserved of his famous allegory of 'the ,triumphs of ,riches and ,poverty1' painted for the hall of the ,easterling ,steelyard1 the quarters of the merchants of ,allemagne1 then traders in ,london4 ,in addition to painting portraits ,holbein designed dagger hilts1 clasps1 cups1 as some say after a study of the goldsmith's work of ,cellini4 ,for a long time it was believed that ,hans ,holbein died after ,mary ,tudor succeeded to the ,english throne2 indeed1 some said that his death had been occasioned or hastened by that change in the affairs of men1 which compelled him to quit his lodgings in the palace to make room for 'the new painter1' ,sir ,antony ,more1 who came in the suite of ,mary's well-beloved husband1 ,philip of ,spain4 ,there was even a theory1 creditable to ,hans ,holbein1 drawn from this conclusion1 that he might have adopted the ,protestant views of his late gracious master1 and have stood by them stoutly1 and so far forfeited all recognition from the bitter ,catholic ,mary4 ,but1 unfortunately for the tradition and theory1 and for the later pictures attributed to ,hans ,holbein1 his will has been discovered1 and that quite recently1 proving1 from the date of its administration1 his death of the plague 7so far only the tradition had been right71 when yet only in his forty-eighth year1 as early as #aedc1 four years before the death of ,henry ,,viii4 ,in spite of court patronage ,holbein did not die a rich man1 and there is an impression that he was recklessly improvident in his habits4 ,holbein had re-visited ,basle several times1 and the council had settled on him a pension of fifty florins a year1 provided he would return and reside in ,basle within two years1 while his wife was to receive a pension of forty florins a year during ,holbein's two years' absence4 ,holbein did not comply with the terms of the settlement4 ,about the time of his death his son ,philip1 then a lad of eighteen1 was a goldsmith in ,paris4 ,of ,hans ,holbein's portraits ,i have two to draw from2 one1 painted in his youth at ,basle1 shows the painter in an open doublet1 and curious stomacher-like shirt1 and having on his head a great flapping hat4 ,his face is broad and smooth-skinned1 with little hair seen1 and the features1 the eyes especially1 rather small for such an expanse of cheek and chin4 ,the other picture of ,holbein to which ,i have referred belongs certainly to a considerably later period of his life1 and represents him with short but bushy hair1 and short bushy beard and moustache1 a man having a broad stout person with a mixture of dauntlessness and bonhommie in his massive face4 ,mr ,ruskin says of ,holbein1 as a painter1 that he was complete in intellect2 what he saw he saw with his whole soul1 and what he painted he painted with his whole might4 ,in deep and reverential feeling ,holbein was far behind his countryman ,albert ,duerer1 but ,holbein was far more fully furnished than ,duerer 7unless indeed as ,albrecht ,duerer showed himself in that last picture of 'the ,apostles'7 in the means of his art2 he was a better draughtsman in the maturity of his powers1 and a far better colourist4 ,for ,hans ,holbein was not more famous for the living truthfulness of his likenesses 7'a man very excellent in making physiognomies'71 than for the 'inimitable bloom' that he imparted to his pictures1 which 'he touched1 till not a touch became discernible4' ,yet beneath this bloom1 along with his truthfulness1 there was a dryness and hardness in ,holbein's treatment of his subjects1 and he is far below ,titian1 ,rubens1 and even ,rembrandt as a portrait painter4 ,holbein was in the habit of painting his larger portraits on a peculiar green1 and his miniatures on a blue background4 ,he drew his portrait sketches with black and red chalk on a paper tinted flesh-colour4 ,it is said1 that with the exception1 of ,philip ,wouwermann1 no painter has been so unfortunate in having the works of other painters attributed to him as ,hans ,holbein has been1 and 'that three out of every four pictures ascribed to him are misnamed4'#cg ,the ',meier1 or ,meyer ,madonna1' is otherwise called 'the ,meier ,family adoring the infant ,christ in the arms of the ,virgin4' ,the subject is understood to prove that it must have been painted in ,holbein's youth1 before ,protestantism was triumphant at ,basle4 ,the figures are the ,burgomaster ,meier and his wife1 whom ,holbein painted twice2 their son1 with a little boy nude beside him2 another woman1 elderly1 conjectured to be a grandmother of the family1 and beside her the young daughter of the house4 ,in the centre on a turkey carpet stands the ,madonna1 holding in her arms an infant stretching out its left hand to the group of worshippers4 ,in course of time1 and in its transfer from hand to hand1 a doubt has arisen with regard to the subject of this picture4 ,some critics have regarded it as a votive picture dedicated in a private chapel to commemorate the recovery from sickness or the death of a child4 ,this conjecture seems to rest mainly on the fact1 that the child in the ,dresden copy 7it is said to be otherwise in the ,darmstadt picture7 is of an aspect so sickly1 as to have given rise to the impression that it represented an ailing1 or even a dead child1 and no glorious child ,christ4 ,critics have gone still farther1 and imagined that the child is a figure of the soul of a dead child 7souls were sometimes painted by the old painters as new-born children71 or of the soul of the elder and somewhat muffled-up woman who might have been recently dead4 ,mr ,ruskin regards the picture as an offering for the recovery of a sick child1 and thus illustrates it3 ',the received tradition respecting the ,holbein ,madonna is beautiful1 and ,i believe the interpretation to be true4 ,a father and a mother have prayed to her for the life of their sick child4 ,she appears to them1 her own child ,christ in her arms2 she puts down her child beside them1 takes their child into her arms instead2 it lies down upon her bosom1 and stretches its hand to its father and mother1 saying farewell4' ,yet another much more prosaic and less attractive interpretation of the picture has been suggested by ,holbein's biographer1 that the two children may represent the same child4 ,the child standing by his brother may be the boy restored to health1 the feeble child in the arms of the ,virgin may indicate the same child in its sickness1 while the extended arm may point to the seat of the disease in an arm broken or injured4 ,after all1 the child may simply be a child ,christ1 marred in execution4 ,i have given this dispute at length1 because ,i think it is interesting1 and1 so far as ,i know1 unique in reference to such a picture4 ,by an odd enough mistake this very picture was once said to be the famous ,more ,family picture4 ,the idea of the ',dance of ,death' did not originate with ,holbein1 neither is he supposed to have done more than touch1 if he did touch1 the paintings called the ',dance of ,death1' on the wall of the ,dominican burial-ground1 ,basle1 painted long before ,holbein's day1 by the order of the council after the plague visited ,basle1 and considered to have for its meaning simply a warning of the universality of death4 ,but ,holbein certainly availed himself of the older painting1 to draw from it the grim satire of his woodcuts4 ,of these there are thirty-seven designs1 the first1 ',the ,creation2' the second1 ',adam and ,eve in ,paradise2' the third1 ',the ,expulsion from ,paradise2' the fourth1 ',adam ,tilling the ,earth2' the fifth1 ',the ,bones of all ,people2' till the dance really begins in the sixth4 ,death1 a skeleton1 as seen through the rest of the designs1 sometimes playing on a guitar or lute1 sometimes carrying a drum1 bagpipes1 a dulcimer1 or a fiddle1 now appearing with mitre on head and crozier in hand to summon the ,abbot2 then marching before the parson with bell1 book1 and candle2 again crowned with ivy1 when he seizes the ,duke1 claims his partners1 beginning with the ,pope1 going down impartially through ,emperor of ,francis ,i41 nobleman1 advocate1 physician1 ploughman1 countess1 old woman1 little child1 etc41 etc41 and leading each unwilling or willing victim in turn to the terrible dance4 ,one woman meets her doom by ,death in the character of a robber in a wood4 ,another1 the ,duchess1 sits up in bed fully dressed1 roused from her sleep by two skeletons1 one of them playing a fiddle4 ,granting the grotesqueness1 freedom1 variety1 and wonderful precision of these woodcuts1 ,i beg my readers to contrast their spirit with that of ,albrecht ,duerer's ',the ,knight1 ,death1 and the ,devil1' or ,orcagna's ',triumph of ,death4' ,in ,holbein's designs there is no noble consoling faith2 there is but a fierce defiance and wild mockery of inevitable fate1 such as goes beyond the levity with which the ,venetians in the time of the plague retired to their country-houses and danced1 sung1 and told tales1 till the pestilence was upon them4 ,it has a closer resemblance to the piteous madness with which the condemned prisoners during the ,french ,reign of ,terror rehearsed the falling of the guillotine1 or the terrible pageant with which the same ,french1 as represented by their ,parisian brethren1 professed to hail the arrival of the cholera4 ,of the ',more ,family' there are so many duplicates or versions1 that1 as in the case of ,erasmus's picture1 it is hard to say which is the original picture1 or whether ,holbein did more than sketch the original1 or merely sketch the various heads to be afterwards put together by an inferior artist4 ,a singular distribution of the light in the best authenticated picture has been supposed to favour this conjecture4 ,but under any supposition1 this1 the second of the three noted ,english family pictures1 is of the greatest interest4 ,i shall record a minute and curious description given of this ',more ,family1' which is still in the possession of a descendant of the ,mores and ,ropers4 ',the room which is here represented seemed to be a large dining-room4 ,at the upper end of it stands a chamber-organ on a cupboard1 with a curtain drawn before it4 ,on each end of the cupboard1 which is covered with a carpet of tapestry1 stands a flower-pot of flowers1 and on the cupboard are laid a lute1 a base-viol1 a pint pot or ewer covered in part with a cloth folded several times1 and ,boetius de ,consolatione ,philosophiae1 with two other books upon it4 ,by this cupboard stands a daughter of ,sir ,thomas ,more's1 putting on her right-hand glove1 and having under her arm a book bound in red ,turkey leather and gilt1 with this inscription round the outside of the cover--,epistolica ,senecae4 ,over her head is written in ,latin1 ,elizabeth ,dancy1 daughter of ,sir ,thomas ,more1 aged #ba4 ',behind her stands a woman holding a book open with both her hands1 over whose head is written ,spouse of ,john ,clements4#ch ',next to ,mrs ,dancy is ,sir ,john ,more in his robes as one of the justices of the ,king's ,bench1 and by him ,sir ,thomas in his chancellor's robes1 and collar of ,,ss1 with a rose pendant before4 ,they are both sitting on a sort of tressel or armed bench1 one of the arms and legs and one of the tassels of the cushion appear on the left side of ,sir ,thomas4 ,at the feet of ,sir ,john lies a cur-dog1 and at ,sir ,thomas's a ,bologna shock4 ,over ,sir ,john's head is written1 ,john ,more1 father1 aged #gf4 ,over ,sir ,thomas's1 ,thomas ,more1 aged #ej4 ,between them1 behind1 stands the wife of ,john ,more1 ,sir ,thomas's son1 over whose head is written ,anne ,cresacre1 wife of ,john ,more1 aged #ae4 ,behind ,sir ,thomas1 on his left hand stands his only son1 ,john ,more1 pictured with a very foolish aspect1 and looking earnestly in a book which he holds open with both his hands4 ,over his head is written1 ,john1 son of ,thomas ,more1 aged #ai4' 7,the only and witless son of the family1 on whom ,sir ,thomas made the comment to his wife3--',you long wished for a boy1 and you have got one--for all his life4'7 ',a little to the left of ,sir ,thomas are sitting on low stools his two daughters1 ,cecilia and ,margaret4 ,next him is ,cecilia1 who has a boot in her lap1 clasped4 ,by her side sits her sister ,margaret1 who has likewise a book on her lap1 but wide open1 in which is written1 ,l4 ,an4 ,senecae--,oedipus--,fata si liceat mihi fingere arbitrio meo1 temperem zephyro levi4 ,on ,cecilia's petticoat is written1 ,cecilia ,heron1 daughter of ,thomas ,more1 aged #bj1 and on ,margaret's1 ,margaret ,roper1 daughter of ,thomas ,more1 aged #bb4' 7,the best beloved1 most amiable1 and most learned of ,sir ,thomas's daughters1 who visited him in the ,tower and encouraged him to remain true to his convictions1 while her step-mother urged him to abjure his faith4 ,margaret ,roper intercepted her father on his return to the ,tower after his trial1 and penetrating the circle of the ,guards1 hung on his neck and bade him farewell4 ,there is a tradition that she caused her father's head to be stolen from the spike of the bridge on which it was exposed1 and1 getting it preserved1 kept it in a casket4 ,she and her husband1 ,william ,roper1 wrote together the biography of her father1 ,sir ,thomas ,more47 ',just by ,mrs ,roper sits ,sir ,thomas's lady in an elbow-chair 7871 holding a book open in her hands4 ,about her neck she has a gold chain1 with a cross hanging to it before4 ,on her left hand is a monkey chained1 and holding part of it with one paw and part of it with the other4 ,over her head is written 'spouse of ,thomas ,more1 aged #eg4' 7,dame ,alice ,more1 the second wife of ,sir ,thomas ,more1 a foolish and mean-spirited woman47 ',behind her is a large arched window1 in which is placed a flower-pot 7a vase7 of flowers1 and a couple of oranges4 ,behind the two ladies stands ,sir ,thomas's fool1 who1 it seems1 was bereft of his judgment by distraction4 ,he has his cap on1 and in it are stuck a red and white rose1 and on the brim of it is a shield with a red cross on it1 and a sort of seal pendant4 ,about his neck he wears a black string with a cross hanging before him1 and his left thumb is stuck in a broad leathern girdle clasp'd about him4 ,over his head is written ,henry ,pattison1 servant of ,thomas ,more4 ,at the entrance of the room where ,sir ,thomas and his family are1 stands a man in the portal who has in his left hand a roll of papers or parchments with two seals appendant1 as if he was some way belonging to ,sir ,thomas as ,lord ,chancellor4 ,over his head is written ,joannes ,heresius1 ,thomae ,mori famulus4 ,in another room at some distance is seen through the door-case a man standing at a large sleeved gown of a sea-green colour1 and under it a garment of a blossom-colour1 holding a book open in his hands written or printed in the black letter1 and reading very earnestly in it4 ,about the middle of the room1 over against ,sir ,thomas1 hangs a clock with strings and leaden weights without any case4'#ci ,it is notable that not one of ,sir ,thomas's sons-in-law is in this picture1 neither is there a grandchild1 though one or more is known to have been born at the date4 ,the miniature of ,anne of ,cleves1 if it ever existed1 is lost2 it is probable that what was really referred to was the portrait of ,anne by ,holbein in the ,louvre1 where she appears 'as a kindly and comely woman in spite of her broad nose and swarthy complexion1 but by no means such a painted ,venus as might have deceived ,king ,hal4'#dj ,a well-known portrait by ,holbein is that of a ',cornish ,gentleman1' with reddish hair and beard4 ,i saw this portrait not long ago1 as it was exhibited among the works of the ,old ,masters1 and so much did it look as though the figure would step from the frame1 that it was hard to believe that more than three hundred years had passed since the original walked the earth4#da ,doubtless the last of ,holbein's portrait pieces1 which it is reported he left uncompleted when he died1 is that of the ',barber ,surgeons1' painted on the occasion of the united company receiving their charter from the king1 and including the king's portrait4 ,this picture still hangs in the old company's hall4 ,i have only to say a few more words of those sketches which survive the destruction of the picture--,holbein's allegory of the ',triumph of ,riches1' and the ',triumph of ,poverty1' and of his portrait sketches4 ,in the ',triumph of ,riches1' ,plutus1 an old man bent double1 drives in a car1 drawn by four white horses2 before him1 ,fortune1 blind1 scatters money4 ,the car is followed by ,croesus1 ,midas1 and other noted misers and spendthrifts--for ,cleopatra1 the only woman present1 is included in the group4 ,in the ',triumph of ,poverty1' ,poverty is an old woman in squalor and rags1 who is seated in a shattered vehicle1 drawn by asses and oxen1 and guided by ,hope and ,diligence4 ,the designs are large and bold4 ,in the first1 a resemblance to ,henry ,,viii1 is found in ,croesus4 ,if the resemblance were intentional on ,holbein's part1 it showed the same want of tact and feeling which the painter early betrayed in his caricature of ,erasmus4 ,but the best of ,holbein's drawings are his portrait sketches with chalks1 on flesh-tinted paper4 ,these sketches have a history of their own1 subsequent to their execution by ,holbein4 ,after being in the possession of the art-loving ,earl of ,arundel1 and carried to ,france1 they were lost sight of altogether for the space of a century1 until they were discovered by ,queen ,caroline1 wife of ,george ,,ii41 in a bureau at ,kensington4 ,you will hear a little later that the finest collection of miniatures in ,england went through the same process of disappearance and recovery4#db ,these original sketches1 in addition to their great artistic merit1 form a wonderful collection of speaking likenesses1 belonging to the court of ,henry ,,viii41--likenesses which had been happily identified in time by ,sir ,john ,cheke 7in the reign of ,elizabeth71 since the names of the originals have been inscribed on the back of each drawing1 as it is believed1 by ,sir ,john ,cheke's hand4 ,the collection is now in the ,queen's library1 ,windsor1 with photographs at ,kensington ,museum4 ,there are one or two of ,holbein's reputed portraits at ,hampton ,court4 ,i must pass over some painters as not being sufficiently represented for my purpose4 ,among these is ,sir ,antony ,more1 ,philip ,,ii1 of ,spain's friend4 ,it is recorded that ,philip having rested his hand on the shoulder of ,more while at work1 the bold painter turned round1 and daubed the royal hand with vermilion4 ,this gave rise to the courtier-saying that ,philip 'made slaves of his friends1 and friends of his painters4' ,another is ,zucchero1 one of the painters who was requested by ,queen ,elizabeth to paint her picture without shade1 the result being 'a woman with a ,roman nose1 a huge ruff and farthingale1 and a bushel of pearls4' ,there are also ,van ,somer1--,janssens1 who painted ,lady ,bowyer1 named for her exquisite beauty1 ',the star of the ,east1' and ,susanna ,lister1 the most beautiful woman at court1 when presented in marriage to ,sir ,geoffrey ,thornhurst by ,james ,i1 in person1#dc--;and ,daniel ,myttens1 all foreigners1 ,flemish or ,dutch1 whom we must thus briefly dismiss4 ,and now we come to ,van ,dyck4 ,antony ,van ,dyck was born at ,antwerp1 in #aeii4 ,his father was a merchant2 his mother was famous for painting flowers in small1 and for needlework in silk4 ,the fashion of painting 'in small' had prevailed for some time4 ,horace ,walpole mentions that the mother of ,lucas de ,heere1 a ,flemish painter1 born in #aecd1 could paint with such 'diminutive neatness' that she had executed 'a landscape with a windmill1 miller1 a cart and horse1 and passengers1' which half a grain of corn could cover4 ,at ten years of age1 ,van ,dyck began to study as a painter1 and he soon became a pupil1 and afterwards a favourite pupil1 of ,rubens4 ,in #afah1 when ,van ,dyck was but a lad of seventeen years1 he was admitted as a master into the painters' guild of ,st ,luke4 ,two years later1 he was still working with ,rubens1 who1 seeing his lameness of invention1 counselled him to abide by portrait painting1 and to visit ,italy4 ,a year later1 in #afba1 when ,van ,dyck was twenty years of age1 he came to ,london1 already becoming a resort of ,flemish painters1 and lodging with a countryman of his own1 worked for a short time in the service of ,james ,i4 ,on ,van ,dyck's return to ,flanders1 and on the death of his father1 he was able to take ,rubens' advice1 and in #afbc1 when ,van ,dyck was still only twenty-two years of age1 he set out for ,venice1 the ,rome of the ,flemish painters4 ,before quitting ,antwerp1 ,van ,dyck1 in proof of the friendship which existed between the painters1 presented ,rubens with several of the former's pictures1 among them his famous portrait of ',rubens' wife4' ,as a pendant to this generosity1 when ,van ,dyck came back to ,antwerp1 and complained to ,rubens that he--,van ,dyck--could not live on the profits of his painting1 ,rubens went next day and bought every picture of ,van ,dyck's which was for sale4 ,van ,dyck spent five years in ,italy1 visiting ,venice1 ,florence1 ,rome1 and ,palermo1 but residing principally at ,genoa4 ,in ,italy1 he began to indulge in his love of splendid extravagance1 and in the fastidious fickleness which belonged to the evil side of his character4 ,at ,rome he was called 'the cavalier painter1' yet his first complaint on his return to ,antwerp was1 that he could not live on the profits of his painting6 ,he avoided the society of his homelier countrymen4 ,at ,palermo1 ,van ,dyck knew1 and according to some accounts1 painted the portrait of ,sophonisba ,anguisciola1 who claimed to be the most eminent portrait painter among women4 ,she was then about ninety years of age1 and blind1 but she still delighted in having in her house a kind of academy of painting1 to which all the painters visiting ,palermo resorted4 ,van ,dyck asserted that he owed more to her conversation than to the teaching of all the schools4 ,a book of his sketches1 which was recovered1 showed many drawings 'after ,sophonisba ,anguisciola4' ,she is said to have been born at ,cremona1 was invited at the age of twenty-six by ,philip ,,ii1 to ,spain1 and was presented by him with a ,spanish don for a husband1 and a pension of a thousand crowns a-year from the customs of ,palermo4 ,the plague drove ,van ,dyck from ,italy back to ,flanders1 where he painted for a time1 and presented his picture of the ',crucifixion' to the ,dominicans as a memorial gift in honour of his father1 but in ,flanders ,rubens' fame overshadowed that of every other painter1 and ,van ,dyck1 recalling an invitation which he had received from the ,countess of ,arundel while still in ,italy1 came a second time to ,england1 in #afcj1 when he was about thirty years of age1 and lodged again with a fellow-countryman and painter named ,gildorp4 ,but his sensitive vanity was wounded by his not at once receiving an introduction to the king1 or the countenance which the painter considered his due1 and the restlessness1 which was a prominent feature in his character1 being re-awakened1 he withdrew once more from ,england1 and returned to the ,low ,countries in #afca4 ,at last1 a year later1 in #afcb1 ,van ,dyck's pride was propitiated by receiving a formal invitation from ,charles ,i41 through ,sir ,kenelm ,digby1 to visit ,england1 and this time the painter had no cause to complain of an unworthy reception4 ,he was lodged by the king among his artists at ,blackfriars1 having no intercourse with the city1 save by water4 ,he had the king1 with his wife and children1 to sit to him1 and was granted a pension of two hundred a-year1 with the distinction of being named painter to his ,majesty4 ,a year later ,van ,dyck was knighted4 ,royal and noble commissions flowed upon him1 and the king1 who had a hereditary love of art1 visited the painter continually1 and spent some of the happiest and most innocent hours of his brief and clouded life in ,van ,dyck's company4 ,thus began ,van ,dyck's success in ,england4 ,to give you an example of how often1 and in how many different manners1 ,van ,dyck painted the king and royal family1 ,i shall quote from a list of his pictures-- ',king ,charles in coronation robes4' ',king ,charles in armour' 7twice74 ',king ,charles in white satin1 with his hat on1 just descended from his horse2 in the distance1 view of the ,isle of ,wight4' ',king ,charles in armour1 on a white horse2 ,monsieur de ,st ,antoine1 his equerry1 holding the king's helmet4' ',the ,king and ,queen sitting2 ,prince ,charles1 very young1 standing at the ,king's side2 the ,duke of ,york1 an infant1 on the ,queen's knee4' ',the ,king and ,queen holding a crown of laurel between them4' ',the ,queen in white4' ',prince ,charles in armour' 7two or three times74 ',king1 ,queen1 ,prince ,charles1 and ,princess ,mary4' ',queen with her five children4' ',queen with dwarfs1#dd ,sir ,geoffrey ,hudson having a monkey on his shoulder4' ,van ,dyck had several great patrons1 after the king4 ,for the ,earl of ,arundel1 in addition to portraits of the ,earl and ,countess1 the painter designed a second ,arundel family picture1 which was painted by ,fruitiers4 ,for ,george1 ,duke of ,buckingham1 ,van ,dyck painted one of his finest double portraits of the ,duke's two sons1 when children4 ,for the ,northumberland family ,van ,dyck painted1 besides portraits of ,henry and ,algernon1 ,earls of ,northumberland1 another famous picture1 that of the two beautiful sisters1 ,lady ,dorothy ,percy1 afterwards ,countess of ,leicester1 and her sister1 ,lady ,lucy ,percy1 afterwards ,countess of ,carlisle1 whose charms figure frequently in the memoirs of her time4 ,william and ,philip1 ,earls of ,pembroke1 were also among his patrons1 and for the second he painted his great family picture1 ',the ,wilton ,family4' ,sir ,kenelm ,digby1 too1 whose wife ,venitia was more frequently painted than any woman of her day1 and was not more distinguished for her beauty than for her lack of nobler qualities4 ,van ,dyck alone painted her several times1 the last after her sudden death1 for her vain and eccentric1 if gallant1 husband1 who in the end was no friend to ,van ,dyck4 ,but these high names by no means exhaust the list of patrons of a painter who1 among various contradictory qualities1 was indefatigably industrious4 ,his work is widely distributed among the ,scotch as well as the ,english descendants of the nobility whom he painted1 so that the possession of at least one ancestral ',van ,dyck' accompanies very many patents of nobility1 and is equivalent to a warrant of gentle birth4 ,the ,earl of ,clarendon1 in the next reign1 had a great partiality for ,van ,dyck's pictures1 and was said to be courted by gifts of them until his apartments at ,cornbury were furnished with full-length ',van ,dycks4' ,a third of his collection went to ,kitty ,hyde1 ,duchess of ,queensberry1 one of the ,earl's three co-heiresses4 ,through the ,rich family many of these ',van ,dycks' passed to ,taymouth ,castle1 where by a coincidence they were lodged in the company of numerous works of ,george ,jamieson of ,aberdeen1 who is said to have been for a short time a fellow-pupil of ,van ,dyck's under ,rubens1 who has been called 'the ,scotch ,van ,dyck1' and who is certainly the first native painter who deserves honourable mention4 ,since the death of the last ,marquis of ,breadalbane these travelled ',van ,dycks' have gone back to the ,english representative of the ,rich family4 ,van ,dyck had forty pounds for a half1 and sixty pounds for a whole-length picture2--for a large piece of the ,king1 ,queen1 and their children1 he had a hundred pounds4 ,for the ,wilton family picture he had five hundred and twenty-five pounds4 ,but ,van ,dyck soon impaired his fortune4 ,he was not content with having a country-house at ,eltham in ,kent1 where he spent a portion of each summer2 he would emulate in his expenditure the most spendthrift noble of that reign4 ',he always went magnific so good a table in his apartment that few princes were more visited and better served4' ,his marriage was not calculated to teach him moderation4 ,in his thirty-ninth year the ,king gave him the hand of ,marie ,ruthven1 who was nearly related to the unhappy ,earl of ,gowrie4 ,she was his niece1 her father having been the scarcely less unhappy younger brother ,patrick1 a physician1 who1 apprehended when a young man on the charge of being concerned in the treason of his elder brothers1 spent his manhood in the ,tower4 ,he was kept a prisoner there from #aehd to #afai1 nearly forty years1 and was only released in his age and infirmity when his mind was giving way4 ,patrick ,ruthven's infant daughter had been adopted1 either through charity or perversity1 by ,anne of ,denmark1 and brought up first at the court of ,anne1 and afterwards at that of ,henrietta ,maria4 ,the assertion that ,marie ,ruthven was a very beautiful woman has been contradicted4 ,it was said that 'she was bestowed in marriage on ,sir ,antony ,van ,dyck as much to humble further the already humbled and still detested family of ,ruthven1 as to honour the painter2 but this does not seem consistent with ,king ,charles's known favour for ,van ,dyck4 ,yet such a view might have been entertained by ,marie ,ruthven herself1 who1 according to tradition1 held herself degraded by the marriage1 and never forgave the degradation4 ,she was not a loving wife to a man who could hardly have been a very loving or loyal husband4 ,and certainly the marriage did not unite the painter closer to the king4 ,with his professional industry1 ,van ,dyck combined an equally unquenchable love of pleasure1 which1 with his luxurious and sedentary habits1 induced paroxysms of gout1 from which ,rubens also suffered severely4 ,this must have ultimately disqualified him for good work1 and when his debts accumulated in greater proportion even than his receipts1 in place of having recourse1 like ,rubens1 to his painting-room1 ,van ,dyck tried a shorter road to get rich1 by following the idle example of ,sir ,kenelm ,digby in his pursuit of alchemy and the philosopher's stone4 ,in the year of his marriage1 ,van ,dyck re-visited ,flanders1 in company with his wife1 and then repaired to ,france1 it is understood with the intention of settling there4 ,he was instigated to the step by his wife1 and his own ambition of rivalling ,rubens' triumphs at the ,luxembourg2 but the preference which the ,french gave to the works of their countryman1 ,nicolas ,poussin1 roused his latent jealousy1 and so mortified him as to induce him to renounce his intention4 ,he determined to return to ,england1 and was1 to his credit1 confirmed in his resolution by the threatening civil war which was to shake his royal master's throne to the foundation1 rather than deterred from it4 ,again in ,england1 ,van ,dyck employed ,sir ,kenelm ,digby to make an offer on the painter's part that for eight hundred pounds he would paint the history1 and a procession of the ,knights of the ,garter on the walls of the ,knights' banqueting-room at ,whitehall--that palace which was to have surpassed the ,louvre1 the ,tuileries1 and the ,escurial1 and from one of the windows of which ,charles stepped out on his scaffold4 ,but the proposal was rejected1 and immediately afterwards the civil war broke out1 and was speedily followed by the death of ,van ,dyck1 about a year after his marriage1 when he was a little over forty years old1 at ,blackfriars1 in #afda4 ,he was buried in old ,st ,paul's1 near the tomb of ,john of ,gaunt4 ,his daughter1 ,justiniana1 was born a short time--some say only eight days--before her father died1 and was baptized on the day of his death4 ,van ,dyck left effects and sums due to him to the amount of twenty thousand pounds2 but the greater part of the debts were found beyond recovery at the close of the civil war4 ,his daughter grew up1 and married a ,mr ,stepney1 'who rode in ,king ,charles's life guards4' ,his widow re-married2 her second husband was a ,welsh knight4 ,van ,dyck's contradictory elements4 ,he was actuated by opposite motives which are hard to analyze1 and which in their instability have within themselves1 whatever their outward advantages1 the doom of failure in the highest excellence4 ,he was a proud man1 dissatisfied both with himself and his calling1 resenting1 with less reason than ,hans ,holbein showed1 that he should be condemned to portrait painting1 yet by no means undervaluing or slurring over his work4 ,he 'would detain the persons who sat to him to dinner for an opportunity of studying their countenances and re-touching their pictures1' 'would have a sitter1 sitting to him seven entire days1 mornings and evenings1 and would not once let the man see the picture till it pleased the painter4' ,van ,dyck appears to have been a man with the possibilities in him of greater things than he attained1 possibilities which were baffled by his weakness and self-indulgence1 leaving him with such a sense of this as spoiled his greatest successes4 ,i have the varying indications of two pictures of ,van ,dyck from which to get an impression of his personal appearance4 ,the first picture is that of a youthful face1 soft1 smiling1 with dark eyes1 finely-formed nose1 a slightly open mouth1 having a full-cleft under lip1 the hair profuse and slightly curled1 but short1 and no beard or moustache4 ,the dress is an open doublet1 without a collar1 a lace cravat1 and one arm half bare4 ,the second is the picture of ,van ,dyck in the ,louvre1 which is judged the best likeness of the painter4 ,in this his person is slender1 his complexion fair1 his eyes grey1 his hair chestnut brown1 his beard and whiskers red4 ,he wears a vest of green velvet1 with a plain collar4 ,in his art1 ,van ,dyck1 with something of the glow of ,rubens1 and with a delicacy peculiarly his own1 was decidedly inferior to his great master1 both in power and in fertility of genius4 ,in the superficial refinement which was so essential a part of ,van ,dyck1 he had the capacity of conferring on his sitters a reflection of his own outward stateliness and grace4 ,when he painted at his best his portraits were solid1 true1 and masterly1 but he has been reproached with sacrificing truth to the refining process which he practised4 ,even in the case of ,charles ,i41 whose portraits are our most familiar examples of ,van ,dyck1 and who thus lives in the imagination of most people as the very personification of a noble and handsome cavalier1 there have not been wanting critics who have maintained that ,charles1--the son of a plain uncouth father1 and of a mother rather floridly buxom than delicately handsome1 and who was in his childhood a sickly rickety child1--was by no means so well endowed in the matter of manly beauty as we have supposed4 ,these students of old gossip and close investigation1 have alleged that ,charles was long and lanky1 after he had ceased to be ,baby ,charles2 that his nose was too large1 and1 alas6 apt to redden2 that his eyes were vacillating2 and his mouth1 the loosely hung mouth of a man who begins by being irresolute1 and ends by being obstinate4#de ,again1 in the hands of a sitter1 which ,van ,dyck was supposed to paint with special care and elegance1 it has been argued that he copied always the same hand1 probably his own1 in ignorance1 or in defiance of the fact that hands have nearly as much and as varying character as a painter can discover in faces4 ,though ,van ,dyck painted many beautiful women1 he did not excel in rendering them beautiful on canvas1 so that succeeding generations1 in gazing on ,van ,dyck's versions of ,venitia1 ,lady ,digby1 and ,dorothy ,sydney--,waller's ,sacharissa1--have wondered how ,sir ,kenelm1 ,waller1 and their contemporaries1 could find these ladies so beautiful4 ,van ,dyck certainly owed something of the charm of his pictures to the dress of the period1 with regard to which he received this credit that ',van ,dyck was the first painter who e'er put ladies' dress into a careless romance4' ,but in reality never was costume better suited for a painter like ,van ,dyck4 ,the hair in the men was allowed to flow to the shoulders or gathered in a love knot1 while the whiskers and beard formed a point4 ,in the women the hair was crisped in curls round the face4 ,the ruff in men and women had yielded to the broad1 rich1 falling collar1 with deep scallops of point lace4 ,vest and cloak were of the richest velvet or satin1 or else1 on the breaking out of the civil war1 men appeared in armour4 ,the man's hat was broad and flapping1 usually turned up at one side1 and having an ostrich feather in the band2 his long wide boots were of ,spanish leather1 and he wore gauntlet gloves1 and rich ruffles at his wrists4 ,the women wore hoods and mantles1 short bodices1 ample trains1 and wide sleeves terminating in loose ruffles at the elbow1 which left half of the arm bare4 ,pearl necklaces and bracelets1 round feather fans1 and 'knots of flowers1' were the almost universal ornaments of women4 ,another ornament of both men and women1 which belonged to the day1 and was very common in the quarters ,i have been referring to1 was a miniature enclosed in a small case of ivory or ebony1 carved like a rose1 and worn on the left side in token of betrothal4#df ,van ,dyck1 along with the appreciation of black draperies which he held in common with ,rubens1 was specially fond of painting white or blue satin4 ,he is said to have used a brown preparation of pounded peach-stones for glazing the hair in his pictures4 ,in the end1 with all the aids that critics may have given him1 and all the faults they may find in him1 ,van ,dyck was a great1 and in the main an earnest portrait painter4 ,perhaps ',charles in white satin1 just descended from his horse1' is the best of the single portraits which were held to be ,van ,dyck's forte4 ,i must try to give my readers some idea of ,van ,dyck's ',wilton ,family4' ,it has been so praised1 that some have said 'it might have been covered with gold as a price to obtain it2' on the other hand1 it has not escaped censure4 ,one critic asserts that there is no common action uniting the figures1 and that the faces are so different in complexion--one yellow-faced boy appearing either jaundiced or burnt by a tropical sun1 that the family might have lived in different climates4 ,this is the story of the picture4 ',earl ,philip of ,pembroke having caused his family to meet1 informs them with great emotion of the necessity of his eldest son ,charles1 ,lord ,herbert1 going into the army of the ,grand ,duke of ,tuscany1 there to acquire military honour and experience1 notwithstanding his having just married ,mary1 daughter of ,george1 ,duke of ,buckingham4 ,lord ,herbert is receiving the news with ardour1 the young bride is turning aside her fair face to hide her tears4 7,charles ,lord ,herbert was married ,christmas1 #afcd1 went to ,florence1 and died there of small pox1 ,january1 #afcf47 ',in the ,pembroke picture 7or ,wilton ,family7 there are ten figures4 ,the ,earl and ,countess are seated on a dais1 under a coat of arms4 ,he wears a great lace collar1 an order on his breast1 a key at his girdle1 and has great shoes with roses4 ,she has flowing curls1 hanging sleeves1 arms crossed1 necklace on the bare neck4 7,the ,countess of ,pembroke was the ,earl's second wife1 ,anne ,clifford1 daughter of ,george1 ,earl of ,cumberland1 the brave lady who defied ,cromwell1 and was fond of signing her name with the long string of titles derived from her two husbands1 ,anne ,dorset1 ,pembroke1 ,montgomery47 ,robert ,dormer1 ,earl of ,carnarvon1 is introduced with his wife1 ,lady ,anne ,sophia ,herbert1 daughter of ,earl ,philip2 they are on the ,countess's left hand4 ,the daughter-in-law1 about to be parted from her husband1 stands on the lowest step of the dais2 she is elegantly dressed1 with hanging sleeves knotted with bows from shoulder to elbow4 ,two young men1 the bridegroom and his brother1 are at their father's right hand2 they wear great falling collars and cloaks4 ,there are three half-grown boys in tunics without collars1 and great roses in their shoes1 with a dare three daughters of the family who died in infancy4' ,van ,dyck's finest sacred pictures were his early ',crucifixion1' and a ,pieta1 at ,antwerp4 ,in these he gave a promise of nobler and deeper pathos than he afterwards fulfilled4 ,his pictures are to be found freely1 as ,i have written1 in old ,english mansions1 such as ,arundel and ,alnwick ,castles1 ,knowsley1 ,knole1 ,petworth1 etc4 ,a head said to be by ,van ,dyck is in the ,national ,gallery4 ,van ,dyck had few pupils3 one1 an ,englishman named ,dobson1 earned an honourable reputation as a painter4 ,from ,sir ,antony ,more's time down to that of ,leily and ,kneller1 the rage for portraits was continually increasing1 and took largely the form of miniatures1 which were painted chiefly by foreigners2 notably by ,hilliard and two ,olivers or ,oliviers1 a father and son of ,french extraction1 and by a ,swiss named ,petitot4 ,a collection of miniatures by the ,oliviers1 including no less than six of ,venitia1 ,lady ,digby1 had a similar fate to that of ,holbein's drawings4 ,the miniatures had been packed in a wainscot box and conveyed to the country-house in ,wales of ,mr ,watkin ,williams1 who was a descendant of the ,digby family4 ,in course of time the box with its contents1 doubtless forgotten1 had been transferred to a garret1 where it had lain undiscovered for1 it has been supposed1 fully a hundred years4 ,it was two hundred years after the date of the painting of the miniatures1 that on some turning over of the lumber in the garret1 the exquisite miniatures1 fresh as on the day when they were painted1 were accidentally brought to light4#dg ,sir ,peter ,lely was born in ,westphalia in #afah4 ,his real name was ,vander ,facs1 and his father was a ',captain of ,foot1' who1 having chanced to be born in rooms over a perfumer's shop which bore the sign of a lily1 took fantastically enough the name of ,du ,lys1 or ,lely1 which he transmitted to his son4 ,sir ,peter ,lely1 after studying in a studio at ,haarlem1 came to ,england when he was twenty-three years of age1 in #afda1 and set himself to copy the pictures of ,van ,dyck1 who died in the year of ,lely's arrival in ,england1 and whom he succeeded as court painter4 ,lely was knighted by ,charles ,,ii41 married an ,english woman1 and had a son and a daughter1 who died young4 ,he made a large fortune1 dying at last of apoplexy1 with which he was seized as he was painting the ,duchess of ,somerset1 when he was sixty-two years of age1 in #afhj4 ,with regard to ,lely's character1 we may safely judge from his works that he was such a man as ,samuel ,pepys1 'of easy virtue1' a man holding a low enough standard by which to measure himself and others4 ,mr ,palgrave quotes from ,mr ,leslie the following characteristic anecdote of ,lely1 which seems to prove that he was aware of1 and coolly accepted1 the decline of art in his generation and person4 ,a nobleman said to ,lely1 ',how is it that you have so great a reputation1 when you know1 as well as ,i do1 that you are no painter8' ',true1 but ,i am the best you have1' was the answer4 ,lely's punishment followed him into his art1 for beginning by copying ,van ,dyck1 it is said of ,lely that he degenerated in his work till it bore the very 'stamp of the depravity of the age4' ,lely's sitters were mostly women4 ,among them was one who deserved a fitter painter1 ,mistress ,anne ,killigrew1 ,dryden's-- ',youngest virgin daughter of the skies4' ,in ,lely's portrait of her1 she is a neat1 slightly prim1 delicate beauty1 with very fine features1 and such sleepy eyes1 as were probably the gift of ,lely1 since he has bestowed them generally on the women whom he painted4 ,mistress ,anne ,killigrew's hair is in curls1 piled up in front1 but hanging down loosely behind4 ,her bodice is gathered together by a brooch1 and she has another brooch on one shoulder4 ,she wears a light pearl necklace1 and 'drops' shaped like shamrocks in her ears4 ,lely painted both ,charles ,i1 and ,cromwell1 who desired his painters to omit 'no pimple or wart1' but to paint his face as they saw it4 ,among less notable personages ,lely painted ,monk1 ,duke of ,albemarle1 and his rough ,duchess1 once a camp follower1 according to popular rumour1 and named familiarly by the contemptuous wits of the day ',nan ,clarges4' ,it is with not more honourable originals than poor ',nan ,clarges' that ,lely's name as a painter is chiefly associated4 ,we know what an evil time the years after the ,restoration proved in ,england1 and it was to immortalize1 as far as he could1 the vain1 light women of the generation that ,lely lent what skill he possessed4 ,there their pictures hang in what has been called 'the ,beauty ,room' at ,hampton ,court1 and no good man or woman can look at them without holding such beauty detestable4 ,at ,hampton ,court also there are several of the eleven portraits of ,admirals whom ,lely painted for ,james ,,ii1 when ,duke of ,york4 ,antonio ,canal1 called ,canaletto1 incorrectly ,canaletti1 was born at ,venice in #afig4 ,he was the son of a scene painter at the theatre4 ,in his youth he worked under his father2 a little later he went to ,rome1 and studied for some time there4 ,then he came to ,england1 where he remained only for two years4 ,i have hesitated about placing his name among those of the foreign painters resident in ,england1 but so many of his works are in this country that he seems to belong to it in an additional sense4 ,he is said to have 'made many pictures and much money4' ,he died at ,venice when he was seventy years of age1 in #agfh4 ,as a painter he was famous for his correctness of perspective and precision of outline 7in which it is alleged he aided himself by the use of the camera71 qualities specially valuable in the architectural subjects of which he was fond1 drawing them principally from his native ,venice4 ,but his very excellence was mechanical1 and he showed so little originality or1 for that matter1 fidelity of genius1 that he painted his landscapes in invariable sunshine4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the great wood-carver ,grinling ,gibbons deserves mention among the artists of this date4 ,he was a native of ,rotterdam1 where he was born in #afdh4 ,he came to ,london with other carvers the year after the great fire of ,london1 and was introduced by ,evelyn to ,charles ,,ii41 who took him into his employment4 ',gibbons was appointed master carver in wood to ,george ,i41 with a salary of eighteen-pence a day4' ,he died at his house in ,bow ,street in the sixty-third year of his age1 in #agba4 ,it is said that no man before ,gibbons 'gave to wood the lightness of flowers4' ,for the great houses of ,burghley1 ,petworth1 and ,chatsworth1 ,gibbons carved exquisite work1 in festoons for screens1 and chimney-pieces1 and panels for pictures1 of fruit1 flowers1 shells1 and birds4 99 99 99 99 99 ,sir ,godfrey ,kneller was born at ,luebeck in #afdf1 and was the son of an architect4 ,he is said to have studied under ,rembrandt2 but if this be true1 it must have been in ,kneller's early youth4 ,it is more certain that he travelled in ,italy and returned to settle in ,hamburg1 but changing his plans1 he came to ,england1 when he was about thirty years of age1 in #afge4 ,london became his home4 ,there he painted portraits with great success2 his prices being fifteen guineas for a head1 twenty if with one hand1 thirty for a half1 and sixty for a whole-length portrait4 ,charles ,,ii1 sat at the same time to ,kneller and to ,lely4 ,not ,titian himself painted more crowned heads than it fell to the lot of ,kneller to paint--not less than six reigning kings and queens of ,england1 and1 in addition1 ,louis ,,xiv4 of ,france1 ,charles ,,vi1 of ,spain1 and the ,czar ,peter of ,russia4 ,william ,,iii1 created ,kneller a knight1 and ,george ,i1 raised the painter's rank to that of a baronet4 ,sir ,godfrey was notorious for his conceit1 irritability1 and eccentricity1 and for the wit which sparkled more in his conversation than in any originality of observation displayed in his painting4 ,walpole attributes to ,kneller the opposite qualities of great negligence and great love of money4 ,the negligence or slovenliness1 whether in the man or the artist1 did not interfere with an immense capacity for work1 such as it was1 but if ,horace ,walpole be right1 that ,kneller employed many ,flemish painters under him to undertake the wigs1 draperies1 etc4 etc41 the amount of work in portrait painting which ,sir ,godfrey ,kneller accomplished is so far explained4 ,he attained the end of being a very rich man1 and married an ,english woman1 but left no family to succeed to his wealth and his country-seat of ,whitton1 when he died at his house in ,london in his seventy-eighth year1 in #agbc4 ,as a painter ,sir ,godfrey ,kneller showed considerable talent in drawing1 and a certain cumbrous dignity of design1 but he had much more industry of a certain kind than artistic feeling or taste4 ,when he and ,lely painted ,charles ,,ii1 together1 ,kneller's application and rapidity of execution were so far before those of ,lely1 who was technically the better painter of the two1 that ,kneller's picture was finished when ,lely's was dead-coloured only4 ,kneller was highly praised by ,dryden1 ,addison1 ,prior1 and ,steele4 ,apropos of these writers1 among the most famous works of ,kneller are the forty-three portraits1 painted originally for ,tonson1 the bookseller1 of the members of the ,kit ,cat club1 the social and literary club of the day1 which got its name from the chance of its holding its meetings in a house the owner of which bore the unique name of ,christopher ,cat4 ,another series of portraits by ,kneller are what ought to be1 in their designation1 the ,hampton ,court ,beauties4 ,these are still1 like the other ',beauties1' at ,hampton4 ,the second series was proposed by ,william's ,queen ,mary1 and included herself1 ,sarah ,jennings1 ,duchess of ,marlborough1 and ,mary ,bentinck4 ,to ,sarah ,jennings men did award the palm of beauty1 but poor ,queen ,mary1 who had a modest1 simple1 comely1 ,english face as a princess1 had lost her fresh youthful charm by the time she became ,queen of ,england1 and was still further disfigured by the swelling of the face to which she was liable4 ,her proposal to substitute the worthier women of her court for the unworthy beauties of her uncle ,king ,charles' court was not relished1 and helped to render ,mary unpopular--among the women1 at least1 of her nobility4 ,neither was ,sir ,godfrey ,kneller qualified to enhance the attractions of ,mary's maids of honour and ladies in waiting1 who1 to complete their disadvantages1 lived at a period when it had become the fashion for women to crown their persons by an erection on their natural heads of artificial 'edifices of three heads4' ,to ,kneller1 as ,i have already written1 we owe the preservation of ,raphael's cartoons4 ,,chapter ,,xii4#dh ,,italian ,,masters ,,from ,,the ,,fourteenth ,,to ,,the ,,seventeenth ,,centuries--,,taddeo ,,gaddi1 #acjj1 ,,supposed ,,to ,,have ,,died #acff--;,,fra ,,filippo1 #adab-adfi--;,,benozzo ,,gozzoli1 #adbd-adif--,,luca ,,signorelli1 #adda1 ,,supposed ,,to ,,have ,,died ,,about #aebd--;,,botticelli1 #addg-aeae--,,perugino1 #addf-aebb--;,,carpaccio1 ,,date ,,and ,,place ,,of ,,birth ,,and ,,death ,,unknown--,,crivelli--,,filippino ,,lipi1 ,,earlier ,,than #adfj--;,,antonella ,,da ,,messina1 ,,believed ,,to ,,have ,,died ,,at ,,venice1 #adif--;,,garopalo1 #adha-aeei--,,luini1 ,,date ,,of ,,birth ,,unknown1 ,,supposed ,,to ,,have ,,died ,,about #aecj--,,palma1 ,,about #adhj-aebh--,,pardenone1 #adhc-aech--,,lo ,,spagna1 ,,date ,,of ,,birth ,,unknown1 #aecc--;,,giulio ,,romano1 #adib-aedf--,,paris ,,bordone1 #aejj-aegj--;,,il ,,parmigianino1 #aejc-aedj--;,,baroccio1 #aebh-afab--;,,caravaggio1 #aefi-afji--,,lo ,,spagnoletto1 #aeic-afef--;,,guercino1 #aeib-afff--;,,albano1 #aegh-affj--,,sassoferrato1 #afje-afhe--,,vasari1 #aeac-aegd--,,sofonisba ,,anguisciola1 #aece1 ,,about #afbj--,,lavinia ,,fontana1 #aeeb-afad4 ,taddeo ,gaddi1 the most important of ,giotto's scholars1 was born in #acjj1 and was held at the baptismal font by ,giotto himself4 ,gaddi rather went back on earlier traditions and faults4 ,his excellence lay in his purity and simplicity of feeling4 ,his finest pictures are from the life of the ,virgin1 in ,s4 ,croce1 ,florence4 ,he was1 like his master1 a great architect as well as painter4 ,he furnished the plans for the ,ponte ,vecchio and ,campanile1 ,florence1 after ,giotto's death4 ,he was possessed of great activity and industry4 ,he is supposed to have died in #acff1 and rests in the scene of his labours1 since he was buried in the cloisters of ,s4 ,croce4 ,fra ,filippo1 #adab-adfi1 a ,carmelite friar4 ,the romantic1 scandalous life1 including his slavery in ,barbary1 attributed to him by ,vasari1 the great biographer of the early ,italian painters1 has received no corroboration from modern researches4 ,it is rather refuted4 ,he always signed his pictures ',frater ,filippus1' and his death is entered in the register of the ,carmine convent as that of ',frater ,filippus4' ,in all probability he was from first to last a monk1 and not a disreputable one4 ,he describes himself as the poorest friar in ,florence1 with six marriageable nieces dependent on him1 and he is said to have been involved in debt4 ,his colouring was 'golden and broad1' in anticipation of that of ,titian2 his draperies were fine4 ,he was wanting in the ideal1 but full of human feeling1 which was apt to get rude and boisterous2 his angels were 'like great high-spirited boys4' ,withal1 his style of composition was stately4 ,among the best examples of his work are scenes from the life of ,st ,john the ,baptist in frescoes in the choir of the ,duomo at ,prato4 ,his panel pictures are rather numerous4 ,there are two lunette#di pictures by ,fra ,filippo in the ,national ,gallery4 ,benozzo ,gozzoli1 #adbd-adif1 a scholar of ,fra ,angelico1 but resembling him only in light and cheerful colouring4 ,he is said to have been the first ,italian painter smitten with the beauty of the natural world4 ,he was the first to create rich landscape backgrounds1 and he enlivened his landscapes with animals4 ,he displayed a fine fancy for architectural effects1 introducing into his pictures open porticoes1 arcades1 balconies1 and galleries4 ,he liked to have subsidiary groups and circles of spectators about his principal figures4 ,in these groups he introduced portraits of his contemporaries1 true to nature and full of expression and delicate feeling4 ,his best work is in the ,campo ,santo1 ,pisa1 scenes from the history of the ,old ,testament1 ranging from ,noah to the ,queen of ,sheba4 ,the ,pisans were so pleased with his work as to present him1 in #adgh1 with a sarcophagus intended to contain his remains when they should be deposited in the ,campo ,santo4 ,he survived the gift eighteen years1 dying in #adif4 ,his easel pictures are rare1 and do not offer good representations of the master4 ,there is one in the ,national ,gallery--a ,virgin and ,child1 with saints and angels4 ,luca d',egidio di ,ventura1 called also ,luca 'da ,cortona1' from his birth-place1 and ,luca ,signorelli1 #adda1 supposed to have died about #aebd4 ,his is a great name in the ,tuscan ,school4 ,he played an important part in the painting of the ,sistine ,chapel1 though he is only represented by one wall picture1 the ,history of ,moses4 ,at his best he anticipated ,michael ,angelo in power and grandeur1 but he was given to exaggeration4 ,his fame rests principally on his frescoes at ,orvieto1 where1 by a strange chance1 he was appointed1 after an interval of time1 to continue and complete the work begun by ,fra ,angelico1 the master most opposed to ,signorelli in style4 ,luca added the great dramatic scenes which include the history of ,antichrist1 executed with a grandeur which 'only ,lionardo among the painters sharing a realistic tendency could have surpassed4' ,these scenes1 which contain ,the ,resurrection1 ,hell1 and ,paradise1 bear a strong resemblance to the work of ,michael ,angelo4 ,in his fine drawing of the human figure ,signorelli may be known by 'the squareness of his forms in joints and extremities4' ,a conspicuous detail in his pictures is frequently a bright-coloured ,roman scarf4 ,his work is rarely seen north of the ,alps4 ,sandro ,filipepi1 called ,botticelli1 #addg-aeae4 ,he was an apprentice to a goldsmith1 and then became a scholar of ,filippo ,lipi's4 ,botticelli was vehement and impetuous1 full of passion and poetry1 seeking to express movement4 ,he was the most dramatic painter of his school4 ,occasionally he rises to a grandeur that allies him to ,signorelli and ,michael ,angelo4 ,his circular pictures of the ,madonna and ,child1 with angels1 are numerous4 ,like ,fra ,filippo1 ,botticelli's angels are noble youths1 some of them belonging to the great families of the time4 ,they are prone to be ecstatic with joy or frantic with grief4 ,there is a grand ,coronation of the ,virgin1 by ,botticelli at ,hamilton ,palace1 and a beautiful ,nativity by the old master belongs to ,mr ,fuller ,maitland4 ,his ,madonna and ,child are grand and tragic figures always4 ,botticelli's noble frescoes in the ,sistine ,chapel are apt to be overlooked because of ,michael ,angelo's 'sublime work' on the ceiling4 ,there has been a revival of ,botticelli's renown within late years1 partly due to the new interest in the earlier ,italian painters which ,mr ,browning has done something to stimulate4 ,i quote some thoughtful remarks on ,botticelli by ,w4,c4 ,lefroy in ,macmillan's ,magazine3 ',mr ,ruskin1 we know1 divides ,italian art into the art of faith1 beginning with ,giotto1 and lasting rather more than #bjj years1 and the art of unbelief1 or at least of cold and inoperative faith1 beginning in the middle of ,raphael's life4 ,but whatever division we adopt1 we must remember that the revival of ,paganism1 as a matter of fact1 affected men in different ways4 ,right across the schools this new spirit draws its line1 but the line is not a hard and sharp one4 ,some men lie wholly on one side of it1 with ,giotto1 ,angelico1 and ,orcagna2 some wholly upon the other1 with ,titian and ,correggio1 but there are some on whom it seems to fall as a rainbow falls upon a hill-side4 ,such1 for instance1 is ,botticelli4 ,now he tries to paint as men painted in the old days of unpolluted faith1 and then again he breaks away and paints like a very heathen4 ',the interest which this artist has excited in the present generation has been exaggerated into something like a fashion1 and recent criticism has delighted to find or imagine in him the idiosyncrasies of recent thought4 ,to us it may be he does in truth say more than he or his contemporaries dreamed of1 but while true criticism will sternly refuse to help us to see in his pictures that which is purely subjective1 it will1 ,i think1 recognise the fact that a day like ours is capable of reading in the subtle suggestions of ancient art thoughts which have only now come to be frankly defined or exquisitely analysed4 ,to us1 moreover1 ,botticelli presents not only the poem of the apparition of the young and beautiful manhood of humanism before the brooding and entranced1 yet half expectant1 maidenhood of mediaevalism1 but also the poem of the painter's own peculiar relation to that crisis4 ,for us there is the poetry of the thing itself1 and also the poetry of ,botticelli's attempt to express it4 ,the work of ,botticelli does not supply a universal utterance for mankind like ,shakespeare's plays1 but when we stand before the screen on which his ,nativity is hung1 or contemplate in the adjoining room his two perplexed conceptions of ,aphrodite1 we are face to face with a genuine outcome of that memorable meeting1 mediaevalism1 humanism1 and ,savonarola1 which no generation can afford to ignore1 and our own especially delights to contemplate4 ,there has been much dispute about the date of ,botticelli's ,nativity1 and some defenders of ,savonarola have hoped to read #aeaa in the strange character of its inscription1 so that this beautiful picture1 standing forth as the work of one for many years under the influence of the ,frate1 may refute the common calumny that that influence was unfriendly to art4 ,our catalogue1 indeed1 unhesitatingly asserts of ,botticelli1 that he became a follower of ,savonarola and no doubt suffered from it2 but though there seems to be really little doubt that the ,nativity was painted in #aejj1 the inscription1 with its mystic allusion to the ,apocalypse1 and the whole character of the picture1 afford unmistakable evidence of the influence of ,savonarola4' ,pietro ,perugino1 #addf1 died of the plague at ,frontignano in #aebb4 ,perugino is another painter who has been indebted to the last ,renaissance4 ,his fame1 in this country rested chiefly on the circumstance that he was ,raphael's master1 whom the generous prince of painters delighted to honour1 till the tide of fashion in art rose suddenly and floated old ,pietro once more to the front4 ,at his best he had luminous colour1 grace1 softness1 and enthusiastic earnestness1 especially in his young heads4 ,his defects were monotony1 and formality1 together with comparative ignorance of the principles of his art4 ,his conception of his calling in its true dignity was not high4 ,his attempts at expressing ardour degenerated into mannerism1 and he acquired habits and tricks of arrangement and style1 among which figured his favourite upturned heads1 that in the end were ill drawn1 and1 like every other affectation1 became wearisome4 ,in the process of falling off as an artist1 when mere manual dexterity took the place of earnest devotion and honest pains1 ,perugino had a large studio where many pupils executed his commissions1 and where1 working for gain instead of excellence in art1 he had the satisfaction1 doubtless1 of amassing a large fortune4 ,among his finest works is the picture of an enthroned ,madonna and ,child in the gallery of the ,uffizi4 ,another fine ,madonna with ,saints is at ,cremona4 ,his frescoes in the ,sala del ,campio at ,perugia are among his best works4 ,the subjects of these frescoes are partly scriptural2 partly mythological4 ,in the execution there is excellence alike in drawing1 colouring1 and the disposal of drapery4 ,a chef d'oeuvre by the master is the ,madonna of the ,certosa at ,pavia1 now in1 the ,national ,gallery4 ,yet it is said to have been painted at the very period when ,michael ,angelo ridiculed ,perugino's work as 'absurd and antiquated4' ,vittore ,carpaccio1 date and place of birth unknown1 though he is said to have been a native of ,istria4 ,he was a historical painter of the early ,venetian ,school and a follower of the ,bellini4 ,his romantic genre pictures show the daily life of the ,venice of his time1 and are furnished with landscape and architectural backgrounds4 ,his masterly and rich work is mostly in ,venice4 ,he introduces animals freely and well in his designs4 ,carlo ,crivelli was another master of the fifteenth century who deserves notice4 ,he had strong individuality1 yet was influenced by the ,paduan and ,venetian ,schools4 ,he displayed an old-fashioned preference for painting in tempera4 ,sometimes his drawing approaches that of ,mantegna1 while he has a gorgeousness of colouring all his own4 ,his pictures occasionally show dignity of composition in combination with grace and daintiness2 but he could be guilty of exaggerated vehemence of expression4 ,he frequently introduced fruit1 flowers1 and birds in his work4 ,he is fully represented in the ,national ,gallery1 his works there ranging from 'small tender pictures of the dead ,christ with angels1 to a sumptuous altar-piece in numerous compartments4' ,filippino ,lipi was an adopted son and probably a relation of ,fra ,filippo's1 though a scholar's use of his master's name was not uncommon4 ,the date of his birth is earlier than #adfj4 ,filippino was also a pupil of ,botticelli's1 while there was a higher sense of beauty and grace in the pupil than in the teacher4 ,among his last works is the ,vision of ,st ,bernard1 an easel picture in the ,badia at ,florence4 ,the apparition of the ,madonna in this picture is said to be 'full of charm4' ,in his larger works he is one of the greatest historical painters of his country4 ,roman antiquities had the same keen interest for him which they held for the greatest of his contemporaries1 and he made free use of them in the architecture of his pictures4 ,he has fine work in the ,carmelite ,church1 ,florence1 and in ,s4 ,maria ,sopra ,minerva1 ,rome4 ,much of some of his pictures is painted over4 ,the ,national ,gallery has a picture of ,filippino's 'of grand execution1' though almost colourless--the ,madonna and ,child1 with ,st ,jerome and ,st ,francis4 ,antonella da ,messina was the ,neapolitan painter who brought the practice of painting in oils from the ,netherlands into ,italy1 though it is now believed1 from stubborn discrepancies in dates1 that the story of his great friendship with ,jan ,van ,eyck1 as given by ,vasari1 is apochryphal4 ,very likely ,hans ,memling1 called also ',john of ,bruges1' was the real friend and leader of ,antonella4 ,his best work consisted of portraits4 ,he is believed to have died at ,venice in #adif4 ,benvenuto ,tisio1 surnamed from the place of his birth ,garofalo1 was born in #adha1 and died in #aeei4 ,he passed from the early school of ,ferrara to that of ,raphael4 ,his conception was apt to be fantastic1 while his colouring was vivid to abruptness1 and he was deficient in charm of expression4 ,he fell into the fault of monotonous ideality4 ,at the same time his heads are beautiful1 and his drapery is classic4 ,his finest work is an ',entombment' in the ,borghese ,palace1 ,rome4 ,there is an altar-piece by ,garofalo1 a ,madonna and ,child with angels1 in the ,national ,gallery4 ,bernardo ,luini1 who stands foremost among the scholars of ,lionardo da ,vinci1 was born by the ,lago ,maggiore1 the date unknown1 came to ,milan in #aejj1 was elderly in #aebe1 and is supposed to have died not long after #aecj4 ,his work is chiefly found in ,milan4 ,his great merit has been only lately acknowledged4 ,he is not 'very powerful or original1' but for 'purity1 grace1 and spiritual expression1' he ranks very high4 ,he unites the earnestness of the older masters with the prevailing feeling for beauty of the great masters of ,italian ,art4 ,his pictures were long mistaken for those of his master1 ,lionardo1 though it is said that when the difference between them is once pointed out1 it is easily recognised2 indeed1 the resemblance is confined to a smiling beatific expression in the countenances1 which abounds more in ,luini's pictures4 ,his heads of women1 children1 and angels present every degree of serenity1 sweet cheerfulness and happiness1 up to ecstatic rapture4 ',christ ,disputing with the ,doctors1' in the ,national ,gallery1 formerly called a ,lionardo1 is now known to be a ,luini4 ,he painted much1 whether in tempera1 fresco1 or oil4 ,his favourite subjects in oil were the ,madonna and ,child1 with ,st ,john and the ,lamb1 and the ,marriage of ,st ,catherine4 ,probable he appears to greatest advantage in frescoes4 ,he is said to have reached his highest perfection in the figure of ,st ,john in a ,crucifixion in the ,monasterio ,maggiore1 ,milan4 ,jacopo ,palma1 called ,il ,palma ,vecchio1 was born about #adhj near ,bergamo1 and died in #aebh4 ,he is believed to have studied under ,giovanni ,bellini1 while he is also the chief follower of ,giorgione4 ,his characteristics are ample forms and gorgeous breadth of drapery4 ,his female saints1 with their large rounded figures1 have a soft yet commanding expression4 ,he had an enchanting feeling for landscape1 which seems to have been the birthright of the ,venetian painters4 ,to ,palma is owing what are called ',santa ,conversazione1' where there are numerous groups round the ,virgin and ,child1 as if they are holding a court in a retired and beautiful country nook4 ,palma rivalled ,giorgione and ,titian as a painter of women's portraits4 ,among these is that of his daughter ,violante1 believed to have been loved by ,titian4 ',palma's three ,daughters1' in the ,dresden ,gallery1 is a masterpiece of 'fair1 full-blown beauty4' ,the hair of the women is of the curiously bleached yellow tint affected then by the ,venetian ladies4 ,palma painted many pictures1 leaving at his death forty-our unfinished4 ,giovanni ,antonio da ,pardenone1 born #adhc1 died #aech4 ,he had many names1 ',pardenone' from his birth-place1 ',corticellis' from that of his father1 and he is believed to have assumed the name ',regillo' after he received knighthood from the ,king of ,hungary4 ,he was ,venetian in his artistic qualities4 ,many of his works are in his native ,pardetowns near4 ,all have suffered and some are now hidden by whitewash4 ,his chief strength lay in fresco4 ,his scenes from the ,passion in the cathedral1 ,cremona1 are greatly damaged and wretchedly restored1 but they still reveal the painter as a great master4 ,they have 'fine drawing1 action1 excellent colouring1 grand management of light and shade1 with freedom of hand and dignity of conception4' ,in the prophets and sibyls around the cupola of the ,madonna di ,campagna1 ,piacenza1 ,pardenone's power is fully proven4 ,his immense works in fresco account for the rarity of his oil pictures and their comparative inferiority4 ,there is only one picture1 and that a portrait1 indisputably assigned to ,pardenone in ,england1 in the ,baring ,collection4 ,giovanni di ,pietro1 known as ,lo ,spagna 7the ,spaniard71 was a contemporary of ,raphael's1 a fellow-pupil of his under ,perugino4 ,there is no record of the time and place of ,lo ,spagna's birth4 ,he died in #aecc4 ,he was a careful1 conscientious follower of ,perugino and ,raphael1 doing finished and delicate work2 an ',assumption' in a church at ,trevi is a fine example of his qualities4 ,his best picture was painted in #aeaf1 and is at ,assisi4 ,it represents the ,madonna enthroned with three saints on each side4 ,in his later works he betrayed feebleness4 ,pictures by ,lo ,spagna are often attributed to ,raphael4 ,giulio ,pippi1 surnamed ,romano1 born in #adib1 died in #aedf1 was a very different painter1 while he was the most celebrated of ,raphael's scholars4 ,he had a vigorous1 daring spirit1 with a free hand and a bold fancy4 ,so long as he painted under ,raphael1 ,giulio followed his master closely1 especially in his study of the antique1 but he lacked the purity and grace of his teacher1 on whose death1 the pupil leaving ,rome1 pursued his own coarser1 more vehement impulses4 ,the frescoes in the ,villa ,modama1 ,rome1 are good examples of his style1 so is the altar-piece of the ,martyrdom of ,st ,stephen in ,s4 ,stefano1 ,genoa4 ,giulio ,romano was the architect who designed the rebuilding of half ,mantua4 ,his best easel picture in ,england is the ',education of ,jupiter by ,nymphs and ,corybantes1' in the ,national ,gallery4 ,in ,raphael's lifetime his principal scholar was accustomed to work on the master's pictures1 and on his death ,giulio1 together with another pupil1 ,gianfrancesco ,penni1 were left executors of ,raphael's will and heirs of his designs4 ,paris ,bordone was born at ,treviso in #aejj and died in #aegj4 ,he was educated in the ,venetian ,school1 and remained remarkable for delicate rosy colour in his flesh tints and for purple1 crimson1 and shot hues in his draperies1 which were usually small and in crumpled folds4 ,his chef d'oeuvre is in the ,venetian ,academy4 ,it is a fisherman presenting a ring to the ,doge1 and is a large and fine picture with many figures4 ,he dealt frequently in mythological or poetic subjects4 ,there is an example of the first in the ,national ,gallery4 ,he was great in single female subjects and women's portraits4 ,there is a portrait by ,bordone of a lovely woman of nineteen belonging to the ,brignole family1 in the ,national ,gallery4 ,he had often fine landscape and grand architecture in his pictures4 ,il ,parmigianino1 born #aejc1 died #aedj1 was a follower of ,correggio's4 ,in ,parmigianino's case the danger of the master's peculiarities became apparent by the lapse into affectation and frivolity4 ',his ,madonnas are empty and condescending1 his female saints like ladies in waiting4' ,still there were certain indestructible beauties of the master which yet clung to the scholar4 ,he had clear warm colouring1 decision1 and good conception of human life4 ,he was highly successful in portraits4 ,there is a splendid portrait by ,parmigianino1 said to be ,columbus1 in ,naples4 ,among his celebrated pictures is ',the ,madonna with the ,long ,neck1' in the ,pitti ,palace4 ,an altar-piece in the ,national ,gallery1 which represents a ,madonna in the clouds with ,st ,john the ,baptist appearing to ,st ,jerome1 is a good example of ,parmigianino4 ,it is said that he was engrossed with this picture during the siege of ,rome in #aebg4 ,the soldiers entered the studio intent on pillage1 but surprising the master at his work1 respected his enthusiasm and protected him4 ,federigo ,baroccio1 of ,urbino1 born in #aebh1 died in #afab1 was also a follower of ,correggio's1 and made a stand against the decline of art in his day4 ,he was tender and idyllic1 though apt in his turn to be affected and sentimental4 ,when painting in the ,vatican1 ,rome1 his rivals sought to take his life by poison4 ,the attempt caused ,baroccio to return to ,urbino1 where he established himself and executed his commissions4 ,amirighi da ,caravaggio was born at ,caravaggio in #aefi1 and died at ,porto ,ercole in #afji4 ,he was chief of the naturalistic school1 the members of which painted common nature and violent passions in bitter opposition to the eclectics1 especially the ,caracci4 ,the feud was sometimes carried on appositely enough on the side of the naturalistic painters by poison and dagger4 ,caravaggio was distinguished by his wild temper and stormy life1 in keeping with his pictures4 ,he resided principally in ,rome1 but dwelt also in ,naples4 ,he is vulgar but striking1 even pathetic in some of his pictures4 ,the ',beheading of ,john the ,baptist1' in the ,cathedral1 ,malta1 is one of his masterpieces4 ,his ,holy ,families now and then resemble gipsy menages4 ,guiseppe ,ribiera1 a ,spaniard1 and so called ,lo ,spagnoletto1 was born #aeic and died #afef4 ,he followed ,caravaggio1 while he retained reminiscences of the ,spanish ,school and of the ,venetian masters4 ,some of his best pictures1 such as 'the ,pieta with the ,marys and the ,disciples1' and his ',last ,supper1' are in ,naples4 ,he had a wild fancy with a preference for horrible subjects--executions1 tortures--in this respect resembling ,domenichino4 ,lo ,spagnoletto is said to be particularly unpleasant in his mythological scenes4 ,many of his pictures have blackened with time4 ,his ',mary of ,egypt standing by her open ,grave' is a remarkable picture in the ,dresden ,gallery4 ,giovanni ,francesco ,barbiera1 surnamed ,guercino da ,cinto1 approached the school of the ,caracci4 ,in his art he resembled ,guido ,reni1 with the same sweetness1 greater liveliness1 and fine chiaroscuro4 ',dido's ,last ,moments' and ',st ,peter raising ,tabitha' in ,rome and in the ,pitti ,palace are fine examples of ,guercino's work4 ,his later pictures1 like ,guido's1 are fascinating in softness1 delicate colouring and tender sentiment1 degenerating1 however1 into mannerism and insipidity1 while his colouring becomes at last pale and washy4 ,albano1 born #aegh1 died #affj4 ,he had elegance and cheerfulness which hardly rose to grace4 ,he painted mostly scenes from ancient mythology1 such as ',venus and her ,companions4' ,religious subjects were comparatively rare with him2 one1 however1 often repeated was the ',infant ,christ sleeping on the ,cross4' ,giovanni ,battista ,salvi1 surnamed from his birth-place ,sassoferrato1 was born in #afje and died in #afhe4 ,he followed the scholars of the ,caracci1 but with some independence1 returning to older and greater masters4 ,his art was distinguished by a peculiar but slightly affected gentleness of conception1 pleasing and sweet--with the sweetness verging on weakness4 ,he finished with minute care4 ,he gave constant representations of the ,madonna and ,child and ,holy ,families in a domestic character4 ,in one of his pictures in ,naples the ,madonna is engaged in sewing4 ,his most celebrated1 ',madonna del ,rosario1' is in ,s4 ,sabina1 ,rome4 ,the ,madonna bending in ecstatic worship over an infant ,christ lying on a cushion is in the ,dresden ,gallery4 ,giorgio ,vasari was born at ,arezzo in #aeab and died at ,florence in #aegd4 ,he was an architect1 or jeweller1 and a historical painter of heavy crowded pictures4 ,his lives of the early ,italian painters and sculptors up to his own time1 the sixteenth century1 though full of traditional gossip1 are invaluable as graphic chronicles of much interesting information which would otherwise have been lost4 ,sofonisba ,anguisciola1 born #aece1 died about #afbj1 was a pupil of ,bernardino ,campi about the close of the sixteenth century at ,cremona4 ,she is justly praised by ,vasari4 ,though her works are rare there are a few in ,england and ,scotland4 ,three of her pictures which are mentioned with high commendation by ,dr4 ,waagen are1 'a nun in the white robes of her order1 nobly conceived and delicately coloured1' in ,lord ,yarborough's collection2 in ,mr ,harcourt's collection1 'her own portrait1 still very youthful1 delicate1 charming1 and clear2' and in the collection of the late ,sir ,w4 ,stirling ,maxwell1 'another portrait of herself at an easel painting the ,virgin and ,child on wood1 delicately conceived1 clear in colour1 and very careful4' ,lavinia ,fontana1 born in #aeeb1 died #afad1 was a daughter of ,prospero ,fontana1 who belonged to the fast degenerating ,bolognese artists at the close of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth century4 ,she was a better artist than her fellow painters1 worked cleverly and boldly1 and showed truth to nature4 ,she has left excellent portraits4 ,in the late ,sir ,w4 ,stirling ,maxwell's collection there is a picture by her1 ',two girls in a boat with a youth rowing1' on wood1 'of very graceful motive and careful treatment4' ,,chapter ,,xiii4#ej ,,german1 ,,flemish1 ,,and ,,dutch ,,artists ,,from ,,the ,,fifteenth ,,to ,,the ,,eighteenth ,,century--,,van ,,der ,,weyden1 ,a ,,contemporary ,,of ,,the ,,van ,,eycks1 #acff-addb--,,van ,,leyden1 #adid-aecc--,,van ,,somer1 #aegj-afbd--,,snyders1 #aegi-afeg--;,g4 ,,honthorst1 #aeib-affb--;,,jan ,,steen1 #afbf-afgi--;,,gerard ,,dow1 #afac-afhj--;,,de ,,hooch1 ,,dates ,,of ,,birth ,,and ,,death ,,unknown--,,van ,,ostade1 #afaj-afhe--,,maas1 #afcb-afic--,,metzu1 #afae1 ,,still ,,alive ,,in #affg--,,terburg1 #afjh-afha--,,netcher1 #afci-afhd--;,,bol1 #afaa-afhj--,,van ,,der ,,helst1 #afac-afgj--,,ruysdael1 #afbe 787-#afhb--;,,hobbema1 #afch-agji--;,,berchem1 #afbj-afhc--;,,both1 #afaj 787-#afej 787--,,du ,,jardin1 #afbe-afgh--;,,adrian ,,van ,,de ,,velde1 #afci-afgb--,,van ,,der ,,heyden1 #afcg-agab--;,,de ,,witte1 #afjg-afib--,,van ,,der ,,neer1 #afai787-afhc--,,william ,,van ,,de ,,velde ,,the ,,younger1 #afcc-agjg--;,,backhuysen1 #afca-agjh--,,van ,,de ,,capella1 ,,about #afec--;,,hondecoeter1 #afcf-afie--;,,jan ,,weenix1 #afdd-agai--,,pater ,,segers1 #aeij-affa--,,van ,,huysum1 #afhb-agdi--,,van ,,der ,,werff1 #afei-agbb--,,mengs1 #agbh-aggd4 ,roger van der ,weyden was a contemporary of the ,van ,eycks1 born at ,tournai4 ,his early pictures in ,brussels are lost4 ,he visited ,italy in #adci1 and was treated with distinction at ,ferrara4 ,his ,flemish realistic cast of mind and artistic power remained utterly unaffected by the grand ,italian pictures with which he came in contact2 so did his profound earnestness1 which must have been great indeed1 since its effects are felt through all impediments down to the present day4 ,his expressive realism chose subjects in which the sentiments of grief and pity could be most fitly shown4 ,he sternly rejected any suggestion to idealise the human form1 and paint heads1 hands1 or feet different from those in ordinary life4 ',it is the simplicity with which he gives expression by large and melancholy eyes1 thought by projections of the forehead1 grief by contracted muscles1 and suffering by attenuation of the flesh which touches us4' ,the deadly earnestness of the man impresses the spectator at this distant date4 ',there is no smile in any of his faces1 but there is many a face wrung with agony1 and there is many a tear4' ,he objected to shadow in every form1 and filled his pictures with an invariable atmosphere and light--those which belong to dawn before sunrise4 ,among his finer works are a triptych#ea belonging to the ,duke of ,westminster1 a ',last ,judgment' in the ,hospital at ,bearne1 and a large ',descent from the ,cross' in ,madrid4 ,in the triptych in the centre is ,christ with black hair1 which is unusual1 in his left hand the globe4 ,on his right is the ,virgin ,mary1 on his left ,st ,john the ,evangelist2 on the right wing is ,st ,john the ,baptist1 on his left the ,magdalene4 ,lucas ,van ,leyden was born in #adid and died in #aecc4 ,he painted both scriptural subjects and everyday scenes1 being a man of varied powers4 ,he worked admirably for his time1 and added to his art that of an engraver4 ,he followed the ,van ,eycks1 but lowered their treatment of sacred subjects4 ,in incidents taken from common life he showed himself full of observation1 and possessed of some humour4 ,his pictures are rare4 ,a ',last ,judgment1' in the ,town ,house1 ,leyden1 is a striking but unpleasant example of ,lucas ,van ,leyden's work4 ,paul ,van ,somer was born at ,antwerp in #aegj1 and died in #afbd4 ,he worked for many years in ,england1 where his best works--portraits--remain4 ,he was truthful1 a good colourist1 and finished carefully4 ,his portraits of ,lord ,bacon at ,panshanger and of the ,earl and ,countess of ,arundel at ,arundel ,castle are well known4 ,frans ,snyders was born in #aegi1 and died1 at ,antwerp in #afeg4 ,after ,rubens1 ,snyders was the greatest ,flemish animal painter4 ,he painted along with ,rubens often1 ,snyders supplying the animals and ,rubens the figures4 ,frans ,snyders paid a visit to ,italy and ,rome1 from which he seems to have profited1 judging by his skill in arrangement4 ,this skill he displayed also in his kitchen-pieces 7magnificent shows of fruit1 vegetables1 game1 fish1 etc471 which1 like his animal pictures1 are numerous4 ,in one of these kitchen-pieces in the ,dresden ,gallery1 ,rubens and his second wife are said to figure as the cooks4 ,princes and nobles bade for ,snyders' pictures4 ,there is a famous ',boar ,hunt' in the ,louvre1 in ,munich ',lionesses ,pursuing a ,roebuck1' in ,vienna ',boar attacked by ,nine ,dogs4' ,snyders' animal pictures are full of energetic action and fierce passion4 ,to these qualities is frequently added hideous realism in detail4 ,there are many ,snyders in ,english galleries4 ,gerard ,honthorst was born at ,utrecht in #aeib1 and died in #affb4 ,he was a follower of ,caravaggio4 ,he visited ,italy and found favour in ,rome1 where he got from his night-pieces ,correggio's name1 ',della ,notte4' ,honthorst was summoned to ,england by ,charles ,i41 for whom he painted several pictures4 ,he entered the service of ,prince ,frederick ,henry of ,orange1 and painted also for the ,king of ,denmark4 ,he left an extraordinary number of works1 sacred1 mythological1 historical1 and latterly many portraits4 ,he drew well and painted powerfully1 but was coarsely realistic in his treatment4 ,at ,hampton ,court there are two of his best portraits1 those of the unfortunate ,queen of ,bohemia and the ,duke of ,buckingham and his family4 ,gerard ,honthorst's younger brother1 ,william1 was a portrait painter not unlike the elder brother in style4 ,jan ,steen was born at ,leyden in #afbf1 and died in #afgi4 ,he was great as a genre painter4 ,he is said to have been1 after ,rembrandt1 the most humorous of ,dutch painters1 full of animal spirits and fun4 ,at his best1 composition1 colouring1 and execution were all in excellent keeping4 ,at his worst1 he was vulgar and repulsive in his heads1 and careless and faulty in his work4 ,he was very rarely either kindly or reverent in his subjects1 though1 in spite of what is known to have been his riotous life1 he is comparatively free from the grossness which is often the shame of ,flemish and ,dutch art4 ,jan ,steen succeeded his father as a brewer and tavern-keeper at ,delft4 ,he renounced the brewery1 in which he did not succeed1 and joined the ,painters' ,guild1 ,haarlem2 but his position as a tavern-keeper is reflected in his pictures1 of which eating and drinking1 card-playing1 etc41 are frequently the motifs4 ,his family relations were not conducive to higher principles and tastes4 ,he is said to have been so lost to common feeling as to have painted his first wife when she was in a state of intoxication4#eb ,his second wife may have been a worthier woman1 but she was drawn from the lowest class1 and had been accustomed to sell sheeps' heads and trotters in the butchers' market4 ,without doubt ,jan ,steen had extraordinary genius coexisting with his coarse1 careless nature and jovial habits1 and he must have worked with great facility1 since1 in spite of his idleness and comparatively early death1 he left as many as two hundred pictures1 rendered him extremely popular4 ,besides his favourite subjects1 such as ',the ,family ,jollification1' ',the ,feast of the ,bean ,king1' ',game of ,skittles1' he has pictures in a slightly higher atmosphere1 such as ',a ,pastor ,visiting a ,young ,girl1' ',the ,parrot1' ',schoolmaster with ,unmanageable ,boys1' ',the ,pursuit of ,alchemy4' ,among the latter a good example is ',the ,music ,master' in the ,national ,gallery4 ,gerard ,dow was born in #afac and died in #afhj4 ,he was a genre painter of great merit4 ,he belonged to ,leyden1 and was a pupil of ,rembrandt4 ,he began with portraiture1 often painting his own face1 and went on to scenes from low and middle-class life1 but rarely attempted to represent high society4 ,compared to ,jan ,steen1 however1 he is refined4 ,he had a curious fondness for painting hermits4 ,the lighting of his pictures is frequently by lantern or candle4 ,they are mostly small1 and without animated action1 but are full of picturesqueness4 ,he was a good colourist1 'with a rare truth to nature and a marvellous distinctness of eye and precision of hand4' ,minute as his execution was1 his touch was 'free and soft4' ,his best pictures are 'like nature's self seen through the camera obscura4' ,an instance often given of his exquisite finish is that of a broom in the corner of one of his pictures4 ,some contemporary had remarked how careful and elaborate was the labour bestowed on it1 when the painter answered that he was still to give it several hours' work4 ,he must have been exceedingly industrious as well as painstaking1 since he left two hundred pictures as his contribution to ,dutch art4 ,among his finer pictures are ',an ,old ,woman reading the ,bible to her ,husband1' in the ,louvre2 ',the ,poulterer's ,shop1' in the ,national ,gallery4 ,his chef d'oeuvre1 ',the ,woman ,sick of the ,dropsy1' is in the ,louvre4 ,his candlelight is the finest rendered by any master4 ,there is a good example of it in ',the ,evening ,school1' in the ,amsterdam ,gallery4 ,peter de ,hooch--spelt often1 ,de ,hooge--was the genre painter of full1 clear sunlight4 ,the dates of his birth and death can only be guessed by those of his pictures1 which extend from #afef to #afgj4 ,his groups are generally playing cards1 smoking1 drinking1 or engaged in domestic occupations--almost always in the open air4 ,no other genre painter can compare with him in reproducing the effects of sunlight4 ,his prevailing colour is red1 varied and repeated with great delicacy4 ,english lovers of art brought ,de ,hooch into favour1 and many of his pictures are in ,england4 ,there are fine examples--',the ,court of a ,dutch ,house' and ',a ,courtyard'--in the ,national ,gallery4 ,adrian van ,ostade was born at ,haarlem in #afaj and died in his native town in #afhe4 ,he has been called 'the ,rembrandt of genre painters1' and1 like ,rembrandt1 he was without the sense of human beauty and grace1 for even his children are ugly2 yet it is the purer1 happier side of national life which he constantly represents1 and he had great feeling for nature1 with picturesqueness and harmony of design and colouring1 as well as mastery of the technique of his art4 ,he suffered many hardships in his youth1 and grew up a quiet1 industrious1 family man4 ,he left a very large number of pictures1 nearly four hundred1 many of them good1 and not a few in ,england4 ',the ,alchemist'#ec is in the ,national ,gallery4 ,maas1 born in #afcb1 died in #afic1 is a much-prized genre painter1 whose pictures are rare4 ,he was a pupil of ,rembrandt4 ,he is said to have treated 'very simple subjects with naive homeliness and kindly humour4' ,his pictures are 'well lit1 with deep warm harmony1 and a vigorous touch4' ',the ,idle ,servant-maid1' in the ,national ,gallery1 is a masterpiece4 ,metzu1 like ,terburg1 is par excellence one of the two painters of ,dutch high life4 ,metzu was born in #afae1 and is known to have been alive in #affg4 ,he painted both on a large and a small scale1 and occasionally departed from his peculiar province to represent market-scenes1 etc4 ,he is the most refined and picturesque of genre painters on a small scale4 ,among his chefs d'oeuvre are a ',lady holding a ,glass of ,wine and receiving an ,officer1' in the ,louvre2 and a ',girl writing1 a ,gentleman leaning on her chair and another girl opposite playing the ,lute1' in the ,hague ,gallery4 ,the fine ',duet1' and the ',music ,lesson' are both in the ,national ,gallery4 ,gerard ,terburg was born at ,zwol1 in #afjh1 and died in #afha4 ,he visited ,germany and ,italy in his youth4 ,his small groups and single figures1 taken from the wealthier classes1 with their luxurious surroundings1 are 'given with exquisite delicacy and refinement4' ,included in his masterpieces are a ',girl in white satin 7a texture which he rendered marvellously7 washing her hands in a basin held before her by a maid-servant1' in the ,dresden ,gallery2 an ',officer in confidential talk with a ,young ,girl1 and a ,trumpeter who has brought him a ,letter1' in the ,hague ,gallery2 a ',young ,lady in white satin sitting playing the ,lute1' in the ,chateau of ,wilhelmshoee1 at ,cassell4 ,there are twenty-three ,terburgs in ,england and ,scotland4 ,caspar ,netcher1 born in #afci1 died in #afhd4 ,he formed himself upon ,metzu and ,terburg4 ,he is the great ,dutch painter of childhood4 ,his finest works are in the ,dresden ,gallery4 ,in the ,national ,gallery is his ',children blowing ,bubbles4' ,ferdinand ,bol was born at ,dordrecht in #afaa1 and died at ,amsterdam in #afhj4 ,he was a student of ,rembrandt's1 and distinguished himself in sacred and historical pictures1 and especially in portraits4 ,he followed his master in his youth1 fell off in his art in middle life1 but became again excellent in his later years4 ,among his fine pictures are ',david's ,charge to ,solomon1' in the ,dublin ,national ,gallery2 and ',joseph presenting his father ,jacob to ,pharaoh1' in the ,dresden ,gallery4 ,his last portraits are considered very fine4 ,they are taken in the fullest light1 and have a surprising amount of animation4 ,such a portrait1 called ',the ,astronomer1' is in the ,national ,gallery4#ed ,jacob ,ruysdael was born in #afbe787 at ,haarlem4 ,in #affh he was in ,amsterdam1 and acted as witness to the marriage of ,hobbema1 whose lack of worldly prosperity ,ruysdael shared4 ,he himself was unmarried1 and maintained his father in his old age4 ,in the prime of life ,jacob ,ruysdael in turn fell into extreme poverty1 and died an inmate of the ,haarlem ,almshouse in #afhb--;a sad record of ,holland's greatest landscape painter1 for 'beyond dispute' ,ruysdael is the first of the famous ,dutch landscape painters4 ',in no other is there the feeling for the poetry of ,northern nature united with perfect execution1 admirable drawing1 great knowledge of chiaroscuro1 powerful colouring1 and a mastery of the brush which ranged from the minutest touch to broad1 free execution4' ,his prevailing tone of colour is a full1 decided green1 though age has given many of his pictures a brown tone4 ,a considerable number of his pictures are in a greyish1 clear1 cool tone 7good examples of the last are to be seen in the ,dresden ,gallery74 ,he generally painted the flat ,dutch country in tranquil repose4 ,he dealt usually in heavy clouded skies which told of showers past and coming1 and dark sheets of water overshadowed by trees1 lending a melancholy sentiment to the picture4 ,he was fond of wide expanses of land and water1 fond also of introducing the spires of his native ,haarlem1 touching the horizon line4 ,he has left a few sea-pieces1 always with cloudy heavens and heaving or raging seas2#ee where he has given sketches of sea1 and shore1 the aerial perspective is rendered in tender gradations 'full of pathos4' ,he has other pictures representing hilly1 even mountainous1 landscapes4 ,in these foaming waterfalls form a prominent feature4 ,ruysdael was weak in his drawing of men and animals1 in which he was occasionally assisted by fellow-artists1 such as ,berchem and ,van de ,velde4 ,among his finest pictures are ',a ,view of the ,country round ,haarlem1' in the ,museum of the ,hague2 ',a flat country1 with a road leading to a village and fields with wheat sheaves1' in the ,dresden ,gallery2 ',a hilly bare country through which a river runs2 the horseman and beggar on a bridge1 by ,wouvermans1' in the ,louvre4 ,his most remarkable waterfall is in the ,hague ,museum4 ,in the ,dresden ,gallery there is ',a ,jewish ,cemetery1' 'full of melancholy4' ,three of ,ruysdael's fine waterfalls are in the ,national ,gallery4 ,of two very grand storms which he painted one is in the ,louvre1 the other in the collection of the ,marquis of ,lansdowne at ,bowood4 ,there are many of ,ruysdael's pictures in ,england4 ,in the great landscape painter1 as in the other renowned ,dutch artists of the seventeenth century1 the influence of ,rembrandt is marked4 ,meindert ,hobbema was born in #afch1 married in #afch1 and died in poverty at ,amsterdam in #agji4 ,his works1 which were neglected in his lifetime1 now fetch much more than their weight in gold4 ,sums as large as four thousand pounds have been paid more than once for a ,hobbema1 yet his name was not found in any dictionary of art or artists for more than a century after his death4 ,the ,english were the first to acknowledge ,hobbema's merit1 and nine-tenths of his works are in ,england1 where he is the most popular ,dutch landscape painter4 ,but he is said by judges to have less invention and less poetic sensibility than his contemporary and friend ,ruysdael4 ,hobbema's subjects are usually villages surrounded by trees like those in ,guelderland1 water-mills1 a slightly broken country1 with groups of trees1 wheatfields1 meadows1 and small pools1 more rarely portions of towns1 and still more seldom old castles and stately mansions4#ef ,he has all the lifelike truthfulness of the ,dutch artists4 ,in tone he is as warm and golden as ,ruysdael is cool in his greens4 ,in the ,national ,gallery there are excellent specimens of ,hobbema1 such as ',the ,avenue ,middelharnis' and ',a ,landscape in ,showery ,weather4' ,nicolas ,berchem1 often spelt ,berghem1 was born at ,haarlem in #afbj1 and died at ,amsterdam in #afhc4 ,he was an excellent ,dutch landscape painter4 ,he had evidently visited ,italy1 and displayed great fondness for ,italian subjects4 ,his pictures show 'varied composition1 good drawing1 fine aerial effects1 freedom1 playfulness1 and spirit4' ,as a colourist he was unequal1 being often warm and harmonious1 but at other times heavy and cold4 ,it is clear that he was no student of life1 from the monotony of his shepherds and shepherdesses and the sameness of his animals4 ,he was naturally industrious1 and was spurred on1 as a still greater artist is said to have been1 by the greed of his wife4 ,he painted upwards of four hundred pictures1 besides doing figures and animals for other painters4 ,the great northern ,european galleries are rich in his works4 ,one of his best pictures1 ',a ,shepherdess driving her cattle through a ford in a rocky landscape1' where the cool tone of the landscape is contrasted with the golden tone of the cattle1 is in the ,louvre4 ,another fine picture1 ',crossing the ,ford1' is in the ,national ,gallery4 ,jan ,both1 born in #afaj 7871 died in #afej 7871 was another ,dutch landscape painter still more spellbound by ,italy1#eg which he visited1 and where he fell under the influence of ,claude ,lorraine4 ,both devoted himself thenceforth to ,italian landscape to a greater degree than was practised by any other ,dutch painter4 ,he was excellent in drawing and skilful in rendering the golden glories of ,italian sunsets4 ,he painted freely and with solidity4 ,the figures of men and animals in his pictures were often introduced by his brother ,andreas4 ,jan ,both excelled both in large and small pictures1 but he was most uninterestingly uniform in design4 ,he had generally a foreground of lofty trees1 and for a background a range of mountains rising step by step1 with a wide plain at their feet4 ,sometimes he introduced a waterfall or a lake4 ,he rarely painted particular points in a landscape4 ,his life was not a long one1 so that his pictures do not number more than a hundred and fifty4 ,occasionally his warm tone of colouring degenerates to a foxy red4 ,one of ,both's best pictures--a landscape in which the fresh light of morning is apparent--is in the ,national ,gallery4 ,karil du ,jardin1 born in #afbe1 died in #afgh1 is a third great ,dutch landscape painter1 whose fancy ,italy laid hold of1 so that he settled in the country1 dying at ,venice4 ,he was1 it is said1 a pupil of ,berchem's1 from whom he may have first drawn his ,italian proclivities4 ,he has more truth and feeling for animated nature than ,berchem4 ,indeed1 in this respect ,du ,jardin followed ,paul ,potter4 ,according to contemporary accounts1 ,du ,jardin1 who had his share of the national humour1 wasted his time in the pursuit of pleasure1 and did not leave more pictures behind him than ,both left4 ,du ,jardin's best works are in the ,louvre1 but there are also many of his pictures in ,england4 ,among his masterpieces1 ',cattle of all kinds in a meadow surrounded by rocks1 and watered by a cascade2 a horseman giving alms to a peasant boy2' and his celebrated ',charlatan1' full of observation and humour1 are in the ,louvre4 ,a fine picture1 ',figures of ,animals under the shade of a ,tree1' is in the ,national ,gallery4 ,adrian ,van de ,velde1 born in #afci1 died in #afgb1 the younger brother of a great marine painter1 ranks almost as high as ,paul ,potter in cattle painting4 ,if 'inferior in modelling and solidity' to his rival1 ,adrian ,van de ,velde is superior in variety1 taste1 and feeling4 ,like the great ,english animal painter1 ,landseer1 ,van de ,velde was a distinguished artist when a mere boy of fourteen4 ,like his compatriot1 ,paul ,potter1 ,van de ,velde died young1 at the age of thirty-two4 ,he generally disposed of his cattle among broken ground with trees and pools of water4 ,sometimes he has a herdsman or a shepherdess1 sometimes there is a hunting party passing4 ,his scenery is reckoned masterly4 ,it is mostly taken from the coast of ,scheveningen4 ,he often painted in men1 horses1 and dogs for other painters4 ,he must have been very industrious1 with great facility in his work1 since1 in spite of his premature death1 he had painted nearly two hundred pictures4 ',a brown cow grazing and a grey cow resting1' which is in the ,berlin ,museum1 was done at the age of sixteen1 yet it is full of observation1 delicacy1 and execution4 ',cattle grazing before a peasant's cottage1' which is in the ,dresden ,gallery1 is considered very fine4 ,a fine ',winter ,landscape1' and a ',farm ,cottage1' are in the ,national ,gallery4 ,some of ,adrian ,van de ,velde's best work1 as well as his brother's1 is in ,england4 ,jan ,van der ,heyden1 'the ,gerard ,dow of architectural painters1' was born in #afcg and died in #agab4 ,he combined an unspeakable minuteness of detail with the closest observation of nature4 ,his subjects1 which he selected with great taste1 were chiefly well-known buildings1 palaces1 churches1 and canal banks in ,holland and ,belgium4 ,he painted in a warm transparent tone1 with close application of the laws of perspective4 ,the figures in his pictures1 in excellent keeping1 were often introduced by ,adrian ,van de ,velde4 ,van der ,heyden's productiveness as a painter was lessened by the circumstance that his mechanical talent led him to make an invention by which the construction of the fire-engines of his day was greatly improved4 ,in consequence he was placed by the magistrates of ,amsterdam at the head of their fire-engine establishment1 which had thus many claims on his time4 ,a beautiful ',street in ,cologne' is in the ,national ,gallery4 ,emanuel ,de ,witte1 born in #afjg1 died in #afib1 was great in architectural interiors1 especially in churches of ,italian architecture4 ,he stood to this branch of ,dutch art in the same relation that ,ruysdael did to landscape and ,william ,van de ,velde to seascape4 ,aart ,van der ,neer was born in #afai7871 died in #afhc4 ,he is famous for his canal banks by moonlight1 and fine disposal of broad masses of shadow4 ,after his moonlights come his sunsets1 conflagrations1 and winter scenes4 ,he rarely painted full daylight4 ,he sometimes painted on the same ,van der ,neer in the ,national ,gallery4 ,many of his works are in ,england4 ,william ,van de ,velde the younger1 the elder brother of ,adrian ,van de ,velde1 the cattle painter1 was born at ,amsterdam in #afcc1 and died at ,greenwich in #agjg4 ,his early life was spent in ,holland4 ,he followed his father1 ,william ,van de ,velde1 a painter also1 to ,england1 where1 under the patronage of ,charles ,,ii1 and ,james ,,ii41 ,william the younger painted the naval victories of the ,english over the ,dutch1 just as in ,holland he had already painted the naval victories of the ,dutch over the ,english4 ,he was a greater and more consistent artist than he was a patriot4 ,without question he is the first marine painter of the ,dutch ,school4 ,he was untiring in his study of nature1 so that his perfect knowledge of perspective and the incomparable mastery of technical qualities which he inherited from his school1 enabled him to render sea and sky under every aspect4 ,his vessels 'were drawn with a knowledge which extended to every rope4' ,he has been an exceedingly popular painter both with the ,dutch and the ,english4 ,of upwards of three hundred pictures left by him many are in ,holland and still more in ,england1 where in his lifetime he was largely employed by the ,english nobility and gentry4 ,william ,van de ,velde has a great picture in the ,amsterdam ,museum1 where the ,english flag-ship1 the ,princess ,royal1 is represented as striking her colours to the ,dutch fleet in #afff4 ,in the companion picture1 also by ,van de ,velde1 ',four ,english men-of-war brought in as prizes1' the painter introduces himself in the small boat from which he witnessed the fight4 ,william ,van de ,velde's triumphs in calm seas are seen especially in his pictures at the ,hague and in ,munich4 ,some of ,van de ,velde's best works are in the ,national ,gallery4 ,backhuysen born in #afca1 died at ,amsterdam in #agjh1 was another admirable marine painter4 ,he did not study painting till he had followed a trade up to the age of eighteen years2 he then gave himself with ardour to art1 making many studies of skies1 coasts1 and vessels4 ,he was inferior to ,william ,van de ,velde in his colouring1 which was heavy1 with a cold effect4 ,but he had in full a ,dutch painter's truthfulness1 while his 'stormy waves and rent clouds' are given with poetic feeling4 ,he was an industrious and successful man1 painting nearly two hundred pictures1 and receiving many commissions from the ,king of ,prussia1 ,grand ,duke of ,tuscany1 etc4 ,one of his finest works1 ',a ,view of the ,river from the ,landing-place called the ,mosselsteiger1' is in ,amsterdam ,museum4 ,in the ,louvre is ',a view of the ,mouth of the ,texel1 with ten ,men-of-war ,sailing before a ,fresh ,wind4' ',dutch ,shipping' is in the ,national ,gallery4 ,van de ,capella is another capital marine painter1 though little is known of him4 ,he was a native of ,amsterdam about #afec4 ,his favourite subject is a quiet sea in sunny weather4 ,his work bears some resemblance to that of ,cuyp4 ,his best pictures are in ,england4 ',a ,calm at ,low ,water' is in the ,national ,gallery4 ,melchior de ,hondecoeter1 born in #afcf1 died in #afie1 chose the feathered tribe for his subjects4 ,he has been called 'the ,raphael of bird painters4' ,he painted especially poultry1 peacocks1 turkeys1 and pigeons1 which he usually represented alive1 and treated with great truthfulness and picturesque feeling4 ,among his best pictures are ',the ,floating ,feather1' a feather given with singular lightness drifting in a pool1 with different birds on the water and the shore--a pelican prominent--in ,amsterdam ,museum1 and ',a ,hen defending her ,chickens against the attacks of a ,pea-hen1 with a ,peacock1 a ,pigeon1 a ,cassowary1 and a ,crane1' also in ,amsterdam4 ,jan ,weenix1 born in #afdd1 died in #agai4 ,he was a painter of 'still life1' and was especially famous for his dead hares1 'which in form and colour1 down to the rendering of every hair1 are marvels of execution4' ,he painted sometimes1 though rarely1 a living dog in his pieces4 ,a fine ,weenix sometimes painted flower pieces4#eh ,pater ,segers1 so called because he was a ,father in a ,jesuit convent1 which he entered at twenty-four years of age4 ,he was born in #aeij1 and died in the ,jesuit convent1 ,antwerp1 #affa4 ,he was a famous flower painter1 but did not paint flowers by themselves2 he painted them in conjunction with the historical and sacred subjects of other painters4 ,he added many a wreath to the ,virgin and ,child4 ,he worked in this fashion with ,rubens1 but painted more frequently along with painters of a lower rank in art4 ,pater ,segers' flowers are finely drawn and tastefully arranged4 ,the red of his roses has remained unchanged by years1 while the roses of other painters have become violet or faded altogether4 ,he had endless royal commissions4 ,there are six of his pictures of much merit in the ,dresden ,gallery4 ,besides the elder and younger ,de ,heem and ,maria ,von ,oesterwyck mentioned at page #beh1 ,jan ,van ,huysum1 #afhb-agdi1 was great in flower painting1 choosing flowers rather than fruit for his brush4 ,if ,de ,heem has been called the ,titian1 ,van ,huysum has been defined as the ,correggio1 of flowers and fruit4 ,he reversed the ordinary course of artists by beginning in a broad style1 and progressing into an execution of the finest details4 ,in masterly drawing and truthfulness he was not inferior to ,de ,heem1 though hardly reckoned his equal in other respects4 ,even in ,van ,huysum's lifetime there was an eager demand for his pictures1 of which he left more than a hundred4 ,there is an excellent fruit and flower piece by him in ,dulwich ,gallery1 and a masterpiece1 ',a ,vase with ,flowers1' is in the ,national ,gallery4 ,andrian ,van der ,werff was born in #afei1 and died in #agbb4 ,he is honourably distinguished for his pursuit of the ideal1 in which he stood alone among the ,dutch artists of his day4 ,he showed much sense of beauty and elegance of form with great finish1 but he had more than counterbalancing faults4 ,his grouping was artificial1 his heads monotonous1 his colouring 'cold and heavy1' with 'a frosty feeling' in his pictures4 ,his flesh tints resembled ivory1 yet his elegance was so highly prized that he had many royal and noble patrons1 for whom he executed sculptural and mythological pieces4 ,many of his pictures are in the ,munich ,gallery4 ,anton ,raphael ,mengs was born in ,bohemia #agbh1 and died in ,rome #aggd4 ,his father was a distinguished miniature painter1 and gave his son a careful education1 training him to copy the masterpieces of ,michael ,angelo and ,raphael from his twelfth year4 ,unfortunately he remained a copyist and an eclectic4 ,he drew well1 learnt chiaroscuro from studying ,correggio1 and colouring from analysing ,titian4 ,he was acquainted with the best technical processes in oil and fresco4 ,all that teaching could do for a man was done1 and to a great extent in vain4 ,for though he worked with great conscientiousness1 fancy and feeling were either originally lacking1 or they were overlaid and stifled by his excess of culture and severe education4 ,the most successful of his works are portraits1 in which masterly treatment makes up to some extent for the absence of originality and subtle sympathy4 ,but in his day1 and with some reason1 ,raphael ,mengs was greatly prized1 since he figured among a host of ignorant1 careless1 and conceited painters4 ,at the age of seventeen he was appointed court painter to ,king ,augustus of ,saxony4 ,he was summoned to ,spain by ,charles ,,iii41 who gave him a high salary4 ,among his good works is an ',assumption' on the high altar of the ,catholic ,church1 ,dresden4 ,an allegorical subject in fresco on the ceiling of the ,camera de ,papini in the ,vatican has 'beauty of form1 delicate observation1 and masterly modelling4' ,mengs wrote well on art1 though in his writing also his eclecticism comes out4 ,,note ,,to ,,page #if4 ',i have been told that ,i have not done justice to ,lionardo in this short sketch4 ,i give in an abridged form the accurate appreciative analysis of the man and his work in ,sir ,c1 and ,lady ,eastlake4'--,,kugler4 ,it is stated that the versatility of ,lionardo was against him4 ,he attempted too much for one man and one life4 ,an additional impediment was produced by his temperament1 'dreamy1 perfidious1 procrastinating1' withal desirous of shining in society4 ,his ideal of the ,lord's head is the highest that art has realised4 ,the apostles' heads are among the truest and noblest4 ,the countenances of his ,madonnas are full of ineffable sweetness and pathos4 ',at the same time he analysed the monstrous and misshapen1 and has left us caricatures in which he seems to have gloated over hideousness half human1 half brute4 ,he altered and retouched without ceasing1 always deferring the conclusion of the task which he executed with untiring labour and ceaseless dissatisfaction4' ,the wonder is not that he should have left so little1 but that he left enough to prove the transcendent nature of his art4 ',there is nothing stranger in history than the fact that his great fame rests on one single picture--long reduced to a shadow--on half-a-dozen pictures for which his hand is alternately claimed and denied1 and on unfinished fragments which he himself condemned4' ,lionardo was too universal to be of any school4 ,,index4 ,,page ,albino #chg ,angelico1 ,fra #cf ,anguisciola #chh ,backhuysen #dae ,baroccio #che ,bartolommeo1 ,fra #gg ,bellini1 ,the #ed ,berchem #djg ,bol #djb ,bordone #cic ,both #dah ,botticelli #cfi ,canaletto #ceh ,capella1 ,van de #daf ,caravaggio #che ,carpaccio #cge ,carracci1 ,the #bab ,cellini #fi ,claude ,loraine #bif ,correggio #ahe ,crivelli #cge ,cuyp #bee ,domenichino #bbj ,dow #cih ,du ,jardin #daj ,duerer #afi ,eycks1 ,the ,van #da ,filippo1 ,fra #cfe ,fontana #chi ,francia1 ,il #gc ,gaddi #cgd ,garofalo #cgg ,ghiberti #ca ,ghirlandajo #fi ,gibbons1 ,grinling #cei ,giorgione #aha ,giotto #h ,gozzoli #cff ,greuze #cjg ,guercino #chf ,guido #bah ,heem1 ,de #beh ,helst1 ,van der #djc ,heyden1 ,van der #dab ,hobbema #djf ,holbein #cji ,hondecoeter #daf ,honthorst #cie ,hooch #cii ,huysum1 ,van #dah ,kneller #cei ,le ,brun #cjc ,lely #cee ,leyden1 ,van #cic ,lionardo da ,vinci #hc ,lipi #cgf ,luini #cgh ,maas #dja ,mabuse #dh ,mantegna #fd ,masaccio #cd ,matsys #ej ,memling #dh ,mengs #dbj ,messina1 ,da #cgg ,metzu #bei1 #dja ,michael ,angelo #if ,murillo #bhj ,netcher #djb ,orcagna #bd ,ostade1 ,van #djj ,palma #cgi ,pardenone #chj ,parmigianino #chd ,perugino #cgc ,pisano #bc ,potter #beg ,poussin #bhf ,raphael #abe ,rembrandt #bde ,romano #chb ,rubens #bbe ,ruysdael #djc ,salvator ,rosa #bbb ,sarto1 ,del #ha ,sassa errato #chg ,segers #dah ,signorelli #cfg ,snyders #cid ,somer1 ,van #cid ,spagna #cha ,spagnoletto #chf ,steen #cif ,teniers1 ,father and ,son #bea ,terburg #bei1 #djb ,tintoretto #aid ,titian #aeg ,van ,dyck #ccc ,vasari #chh ,velasquez #cfj ,velde1 ,van de #daa ,velde1 ,van de1 ,the ,younger #dad ,veronese #bje ,watteau #cje ,wouvermans #bec ,,footnotes3 #a ,it is in their unconsciousness and earnestness that a parallel is drawn between the first ,italian painters and the ,elizabethean poets4 ,in other respects the comparison may be reversed1 for the early ,italian painters1 from their restriction to religious painting1 with even that treated according to tradition1 were as destitute of the breadth of scope and fancy attained by their successors1 as the ,elizabethean poets were distinguished by the exuberant freedom which failed in the more formal scholars of ,anne's reign4 #b ,kugler's ,handbook of ,art4 #c ,while writing of goldsmiths that became painters1 ,i may say a word of a goldsmith who1 without quitting his trade1 was an unrivalled artist in his line4 ,i mean ,benvenuto ,cellini1 #aejj--aega1 a man of violent passions and little principle1 who led a wild troubled life1 of which he has left an account as shameless as his character1 in an autobiography4 ,cellini was the most distinguished worker in gold and silver of his day1 and his richly chased dishes1 goblets1 and salt cellars1 are still in great repute4 #d ,kugler's ,handbook of ,painting4 #e ,kugler's ,handbook of ,painting4 #f ,see note1 page #dbb4 #g ,mrs ,roscoe's ,life of ,vittoria ,colonna #h ,michael ,angelo's will was very simple4 ',i bequeath my soul to ,god1 my body to the earth1 and my possessions to my nearest relations4' #i ,lady ,eastlake1 ,history of ,our ,lord4 #aj ,hare1 ,walks in ,rome4 #aa ,lanzi1 in ,hare's ,walks in ,rome4 #ab ,rio4 ,poetry of ,christian ,art1 in ,hare's ,walks in ,rome4 #ac ,mrs ,jameson4 #ad ,dean ,alford4 #ae ,imperial ,biographical ,dictionary4 #af ,titian's age is variously given2 some authorities make it ninety-nine years1 placing the date of his death in #aegj or #g4 #ag ,kugler4 #ah ,the term originated in the ,french expression1 'du genre bas4' #ai ,he had a peculiar fondness for blue and bronze hues4 #bj ,it is due to ,tintoret to say1 that there are modern critics1 who look below the surface1 and are at this date deeply enamoured of his pictures4 ,tintoret's name now stands very high in art4 #ba ,mrs ,jameson4 #bb ,guido said of ,rubens3 ',does this painter mix blood with his colours8' #bc ,life of ,rubens4 #bd ,if ,i mistake not1 this is the same ,countess of ,arundel who1 in her widowhood1 resided in ,italy in order to be near her young sons then at ,padua4 ,having provoked the suspicion of the ,doge and ,council of ,venice1 she was arrested by them on a charge of treason1 and brought before the tribunal1 where she successfully pled her own cause1 and obtained her release1 the only woman who ever braved triumphantly the terrible 'ten4' #be ,here is the description of a very different ,rembrandt which appears in this year's ,exhibition of the ,works by ,old ,masters3 ',there is no portrait here which equals ,rembrandt's picture1 from ,windsor1 ,a ,lady ,opening a ,casement2 a not particularly appropriate name1 because the picture represents no such action4 ,the lady is simply looking from an open window1 her left hand raised and resting at the side of the opening4 ,we believe there is nothing left to tell who this lady was1 with the grave1 sad eyes1 and lips that seem to quiver with a trouble hardly yet assuaged collar1 almost a tippet1 for it falls below her shoulders1 together with lace cuffs4 ,a triple band of large pearls goes about her neck1 and she has similar ornaments round each wrist4 ,she wears a mourning robe and black jewellery4444 ,this picture1 which resembles in most of its qualities a pair1 of somewhat larger size1 which were here last year1 and also came from the ,royal collection1 is signed and dated ,rembrandt1 ,f4 #afga4 ,it is1 therefore1 a late work of his4 ,what wonderful harmony is here1 of light1 of colour1 of tone4 ,how nearly perfect is the keeping of the whole picture2 as a whole1 and also in respect of part to part4 ,could anything be truer than the breadth of the chiaroscuro8 ,notice how beautifully1 and with what subtle gradations1 the light reflected from her white collar strikes on her slightly faded cheek2 how tenderly it seems to play among the soft tangles of the hair that time has thinned4'--,athenaeum4 #bf ,he had been called the ,titian of flower and fruit painters4 ,he preferred fruit for his subject4 ,his works are not common in ,england4 ,his masterpiece1 ',the ,chalice of the ,sacrament1' crowned with a stately wreath1 and sheaves of corn and bunches of grapes among the flowers1 is at ,vienna4 #bg ,sir ,w4 ,stirling ,maxwell4 #bh ,sir ,w4 ,stirling ,maxwell4 #bi ,hare1 ,wanderings in ,spain4 #cj ,hare's ,wanderings in ,spain4 #ca ,the spelling is an ,english corruption of the ,french ,claude4 #cb ,poussin had a villa near ,ponte ,molle1 and the road by which he used to go to it is still called in ,rome ',poussin's walk4' #cc ,claude's summer villa is still pointed out near ,rome4 #cd ,imperial ,biographical ,dictionary4 #ce ,madame ,le ,brun1 whose maiden name was ,vigee1 born #agee1 died #ahdb1 was an excellent portrait painter4 #cf ,wornum4 #cg ,wornum4 #ch ,supposed to be a niece of ,sir ,thomas ,more's4 #ci ,rev4 ,j4 ,lewis1 #agca4 #dj ,wornum4 #da ,a still more famous picture by ,holbein is that called ',the ,two ,ambassadors1' and believed to represent ,sir ,thomas ,wyatt and his secretary4 #db ,walpole4 #dc ,walpole4 #dd ,dwarfs figured at ,charles's court1 as at the court of ,philip ,,iv4 of ,spain4 #de ,the notion that ,van ,dyck sacrificed truth to grace is absolutely contradicted by certain critics1 who bring forward as a proof of their contradiction what they consider the 'over-true' picture of the ,queen ,henrietta ,maria1 shown at the last exhibition of the works of ,old ,masters4 ,the picture seems hardly to warrant the strong opinion of the critics4 #df ,walpole4 #dg ,walpole4 #dh ,lady ,eastlake and ,dr4 ,waagen's works on ,italian1 ,flemish1 and ,dutch ,art1 modelled on ,kugler4 #di ,a lunette is a small picture1 generally semicircular1 surmounting the main picture in an altar-piece4 #ej ,the ,dutch still more than the ,italian artists belonged largely to families of artists bearing the same surnames4 #ea ,a picture with one door of two panels is called a diptych1 with two doors of three panels a triptych1 with many doors and panels a polyptych4 #eb ,fairholt's ',homes and ,haunts of ,foreign ,artists4' #ec ,alchemists1 like hermits1 still existed in the seventeenth century4 #ed ,bartholomew ,van der ,helst1 #afac-afgj1 was another great ,dutch portrait painter4 ,his portrait pieces with many figures are famous4 ,an ',archery ,festival1' commemorating the ,peace of ,westphalia1 includes twenty-four figures full of individuality and finely drawn and coloured4 ,one of his best works is ',in the ,workhouse1' at ,amsterdam4 ,two women and two men are conversing together in the foreground4 ,there is a man with a book1 and a preacher delivering a sermon in the background4 #ee ,it may be that ,ruysdael's straggling life was reflected in his lowering skies and stormy seas4 #ef ,other eminent painters1 such as ,van de ,velde1 ,wouvermans1 and ,berchem often supplied cattle and figures to ,hobbema's landscapes4 #eg ,was the apparently greater success of these partly denaturalised ,dutch landscape painters1 as contrasted with the adversity of ,ruysdael and ,hobbema1 due to the classic mania8 #eh ,peter ,gysels was another painter of 'still life4' ,his butterflies are said to have been rendered with 'exquisite finish4' 99 99 99 99 99 ,,isbisters' ,,prize ,,and ,,gift ,,books ,,for ,,young ,,readers4 99 99 99 99 99 ,charming prize books4 ,if anything can make the children of the present day take kindly to useful information1 it will be such books as these1 full of excellent illustrations1 and in easy as well as interesting language4--,,guardian4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,one ,,shilling ,,volumes4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,animal ,,stories ,,for ,,the ,,young4 ,in ,three handsome little ,volumes full of ,illustrations4' #a4 ,,heads ,,without ,,hands2 ,or1 ,stories of ,animal ,wisdom4 #b4 ,,hearts ,,without ,,hands2 ,or1 ,fine ,feeling among ,brutes2 #c4 ,,sense ,,without ,,speech2 ,or1 ,animal ,notions of ,right and ,wrong4 ,,mou-,,setse4 ,a ,negro ,hero4 ,by ,l4,t4 ,,meade4 ,with ,illustrations4 ,small #hvo4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,half-,,crown ,,volumes4 ,profusely ,illustrated4 ,crown #hvo1 cloth extra4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,among ,,the ,,butterflies4 ,a ,book for ,young ,collectors4 ,by ,b4,g4 ,,johns1 ,m4,a4 ,with ,twelve ,full-page ,plates1 etc4 ,crown #hvo4 ,this is such a book as should be abundantly given as a prize in schools4 ,glasgow ,herald4 ,,mother ,,herring',s ,,chicken4 ,an ,east-end ,story4 ,by ,l4,t4 ,,meade4 ,illustrated by ,,barnes4 ,crown #hvo4 ,one of the most pleasing little tales which was ever written for young people2 and even for old people4--,newcastle ,chronicle4 ,a ,,dweller ,,in ,,tents4 ,by ,l4,t4 ,,meade4 ,with ,illustrations4 ,crown #hvo4 ,it surprises us with a study of human character of no ordinary merit and intensity4 ,pall ,mall ,gazette4 ,,andrew ,,harvey',s ,,wife4 ,by ,l4,t4 ,,meade4 ,with ,illustrations4 ,crown #hvo4 ,the characters are well drawn1 and the story well developed4--,literary ,world4 ,decidedly strong and well wrought out4--,scotsman4 ,,in ,,prison ,,and ,,out4 ,by ,,hesba ,,stretton4 #ajth ,thousand4 ,illustrated by ,r4 ,,barnes4 ,crown #hvo4 ,told with all the pathos and captivating interest of the authoress of ',jessica's ,first ,prayer4'--,guardian4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,complete ,,catalogue ,,free ,,by ,,post4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,two ,,shilling ,,volumes4 ,profusely ,illustrated4 ,crown #hvo1 cloth extra1 gilt edges4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,three ,,little ,,heroes4 ,,willie ,,hardy4--,,little ,,rainbow4--,,jean ,,baptiste4 ,by ,mrs4 ,,charles ,,garnett4 ,with ,thirty ,illustrations4 ,touching and graceful sketches4--,literary ,world4 ,drawn from life we should say4444 ,so vivid and natural in colouring4 ,church ,bells4 ,,nobody',s ,,neighbours4 ,a ,story of ,golden ,lane4 ,by ,l4,t4 ,,meade4 ,with ,thirty ,illustrations4 ,in every respect entitled to a place among the best reward books of the season4--,schoolmaster4 ,,king ,,frost4 ,the ,wonders of ,snow and ,ice4 ,by ,mrs4 ,,thorpe4 ,with ,seventy ,illustrations4 ,exceedingly able1 and without an unattractive page4--,school ,board ,chronicle4 ,full of charming little pictures and instructive descriptions of the phenomena which attend the presence of the ,ice ,king4--,christian ,world4 ,,up ,,the ,,nile4 ,a ,boy's ,voyage to ,khartoum4 ,by ,h4 ,,major1 ,b4 ,sc4 ,with ,forty ,illustrations4 ,must be placed amongst the best of the books for boys and girls which have been issued this season4 ,a very excellent book4--,nottingham ,guardian4 ,,the ,,strength ,,of ,,her ,,youth4 ,a ,story for ,girls4 ,by ,s4 ,,doudney4 ,with ,twenty ,illustrations4 ,the story is simple enough1 but ,miss ,doudney handles it well4--,spectator4 ,sound and healthy in tone1 yet not without movement and variety4 ,carefully illustrated and tastefully bound4--,daily ,news4 ,,we ,,three2 ,a ,bit of ,our ,lives4 ,by the ,author of ,worth a ,threepenny ,bit1 etc4 ,with ,thirty ,illustrations4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,two ,,shilling ,,volumes4 ,profusely ,illustrated4 ,crown #hvo1 cloth extra1 gilt edges4 99 99 99 99 99 ,a ,,band ,,of ,,three4 ,by ,l4,t4 ,,meade1 ,author of ,scamp and ,i1 etc4 ,illustrated by ,barnes4 ,an exquisite little tale4 ,since the days of ',little ,meg's ,children' there has been no sketch approaching the pathos of child-life in ',a ,band of ,three4'--,christian ,leader4 ,full of pathos and interest4--,guardian4 ,,my ,,back-,,yard ,,zoo4 ,a ,course of ,natural ,history4 ,by ,rev4 ,j4,g4 ,,wood1 ,m4,a41 ,author of ,homes without ,hands1 etc4 ,with ,seventy ,illustrations4 ,a book that will delight young people4 ,it is well illustrated and thoroughly reliable4--,morning ,post4 ,really a complete course of natural history4--,times4 ,,from ,,the ,,equator ,,to ,,the ,,pole4 ,,in ,,the ,,heart ,,of ,,africa4 ,by ,,joseph ,,thomson4 ,,climbing ,,the ,,himalayas4 ,by ,w4,w4 ,,graham4 ,,on ,,the ,,road ,,to ,,the ,,pole4 ,by ,captain ,a4,h4 ,,markham4 ,with ,forty-five ,illustrations4 ,a more delightful prize or present for boys than this it would be hard to find4 ,record4 ,,faithful ,,friends4 ,stories of ,struggle and ,victory4 ,by ,l4,t4 ,,meade and others4 ,with ,twenty ,illustrations by ,french1 ,barnes1 etc4 ,a carefully illustrated little book4444 ,with truth and pathos4--,daily ,news4 ,capital reading for young folks4444 ,all brisk and wholesome4--,scotsman4 ,,heroes ,,and ,,martyrs ,,of ,,science4 ,by ,,henry ,c4 ,,ewart4 ,with ,thirty ,illustrations4 ,it is an admirable book of its order1 full of the inspiration of great lives4 ,school ,board ,chronicle4 99 99 99 99 99 #ae #af1 ,,tavistock ,,street1 ,,covent ,,garden1 ,w4,c4