,,masterpieces ,,in ,,colour ,,edited ,,by - - ,t4 ,,leman ,,hare ,,hans ,,memlinc 787 #adbe-adid ,,in ,,the ,,same ,,series ,,artist4 ,,author4 ,,velazquez4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,reynolds4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,turner4 ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4 ,,romney4 ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4 ,,greuze4 ,,alys ,,eyre ,,macklin4 ,,botticelli4 ,,henry ,b4 ,,binns4 ,,rossetti4 ,,lucien ,,pissarro4 ,,bellini4 ,,george ,,hay4 ,,fra ,,angelico4 ,,james ,,mason4 ,,rembrandt4 ,,josef ,,israels4 ,,leighton4 ,a4 ,,lys ,,baldry4 ,,raphael4 ,,paul ,g4 ,,konody4 ,,holman ,,hunt4 ,,mary ,e4 ,,coleridge4 ,,titian4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,millais4 ,a4 ,,lys ,,baldry4 ,,carlo ,,dolci4 ,,george ,,hay4 ,,gainsborough4 ,,max ,,rothschild4 ,,tintoretto4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,luini4 ,,james ,,mason4 ,,franz ,,hals4 ,,edgcumbe ,,staley4 ,,van ,,dyck4 ,,percy ,m4 ,,turner4 ,,leonardo ,,da ,,vinci4 ,m4 ,w4 ,,brockwell4 ,,rubens4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,whistler4 ,t4 ,,martin ,,wood4 ,,holbein4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,burne-,,jones4 ,a4 ,,lys ,,baldry4 ,,vig,e ,,le ,,brun4 ,c4 ,,haldane ,,macfall4 ,,chardin4 ,,paul ,g4 ,,konody4 ,,fragonard4 ,c4 ,,haldane ,,macfall4 ,,memlinc4 ,w4 ,h4 ,j4 ,j4 ,c4 ,,weale4 ,,constable4 ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4 ,in ,preparation ,j4 ,f4 ,,millet4 ,,percy ,m4 ,,turner4 ,,albert ,d,,rer4 ,,herbert ,,furst4 ,,raeburn4 ,,james ,l4 ,,caw4 ,,boucher4 ,c4 ,,haldane ,,macfall4 ,,watteau4 ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4 ,,murillo4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,john ,s4 ,,sargent1 ,r4,a4 ,t4 ,,martin ,,wood4 ,,and ,,others4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,i4--,,our ,,lady ,,and ,,child4 7,frontispiece7 ,right panel of a diptych1 painted in #adhg for ,martin van ,nieuwenhove4 ,it is now in ,saint ,john's ,hospital1 ,bruges4 ,,memlinc ,,by ,w4 ,h4 ,j4 ,j4 ,c4 ,,weale ,,illustrated ,,with ,,eight ,,reproductions ,,in ,,colour ,illustration3 ,,in ,,sempiternum4 ,,london3 ,t4 ,c4 ,e4 ,c4 ,,jack ,,new ,,york3 ,,frederick ,a4 ,,stokes ,,co4 ,,contents ,chap4 ,page ,i4 ,hans ,memlinc #aa ,,ii4 ,early ,days and ,training #ai ,,iii4 ,earliest ,works #be ,,iv4 ,characteristics of ,his ,early ,works #ca ,v4 ,the ,maturity of ,his ,art #cf ,,vi4 ,masterpieces and ,death #ec ,,vii4 ,effacement and ,vindication of ,his ,types #ff ,,list ,,of ,,illustrations ,plate ,page ,i4 ,our ,lady and ,child1 #adhg ,frontispiece 7,saint ,john's ,hospital1 ,bruges7 ,,ii4 ,adoration of the ,magi1 #adgi #ad 7,saint ,john's ,hospital1 ,bruges7 ,,iii4 ,saints ,christopher1 ,maurus1 and ,giles1 #adhd #bd 7,town ,museum1 ,bruges7 ,,iv4 ,portrait of ,nicholas di ,forzore ,spinelli1 holding a medal #cd 7,antwerp ,museum7 ,v4 ,portrait of ,martin van ,nieuwenhove1 #adhg 7companion to ,i47 #dj 7,saint ,john's ,hospital1 ,bruges7 ,,vi4 ,one ,panel of the ,shrine of ,saint ,ursula1 #adhi #ej 7,saint ,john's ,hospital1 ,bruges7 ,,vii4 ,portrait of an ,old ,lady #fj 7,louvre1 ,paris7 ,,viii4 ,the ,blessed ,virgin and ,child1 with ,saint ,george and the ,donor #gj 7,national ,gallery1 ,london1 ,no4 #fhf7 ,,memlinc ,i ,,hans ,,memlinc ,already1 before the advent of the ,house of ,burgundy1 ,bruges had attained the height of her prosperity4 ,from a small military outpost of civilisation1 built to stay the advance of the ravaging ,northmen1 she had developed through four short centuries of a strenuous existence into one of the three leading cities of northern ,europe4 ,born to battle1 fighting had been her abiding lot with but scant intervals of peace1 and as it had been under the rule of her long line of ,flemish counts1 so it continued with increased vehemence during the century of ,french domination that followed1 the incessant warring of suzerain and vassal being further complicated and embittered by internecine strife with the rival town of ,ghent4 ,but she emerged from the ordeal with her vitality unsapped1 her industrial capabilities unabated1 her commercial supremacy unshaken4 ,her population had reached the high total of a hundred and fifty thousand2 she overlorded an outport with a further thirty thousand inhabitants1 a seaport1 and a number of subordinate townships4 ,the staple of wool was established at her centre1 and she was the chief emporium of the cities of the ,hanseatic ,league4 ,vessels from all quarters of the globe crowded her harbours1 her basins1 and canals1 as many as one hundred and fifty being entered inwards in the twenty-four hours4 ,factories of merchants from seventeen kingdoms were settled there as agents1 and twenty foreign consuls had palatial residences within her walls4 ,her industrial life was a marvel of organisation1 where fifty-four incorporated associations or guilds with a membership of many thousands found constant employment4 ,the artistic temperament of the people had necessarily developed on the ruder lines1 in the architectural embellishment of the city1 the beautifying of its squares and streets1 its churches and chapels1 its municipal buildings and guild halls1 its markets and canal embankments4 8,the squares10 we are told1 8were adorned with fountains1 its bridges with statues in bronze1 the public buildings and many of the private houses with statuary and carved work1 the beauty of which was heightened and brought out by polychrome and gilding2 the windows were rich with storied glass1 and the walls of the interiors adorned with paintings in distemper1 or hung with gorgeous tapestry40 ,but of the highest forms of ,art--of literature1 of music1 and of painting--there was slender token4 ,the atmosphere in which the ,flemings had pursued their destinies was little calculated to develop any other than the harder and more matter-of-fact side of their nature4 ,true1 here as elsewhere1 and from the earliest period of her history the great monastic institutions which dotted the country had done much for the cultivation of ,art1 as the remains of wood sculpture1 mural paintings1 and numerous illuminated manuscripts amply testify4 ,but no great school of painting had arisen or was even possible1 so true is it that the development of the artistic instincts of the community require the contemplative repose and fostering inspiration of peace4 ,in the truest sense of the term the ,flemings were not a cultured artistic race3 they had certainly a high standard of taste1 but their artistic sense was appreciative rather than creative--even so1 a notable advance for a nation of warriors and merchants4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,ii4--,,adoration ,,of ,,the ,,magi4 ,this1 one of the master's finest works1 was painted in #adgi for ,brother ,john ,floreins1 ,master of ,saint ,john's ,hospital1 ,bruges1 where it may be seen4 ,with the succession of the ,house of ,burgundy to the ,french domination an entirely new era was ushered in4 ,if the ambition of this new line of princes was unbounded1 equally so was the success which attended its pursuit2 their authority increased by leaps and bounds1 and soon their court had become the wealthiest and most powerful in ,europe4 ,the high notions they entertained of their own dignity brooked no compeer in the pomp and glitter of their state4 ,the display the guild and merchant princes and foreign representatives were capable of they should outdo3 the splendour of their sovereignty should blur the brilliancy of mere civic ostentation4 ,but while they revelled in the outward show of their supremacy1 they viewed with jealous eye the great wealth and large measure of liberties enjoyed by their subjects4 ,their needs were great1 the resources of the people commensurate2 and in the alternate confiscation and resale of these liberties they found a remunerative source of revenue4 ,but if the dukes were arrogant and unscrupulous1 their subjects were no cravens1 and civic shrewdness often proved more than a match for ducal craft4 ,a fine sense of humour1 however1 suggested the policy of keeping these lusty burghers fully diverted the while they were not being bled or chastened3 hence the constant recurrence of pacifications and triumphal entries1 of regal processions and gorgeous tournaments1 of public banquets and bewildering revels4 ,it was an era of pomp and pageantry unparalleled in history1 the success of which required the services of the highest talents of the day--the foremost artists to enhance its magnificence1 the leading writers to chronicle its marvels4 ,it was ,duke ,philip ,,iii4 who requisitioned the services of ,john van ,eyck and showered on him bounty and patronage1 and if his reign had proved as uneventful as it was the reverse1 ,philip's name would still survive in the reflected glory of this prince of painting4 ,the declining days of the great duke1 stricken with imbecility1 certainly offered no inducement to foreign artists on the lookout for court patronage4 ,but with his death1 on the #aeth of ,june #adfg1 the entire prospect was changed4 ,charles the ,bold now succeeded to the dukedom3 his solemn entry into the ,flemish capital took place on ,palm ,sunday of the year following--an occasion marked by brilliant jousts and tournaments--and his home-coming with his bride1 ,margaret of ,york1 some three months later4 ,these events1 the marriage festivities notably1 called for a great array of talent1 and among the leading artists engaged in planning and executing the magnificent decorations indulged in we find ,peter ,coustain and ,john ,hennequart1 the ducal painters2 ,james ,daret and ,philip ,truffin of ,tournay2 ,francis ,stoc and ,livin van ,lathem of ,brussels2 ,daniel ,de ,rycke and ,hugo ,van der ,goes of ,ghent2 ,govart of ,antwerp2 and ,john ,du ,chteau of ,ypres4 ,and here ,hans ,memlinc enters on the scene1 already then a master-painter and accomplished artist1 but of whom no previous record1 of whose lifework no earlier trace1 has been discovered4 ,,ii ,,early ,,days ,,and ,,training ,as to where and when ,memlinc was born1 where he served his apprenticeship1 and with whom he worked as a journeyman no documentary evidence has yet been discovered1 and no one can confidently assert2 but there exists a sufficiency of presumptive evidence to warrant certain conclusions with the help of which to construct a working biography4 ,it appears probable that the family came from ,memelynck1 near ,alkmaar1 in north ,holland1 and settled at ,deutichem1 in ,guelderland2 and1 on the strength of an entry copied from the diary kept by an ecclesiastical notary and clerk of the ,chapter of ,saint ,donatian at ,bruges during the years #adia to #adih1 that they subsequently removed to the ecclesiastical principality of ,mainz4 ,the subject of this monograph is likely to have been born1 at some date between #adbe and #adce1 either at some place within that principality1 or at ,deutichem previous to his parents' removal4 ,from our knowledge of the guild system which obtained in the middle ages throughout the north of ,europe with but slight variation in the conditions of training and apprenticeship1 and taking into consideration besides the typical characteristics of ,memlinc's work1 it appears probable that he served his apprenticeship at ,mainz1 and afterwards worked at ,cln as a journeyman1 and this opinion is confirmed by the outstanding fact that in all the wealth of architectural embellishment in which his pictures abound the only town outside ,bruges whose buildings are faithfully reproduced is this noted centre of art4 ,that he should have travelled thither for the especial purpose of securing an accurate background for the first1 fifth1 and sixth panels of the ,shrine of ,saint ,ursula1 and not have cared to obtain as faithful settings for the incidents of the second and fourth panels ascribed to ,basel1 or for that of the third panel located at ,rome1 will scarcely stand the test of criticism4 ,a study of these panels evidences an intimate acquaintance with the architectural beauties of ,cln1 a knowledge obviously acquired at first hand during a period of his life devoted to ,art4 ,the master under whom he worked was in all probability the ,suabian1 ,stephen ,lthener1 of ,mersburg1 near ,constance1 who had settled in ,cln before #addb1 and died there in #adeb4 ,it is presumable that ,memlinc may not have completed his studies at the time of that painter's death4 ,in the circumstances one can but conjecture as to where he completed the necessary training before attaining to the rank of a master-painter4 ,vasari and ,guicciardini both assert that ,memlinc was at some time or other a pupil of ,roger ,de la ,pasture 7,van der ,weyden71 and1 as this master returned from ,italy in #adej1 he may have come across ,memlinc at ,cln and engaged him as an assistant4 ,it is1 however1 quite possible that ,memlinc stayed on at ,cln until ,lthener's death in #adeb and then went to ,brussels1 doubtless passing by ,louvain and possibly working for a time under ,dirk ,bouts4 ,certain it is1 judging from the many points of similarity in their work1 that ,memlinc came under ,roger's influence for a space sufficiently long to leave a strong impress of that master's methods on his art4 ,memlinc's contemporary1 ,rumwold ,de ,doppere1 has left it on record that he was 8then considered to be the most skilful and excellent painter in the whole of ,christendom02 and if ,memlinc had left nothing to perpetuate his fame but such gems as the ,shrine of ,saint ,ursula1 at ,bruges1 the 8,passion of ,our ,lord10 in the ,royal ,museum at ,turin1 that remarkable altarpiece1 8,christ the ,light of the ,world10 in the ,royal ,gallery at ,munich1 or even1 as ,fromentin suggests1 only those two figures of ,saint ,barbara and ,saint ,katherine in the large altarpiece at ,bruges1 he would need nothing of the reflected glory of his alleged master to enhance his renown4 ,always assuming ,memlinc to have stood in this relation to ,de la ,pasture1 ,sir ,martin ,conway came to a happy conclusion when he wrote that ,roger's greatest glory is that he produced such a pupil--8that ,memlinc the artist was ,roger's greatest work40 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,iii4--,,saints ,,christopher1 ,,maurus1 ,,and ,,giles4 ,this1 the central panel of an altarpiece1 painted in #adhd for ,william ,moreel1 ,burgomaster of ,bruges1 is now in the ,town ,gallery at ,bruges4 ,,iii ,,earliest ,,works ,the first painting to bespeak his industry is now supposed to have been the famous triptych of the ,last ,judgment in the ,church of ,saint ,mary at ,danzig1 commenced after #adfe and finished in #adgb or early in #adgc4 ,few pictures have evoked more controversy or been coupled with the names of more artists than the ,danzig triptych4 ,the entry in a local church register of #afaf which asserts that it was painted in ,brabant by ,john and ,george van ,eichen1 an ascription varied at a subsequent period by substituting the name of ,james for ,john1 carries no more weight than usually attaches to popular traditions1 and was generally disregarded by the connoisseurs and experts who have debated the question for more than a hundred years4 ,the names of ,albert van ,ouwater1 ,michael ,wohlgemuth1 ,hugh ,van der ,goes1 ,hubert and ,john van ,eyck1 ,roger ,de la ,pasture1 and ,dirk ,bouts have all been canvassed with more or less assurance4 ,memlinc's name was first associated with the work in #ahdc1 by ,hotho1 whose opinion met with wide acceptance1 a notable convert to his view being ,dr4 ,waagen1 who in #ahfj declared the triptych to be 8not only the most important work by ,memlinc that has come down to our time1 but also one of the masterpieces of the whole school1 being far richer and better composed than the picture of the same subject by ,roger ,de la ,pasture at ,beaune1 though that master's influence is still perceptible10 though two years later he recognised in the figures the influence of ,dirk ,bouts2 and in #ahii ,kmmerer as emphatically declared that 8no one who is acquainted with ,memlinc's authentic works can possibly doubt that this picture is the work of his hand40 ,in the absence of contemporary documentary evidence1 and with the donors of the picture still unidentified1 confronted moreover with the fact that in its composition the ,danzig triptych differs altogether from ,memlinc's authenticated paintings1 many experienced judges still hesitated to admit the claim put forward in his behalf4 ,but the recent discoveries made by ,dr4 ,a4 ,warburg leave little room for doubt4 ,in the fifteenth century there was a considerable ,italian colony at ,bruges1 and the powerful ,florentine firm of the ,medici1 whose ramifications extended over all ,europe1 had a branch establishment there in the name of ,piero and ,giovanni de' ,medici1 the acting manager of which from #adee to #adff was ,angelo di ,jacopo ,tani1 who1 after serving as bookkeeper of the firm's agency in ,london1 had been transferred to ,bruges in #adej4 ,tani may have taken ,memlinc into his household with a view to the production of the triptych under his own eye4 ,the absence of ,memlinc's name from the guild registers of the period lends probability to the theory that he was employed by ,charles the ,bold1 for ducal service exempted painters settling in ,bruges from the obligation of purchasing the right of citizenship1 and of becoming members of the local guild4 ,it is presumed that ,tani engaged ,memlinc's services at some date after #adfe to paint or1 if the work had been commenced by some other painter1 to complete this picture4 ,while the dexter shutter1 representing the reception of the elect by ,saint ,peter at the gate of ,heaven1 can only have been designed by a pupil of ,lthener1 it is equally certain that the upper portion of the central panel must have been designed by some one who had worked under ,bouts or ,de la ,pasture4 ,in #adff ,tani visited ,florence1 and there married ,katherine1 daughter of ,william ,tanagli4 ,as their portraits and arms are on the exterior of the shutters1 these cannot have been commenced before they were both in ,bruges1 some time in #adfg1 the date inscribed on the slab covering a tomb on which a woman is seated4 ,the technique and colouring of the entire work are ,netherlandish1 and in the opinion of the most trustworthy critics are certainly the work of ,memlinc4 ,the painting completed1 it was1 at the commencement of #adgc1 despatched by sea to ,florence1 but the vessel bearing it was captured by freebooters1 and the picture as part of the prize carried off to ,danzig4 ,the patronage of the agent of the ,medici was of course of incalculable advantage to a rising artist1 and doubtless it served to secure for ,memlinc the interest of ,spinelli of ,arezzo--whose portrait1 now in the van ,ertborn collection at the ,antwerp ,museum1 he painted in the latter half of #adfg or the beginning of #adfh1 when this ,italian medallist was in the service of ,charles the ,bold as seal engraver--and to bring his growing reputation to the notice of the ducal court4 ,the negotiations for the hand of ,margaret of ,york1 begun in ,december #adff1 and unduly protracted owing no doubt to the mental incapacity of ,duke ,philip ,,iii41 were of course resumed at the expiration of the period of court mourning after his death on #aeth ,june #adfg4 ,following the example of his father1 ,charles may have commissioned ,memlinc to accompany his ambassadors to the ,english court for the purpose of securing an up-to-date portrait of his intended consort4 ,in the circumstances ,memlinc would certainly have made the acquaintance of ,sir ,john ,donne1 for the ,donnes were ardent ,yorkists high in the royal favour1 and moreover the brother of ,sir ,john's wife1 ,william1 first ,lord ,hastings1 filled the office of ,lord ,chamberlain to the king4 ,but the triptych in the ,chatsworth collection1 though the outcome of this meeting1 could not have been executed at the time1 as the period of ,memlinc's visit would have been restricted to carrying out the ducal instructions4 ,an opportunity for the necessary sittings was afforded later1 when ,sir ,john ,donne1 accompanied by his wife and daughter1 journeyed to ,bruges in the suite of the princess to assist at the wedding celebrations in ,july #adfh4 ,the omission of the sons from the family group in the triptych is sufficiently accounted for by the fact that they were in ,wales at the time4 ,,iv ,,characteristics ,,of ,,his ,,early ,,works ,to the art student these earliest of ,memlinc's paintings--the ,donne triptych in particular--are replete with interest4 ,in the first place1 they attest the powers then already at the painter's command as an exponent of his art1 and they further serve as a standard of comparison by which to judge his afterwork4 ,memlinc was pre-eminently a religious artist1 deeply imbued with ,scriptural lore and well versed in hagiography1 a fund of knowledge sublimated in the beautiful mysticism of the school of ,cln which had early subjugated his poetic temperament4 ,his conception of the ,madonna1 based on a fervent appreciation of the purity1 the tenderness1 and the majesty of her nature was deeply rooted1 and it led him to evolve the definite type which he presents to us in the ,chatsworth picture1 to which he faithfully adheres henceforth1 at times enhancing its beauty--as witness the triptych in the ,louvre and the altarpiece of ,saint ,john's ,hospital at ,bruges--until his ideal culminates in that marvellous embodiment of her supreme attributes preserved to us in the ,van ,nieuwenhove diptych4 ,the ,divine ,infant1 it is true1 may not appeal to one in the same way as do the charming pictures of infant life in which the southern artists excelled4 ,whatever may be said of the fine men and intellectual women of the race1 the northern type of babyhood cannot by any stretch of courtesy1 apart from a mother's loving weakness1 be described as graceful4 ,still ,memlinc's conceptions of the ,infant ,saviour rank high in point of intellectuality1 of expressiveness of eye1 of grace of movement and charm of expression4 ,the ,donne triptych besides1 from the point of view from which we are now considering it1 is a valuable asset for the study of the impersonations of saints whom we find constantly recurring in his paintings3 to wit1 ,saint ,katherine and ,saint ,barbara--7,fromentin's enthusiastic appreciation of these figures in the large altarpiece at ,bruges has already been quoted7--,saint ,john the ,baptist and ,saint ,john the ,evangelist1 and ,saint ,christopher4 ,the same may be said of his angels4 ,taken from another standpoint1 these early paintings of ,memlinc are invaluable testimony of his rare gift for portraiture4 ,it was a gift which may almost be taken as the specific appanage of the fifteenth century painters of the ,netherlandish school4 ,some1 like ,john van ,eyck1 used it with scrupulous exactitude1 scorning to veil the palpable truth that at the moment and usually obtruded itself on his painstaking eye2 others1 and ,memlinc prominently of their number1 loved rather to seize on the fitful manifestation of the inner man and to idealise him4 ,both artists1 taking them as types1 were honest and true to their art1 notwithstanding that the resulting truth in each case is deceiving1 except we have very particular information regarding the individual portrayed4 ,in any event1 the ,tani and ,spinelli portraits are fine examples of the class1 though perhaps ,sir ,john ,donne's appeals to us more because of the fuller knowledge we have of the man4 ,and finally1 both the ,antwerp and the ,chatsworth paintings afford us beautiful examples of ,memlinc's art as a landscape painter1 and in this respect certainly it may be safely asserted that he never produced better work4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,iv4--,,nicholas ,,spinelli ,,of ,,arezzo4 ,nicholas ,spinelli1 born #adcj1 was in #adfg-fh in ,flanders1 in the service of ,charles the ,bold as seal engraver4 ,he died in #adii at ,lyons1 where this portrait was acquired by ,denon4 ,he is depicted holding a medal1 showing a profile head of the ,emperor ,nero1 with the inscription 8,,nero ,c,l,a,v,dius ,c,,sar ,a,v,gustus ,g,e,r,manicus ,t,ribunicia ,potestati ,i,m,p,e,rator40 ,it was bought from the heirs of ,denon by ,m4 van ,ertborn1 who bequeathed it to the ,museum at ,antwerp4 ,v ,,the ,,maturity ,,of ,,his ,,art ,from the consideration of these three works executed in the sixties we pass on to a decade of more notable achievement4 ,the public rejoicings which had inaugurated the new reign were already dimmed to recollection in the disquieting civil and national complications that ensued1 culminating in the disastrous battle of ,nancy on #eth ,january #adgg1 in which the ducal troops were put to rout and ,charles himself lost his life4 ,he was succeeded by his only daughter1 ,mary1 who on #aith ,august of the same year by her marriage to ,maximilian1 son of the ,emperor ,frederick ,,iv41 brought ,flanders under the rule of the ,house of ,austria1 and thus involved the ,flemish burghers in that lamentable struggle which1 after many alternations of fortune1 was one of the chief causes that led to the downfall of ,bruges4 ,memlinc1 as a newcomer without rooted interests or strong political bent1 wholly wrapt in his art1 naturally steered clear of political entanglements1 though ready enough on occasion to take his share of the public burden which the fortune of war imposed1 as witness his contribution to the loan raised to cover the expenses of the military operations against ,france4 ,but his placid disposition shrank from the heat and ferment of public life1 though his sympathies no doubt were all with the burghers and guildmen with whom he associated1 among whom he found the most liberal supporters of his art to the exclusion of court patronage1 and from whose womankind he selected a helpmate4 ,memlinc married later in life than was the custom of his day1 when it was usual for craftsmen to take unto themselves a wife at the expiration of their journeymanship1 after they had established their competence1 paid the indispensable guild fees1 and taken the no less essential vows to bear themselves honestly and to labour their work as in the sight of ,god2 for it was only at some date between #adgj and #adhj1 when already a man of middle age1 that he led ,anne1 daughter of ,louis ,de ,valkenaere1 to the altar4 ,it is impossible to determine the year1 but on the #ajth of ,december #adie we find the guardians of the three children of the marriage acting on their behalf in the local courts in the winding-up of their father's estate1 which at any rate proves that the eldest at that time must have been still a minor1 or under the age of five-and-twenty4 ,apart from his wife's dowry1 of which we have no knowledge1 ,memlinc's circumstances were then already much above the ordinary1 for in #adhj out of the #bdg wealthiest citizens only #adj were taxed at higher rates1 and it is on record that in the same year he purchased a large stone house and two smaller adjacent ones on the east side of the main street that leads from the ,flemish ,bridge to the ramparts1 in a quarter of the town much affected by artists1 and within the ,parish of ,saint ,giles1 beneath the spreading trees of whose peaceful ,god's acre he was to find an abiding resting-place some fourteen years later1 by the side of his old friend the miniaturist ,william ,vrelant1 who predeceased him by some thirteen years1 to be joined there in after years by many another eminent artist1 such as ,john ,prvost1 ,lancelot ,blondeel1 ,peter ,pourbus1 and ,antony ,claeissens4 ,that he was a busy man the record of works that have come down to us from this decade alone amply testifies4 ,the 8,saint ,john the ,baptist10 in the ,royal ,gallery at ,munich 7#adgj72 the exquisite little diptych 8,the ,blessed ,virgin and ,child10 in the ,louvre1 painted 7c4 #adge7 for ,john ,du ,celier1 a member of the ,guild of ,merchant ,grocers1 whose father was a member of the ,council of ,flanders2 the panel in the ,national ,gallery1 which we reproduce2 the magnificent altarpiece in the ,royal ,museum at ,turin painted for ,william ,vrelant 7#adgh72 the famous triptych executed for the high altar of the church attached to the ,hospital of ,saint ,john at ,bruges 7#adgi72 and the triptych 8,the ,adoration of the ,magi0 presented to the ,hospital by ,brother ,john ,floreins 7#adgi71 all belong to this period3 while with the year #adhj are associated the portraits of ,william ,moreel and his wife1 in the ,royal ,gallery at ,brussels2 that of one of their daughters as the ,sibyl ,sambetha1 in ,saint ,john's ,hospital2 the marvellous composition in the ,royal ,gallery at ,munich1 8,christ the ,light of the ,world10 painted to the order of ,peter ,bultinc1 a wealthy citizen of ,bruges and a member of the ,guild of ,tanners2 and the triptych 8,the ,dead ,christ mourned by ,his ,mother10 in ,saint ,john's ,hospital--let alone the numerous other works attributed to him but not authenticated or which have been lost4 ,the bare record1 however1 conveys but a feeble idea of the immensity of the labour this output involved4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,v4--,,martin ,,van ,,nieuwenhove4 ,the companion of the painting reproduced in ,plate ,i41 and is in the ,hospital of ,saint ,john4 ,the panel in the ,national ,gallery1 which may be ascribed to #adge1 arrests our attention for the moment4 ,it presents to us the ,blessed ,virgin and ,child in attitudes closely corresponding to those in the earlier ,donne triptych1 but both are more pleasing figures in respect of pose1 the attitude of the ,madonna in particular being less constrained and the expression happier and more natural4 ,the figure of the angel too has gained in gracefulness4 ,the donor under the patronage of ,saint ,george appeals to one as a living personality4 ,of these two figures a lady critic complains that they are 8characteristic examples of ,memlinc's inability to depict a really manly man02 and she endeavours to give greater point to this criticism by contrasting the painter's methods with those of ,john van ,eyck1 wholly of course to the disadvantage of the former4 ,in the present case the identity of the donor remains a mystery3 he may not have been the really manly man the idealist would require1 and also he may have been the man of reverent and sweet disposition revealed to us in this portrait4 ,it is for the softening and idealisation of the face from the reality1 however1 that fault is commonly found with ,memlinc as a portrait-painter4 ,but1 after all1 what is this idealisation of the subject but the highest aim and truest concept of art8 ,it is no difficult matter for the competent painter to produce a counterpart of the outward flesh with all its peculiarities1 even to the last wrinkle and the least significant blemish1 and be awarded the palm for 8stern realism02 but to conceive the inner soul of the man1 to seize and fix that conception on panel or canvas1 surely that is the higher art8 ,it is true that in the men whom ,memlinc portrayed there is a marked similarity of expression1 arising obviously from the fact that they are usually pictured in an attitude of devotion1 and that in the frame of mind this attitude imposed they suffered some loss of workaday individuality4 ,but surely it is not to ,memlinc's discredit that his clients were of the devotional order8 ,nor is the criticism of the ,saint ,george as mild and effeminate any more to the point2 for when the appeal is from ,memlinc to ,van ,eyck one is forcibly reminded of the votive picture of the ,virgin and ,child by that master in the ,town ,gallery at ,bruges1 in which we have the donor under the patronage of a ,saint ,george whom for sheer inanity of expression and utter awkwardness of demeanour it would be hard to beat4 ,and yet in neither instance1 we may safely assume1 was the figure the type the artist would have created for the valiant knight of the legend4 ,apart from this1 a careful study of ,memlinc's many works will reveal to the most exacting a sufficiency of evidence that his art was equal to any demands that might have been made of it2 of his preference for the milder and more religious type of man1 however1 there can be no doubt4 ,it were idle to speculate as to the length of time ,memlinc devoted to the production of his pictures1 seeing the meagreness of the data afforded us for the purpose4 ,his peculiar technique1 however1 which avoided the accentuation of light and shade1 and thereby simplified the scheme of colouring1 lent itself to rapid execution4 ,even so1 paintings like the altarpiece in the ,royal ,museum at ,turin and that in the ,royal ,gallery at ,munich must have made heavy calls on his time through a number of years4 ,as examples of the powers and wealth of resource of the artist these masterpieces stand almost alone4 ,the architectural setting of the former1 a wholly imaginary ,jerusalem1 is so contrived as to assist in the most natural manner the precession of the ,gospel story from the triumphal entry into the ,holy ,city to the ,resurrection and the manifestation of ,christ to ,mary ,magdalene4 ,as without conscious effort the eye is guided along the line of route followed by the ,redeemer1 one treads in imagination in the ,divine footsteps through the hosannahing multitude in the extreme background on the right1 and turning to the left arrives at the ,temple steps in time to witness the casting out of the buyers and sellers2 descending thence and bearing gradually towards the right a turn of the street leads one to the scene of the ,last ,supper1 which ,judas has already left to confer with the priests under a neighbouring portico as to the betrayal of his ,master2 and eventually one arrives at the ,garden of ,olives1 to be confronted in rapid succession with the ,agony and the picture of the sleeping disciples1 the rush of armed men1 ,judas' traitorous kiss and ,peter in the act of striking at ,malchus4 ,following the multitude for some little distance one reaches the heart of the city1 where the successive incidents of the ,passion are grouped each under a separate portico showing on to a spacious courtyard in the very centre of the panel--,christ before ,pilate and his expostulating wife1 the ,flagellation1 the ,crowning with thorns and mocking of ,our ,lord1 ,christ before ,herod and the ,ecce ,homo1 with the preparations for the ,crucifixion going on the while in the open courtyard4 ,these completed1 the mournful procession passes under a palace gateway into the forefront of the picture1 bears to the left and issues through the city gate1 where the ,mother of ,christ1 the beloved disciple1 and the holy women have gathered together1 into the open country1 where at the foot of the hilly way that skirts the city walls ,simon of ,cyrene comes forward to relieve the fallen ,saviour in the burden of the ,cross2 presently the procession is lost to view at a bend of the road only to reappear on the slopes of ,calvary1 which is triplicated here for the purpose of re-enacting the three scenes associated with it--of the ,nailing to the ,cross1 of the ,death of ,our ,lord1 and of the ,descent from the ,cross4 ,lower down on the left we assist at the ,entombment and at the ,deliverance of the ,just from ,limbo1 and further away we witness the ,resurrection and1 in the far background1 the manifestation of ,our ,lord to ,mary ,magdalene4 ,viewed as a whole it is a marvel of composition enhanced by a brilliancy of colouring1 and every scene in it a delicately finished miniature4 ,apart from the architectural setting1 the three ,calvaries1 and the duplication of the ,holy ,sepulchre imposed by the necessity of representing both the ,entombment and the ,resurrection1 the most captious can discover nothing to abate the enthusiastic admiration which this altarpiece excites1 or one's wonder at the masterful manner in which ,memlinc has succeeded in developing the story of the ,passion in some twenty scenes necessitating the introduction of considerably over two hundred figures1 apart from the animal and bird life that supplements them1 within the narrow compass of a panel only fifty-five centimetres high by ninety centimetres in breadth6 ,the extreme corners of the foreground are filled in with exquisite portraits of the donors1 the miniaturist ,william ,vrelant and his wife1 for whom one feels that ,memlinc has tried to excel himself in this masterwork4 ,scarcely less surprising as a composition is the story in bright luminous colours told in the ,munich altarpiece1 a work of considerably larger dimensions 7#hj by #ahj centimetres71 commonly described as 8,the ,seven ,joys of ,mary10 but for which the more appropriate title has been suggested of 8,christ the ,light of the ,world40 ,it is the story of the manifestation of ,our ,lord to the ,gentile world in the persons of the ,wise ,men from the ,east1 closely correspondent1 as was ,memlinc's wont1 to the ,gospel narrative and ,christian tradition1 except perhaps in this one respect1 that the artist's innate love of moving water has suggested to him the original conceit of depicting the departing ,magi as setting sail for their distant homes across the boundless waters4 ,this portion of the background and the greater wealth of surrounding landscape greatly relieves the architectural setting1 which is not so overpowering as in the ,turin altarpiece4 ,the composition too1 as becomes the subject1 is teeming with the joy of life in varying aspects4 ,here we have the gay cavalcade with streaming banners galloping along the road to ,bethlehem1 there the shepherds peacefully tending their flocks on the grassy slope1 their watch beguiled by the strains of a bagpipe2 here the scene at the ,manger1 all love and devotion1 and the running stream nigh by at which the horses are being watered the while the ,magi are making their act of adoration1 there the kings with their retinues triumphantly riding away over the rocky heights2 anon we have the sequence of miracles that attended the ,flight of the ,holy ,family into ,egypt--the wheat that grew and ripened in a day1 the date-palm bending to offer its fruit to the ,virgin ,mother resting beneath its shade while the unsaddled ass grazes as it lists and ,joseph fetches water from a neighbouring spring2 elsewhere the risen ,christ appearing to the fishing apostles1 and far beyond across the waters in the background the setting of the sun in all its glory4 ,every scene that lends itself to the treatment has its beauty enhanced by the beauties of ,nature4 ,the one sorrowful incident in the whole story1 the ,massacre of the ,innocents1 is a mere suggestion of this cruel episode4 ,memlinc's nature shrank from the interpretation of evil1 and in this particular instance has admirably succeeded in commemorating the incident of the massacre without involving it in any of its horror4 ,a pleasing innovation may also be noticed in the treatment of his portraits of donors1 ,peter ,bultinc and his son being introduced as devout spectators of the scene presented in the stable at ,bethlehem1 which they humbly contemplate through an opening in the wall4 8,the more one examines this picture1 the greater one's astonishment at the amount of work which ,memlinc has lavished on it1 at the exquisite beauty of the various scenes1 the marvellous ingenuity displayed in separating them one from another1 and the skill with which they balance and are brought into one harmonious whole40 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,vi4--,,martyrdom ,,of ,,saint ,,ursula4 ,this forms the eighth panel of the famous shrine1 completed in #adhi for the ,hospital of ,saint ,john at ,bruges1 where it may be seen4 ,the archer is a portrait of the celebrated ,dschem1 brother of the ,sultan ,bajazet1 taken prisoner at ,rhodes in #adhb1 copied from a portrait in the possession of ,charles the ,bold4 ,the ,turin altarpiece was completed not later than #adgh1 in which year ,william ,vrelant gave it to the ,guild of ,saint ,luke and ,saint ,john 7,stationers72 the ,munich one at any rate some time before ,easter #adhj1 at which date the donor presented it to the ,guild of ,tanners4 ,but already then ,memlinc had undertaken the triptych in the ,hospital of ,saint ,john painted to the order of its spiritual master1 ,brother ,john ,floreins1 acknowledged to be technically the most perfect work he completed before the end of #adhj2 and also the larger triptych for the high altar of the ,hospital church4 ,,vi ,,masterpieces ,,and ,,death ,meanwhile the contest in which the burghers of ,bruges had become involved through the disputes between the ,states of ,flanders and ,maximilian over the guardianship of his son1 was precipitating the decay of the town which the relentless forces of ,nature had long since decreed4 ,as early as #adaj the navigation of the great haven of the ,zwijn had become impeded1 and so rapidly had the silting up advanced that before the close of the century no vessel of any considerable draught was able to enter the port of ,damme4 ,entirely engrossed in the safeguarding of the remnant of their privileges1 no serious effort was made to combat the mischief1 and in the end ,bruges found herself absolutely cut off from the sea4 ,on the other hand1 in the enjoyment of peace and the greater security it engendered1 ,antwerp was slowly asserting herself and gradually attracting to her quays the merchant princes from the littoral of the ,zwijn2 and as commerce imperceptibly gravitated towards the city by the ,scheldt the foreign consuls one by one forsook the doomed emporium of the ,hanseatic ,league4 ,memlinc1 pursuing the even tenor of his life1 continued to produce with unabated ardour and undiminished skill1 and with this period--the last fourteen years of his life--is associated the most celebrated of all his works1 the marvellous ,shrine of ,saint ,ursula1 the gem of the priceless collection preserved to this day in the old chapter-room of ,saint ,john's ,hospital4 ,when this masterpiece was first undertaken we are not in a position to say1 but it was completed in #adhi1 and on the #bast day of ,october in that year the relics for whose safe keeping it had been designed were deposited within it4 ,but to the eighties belong other memorable productions4 ,in #adhd was finished the interior of the altarpiece for the ,moreel chantry in the ,church of ,saint ,james1 now housed in the ,town ,gallery at ,bruges2 in #adhg was painted the portrait of a man preserved in the ,gallery of the ,offices at ,florence1 and also was completed the wonderful diptych for ,martin van ,nieuwenhove1 whose portrait we reproduce as the finest example of ,memlinc's work in that particular department of art2 and in #adij the finishing touches were put to the picture in the ,louvre of the ,madonna and ,child1 to whom saintly patrons are presenting the family of ,james ,floreins1 a younger brother of the donor of the triptych picturing the ,adoration of the ,magi which1 as we have seen1 was completed in #adgi4 ,but work1 which always spelt happiness to ,memlinc1 meant something more to him in this decade of his career4 ,death in #adhg robbed him of his wife4 ,one pictures to oneself the bereaved artist seeking solace from the grief of his widowed home in intensified application to his art4 ,the refining discipline of sorrow was exercising its softening influence on a nature of whose religious fervour and deep piety his life-work is an abiding testimony4 ,absorbed in the production of the ,shrine of ,saint ,ursula1 does not the instinct of human sympathy suggest to us the artist spending himself in this inimitable work for a monument of his love worthy of the memory of the helpmate who had devoted her life to enhance the happiness of his own1 herein seeking and finding surcease of the sorrow that now overshadowed his life1 the burden of work balancing the burden of grief8 ,and what a monument6 ,so familiar is the legend and the unique interpretation of it he has left us1 one feels it would be a work of supererogation to dwell on the story4 ,but the treatment1 viewed by the light of ,memlinc's bereavement1 discloses fresh beauties in every panel4 ,critics have dwelt on the unreality of the death scenes in this shrine4 ,memlinc1 as we have had sufficient occasion to observe1 shrank from the painful expounding of evil4 ,but for him death had no terrors3 it was but the passing over to the ineffable reward of a well-spent life1 and this innate feeling he conveys to us in the placid acceptance of death by ,saint ,ursula and her virgin band as but a stepping across the threshold to everlasting bliss4 ,these critics1 on the contrary1 look for the betrayal of fear and anguish1 for the manifestation of human suffering3 but1 like the martyrs of the early ,church1 we find these victims of the ruthless ,huns not alone meeting their death in a spirit of resignation1 but welcoming it with abounding peace and a joyful self-surrender1 strong in the hope and faith of the hereafter3 as the artist himself was wistfully looking forward to the day and the hour that would reunite him there to the one he had loved best on earth4 ,turning to the other works of this period which we have mentioned1 the ,moreel altarpiece arrests our attention4 ,apart from the particular friendship which linked him with ,william ,vrelant and the brothers ,floreins1 few men were more likely to attract him than the donor of this painting4 ,the great-grandson of a ,savoyard1 ,morelli1 who had settled in ,bruges in #accf1 ,william ,moreel1 a member of the ,corporation of ,grocers1 after filling various civic offices1 was elected burgomaster of ,bruges in #adgh1 and again in the troublous days of #adhc4 ,his standing is sufficiently attested by the record that in #adia only ten of his fellow-citizens were taxed at a higher rate4 ,able and strong-willed1 a capable financier and ardent politician1 he was ever foremost in defending the rights and liberties of his country1 and to such purpose that ,maximilian1 who had imprisoned him in #adha1 refused when he made his peace with the ,states of ,flanders1 on #bhth ,june #adhe1 to include him in the general amnesty4 ,he retired to ,nieuport1 but returned to ,bruges in #adhh and was chosen as treasurer of the town1 and in ,july #adhi was presented by the magistrates with the sum of #ajj in recognition of services rendered4 ,reference has been made to the independent portraits of ,moreel1 his wife1 and one of his daughters4 ,in the triptych under notice the whole family are gathered together1 the father and his five sons1 his wife ,barbara van ,vlaenderberch and their eleven daughters4 ,the donor's head is probably a copy of the ,brussels panel1 assuming that at the time it was painted1 ,moreel was still in prison2 while that of his wife1 more careworn and aged1 bears testimony to the anxiety occasioned her by her husband's confinement4 ,this painting1 too1 will afford the critics who love to find fault with the ,flemish school for its alleged inability to do justice to the winsomeness of child life an opportunity of reconsidering their judgment by the light of the ,infant ,jesus whom ,saint ,christopher is bearing across the ferry1 and once more we are met in every portion of the picture with brilliant exemplifications of the artist's special aptitude for interpreting the beauties of ,nature4 ,scarcely less attractive1 and in some respects even more interesting1 is the celebrated diptych associated with the name of ,martin van ,nieuwenhove4 ,here we have a departure from ,memlinc's usual practice1 which was to present the ,blessed ,virgin and ,child in an open portico1 the artist picturing them in a room amply lighted by windows1 the upper portions of which are adorned with pictures in stained glass1 while the lower halves1 mostly thrown open1 reveal inimitable scenes of country life2 moreover1 a convex mirror at the back of ,our ,lady reflects the depicted scene of the interior4 ,the donor belonged to a noble family long settled in ,bruges1 evidently a man of great promise1 for after being elected a member of the ,town ,council in #adib1 he was chosen burgomaster in #adig at the early age of thirty-three4 ,unfortunately he passed away in the prime of life a short three years later4 ,the painting dates from #adhg1 and the portrait is ,memlinc's masterpiece in that branch of art4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,vii4--,,an ,,old ,,lady4 ,this fine portrait1 with its companion1 was formerly in the ,meazza collection at ,milan1 dispersed in #ahhd4 ,it was exhibited at ,bruges in #aijb 7,no4 #ga71 since when it has been purchased by the ,louvre1 where it is now to be seen4 ,the companion portrait is in the ,berlin ,museum4 ,the panel in the ,louvre ranks equally with this production1 its chief feature being the marvellous grouping of the donors and their family4 ,james ,floreins1 younger brother of ,john1 the spiritual master of ,saint ,john's ,hospital1 belonged to one of the wealthiest of the ,bruges guilds1 the ,corporation of ,master ,grocers1 among whose members 7,john ,du ,celier and ,william ,moreel to wit7 ,memlinc found such generous patrons of his art4 ,he had married a lady of the ,spanish ,quintanaduena family1 who bore him nineteen children3 the eldest son1 a priest1 is represented in furred cassock and cambric surplice1 and the second daughter in the habit of a ,dominican nun4 ,this picture is another but wholly different departure from the setting usually affected by the artist in his presentment of the ,virgin and ,child4 ,the throne here is erected in the middle of the nave of a round-arched church1 a rood-screen of five bays shutting off the choir4 ,the north transept porch1 is adorned with statues of the ,prophets1 the south portal with others of the ,apostles4 ,the difficulty of grouping so large a family in the circumscribed space about the throne is obviated with consummate skill1 the father and two eldest sons on the one side1 and the mother and two eldest daughters on the other1 being placed well in the foreground1 while the younger members of either sex are disposed in the aisles1 the upstanding figures of ,saint ,james the ,great and ,saint ,dominic beside the throne filling the void on either side which this arrangement entailed4 ,even here1 with the limited opportunities the architectural setting affords1 ,memlinc will not be denied his predilection for landscape ornamentation1 two delightful glimpses of country life enchanting the eye as it wanders down the transepts and out on to their porches4 ,if in these pages attention has perhaps been somewhat too exclusively devoted to the portraits of men left us by ,memlinc1 obviously enough because of the greater interest they excite by the stories known of their careers1 it must not be supposed that he proved himself less skilful as a portrayer of women4 ,as a rule the wives of the donors in his pictures are of the homely type1 but they appeal to us none the less as typical examples of the womankind of a burgher community in which the virtues of the home were cherished and sedulously cultivated4 ,two exceptionally fine specimens of male and female portraiture1 which most likely belong to this period1 are the bust of an old man in the ,royal ,museum at ,berlin and that of an aged lady1 recently acquired by the ,louvre for the very substantial sum of #bjj1jjj francs4 ,if1 as has been suggested1 these are portraits of husband and wife1 it is regrettable that they should have strayed so far apart1 but the latter we have selected for illustration as perhaps the best available example to demonstrate ,memlinc's aptitude for the interpretation of the dignity of old age in woman4 ,more amazing perhaps than the magnitude of the work ,memlinc achieved is the dearth of information concerning him that has been vouchsafed to us4 ,until #ahfj nothing whatever was known of the story of his life1 and what has been since discovered is almost entirely due to the painstaking researches of one or two individuals4 ,these revealed the fact of ,memlinc's marriage1 the name of the woman he chose for his wife and that of her father1 the fact that she bore him three sons--,john1 ,cornelius1 and ,nicolas--the year of his wife's death1 the record of house property bought by him1 the date of his own death and his place of burial1 and this is the sum total of the material at our disposal1 apart from his paintings1 with which to build up his biography4 ,the ,shrine that is his masterpiece once completed1 the only other dated work of which we have any knowledge is the polyptych altarpiece which hangs in the ,greverade chantry of the ,cathedral at ,lubeck4 ,this bears on its frame the date #adia2 but the execution of the painting is very unequal1 and it appears probable that the greater part is the work of pupils4 ,perhaps ,memlinc felt that he had lived his life1 and was content to lay aside palette and brush in the consciousness that he had given the world of his best4 ,may-be1 too1 as the years began to tell1 there grew a yearning for the privacy of home life in more intimate communion with the motherless children from whom he himself was soon to be parted4 ,all too speedily the end came1 for he passed away on the #aath of ,august #adid1 at a ripe old age considering the average length of days meted out to man in his time4 ,,vii ,,effacement ,,and ,,vindication ,,of ,,his ,,types ,bruges1 the scene of his stupendous lifework and his home for nearly the last thirty years of his life1 was fast settling down to utter stagnation and the general poverty it superinduced4 ,one needs to realise the measure of her decay to understand the possibility of such a personality as ,memlinc's fading from the public memory4 ,true1 he had founded no school to perpetuate his art and cherish his name and reputation4 ,twice we find mention of apprentices in the register of the ,guild of ,painters--a ,john ,verhanneman1 inscribed on #hth ,may #adhj1 and a ,passchier ,van der ,meersch1 in #adhc4 ,neither attained the rank of master-painter4 ,nor is it known that any of the three sons inherited their father's talent or followed his profession4 ,however1 we remember that ,rumwold ,de ,doppere1 writing of his death in the year it occurred1 asserted that he was 8then considered to be the most skilful and excellent painter in the whole of ,christendom10 while ,van ,vaernewyck1 as late as #aefb1 tells of the houses of ,bruges being still filled with paintings by ,memlinc among other great artists4 ,and yet so completely was he forgotten within a century of his death that ,van ,mander1 when preparing his biographies of ,netherlandish painters 7published in #afjd71 could only learn that he was in his day 8a celebrated master who flourished before the time of ,peter ,pourbus0--that is1 before #aedj6 ,neglect and disdain followed speedily on forgetfulness1 and the scattering of his priceless works commenced4 ,the magnificent picture of the ,passion of ,christ in the ,turin ,museum1 which adorned the altar of the chapel of the ,guild of ,saint ,john and ,saint ,luke in the ,church of ,saint ,bartholomew until #afai1 was then removed to a side wall1 and five years later sold to make room for an organ6 ,the no less famous painting 8,christ the ,light of the ,world10 which graced the altar of the chapel of the ,guild of ,tanners in the ,church of ,our ,lady until #agfd1 was then removed to the house of the dean1 who a few years later sold it to a picture-dealer at ,antwerp for #bj l46 ,and so these masterpieces were made the sport and spoil of picture-dealers and traffickers in curiosities4 ,under ,spanish rule further toll was levied on the art treasures of ,bruges1 and of what escaped the vulgar vandalism of the ,calvinists1 whose utter inability to create was only equalled by their senseless capacity for destruction1 the ,french revolutionaries1 whose sense of the beautiful in art not all their irreligion had sufficed to stifle1 claimed a considerable share4 ,fortunately the ultimate defeat of ,napoleon made restitution in a measure possible1 and so the ,moreel triptych1 seized on #bcrd ,august #agid1 and the ,van ,nieuwenhove diptych1 carried off in the same month1 were recovered in #ahae4 ,still the fact remains that ,bruges at this date possesses only seven of ,memlinc's works4 ,the remainder are dispersed among the galleries of the ,continent--in ,brussels and ,antwerp2 in ,paris2 in ,madrid2 in ,rome1 ,florence1 ,turin1 and ,venice2 in ,vienna and ,buda-,pesth2 in ,berlin1 ,frankfort1 ,munich1 ,danzig1 ,lubeck1 ,hermannstadt1 and ,woerlitz2 and at the ,hague2 while ,england boasts of three pictures1 two in the ,national ,gallery and one at ,chatsworth4 ,although ,memlinc founded no school1 the masters of his day and others who settled in ,bruges in the sixteenth century were to a very appreciable extent influenced by his art4 ,gerard ,david1 ,albert ,cornelis1 ,peter ,pourbus1 and the ,claeissens all felt its impress1 and if the traditions of the old school survived in ,bruges to a later period than in other centres1 and well into the seventeenth century1 it was mainly through the instrumentality of these painters4 ,in contrasting the lives of medival and modern artists one cannot escape a feeling of regret that the former should so utterly have neglected the literary side of their calling4 ,what a revelation to us would have been the discovery of the personal recollections of but one of these great masters of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries1 and what a world of trouble they would have saved the art students of after generations6 ,but seemingly the demand for this class of literature had not then arisen1 while the craving for notoriety which would have compelled an effort of this description was altogether foreign to the single-minded nature of a school whose art was to its exponents something more than the realisation of worldly ambition or the satisfaction of a vulgar lust of gain4 ,there could have been no hankering after either in the type of man revealed to us by the lifework of ,memlinc4 ,and so it was that with the reawakened interest in medival painting which made itself manifest in the nineteenth century the services of the archologist had to be requisitioned4 ,difficult indeed would it be to exaggerate the immensity of the task imposed upon him4 ,the sifting from the mass of popular fiction which had gathered round ,memlinc's name the few grains of truth embedded in it1 the ceaseless delving among municipal and ecclesiastical archives for a chance record of some incident in his career1 the slow process of authenticating the genuine from the ruck of doubtful and spurious works associated with his name1 half a century of unswerving devotion to the task has not yet brought us within measurable reach of its accomplishment4 ,every day1 so to speak1 brings to light some new fact1 often compelling a revision of conclusions which in its absence were sufficiently justified4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,viii4--,,our ,,lady ,,and ,,child1 ,,saint ,,george ,,and ,,the ,,donor4 ,this painting1 formerly in the ,gierling collection1 was purchased by ,mr ,j4 ,p4 ,weyer of ,cln for #dej thalers1 and at the sale of his pictures in #ahfb1 by ,mr ,o4 ,mndler for #dfjj thalers for the ,national ,gallery4 ,thus it happened that the identification of the donors of the 8,last ,judgment0 at ,danzig1 in #aijb1 led to the recognition of this earliest example of ,memlinc's art4 ,and so no doubt will it happen again1 each fresh discovery amplifying the knowledge necessary to remove doubt as to the authenticity of attributed works4 ,but even so1 what an advance from half a century since1 when the personality of the painter was but the sport of idle legend1 and loomed vaguely on the horizon in the distorted outlines of a loathsome caricature6 ,if dearth of information is a powerful incentive to the imagination1 then the evolution of the ,memlinc legend goes far to establish its potency4 ,an obscure seventeenth-century tradition had it that ,memlinc painted a picture for the ,hospital of ,saint ,john in grateful recognition of services rendered to him by the ,brethren of that charitable foundation3 from which indeterminate report grew a tale of a dissolute soldier of fortune spared from the shambles of the field of ,nancy dragging his wounded and diseased body to the ,hospital gates1 and beguiling the weary hours of a long convalescence there in the production of a masterpiece of painting in token of his gratitude4 ,as an unconnected story for the amusement of simple-minded folk the fable is not without merit of a sort1 but what a libel on the ,christian artist who transcends all the painters of his age in the interpretation of deep religious feeling1 and the shaping of whose whole life must have been a novitiate to this end6 ,we have travelled a long road since the days when this preposterous legend was exploded4 ,true1 the exhumation of ,memlinc's individuality from the burial-ground of lost memories has been a slow and arduous process2 but the rich store of knowledge now at our command is an abundant testimony to the patience of the experts who have garnered it4 ,it is not given to us to be all swayed in the same way or to the same extent by ,art in any of its forms2 but few who have been led to contemplate the masterpieces of the ,netherlandish school will fail to pay the tribute of admiration these wonderworks evoke1 and bear testimony to their educational value4 ,for ,hans ,memlinc it is not claimed that he surpassed in each department of his art all the other painters who helped to build up the fame of the ,netherlandish school3 in some material respects his methods differed widely from theirs1 and he elaborated a technique distinctly his own4 ,it is not likely to be imputed that his sedulous avoidance of the marked contrasts of light and shade was a confession of inability to realise their treatment1 though possibly he may be thought by some to have weakly followed the line of least resistance4 ,of course1 ,memlinc1 like every other great artist of his age1 had his limitations4 ,his knowledge of anatomy naturally was not equal to the exact requirements of science1 the pose of his figures not absolutely conformable to the ideals of the dilettante in respect of grace of carriage or correctness of deportment4 ,though critics contrast the simplicity of his art with the grandeur of style of ,van ,eyck1 commonly with some predilection for the latter1 yet it is possible for one to be subjugated by it and still feel to the full the fascination of the tender beauty inherent in the former4 ,in his conceptions of the great mysteries of the ,christian faith1 in the characterisation of the many saints he portrayed1 and above all in his varied presentation of womanhood he certainly excelled4 ,in the 8,last ,judgment0 at ,danzig we have probably the least successful of his great efforts4 ,the conception is not original1 though admittedly one of the finest produced up to that time2 also it is his earliest extant work1 and in the style of a master from whose controlling influence he had not yet emancipated himself4 ,but the fault lies rather with the subject4 ,many an artist has laboured at it1 not always perhaps from choice2 but the painter has yet to be born who will produce a convincing picture of that unrealised tragedy4 ,any attempt that falls short of conveying to the mind and soul of man the awe-full warning it should express necessarily bears the stamp of failure2 and when1 as too often is the case1 it but provokes a smile by reason of its incongruity1 the effort it cost stands unjustified4 ,not that ,memlinc's conception errs conspicuously in this sense3 but it lacks conviction1 and not all the beautiful work it exhibits can close our eyes to the fact4 ,to the up-to-date art critic of the weekly press1 steeped in modernity1 all this grand religious art of the middle ages is but as the dead ashes of a fire that once glowed but has now lost its warmth2 or1 to vary the simile1 he contemptuously relegates it to the scrap-heap of antiquated material as the useless remains of a 8dead language02 little bethinking himself of the great underlying truth he was unconsciously voicing4 ,for just as all succeeding literatures found their spring and inspiration in the magnificent literatures enshrined in the great dead languages of ,rome and ,greece1 so likewise has modern art1 unconsciously if you will1 but none the less assuredly1 derived the essence of its loveliness from the medival art it affects to despise4 ,art of any kind to be great must have realised its greatness through the vivifying power of the art that had gone before4 ,ex nihilo nihil fit4 ,the impellent craving after realism of the materialistic school of to-day is but a perverted form of the love of truth which was the keynote of all medival art1 its cult of the sensuous but a depraved phase of a love of the beauty in virtue and godliness which characterised the latter3 the great touch of faith is wholly wanting4 ,in art as in all things human there is no finality2 but the while ,bruges subsists1 though she were utterly bereft of all her picturesqueness and the wealth of architectural beauty that endears her to the artist mind1 so long will that treasure-house of ,memlinc's art1 the small chapter-room in the ,hospital of ,saint ,john1 continue to exercise its educating influence1 and so long1 because of it1 will the old ,flemish capital1 though shorn of all its pristine glory1 continue to be one of the most cherished shrines of the art pilgrims of the world4 ,the plates are printed by ,,bemrose ,,sons1 ,,ltd41 ,derby and ,london ,the text at the ,,ballantyne ,,press1 ,edinburgh