A Popular Handbook to the National Gallery, Volume I, Foreign Schools

Volume 1 — NUMERICAL CATALOGUE, WITH BIOGRAPHICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE NOTES (continued 10)

Reading edition

802. VIRGIN AND CHILD.

Bartolommeo Montagna (Venetian: about 1450-1523).

Montagna was born near Brescia, and worked at Vicenza, but must have studied at Venice.[185] "He is entitled," says Kugler, "to a much higher place among the painters of the last part of the fifteenth century than that hitherto accorded to him. His art is distinct in character, with a firm outline and a bold, sure hand; his colour is low but rich, bright, and gem-like. He gives a grand, dignified expression and pose to his figures; his draperies are generally arranged in broad folds, and his landscape backgrounds, although minute, frequently denote an original and poetical fancy." His best work is the great altar-piece now in the Brera at Milan, a picture worthy to rank with those of the same kind by Bellini and Carpaccio. Other important works by Montagna are in the Public Gallery of Bergamo, in the Museo Civico at Vicenza, and in the Pilgrimage Church on Monte Berico, near Vicenza.

This picture is ascribed by some critics to Giovanni Speranza, a painter of Vicenza contemporary with Montagna.

803. THE CIRCUMCISION OF CHRIST.

Marco Marziale (Venetian: painted 1499-1507).

Marco was one of the assistants engaged to work under Giovanni Bellini in the decoration of the Ducal Palace. Whilst Bellini received sixty ducats a year, Marco received only twenty-four. Nothing else is known about his career. Of his works, which are very rare, the best are in our Gallery.

An example which shows what wealth of interest there is in the National Collection. It is only by a second-rate painter of the Venetian school; but no picture in the Gallery is richer than this in decorative design. Note first the varied and beautifully-designed patterns in the mosaics of the church—recalling one of the domes of St. Mark's. Then the lectern, covered with a cloth, and the delicately-embroidered border, wrought in sampler stitch, deserve close examination. The cushion above this, and the tassels, formed of three pendent tufts of silk hung on to a gold embroidered ball, offer good decorative suggestions to the trimming manufacturer. Attached to the front of the lectern is a label or "cartellino," setting forth that "Marco Marziale the Venetian, by command of that magnificent knight and jurisconsult, the learned Thomaseo R., made this picture in the year 1500." As it is probable that this was the first important commission Marco ever obtained on his own account, there is little wonder that he wrought the record so elaborately. This "Thomaseo R." was Raimondi, a knight of the order of Jerusalem—a man of considerable note in Cremona as a lawyer and poet. His portrait occupies the forefront of the right-hand corner of the picture, his set features recalling the lawyer rather than the poet. It is his mantle, however, which best repays notice—a sumptuous robe of raised red velvet, such a fabric as Venice was then winning industrial renown by weaving. The very pretty pattern is of the so-called "pomegranate form," and occurs also on the mantle of the donor's wife, who occupies a corresponding position on the left-hand side of the picture. In the South Kensington Museum there is a remnant of Italian silk brocade of this pattern (in the Bock collection). The robe of the High Priest is also evidently taken by the painter from a silk robe, and is very rich. The design, in which the wild pink is largely introduced, is unique. Ruskin had a wall-paper made for him in 1872 copied from this robe: it has ever since been used for the walls of the drawing-room and study at Brantwood. "It will thus be seen that this one picture brings before us a great number of suggestions in design for various technic arts; at least half a dozen patterns exist in the ornaments of the mosaic work of the vaults; five or six patterns of embroidered or woven borders will be found in it, as many designs for diapered or other surface decoration, examples of beaten metal-work and of bookbinding, besides the carved wood lectern." For notice of other points, see further the interesting article by G. T. Robinson in the Art Journal, June 1886, and cp. Vacher's Italian Ornament, No. 24.

804. MADONNA AND CHILD ENTHRONED.

Marco Marziale (Venetian: painted 1499-1507). See 803.

This picture was painted seven years later (1507) than 803, which it resembles in the bright mosaics of the vault and the interesting design on the robe of the bishop on the left. Notice the little angel playing the mandoline on the steps of the throne, characteristic of the earlier Venetian painters.

805. PEELING PEARS.

Teniers (Flemish: 1600-1694). See 154.

806. THE PROCESSION TO CALVARY.

Boccaccio Boccaccino (Cremonese: about 1460-1525).

Boccaccino was a native of Cremona, where many of his works are still preserved. "All that is best in his art," says Morelli, "he derived from the school of the Bellini." In the Venetian Academy is a beautiful "mystic marriage of St. Catherine" which is signed by him. He is a painter, says Kugler, "of very distinct individuality, and may be easily recognised by the peculiar type and expression of his figures, and especially by his women, who generally have much grace and beauty. One of his characteristics is a light-grey eye with a dark rim." This picture is "not characteristic of Boccaccino's manner, and is probably by another hand" (ii. 389).

For some remarks on the subject of this picture see under 1143.

807. MADONNA AND CHILD ENTHRONED.

Carlo Crivelli (Venetian: painted 1468-1493). See 602.

This picture (like 724) is signed by "Sir Charles": it is dated 1491. It bears the painter's sign-manual also in the fruits and the vase of flowers. The giver of the picture (which was dedicated to the Virgin, and which, as recorded in a Latin inscription below, cost no inconsiderable sum) is kneeling, in the habit of a Dominican nun, at the foot of the throne. On the Madonna's left is St. Sebastian, pierced with arrows and tied to a pillar, but with the happy look of "sorrow ended" on his face. On her right is St. Francis. Near his feet are some flowers and a snail—typical of the kindness and humbleness of the saint, of whom it is recorded that "he spoke never to bird nor to cicala, nor even to wolf and beast of prey, but as his brother," and who thus taught the lesson "Never to blend our pleasure, or our pride, With sorrow of the meanest thing that feels" (Wordsworth).

808. ST. PETER MARTYR.

Giovanni Bellini[186] (Venetian: 1426-1516). See 189.

See also (p. xx)

A fancy portrait of a jolly comfortable-looking Dominican monk—a faithful portrait doubtless. His face is painted as it really was, "wart and all," but it has pleased him to be represented in the character of Peter, a famous member of his order (see under 812).

809. THE HOLY FAMILY.

Michael Angelo (Florentine: 1475-1564). See 790.

The Virgin mother is seen withholding from the child Saviour the prophetic writings in which His sufferings are foretold. Angelic figures beside them examine a scroll—

Turn not the prophet's page, O Son! He knew All that Thou hast to suffer and hath writ. Not yet Thine hour of knowledge. Infinite The sorrows that thy manhood's lot must rue And dire acquaintance of Thy grief. That clue The spirits of Thy mournful ministerings, Seek through yon scroll in silence. For these things The angels have desired to look into. Still before Eden waves the fiery sword,— Her Tree of Life unransomed: whose sad tree Of Knowledge yet to growth of Calvary Must yield its Tempter,—Hell the earliest dead Of Earth resign,—and yet, O Son and Lord, The Seed o' the woman bruise the serpent's head.

D. G. Rossetti: Sonnets and Ballads.[187]

This picture was at one time attributed to Domenico Ghirlandajo; and Signor Frizzoni now attributes it to Granacci. But, says Sir Edward Poynter, "the beauty of the figures, the nobility of the heads, and the fine qualities of drawing and modelling stamp it as the work of the great master himself." "In my judgment," says Symonds (Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti, i. 65), "this is the most beautiful of the easel pictures attributed to Michelangelo.... Florentine painters had been wont to place attendant angels at both sides of their enthroned Madonnas. But their angels were winged and clothed like acolytes; the Madonna was seated on a rich throne or under a canopy, with altar-candles, wreaths of roses, flowering lilies. It is characteristic of Michelangelo to adopt a conventional motive, and to treat it with brusque originality. In this picture there are no accessories to the figures, and the attendant angels are Tuscan lads half draped in succinct tunics. The types have not been chosen with regard to ideal loveliness or dignity, but accurately studied from living models. This is very obvious in the heads of Christ and St. John. The two adolescent genii on the right hand possess a high degree of natural grace. Yet even here what strikes one most is the charm of their attitude, the lovely interlacing of their arms and breasts, the lithe alertness of the one lad contrasted with the thoughtful leaning languor of his comrade. Only perhaps in some drawings of combined male figures made by Ingres, for his picture of the 'Golden Age,' have lines of equal dignity and simple beauty been developed."

810. PARDON DAY IN BRITTANY.

Charles Poussin (French: born 1819).

M. Pierre Charles Poussin, a pupil of L. Cogniet, was an exhibitor at the French Salon from 1842 to 1882. Many of his pictures were, like this one, of scenes in Brittany.

The scene is that of a fête held in honour of Notre Dame de Bon Secours of Guingamp in Brittany, on the 2nd of July in every year. Pope Paul V. in 1619 granted a plenary indulgence to all persons "who truly confessed and communicated, who shall visit the said church of Notre Dame de Guingamp on the day and fête of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which it is the custom every year to celebrate on the 2nd day of July; who shall devotionally pray for the preservation of concord and peace among all Christian princes; who shall render hospitality to the poor pilgrims; who shall make peace with their enemies, and shall promote it amongst others—shall, in short, sweetly bring into the way of salvation some unfortunate and erring soul." An English visitor published a long account of the fête in the Standard of July 5 and following days in 1870, describing "the frank but sedate festivity and merry-making under the trees." That was twenty years after this picture was painted.

811. TOBIAS AND THE ANGEL.

Salvator Rosa (Neapolitan: 1615-1673). See under 84.

For the subject of Tobias, who is in the water holding the fish, see 781. The wild rocky landscape conveys a general sense of savage power. Salvator, says Ruskin, is "a good instance of vicious execution, dependent on too great fondness for sensations of power, vicious because intrusive and attractive in itself, instead of being subordinate to the results and forgotten in them" (Modern Painters, vol. i. pt. i. sec. ii. ch. ii. § 9).

812. THE DEATH OF ST. PETER MARTYR.

Giovanni Bellini[188] (Venetian: 1426-1516). See 189.

"Peter Martyr was general of the Dominicans in 1252, a most powerful person in the Holy Inquisition, and a violent persecutor for what he deemed the true faith, which made him many inveterate enemies. There was one family in particular which he had treated with excessive cruelty, and their relations, who were in the army, were so enraged by Peter's barbarity that they resolved to revenge themselves.... Having been informed that he was to make a visit to a distant province in pursuit of some wretched heretics, who had been denounced to the inquisition, they lay in wait for him in a wood, through which they knew he must pass, in company with one person, a friar of his convent; here they attacked him, cleft his skull with a sabre, and left him dead on the spot" (Mrs. Jameson; Handbook to the Public Galleries, 1842, i. 70).

This picture, one of the painter's latest works, is interesting, first, for its skill in landscape. It is a true piece of local scenery that Bellini paints,—"all Italian in masses of intricate wood and foliage, in plain, mountain, and buildings, and glowing, not under direct sunshine, but with the soft suffusion of southern light" (Layard, i. 312). It is, says Ruskin, one of the six most beautiful landscapes in the earlier mediæval art, of the "purist" school, "being wholly felicitous and enjoyable." Every leaf is painted with loving care, and Bellini treats the incident in the foreground as "entirely cheerful and pleasing; it does not disturb or even surprise him, much less displease in the slightest degree." "You see in a moment the main characteristic of the school,—that it mattered not in the least to John, and that he doesn't expect it to matter to you, whether people are martyred or not, so long as one can make a pretty grey of their gown, and a nice white of their sleeves, and infinite decoration of forest leaves behind, and a divine picture at last out of all. Everything in the world was done and made only that it might be rightly painted—that is the true master's creed" (Verona and its Rivers, § 27, and Lectures on Landscape, pp. 22, 65, 73).[189] Notice, further, Bellini's compliance, as far as the subject admitted, with one of the conditions of the greatest art, "serenity in state or action." "You are to be interested in the living creatures; not in what is happening to them.... It is not possible, of course, always literally to observe this condition, that there shall be quiet action or none; but Bellini's treatment of violence in action you may see exemplified in a notable way in his "St. Peter Martyr." The soldier is indeed striking the sword down into his breast; but in the face of the Saint is only resignation and faintness of death, not pain—that of the executioner is impassive; and while a painter of the later schools would have covered breast and sword with blood, Bellini allows no stain of it; but pleases himself with most elaborate and exquisite painting of a soft crimson feather in the executioner's helmet" (Relation between Michael Angelo and Tintoret, p. 16).

814. DUTCH BOATS IN A CALM.

P. J. Clays (Belgian: 1818-1900).

Paul Jean Clays was a native of Bruges. He studied art in Paris under Gudin, and afterwards settled at Brussels, where in 1851 he received a gold medal. He frequently exhibited at the French Salon, and was a chevalier of the Legion of Honour as well as of the Order of Leopold. For a long time, says a French critic, "the sea, or rather the water, has had no interpreter more exact than Clays: he knows its clearness, and he knows how to render the little noisy waves, all bathed in light." "He does not paint the sea," says another, "but the Scheldt where it widens, and those gray and light waters that bear you on a steamer from Moerdyk to Rotterdam. With a profound feeling for these things he expresses the humidity of the skies of Western Flanders, the sleep of the calmed waters, or the caressing, and sometimes menacing, of the breeze which makes the little uneasy waves stride around the barges loaded to the brim." Some of his pictures have fetched very large prices—one having sold in New York for £3550 (Miss Clement and Laurence Hutton: Artists of the Nineteenth Century).

815. DUTCH BOATS AT FLUSHING.

P. J. Clays (Belgian: 1818-1900). See 814.

816. THE INCREDULITY OF ST. THOMAS.

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

A picture interesting among other things for its history. It is signed and dated (1504), and was painted as a commission for a religious fraternity, for the altar of their patron saint, St. Thomas, in the church of St. Francesco at Portogruario (near Conegliano). The price paid for it was equal to about £17 sterling, at that time representing a considerable sum. The account of its cost and of a law-suit instituted by the painter against the fraternity is still preserved. For 328 years it remained in its original place; it was then removed by the local authorities, and in 1870 was sold to our Government. When bought it "was greatly disfigured by various repaints, and was otherwise in bad condition. Judicious cleaning and restoration (by Mr. Wm. Dyer) have brought out its fine qualities. The heads are highly expressive, and some of the figures ... of great dignity" (Layard, i. 325).

817. TENIERS'S COUNTRY-SEAT AT PERCK.

Teniers (Flemish: 1600-1694). See 154.

"A perfect type of the Unromantic Art which was assailed by the gentle enthusiasm of the English School of Landscape. It represents a few ordinary Dutch houses, an ordinary Dutch steeple or two, some still more ordinary Dutch trees, and most ordinary Dutch clouds, assembled in contemplation of an ordinary Dutch duck-pond; or, perhaps, in respect of size, we may more courteously call it a goose-pond. All these objects are painted either gray or brown, and the atmosphere is of the kind which looks not merely as if the sun had disappeared for the day, but as if he had gone out altogether, and left a stable lantern instead. The total effect having appeared, even to the painter's own mind, at last little exhilatory, he has enlivened it by three figures on the brink of the goose-pond—two gentlemen and a lady,—standing all three perfectly upright, side by side, in court dress, the gentlemen with expansive boots, and all with conical hats and high features. In order to invest those characters with dramatic interest, a rustic fisherman presents to them, as a tribute,—or, perhaps, exhibits as a natural curiosity,—a large fish, just elicited from the goose-pond by his adventurous companions, who have waded into the middle of it, every one of them, with singular exactitude, up to the calf of his leg" (Art of England, pp. 209, 211). The group on the left comprise the painter and his wife, another lady, and his son.

818. COAST SCENE.

Bakhuizen (Dutch: 1631-1708). See 204.

819. OFF THE MOUTH OF THE THAMES.

Bakhuizen (Dutch: 1631-1708). See 204.

On representations of rough weather by this painter and Vandevelde, Ruskin writes as follows: "If one could but arrest the connoisseurs in the fact of looking at them with belief, and, magically introducing the image of a true sea-wave, let it roll up through the room,—one massive fathom's height and rood's breadth of brine, passing them by but once,—dividing, Red-Sea like, on right hand and left,—but at least setting close before their eyes, for once in inevitable truth, what a sea-wave really is; its green mountainous giddiness of wrath, its overwhelming crest—heavy as iron, fitful as flame, clashing against the sky in long cloven edge,—its furrowed flanks all ghastly clear, deep in transparent death, but all laced across with lurid nets of spume, and tearing open into meshed interstices their churned veil of silver fury, showing still the calm gray abyss below; that has no fury and no voice, but is as a grave always open, which the green sighing mounds do but hide for an instant as they pass. Would they, shuddering back from this wave of the true, implacable sea, turn forthwith to the papillotes? It might be so. It is what we are all doing, more or less, continually" (Harbours of England, p. 19). In default of the actual sea-wave, the visitor may be recommended to look next at Turner's rough seas (472 and 476). Such a comparison will show how much of the roughness in the Dutch pictures is due to mere blackness, how little to any terror in the forms of the waves, such as Turner depicts.

820. LANDSCAPE WITH RUIN.

Berchem (Dutch: 1620-1683). See 78.

821. A FAMILY GROUP.

Gonzales Coques (Flemish: 1618-1684).

In spite of his Spanish-sounding name, this artist was a pure Fleming. He was born at Antwerp and appears never to have left his native town. His father, whose surname was Cocx, gave the child the name of Gonzalvus: these names the painter afterwards changed to Gonzales Coques. His first master was Peter Breughel (the third painter of that name). He afterwards studied under David Ryckhaert the Elder, whose daughter he married. His first subjects were conversation-pieces and assemblies; but the extraordinary reputation acquired by Van Dyck for his portraits inspired Coques with the ambition to distinguish himself in like manner, although on a smaller scale. There is in the little works of Coques the same air of elegance and refinement which distinguishes Van Dyck. Hence he has been called "the Little Van Dyck." His works, says Bürger, are "Van Dycks seen through the wrong side of the glass"; or as another critic puts it, "Van Dycks in 18mo." They were greatly admired during his lifetime, and he was patronised by Charles I., the Archduke Leopold, and the Prince of Orange. His works, however, are very rare; about half of them are in this country. He was admitted as a master in the Guild of Painters in 1640-41, and twice served as its Dean, in 1665-66 and 1680-81.

Notice the youngest child in the go-cart, which is being pushed by another of the children, whilst the eldest sister, as befits her years, is playing the guitar. And the little dogs, as befits them, are sporting in front. It is pretty of the painter or his sitters to include them in the family group.

822. AN EVENING LANDSCAPE.

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

An excellent example of the hazy, drowsy effect in which Cuyp excelled. "A brewer by trade,[190] he feels the quiet of a summer afternoon, and his work will make you marvellously drowsy. It is good for nothing else that I know of; strong, but unhelpful and unthoughtful. Nothing happens in his pictures, except some indifferent persons asking the way of somebody else, who, by the cast of countenance, seems not likely to know it. For further entertainment, perhaps, a red cow and a white one; or puppies at play, not playfully; the man's heart not going even with the puppies. Essentially he sees nothing but the shine on the flaps of their ears" (Modern Painters, vol. v. pt. ix. chap. vi. § 12).

823. ON THE MEUSE.

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

Notice the reflections. Cuyp "is a man of large natural gift, and sees broadly, nay, even seriously; finds out—a wonderful thing for men to find out in those days—that there are reflections in the water, and that boats require often to be painted upside down" (Modern Painters, vol. v. pt. ix. ch. vi. § 12).

824. A RUINED CASTLE.

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

The castle may be the same as that seen in No. 1289. Some lines from Beattie's "Scotland" have been applied to it:—

Behold our lakes ... Each girdled with its mountain belt Of rock and tower and forest trees, And gemmed with island sanctuaries Like floating palaces, they seem The elysium of a poet's dream.

This picture was originally bought at Horn, in the Netherlands, of an old clothesman, for 1s. 3d. Sir Robert Peel paid 350 guineas for it.

825. THE POULTERER'S SHOP.

Gerard Dou (Dutch: 1613-1675). See 192.

This picture, as an acknowledged chef d'œuvre of the master, has long been celebrated. It was purchased by Sir Robert Peel from the Fonthill Collection in 1823 for £1270. Mrs. Jameson, on seeing the picture at Sir R. Peel's, wrote: "All executed with such a nicety of touch—such an inconceivable truth and minuteness of imitation—as to render the picture a very miracle of art. A higher merit consists in the admirable painting of the heads, especially that of the old woman, which is full of life." "A wicker market-basket is a common homely thing, but look at its presentment here—every polished, well-used twig of it following the true undulations of form and colour, light and shade, through the marvellous patience and skill of the vanished Dutchman—and see if it does not produce an exquisite poetic tremor by the thoughts it evolves. There is a dead image of the barnyard cock which Mr. Darwin may compare with the barndoor fowl of to-day as accurately as if it were photographed. His once fiery eye is glazed and sightless as a dim pearl, his neck feathers ruffled but no longer in anger or pride; his pale, amber-coloured legs helplessly and ingloriously reversed, their impatient and masterful scratching among his dames in the stubble over for ever; the glossy purples, greens, and blacks of his tail-feathers rising sharp and delicate out of the speckled hazes of colour which it required days and days to lay side by side among the crushed and crowding plumes. The cock, the horologe of Thorpe's light, crows no more to the answering hill-farms. He is destined for the spit of the housewife who holds up the hare. But his fate was glorious, for by what tens of thousands since the year 1650 or thereabouts have his perfections been admired and praised. It was worth living for, and, to chanticleer, worth dying for, to become the occasion of such a miracle of art" (Smetham's Literary Works, p. 240).

826. FIGURES AND ANIMALS.

827. FORDING THE STREAM.

828. LANDSCAPE WITH CATTLE.

Karel du Jardin (Dutch: 1622-1678).

This painter was the ablest of the followers of Nicolas Berchem, and like that master often painted Italian scenery. He stayed for some years in Rome, where his pictures were greatly admired, and where, in the jovial artist circles of the day, he was given the nickname of "Barbe de Bouc" (goat's-beard). On his return from Italy he is said to have stayed some time at Lyons, where he married a widow with whom he afterwards settled in Holland. He resided at the Hague from 1656 to 1659, and there was much influenced by the example of Paul Potter. He next moved to Amsterdam, which he made his home for some years. He returned in the end to the Italian haunts of his early years, and died at Venice. In his best pastoral works, the truth and finish of his execution, the brilliancy of their atmosphere, and the harmonious colouring, are attractive. He also painted portraits and large groups, and executed some good etchings.

It has been said of Du Jardin that his works are "excellent when they are not detestable," a remark which is well exemplified in these pictures. No. 827 is at once vulgar in incident and unpleasant in colour. No. 826, on the other hand, one of the pastoral idyls for which Du Jardin is famous, is a chef d'œuvre of the painter (Sir Robert Peel paid 930 guineas for it). No. 828 has a true Italian air, and there is a touch of almost pathetic humour in the contrast between the cow and the woman. It is the beast that has its eyes on the sunset and enjoys the benediction of the evening hour. The woman is cumbered with much serving, and spins with her back to the light.

829. A STAG HUNT.

Jan Hackaert (Dutch: 1629-1696).

Hackaert was a native of Amsterdam, but between the years 1653 and 1658 he travelled much in Switzerland, Germany, and Italy. At this time he chose his subjects from the mountains. In painting the landscape of his own country he especially affected woodland views, with effects of light shining through the trees.

The figures in this picture are attributed to N. Berchem.

830. THE AVENUE, MIDDELHARNIS.

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

Perhaps the best rendering of a Dutch village in the Gallery—beautiful alike in its general effect and in the faithful way in which every characteristic of the country is brought out. Note the long avenue, a High Street, as it were, of lopped trees, to lead the traveller to the village; the bright red roofs, suggestive already in the distance of the cheerful cleanliness he will find; the broad ditch on either side of the road—the land reclaimed from the water, and the water now embanked to fertilise the land; the neat plantations, allotments it may be, each as trim and well kept as a lawn; and lastly, the nursery-garden on the left, in which the gardener, smoking, like the true Hollander, as he works, is pruning some grafted trees. Middelharnis is one of several places that dispute the honour of being Hobbema's birthplace.

This picture—which is signed, and dated 16-9 (third figure illegible)—is generally recognised as the painter's masterpiece. The subject is unusual, showing a more open landscape and a wider expanse of sky than Hobbema ordinarily represented. The power and freshness with which he has treated the theme are remarkable. "Such daylight," says Waagen, "I have never seen in any picture." It is to be noted further that the artist makes no effort to attain the picturesque, and that the picture offends in some respects against the laws of composition. Thus "M. Michel complains of the road coming straight, at once cutting the picture awkwardly in two, of the slender trees with which it is symmetrically bordered, and which have on their tops only small plumes of foliage, of the parallel ditches which hold in the road on either side, and of the cross-road which cuts the picture horizontally, and lastly, the rose-trees and shrubs planted regularly in straight lines. All this, he says, does not make a very picturesque picture. For our own part, it is the fearless and truthful manner in which Hobbema has treated what must at first sight have appeared an unpromising subject, that is one of its greatest charms" (Cundall: The Landscape Painters of Holland, p. 53). Like Hobbema's pictures generally, this masterpiece was held in little honour in its own country. It was sold at Dort in 1815 for £90. Sir Robert Peel bought it in 1829 for £800. It is said to have been restored and retouched by Reinagle (see Mrs. Jameson's Handbook to the Private Galleries of London, p. 354 n.).

831. THE RUINS OF BREDERODE CASTLE.

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

This fine picture also is somewhat unusual in subject for Hobbema, who was ordinarily content with humble village scenes. It affords a good instance of his literal truth to nature. M. Michel, in his monograph on the painter, gives side by side a reproduction of it and a sketch from his own pen of the ruins as they exist to-day, which, with the exception of the addition of a modern barbaric bell-turret and some battlements, preserve almost the identical appearance which Hobbema portrayed upwards of two centuries ago. "The ivy continues to entwine its garlands round the disjointed bricks, and, as formerly, the ducks sport in the stagnant waters of the moat, or take a luxurious siesta amidst the tufts of grass on its banks, while the rooks and crows, installed as masters in the recesses of the ancient walls, fill the air with their incessant cries" (quoted in Cundall's Landscape and Pastoral Painters of Holland, 1891, p. 52). The ducks[191] are ascribed to Wyntrank; the figures to Lingelbach. The picture is signed, and dated 1667. It was, however, at one time re-christened as a Wijnants, in order to procure a better price at auctions. In 1825 it sold for £880.

832. A VILLAGE WITH WATERMILLS.

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

This is one of Hobbema's most usual subjects—a cottage, a mill, a few trees. The effect is that of a summer sky, with light fleecy clouds, and gleams of sunshine seem to pass over the scene. Sir Robert Peel paid £525 for the picture. It should be compared with Ruysdael's of a similar scene (986).

833. A FOREST SCENE.

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

834. A DUTCH INTERIOR.

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

This picture is interesting as enabling us to discern the painter's technical process. "The more luminous parts of it, such as the costumes of the two men at the table, are painted in semi-opaque colour over a brilliant orange ground. Here and there the orange may be seen peeping out, and its presence elsewhere gives a peculiar pearliness to the tints laid upon it. De Hooch painted very thinly. In this picture the maid with the brazier is an afterthought. She is painted over the tiles and other details of the background, which now show through her skirts. Before she was put in, this space to the right was occupied by an old gentleman with a white beard and moustache, and a wide-brimmed hat, all of which can be descried under the brown of the mantelpiece" (Armstrong: Notes on the National Gallery, pp. 36, 37).

835. COURT OF A DUTCH HOUSE.

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

A courtyard at Delft: superbly painted, and a good picture of Dutch home life—of its neatness, its cleanliness, its quiet, and its content. Notice over the entrance a commemorative inscription, partly covered already by vine leaves, dated 1614. The day's work is done, and the wife stands in the porch, waiting for her husband's return; a servant brings down the child too into the courtyard to greet its father. "It is natural to think your own house and garden the nicest house and garden that ever were.... They are a treasure to you which no money could buy,—the leaving them is always pain,—the return to them a new thrill and wakening to life. They are a home and a place of root to you, as if you were founded on the ground like its walls, or grew into it like its flowers" (Fors Clavigera, 1876, p. 51). Such a home (says Mr. Pater in his Imaginary Portraits) "was, in its minute and busy wellbeing, like an epitome of Holland itself, with all the good-fortune of its thriving genius reflected, quite spontaneously, in the national taste. The nation had learned to content itself with a religion which told little, or not at all, on the outsides of things. But we may fancy that something of the religious spirit had gone, according to the law of the transmutation of force, into the scrupulous care for cleanliness, into the grave, old-world, conservative beauty of Dutch houses, which meant that the life people maintained in them was normally affectionate and pure." This picture was much admired by Constable. "The least mannered," he said, "and consequently the best pictures I have seen, are some of the works of De Hooge, particularly one of an outdoor subject, at Sir R. Peel's. His indoors are as good, but less difficult, as being less lustrous" (Leslie's Life of Constable, p. 299). The picture is signed, and dated 1658.

836. A VIEW IN HOLLAND.

Philip de Koninck (Dutch: 1619-1688).

Koninck, or Koning, was born at Amsterdam and became a pupil of Rembrandt. He painted historical subjects and portraits, but it is for his landscapes that he is now most admired. These are generally expansive views in which aerial perspective is well given: "The distances of the painters of the older schools had been full of objects and figures as minutely rendered as those on the foremost places, only ever so much smaller. Compare with these distances the simply treated expanse of country offered to view in P. de Koninck's landscapes. Here we do not have merely a series of objects getting smaller as they recede, but a far more generalised representation of the whole face of nature bathed in an atmosphere in which objects are lost to view" (Baldwin Brown's Fine Arts, p. 301).

There is a repetition of this picture in the Royal Museum at the Hague. One may presume that Koninck's pictures had aristocratic purchasers; for, unlike the painters of "pastoral landscape," he is fond of introducing persons of distinction—here it is a hawking party; in 974 a carriage-and-six with outriders.

837. THE HAY HARVEST.

Jan Lingelbach (Dutch: 1623-1674).

Though a German by birth, Lingelbach is included amongst the Dutch painters; for he lived chiefly in Amsterdam, and was largely employed in inserting the figures in the landscapes of Wynants and others. He also passed some years in Italy, and frequently painted Italian scenes and incidents.

838. THE DUET.

Gabriel Metsu (Dutch: 1630-1667).

Metsu is one of the genre painters who are now appraised most highly—sums of £2580 and £3200 severally were given at the Secrétan Sale for pictures of his. In the Hertford House Gallery are some good specimens which the late Sir Richard Wallace acquired at great cost. Though, like most of his brother-artists, he was fond of painting tavern-scenes (e.g. No. 970), he was also a painter of high life and the drawing-room, like Terburg and Netscher. "In each of these spheres he combined humour with expression, a keen appreciation of nature with feeling, and breadth with delicacy of touch, in a manner unsurpassed by any of his contemporaries" (Crowe). "When his pictures have escaped the ordeal of ruthless cleaning they are pervaded by the finest tone, and the whites in them have that delicate glow which distance and atmosphere lend to snowy peaks. It is obvious that he caressed this least manageable of colours with unceasing love. Altogether his works have a quality of distinction rare in those of any school" (Burton). Metsu's father was a painter, whose third wife (the mother of Gabriel) was a painter's widow. The boy was taught by Gerard Dou, and already at the age of fourteen was admitted a member of the Leyden Guild of Painters. In 1650 he removed to Amsterdam, where he fell under the influence of Rembrandt. The large picture in the Louvre of "The Woman taken in Adultery," signed by Metsu and dated 1653, shows this fact. Metsu did not, however, adhere to religious subjects, but applied the lessons he learnt from the great master to subjects more congenial to his talent.

839. THE MUSIC LESSON.

Gabriel Metsu (Dutch: 1630-1667).

A picture that might serve as an illustration of "the gamut of Hortensio" (see Taming of the Shrew, Act. iii. sc. 1).

840. A LADY FEEDING A PARROT.

Frans van Mieris (Dutch: 1635-1681).

This painter, the son of a goldsmith (one of twenty-three children) and the pupil of Gerard Dou, is known as "Old Frans," to distinguish him from his grandson of that name, who, like his son William (see 841), was also a painter. The works of Frans are very much superior to those of his successors. "Unlike William Mieris, he rarely cared to carry the eye from the beautiful painting of the figures by working up or covering the base of the casement with highly finished bas-reliefs. That kind of thing may be looked for in William Mieris's curiously finished pictures, but certainly is not wanted in the works of Francis. His female figures, independently of being always well painted, are often graceful and pretty; he could paint a lady at her toilet with the delicacy and feeling of Metsu and Terburg, and was besides happy in varying the expressions and faces of his female beauties; he was fond of painting them in richly coloured jackets trimmed with fur. He was also a capital hand at painting birds" (Seguier). The elegance and high technical qualities of his productions brought him numerous and distinguished patrons. The Grand Duke of Tuscany visited him at Leyden, and the Archduke Leopold William desired to attract him to Vienna. Mieris, however, would not leave Leyden; nor did his large and lucrative practice induce any carelessness or neglect in his work.

841. A FISH AND POULTRY SHOP.

Willem van Mieris (Dutch: 1662-1747).

The son of Frans (see above, 840). He succeeded to his father's practice, but was an indifferent imitator. A comparison between him and the leading "Little Masters of Holland" will show the difference between true finish and laborious trifling.

Decidedly an "artistic" shop: notice the elaborate bas-relief (as also in 825), with marine subjects suitable to a fishmonger's, below the shop-window, and the handsome curtain ready to serve as shutters. The picture is sometimes called "The Cat," from the cat eyeing the duck whose head hangs from the window-sill.

842. A GARDEN.

Frédéric de Moucheron (Dutch: 1633-1686).

This painter came of an Antwerp family, but he studied and afterwards settled at Amsterdam. He also studied and worked for some years in Paris. He confined himself to landscape; Lingelbach, A. van de Velde and others were employed to paint in his figures.

The figures here are ascribed to Adrian van de Velde.

843. BLOWING BUBBLES.

Gaspard Netscher (Dutch: 1639-1684).

Netscher, one of the chief painters of Dutch "high life," had a somewhat eventful career. He was born at Heidelberg, which was then being besieged. His mother, after seeing her two elder children die of hunger before her eyes, escaped with Gaspard through the investing lines to Arnheim. The boy was intended for a doctor, but took to painting and studied under Terburg. In 1659 he started on a tour to Italy, but at Bordeaux he fell in love with a girl from Liège, whom he married. He settled at Bordeaux, but his pictures, such as this, which are now so much valued, then brought him but slight remuneration; and after returning to the Hague, he turned his attention to portrait-painting. Several of his portraits are of English sitters, and it is supposed that he visited this country, but this is uncertain. Netscher's portraits are generally on a small scale, and very highly finished. He was patronised by William III., and was rapidly acquiring fame, when he died at the age of forty-five. His genre pieces resemble those of F. Mieris.

844. MATERNAL INSTRUCTION.

Netscher (Dutch: 1639-1684). See 843.

Notice in the background, over a cupboard, hanging in a black frame, a small copy of Rubens' "Brazen Serpent," now in this collection (59).

845. A LADY AT A SPINNING WHEEL.

Netscher (Dutch: 1639-1684). See 843.

846. THE ALCHYMIST.

Adrian van Ostade (Dutch: 1610-1685).

Adrian, the elder of the two Ostades, was a pupil of Frans Hals. Later in life, he felt the influence of Rembrandt, and he painted some religious subjects. But he is best known for his scenes from peasant life. These are now greatly esteemed, and pictures which the painter himself probably sold for a few shillings now fetch hundreds and even thousands of pounds. Adrian Ostade is the contemporary of Teniers, and it is interesting to compare their respective delineations of rustic life. "The contrast lies in the different condition of the agricultural classes of Brabant and Holland. Brabant has more sun, more comfort, and a higher type of humanity; Teniers, in consequence, is silvery and sparkling; the people he paints are fair specimens of a well-built race. Holland, in the vicinity of Haarlem, seems to have suffered much in war; the air is moist and hazy, and the people, as depicted by Ostade, are short, ill-favoured, and marked with the stamp of adversity on their features and dress. The greatness of Ostade lies in the fact that he often caught the poetic side of the life of the peasant class, in spite of its ugliness and stunted form and mis-shapen features. He did so by giving their vulgar sports, their quarrels, even their quieter moods of enjoyment, the magic light of the sun-gleam, and by clothing the wreck of cottages with gay vegetation" (Crowe). Ostade was especially fond of the foliage of the vine. He is often coarse, but sometimes shows a genuine sense of humour. He had, says Sir F. Burton, "artistic qualities of a high order—consummate skill in composition and taste in arrangement; subtlety of chiaroscuro and refined delicacy of colour; appropriate, and never overstrained action in the figures, and precision, combined with breadth, of handling. His earlier pictures are the coolest in tone; those of his middle period more golden, showing gradually the influence of Rembrandt. His drawings and etchings are extremely fine." His father, Jan Hendrik, was a weaver; the children adopted the name of Ostade from a small hamlet, near Eindhoven, which their parents left to settle at Haarlem. There Adrian lived and worked, being enrolled as a member of the Civic Guard in 1636, and becoming Dean of the Painters' Guild in 1662. He was twice married; the second time, to a daughter of Jan van Goyen.

Under the three-legged stool is a paper on which is written a warning of the vanity of the alchymist's labour—oleum et operam perdis: "you are wasting your cost and pains"—a warning not unjustified in a painter's mouth, for more than one old master devoted the end of his life to the fruitless task of making gold (e.g. Parmigiano, see 33). The English painter, Romney, too, dabbled in alchemy when he was a young man, and in his declining years sketched a melodrama representing the progress of an alchymist in quest of the philosopher's stone. The picture is signed (on a shovel hanging against the wall), and dated 1661. It is, says Mr. J. T. Nettleship in a comparison between Ostade and George Morland, "a marvellous example of the atmosphère de tableau. Everything takes its place, but is also a wonder of finish. The whole picture gives you a large feeling of space and tone. And there is no bogeydom, no straining after weirdness; the whole is a common workshop, the scene of the man's daily life; he feeds well, one is sure—if he has dreams his face does not betray them, it is just the face of a born craftsman. It is impossible to look at this picture without acknowledging the influence such work must have had on Morland. But Morland never achieved such delicacy united to breadth, such finish combined with harmony of effect, though before he took the wrong turn he came near achieving it" (George Morland, p. 23).

847. A VILLAGE SCENE.

Isaac van Ostade (Dutch: 1621-1649).

Isaac, born at Haarlem, was the younger brother of Adrian van Ostade, with whom he remained as pupil till 1641, when he set up in business on his own account. There is a record of a transaction of his in that year which throws an interesting light on the picture-dealing world of the day. In 1643 a dealer summoned him for breach of a contract made in 1641 to deliver six pictures and seven "rounds" for twenty-seven florins. Part of Isaac's defence was that his pictures had since risen in value. The case was referred to the Painters' Guild, which decided that he must perform his contract, but that the number of the "rounds" should be reduced to five and the price of the whole be increased to fifty florins. It may be conjectured that the low value thus set upon the cottage scenes in his brother's manner induced Isaac to cultivate a different style of his own. This consisted largely of village inns (of which the present picture is a capital example), and winter scenes (among which No. 963 in our Gallery is a masterpiece). He combined a genuine appreciation of nature with great skill in the treatment of figures. He was fond, as will be seen, of introducing a white horse to serve as the principal light in his compositions.

This picture was bought by Sir Robert Peel for 400 guineas, and was esteemed, says Mrs. Jameson in her catalogue of his collection, "the masterpiece of the painter. The transparent, sparkling beauty of the execution was never surpassed. The figures, the foliage, the animals, the atmospheric effect, are all perfect."

848. A SKATING SCENE.

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

849. LANDSCAPE WITH CATTLE.

Paul Potter (Dutch: 1625-1654).

Paul Potter, the best of the Dutch cattle painters, was the son of an artist (see 1008), and a remarkable instance of precocious talent, having been a clever painter and etcher at the age of fourteen. The environs of Enkhuizen, where he was born, did not offer scenes of surpassing beauty; but the rich brown and gold tints of the cattle contrasted pleasantly with the verdure of the flat fields. These Potter set himself to study and to paint; and so accurately did he master the anatomy of cattle that a writer on the natural history of Holland, in 1769-79, did not hesitate to utilise, in order to illustrate his work, paintings and sketches by Potter, including geometrical drawings which he had made to demonstrate the proper proportions of cattle. His skill brought him much patronage at the Hague; and in 1650 he married the daughter of a distinguished architect in that city, who made some objections, it is said, to his daughter marrying a mere "painter of animals." But the painter of animals prospered better than many of his contemporary painters of men, and both at the Hague and at Amsterdam his works continued to be in great request. But a too close application to his art told on a weak constitution, and he died of consumption at the age of twenty-nine (Cundall's Landscape and Pastoral Painters of Holland, pp. 113 sq.). For a century after his death his works realised very small sums, but latterly they have been sought after at extravagant prices. Technically they are very accomplished; but Ruskin calls attention to a certain defect of feeling in his treatment. He "does not care even for sheep, but only for wool; regards not cows, but cow-hides. He attains great dexterity in drawing tufts and locks, lingers in the little parallel ravines and furrows of fleece that open across sheep's backs as they turn; is unsurpassed in twisting a horn or pointing a nose; but he cannot paint eyes, nor perceive any condition of an animal's mind except its desire of grazing" (Modern Painters, vol. v. pt. ix. ch. vi. § 12). In estimating his work, it should however be remembered that he died very young, and died learning. The famous "Young Bull" of the Hague, painted in 1647 when he was twenty-two, is usually considered his masterpiece. Rather, says Fromentin, is it only a tour de force, a wonderful study. The portrait of the painter as he appeared in his last days, done by his friend Van der Helst, is in the Hague Museum.

Signed, and dated 1651, and therefore among the painter's later works.

850. A MAN'S PORTRAIT.

Rembrandt (Dutch: 1606-1669). See 45.

Dated 1635. The sitter wears the typical "Rembrandt collar."

851. VENUS SLEEPING.

Sebastiano Ricci (Venetian: 1659-1734).

An unimportant work by a painter who worked for several years in this country, and covered many walls and ceilings with his facile compositions. Examples of his religious and mythological pictures may be seen at the Dulwich Gallery. Ricci, says Dr. Richter in his catalogue of that collection, "is one of the most attractive painters of the Italian decadence. His compositions are lively and ingenious, without, however, being profound." There are also several of his works at Hampton Court. He was born at Belluno in the Venetian State, and before coming to England was employed by the Duke of Parma and at the Viennese court in decorating the palace of Schoenbrunn. He left England in disgust on finding that the work of decorating the cupola of St. Paul's was to be entrusted to a native artist, Sir James Thornhill. "Ricci had great facility in imitating the style of other masters. His picture of the 'Apostles adoring the Sacrament' in the church of S. Giustina at Padua is painted in imitation of the cupola of S. Giovanni at Parma by Correggio; and his 'S. Gregorio' at Bergamo recalls the works of Guercino. But his most successful imitations were those of Paul Veronese, many of which he is said to have sold as by that master. He deceived the French painter La Fosse, who avenged himself by the sarcastic remark, 'For the future, take my advice and paint no more Ricci's'" (Bryan).

852. THE CHAPEAU DE POIL.

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

One of the best known and most be-copied pictures in the Gallery. Its fame among artists "depends to no slight extent on its being a tour de force. The head is painted in reflected light, so as to come as near as may be to Queen Elizabeth's shadowless ideal" (Armstrong: Notes on the National Gallery, p. 31). "No one who has not beheld this masterpiece of painting can form any conception," says Dr. Waagen, "of the transparency and brilliancy with which the local colours in the features and complexion, though under the shadow of a broad-brimmed hat, are brought out and made to tell, while the different parts are rounded and relieved, with the finest knowledge and use of reflected lights." The expression of the subject is as much a tour de force as the technical treatment—

I know a maiden fair to see, Take care!... She gives a side-glance and looks down, Beware! beware!... She has a bosom as white as snow, Take care! She knows how much it is best to show, Beware! beware! Trust her not, She is fooling thee!

Longfellow: from the German.

The picture is a portrait of Susanne Fourment, an elder sister of Rubens's second wife, Helène Fourment. Susanne often sat to Rubens; other paintings and drawings of her by his hand exist. She afterwards married Arnold Lunden. The picture remained in the possession of the painter until his death, when it passed into that of Nicholas Lunden, who had married Isabella, a daughter of Rubens by his second wife, Helène Fourment. The picture remained in the Lunden family until 1822, when it was sold by auction for 36,000 florins and brought to England. After being offered in vain to George IV., it was bought by Sir Robert Peel for 3500 guineas. Why and when this picture of a lady in a beaver hat acquired the inappropriate title of "Chapeau de Paille" ("The Straw Hat"), by which it has hitherto been called, is unknown. Perhaps the title is a corruption of "Chapeau d'Espagne." An entirely different story about the picture was current in the Lunden family. According to this not very probable tradition, Miss Susanne had refused to sit to Rubens, so he painted her unawares whilst she was in her garden, wearing a large straw hat. When the picture was done, she pardoned the flattering indiscretion and accepted it as a gift. Rubens afterwards begged leave to take back the portrait, promising in return a work in which he would put all his talent. This was a replica of the same portrait, but instead of a straw hat (chapeau de paille) he introduced in the second version the beaver hat (chapeau de poil) that we see. The Lunden family had christened the original "Chapeau de Paille," and the present picture has ever since retained the same title. (See letter in the Times, August 6, 1886, from M. Jules Nollée de Noduwez, himself a connection of the Lunden family).

853. THE TRIUMPH OF SILENUS.

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

For the subject see under 93. "Rubens painted these subjects with a gusto in which there is something fearful, so wonderful is the skill, the felicity of execution, the life, the energy, the fancy displayed—so gross and so repulsive the sentiment. In Niccolo Poussin's Bacchanalian scenes we have the licence and the revels of gods and nymphs, and of the golden age. Rubens gives us, with perhaps a truer moral feeling but more depraved taste, mere animal sensuality, with all its most brutal attributes" (Mrs. Jameson's Handbook to the Private Galleries of London, p. 362). This picture was in the artist's possession at the time of his death, and was then bought for Cardinal Richelieu. It was afterwards in the collection of Sir Robert Peel, who gave £1100 for it.

853. a-p.

These sixteen drawings by Rubens formed part of the rich collection of Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A., after whose death they were acquired for Sir Robert Peel. They were purchased for the nation in 1871 with the Peel Collection of pictures. The subjects are as follows:—

853 a, b, c, and d. Four studies for the famous picture at Munich, representing the "Fall of the Damned." In black chalk, tinted slightly. "Inconceivably fine," says Mrs. Jameson.

853 e. THE MARTYRDOM OF A SAINT.—He kneels, and a woman is about to bind his eyes. Fifteen figures with angels.

853 f. THE DESCENT OF THE HOLY GHOST.—Study for the picture at Munich.

853 g. THE CRUCIFIXION.—Drawing from the great picture at Antwerp, done for the engraver to work from.

853 h. PORTRAIT OF A GIRL; with a cap and feather. Study from one of his own children.

853 i. PORTRAIT OF A LADY, with flowers in her hair. Probably a study from his first wife. "Extremely fine," says Mrs. Jameson, "and full of life."

853 j. HEAD OF A LADY, in chalk and sepia, wonderfully spirited.

853 k. SKETCH FOR MONUMENTAL SCULPTURE, or design for a frontispiece—with a figure of "Fame."

853 l. THE SAME, with figures of Moses and Aaron.

853 m. THE SAME, with satyrs.

853 n. THE SAME, representing the siege of Breda: Minerva and Hercules, prisoners, implements of war, etc.

853 o. STUDY OF A LIONESS, introduced into his picture of "Daniel in the Lion's Den."

853 p. SKETCH OF A LION HUNT.—Study for the great picture at Dresden.

854. A FOREST SCENE.

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

Of this picture, when it was in Sir Robert Peel's collection, Mrs. Jameson tells a pretty tale. "'I cannot express to you,' said the statesman, 'the feeling of tranquillity, of restoration, with which, in an interval of harassing official business, I look around me here.' And while he spoke, in the slow, quiet tone of a weary man, he turned his eyes on a forest scene of Ruysdael, and gazed on it for a minute or two in silence, as if its cool, dewy verdure, its deep seclusion, its transparent waters stealing through the glade, had sent refreshment into his very soul" (Handbook to the Private Galleries of London, p. xix.).

855. A WATERFALL.

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

856. THE MUSIC-MASTER.

Jan Steen (Dutch: 1626-1679).

It is in the collections of Holland, and especially in the Museum of Amsterdam, that the best works of this remarkable painter are to be seen—a painter whose talent and occasional grace made Reynolds name him in the same breath with Raphael, and who has by other critics been called the Molière of painting. This latter comparison happily expresses the dramatic and intellectual quality of Steen's best works. He drew not merely Dutch life, but human nature. He depicts the comedy of human life, for the most part, in a spirit of genial toleration, but sometimes with touches of almost Hogarthian satire. With regard to technical qualities, his best works are admirable for their skilful composition, brilliant touch, and harmonious colouring. "Steen when it pleased him was an artist of great ability. Unfortunately it did not always please him to be so, and then his colour became blurred, his execution trivial, and the general aspect of his figures heavy and monotonous; but whenever he exerts himself he becomes once more and remains a great master. It is the more astonishing to find these defects, as they are peculiar neither to the beginning nor to the end of his career, and therefore cannot be attributed to a hard apprenticeship or premature decay. They are to be explained by the irregular life which the painter led" (Havard). The number of his works, however,—of which more than 500 have been catalogued—seem to negative the stories in which some biographers accept of Steen's drunken and dissolute life. He was the son of a brewer and was born at Leyden. He first studied under a German painter, Knüpfer, at Utrecht; afterwards with Adrian van Ostade, and Jan van Goyen whose daughter he married in 1649. In the previous year he had joined the Painters' Guild of Haarlem. That he was improvident is proved by records of executions for debt which have been discovered in the archives of that town. His pictures must have fetched small prices, for he contracted to pay the year's rent of his house for 1666-67 with three portraits "painted as well as he was able," the rent being 29 florins. In 1669 his wife and his father died, and Steen, who is supposed to have resided for some years at the Hague, returned to Leyden and opened a tavern, and for the rest of his life combined the businesses of painter and publican.

A work of some humour. The music-master is sadly bored with the exercises of his pupil at the harpsichord, but his disgust is fully shared by the young brother whose turn is to come next, and who is bringing a lute into the room. The picture is signed on the harpsichord.

857, 858, 859, 860. THE FOUR SEASONS.

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

Very interesting little pictures, as characteristic of the entire want of poetry in Teniers' art. Compare Mantegna's version of Summer and Autumn (1125), or recall Botticelli's lovely vision of Spring at Florence, and one sees in a moment the difference in art between poetical imagination and vulgarity. To Teniers, Spring—"the sweet spring, the year's pleasant king"—is only a man carrying a flower-pot. Summer—"all the sweet season of summertide"—suggests nothing but a man holding a wheat-sheaf. Autumn—"season of mists and mellow fruitfulness"—brings him only a first glass of wine; and Winter—"white winter, rough nurse, that rocks the dead cold year"—only a second. These pictures (which are painted on copper), were once in the possession of Prince Talleyrand, and Sir Robert Peel bought them in 1823 for £189.

861. A COUNTRY SCENE.

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

The man with the barrow is a portrait of Teniers' gardener.

862. THE SURPRISE.

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

Hardly an instance in which "vice itself loses half its evil by losing all its grossness." It is a very vulgar intrigue. The husband courts without passion; the maid-servant "stoops to folly" without grace; the wife surprises the lovers without dignity.

863. THE RICH MAN IN HELL.

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

The sequel to the story of Dives and Lazarus. "And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried. And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments" (Luke xvi. 22, 23). A favourite subject with Teniers, giving him an opportunity for painting comic monstrosities.

864. THE GUITAR LESSON.

Gerard Terburg (Dutch: 1617-1681).

Terburg is the most refined of all the Dutch painters of "conversation pieces." He depicts with admirable truth, both in his portraits and genre pictures, the life of the wealthy and cultured classes of his time. His figures are well drawn and expressive, and the accessories are duly subordinated. He renders the texture of draperies with great skill, and his colouring is at once rich and quiet. He was the son of a wealthy man, a traveller and a connoisseur who himself imparted the rudiments of art to his son. Gerard afterwards studied in Amsterdam and Haarlem. In 1635 he visited England, and thence made the grand tour of the Continent, studying the works of Titian and others. On his return to Holland he remained some time at Amsterdam, learning much from the works of Rembrandt. In 1646 he was at Münster, where he painted the famous picture, No. 896 in our Gallery. This excited such admiration on account of the excellence of its portraits and general truth to nature, that the Spanish ambassador took Terburg with him to Madrid, where he was knighted by Philip IV. and had the opportunity of adding a study of Velazquez to his artistic advantages. Terburg settled eventually at Deventer, where he married and became burgomaster: a full-length portrait of him in that capacity is in the Museum at the Hague.

This is a characteristic example of the painter's conversation pieces. Sir Robert Peel bought it in 1826 for 920 guineas.

865. A COAST SCENE.

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

Of this painter, whose works have of recent years become popular with collectors, the Dutch writers have left no record. Nor has anything been discovered about him beyond the fact that, on the occasion of his marriage in 1653, he received the freedom of the city of Amsterdam. One may connect with this fact the state barge, introduced in some of his pictures,—or the corporation barge, it may be,—much resembling the barges belonging to the City and the City Companies which not long ago might still be seen on the Thames at London, and some of which survive, transformed into College barges at Oxford. Cappelle's works are comparatively rare; they show that he loved a calm sea, lit up with warm rays.

866. A STREET IN COLOGNE.

Jan van der Heyden (Dutch: 1637-1712).

Van der Heyden (or Heyde), who has been called, from the minute neatness of his workmanship, "the Dou of architectural painters,"[192] was one of the first Dutch artists to devote himself to that class of subject. It was a result no doubt of the Italianising tendency of the time. "It would seem that they required to be initiated in this style by the views of foreign market-places and squares with which the Italianising painters had decorated the saloons of Amsterdam, and that in the presence of this invasion of forums and piazzas they exclaimed, 'Have we not streets, squares, and monuments to paint?'" (Havard: The Dutch School, p. 238). Of course they had; and no works of the time are more interesting than these minute historical records. "A striking feature in Van der Heyden is the pencilling or dividing of the brickwork of the houses and walls by delicate white lines; so finely are these drawn that if it were not for the trouble, one might count the bricks in his buildings" (Seguier). But he had the art of combining this microscopic detail with breadth of effect. The division of labour in art work was in his time very fully applied; and Van der Heyden's range was very limited. He seldom turned his hand to anything but brick houses and churches in streets or squares, or rows along canals, or the moated granges common in his native country. He could draw neither man nor beast, and relied on Adrian van der Velde to enliven his street scenes with spirited figures. Van der Heyden was born at Gorcum, and was apprenticed to a glass-painter. He then moved to Amsterdam and studied architectural drawing. He visited England, Belgium, and the Rhenish Provinces. In the later part of his life he varied the practice of art with the pursuit of mechanics, for which he had a strong turn. He invented various improvements in the fire-engine, introduced the use of street-lamps, and at the time of his death was superintendent of the lighting and director of the firemen's company at Amsterdam.

In the background is seen the then unfinished tower of Cologne Cathedral surmounted by the old vane. This was a favourite subject of the painter; there is another version of it in the Wallace Collection. The figures are attributed to A. van de Velde.

867. THE FARM COTTAGE.

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

Adrian, the son of William van de Velde the elder, the marine painter, first studied under his father, and next under Wynants, the landscape painter. He showed his talent very early. "Wynants," said that painter's wife, when the young Adrian entered his studio, "you have found your master." He afterwards studied the figure under Wouwerman. His talent was versatile, for he painted figures, animals, and landscapes with equal truth and refinement. His large canvases (e.g. No. 80 in the Wallace Collection) are hard, and leave the spectator cold; but his cabinet pictures are refined in outline and delicate in tone. He was fond of village scenery with cattle introduced, in which kind are several good examples in our Gallery. He was also successful in winter scenes. Of his sandy coast scenes there is a choice example in the Six Collection at Amsterdam. The value and interest of many pictures by Ruysdael, Van der Heyden, Hobbema, and other painters of the time, were enhanced by figures inserted by Adrian. He must have had wonderful facility and industry, for in addition to these insertions, and in spite of his short life, the catalogue of his own pictures includes nearly 200 items.

This picture is signed, and dated 1658. The effect is that of a fine warm summer afternoon.

868. THE FORD.

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

"The figures and faces," says Mrs. Jameson in her catalogue of the Peel Collection, "are finished with inexpressible delicacy; the animals are painted with characteristic truth; the foliage of the trees seems stirred by the breeze;—in short, it is a most rare piece of work in every part, and full of pastoral sentiment, though there is certainly nothing Arcadian in the personages introduced." Sir Robert Peel bought the picture in 1840 for 760 gs.

869. A FROST SCENE.

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

This picture—known as "Les Amusements d'Hiver"—is signed, and dated 1668. The men are playing hockey. Other figures are occupied with a sledge. On the left is a refreshment booth.