Volume 1 — 1100. A SCENE IN A PLAY. (continued 5)

This little picture is characteristic of one of Corot's tastes. "He loved," we are told, "water in indetermined clearness and in the shining glance of light, leaving it here in shadow and touching it there with brightness. He loved morning before sunrise, when the white mists hover over pools like a light veil of gauze; he had a passion for evening which was almost greater; he loved the softer vapours which gather in the gloom." (Muther.) The picture was painted in 1871, and was purchased by Fantin-Latour at the posthumous sale of Corot's works.

2136. ENGRAVED PORTRAIT OF LULLY, THE MUSICIAN. See 2081.

2143. LADY STANDING BY A SPINET.

Jacob Ochtervelt (Dutch: died before 1710).

Jacob Ochtervelt (sometimes called wrongly Jan, and Achtervelt or Uchtervelt) was born probably at Rotterdam. He formed his style on the model of Terburg, to whom his pictures are sometimes attributed (see, for instance, an example in the Venice Academy formerly given to Terburg).

A beautiful example of a painter, by whom pictures in good condition are rare—a harmony in pink and grey and brown. There is poetical feeling, too, in the lady's attitude and the man who looks up intently at her; as also some humour in the dog turning his attention to an intruder.

2144. LA MARCHESA CATTANEO.

Van Dyck (Flemish: 1599-1641). See 49.

A companion picture to No. 2127.

2162. PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST.

Joseph Ducreux (French: 1735-1802).

The artist is dressed as a French Abbé, with powdered hair.

2163. THE MAGDALEN.

Mabuse (Flemish: 1470-1541). See 656.

2204. INTERIOR OF A CHURCH.

Hendrick Steenwyck (Flemish: 1580-1649). See 1132.

Dated 1615. The nave of a Gothic church; in the distance a funeral procession is entering the choir; beggars and dogs in the foreground.

2205. INTERIOR OF A CHURCH.

Pieter Neeffs (Flemish: 1577-1661). See 924.

A night scene in a church of Renaissance architecture. On a tomb on the floor is an inscription—"632 Hier legt begraven Henri Steenwick."

2206. VESPERS.

2207. AFTER VESPERS.

Pieter Neeffs.

The chapel in No. 2207 is the same as that on the left in No. 2206.

2209. ULRICUS SIROSENIUS, DUKE OF EAST FRIESLAND.

Cornelissen (Dutch: about 1475-1555). See 657.

The title is written on the back of the oak panel. The Duke's sword is inscribed—"Victor est qui nomen Domini pugnavit." Among other versions of this portrait is one in the Oldenburg Gallery, attributed to Lucas van Leyden. Another (in the Duke of Rutland's collection) has Dürer's monogram.

2211. JACQUELINE DE BOURGOGNE.

Mabuse (Flemish: about 1470-1541). See 656.

The beautiful costume and jewellery should be noticed; the girl holds an orrery. This picture was shown in the Golden Fleece Exhibition at Bruges in 1907.

2216. "LA MAIN CHAUDE."

Jean François de Troy (French: 1679-1752).

This painter (pupil of his father, François de Troy) was employed by Louis XIV. to execute designs for tapestry in the grand style, and he carved out much decorative work. Sets of some of the tapestries from his designs are in the State Apartments in Windsor Castle. Subsequently, he adopted the style of Watteau, and painted "conversations galantes," such as in the example before us. Other specimens of his work may be seen in the Victoria and Albert Museum, and in the Wallace collection.

2217. ELISA BONAPARTE, GRAND DUCHESS OF TUSCANY.

J. L. David (French: 1748-1825).

Jacques Louis David, the founder of the "classical school" in France and for many years the Dictator of French art, was a nephew of Boucher, from whom he received his first instruction. His celebrated "Oath of the Horatii" (1784) and "Brutus" (1789), and other works of the kind, are in the Louvre. They were not without influence on the politics of the time, and David was elected a representative of Paris in the Convention in 1792. He became a follower of Robespierre, and naturally escaped execution. Abandoning politics, he became acquainted with Napoleon, who made him his First Painter. On the restoration of the Bourbons, he sought refuge in Brussels, where he died. Many of his Napoleonic pictures are at Versailles.

A vigorous portrait-sketch of Elisa, sister of Napoleon, whom he made Duchess of Tuscany, with the titles of Duchess of Lucca and Princess of Piombino. She was born in 1777 and died in 1820. We see her here in white empire costume.

2218. MADAME MALIBRAN.

J. A. D. Ingres (French: 1780-1867).

A study of the famous singer; attributed to Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, a pupil of David, who imparted a grace of his own to the Classical School.

2251. PORTRAIT OF BONA OF SAVOY.

Ambrogio de Predis (Milanese: about 1450-1515). See 1661.

This striking full-length figure of a lady, richly attired and wearing jewels, was No. 7 in the exhibition of pictures by Milanese masters at the Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1894. It was then described as a portrait of Beatrice d'Este.

2256. RIVER SCENE.

2257. ILEX TREES, VILLEFRANCHE.

Henri Harpignies (French: born 1819).

These two pictures, recently presented to the Gallery, are slight examples of the work, in oil and water-colour, of an artist who travelled with Corot and continued that master's method of interpreting nature.

2258. A WOODLAND SCENE.

Georges Michel (French: 1763-1843).

A good example of an artist who has been called "the Ruysdael of Montmartre."

2281. THE VIRGIN AND CHILD.

Lorenzo Lotto (Venetian: 1480-1556). See 699.

The Virgin, a pretty woman prettily dressed, is seated between St. Jerome and St. Anthony of Padua, who holds in his hand a "Madonna lily." This bright and dainty picture belongs to the year 1522 (see Berenson's Lorenzo Lotto, 1895, p. 187).

2282. THE BOHEMIANS.

Philips Wouwerman (Dutch: 1619-1668). See 878.

2283. DAWN.

Aart van der Neer (Dutch: 1603-1677). See 152.

2285. A FAMILY GROUP.

Frans Hals (Dutch: 1580-1666). See 1021.

An important accession to the Gallery, as an example of the large portrait-groups in which Hals excelled. The composition whereby the ten figures are all brought into a group is ingenious—the part played by the direction of the elder boy's attention to the other being in this respect important—though in colour the harmony is somewhat disturbed by the emphatic lights of the lace and linen worn by each member of the group. There is individual character in all the portraits; among the figures which most compel admiration are those of the mother, full of quiet dignity, of the eldest daughter, standing on the right with a work-basket in her hand (both beautifully painted), and of the little girl seated in front. The picture unknown to the connoisseurs before its acquisition for the National Gallery—was purchased in 1908 from Lord Talbot de Malahide for £25,000.

2288. PORTRAIT OF DR. FORLENZE.

Jacques Antoine Vallin (French: 1770-1838).

Dr. J. N. B. Forlenze (1769-1833) was a physician and man of fashion in Naples. He had visited England and studied under John Hunter; and practised as an oculist in Paris. This portrait was exhibited at the Salon in 1808.

2289. ATTILA: AN ALLEGORY.

F. V. E. Delacroix (French: 1798-1863).

Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix was the chief of the "Romantic" school in painting, which in literature was represented by de Musset, George Sand, and Victor Hugo. The Romanticists revolted against the art of the Classicists as cold, formal, and colourless. Delacroix, whose admiration was for Byron in poetry and for Rubens in painting, sought before all things passion, emotion, and colour. He had, says Silvestre, "the sun in his head and a thunderstorm in his heart, and his grandiose and awe-inspiring brush sounded the entire gamut of human emotion." He loved strong colour, and he was one of many French artists who were influenced by the sight of Constable's pictures in the Salon. His pictures were as fiercely assailed, as they were furiously painted. "It is the massacre of painting," said Baron Gros of Delacroix's "Massacre of Chios." "I became the abomination of painting," said the artist, "I was refused water and salt;" but, he added, "I was enchanted with myself," and he won his way into favour. He was born at Charenton St. Maurice, near Paris. His father, who held high office under the First Empire, had been a partisan of the violent faction during the Revolution, and, like some other revolutionaries, was more consumed with public ardour than concerned with private affairs. The boy was exposed to accidents and neglect in his childhood which make one wonder that he survived. He had poor health throughout life, and there was in him a hectic strain which was reflected in his art. In 1817 he entered the studio of Guérin, where he had Ary Scheffer (see 1169) for a fellow-pupil and antagonist, and afterwards he worked under Baron Gros. He was deeply stirred by the War of Greek Independence; and a visit which he paid to Morocco and Algiers in 1831 had the effect of enriching his sense of colour. He had a strong supporter in Thiers, through whose influence he received many important commissions for public works—in the decoration of the Louvre, the Luxembourg, and the Chamber of Deputies. Our picture was a design for the latter. These and other large works occupied him till 1855; and at last in 1857 he was admitted into the French Academy.

In this characteristic design the spirit of Ruthless Conquest is personified in the figure of Attila, the leader of the Huns, called "The Scourge of God." He drives before him, beneath a blood-red sky and amid the ghosts of the slain, figures emblematic of Beauty, Art, and Pleasure.

2290. PARC DE SANSAC, INDRE-ET-LOIRE.

Armand Charnay (French: born 1844).

Jean Marie Armand Charnay, born at Charlieu (Loire); in 1864 entered the École des Beaux-Arts; genre and landscape painter.

This picture of autumn in the walks of a French château was presented by the artist.

2291. PORTRAIT OF CARDINAL DE RETZ.

Philippe de Champaigne (French: 1602-1674). See 798.

A portrait, in Cardinal's cape and skull-cap, of Jean François Paul de Gondi (1614-1679), Archbishop of Paris, and afterwards Cardinal de Retz. As Archbishop, he aided the rising of the Fronde against Mazarin. In 1652 he was arrested and imprisoned; he escaped, and for some years wandered abroad. In 1662 he was received into favour by Louis XIV., and in his later years was often employed as an envoy to Rome. He is described as having been in his youth short, near-sighted, ugly, and exceedingly awkward.

2292. PORTRAIT OF A LADY.

Michiel Jansz van Mirevelt (Dutch: 1567-1641).

Mirevelt (or Miereveld) was the son of an engraver on precious metals at Delft, and was trained as an engraver. He afterwards entered the studio of Blocklandt at Utrecht, and devoted himself to historical painting, still-life, and other subjects. Presently he painted the portraits of some of the princes of the House of Nassau, and these were so much admired that he came into continuous request in that branch of art. Sandrart relates that Mirevelt claimed to have painted nearly 10,000 portraits; doubtless an exaggeration, but "it may be said that it was he who made the custom of having portraits painted general in the United Provinces. His painting, thin, clean finished, and rather cold, was intended to please his elegant clients" (Havard).

This lady's stomacher embroidered with rows of pearls and pleated lace ruff are finely painted.

2293. HOLY FAMILY.

Ascribed to Luca Penni (Roman: born about 1500).

One of the scholars and assistants of Raphael; after whose death Penni is said to have attached himself to Perino del Vaga. Subsequently he became an engraver.

2294. PORTRAIT OF GALILEO.

Passignano (Florentine: 1558-1638).

Domenico Cresti, called Il Passignano from his native place, a village near Florence, was a pupil of Zuccaro. Moving to Venice, he studied for a while under Paolo Veronese, whose works he greatly admired and whose manner he followed. His facility and rapidity caused a play upon his surname, and he was called "Passa ognuno."

The great astronomer (1564-1642) is represented with astrolabe, books, diagram, and compasses.

2295. PORTRAIT OF A MILITARY COMMANDER.

Frans Pourbus, the younger (Flemish: 1569-1622).

Pourbus, son of Frans Pourbus the elder, was born at Antwerp, and by 1591 was a master in the Guild of St. Luke. He was employed by the Archduke Albert at Antwerp, at whose court he attracted the notice of the Duke of Mantua. The Duke took him into his service (1600-1609), and he shared with Rubens the title of Painter to the Ducal Court. At Mantua he worked at "a collection of the most beautiful women in the world, whether princesses or private ladies." Like Rubens, Pourbus was occasionally employed as Ambassador, and a mission to Paris caused him to forsake Italy for France. Eleanor of Mantua was a sister of Marie de' Medici, and Pourbus finally settled in Paris as Painter to the Queen. There is a portrait of the queen by him at Hampton Court.

2423. LITHOGRAPHS OF HORSES.

J. L. A. T. Géricault (French: 1791-1824).

Jean Louis André Théodore Géricault, animal and historical painter, was a precursor of the revolt of the Romanticists against the Classicists, which was carried further by Delacroix (see 2289). His most famous picture, "The Raft of the Medusa" (Louvre), was exhibited at the Salon in 1819 and excited much controversy. He was the son of a prosperous advocate; and as a young man became a member of the Jockey Club, and lived the life of the jeunesse dorée. He had some instruction in art from Charles Vernet and Guérin, but his real master was Rubens in the Louvre. In 1816 he went to Italy. After 1819 he visited England, where he practised the then new art of lithography. His picture of "The Derby at Epsom" (1821) is in the Louvre.

2439. A RIVER SCENE.

P. E. Théodore Rousseau (French: 1812-1867).

Rousseau, one of the founders of the modern school of landscape in France, had to fight his way to fame through many difficulties and much neglect. The toast of Diaz, "à notre maître oublié," has been already recorded (p. 691). For thirteen years (1835-1848) his pictures were rejected from the Salon; and official honours came to him tardily. He had his revenge in the Exhibition of 1855, when his rejected pictures "came back as victorious exiles," and again in that of 1867, when he was chosen president of the jury. But he was of a sensitive and jealous disposition; he was estranged from his best friend, Dupré, and chagrin at being passed over for promotion in the Legion of Honour in 1867 is said to have hastened his death. A pleasanter episode in his life is his generous and timely help to Millet. The heads of the two artists are carved together on his tombstone in the cemetery of Chailly, near Barbizon. He was born in Paris, the son of a merchant-tailor. He studied painting under Rémond and Guillon Lethière, and first exhibited at the Salon in 1831. His pictures in successive years were loudly trumpeted by Thoré as those of an innovator, and for that reason perhaps excited the more hostility among the old school. His favourite ground was the forest of Fontainebleau, and he made his home at Barbizon, studying every aspect of nature with intense application. "It is a good composition," he wrote, "when the objects represented are not there solely as they are, but when they contain under a natural appearance the sentiments which they have stirred in our souls. If we contest that the trees have power of thought, at any rate we may allow that they can make us think; and in return for all the modesty of which they make use to elevate our thoughts, we owe them, as recompense, not arrogant freedom or pedantic and classic style, but the sincerity of a grateful attention in the reproduction of their being." There is a good example of his forest-pictures in the Wallace Collection.

Rousseau was the most various of the landscape painters of his time. In the present picture we see him in a peaceful mood; another picture (2635) is of a stormy sky.

2475. CHRISTINA, DUCHESS OF MILAN.

Hans Holbein (German: 1497-1543). See 1314.

Amongst Holbein's duties as painter to Henry VIII. was that of taking portraits of the ladies whom he proposed in turn to wed. After the death of Jane Seymour, the first favourite was the lady before us, "the demure half-smile not yet faded from her eyes"—Christina, daughter of Christian II. of Denmark, niece of the Emperor Charles V., and widow of the Duke of Milan. Reasons of state suggested her marriage to Henry VIII., and Holbein was sent to Brussels, where the Duchess was residing. Our portrait was painted a few years later than "The Ambassadors," from a sketch made at Brussels on March 12, 1538. The circumstances are entertainingly told in the letters of the English envoy, John Hutton, to Thomas Cromwell. On the 10th August Hutton had sent off a portrait by another artist to Henry VIII., that he might judge of the appearance of the young Duchess before making her a proposal of marriage. The next evening "Mr. Haunce" (i.e. Hans Holbein) arrived in company of a servant of the king, whereupon Hutton sent off an express-courier to fetch back the picture he had already despatched, "for that in my opinion," he said, "it was not so perfect as the case required, neither as the said Mr. Haunce could make it." "The next day following at one of the clock in the afternoon, the said Lord Benedick came for Mr. Haunce, who, having but three hours' space, both showed himself to be master of that science, for it is very perfect; the other is but slobbered in comparison to it, as, by the sight of both, your Lordships shall well perceive."

The original—the study, sketch, or miniature, the result of three hours' hard work—has disappeared; but the picture which the master made from it after he came home is now before us. The portrait, it would seem, did not make the king less anxious for the match—which, however, was broken off, it will be remembered, after long negotiations, by the hostility of the emperor. The duchess, in spite of her tender years, seems—and the picture does not belie the supposition—to have had a character of her own. The story of her reply, "that she had but one head, but that if she had two, one should be at the service of his majesty," is, indeed, now discredited; but her actual answer, "You know I am the Emperor's poor servant and must follow his pleasure," was, in the light of subsequent events, equally to the point. The English envoy specially reported "her honest countenance and the few words she wisely spoke."

The beautiful portrait before us was retained by Henry VIII., and through the Lumley, Pembroke, and Arundel Collections it passed into that of the Dukes of Norfolk. "Whether as a pictorial record of an interesting chapter of our history, or as an example of the presentment of a fresh and winning young personality by the most masterful and at the same time most reserved and refined methods of the painter's craft, the picture counts among the very noblest of the art treasures still left in England. That it is so left is mainly due to the splendid generosity of a small group of private donors, the chief of whom elude our public thanks by choosing firmly to remain anonymous. At the eleventh hour, when the picture was on the very point of leaving our shores to enrich a private gallery in America, these benefactors came forward and enabled the Committee of the National Art-Collections' Fund to present the masterpiece to the nation." The price paid was £72,000. (Report of the National Art-Collections' Fund, 1909; Froude's History of England, ch. xv.) The picture had for many years been lent to the National Gallery by the Duke of Norfolk.[261]

2480. THE FISH MARKET.

Philippe Rousseau (French: 1816-1887).

Born in Paris; first exhibited at the Salon in 1834, "A View in Normandy"; afterwards made his reputation, and attained great popularity as a painter of still-life.

2482. VIRGIN AND CHILD.

Benvenuto da Siena (Sienese: 1436-1518).

This painter is better seen in the larger picture, No. 909.

2483. VIRGIN AND CHILD.

Fiorenzo di Lorenzo (Umbrian: 1440-1521).

2484. VIRGIN AND CHILD.

L'Ingegno (Umbrian: painted 1484-1511). See 1220.

The donor and his wife kneel in adoration before the Virgin and Child enthroned between St. Dominic and St. Catherine of Siena. The picture was formerly in Lord Dudley's collection.

2485. SALOME.

Cesare da Sesto (Lombard: 1477-1523).

Leonardo da Vinci was "very successfully installed," says Vasari, "by Cesare da Sesto, who was also a Milanese." Cesare was born at Sesto Calende on the Lago Maggiore, and is supposed to have worked under Leonardo in Milan, 1507-1512. At Rome he was, according to Lomazzo, an intimate friend of Raphael.

The daughter of Herodias, with a face of haunting beauty, points to a vase, over which the executioner holds the head of John the Baptist. The table on which it rests has sphinxes for supports. This picture is a replica with variations of the one by Cesare in the Vienna Gallery, and is said to have come from the Barberini Palace in 1799.

2486. A CONCERT.

Ercole Roberti de' Grandi (Ferrarese: 1450-1496). See 1127.

This picture was No. 14 at the Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1894, where it was ascribed to Lorenzo Costa. "In type, the woman resembles one of the daughters of Bentivoglio II., and it may be that this group of musicians contains family portraits of the reigning house of the Bentivogli at Bologna."

2487. BARTOLOMMEO BIANCHINI.

Francia (Bolognese: 1450-1517). See 180.

This picture, an early work by Francia, is an admirable example of the artist as a portrait-painter. It is "a marvel of fine condition, and betrays the technique of the goldsmith seeking for the quality of enamel. Bianchini was a Bolognese senator, collector, poet, and friend of Francia." Upon a "Holy Family" in the Berlin Museum is inscribed—

Bartholomei sumptu Bianchini maxima matrum Hic vivit manibus, Francia, picta tuis.

Our portrait, from the collection of the Princesse de Sagan, was No. 23 at the Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1894.

2488. THE HOLY FAMILY.

Luca Signorelli (Cortona: 1441-1523). See 1128.

2489. THE YOUNG FLORENTINE.

Domenico Ghirlandajo (Florentine: 1449-1494). See 1230.

The portrait of the man in his red-coloured robe and black skull-cap is set against a landscape background. Many other examples of a like treatment will have been noticed by the visitor; as, for instance, in the fine portrait by Ridolfo Ghirlandajo (2491). And it is interesting to observe how long this convention survived, though with variations. The advantage of introducing an object of locally dark colour behind the head was perceived, and a background of curtain or other drapery was used; but a piece of it was drawn back, so as still to display landscape. See, e.g., Basaiti's portrait (2498). Or, again, a window was opened with the same purpose. See, e.g., Piombo's portrait of a Venetian lady as Salome (2493) and Cariani's of a Venetian magnate (2494). A corresponding development may be traced in Madonna pictures. Often the Virgin and Child are placed in an open landscape, as in the beautiful "Madonna of the Meadow" (599). When they are brought indoors a curtain is drawn back (2503), or a window opened—e.g. 2496, 2609, and (Flemish School) 2595.

2490. COSTANZA DE' MEDICI.

Lorenzo di Credi (Florentine: 1459-1537). See 593.

The inscription records that the lady was the wife of Francis, Duke of Gaeta. This portrait was formerly ascribed to D. Ghirlandajo.

2491. GIROLAMO BENEVIENI.

Ridolfo Ghirlandajo (Florentine: 1483-1561). See 1143.

This fine portrait is of "a very learned man," and an intimate friend of Lorenzo di Credi, who also, as Vasari relates, painted him. The background is studied from that in Leonardo's "Mona Lisa."

2492. VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH ANGELS ADORING.

Jacopo del Sellaio (Florentine: 1442-1493).

This painter is mentioned by Vasari as among the pupils of Fra Filippo Lippi. He worked in the manner of Botticelli, and No. 916 in our gallery is now ascribed to him.

2493. SALOME.

Sebastiano del Piombo (Venetian: 1485-1547). See 1.

2494. AN ITALIAN GENTLEMAN.

Cariani (Bergamese: about 1480-1541). See 1203.

A vigorously-painted portrait of a personage of some importance or self-importance; perhaps, as the official catalogue suggests, "the principal citizen of some provincial town." His robe is of gold brocade, and he handles his gold chain. It may be a view of his town that is shown through the open window.

2495. "OUR LADY OF THE LAURELS."

Cariani (Bergamese: about 1480-1541). See 1203.

This fine picture, known as La Vierge aux Lauriers from its background of a laurel-bush (and roses), was formerly in the Leuchtenberg Collection at St. Petersburg, where it was ascribed to Giorgione.

2496. VIRGIN AND CHILD.

Beltraffio (Lombard: 1467-1516). See 728.

2497. VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH ST. JOHN.

School of Botticelli (Florentine: 1447-1510). See 1034.

2498. A YOUNG VENETIAN.

Marco Basaiti (Venetian: painted 1500-1521). See 281.

Signed on the parapet. The young Venetians, it will be noticed, wore their hair long, and carried great weights of it at the sides of their faces: compare, e.g., No. 1121 (Catena), 2509 (Vivarini).

2499. VIRGIN AND CHILD.

Marco Basaiti (Venetian: painted 1500-1521).

This picture, if No. 599 be indeed by the same hand, must be an early work; the face and figure, both of mother and of child, are ugly and ungainly. The picture is signed in the left corner.

2500. VIRGIN AND CHILD.

Andrea Previtali (Bergamese: about 1480-1528). See 695.

2501. SALVATOR MUNDI.

Previtali (Bergamese: about 1480-1528). See 695.

Inscribed on the parapet "Andreas Privitalus, p." and dated 1518.

2502. VIRGIN AND CHILD.

Bastiano Mainardi (Tuscan: died 1513).

This painter was the pupil, favourite assistant, and brother-in-law of Domenico Ghirlandajo (see 1230). He was born at San Gimignano, in the churches of which place pictures by him are to be seen.

The beautiful painting of jewellery, and the fine patterns, should not escape notice.

2503. HOLY FAMILY.

Antonio da Solario (Venetian: 15th-16th century).

This beautiful picture is signed on a cartellino "Antonius da Solario V"(enetus).

2504. VIRGIN AND CHILD.

Cesare da Sesto (Milanese: 1477-1523). See 2485.

2505. DAVID AND JONATHAN.

Cima da Conegliano (Venetian: 1460-1518). See 300.

This little picture, of David (carrying the head of Goliath) walking with Jonathan, was formerly in the Modici collection at Naples.

2506. VIRGIN AND CHILD.

Cima (Venetian: 1460-1518).

Formerly in the Patrizi collection at Rome.

2507. PORTRAIT OF A LADY.

Bartolommeo Veneziano (painted 1505-1530). See 287.

From the Castellani collection.

2508. VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH ANGELS.

Unknown (Florentine School: 15th century).

Two charming angels, of whom one is garlanded with roses, hold the child before the Virgin. The scene is laid within the walls of the mystical garden ("a garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse"), behind which rise "Noah's ark" trees.

2509. PORTRAIT OF A YOUTH.

Alvise Vivarini (Venetian: painted 1461-1503). See 1872.

"The portrait of a boy of fifteen or sixteen, a little defiant or shy, yet frank in look, with a blond zazzera (head of hair) cropped short over the eyebrows, wearing a coat of pale turquoise blue. Formerly in the Duchatel collection at Paris, where it was seen by Messrs. Crowe and Cavalcaselle." By them ascribed to Andrea da Solario (see 734); formerly, to Antonello (see 673); now, on the authority of Mr. Berenson, to Alvise: see Berenson's Lorenzo Lotto, pp. 110-1.

2510. A PORTRAIT.

Unknown (Umbrian School: 15th century).

Possibly a portrait of the young Raphael.

2511. A MUSICIAN.

Giulio Campi (Cremona: 1502-1572).

A master at the School of Cremona, who worked in the great church there with Boccaccino (see 806). There are also works by him at Mantua, where he is said to have studied under Giulio Romano.

2512. THE MAGDALEN.

Correggio (Parmese: 1494-1534). See 10.

"The art of Correggio with its deep sense of beauty and its tender sensibility was peculiarly fitted," says Signor Ricci, "to give life and grace to the figure of the Magdalen. He introduced it in many of his large compositions, and made it the subject of several separate studies, but not one of the latter has survived." If this be an authentic work, the statement requires correction; but the head of the Magdalen is not convincingly Correggiesque.

2513. VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH SAINTS.

Tiepolo (Venetian: 1692-1769). See 1192.

2514-2516. VIEWS IN VENICE.

Canaletto (Venetian: 1697-1768). See 127.

No. 2514 shows the Grand Canal, with the church of the Scalzi; No. 2515, the square of St. Mark's, seen through an archway; No. 2516, the Colonnade of the Procuratie Nuove. The white spots with which the figures are picked out are not a happy instance of Canaletto's workmanship.

2517-2523. VARIOUS VIEWS.

Guardi (Venetian: 1712-1793). See 210.

No. 2517, "Buildings and Figures"; 2518, "Gothic Archway and Figures"; 2519, "Venetian Courtyard"; 2520, "Quay-side with Warehouses"; 2521, "Ruins"; 2522, "Treasure-Seekers"; 2523, "View through an Archway."

2524. THE TOWER OF MESTRE.

Guardi (Venetian: 1712-1793). See 210.

It was at Mestre that travellers in old days took gondola for Venice, and the tower was a familiar landmark. Ruskin mentions it in his description of the approach to Venice (Stones, vol. i. last chapter).

2525. VENICE: PIAZZA DI SAN MARCO.

Guardi (Venetian: 1712-1793).

A good example of the deep, rich colour which Guardi gives to his Venetian subjects: see under 210.

2526. PEASANT AND CHILD.

Unknown (Spanish: 17th century).

This unfinished picture (once in the collection of the Earl of Clare) has been ascribed to Pedro Nuñez de Villavicencio (1630-1700). He was a Knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, a distinguished amateur-painter and a favourite pupil of Murillo, who died in his arms.

2527. CHARLES MORDAUNT, EARL OF MONMOUTH.

Juan Giacchinetti Gonzalez (Spanish: 1630-1696).

A portrait-painter, who was a great admirer of Titian and a diligent copyist of his works. He was the son of a Burgundian jeweller settled at Madrid, and he was born in that city. He removed to Italy, where he was called, from his skill in portraiture, Il Borgognone dalle teste (the Burgundian of the heads). He practised his art in Brescia and Bergamo, and died in the latter city.

2528. THE MAN WITH THE GLOVE.

Frans Hals (Dutch: 1580-1666). See 1021.

An excellent example of the "irresistible verve" which Hals brings to his portraits, especially to those of men: see under 1021. To what is there said, it may be interesting to add the opinion of Sir Joshua Reynolds. "In the work of Frank Hals, the portrait-painter may observe the composition of a face, the features well put together, as the painters express it; from whence proceeds that strong-marked character of individual nature, which is so remarkable in his portraits, and is not found in an equal degree in any other painter. If he had joined to this most difficult part of the art, a patience in finishing what he had so correctly planned, he might justly have claimed the place which Vandyck, all things considered, so justly holds as the first of portrait-painters" (Sixth Discourse).

2529. THE LADY WITH THE FAN.

Frans Hals (Dutch: 1580-1666). See 1021.

2530. PORTRAIT OF A LADY.

Cornelis Janssens (Dutch: 1594-1664). See 1320.

Sir Joshua Reynolds has some interesting remarks on the technique of Janssens. "There is a kind of finishing," he says, "which may safely be condemned, as it seems to counteract its own purpose; that is, when the artist, to avoid that hardness which proceeds from the outline cutting against the ground, softens and blends the colours to excess: this is what the ignorant call high finishing, but which tends to destroy the brilliancy of colour, and the true effect of representation; which consists very much in preserving the same proportion of sharpness and bluntness that is found in natural objects. This extreme softening, instead of producing the effect of softness, gives the appearance of ivory, or some other hard substance, highly polished. The portraits of Cornelius Janssen appear to have this defect, and consequently want that suppleness which is the characteristic of flesh; whereas, in the works of Vandyck, we find that true mixture of softness and hardness perfectly observed" (Eleventh Discourse).

2531. CHURCH OF ST. BAVON, HAARLEM.

Pieter Saenredam (Dutch: 1597-1665). See 1896.

In No. 1451 (by Berck-Heyde) we see the interior of the same church; in the present picture, no public service is going on. In each case a dog is a church-goer; here in front of the pew on the left, where a man kneels down in prayer, a dog kneels up.

2532. A WOMAN DRIVING SHEEP.

2533. A SANDY LANE.

Jan Wynants (Dutch: about 1615-1679). See 883.

2534. RIVER SCENE, WITH HORSEMAN.

Aart van der Neer (Dutch: 1603-1677). See 152.

2535. JUDITH.

Eglon Hendrik van der Neer (Dutch: 1635-1703).

Eglon was the pupil of his father, the landscape-painter, Aart van der Neer; but the son's taste took the direction rather of interiors and portraits. He also painted some Biblical subjects.

A costume piece: note the richly embroidered white satin dress of Judith.

2536. MOONLIGHT.

2537. LANDSCAPE: WITH A CART IN THE FOREGROUND.

Aart van der Neer (Dutch: 1603-1677). See 152.

2538. DIANA BATHING.

Rembrandt (Dutch: 1606-1669). See 43.

A characteristically "Rembrandtesque" effect, the light concentrated on the principal figure.

2539. A MAN WITH A CAP.

Rembrandt (Dutch: 1606-1669). See 43.

This fine portrait-study was formerly in the collection of the Duke of Sutherland.

2540. THE HURDY-GURDY.

Adrian van Ostade (Dutch: 1610-1685). See 846.

Peasants listening to a man playing the hurdy-gurdy. Signed in the left foreground "A. V. Ostade, 1653." Formerly in the collection of Lord Dudley (at whose sale in 1892 it fetched £1470).

2541. THE COBBLER.

2542. COURTSHIP.

2543. A MAN WITH A JUG.

Adrian van Ostade (Dutch: 1610-1685). See 846.

2544. THE CART.

Isaac van Ostade (Dutch: 1621-1649). See 847.

2545. RIVER SCENE.

2546. LADY AND CHILD IN A LANDSCAPE.

Cuyp (Dutch: 1620-1691). See 53.

2547. CATTLE WITH HERDSMEN.

Cuyp (Dutch: 1620-1691). See 53.

Shown at the Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition in 1857.

2548. BOY HOLDING A GREY HORSE.

Cuyp (Dutch: 1620-1691). See 53.

2549. THE TAILOR'S SHOP.

2550. THE AFTERNOON NAP.

Quiryn Brekelenham (Dutch: 1625-1668). See 1329.

2551. A WOMAN SCOURING PANS.

Pieter van den Bosch (Dutch: 1613-1660).

A painter of Amsterdam. The year of his death is not known; 1660 is the date of the last mention of him in extant documents. A deed of 1645 records that the painter bound himself, at a yearly fee of 1200 gulden, to work exclusively for a certain picture-dealer, from 7 a.m. till dusk, daily, Sundays and Festivals alone excepted.

2552. REFUSING THE GLASS.

Pieter de Hooch (Dutch: 1630-about 1677). See 794.

Formerly in the collections of Pierre de Grand Pré (Paris) and the Earl of Shaftesbury.

2553. A LADY AT HER TOILET.

Jacob Ochtervelt (Dutch: died before 1710). See 2143.

2554. SADDLING A HORSE.

Wouwerman (Dutch: 1619-1668). See 878.

2555. WOMAN ASLEEP.

2556. THE PEDLAR.

2557. MERRY MAKERS.

Jan Steen (Dutch: 1626-1679). See 856.

2558. GRACE BEFORE MEAT.

Jan Steen (Dutch: 1626-1679). See 856.

Steen, though he loved scenes of rollicking conviviality and was fond of sly humour, by no means confined himself to such moods. His brush traced every episode of family life, and this little piece is as pretty as one of the "Graces for Children" in Herrick's Noble Numbers:—

This picture was formerly in the Leuchtenberg Collection at St. Petersburg.

2559. THE OYSTER FEAST.

2560. THE SKITTLE PLAYERS.

Jan Steen (Dutch: 1626-1679). See 856.

2561. VIEW NEAR HAARLEM.

Ruysdael (Dutch: 1628-1682). See 627.

A beautiful example of the master, who has signed it in full in the centre of the foreground. It will be noticed that the point of view is much the same, and that the effect of sunlight in the middle distance is the same, as in the large picture, No. 990. One may ask the question which Fromentin puts of a like instance: "The two landscapes are, the one on a large scale, the other on a small, a repetition of the same subject. Is the little canvas the study which served as text for the large? Did Ruysdael design, or did he paint from nature? Was he inspired, or did he copy directly? That is his secret. In any case the two works are charming."

2562. COUNTRY SCENE, WITH RUINED CASTLE.

Ruysdael (Dutch: 1628-1682). See 627.

This is one of the best known of Ruysdael's small pictures, much prized for its luminous quality: its pedigree has been traced through famous collections for over 100 years. In the Bredel sale (1875) it fetched £2310; in the Dudley sale (1892), £1470. It is No. 786 in vol. iv. (1912) of Smith's Catalogue Raisonné.

2563. THE ENTRANCE TO THE FOREST.

2564. A COTTAGE ON A ROCKY HILL.

2565. COTTAGE AND HAYSTACK.

2566. SKIRTS OF A FOREST.

2567. A STORMY SEA-PIECE.

Ruysdael (Dutch: 1628-1682). See 627.

2568. A LADY AT THE VIRGINALS.

Jan Vermeer (Dutch: 1632-1675). See 1383.

No. 15 at the Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1900, where it was thus described: "A lady seated on the right facing to left; she wears a yellow skirt with blue overdress, the sleeves trimmed with lace, and turns her face to the spectator as she plays. Her clavichord stands upon a marble table and is open, showing a landscape painted inside the cover; a viol da gamba and bow are in the left-hand bottom corner, and a blue and yellow curtain above; a picture with three figures hangs on the wall behind. Signed to the right of the lady's head, J V Meer."

2569. THREE BOORS DRINKING.

Adrian Brouwer (Dutch-Flemish: 1605-1638).

Brouwer, Flemish by birth, Dutch by adoption, rivalled his contemporary, the younger Teniers, as a genre painter. His realism is as humorous as it is vigorous. His pictures, says M. Havard, "are marvels of arrangement and colouring. They are sober in conception, and exhibit exquisite modelling, remarkable softness, and light and shade full of transparency and truthfulness; qualities which, during his lifetime, obtained for Brouwer the admiration of his brother-artists and the enthusiasm of Rubens," who, as is known from extant documents, possessed several of his pictures. His portrait was painted by Van Dyck to be placed in a collection of the most celebrated portrait-painters.

Brouwer led an exciting life, and has been the subject of several biographies, which have alternately covered him with scandal and whitewashed him. Documents unearthed during recent years support the earlier accounts, which represent this painter of topers as a jovial, reckless, dissipated Bohemian; though his epitaph may yet have partly told truth in describing him as "a man of great mind, who rejected every splendour of the world, and who despised gain and riches." The documents are set out by Wurzbach (Niederländisches Künstler-Lexicon, 1906). Taking all the evidence together, we may picture Brouwer as a genial fellow, fond of adventure, slow in setting to work, quick in spending, inclined to libertinism and drink, constantly running into debt, a sworn foe of shams and parade, fond of his joke, a lover of poetry, and popular among all who knew him. One of the stories told of him well illustrates his mocking contempt of fashionable vanities. At Amsterdam he had bought himself some coarse linen, which he had made up into a fashionable suit and then painted with a flowered pattern. Brouwer's costume became the talk of the town, and shops were ransacked to furnish copies of it; till one night at the theatre, the artist jumped on to the stage, wiped off his pattern with a wet cloth, and laughed at his audience. He was born at Oudenarde, ran away from home, had exciting adventures on the way, and turned up in Amsterdam and Haarlem. He is said to have entered the studio of Frans Hals, and to have been very badly treated there. He is known to have been an artist of repute, moving also in literary circles, in Amsterdam and Haarlem, 1625-27. He is next heard of at Antwerp, where in 1631-32 he was admitted into the Painters' Guild. Three years later he became a member of the section of the Guild for exercising rhetoric. He was cast into the state prison, probably on suspicion of espionage; and during the seven months of his incarceration, succeeded in running up new debts to the extent of £400—a feat which may be explained by the fact that the prison amenities included an excellent wine-tavern. He died—of his dissipations, according to some, but quite as probably of the plague—and was buried in the cemetery, and afterwards in the Convent Church of the Carmelites. His pictures are rare. The Wallace Collection, the Victoria and Albert Museum (Ionides Collection), and the Dulwich Gallery have each one good example. It has been suggested that the Landscape, No. 72 in our Gallery, hitherto attributed to Rembrandt, is by Brouwer.

2570, 2571. WOODY LANDSCAPES.

Hobbema (Dutch: 1638-1709). See 685.

2572. THE LITTLE FARM.

Adrian van de Velde (Dutch: 1636-1672). See 867.

No. 57 in the Exhibition of Dutch Masters at the Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1900, when it was thus described: "In the centre, among sparse trees in leaf, stands a small farm; to left a man accompanied by a woman on horseback, driving a flock of sheep to pasture; in the left foreground a pool of water, with a cow drinking; in the centre, two herdsmen, with cows, sheep, and goats lying down and feeding. Cool daylight with light clouds spreading over blue sky." Signed in the centre "A. v. Velde 1663."

2573. SEA-SCAPE: WINDY DAY.

2574. CALM: SHIPPING.

Willem van de Velde (Dutch: 1633-1707). See 149.

2575. A MUSICAL PARTY.

Anthonie Palamedes (Dutch: 1601-1673).

Palamedes was the son of a gem-engraver at Delft. He became Dean of the Painters' Guild. He painted portraits and small "conversation pieces," and sometimes supplied figures for the architectural pictures of his friend Dirk van Delen (see 1010). "The light and spirited pose of his figures, his bold touch, and the skill with which he makes the outline of his little groups stand out, please the eye" (Havard).

2576. A FAMILY GROUP.

Pieter Codde (Dutch: 1599-1678).

A painter of Amsterdam much influenced by Frans Hals.

2577. A STIFF BREEZE.

2578. A WINDMILL BY A RIVER.

2579. SCENE ON THE ICE.

2580. RIVER SCENE.

Jan van Goyen (Dutch: 1596-1656). See 137.

2681. A. VAN LEEUWENHOEK, F.R.S.

Nicolas Maes (Dutch: 1632-1693). See 153.

A portrait of the eminent Dutch savant (1632-1723) who has been called "the father of scientific microscopy." He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1680.

2582. FRUIT AND FLOWERS.

David de Heem (Dutch: 1570-1632).

David de Heem, the elder, born at Utrecht, was the father of the more celebrated still-life painter of the same name. He and his son were the founders of the "still-life" school in their country.

Except for the snail, this brightly-coloured arrangement of oysters, a lemon, a plum, cherries and nuts, with a glass of wine, is not unlike the kind of arrangement of actual eatables and drinkables which one may see to-day in the shop-windows of Italian restaurants in London. Nor, in all probability, was the motive of the picture different. "The painting of still-life in Holland," says M. Havard, "was originally sign-painting. Inn-keepers and game-dealers had real pictures as signs, painted upon their shop-fronts, and we know of several of these simple masterpieces which have found their way into important collections" (The Dutch School, p. 260).

2583. CATTLE IN A STORMY LANDSCAPE.

Paul Potter (Dutch: 1625-1654). See 849.

Signed, and dated 1647; formerly in the collection of Mr. Hope, of Deepdene.

2584. A LADY HOLDING A MIRROR.

Pieter Codde (Dutch: 1579-1678). See 2576.

2585. ST. MARY MAGDALEN.

Adrian Ysenbrandt (Flemish: died 1551).

Ysenbrandt was an assistant of Gerard David (see 1045). He came to Bruges, and was admitted into the Painters' Guild in 1510; he worked there till his death. He acquired a reputation for skill in painting the nude and the human countenance; his carefulness of execution and the sweetness of expression which he gave to his faces were much admired. Many of his pictures were sent to Spain (see W. H. Weale in the Burlington Magazine, vol. ii.).

This picture of the Magdalen, before whom an angel holds a crucifix, was in the Exhibition of the Primitives at Bruges in 1902. The artist's careful execution may be noted in the beautifully illuminated MS.

2586. COAST SCENE.

2587. A CALM.

2588. A DUTCH GALLIOT.

Jan van de Cappelle (Dutch: painted 1650-1680). See 865.

2589. THE YOUNG ASTROLOGER.

Frans van Mieris (Dutch: 1635-1681). See 840.

2590. A WOMAN AT A WINDOW.

2591. THE FORGE.

Gabriel Metsu (Dutch: 1630-1667). See 838.

2592. FRUIT PIECE.

W. K. Heda (Dutch: 1594-1678). See 1469.

2593. PORTRAIT OF A MAN.

Petrus Cristus (Flemish: about 1410-1472).

Cristus was born at Baerle, near Ghent. He purchased the right of citizenship at Bruges in 1444—that is, four years after the death of Jan van Eyck. He cannot therefore have been a pupil of that master, as has often been surmised; but he belongs to the school of the Van Eycks "by his realistic style, by the extreme care he bestowed on details, by his bold and powerful colouring, and by the tasteful arrangement of his draperies and interiors. But his works can never be mistaken for those of Van Eyck; his outline is often harsh, his types are wanting in character; his figures, designed and executed with very inferior skill, are not painted in the same impressive manner as those of the great master" (Wauters). The portrait of a Venetian consul (No. 696) is ascribed to him.

Acquired by Mr. Salting from the Earl of Northbrook's collection; No. 10 at the Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1892—remarkable for the preciseness and microscopic minuteness of hand displayed in it. The portrait of a devout and studious young man. He holds an open book; and on the wall of his chamber there is hung a board on which an illuminated sheet of vellum, edged with a narrow red riband, has been nailed. The miniature at the top of it represents the Vernacle (our Lord's head with cruciform nimbus and rays); and below is a rhymed prayer, headed Incipit oratio ad sanctam Veronicam, and continuing "Salve sancta facies Nostri redemptoris," etc.

2594. THE DUKE OF CLEVES.

Hans Memlinc (Early Flemish: 1430-1494). See 686.

2595. VIRGIN AND CHILD.

Dierick Bouts (Early Flemish: about 1410-1475).

Dirk Bouts, Thieiri Bouts, Dierick of Haarlem, or Thieiri Stuerbout (by all of which names he has been called) was Dutch by birth, being born at Haarlem. At some unknown date he migrated to Flanders, and established himself at Louvain, where he was appointed Painter to the Town. In 1468 he delivered to the Council two beautiful pictures (now in the Museum of Brussels) representing "The Judgment of the Emperor Otho." His colouring, says M. Havard, "is clear and brilliant. Red and green assume under his brush the brilliancy of the ruby and the emerald. His draperies are of unusual softness, and have none of that stiffness of fold which is peculiar to Jan van Eyck and some of his pupils. His flesh tints are of a warm and vivid tone, and his shadows are remarkably transparent. But his merit is manifested especially in his picturesque and original manner of arranging his compositions. He is besides remarkable for the care and distinctness with which he treats the landscapes in the background of his pictures." Little is known of his life, and the ascription of various works to him is conjectural. To him, in the latest revision of labels in our Gallery, are now attributed Nos. 664, 774, and 943.

2596. ST. JEROME.

Gerard David (Early Flemish: 1460-1523). See 1045.

2597. THREE VENETIAN GENTLEMEN AND A CHILD.

Johannes Stephen Calcar (Venetian: 1499-1546).

"In the year 1545 I became known to," says Vasari, "and contracted much friendship with Giovanni Calcar, a Flemish painter of great merit, who so successfully practised the Italian manner that his works were not always perceived to be those of a Fleming; but he died at Naples while still young, and when the fairest hopes had been conceived respecting his future progress." He worked first at Dordrecht; but in 1536 went to Venice, where he entered Titian's studio. He became a good master, says Vasari elsewhere, "whether for large or small figures, and in portraits was most admirable. By his hand—and they must do him honour to all time—were the designs for anatomical studies which the most admirable Andrea Vessalio caused to be engraved on copper and published with his works" (vol. v. p. 403).

2598. DIANA AND ENDYMION.

Rubens (Flemish: 1577-1640). See 38.

A sketch painted about 1636.

2599. A VISIT TO THE DOCTOR.

2600. CARD PLAYERS.

2601. AN OLD WOMAN READING.

David Teniers (Flemish: 1610-1694). See 154.

2602. A MAN WITH A RING.

Unknown (Flemish: 16th Century).

2603. VIRGIN AND CHILD.

Unknown (School of Cologne: early 16th Century).

By the master of the "Death of the Virgin" (a picture in the Munich Gallery), a painter of Cologne, the teacher, it is said, of Bruyn. The donor of the picture, with spectacles and a large straw hat, stands at a desk, reading. (The curious in such matters may consult Notes and Queries, 1890, for other early instances of spectacles in art.) The picture was No. 48 (Plate 23) in the Burlington Fine Art Club's Exhibition of Early Netherlandish Pictures, 1892.

2604. PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG MAN.

Christopher Amberger (German: 1490-1563).

This painter, who worked at Augsburg, probably studied under Hans Burgkmair, and the painting of Hans Holbein the younger had an evident effect on his style, so much so that his works have been sometimes mistaken for those of Holbein. In 1532 he painted the portrait of Charles V.; and Sandrart tells us that this portrait was considered by the Emperor equal to any of the pictures painted of him by Titian. He certainly honoured the artist by giving him a gold chain and medal on the occasion (Bryan's Dictionary of Painters).

2605. DR. FUCHSIUS.

Bartolomaus Bruyn (School of Cologne: died 1556).

This artist painted both religious subjects and portraits. His earlier works in the former kind recall the style of "The Master of the 'Death of the Virgin'" (see above, 2603). Bruyn was the last really eminent painter of the Cologne School. He was a municipal councillor of that town in 1550 and 1553.

A portrait of the celebrated German physician, Leonhard Fuchs (1501-1566), one of the fathers of scientific botany. He has obtained, says Hallam, a verdant immortality in the familiar flower which bears his name, the fuchsia. He espoused the doctrines of the Reformation; in our portrait he holds a paper inscribed (in German) "The word of the Lord endureth for ever."

2606. THE MADONNA ENTHRONED.

Unknown (Flemish: 16th Century).

In the centre of the triptych, the Virgin sits on a throne of Flemish renaissance design. On the right, St. Ambrose; on the left, St. Louis of Toulouse. The royal rank of the latter Saint (nephew of St. Louis, King of France, and son of Charles of Anjou, King of Naples), who renounced his succession and became Bishop of Toulouse, is commonly indicated as here, by fleur-de-lys upon a blue ground.

2607. A MAN WITH A MEDALLION.

Unknown (Flemish: 15-16th Century).

2608. VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH ANGELS.

Robert Campin (Early Flemish: died 1444).

Campin, a native of Hainault, settled at Tournai in about the year 1406, and quickly made a reputation, becoming painter-in-ordinary to the town. Between 1423 and 1428 there are records showing that he filled several offices in the Painters' Guild and amassed a considerable fortune. He had several apprentices; among them, Roger Van der Weyden (see 711), who was with him from 1426 to 1432. He made many designs for tapestry and seems to have been charged with the designing of all municipal art work in whatever kind (W. H. Weale, in the Burlington Magazine, vol. xi.).

2609. VIRGIN AND CHILD IN AN APARTMENT.

Campin (Early Flemish: died 1444).

The Virgin is of the same unlovely type as in the picture ascribed to Bouts, No. 2595. Behind her head is a screen of plaited straw.

2610. ANTOINE DE BOURBON.

Corneille de Lyons (French: 16th Century).

Two painters are catalogued under this name, father and son, who are sometimes distinguished as "Corneille le Grand" and "Corneille le Petit." The elder was a Flemish painter, who became naturalised in France in 1547. In 1540 he was appointed Painter to the Dauphin; in 1551, Painter to the King. He is mentioned in a poem of 1544, and in a deed of 1564. Several portraits in the Museum of Versailles and at Chantilly are ascribed to him. (See Henri Bouchot's Les Clouet et Corneille de Lyon.)

2611. A MAN IN BLACK.

Corneille de Lyons (French: 16th Century).

2612. LOUIS XI., KING OF FRANCE, 1423-1483.

2613. PHILIP AND MARGARET OF BURGUNDY.

Unknown (French: 15th Century).

These pictures are of the early Burgundian School.

2614. A LADY AS MARY MAGDALEN.

Unknown (French School: 15th Century).

Notice the pearl embroidery.

2615. MARY, QUEEN OF FRANCE.

Unknown (French School: 15th Century).

Formerly supposed to represent Mary Tudor, sister of Henry VIII., born in 1498.

2616. PORTRAIT OF A LADY.

2617. THE DUCHESS D'ANGOULÊME.

Unknown (French School: 15th Century).

2618. VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH ANGELS.

Unknown (French School: 15th Century).

Possibly by an artist of the Catalonian school.

2619. LANDSCAPE.

Nicolas Poussin (French: 1593-1665). See 39.

2620. THE HAPPY MOTHER.

Jean Honoré Fragonard (French: 1732-1806).

The only poets who seized the spirit of the France of the eighteenth century were, said the brothers Goncourt, two painters: Watteau and Fragonard. It was Fragonard, says Sir Claude Phillips, "whose frank passion, whose irresistible élan lighted up the decline of the century much as the imaginativeness of Watteau, his reticence and wistful charm even in the midst of voluptuousness, lighted up its first years. He is the Ovid of French painting." He was born at Grasse near Cannes; and the pupil, in Paris, first of Chardin and then of Boucher (see 1258, 1090). Having won the Prix de Rome in 1752, he travelled in Italy, drawing all the sights and monuments, and studying the old masters. The works of Tiepolo (see 1192) especially attracted him, and something of their brilliant, flashing bravura was to be characteristic of Fragonard himself. Soon after his return to Paris, a picture of "Coresus and Callirhoë" made a sensation in the Salon, and inspired what Lord Morley calls "an elaborate but not very felicitous criticism" by Diderot. Fragonard did not return, however, to compositions in the classical style; he found his métier, and a highly lucrative practice, in pictures of sentimental genre, audaciously amorous in subject, and of masterly grace and lightness in execution. Some of his most famous works in this sort are to be seen in the Wallace Collection. The beautifully decorative canvases, the "Roman d'Amour de la Jeunesse," which were exhibited in London in 1898 and are now in Mr. Pierpont Morgan's collection, were a commission from Madame du Barry, who, however, for reasons which have not been clearly explained, declined them. From Mademoiselle Guimard, the dancer, and queen of the monde galant, Fragonard had received a like commission; and the story is well known of the revenge taken by the painter when he threw up the task, and transformed his portrait of the lady as Terpsichore into Tisiphone. In 1794 Fragonard retired for security from the Terror to Grasse, and on his return to Paris he found his vogue gone. The Revolution had killed the taste for his amorous trifles. The reign of the Classical School of David had begun; and Fragonard died in comparative oblivion and poverty.

In 1769 Fragonard had married Marie Anne Gérard, the miniature painter; and to the succeeding years belong, says his biographer (the Baron de Portalis), many pictures of which the theme is the cradle. Our picture is of that kind.

2621. WILLOWS.

Charles François Daubigny (French: 1817-1878).

Daubigny was the youngest member of the "Barbizon" group; and, though he has artistic affinity with them, and regarded Corot as his master, he painted not in their chosen district, but on the banks of the Oise. His landscapes have not the poetry of Corot's, nor the force of Rousseau's; but they are more comfortable, as it were, and human. Corot's world might be inhabited by dryads; in Rousseau's landscapes man is subordinate or overpowered; Daubigny paints nature as the pleasant abode of human beings fond of the country—commons not too remote from a garden wall, the banks of pleasant streams where men may boat or fish. The country with him is full of fresh air. "There is a story told of a poor young man, afflicted with consumption, who coming suddenly before a work of Daubigny, exclaimed, 'Ah, I can breathe better now'" (Thomson's Barbizon School, p. 283).

Daubigny's life is in accord with what have been suggested above as characteristic notes of his art. He had no privations, storms, or struggles. He was born at Paris, in an artistic family; and as a youth assisted his father in painting boxes, clock-cases and the like. He was a delicate child, and had lived much with his nurse Bazot at Valmondois on the Oise, where too he afterwards spent many holidays and where in later years he made his home. At the age of 18 he went to Italy, where the pictures of Claude especially attracted him. On his return he was engaged for a time as a picture-restorer. He studied with Paul Delaroche, but struck out a line for himself in landscape pictures and etchings, and his works gradually found favour. He had a boat made for voyaging on the Oise and Seine, and this served as a floating studio. He built himself a house at Auvers on the Oise, which was decorated with paintings by Corot and other artist-friends. In 1866 he was invited by Leighton and others to visit England, and he exhibited at the Academy. In 1859 he had been made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, and in 1874 he was promoted to the grade of Officer. On his death-bed he said to those about him "Adieu; I am going to see above if friend Corot has found me any motifs for landscapes."

Sunset effect on a lake; with brilliant colours piercing through the trees to the water. Signed, and dated 1874.

2622. THE BANKS OF A RIVER.

Daubigny (French: 1817-1878). See 2621.

An earlier picture (signed, and dated 1859). The small house-boat or barge in the foreground may be the painter's floating studio, mentioned above.

2623. ALDERS.

2624. THE GARDEN WALL.

Daubigny (French: 1817-1878). See 2621.

2625. THE BENT TREE.

J. B. C. Corot (French: 1796-1875). See 2135.

This beautiful picture was formerly in the collection of the late Mr. Alexander Young, one of the earliest purchasers of Corots in England, and was generally considered the gem of his collection of works by that master. The writer of an account of the Young Collection calls attention, in describing this picture, to "the wonderful gradation of tones in the trees and foreground, the subtle beauty of the distant view, the massing and treatment of the trees against the luminous sky, the dignified restraint of the colour scheme" (Studio, vol. 39).

2626. THE WOOD GATHERER.

Corot (French: 1796-1875). See 2135.

Also from the Young Collection.

2627. EVENING ON THE LAKE.

Corot (French: 1796-1875). See 2135.

Formerly in the collection of Lord Leighton. That Corot liked the effect of trees stretching out a graceful arm across the water may be seen by comparing this picture with No. 2625.

2628. NOON.

2629. A FLOOD.

Corot (French: 1796-1875). See 2135.

2630. COWS STANDING IN A MARSH.

Corot (French: 1796-1875). See 2135.

How simple are the ingredients out of which Corot makes a picture! A marsh, two cows with a herdsman, and four willows; but all are suffused in a beautiful haze, and wrought into an exquisite harmony of tone and colour. Like all Corot's pictures, this should be seen from some little distance; the more it is observed, the more will its charm be felt.

2631. THE FISHERMAN'S HUT.

Corot (French: 1796-1875). See 2135.

An exquisite harmony in tender green and pink.

2632. THE STORM.

2633. COMMON WITH STORMY SUNSET.

Diaz (French: 1809-1876). See 2058.

2634. RIVER SCENE.

Jules Dupré (French: 1812-1889).

Dupré, the last of the romantic school of French landscape, the friend and the survivor by many years of Millet and Rousseau, was born at Nantes. He began by painting on china, in the studio at Sèvres of his uncle, Arsène Gillet, to whom also Diaz was at one time apprenticed. At the age of 22 he was already exhibiting at the Salon; and unlike other members of the group, he was well treated by the artistic powers of the day. During a visit to England he became acquainted with Constable. He lived at Isle-Adam near Paris.

2635. SUNSET AT AUVERGNE.

Théodore Rousseau (French: 1812-1867). See 2439.

2636. THE WHISPER.

Jean François Millet (French: 1814-1875).

Millet, the peasant painter of France, occupies an important place in the history of modern art. He heard, as he said, le cri de la terre; and it is this to which he gave expression in painting. Gambetta well described the characteristics of Millet and his great contemporary. Rousseau (see 2439) "revealed the forest; Millet was the painter of the seasons, the fields, and the peasants." Rousseau and others of the school were painters of the country, of work-a-day nature; Millet painted the country-labourers. He did not idealise them, but he showed, with deep poetry, the dignity of their labour. This is the spirit of the great pictures—"The Sower," "The Gleaners," "The Angelus," by which through engravings and other reproductions he is most widely known. The depth of impression which those works are found to make was the result of intense feeling and infinite pains on the part of the artist. "The Angelus" hung on the point of finish for many months. "I mean," he said, "I mean the bells to be heard sounding, and only natural truth of expression can produce the effect." When a visitor wanted to buy "The Sheepfold," Millet would not let it go. "It is not complete," he said; "you cannot hear the dog bark in there yet." The life and character of Millet were in accord with his work. He was born of peasant ancestry, and the boy grew up, as Mr. Henley says, "in an environment of toil, sincerity, and devoutness. He was fostered upon the Bible and the great book of nature." "Wake up, my little François," was his grandmother's morning salutation, "the birds have long been singing the glory of God." He learned Latin from the parish priest, and he soon became a student of Virgil. He followed his father out into the fields, and thenceforward, as became the eldest boy in a large family, worked hard at grafting and ploughing, sowing and reaping, scything and sheaving and planting, and all the many duties of husbandmen. The life he painted was the life he knew and had led. The spirit in which he painted it was that of his own reverent, and somewhat melancholy, temperament. In 1849 he moved from Paris to Barbizon, on the borders of the Forest of Fontainebleau, which henceforward was his home. "If you could but see," he wrote, "how beautiful the forest is! It is so calm, with such a terrible grandeur, that I feel myself really afraid in it." "The most joyful thing I know," he wrote in a letter of 1851, "is the peace, the silence that one enjoys in the woods or in the tilled lands. One sees a poor, heavily laden creature with a bundle of faggots advancing from a narrow path in the fields. The manner in which this figure comes suddenly before one is a momentary reminder of the fundamental condition of human life and toil. On the tilled land around, one watches figures hoeing and digging. One sees how this or that one rises and wipes away the sweat with the back of his hand. 'In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread.' Is that merry, enlivening work, as some people would like to persuade us? And yet it is here that I find the true humanity, the great poetry."

Like most innovators, Millet had to create the taste by which he was to be admired; and, though the tale of his struggles and poverty is sometimes exaggerated, he had many discouragements and times of difficulty. He was neither "classical" nor "romantic," and both of those schools of art looked askance at him. He was born at Gruchy, near Cherbourg; and till the age of 18 lived the life of a peasant. As there were then other sons to help on the farm, his father, who had long noticed the lad's artistic talent, took him to Cherbourg, where he received some instruction under Mouchel and Langlois successively, and where the Town Council gave him assistance in pursuing his studies. The death of his father recalled him for a while to the farm; but in 1837, at the age of 23, he went to Paris and entered the studio of Delaroche (see 1909). His studio-nickname was "The Man of the Woods." He tried to sell works in his own style, but found no market for them, and had to take instead to painting pastorals, etc., in the manner of Boucher and Watteau. He married in 1841; his wife died in 1844, and in 1845 he married again. For a time, he attained a certain vogue as a painter of the nude, and a classical picture of [OE]dipus in the Salon of 1847 attracted some attention. In 1849, as already said, he settled at Barbizon, and it is from 1850 onwards that his great works date. They did not sell, or they commanded very small prices. One was bought by his devoted friend, Rousseau; for "The Angelus" he received £100. Within 20 years of his death, it fetched £22,120 at public auction. But the reputation of Millet grew gradually in his lifetime, and in 1868 he was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. He is buried beside Rousseau at Chailly, near Barbizon.

This little "pastoral," in which a girl reclines on a rock, while a naked child whispers in her ear, belongs to the painter's earlier period.

2669. ST. CLEMENT AND DONOR.

Le Mâitre de Jean Perréal (French: 15th century).

Attributed to the master of Jean Perréal (called Jean de Paris, who lived about 1463-1529); painter to Louis XII.

St. Clement, in cope and mitre (as Bishop of Rome), rests his right hand on the shoulder of the Donor; and in his left hand carries an anchor (the emblem referring to the legend of the Saint having been cast into the sea bound to an anchor). Londoners are familiar with the emblem, as it surmounts the steeple of St. Clement Danes in the Strand.

2670. LADY HOLDING A ROSARY.

Unknown (Flemish: 16th century).

2671. A PIETÀ.

Francia (Bolognese: 1450-1517). See 179.

2672. A VENETIAN GENTLEMAN.

Alvise Vivarini (Venetian: painted 1461-1503). See 1872.

This striking and powerful portrait is signed by the artist on the parapet. It was formerly in the Bonomi-Cereda Collection at Milan (see Berenson's Lorenzo Lotto, p. 107).

2673. NARCISSUS.

Beltraffio (Lombard: 1467-1516). See 728.

This pretty little picture was shown at the Old Masters' Exhibition of 1870, where Ruskin noted it as an example of the phase in Italian art in which "pictorial perfectness and deliciousness" were sought before everything else (Works, xix. 444-5). "The same model reappears in the profile portrait of a youth (also in the character of Narcissus) in the Uffizi Gallery; again in a profile of San Sebastian in the Frizzoni Collection at Bergamo; and again in a profile drawing in the Louvre" (No. 47a at the Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1898).

2709. MOTHER AND CHILD.

2710. THE DRAWBRIDGE.

Jacob Maris (Dutch: 1837-1899).

Two small pictures by one of the principal masters of the modern Dutch School. Jacob Maris was born at The Hague. He studied in Paris under Hebert, and exhibited at the Salon from 1862 to 1872, when he returned to The Hague. His figure-studies show, says R. A. M. S., "a perception of the rich but quiet tissue of colour which wraps all Nature if you look at it broadly enough." In landscape he and his brother Matthew are the chief of modern Dutch painters.

2711. WATERING HORSES.

Anton Mauve (Dutch: 1838-1888).

Mauve, one of the favourite landscape-painters of the modern Dutch School, was born at Zaandam, the son of a Baptist minister. He studied art at Amsterdam; his pensive and peaceful landscapes, often combined with horses and other animals, rapidly became popular. "His colour," wrote W. E. Henley, "is quite his own. To a right sense of nature and a mastery of certain atmospheric effects, he unites a genuine strain of poetry. His treatment of animals is at once judicious and affectionate. He is careful to render them in relation to their aerial surroundings; but he has recognised that they too are creatures of character and sentiment, and he loves to paint them in their relations to each other and to man. The sentiment is never forced, the characterisation is never strained, the drama is never exorbitant; the proportions in which they are introduced are so nicely adjusted that the pictorial, the purely artistic qualities of the work are undiminished" (Edinburgh Exhibition Catalogue, 1886).

This picture is a good example of the luminous skies in which Mauve excelled. The sky shines, it has been said, even on a dull day (see an appreciation of Mauve by Frank Rutter in the Studio, vol. 42).

2712. THE INTERIOR OF HAARLEM CHURCH.

Johannes Bosboom (Dutch: 1817-1891).

A characteristic piece by a painter of architecture who "rendered very delicately the play of sunbeams in the interior of picturesque churches, and warm effects of light in large halls and dusky corners" (Muther).

2713. THE PHILOSOPHER.

Joseph Israels (Dutch: 1824-1911).

Joseph Israels, the head of the modern Dutch School and a painter of world-wide reputation, has been called "The Dutch Millet," and "a modern Rembrandt"; and the phrases serve to indicate his characteristics, and his place in the development of modern art. He essayed to do what Rembrandt had done triumphantly two centuries before: to paint "not accidents, but life itself." He made in Dutch art the same departure that Millet made in French: he turned from conventional themes and motives to the life around him. Like Millet, Israels made a false start in art. He went to Paris in 1845, entered the École des Beaux-Arts, showing "Achilles and Patroclus" as his probationary drawing, and on his return to Amsterdam in 1848 began to paint, as Delaroche had taught him, "historical" scenes, Calabrian brigands, and other subjects in "the grand style." His health broke down, and he was ordered change of scene. At Zandvoort, a small fishing village near Haarlem, he found his Barbizon. "He lodged with a ship's carpenter, took part in all the usages of his house-mates, and began to perceive amid these new surroundings that the events of the present are capable of being painted, that the sorrows of the poor are as deep as the tragical fate of ancient heroes, that everyday life is as poetic as any historical subject, and that nothing suggests richer moods of feeling than the interior of a fishing-hut, bathed in tender light and harmonious in colour. This residence of several months in a distant little village led him to discover his calling, and determined his future career" (Muther). He was a devoted Jew, with a deep interest in the life and character of those of his race who abound in Holland. Among them, and among the Dutch toilers of the sea, he found his vocation, in painting the tragedy, the pathos, or the simple domestic joys of humble working folk. He did this with a technical mastery and with rare insight. His power of pathetic expression is remarkable; and over his work a spirit of soft tenderness is suffused. Many, perhaps most, of his pictures are sombre, but he had an eye for youth and hope, as well as age and sorrow, and few artists have painted children with so much sympathy. His method is broad and simple; his pictures having unity of effect, and telling their own story with great directness.

Joseph Israels was born at Gröningen, in the north of Holland, and for a time was occupied in his father's business as a money-changer, but he was encouraged to draw. In 1844 he went to Amsterdam, and entered the studio of Jan Kruseman. Then, as already related, came his student-years in Paris, and his false start as an historical painter. In 1855 he was represented at the Paris Exhibition by an historical picture of the Prince of Orange. In 1857 he showed at the Salon "Children by the Sea" and "Evening on the Beach." This change of subject marks the true start in an artistic career which was continuously successful, and which was prolonged into extreme old age. In 1862 his picture of "The Shipwrecked Mariner" (see below, 2732) created a sensation at the International Exhibition in London. In 1863 he married and settled down in a house midway between The Hague and Scheveningen, facing the canal. "Here the boats with their loads of herrings pass slowly along, so that the painter has only to look out of the front windows of his house in order to see the very men and women, the boats and towing-ropes, that figure in his canvases. His work is done in a studio in his garden; here he has a glass house, in which he paints his open-air figures, and has likewise fitted up a corner of an old Dutch cottage, so that open-air scenes and interiors may be as lifelike as it is possible for an artist to render them. As you enter this studio, you perceive a little old gentleman at work, dressed in a brown velvet coat. His hair is silvery white, and his somewhat pale face is lit up with the kindliest of smiles. He speaks five or six languages in the pleasantest voice imaginable, and English is one of them."

Personally, Israels was one of the most breezy of men, full of life and vigour, genial and accessible: "as fresh in mind as a youngster in his teens, as versatile as he is amiable, able and always ready to talk on every conceivable subject of interest, ever contributing some caustic and pointed comment, yet never assuming the dictatorial and self-opinionated manner which genius often considers itself privileged to adopt. His modesty, his unfailing amiability to all, young and old, distinguished and insignificant, have served to endear Joseph Israels to all who come in contact with him. He does not care to talk much about his own achievements, but he is less reticent about those of his son Isaac, who, he declares, is a greater artist than himself." These personalia are quoted from notices which appeared in connection with the artist's 75th birthday (in the Daily News and in Israel). He had still twelve years of life; and "his was the rare satisfaction of the man who, beginning in advance of his time, creates his own public, and sees it growing stronger, larger, and more devoted as he passes from youth to middle life and thence to extreme old age. He was not consciously the founder of a school, but he had many close followers, and the modern Dutch painters, who are now so fashionable, owe their fundamental ideas to him" (Times, Aug. 15, 1911).

There are passages in Browning's Grammarian's Funeral which will suggest themselves to many readers as they study this picture of an old student writing by the light of a single candle. The picture may be compared with an earlier Dutch one of a like subject—"The Philosopher," by Bega (1481).

2714. GRANDFATHER'S BIRTHDAY.

Isabey (French: 1804-1886).

Eugène Gabriel Isabey (by whom there are several pictures in the Wallace Collection) was born in Paris, the son of the celebrated miniature-painter, Jean-Baptiste Isabey. He first appeared as a genre painter; and "amid the group of Classicists of his time, he had (says Dr. Muther) the effect of a beautiful patch of colour." He afterwards took to sea painting, having in 1830 accompanied the French expedition to Algiers as marine draughtsman.

A characteristic example of the elegant facility with which the painter rendered scenes involving gay attire.

2715. FISH MARKET, DIEPPE.

Isabey (French: 1804-1886).

2723, 2724. LANDSCAPES.

Ascribed to G. Poussin (French: 1613-1675). See 31.

These landscapes, only recently included in the official numbering of the collection, were presented by Mr. P. Pusey in 1849.

2725. CHRIST BLESSING.

Benedetto Diana (Venetian: died 1525).

"If Benedetto be the painter of the fine picture of 'Christ at Emmaus,' in the church of St. Salvatore, Venice, still attributed in the guidebooks to Giovanni Bellini, he must have been an artist of no ordinary merit, and one who gradually, from an unpromising commencement of his artistic career, attained a high place among the followers of the master. A half-length figure, larger than life, of the Saviour in the act of blessing, signed with the painter's name, in private possession at Venice, although in a very damaged condition, has a grand and impressive character not unworthy of Bellini, to whom, as to other Venetian masters of note, many works by Diana in sundry collections are ascribed. He was employed with the two Bellini and Alvise Vivarini in decorating the hall of the Ducal Palace" (Layard's ed. of Kugler, 1887, p. 333).

2727. LE PONT DE LA TOURNELLE, PARIS.

Stanislas Lapine (French: 1836-1892).

Born at Caen; studied under Corot; exhibited at the Salon from 1859.

The Church of Notre Dame in the middle distance.

2731. LANDSCAPE.

W. Buitenweg (Dutch: 1590-1630).

William Buitenweg, or Buytewech, best known for his landscape drawings, was born at Rotterdam; married at Haarlem in 1613, and in 1625 returned to Rotterdam.

2732. THE SHIPWRECKED MARINER.

Joseph Israels (Dutch: 1824-1911). See 2713.

This celebrated picture—one by which the master often said he would like to be judged—created a great sensation at the International Exhibition of 1862. It was, said one critic, the most moving picture in the exhibition; before it, said another, crowds daily linger. The storm has passed, the waves have subsided, the greyish-black thunderclouds have vanished, and greenish, pallid sky smiles upon the earth once more. But upon the waves a shattered boat still rocks, and men and women and children have come down to see what victim may have been cast up by the tide—"For men must work, and women must weep, Though storms be sudden, and waters deep, And the harbour bar be moaning." Two fishermen reverently bear home the body of their dead comrade. His disconsolate wife and two awestruck children walk in front, and his old mother beside him. A man with a boat-hook, a woman pointing to the wreck on the reef, and others follow the procession, in the rear of which is the pathetic figure of a dog.

2757. TARTARUS: A SATIRICAL DESIGN.

James Callot (French: 1593-1635).

"A curious and fantastic composition (in Indian ink), by a celebrated engraver and draughtsman, in which it would seem that the artist intended to satirise the ecclesiastic factions rife in France during the minority of Louis XIII. Under the vault of a huge cave, round the upper part of which evil spirits and harpies are sporting, several figures are grouped. In the centre of the foreground two Jesuits are derided by demons. On the right, Cerberus, chained to a rock, guards the entrance to Hell, while an armed warrior (Louis XIII.) stands near with his back to the spectator. On the left is Death, surrounded by his victims and the Vices. In the middle distance Charon is crossing the Styx with his boat full of passengers, whom a crowd on the shore vainly endeavour to join. Beyond are represented the tortures of the condemned, among whom Ixion, Tityus, the Danaides, and other mythological personages are conspicuous. The armorial bearings introduced on the lower edge of the drawing are supposed to be those of M. de Boyer of Baudot, who is said to have suggested the design" (Director's Report, 1884). The artist's independence of character is recorded in a familiar anecdote. He was witness to the siege and capitulation of his native town, Nancy, in 1633, and the French king called on him to engrave a plate commemorative of the occurrence. When he declined, some of the courtiers are said to have remarked to the artist that there were means to make him comply. He replied that he would sooner cut off his right hand than employ it in such a work; a speech which, being reported to the king, led him to say that the Dukes of Lorraine were fortunate in the possession of such subjects.

2758. A SQUALL FROM THE WEST.

Louis Eugène Boudin (French: 1825-1898). See 2078.

2759. STORMY LANDSCAPE.

George Michel (French: 1763-1843). See 2258.

2764. A FAMILY GROUP.

Ascribed to Jan Vermeer (Dutch: 1632-1675).

This picture once formed part of No. 1699; the right arm of the seated child and the tablecloth here are continued there.

2767. THE SEA.

Gustave Courbet (French: 1819-1877).

Courbet is famous in the history of modern French painting as the first of the "realists"; he is the Caravaggio of France, full of force and vigour, but often somewhat coarse and brutal. His landscapes and seapieces will probably be esteemed more highly by posterity than his realistic works. He was, says Dr. Muther, "the first French painter of sea-pieces, who had a feeling for the sombre majesty of the sea. His very quietude is expressive of majesty; his peace is imposing, his smile grave; and his caress is not without a menace." Courbet was a revolutionary in politics, as in art. In September 1870 he was appointed Director of the Fine Arts by the Provisional Government, and he afterwards joined the Commune. He was instrumental in saving many works of art, but he ordered the destruction of the Column in the Place Vendôme. For this he was brought before a court-martial and sentenced to six months' imprisonment. Afterwards, in a civil action, he was cast in heavy damages; his furniture and pictures were sold; and he retired to Switzerland. He died at La Tour, Vevay, a ruined man.

2790. THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI.

Mabuse (Flemish: about 1470-1541). See 656.

This famous picture was acquired for the National Gallery from Rosalind, Countess of Carlisle, in 1911, for £42,776.[262] The picture was painted in about the year 1500 for the Abbey of Grammont in East Flanders. In 1600 it was bought for 2000 florins by the Archduke Albert to decorate the high altar of the Court Chapel in Brussels. A story which is recorded of it in those days is a tribute to its bright attractiveness. During Lent it used to be concealed by the hanging in front of it of a picture of the Crucifixion as less likely to interfere with the penitential thoughts proper to the season. In the 18th century the picture passed into the collection of Prince Charles of Lorraine, Governor-General of the Netherlands, and thence into that of the fifth Earl of Carlisle. For more than a century it remained at Castle Howard, and many connoisseurs who saw it there wrote of it as one of the chief art-treasures of Great Britain. "I do not think," wrote W. Bürger (Thoré), "that there is anywhere else a picture by Mabuse so brilliant, so well preserved, so capital as the Adoration of the Kings, belonging to the Earl of Carlisle." "For variety of character, glow of colour, and finished execution, quite unsurpassed," said Mrs. Jameson of it.

The pride of the artist himself in his work is shown by the fact that he has signed his name upon it in two places—i.e. on the head-dress of Balthasar, the black king, and on the metal collar of his attendant. The signature Jennin Gossart (diminutive, Little John), was that under which Mabuse was inscribed as a member of the Guild of St. Luke at Antwerp. In the history of Flemish art the picture is of interest as one of the last works painted before the "Italianising" influence became marked. It is one of the finest specimens of Mabuse's first period (see under 656); but it will be noticed that the architecture of the ruin is no longer Gothic, but already shows the influence of the Renaissance. The picture is after 400 years in perfect preservation. It has an artistic unity, for the parts are subordinated to the whole; but it is full of incident, which adds not a little to its attractiveness and curious interest.

The Adoration of the Magi affords a remarkable instance of the way in which the Bible text, first expounded by Church legends, was then embroidered by the painters; and this example of "evolution in art" may be studied very fully in the National Gallery, which contains pictures of the subject painted in various schools and at various periods. The starting-point of the whole development is the second chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel where it is related that "wise men came from the East to Jerusalem"; that a star guided them to Bethlehem; and that "when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down and worshipped him; and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts—gold, and frankincense, and myrrh." Legend set itself to work on this narrative. The Wise Men, it was decided, were three in number; and the Psalmist's prediction—"the Kings of Tarshish and of the Isles shall bring presents, the Kings of Sheba and Saba shall offer gifts"—showed that the Magi were kings. Later writers identified their realms as Tarsus, Saba, and Nubia; whence one of the kings is commonly represented as a Moor or Nubian. Their names also became known—Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar. Further developments of the legend—how their remains were discovered by the Empress Helena at Constantinople, and taken by Milan to Cologne—do not here concern us; it will be seen that by the time art was ready to take up the story, the painters had much material around which to let their fancy play.

The earlier painters in each school treated the story simply. Then as technical resources increased, and artistic effect rather than mere religious instruction became the motive, the theme was ever more and more expanded, until it became the most gorgeously rendered of all the Gospel scenes. Many readers will remember the severe and simple treatment of the subject by Giotto in the Arena Chapel at Padua; with which may be compared in our gallery Orcagna's small picture (574). If the visitor after looking at that will turn to the splendid pageant (1033), with its seventy figures, by Botticelli (or Filippino Lippi), he will see at a glance how the theme became embroidered and enlarged. The picture by Fra Angelico (582) represents an intermediate stage. A similar contrast may be noted in the Flemish room. The picture attributed to David (1079) is simple, earnest, and homely; far less gorgeous and various than the Mabuse. The fact is that, in the more elaborate pictures of the subject, it was taken as an excuse or occasion for displaying whatever elements of pomp or circumstance appealed to the individual artist. Thus Peruzzi (167 and 218) elaborates the architecture and the horses, and introduces portraits. The Tuscans made out of the subject a Florentine pageant. Mabuse's picture is interesting, amongst other reasons, as a kind of epitome of the arts and crafts of his time. Note, for instance, the cups and chalices in which the kings bring their presents; their jewelled robes and head-dresses; and, for a minor detail, the pretty bag worn by the Black King's page: it might well be copied for a lady's reticule to-day.

No less remarkable than the variety of treatment in pictures of the Magi is the large measure of uniformity of type which may be found in them all. A few remarks on these common elements, which were for the most part symbolic, will serve the double purpose of directing attention to further details in Mabuse's picture and of connecting it with other examples in the Gallery. The scene of the drama is in the earliest pictures a stable or a shed; in the later, it is almost invariably the ruins of a temple or other ancient building—a symbol of the triumph of Christianity over paganism. The ox and the ass will be noticed among the ruins here, and the shepherds are seen approaching. The idea is to mark the event as a manifestation alike to the Jews (the shepherds) and to the Gentiles (the Magi). Angels hover above, singing the "Gloria in Excelsis," and the composition is crowned by the Star with the Dove. The background almost invariably includes a mountainous landscape, through which the retinue of the kings may be discerned winding its way—a reminder that they journeyed from a far country. This is a feature, indicated sufficiently by Mabuse, which may be seen more emphasised in the picture by Foppa (729). The Kings are nearly always shown as old, middle-aged, and young respectively, and one of them is black: when the Gentiles were called to salvation, all ages, continents, and races were included. In Mabuse's picture the equality of the races is emphasised in a further way; the Black King, conspicuous on the left, has his train borne by a white page. The eldest of the kings offers a vase of gold, out of which Christ has taken a piece, which He holds in His hand. The king uncovers his head. "To most mediæval painters the Adoration envisages itself essentially as an act of feudal homage." Conspicuous in the foreground are two dogs. "The one on the right," says the Official Catalogue, "is similar to a dog by Albert Dürer in his engraving of St. Eustace, that on the left is reversed from a print by Martin Schongauer." The dog is often thus included in the "Adoration"; as, for instance, in one of the earliest (Orcagna, 574) and in one of the latest (Peruzzi, 218) of our versions; and everybody will have noticed how frequently in other religious pictures also the dog is introduced. "This custom of putting either the dog, or some inferior animal, to be either in contrast, or modest companionship, with the nobleness of human form and thought, is," says Ruskin, "a piece of what may be called mental comparative anatomy, which has its beginning very far back in art" (Eagle's Nest, ch. 8; see also Modern Painters, vol. v. pt. ix. chs. 3, 6). The place of Joseph in the scene differs a good deal in different pictures, for the early legends varied. Orcagna (574) shows him receiving one of the presents from the hands of the Child: he plays, as it were, the part of royal treasurer or chamberlain. Dosso Dossi (640) shows him kneeling in the background. In the present picture he stands, in a red dress, under an archway, listening devoutly to the heavenly harmony. All the figures in Mabuse's picture (there are some thirty) will repay examination. The Virgin's expression is well given; and, as a study in contrasts, the reverent figures behind the kneeling king may be compared with the man on the extreme left who, catching hold of a pillar, is leaning out in curiosity to see the sights. There is much other detail which might be described—the plants, for instance, in the foreground and on the ruins; but enough has been said to indicate the wealth and variety of interest which is to be found in this picture.

2856. A CAVALIER AND A LADY.

Pieter Quast (Dutch: 1606-1647).

Quast was a painter and engraver of The Hague; his pictures are in the style of Brouwer and Isaac van Ostade.

2862. ST. JOHN GUALBERTO.

Lorenzo Monaco (Florentine: 1370-1425). See 1897.

This picture represents St. John Gualberto, the Florentine (died 1073), establishing the Order of the Vallombrosans, whose proper habit is of a pale ash colour. He was Abbot of San Miniato, from which he retired to Vallombrosa, establishing there the Order called after the place of its original home.

2863. VIRGIN AND CHILD, WITH ANGELS.

School of Benozzo Gozzoli (Florentine: 1420-1497). See 283.

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