THE OLD MASTERS AND THEIR PICTURES

_For the Use of Schools and Learners in Art_

BY SARAH TYTLER

AUTHOR OF "PAPERS FOR THOUGHTFUL GIRLS" ETC. 

_NEW AND ENLARGED EDITION_

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LONDONISBISTER AND COMPANY LIMITED15 & 16 TAVISTOCK STREET COVENT GARDEN1893

[_The Right of Translation is Reserved_]

LONDON:

PRINTED BY J. S. VIRTUE AND CO. , LIMITED, CITY ROAD. 

PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION. 

I wish to say, in a very few words, that this book is intended to be asimple account of the great Old Masters in painting of every age andcountry, with descriptions of their most famous works, for the use oflearners and outsiders in art. The book is not, and could not well be, exhaustive in its nature. I have avoided definitions of schools, considering that these should form a later and more elaborate portion ofart education, and preferring to group my 'painters' according to what Ihold to be the primitive arrangements of time, country, and rank inart. 

PREFACE TO NEW EDITION. 

The restrictions with regard to space under which the little volumecalled "The Old Masters" was originally written, caused me to omit, tomy regret, many names great, though not first, in art. The circulationwhich the book has attained induces me to do what I can to remedy thedefect, and render the volume more useful by adding two chapters--theone on Italian and the other on German, Dutch, and Flemish masters. These chapters consist almost entirely of condensed notes taken from twotrustworthy sources, to which I have been already much indebted--Sir C, and Lady Eastlake's version of Kugler's "Handbook of Italian Art, " andDr. Waagen's "Handbook, "--remodelled from Kugler--of German, Dutch, andFlemish art, revised by J. A. Crowe. I have purposely given numerousrecords of those Dutch painters whose art has been specially popular inEngland and who are in some cases better represented in our country thanin their own. 

CONTENTS. 

CHAP. PAGE I. EARLY ITALIAN ART--GIOTTO, 1276-1337--ANDREA PISANO, 1280-1345--ORCAGNA, 1315-1376--GHIBERTI, 1381-1455--MASACCIO, 1402-1428_OR_ 1429--FRA ANGELICO, 1387-1455 1

II. EARLY FLEMISH ART--THE VAN EYCKS, 1366-1442--MABUSE, _ABOUT_1470-1532--MEMLING, _ABOUT_ 1478-1499--QUINTIN MATSYS, 1460-1530 OR 3141

III. IN EARLY SCHOOLS OF ITALIAN ART--THE BELLINI, 1422-1512--MANTEGNA, 1431-1506--GHIRLANDAJO, 1449-1498--- IL FRANCIA, 1450-1518--FRABARTOLOMMEO, 1469-1517--ANDREA DEL SARTO, 1488-1530 53

IV. LIONARDO DA VINCI. 1452-1519--MICHAEL ANGELO, 1475-1564--RAPHAEL, 1483-1520--TITIAN, 1477-1566 83

V. GERMAN ART--ALBRECHT DÜRER, 1471-1528 169

VI. LATER ITALIAN ART--GIORGIONE, 1477-1511--CORREGGIO, _ABOUT_1493-1534--TINTORETTO, 1512-1594--VERONESE, 1530-1588 181

VII. CARRACCI, 1555-1609--GUIDO RENI, 1575-1642--DOMENICHINO, 1581-1641--SALVATOR ROSA, 1615-1673 212

VIII. LATER FLEMISH ART--RUBENS, 1577-1640--REMBRANDT, 1606 _OR_1608-1669--TENIERS, FATHER AND SON, 1582-1694--WOUVVERMAN, 1620-1668--CUYP, 1605; _STILL LIVING_, 1638--PAUL POTTER, 1625-1654--CORNELIUS DE HEEM, 1630 225

IX. SPANISH ART--VELASQUEZ, 1599-1660--MURILLO, 1618-1682 260

X. FRENCH ART--NICOLAS POUSSIN, 1594-1665--CLAUDE LORRAINE, 1600-1682--CHARLES LE BRUN, 1619-1690--WATTEAU, 1684-1721--GREUZE, 1726-1805 286

XI. FOREIGN ARTISTS IN ENGLAND--HOLBEIN, 1494-1543--VAN DYCK, 1599-1641--LELY, 1618-1680--CANALETTO, 1697-1768--KNELLER, 1646-1723 309

XII. ITALIAN MASTERS FROM THE FOURTEENTH TO THE SEVENTEENTHCENTURIES--TADDEO GADDI, 1300, SUPPOSED TO HAVE DIED 1366--FRA FILIPPO, 1412-1469--BENOZZO GOZZOLI, 1424-1496--LUCA SIGNORELLI, 1441, SUPPOSEDTO HAVE DIED ABOUT 1524--BOTTICELLI, 1447-1515--PERUGINO, 1446-1522--CARPACCIO, DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH AND DEATHUNKNOWN--CRIVELLI, FILIPPINO LIPI, EARLIER THAN 1460--ANTONELLA DAMESSINA, BELIEVED TO HAVE DIED AT VENICE, 1416--GAROPALO, 1481-1559--LUINI, DATE OF BIRTH UNKNOWN, SUPPOSED TO HAVE DIED ABOUT1530--PALMA, ABOUT 1480-1528--PARDENONE, 1483-1538--LO SPAGNA, DATE OFBIRTH UNKNOWN, 1533--GIULIO ROMANO, 1492-1546--PARIS BORDONE, 1500-1570--IL PARMIGIANINO, 1503-1540--BAROCCIO, 1528-1612--CARAVAGGIO, 1569-1609--LO SPAGNOLETTO, 1593-1656--GUERCINO, 1592-1666--ALBANO, 1578-1660--SASSOFERRATO, 1605-1615--VASARI, 1512-1574--SOFONISBAANGUISCIOLA, 1535, ABOUT 1626--LAVINIA FONTANA, 1552-1614 364

XIII. GERMAN, FLEMISH, AND DUTCH ARTISTS FROM THE FIFTEENTH TO THEEIGHTEENTH CENTURY--VAN DER WEYDEN, A CONTEMPORARY OF THE VAN EYCKS, 1366-1442--VAN LEYDEN, 1494-1533--VAN SOMER, 1570-1624--SNYDERS, 1579-1657--G. HONTHORST, 1592-1662--JAN STEEN, 1626-1679--GERARD DOW, 1613-1680--DE HOOCH, DATES OF BIRTH AND DEATH UNKNOWN--VAN OSTADE, 1610-1685--MAAS, 1632-1693--METZU, 1615. STILL ALIVE IN 1667--TERBURG, 1608-1681--NETCHER, 1639-1684--BOL, 1611-1680--VAN DER HELST, 1613-1670--RUYSDAEL, 1625 (?)-1682--HOBBEMA, 1638-1709--BERCHEM, 1620-1683--BOTH 1600 (?)-1650(?) DU JARDIN, 1625-1678--ADRIAN VAN DEVELDE, 1639-1672--VAN DER HEYDEN, 1637-1712--DE WITTE, 1607-1692--VANDER NEER, 1619 (?)-1683--WILLIAM VAN DE VELDE, THE YOUNGER, 1633-1707--BACKHUYSEN, 1631-1708--VAN DE CAPELLA, ABOUT1653--HONDECOETER, 1636-1695--JAN WEENIX, 1644-1719--PATER SEGERS, 1590-1661--VAN HUYSUM, 1682-1749--VAN DER WERFF, 1659-1722--MENGS, 1728-1774 391

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THE OLD MASTERS AND THEIR PICTURES. 

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CHAPTER I. 

EARLY ITALIAN ART--GIOTTO, 1276-1337--ANDREA PISANO. 1280-1345--ORCAGNA, 1315-1376 GHIBERTI, 1381-1455--MASACCIO, 1402-1428 OR 1429--FRAANGELICO, 1387-1455. 

A pencil and paper, a box of colours, and a scrap-book, form so often achild's favourite toys that one might expect that a very large portionof men and women would prove painters. But, as we grow in years andknowledge, the discrepancy between nature and our attempts to copynature, strike us more and more, until we turn in dissatisfaction anddisgust from the vain effort. 

There was only one old woman in an Esquimaux tribe who could be calledforward to draw with a stick on the sand a sufficiently graphic likenessof the Erebus and the Terror. It is only a few groups of men belongingto different countries, throughout the centuries, who have been able togive us paintings to which we turn in wonder and admiration, and saythat these are in their degree fair exponents of nature. The oldpainter's half-haughty, half-humble protest was true--it is 'GodAlmighty, ' who in raising here and there men above their fellows, 'makespainters. '

But let us be thankful that the old propensity to delight in afacsimile, or in an idealized version of nature, survives in the verycommon satisfaction and joy--whether cultivated or uncultivated---derived from looking at pictures, thinking over their details, strivingto understand the meaning of the painters, and proceeding farther toconsider the lives and times which throw light on works of genius. Musicitself is not more universally and gladly listened and responded to, than pictures are looked at and remembered. 

Thus I have no fear of failing to interest you, my readers, in mysubject if I can only treat it sympathetically, --enter at a humbledistance into the spirit of the painters and of their paintings, andplace before you some of the paintings by reverent and lovingword-painting such as others have achieved, and such as I may strive toattain to, that you may be in a sort early familiar with thesepaintings, before you see them in engravings and photographs, and oncanvas and in fresco, as I trust you may be privileged to see many ofthem, when you may hail them not only for what they are, the glories ofart, but for what they have been to you in thoughts of beauty and highdesires. 

Of the old Greek paintings, of which there are left isolated specimensdug up in Herculaneum and Pompeii, I cannot afford to say anything, andof the more modern Greek art which was spread over Europe after the fallof Constantinople I need on Europe the birth-place of painting as ofother arts, that Greek painting which illustrated early Christianity, was painting in its decline and decay, borrowing not only superstitiousconventionalities, but barbaric attributes of gilding and blazoning tohide its infirmity and poverty. Virgins of the same weak and meaninglesstype, between attenuated saints or angels, and doll-like child-Christsin the one invariable attitude holding up two fingers of a baby hand tobless the spectator and worshippers, were for ever repeated. In asimilar manner the instances of rude or meagre contemporary paintingswith which the early Christians adorned their places of worship and thesepulchres of their dead in the basilicas and catacombs of Rome, arevery curious and interesting for their antiquity and their associations, and as illustrations of faith; but they present no intrinsic beauty orworth. They are not only clumsy and childish designs ill executed, butthey are rendered unintelligible to all save the initiated in suchhieroglyphics, by offering an elaborate ground-work of type, antitype, and symbol, on which the artist probably spent a large part of hisstrength. Lambs and lilies, serpents, vines, fishes, dolphins, phoenixes, cocks, anchors, and javelins played nearly as conspicuous apart in this art as did the dead believer, or his or her patron saint, who might have been supposed to form the principal figure in thepicture. 

Italian art existed in these small beginnings, in the gorgeous butquaintly formal or fantastic devices of illuminated missals, and in thestiff spasmodic efforts of here and there an artist spirit such as theold Florentine Cimabue's, when a great man heralded a great epoch. Butfirst I should like to mention the means by which art then worked. Painting on board and on plastered walls, the second styled painting infresco, preceded painting on canvas. Colours were mixed with water orwith size, egg, or fig-juice--the latter practices termed _tempera_ (inEnglish in distemper) before oil was used to mix colours. But paintersdid not confine themselves then to painting with pencil or brush, elsethey might have attained technical excellence sooner. It has been wellsaid that the poems of the middle ages were written in stone; so theearlier painters painted in stone, in that mosaic work which one of themcalled--referring to its durability--'painting for eternity;' and inmetals. Many of them were the sons of jewellers or jewellers themselves;they worked in iron as well as in gold and silver, and they weresculptors and architects as well as painters; engineers also, so far asengineering in the construction of roads, bridges, and canals, was knownin those days. The Greek knowledge of anatomy was well-nigh lost, sothat drawing was incorrect and form bad. The idea of showing degrees ofdistance, and the management of light and shade, were feebly developed. Even the fore-shortening of figures was so difficult to the old Italianpainters that they could not carry it into the extremities, and men andwomen seem as though standing on the points of their toes. Landscape-painting did not exist farther than that a rock or a bush, ora few blue lines, with fishes out of proportion prominently interposed, indicated, as on the old stage, that a desert, a forest, or a sea, wasto play its part in the story of the picture. So also portrait-paintingwas not thought of, unless it occurred in the likeness of a great manbelonging to the time and place of the painter, who was the donor ofsome picture to chapel or monastery, or of the painter himself, alikeintroduced into sacred groups and scenes; for pictures were uniformly ofa religious character, until a little later, when they merged intoallegorical representations, just as one remembers that miracle playspassed into moral plays before ordinary human life was reproduced. Untilthis period, what we call dramatic expression in making a strikingsituation, or even in bringing the look of joy or sorrow, pleasure orpain, into a face, had hardly been attained. 

Perhaps you will ask, what merit had the old paintings of the middleages to compensate for so many great disadvantages and incongruities?Certainly before the time I have reached, they have, with rareexceptions, little merit, save that fascination of pathos, half-comic, half-tragic, which belongs to the struggling dawn of all greatendeavours, and especially of all endeavours in art. But just at thisepoch, art, in one man, took a great stride, began, as I shall try toshow, to exert an influence so true, deep, and high that it extends, inthe noblest forms, to the present day, and much more than compensates tothe thoughtful and poetic for a protracted train of technical blundersand deficiencies. 

Giotto, known also as Magister Joctus, was born in 1276 near Florence. Idare say many have heard one legend of him, and I mean to tell thelegends of the painters, because even when they are most doubtful theygive the most striking indications of the times and the light in whichpainters and their paintings were regarded by the world of artists, andby the world at large; but so far as I have heard this legend of Giottohas not been disproven. The only objection which can be urged againstit, is that it is found preserved in various countries, of verydifferent individuals--a crowning objection also to the legend ofWilliam Tell. Giotto was a shepherd boy keeping his father's sheep andamusing himself by drawing with chalk on a stone the favourites of theflock, when his drawings attracted the attention of a traveller passingfrom the heights into the valley. This traveller was the well-born andhighly-esteemed painter Cimabue, who was so delighted with the littlelad's rough outlines, that getting the consent of Giotto's father, Cimabue adopted the boy, carried him off to the city of Florence, introduced him to his studio, and so far as man could supplement thework of God, made a painter of the youthful genius. I may add here alater legend of Giotto. Pope Boniface VIII, requested specimens of skillfrom various artists with the view to the appointment of a painter todecorate St Peter's. Giotto, either in impatient disdain, or to show acareless triumph of skill, with one flourish of his hand, without theaid of compass, executed a perfect circle in red chalk, and sent thecircle as his contribution to the specimens required by the Pope. Theaudacious specimen was accepted as the most conclusive, Giotto waschosen as the Pope's painter for the occasion, and from the incidentarose the Italian proverb 'round as the o of Giotto. ' Giotto was thefriend of Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio, especially of Dante, to whomthe grandeur of some of the painter's designs has been vaguely enoughattributed. The poet of the 'Inferno' wrote of his friend:

 '......... Cimabue thought To lord it over painting's field; and now The cry is Giotto's, and his name eclipsed. '

Petrarch bequeathed in his will a Madonna by Giotto and mentioned it asa rare treasure of art. Boccaccio wrote a merry anecdote of his comradethe painter's wit, in the course of which he referred with notableplain-speaking to Giotto's 'flat currish' plainness of face. 

The impression handed down of Giotto's character is that of anindependent, high-spirited man, full of invention, full of imagination, and also, by a precious combination, full of shrewdness and commonsense; a man genial, given to repartee, and at the same time notdeficient in the tact which deprives repartee of its sting. While he wasworking to King Robert of Naples, the king, who was watching the painteron a very hot day, said, with a shrug, 'If I were you, Giotto, I wouldleave off work and rest myself this fine day, 'And so would I, sire, ifI were _you_, ' replied the wag. 

I need scarcely add that Giotto was a man highly esteemed and veryprosperous in his day; one account reports him as the head and thefather of four sons and four daughters. I have purposely written firstof the fame, the reputed character, and the circumstances of Giottobefore I proceed to his work. This great work was, in brief, to breatheinto painting the living soul which had till then--in mediævaltimes--been largely absent. Giotto went to Nature for his inspiration, and not content with the immense innovation of superseding by the actualrepresentation of men and women in outline, tint, and attitude, therigid traditions of his predecessors, he put men's passions in theirfaces--the melancholy looked sad, the gay glad. This result, to us sosimple, filled Giotto's lively countrymen, who had seldom seen it, withastonishment and delight. They cried out as at a marvel when he made thecommonest deed even coarsely lifelike, as in the case of a sailor in aboat, who turned round with his hand before his face and spat into thesea; and when he illustrated the deed with the corresponding expression, as in the thrill of eagerness that perceptibly pervaded the whole figureof a thirsty man who stooped down to drink. But Giotto was no mererealist though he was a great realist; he was also in the highest lightan idealist. His sense of harmony and beauty was true and noble; he roseabove the real into 'the things unseen and eternal, ' of which the realis but a rough manifestation. He was the first to paint a crucifixionrobbed of the horrible triumph of physical power, and of the agony whichis at its bidding, and invested with the divinity of awe and love. 

Giotto's work did not end with himself; he was the founder of theearliest worthy school of Italian art, so worthy in this very gloriousidealism, that, as I have already said, the men whose praise is most tobe coveted, have learned to turn back to Giotto and his immediatesuccessors, and, forgetting and forgiving all their ignorance, crudeness, quaintness, to dwell never wearied, and extol without measurethese oldest masters' dignity of spirit, the earnestness of theiroriginality, the solemnity and heedfulness of their labour. It wouldseem as if skill and polish, with the amount of attention which theyappropriate, with their elevation of manner over matter, and thencetheir lowered standard, are apt to rob from or blur in men these highestqualifications of genius, for it is true that judges miss even in theLionardo, Michael Angelo, and Raphael of a later and much moreaccomplished generation, and, to a far greater extent, in the Rubens ofanother and still later day, the perfect simplicity, the unalloyedfervour, the purity of tenderness in Giotto, Orcagna, Fra Angelico, andin their Flemish brethren, the Van Eycks and Mabuse. 

The difference between the two classes of painters in not so wide asthat between the smooth and brilliant epigrammatic poets of Anne's andthe ruggedly rich dramatists of Elizabeth's reign, neither was there theunmistakable preponderance of such a mighty genius as that ofShakespeare granted to the first decade, still the distinction was thesame in kind. [1]

I wish you, my readers, to note it in the very commencement, and tolearn, like the thoughtful students of painting, to put aside anyhalf-childish over-estimate of the absurdity of a blue stroketransfixing a huge flounder-like fish as a likeness of a sea, (which youhave been accustomed to see translucid, in breakers and foam, in modernmarine pictures, ) or your quick sense of the ugliness of straightfigures with long hands, wooden feet, and clinging draperies, while youreyes have been familiar with well-modelled frames and limbs and flowinglines. But we must look deeper if we would not be slaves to superficialprettiness, or even superficial correctness; we must try to go into thespirit of a painting and value it more in proportion as it teaches art'snoblest lesson--the divinity of the divine, the serenity of utmoststrength, the single-heartedness of passion. 

I have only space to tell you of three or four of the famous works ofGiotto. First, his allegories in the great church, in honour of StFrancis, at Assisi, in relation to which, writing of its Germanarchitect, an author says: 'He built boldly against the mountain, pilingone church upon another; the upper vast, lofty, and admitting throughits broad windows the bright rays of the sun: the lower as if in thebowels of the earth--low, solemn, and almost shutting out the light ofday. Around the lofty edifice grew the convent, a vast building, restingupon a long line of arches clinging to the hill-sides. As the eveningdraws nigh, casting its deep shadows across the valley, the travellerbeneath gazes upwards with feelings of wonder and delight at thisgraceful arcade supporting the massy convent; the ancient towers andwalls of the silent town gathering around, and the purple rocks risinghigh above--all still glowing in the lingering sunbeams--a scenescarcely to be surpassed in any clime for its sublime beauty. ' Theupper church contains frescoes wonderfully fresh, by Cimabue, ofScriptural subjects, and frescoes of scenes from the life vowed topoverty of St Francis. In the lower church, over the tomb of St Francis, are the four masterpieces with which we have to do. These are the threevows of the order figuratively represented. Mark the fitness andgrandeur of two of the figures, the suggestion of which has beenattributed to Dante, the woman Chastity seated beyond assault in herrocky fortress, and Obedience bowing the neck to curb and yoke. Thefourth fresco pictures the saint who died, 'covered by another's cloakcast over his wasted body eaten with sores, ' enthroned and glorifiedamidst the host of Heaven. 

I have chosen the second example of the art of Giotto because you maywith comparative ease see it for yourselves. It is in the NationalGallery, London, having belonged to the collection of the late SamuelRogers. It is a fragment of an old fresco which had been part of aseries illustrating the life of John the Baptist in the church of theCarmine, Florence, a church which was destroyed by fire in 1771. Thefragment in the National Gallery has two fine heads of apostles bendingsorrowfully over the body of St John. Though it is not necessary to doit, in strict justice, because good work rises superior to all accidentsof comparison as well as accidents of circumstance, one must remember inregarding this, the stilted and frozen figures and faces, which, beforeGiotto broke their bonds and inspired them, had professed to tell theBible's stories. 

The third instance I have chosen to quote is Giotto's portrait of Dantewhich was so strangely lost for many years. The portrait occurs in apainting, the first recorded performance of Giotto's, in which he wassaid to have introduced the likeness of many of his contemporaries, onthe wall of the Palazzo dell' Podestà or Council Chamber of Florence. During the banishment of Dante the wall was plastered or white-washedover, through the influence of his enemies, and though believed toexist, the picture was hidden down to 1840, when, after various futileefforts to recover it, the figures were again brought to light. 

This portrait of Dante is altogether removed from the later portraits ofthe indignant and weary man, of whom the Italian market-women said thathe had been in Hell as well as in exile. Giotto's Dante on the walls ofthe Council Chamber is a noble young man of thirty, full of ambitioushope and early distinction. The face is slightly pointed, with broadforehead, hazel eyes, straight brows and nose, mouth and chin a littleprojecting. The close cloak or vest with sleeves, and cap in foldshanging down on the shoulder, the hand holding the triple fruit, inprognostication of the harvest of virtue and renown which was to be sobitter as well as so glorious, are all in keeping and have a majesty oftheir own. The picture is probably known by engravings to many of myreaders. 

The last example of Giotto's, is the one which of all his works is mostpotent and patent in its beauty, and has struck, and, in so far as wecan tell, will for ages strike, with its greatness multitudes of widelydifferent degrees of cultivation whose intellectual capacity is as farapart as their critical faculty. I mean the matchless Campanile orbell-tower 'towering over the Dome of Brunelleschi' at Florence, formedof coloured marbles--for which Giotto framed the designs, and evenexecuted with his own hands the models for the sculpture. With thislovely sight Dean Alford's description is more in keeping than theprosaic saying of Charles V. , that 'the Campanile ought to be kept underglass. ' Dean Alford's enthusiasm thus expresses itself:

 'A mass of varied light written on the cloudless sky of unfathomed blue; varied but blended, as never in any other building that we had seen; the warm yellow of the lighter marbles separated but not disunited by the ever-recurring bands of dark; or glowing into red where the kisses of the sun had been hottest; or fading again into white where the shadows mostly haunted, or where the renovating hand had been waging conflict with decay. '

It is known that Giotto, together with his friend Dante, died beforethis--Giotto's last great work--was finally constructed by Giotto'spupil, Taddeo Gaddi, and that therefore neither of the friends couldhave really looked on 'Giotto's Tower, ' though Italian Ciceroni pointout, and strangers love to contemplate, the very stone on which 'GrimDante' sat and gazed with admiration in the calm light of evening on theenduring memorial of the painter. 

Giotto died in the year 1336 or 1337, his biographer adds, 'no less agood Christian than an excellent painter, ' and in token of his faith hepainted one crucifixion in which he introduced his own figure 'kneelingin an attitude of deep devotion and contrition at the foot of theCross. ' The good taste of such an act has been questioned, so has beenthe practice which painted the Virgin Mother now as a brown Italian, nowas a red and white Fleming, and again as a flaxen-haired German or as aswarthy Spaniard, and draped her and all the minor figures in thegrandest drama the world ever saw--as well as the characters in olderScripture histories, in the Florentine, Venetian, and Antwerp fashionsof the day. The defence of the practice is, that the Bible is foruniversal time, that its Virgin Mother, its apostles and saints, weretypes of other mothers and of other heroes running down the stream ofhistory; that even the one central and holy figure, if He may berepresented at all, as the Divine brother of all humanity, may be cladnot inaptly in the garments of all. It appears to me that there isreason in this answer, and that viewed in its light the criticism whichconstantly demands historic fidelity is both carping and narrow. I donot mean, however, to underrate historic accuracy in itself, or todepreciate that longing for completeness in every particular, whichdrives our modern painters to the East to study patiently for months theaspects of nature under its Oriental climate, with its peculiar peopleand animals, its ancient costumes and architecture. 

Giotto was buried with suitable honours by a city which, like the restof the nation, has magnified its painters amongst its great men, in thechurch of Santa Maria del Fiore, where his master Cimabue had beenburied. Lorenzo de' Medici afterwards placed over Giotto's tomb hiseffigy in marble. 

In chronicling ancient art I must here diverge a little. I have alreadymentioned how closely painting was in the beginning allied with workingin metals as well as with sculpture and architecture. It is thusnecessary to write of a magnificent work in metal, the study andadmiration of generations of painters, begun in the life of Giotto, andcompleted in two divisions, extending over a period of nearly a hundredyears. We shall proceed to deal with the first division, and recur tothe second a little later. 

The old Italian cities. They were then the great merchant cities of theworld, more or less republican in their constitution. They stood to thecitizens, who rarely left their walls, at once as peculiar possessionsand as native countries rather than as cities alone, while they excitedall the patriotism, pride, and love that were elsewhere expended on awhole country--which after all was held as belonging largely to its kingand nobles. The old Italian merchant guilds, and wealthy merchants asindividuals, vied with each other in signalizing their good citizenshipby presenting--as gifts identified with their names--to their cities, those palace buildings, chapels, paintings, gates, which are the delightof the world to this day. It was a merchant guild which thought happilyof giving to Florence the bronze gates to the baptistery of San Giovannior St John the Baptist, attached to the Cathedral. After somecompetition the gates were intrusted to Andrea Pisano, one of a greatgroup of painters, sculptors, and architects linked together and named, as so often happened in Italy, for their place of birth, Pisa. Andreaexecuted a series of beautiful reliefs from the life of John theBaptist, which were cast in 1330, gilt, and placed in the centredoor-way. I shall leave the rest of the gates, still more exquisitelywrought, till their proper time, only observing that the Pisani group ofcarvers and founders are supposed to have attained their extraordinarysuperiority in skill and grace, even over such a painter as Giotto, inconsequence of one of them, Nicola Pisano, having given his attention tothe study of some ancient Greek sarcophagi preserved at Pisa. 

Passing for a while from the gates of St John of Florence, we come backto painting and a painter, and with them to another monument--in itselfvery noble and curious in its mouldering age, of the old Italians' loveto their cities. Andrea Orcagna, otherwise known as Andrea di Cione, oneof a brotherhood of painters, was born in Florence about 1315. Hisgreatest works are in the Campo Santa of Pisa. 

This wonderful 'holy field' is a grand legacy, so far as dilapidation, alas, will let it be, of the old painters. Originally a place of burial, though no longer used as such, it is enclosed by high walls and anarcade, something like the cloisters of a cathedral or college runninground, and having on the north and east sides chapels where masses forthe dead were celebrated. The space in the centre was filled with earthbrought from the Holy Land by the merchant ships of Pisa. It is coveredwith turf, having tall cypress-trees at the corners, and a little crossin the centre. The arcade is pierced with sixty-two windows, andcontains on its marble pavement hundreds of monuments--among them theGreek sarcophagi studied by Nicola Pisano. But the great distinction ofthe Campo Santa (of which there are many photographs) are the wallsopposite the windows of the arcade painted with Scriptural subjects byartists of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, for the decoration ofthe walls was continued at intervals, during two hundred years. Thehavoc wrought by time and damp has been terrible; not only are thepictures faded and discoloured, but of the earliest only mutilatedfragments, 'here an arm and there a head, ' remain. Giotto'sillustrations of the book of Job have thus perished. Still Orcagna'swork has partially escaped, and left us indications of what it was inhis and its youth, when Michael Angelo and Raphael did not disdain toborrow from it in design and arrangement. Dean Alford has thus describedOrcagna's mournful, thoughtful 'Triumph of Death:'

'The picture is one of crowded action, and contains very manypersonages. The action may be supposed to begin in the lower corner onthe right hand. There we see what appears to be a wedding-party seatedin festivity under a grove of orange-trees laden with fruit. Over two ofthem a pair entertaining them with merry strains. But close to them onthe left comes swooping down on bats' wings, and armed with theinevitable scythe, the genius of Death. Her wild hair streams in thewind, her bosom is invulnerable, being closed in a trellised armour ofsteel. Beneath her, on the ground, are a heap of corpses, shown by theirattire to be the great and wealthy of the world. Three winged figures, two fiends and one angel, are drawing souls, in the form of children, out of the mouths of three of these corpses. Above, the air is full offlying spirits, angels and demons: the former beautiful and saintly, thelatter hideous and bestial. Some are dragging, or bearing upwards, humansouls: others are on their way to fetch them from the heaps of dead:others, again, are flying about apparently without aim. Further yet tothe left, a company of wretched ones, lame and in rags, are invokingDeath with outstretched arms to come to their relief; but she sweeps byand heeds them not. 

'Dividing one half of the picture from the other, is a high range ofrocks, terminating in a fiery mountain, into which the demons arecasting the unhappy souls which they have carried off. Beyond that seemsto be a repetition of the same lesson respecting Death in another form. A party of knights and dames are issuing on horseback from a mountainpass. In the left hand of the picture there lie in their path threecorpses in coffins, with coronets on their heads. One is newly dead; onthe second, decay has begun its work; the third is reduced to agrinning skeleton. The impression produced on the gay party by the sightis very various. Some look on carelessly; one holds his nose in disgust;one, a lady jewelled and crowned, leans her head on her hand in solemnthought. Above, on a rising ground, an aged monk (it is said, SaintMacarius) is holding a scroll, and pointing out to passengers the moralof the sight which meets them. The path winds up a hill crowned with achurch, and by its side at various points are hermits sitting in calmsecurity, or following peaceful occupations. One of them is milking adoe; another is reading; a third is calmly contemplating from a distancethe valley of Death. About them are various animals and birds. The ideaevidently intended to be conveyed is that deliverance from the fear ofdeath is to be found not in gaiety and dissipation, but in contemplationand communion with God. 

'Such is the wonderful fresco, and the execution is as wonderful as theconception. Belonging as the painter did to a rude and early period ofart, he yet had the power of endowing his figures with both majesty andtenderness of expression. '

The Last Judgment is no less solemn and sad, with hope tempering itssadness. Mrs Jameson's note of it is: 'Above, in the centre, Christ andthe Virgin are throned in separate glories. He turns to the left, towards the condemned, while he uncovers the wound in his side, andraises his right arm with a menacing gesture, his countenance full ofmajestic wrath. The Virgin, on the right of her Son, is the picture ofheavenly mercy, and, as if terrified at the words of eternalcondemnation, she turns away. On either side are ranged the Prophets ofthe Old Testament, the Apostles and other saints, severe, solemn, dignified figures. Angels, holding the instruments of the Passion, hoverover Christ and the Virgin; under them is a group of archangels. Thearchangel Michael stands in the midst holding a scroll in each hand;immediately before him another archangel, supposed to represent Raphael, the guardian angel of humanity, cowers down, shuddering, while twoothers sound the awful trumpets of doom. Lower down is the earth wheremen are seen rising from their graves; armed angels direct them to theright and left. Here is seen King Solomon, who, whilst he rises, seemsdoubtful to which side he should turn; here a hypocritical monk, whom anangel draws back by the hair from the host of the youth in a gay andrich costume, whom another angel leads away to Paradise. There iswonderful and even terrible power of expression in some of the heads;and it is said that among them are many portraits of contemporaries, butunfortunately no circumstantial traditions as to particular figures havereached us. '

One of Orcagna's altar-pieces, that of 'the coronation of the Virgin, 'containing upwards of a hundred figures, and with the colouring stillrich, is in our National Gallery. As an architect, Orcagna designed thefamous Loggia de' Lanzi of the grand ducal palace at Florence. 

Now I must take you back to the bronze gates of the Baptistery in theirtriumphant completion nearly a hundred years after the first gate wasexecuted by Andrea Pisano. I should have liked, but for our limits, totell in full the legend of the election of Lorenzo Ghiberti, thestep-son of a goldsmith, and skilled in chasing and enamelling, todesign the second gate; when yet a lad of twenty-three, how he and twoother young men, one of them still younger than Ghiberti, were declaredthe most promising competitors in the trial for the work; how the lasttwo voluntarily withdrew from the contest, magnanimously proclaimingLorenzo Ghiberti their superior; how all the three lived to be famous, the one as a founder in metal, the others as an architect and asculptor, and remained sworn brothers in art till death. 

Lorenzo Ghiberti has left us an expression of the feeling with which heset about his task, an expression so suggestive that, even had we noother indication, it is enough to stamp the true and tender nature ofthe man. He prepared for his achievement 'with infinite diligence andlove'--the words deserve to be pondered over. He took at leasttwenty-two years to his work, receiving for it eleven hundred florins. He chose his subjects from the life and death of the Lord, working themout in twenty panels, ten on each side of the folding doors, and belowthese were eight panels containing full-length figures of the fourevangelists and four doctors of the Latin Church, with a complete borderof fruit and foliage, having heads of prophets and sibyls interspersed. So entire was the satisfaction the superb gate gave, that Lorenzo wasnot merely loaded with praise, he received a commission to design andcast a third and central gate which should surpass the others, that werethenceforth to be the side entrances. 

For his second gate Lorenzo Ghiberti repaired to the Old Testament forsubjects, beginning with the creation and ending with the meeting ofSolomon and the Queen of Sheba, and represented them in ten compartmentsenclosed in a rich border of fruit and foliage, with twenty-fourfull-length figures of the Hebrew heroes and prophets, clearly anddelicately designed and finished, occupying corresponding niches. Thiscrowning gate engaged the founder upwards of eighteen years--forty-nineyears are given as the term of the work of both the gates. 

The single defect which is found in those marvellous gates--left to usas a testimony of what the life-long devotion of genius couldproduce--is that they abound floridly both in ornament and action, inplace of being severely simple and restrained according to the classicalstandard. 

Michael Angelo called these gates 'worthy to be the gates of Paradise, 'and they are still one of the glories of Florence. Casts of the gatesare to be found in the School for Art at Kensington, and at the CrystalPalace. 

A young village boy learned to draw and model from Ghiberti's gates. Hein his turn was to create in the Brancacci Chapel of the Church of theCarmine at Florence a school of painters scarcely less renowned andpowerful in its effects than that produced by the works in the CampoSanta. You will find the Italian painters not unfrequently known bynicknames, quite as often by their father's trades as by their father'ssurnames, and still oftener by the town which was their place of birthor nurture. This Tom village birth-place, was commonly called Masaccio, short for Tomasaccio, 'hulking Tom, ' as I have heard it translated, onaccount of his indifferent, slovenly habits. I think there is atradition that he entered a studio in Florence as a colour boy, andelectrified the painter and his scholars, by _brownie_ like freaks ofpainting at their unfinished work, in their absence, better than any ofhis masters, and by the dexterity with which he perpetrated the frolicof putting the facsimile of a fly on one of the faces on the easels. Hisend was a tragic conclusion to such light comedy. At the age oftwenty-six, he quitted Florence for Rome so suddenly that he left hisfinest frescoes unfinished. It was said that he was summoned thither bythe Pope. At Rome, where little or nothing of Masaccio's life is known, he died shortly afterwards, not without a suspicion of his having beenpoisoned. 

A curious anecdote exists of the identification of the time when heforsook Florence to meet his death in Rome. Just as we have read, thatthe period of the death of Massinger the dramatist has been settled byan entry in an old parish register, 'died, Philip Massinger a stranger, 'so there has been found some quaint equivalent to a modern tax-paperwhich had been delivered at the dwelling of Masaccio when the word'gone' was written down. 

There is a further tradition--not very probable under thecircumstances--that Masaccio is buried, without name or stone, under theBrancacci Chapel. Be that as it may, he very early rose to eminence, surpassing all his predecessors in drawing and colouring, and hecombined with those acquirements such animation and variety ofexpression in his characters, that it was said of him 'he painted soulsas well as bodies, ' while his invention was not less bold and fresh. 

It is difficult to indicate Masaccio's pictures because some of themhave been repainted and destroyed. As to those in the Brancacci Chapelfrom the life of St Peter, (with the exception of two, ) considerableconfusion has arisen as to which are Masaccio's, and which belong tohis scholar Filippino Lippi. The fresco which Masaccio left unfinished, that of the Apostles Peter and Paul raising a dead youth (fromtraditional history), was finished by Lippi. In the fresco of Peterbaptizing the converts, generally attributed to Masaccio, there is a ladwho has thrown off his garments, and stands shivering with cold, whosefigure, according to authority, formed an epoch in art. Lionardo daVinci, Michael Angelo, Andrea del Sarto, Fra Bartolommeo, all studiedtheir art in this chapel. Raphael borrowed the grand figure of St Paulpreaching at Athens in one of the cartoons, from one of Masaccio's orFilippo Lippi's frescoes. Masaccio's excellence as an artist, reached atan immature age, is very remarkable. 

I have come to the last and probably the best appreciated among modemsof the early Italian painters. Fra Angelico da Fiesole, the gentledevout monk whom Italians called '_Il Beato_, ' the Blessed, and whoprobably did receive the distinction of beatification, a distinctiononly second in the Roman Catholic Church to that of canonization. He wasborn at the lovely little mountain-town of Fiesole near Florence, 1387, and his worldly name, which he bore only till his twenty-first year, wasGuido Petri de Mugello. In his youth, with his gift already recognized, so that he might well have won ease and honour in the world, he enteredthe Dominican Convent of St Mark, Florence, for what he deemed the goodand peace of his soul. He seldom afterwards left it, and that only asdirected by his convent superior, or summoned by the Pope. He was a mandevoid of personal ambition, pure, humble, and meek. When offered theArchbishopric of Florence as a tribute to his sanctity, he declined iton account of his unworthiness for the office. He would not work formoney, and only painted at the command of his prior. He began hispainting with fasting and work, he steadfastly refused to make anyalteration in the originals. It is said that he was found dead at hiseasel with a completed picture before him. It is not wonderful, thatfrom such a man should come one side of the perfection of that idealismwhich Giotto had begun. Fra Angelico's angels, saints, Saviour, andVirgin are more divinely calm, pure, sweet, endowed with a more exultingsaintliness, a more immortal youth and joy, and a more utterself-abnegation and sympathetic tenderness than are to be found in thesaints and the angels, the Saviour and the Virgin of other painters. Neither is it surprising that Fra Angelico's defects, besides that ofthe bad drawing which shows more in his large than in his smallpictures, are those of a want of human knowledge, power, and freedom. His wicked--even his more earthly-souled characters, are weak and faultyin action. What should the reverent and guileless dreamer know, unlessindeed by inspiration of the rude conflicts, the fire and fury of humanpassions intensified in the malice and anguish of devils? But FraAngelico's singular successes far transcend his failures. In addition tothe sublime serenity and positive radiance of expression which he couldimpart to his heads, his notions of grouping and draping were full ofgrace, sometimes of splendour and magnificence. In harmony with hishappy temperament and fortunes, he was fond of gay yet delicate colours'like spring flowers, ' and used a profusion of gold ornaments which donot seem out of keeping in his pictures. The most of Fra Angelico'spictures are in Florence--the best in his own old convent of St Mark, where he lovingly adorned not only chapter-hall and court, but the cellsof his brother friars. A crucifix with adoring saints worshipping theircrucified Saviour is regarded as his masterpiece in St Mark's. A famouscoronation of the Virgin, which Fra Angelico painted for a church in hisnative town, and which is now in the Louvre, Paris, is thus described byMrs Jameson: 'It represents a throne under a rich Gothic canopy, towhich there is an ascent of nine steps; on the highest kneels theVirgin, veiled, her hands crossed on her bosom. She is clothed in a redtunic, a blue robe over it, and a royal mantle with a rich borderflowing down behind. The features are most delicately lovely, and theexpression of the face full of humility and adoration. Christ, seated onthe throne, bends forward, and is in the act of placing the crown on herhead; on each side are twelve angels, who are playing a heavenly concertwith guitars, tambourines, trumpets, viols, and other musicalinstruments; lower than these, on each side, are forty holy personagesof the Old and New Testament; and at the foot of the throne kneelseveral saints, male and female, among them St Catherine with her wheel, St Agnes with her lamb, and St Cecilia crowned with flowers. Beneath theprincipal picture there is a row of seven small ones, forming a border, and representing various incidents in the life of St Dominic. '

CHAPTER II. 

EARLY FLEMISH ART--THE VAN EYCKS, 1366-1442--MABUSE, MATSYS, 1460-1530OR 31. 

In the Low Countries painting had very much the same history that it hadin Italy, but the dates are later, and there may be a longer intervalgiven to each stage of development. Religious painting, profuse insymbolism, with masses of details elaborately worked in, meets us in thefirst place. This style of painting reached its culmination, in which itincluded (as it did not include in its representation in the Italianpictures) many and varied excellencies, among them the establishment ofpainting in oil in the pictures of the Flemish family of painters--theVan Eycks. 

Before going into the little that is known of the family history of theVan Eycks, I should like to call attention to the numerous painterfamilies in the middle ages. What a union, and repose, and happysympathy of art-life it indicates, which we appear to restlessness andseparate interests of modern life. The Van Eycks consisted of no lessthan four members of a family, three brothers, Hubert, John, andLambert, and one sister, Margaret, devoted, like her brothers, to herart. There is a suggestion that they belonged to a small village ofLimburg called Eyck, and repaired to Bruges in order to pursue theirart. Hubert was thirty years older than John, and it is said that he wasa serious-minded man as well as an ardent painter, and belonged to thereligious fraternity of our Lady of Ghent. He died in 1426. John, thoughof so much consideration in his profession as to be believed to be 'theFlemish Painter' sent by Duke Philip the Good of Flanders and Burgundywith a mission to Portugal to solicit the hand of a princess inmarriage, is reported to have died very poor in 1449, and has thesuspicion attached to him of having been a lover of pleasure and aspendthrift. Of Lambert, the third brother, almost nothing is known;indeed, the fact of his existence has only lately come to light. Margaret lived and died unmarried, and belonged, like her brotherHubert, to the religious society of our Lady of Ghent. She died about1432. 

The invention of painting in oil, for which the Van Eycks are commonlyknown, was not literally that of mixing colours with oil, which wasoccasionally done before their day. It was the combining oil with resin, so as to produce at once a good varnish, and avoid the necessity ofdrying pictures in the sun, a bright thought, which may stand in thesame rank with the construction, by James Watt, of that valve whichrendered practicable the application of steam to machinery. The thought, occasioned by the cracking of a picture in tempera exposed to the sun, is due to Hubert Van Eyck. 

The great picture of the Van Eycks, which was worked at for a number ofyears by both Hubert and John, and, as some reckon, touched by the wholefamily, is the 'Adoration of the Lamb, ' at St Bavon's, Ghent. I shouldlike to give a faint idea of this extraordinary picture, which waspainted for a burgomaster of Ghent and his wife in order to adorn theirmortuary chapel in the cathedral. It was an altar piece on separatepanels, now broken up and dispersed, only a portion of it being retainedin Ghent. 

It may strike some as strange that a picture should be on panels, butthose of the old pictures which were not on plastered walls werecommonly on panels, many of them on the lids and sides of chests andpresses which were used to hold sacred vessels and priestly raiment. 

When the wings of the Van Eycks' altar-piece of the 'Adoration of theLamb' were opened on festivals, the subjects of the upper centralpicture were seen, consisting of the Triune God, a majestic figure, andat his side in stately calm the Virgin and the Baptist. On the inside ofthe wings were angels, at the two extremities Adam and Eve. The lowercentral picture shows the Lamb of the Revelation, whose blood flows intoa cup; over it is the dove of the Holy Spirit. Angels, who hold theinstruments of the Passion, worship the Lamb. Four groups of manypersons advance from the sides, these are the holy martyrs, men andwomen, priests and laymen. In the foreground is the fountain of life; inthe distance are the towers of the heavenly Jerusalem. On the wingsother groups are coming up to adore the Lamb; on the left those who havelaboured for the Kingdom of the Lord by worldly deeds--the soldiers ofChrist led by St George, St Sebastian, and St Michael, the patron saintsof the old Flemish guilds, followed by emperors and kings--a goodlycompany. Beyond the soldiers and princes, on the left, are the righteousjudges, also on horseback. In front of them, on a splendidly caparisonedgray, rides a mild, benevolent old man in blue velvet trimmed with fur. This is the likeness of Hubert Van Eyck, painted after his death by hisbrother John, and John himself is in the group, clothed in black, with ashrewd, sharp countenance. On the self-renunciation have served the Lambin the spirit, hermits and pilgrims, among them St Christopher, StAnthony, St Paul the hermit, Mary Magdalene, and St Mary of Egypt. Acompartment underneath, which represented hell, finished the whole--yetonly the whole on one side, for the wings when closed presented anotherseries of finely thought-out and finished pictures--the Annunciation;figures of Micah and Zechariah; statues of the two St Johns, with thelikenesses of the donors who gave to the world so great a work of art, kneeling humbly side by side, the burgomaster somewhat mean-looking insuch company in spite of the proof of his liberality, but his wife nobleenough in feature and expression to have been the originator of thisglory of early Flemish painting. The upper part of the picture ispainted on a gold ground, round the central figure of the Lamb is vividgreen grass with masses of trees and flowers--indeed there is muchlovely landscape no longer indicated by a rock or a bush, but betokeningclose observation of nature, whether in a fruitful valley, or a rockydefile, or mountain ridges with fleecy clouds overhead. The expressionof the immense number of figures is as varied and characteristic astheir grouping. [2]

Hubert Van Eyck died while this work was in progress, and it wasfinished by his brother John six years after Hubert's death. When onethinks of the intense application and devotion which such a work costs, and recalls the bronze gates of St John that occupied Lorenzo Ghiberti49 years, and when we read, as we shall read a few chapters farther on, of large paintings which were begun and ended in so many days--even somany hours, one can better understand what is the essential differencebetween the works of the early and the later painters, a differencewhich no skill, no power even can bridge over. John Van Eyck, who hadlived late enough to have departed from the painting of sacred picturesalone, so that he left portraits and an otter hunt among his works, isthree times represented in our National Gallery, in three greatlyesteemed portraits, one a double portrait, believed to be the likenessesof the painter and his wife, standing hand in hand with a terrier dogat their feet. 

Gossaert, called de Mabuse from his native town of Mabeuze, sometimessigning his name Joannes Malbodius, followed in the steps of the VanEycks, particularly in his great picture of the 'Adoration of theKings, ' which is at Castle Howard, the seat of the Earl of Carlisle. Mabuse was in England and painted the children of Henry VII, in apicture, which is at Hampton Court. There is a picture in the palace ofHolyrood, Edinburgh, which has been attributed to Mabuse. It representson the sides of a triptych or diptych (somewhat like a folding screen)James III. And his queen with attendants. The fur on the queen's dressdisplays already that marvellous technical skill for which Flemishpainting is so celebrated. 

Hans Memling belonged to Bruges. There is a tradition of him, which isto a certain extent disproven, that he was a poor soldier relieved bythe hospital of St John, Bruges, and that in gratitude he executed forthe hospital the well-known reliquary of St Ursula. However it mighthave originated, this is the most noted work of a painter, who wasdistinguished frequently by his minute missal-like painting (he was alsoan illuminator of missals), in which he would introduce fifteen hundredsmall figures in a picture two feet eight inches, by six feet fiveinches in size, and work out every detail with the utmost niceness andcare. The reliquary, or 'chasse, ' is a wooden coffer or shrine aboutfour feet in length, its style and form those of a rich Gothic church, its purpose to hold an arm of the saint. The whole exterior is coveredwith miniatures by Memling, nearly the whole of them giving incidents inthe legendary history of St Ursula, a 'virgin princess of Brittany, ' orof England, who, setting out with eleven thousand companions, her lover, and an escort of knights on a pilgrimage to Rome, was, with her wholecompany, met and murdered, by a horde of heathen Huns, when they hadreached Cologne, on their return. My readers may be aware that thesupposed bones of the virgins and St Ursula form the ghastly adornmentof the church founded in her honour at Cologne. It is absolutely filledwith bones, built into the walls, stowed under the pavement, ranged inglass cases about the choir. Hans Memling's is a pleasantercommemoration of St Ursula. 

Quintin Matsys, the blacksmith of Antwerp, was born at Louvain about1460. Though he worked first as a smith he is said by Kugler to havebelonged to a family of painters, which somewhat takes from the romance, though it adds to the probability of his story. Another painter inAntwerp having offered the hand and dowry of his daughter--beloved byQuintin Matsys--as a prize to the painter who should paint the bestpicture in a competition for her hand, the doughty smith took up theart, entered the lists, and carried off the maiden and her portion fromall his more experienced rivals. The vitality of the legend is indicatedby the inscription on a tablet to the memory of Quintin Matsys in theCathedral, Antwerp. The Latin inscription reads thus in English:

 'Twas love connubial taught the smith to paint, '

Quintin Matsys lived and died a respected burgher of Antwerp, a memberof the great Antwerp painters' guild of St Luke. He was twice married, and had thirteen children. 

Whatever might have been his source of inspiration, Quintin Matsys wasan apt scholar. His 'Descent from the Cross, ' now in the Museum, Antwerp, was _the_ 'Descent from the Cross, ' and _the_ picture in theCathedral, until superseded by Rubens' masterpiece on the same subject. Still Quintin Matsys version remains, and is in some respects anunsurpassed picture. There is a traditional grouping of this Divinetragedy, and Quintin Matsys has followed the tradition. The body of theLord is supported by two venerable old men--Joseph of Arimathea andNicodemus--while the holy women anoint the wounds of the Saviour; theVirgin swooning with grief is supported by St John. The figures are fullof individuality, and their action is instinct with pathos. For thispicture Quintin Matsys--popular painter as he was--got only threehundred florins, equivalent to twenty-five pounds (although, of course, the value of money was much greater in those days). The Joiners'Company, for whom he painted the 'Descent from the Cross, ' sold thepicture to the City of Antwerp for five times the original amount, andit is said Queen Elizabeth offered the City nearly twenty times thefirst sum for it, in vain. 

Quintin Matsys painted frequently half-length figures of the Virgin andChild, an example of which is in the National Gallery. He excelled inthe 'figure painting' of familiar subjects, then just beginning to beestablished, affording a token of the direction which the futureeminence of the Flemish painters would take. One of his famous picturesof this kind is 'The Misers, ' in the Queen's collection at Windsor. Twofigures in the Flemish costume of the time, are seated at a table;before them are a heap of money and a book, in which one is writing withhis right hand, while he tells down the money with his left. The facesexpress craft and cupidity. The details of the ink-horn on the table, and the bird on its perch behind, have the Flemish graphic exactness. 

CHAPTER III. 

IN EARLY SCHOOLS OF ITALIAN ART--THE BELLINI, 1422-1512--MANTEGNA, 1431-1506--GHIRLANDAJO, 1449-1498--IL FRANCIA, 1450-1518--FRABARTOLOMMEO, 1469-1517--ANDREA DEL SARTO, 1488-1530. 

I have come to the period when Italian art is divided into manyschools--Paduan, Venetian, Umbrian, Florentine, Roman, Bolognese, etc. , etc. With the schools and their definitions I do not mean to meddle, except it may be to mention to which school a great painter belonged. Another difficulty meets me here. I have been trying so far as I couldto give the representative painters in the order of time. I can nolonger follow this rule strictly, and the grouping of this chapter ismade on the principle of leading my readers up by some of thepredecessors who linked the older to the later Italian painters, and bysome of the contemporaries of these later painters, to that centralfour, Lionardo da Vinci, Michael Angelo, Raphael, and Titian, whooccupy so great a place in the history of art. 

In the brothers Bellini and their native Venice, we must first deal withthat excellence of colouring for which the Venetian painters weresignally noted, while they comparatively neglected and underrateddrawing. A somewhat fanciful theory has been started, that as Venice, Holland, and England have been distinguished for colour in art, and asall those States are by the sea, so a sea atmosphere has something to dowith a passion for colour. Within more reasonable bounds, in referenceto the Venetians, is the consideration that no colouring is richer, mellower, more exquisitely tinted than that which belongs to the blueItalian sky over the blue Adriatic, with those merged shades of violet, green, and amber, and that magical soft haze which has to do with amoist climate. 

The two brothers Gentile and Gian or John Bellini, the latter the morefamous of the two, were the sons of an old Venetian painter, with regardto whom the worthy speech is preserved, that he said it was like theTuscans for son to beat father, and he hoped, in God's name, thatGiovanni or Gian would outstrip him, and Gentile, the elder, outstripboth. The brothers worked together and were true and affectionatebrothers, encouraging and appreciating each other. 

Gentile was sent by the Doge at the request of the Sultan--eitherMahommed II, or Bajazet II. , to Constantinople, where Gentile Bellinipainted the portrait of the Sultan and the Sultana his mother, now inthe British Museum. The painter also painted the head of John theBaptist in a charger as an offering--only too suitable--from him to theGrand Turk. The legend goes on to tell that in the course of thepresentation of the gift, an incident occurred which induced GentileBellini to quit the Ottoman Court with all haste. The Sultan hadcriticized the appearance of the neck in John the Baptist's severedhead, and when Gentile ventured to defend his work, the Sultan proceededto prove the correctness of his criticism, by drawing his scimitar andcutting off at a stroke the head of a kneeling slave, and pointing tothe spouting blood and the shrinking muscle, gave the horrified paintera lesson in practical anatomy. On Gentile's return from the East, he waspensioned by his State, and lived on painting, till he was eighty yearsof age, dying in 1501. 

Gian Bellini is said to have obtained by a piece of deceit, which is notin keeping with his manly and honourable character, the secret, naturally coveted by a Venetian, of mixing colours with resin and oil. AVenetian painter had brought the secret from Flanders, and communicatedit to a friend, who, in turn, communicated it to a third painter, andwas murdered by that third painter for his pains, so greedy and criminalwas the craving, not only to possess, but to be as far as possible thesole possessor of, the grand discovery. Gian Bellini was much lessguilty, if he were really guilty. Disguised as a Venetian nobleman, heproposed to sit for his portrait to that Antonella who first brought thesecret from Flanders, and while Antonella worked with unsuspiciousopenness, Gian Bellini watched the process and stole the secret. 

Gian Bellini lived to the age of ninety, and had among his admirers thepoet Ariosto and Albrecht Dürer. The latter saw Gian Bellini in his age, and said of him, when foolish mockers had risen up to scout at the oldman, and his art now become classic, 'He is very old, but he is stillthe best of our painters. ' Gian Bellini had illustrious pupils, including in their number Titian and Giorgione. 

The portraits of Gentile and Gian, which are preserved in a painting byGian, show Gentile fair-complexioned and red-haired, and Gian with darkhair. 

Gian Bellini is considered to have been less gifted with imaginationthan some of his great brother artists; but he has proved himself a manof high moral sense, and while he stopped short at the boundary betweenthe seen and the unseen, it is certain he must still have painted withmuch of 'the divine patience' and devout consecration of all his powers, and of every part of his work, which are the attributes of the earliestItalian painters. When he and his brother began to paint, Venetian arthad already taken its distinctive character for open-air effects, richscenic details in architecture, furniture and dress (said to beconspicuous in commercial communities), and a growing tendency toportraiture. Gian went with the tide, but he guided it to noble results. His simplicity and good sense, with his purity and dignity of mind, werealways present. He introduced into his pictures 'singing boys, dancingcherubs, glittering thrones, and dewy flowers, ' pressing the outer worldinto his service and that of religious art. It is said also that hisMadonnas seem 'amiable beings imbued with a lofty grace;' while hissaints are 'powerful and noble forms. ' But he never descended to thepaltry or the vulgar. He knew from the depths of his own soul how toinvest a face with moral grandeur. Especially in his representations ofour Saviour Gian Bellini 'displays a perception of moral power andgrandeur seldom equalled in the history of art. ' The example given isthat of the single figure of the Lord in the Dresden Gallery, where theSon of God, without nimbus, or glory, stands forth as the 'ideal ofelevated humanity. '

The greater portion of Gian Bellini's pictures remain in the churchesand galleries of Venice. But the first great work at which the twobrothers in their youth worked in company--the painting of the Hall ofCouncil in the palace of the Doge, with a series of historical andlegendary pictures of the Venetian wars with the Emperor FrederickBarbarossa (1177), including the Doge Ziani's receiving from the Popethe gold ring with which the Doge espoused the Adriatic, in token ofperpetual dominion over the sea--was unfortunately destroyed by fire in1577. Giovanni Bellini's greatest work, now at St Salvatore, is Christat Emmaus, with Venetian senators and a Turkish dragoman introduced asspectators of the risen Lord. 

Of another great work at Vicenza, painted in Gian Bellini's old age, when neither his skill nor his strength was abated, 'The Baptism ofChrist, ' Dean Alford writes thus:

 'Let us remain long and look earnestly, for there is indeed much to be seen. That central figure, standing with hands folded on His bosom, so gentle, so majestic, so perfect in blameless humanity, oh what labour of reverent thought; what toil of ceaseless meditation; what changes of fair purpose, oscillating into clearest vision of ideal truth, must it have cost the great painter, before he put forth that which we see now! It is as impossible to find aught but love and majesty in the Divine countenance, as it is to discover a blemish on the complexion of that body, which seems to give forth light from itself, as He stands in obedience, fulfilling all righteousness. 

 'And even on the accessories to this figure, we see the same loving and reverent toil bestowed. The cincture, where alone the body is hidden from view, is no web of man's weaving; or, if it were, it is of hers whose heart was full of divine thoughts as she wove: so bright and clear is the tint, so exquisitely careful and delicate every fold where light may play or colour vary. And look under the sacred feet, on the ground blessed by their pressure; no dash of hurrying brush has been there: less than a long day's light, eve, did not suffice to give in individual shape and shade every minutest pebble and mote of that shore of Jordan. Every one of them was worth painting, for we are viewing them as in the light of His presence who made them all and knew them all. 

 'And now let us pass to the other figures: to that living and glowing angelic group in the left hand of the picture. Three of the heavenly host are present, variously affected by that which they behold. The first, next the spectator, in the corner of the picture, is standing in silent adoration, tender and gentle in expression, the hands together, but only the points of the fingers touching, his very reverence being chastened by angelic modesty; the second turns on that which he sees a look of earnest inquiry, but kneels as he looks; and indeed that which he sees is one of the things which angels desire to look into. The third, a majestic herald-like figure, stands, as one speaking, looking to the spectator, with his right hand on his garment, and his left out as in demonstration, unmistakeably saying to us who look on, "Behold what love is here!" Then, hardly noticing what might well be much noticed, the grand dark figure of the Baptist on the right, let us observe how beautifully and accurately all the features of the landscape are given. '

Of the same work another critic records: 'The attendant angels in thiswork (signed by the artist) are of special interest, instinct with anindefinable purity and depth of reverential tenderness elsewhere hardlyrivalled. But the picture, like that in S. Giovanni Crisostomo, withwhich it is nearly contemporary, is almost more interesting from theastonishing truth and beauty of its landscape portions. _These_ formhere a feature more important, perhaps, than in any work of that period;the stratification and form of the rocks in the foreground, the palmsand other trees relieved against the lucid distance, and themountain-ranges of tender blue beyond, are as much beyond praise fortheir beauty and their truth, as they have been beyond imitation fromthe solidity and transparent strength of their execution! The minutefinish is Nature's, and the colouring more gem-like than gems. '

No praise can exceed that bestowed on Gian Bellini's colouring for itsintensity and transparency. 'Many of his draperies are like crystal ofthe clearest and deepest colour, ' declares an authority; and anotherstates' his best works have a clear jewel brightness, an internalgem-like fire such as warms a summer twilight. The shadows are intenseand yet transparent, like the Adriatic waves when they lie out of thesun under the palace bridges. '

Portrait-painting, just beginning, was established in Venice, its laterstronghold, by Gian Bellini. His truthful portrait of the Doge Loredano, one of the earliest of that series of Doges' portraits which once hungin state in the ducal palace, is now in our National Gallery. 

Of Gentile Bellini, whose work was softer, but less vigorous than hisbrother's, the best painting extant is that at Milan of St Markpreaching at Alexandria, in which the painter showed how he had profitedby his residence at Constantinople in the introduction of much richTurkish costume, and of an animal unknown to Europe at the time--acamelopard. 

Andrea Mantegna was born near Padua. He was the son of a farmer. Hisearly history, according to tradition, is very similar to that ofGiotto. Just as Cimabue adopted Giotto, Squarcione, a painter who hadtravelled in Italy and Greece, and made a great collection of antiques, from which he taught in a famous school of painters, adopted AndreaMantegna at the early age of ten years. It was long believed thatMantegna, in the end, forfeited the favour of his master by marryingNicolosa Bellini, the sister of Gentile and Gian Bellini, whose fatherwas the great rival of Squarcione; and farther, that Mantegna's style ofpainting had been considered Bellini. Modern researches, which havesubstituted another surname for that of Bellini as the surname of AndreaMantegna's wife, contradict this story. 

Andrea Mantegna, a man of much energy and fancy, entered young into theservice of the Gonzaga lords of Mantua, receiving from them a salary ofthirty pounds a year and a piece of land, on which the painter built ahouse, and painted it within and without--the latter one of the firstexamples of artistic waste, followed later by Tintoret and Veronese, regardless of the fact that painting could not survive in the open airof Northern Italy. 

Andrea Mantegna had his home at Mantua, except when he was called toRome to paint for the Pope, Innocent VIII. An anecdote is told by MrsJameson of this commission. It seems the Pope's payments were irregular;and one day when he visited his painter at work, and his Holiness askedthe meaning of a certain allegorical female figure in the design, Andreaanswered, with somewhat audacious point, that he was trying torepresent _Patience_. The Pope, understanding the allusion, paid thepainter in his own coin, by remarking in reply, 'If you would placePatience in fitting company, you would paint Discretion at her side. 'Andrea took the hint, said no more, and when his work was finished notonly received his money, but was munificently rewarded. 

Andrea Mantegna had two sons and a daughter. One of his sons paintedwith his father, and, after Andrea Mantegna's death, completed some ofhis pictures. 

Andrea Mantegna's early study of antique sculpture moulded his wholelife's work. He took great delight in modelling, in perspective, ofwhich he made himself a master, and in chiaroscuro, or light and shade. Had his powers of invention and grace not kept pace with his skill, hewould have been a stiff and formal worker; as it was, he carried theausterity of sculpture into painting, and his greatest work, the'Triumph of Julius Cæsar, ' would have been better suited for thechiselled frieze of a temple than it is for the painted frieze of thehall of a palace. Yet he was a great leader and teacher in art, and thetrue proportions of his drawing are grand, if his colouring is harsh. Iam happy to say that Mantegna's 'Triumph of Julius Cæsar' is in Englandat Hampton Court, having been bought from the Duke of Mantua by CharlesI. These cartoons, nine in number, are sketches in water-colour ordistemper on paper fixed on cloth. They are faded and dilapidated, asthey well may be, considering the slightness of the materials and theirage, about four hundred years. At the same time, they are, after thecartoons of Raphael (which formed part of the same art collection ofCharles I. ), perhaps the most valuable and interesting relic of art inEngland. 

The series of the 'Triumph' contain the different parts, originallyseparated by pillars, of a long and splendid procession. There aretrumpeters and standard bearers, the statues of the gods borne aloft, battering-rams and heaps of glittering armour, trophies of conquest inhuge vases filled with coin, garlanded oxen, and elephants. The secondlast of the series, presents the ranks of captives forming part of theshow, rebellious men, submissive women, and unconscious children--amoving picture. In the last of the series comes the great conqueror inhis chariot, a youth in the crowd following him, carrying his banner, onwhich is inscribed Cæsar's notable despatch, 'Veni, vidi, vici;' 'Icame, I saw, I conquered. '

Another of Mantegna's best pictures is in distemper--in which, and onfresco, Mantegna chiefly painted, --and is in the Louvre, Paris. It isthe Madonna of Victory, so called from its being painted to commemoratethe deliverance of Italy from the French army under Charles VIII. , aname which has acquired a sardonic meaning from the ultimate destinationof the picture. This picture--which represents the Virgin and Child on athrone, in an arbour of fruit and flowers, between the archangels, Michael and St Maurice, in complete armour, with the patron saints ofMantua and the infant St John in the front, and the Marquis Ludovico ofMantua and his wife, Isabella D'Este, kneeling to return thanks--waspainted by Mantegna at the age of seventy years; and, as if the art ofthe man had mellowed with time, it is the softest and tenderest of hispictures in execution. A beautiful Madonna of Mantegna's, still later intime, is in the National Gallery. 

When Mantegna was sixty years old he took up the art of engraving, andprosecuted it with zeal and success, being one of the earliest painterswho engraved his own pictures, and this accomplishment spread themabroad a hundredfold. 

Domenico Ghirlandajo was properly Domenico Bicordi, but inherited fromhis father, a goldsmith in Florence, [3] the by-name of Ghirlandajo orGarland-maker--a distinctive appellation said to have been acquired bythe elder man from his skill in making silver garlands for the heads ofFlorentine women and children. Domenico Ghirlandajo worked at hisfather's craft till he was twenty-four years of age, when, having in themean time evinced great cleverness in taking the likenesses of thefrequenters of Ghirlandajo the elder's shop, the future painterabandoned the goldsmith's trade for art pure and simple. He soonvindicated the wisdom of the step which he had taken by giving proofs ofsomething of the strength of Masaccio, united with a reflection of thefeeling of Fra Angelico. 

Ghirlandajo was summoned soon to Rome to paint in the Sistine Chapel, afterwards to be so glorious; but his greatest works were done in theprime of his manhood, in his native city, Florence, where he was chosenas the teacher of Michael Angelo, who was apprenticed to Ghirlandajo forthree years. 

While still in the flower of his age and crowned with golden opinions, being, it is said with effusion, 'the delight of his city, ' Ghirlandajodied after a short illness, in Ghirlandajo's time Florence had reachedher meridian, and her citizens outvied each other in the magnificence oftheir gifts to their fair mother city. Ghirlandajo was fitted to betheir painter; himself a generous-spirited artist, in the exuberance oflife and power, he wished that his fellow-citizens would give him allthe walls of the city to cover with frescoes. He was content with thespecified sum for his painting, desiring more the approbation of hisemployers than additional crowns. His genius lying largely in thedirection of portrait painting, he introduced frequently the portraitsof contemporaries, causing them to figure as spectators of his sacredscenes. One of these contemporaries thus presented, was AmerigoVespucci, who was to give his name to a continent. Another was aFlorentine beauty, a woman of rank, Ginevra de Benci. 

Ghirlandajo was lavish in his employment of rich Florentine costumes andarchitecture. He even made the legends of the saints and the historiesof the Bible appear as if they had happened under the shadow ofBrunelleschi's duomo and Giotto's campanile, and within sound of theflow of the Arno. In the peculiar colouring used in fresco paintingGhirlandajo excelled. 

He painted a chapel for a Florentine citizen, Francesco Sasetti, in thechurch of the Trinità, Florence, with scenes from the life of StFrancis. Of these, the death of St Francis, surrounded by the sorrowingmonks of his order, with the figures of Francesco Sasetti and his wife, Madonna Nera, on one side of the picture, is considered the best. As acurious illustration of the modernizing practice of Ghirlandajo, he haspainted an old priest at the foot of the bier, chanting the litanies forthe dying, with spectacles on his nose, the earliest knownrepresentation of these useful instruments. 

Ghirlandajo painted during four years the choir of the church of SantaMaria Novella, Florence, for one of the great Florentine benefactors, Giovanni Tornabuone, and there are to be seen some of Ghirlandajo'sfinest frescoes from the history of John the Baptist and the Virgin. 

A Madonna and Child with angels in the National Gallery is attributed toGhirlandajo. 

Francesco Francia, or Il Francia, was born at Bologna, and was the sonof a carpenter, whose surname was Raibaloni, but Francesco assumed thename of his master, a goldsmith, and worked himself at a goldsmith'strade till he was forty years of age. Indeed he may be said never tohave relinquished his connection with the trade, and certainly he was nomore ashamed of it than of his calling as a painter, for he signedhimself indiscriminately 'goldsmith' and 'painter, ' and sometimeswhimsically put 'goldsmith' to his paintings and 'painter' to hisjewellery. He was a famous designer of dies for coins and medals, and itis quite probable, as a countryman of his own has sought to prove, thathe was the celebrated type-cutter, known as 'Francesco da Bologna. ' Butit is with Francesco '_pictor_' that we have to do. 

Though he only began to prosecute the painter's art in middle age, herose with remarkable rapidity to eminence, was the great painter ofLombardy in his day, rivalling Squarcione, Mantegna's teacher in hisschool, which numbered two hundred scholars, and becoming the founder ofthe early Bolognese school of painters. 

Francia is said to have been very handsome in person, with a kindlydisposition and an agreeable manner. He was on terms of cordialfriendship with Raphael, then in his youth, and thirty years IlFrancia's junior. Il Francia addressed an enthusiastic sonnet toRaphael, and there is extant a letter of Raphael's to Il Francia, excusing himself for not sending his friend Raphael's portrait, andmaking an exchange of sketches, that of his 'Nativity' for the drawingof Il Francia's 'Judith;' while it was to Il Francia's care that Raphaelcommitted his picture of St Cecilia, when it was first sent to Bologna. These relations between the men and their characters throw discredit onthe tradition that Il Francia died from jealous grief caused by thesight of Raphael's 'St Cecilia. ' As Il Francia was seventy years of ageat the time of his death, one may well attribute it to physical causes. Il Francia had at least one son, and another kinsman, painters, whosepaintings were so good as to be occasionally confounded with those of IlFrancia. 

Il Francia is thought to have united, in his works, a certain calmsedateness and frank sincerity to the dreamy imaginativeness of some ofhis contemporaries. His finest works are considered to be the frescoesfrom the life of St Cecilia in the church of St Cecilia at Bologna. 

Of a Madonna and Child, by Francia, at Bologna, I shall write downanother of Dean Alford's descriptions, --many of which I have given forthis, among other reasons, that these descriptions are not technical orprofessional, but the expression of the ardent admiration and gratefulcomprehension of a sympathetic spectator. 'He, ' speaking of the DivineChild, 'is lying in simple nakedness on a rich red carpet, and issupported by a white pillar, over which the carpet passes. Of theseaccessories every thread is most delicately and carefully painted; noslovenly washes of meretricious colour where He is to be served, beforewhom all things are open; no perfunctory sparing of toil in serving Himwho has given us all that is best. On his right hand kneels the VirginMother in adoration, her very face a magnificat--praise, lowliness, confidence; next to her, Joseph, telling by his looks the wonderfulstory, deeply but simply. Two beautiful angels kneel, one on eitherside--hereafter, perhaps, to kneel in like manner in the tomb. Theirfaces seemed to me notable for that which I have no doubt the painterintended to express, --the pure abstraction of reverent adoration, unmingled with human sympathies. The face and figure of the DivineInfant are full of majesty, as he holds his hands in blessing towardsthe spectator, who symbolizes the world which He has come to save. Closeto him on the ground, on his right branch in trustful repose; on hisleft springs a plant of the meadow-trefoil. Thus lightly and reverentlyhas the master touched the mystery of the Blessed Trinity: the goldfinchsymbolizing by its colours, the trefoil by the form of its leaf. '

In our own National Gallery is a picture by Il Francia of the enthronedVirgin and Child and her mother, St Anne, who is presenting a peach tothe infant Christ; at the foot of the throne is the little St John; tothe right and left are St Paul with the sword, St Sebastian bound to apillar and pierced with arrows, and St Lawrence with the emblematicalgrid-iron, etc. Etc. Opposite this picture hangs, what once formed partof it, a solemn, sorrowful Pietà, as the Italians call a picturerepresenting the dead Redeemer mourned over by the Virgin and by theother holy women. These pictures were bought by our Government from theDuke of Lucca for three thousand five hundred pounds. 

Fra Bartolommeo. We come to a second gentle monk, not unlike FraAngelico in his nature, but far less happy than Fra Angelico, in havingbeen born in stormy times. Fra Bartolommeo, called also Baccio dellaPorta, or Bartholomew of the gate, from the situation of his lodgingswhen a young man, but scarcely known in Italy by any other name thanthat of Il Frate, or the Friar, was born near Florence, and trained fromhis boyhood to be a painter. In his youth, however, a terrible publicevent convulsed Florence, and revolutionized Baccio della Porta's life. He had been employed to paint in that notable Dominican convent of StMark, where Savonarola, its devoted friar, was denouncing the sins ofthe times, including the profligate luxury of the nobles and thedegradation of the representatives of the Church. Carried away by thefervour and sincerity of the speaker, Baccio joined the enthusiasts whocast into a burning pile the instruments of pride, vanity, and godlessintellect denounced by the preacher. Baccio's sacrifice to the flamingheap of splendid furniture and dress, and worldly books, was all hisdesigns from profane subjects and studies of the undraped figure. Alittle later Savonarola was excommunicated by the Pope and perished asa martyr; and Baccio, timid from his natural temper, distracted bydoubt, and altogether horror-stricken, took a monk's vows, and enteredthe same convent of St Mark, where for four years he never touched apencil. 

At the request of his superior Fra Bartolommeo painted again, and whenRaphael visited Florence, and came with all his conquering sweetness andgraciousness to greet the monk in his cell, something of Il Frate's oldlove for his art, and delight in its exercise, returned. He even visitedRome, but there his health failed him, and the great works of Lionardo, Michael Angelo, and Raphael, when he compared his own with theirs, seemed to crush and overwhelm him. But he painted better for his visitto Rome, even as he had painted better for his intimacy with Raphael. Nay, it is said Raphael himself painted better on account of hisbrotherly regard for, and confidence in, Fra Bartolommeo. 

Fra Bartolommeo died aged forty-eight years. Among his best pupils was anun of St Catherine's, known as Suor Plautilla. 

To Il Frate, as a painter, is attributed great softness and harmony, andeven majesty, though, like Fra Angelico, he was often deficient instrength. He was great in the management of draperies, for the betterstudy of which he is said to have invented the lay figure. He indulgedin the introduction into his pictures of rich architecture. He was fondof painting boy-angels--in which he excelled--playing frequently onmusical instruments, or holding a canopy over the Virgin. Very few ofhis works are out of Italy; the most are in Florence, especially in thePitti Palace. His two greatest works are the Madonna della Misericordia, or the Madonna of Mercy, at Lucca, where the Virgin stands withoutstretched arms pleading for the suppliants, whom she shelters underthe canopy, and who look to her as she looks to her Son, --and the grandsingle figure of St Mark, with his Gospel in his hand, in the PittiPalace, Florence. Sir David Wilkie said of the Madonna of Mercy, 'thatit contained the merits of Raphael, of Titian, of Rembrandt, and ofRubens. '

Andrea Vanucchi, commonly called Andrea del Sarto, from the occupationof his father, who was a tailor (in Italian, _sarto_), was born atFlorence in 1488. He was first a goldsmith, but soon turned painter, winning early the commendatory title of 'Andrea senza errori, ' or'Andrea the Faultless. ' His life is a miserable and tragic history. Inthe early flush of his genius and industry, with its just crown of fameand success, he conceived a passion for a beautiful but worthless woman, whom, in spite of the opposition of his friends, he married. Sherendered his home degraded and wretched, and his friends and scholarsfell off from him. In disgust he quitted Florence, and entered theservice of Francis I, of France; but his wife, for whom his regard was adesperate infatuation, imperiously summoned him back to Florence, towhich he returned, bringing with him a large sum of money, entrusted tohim by the king for the purchase of works of art. Instigated by hiswife, Andrea del Sarto used this money for his, or rather her, purposes, and dared not return to France. Even in his native Florence he wasloaded with reproach and shame. He died of the plague at the age offifty-five years, according to tradition, plundered and abandoned in hisextremity by the base woman for whom he had sacrificed principle andhonour. We may read the grievous story of Andrea del Sarto, written byone of the greatest of England's modern poets. 

As may be imagined, Andrea del Sarto's excellence lay in the charm ofhis execution. His works were deficient in earnestness and high feeling, and some will have it, that, evilly haunted as he was, he perpetuallypainted in his Madonnas the beautiful but base-souled face of the womanwho ruined him. Andrea del Sarto's best works are in Florence, particularly in the cloisters of the convent of the Annunziata. In thecourt of the same convent is his famous Riposo (or rest of the HolyFamily on their way to Egypt), which is known as the 'Madonna of theSack, ' from the circumstance of Joseph in the picture leaning against asack. This picture has held a high place in art for hundreds of years. 

CHAPTER IV. 

LIONARDO DA VINCI, 1452-1519--MICHAEL ANGELO, 1475-1564--RAPHAEL, 1483-1520--TITIAN, 1477-1566. 

We have arrived at the triumph of art, not, indeed, in unconsciousnessand devotion, but in fulness and completeness, as shown in the works offour of the greatest painters and men whom the world ever saw. Of thefirst, Lionardo da Vinci, born at Vinci in the neighbourhood ofFlorence, 1452, it may be said that the many-sidedness whichcharacterized Italians--above all Italians of his day--reached itsheight in him. Not only was he a painter, a sculptor, an architect, andengineer, but also one of the boldest speculators of the generationwhich gave birth to Columbus, and was not less original and ingeniousthan he was universally accomplished--an Admirable Crichton amongpainters. There is a theory that this many-sidedness is a proof of thegreatest men, indicating a man who might have been great in any way, who, had his destiny not found and left him a painter, would have beenequally great as a philosopher, a man of science, a poet, or astatesman. It may be so; but the life of Lionardo tends also toillustrate the disadvantage of too wide a grasp and diffusion of genius. Beginning much and finishing little, not because he was idle or fickle, but because his schemes were so colossal and his aims so high, he spenthis time in preparation for the attainment of perfect excellence, whicheluded him. Lionardo was the pioneer, the teacher of others, rather thanthe complete fulfiller of his own dreams; and the life of the proud, passionate man was, to him self mortification. This result might, in asense, have been avoided; but Lionardo, great as he was, proved also oneof those unfortunate men whose noblest efforts are met and marred bycalamities which could have hardly been foreseen or prevented. 

Lionardo da Vinci was the son of a notary, and early showed a taste forpainting as well as for arithmetic and mathematics. He was apprenticedto a painter, but he also sedulously studied physics. He is said, indeed, to have made marvellous guesses at truth, in chemistry, botany, astronomy, and particularly, as helping him in his art, anatomy. He was, according to other accounts, a man of noble person, like Ghirlandajo. And one can scarcely doubt this who looks at Lionardo's portrait paintedby himself, or at any engraving from it, and remarks the grand presenceof the man in his cap and furred cloak; his piercing wistful eyes;stately outline of nose; and sensitive mouth, unshaded by hismagnificent flowing beard. 

He was endowed with surprising bodily strength, and was skilled in theknightly exercises of riding, fencing, and dancing. He was a lover ofsocial pleasure, and inclined to indulge in expensive habits. While alad he amused himself by inventing machines for swimming, diving, andflying, as well as a compass, a hygrometer, etc. Etc. In a combinationfrom the attributes of the toads, lizards, bats, etc. Etc. , with whichhis studies in natural history had made him familiar, he painted anondescript monster, which he showed suddenly to his father, whom itfilled with horror. But the horror did not prevent the old lawyerselling the wild phantasmagoria for a large sum of money. As somethingbeyond amusement, Lionardo planned a canal to unite Florence with Pisa(while he executed other canals in the course of his life), andsuggested the daring but not impossible idea of raising _en masse_, bymeans of levers, the old church of San Giovanni, Florence, till itshould stand several feet above its original level, and so get rid ofthe half-sunken appearance which destroyed the effect of the fine oldbuilding. He visited the most frequented places, carrying always withhim his sketch-book, in which to note down his observations; he followedcriminals to execution in order to witness the pangs of despair; heinvited peasants to his house and told them laughable stories, that hemight pick up from their faces the essence of comic expression. [4] Amania for truth--alike in great and little things--possessed him. 

Lionardo entered young into the service of the Gonzaga family of Milan, being, according to one statement, chosen for the office which he was tofill, as the first singer in _improvisatore_ of his time (among hisother inventions he devised a peculiar kind of lyre). He showed no wantof confidence in asserting his claims to be elected, for after declaringthe various works he would undertake, he added with regard topainting--'I can do what can be done, as well as any man, be he who hemay. ' He received from the Duke a salary of five hundred crowns a year. He was fourteen years at the court of Milan, where, among other works, he painted his 'Cenacolo, ' or 'Last Supper, ' one of the grandestpictures ever produced. He painted it, contrary to the usual practice, in oils upon the plastered walls of the refectory of the Dominicanconvent, Milan. The situation was damp, and the material used proved sounsuitable for work on plaster, that, even before it was exposed to thereverses which in the course of a French occupation of Milan convertedthe refectory into a stable, the colours had altogether faded, and thevery substance of the picture was crumbling into ruin. 

The equestrian statue of the old Duke of Milan by Lionardo excited somuch delight in its first freshness, that it was carried in triumphthrough the city, and during the progress it was accidentally broken. Lionardo began another, but funds failed for its completion, andafterwards the French used the original clay model as a target for theirbowmen. 

Lionardo returned to Florence, and found his great rival, MichaelAngelo, already in the field. Both of the men, conscious of mightygifts, were intolerant of rivalry. To Lionardo especially, as being muchthe elder man, the originator and promoter of many of the new views inart which his opponent had adopted, the competition was verydistasteful, and to Michael Angelo he used the bitter sarcasm which hasbeen handed down to us, 'I was famous before you were born. '

Nevertheless Lionardo consented to compete with Michael Angelo for thepainting in fresco of one side of the council-hall, by the order of thegonfaloniere for the year. Lionardo chose for his subject a victory ofthe Florentines over the Milanese, while Michael Angelo took a scenefrom the Pisan campaigns. Not only was the work never done (some saypartly because Lionardo _would_ delay in order to make experiments inoils) on account of political troubles, but the very cartoons of the twomasters, which all the artists of the day flocked to see, have beenbroken up, dispersed, and lost; and of one only, that of Michael Angelo, a small copy remains, while but a fragment from Lionardo's was preservedin a copy made by Rubens. 

Lionardo went to Rome in the pontificate of Leo X. , but there hisquarrel with Michael Angelo broke out more violently than ever. The Popetoo, who loved better a gentler, more accommodating spirit, seemed toslight Lionardo, and the great painter not only quitted Rome in disgust, but withdrew his services altogether from ungrateful Italy. 

At Pavia Lionardo was presented to Francis I, of France, who, zealousin patronizing art, engaged the painter to follow Francis's fortunes ata salary of seven hundred crowns a year. Lionardo spent the remainder ofhis life in France. His health had long been declining before he died, aged sixty-seven years, at Cloux, near Amboise. He had risen high in thefavour of Francis. From this circumstance, and the generous, chivalrousnature of the king, there doubtless arose the tradition that Francisvisited Lionardo on his death-bed; and that, while in the act of gentlyassisting him to raise himself, the painter died in the king's arms. Court chronicles do their best to demolish this story, by provingFrancis to have been at St Germain on the day when Lionardo died atCloux. 

Lionardo was never married, and he left what worldly goods he possessedto a favourite scholar. Besides his greater works, he filled many MS. Volumes, some with singularly accurate studies and sketches, maps, plansfor machines, scores for music (three volumes of these are in the RoyalLibrary at Windsor), and some with writing, which is written--probablyto serve as a sort of cipher--from right to left, instead of from leftto right. One of his writings is a valuable 'Treatise' on painting;other writings are on scientific and philosophic subjects, and in theseLionardo is believed to have anticipated some of the discoveries whichwere reached by lines of close reasoning centuries later. 

Lionardo's genius as a painter was expressed by his uniting, in the veryhighest degree, truth and imagination. He was the shrewdest observer ofordinary life, and he could also realize the higher mysteries andprofounder feelings of human nature. He drew exceedingly well. Oftransparent lights and shadows, or chiaroscuro, he was the greatestmaster; but he was not a good colourist. His works are very rare, andmany which are attributed to him are the pictures of his scholars, forhe founded one of the great schools of Milan or Lombardy. There is atradition that he was, as Holbein was once believed to be, ambidextrous, or capable of using his left hand as well as his right, and that hepainted with two brushes--one in each hand. Thus more than fully armed, Lionardo da Vinci looms out on us like a Titan through the mists ofcenturies, and he preaches to us the simple homily, that not even aTitan can command worldly success; that such men must look to ends asthe reward of their travail, and before undertaking it they must countthe cost, and be prepared to renounce the luxurious tastes which clungto Lionardo, and which were not for him or for such men as he was. 

Lionardo's great painting was his 'Last Supper, ' of which, happily, goodcopies exist, as well as the wreck of the picture itself. The originalis now, after it is too late, carefully guarded and protected in its oldplace in the Dominican convent of the Madonna della Grazia, Milan. Theassembled company sit at a long table, Christ being seated in themiddle, the disciples forming two separate groups on each side of theSaviour. The gradations of age are preserved, from the tender youth ofJohn to the grey hairs of Simon; and all the varied emotions of mind, from the deepest sorrow and anxiety to the eager desire of revenge, arehere portrayed. The well-known words of Christ, 'One of you shall betrayme, ' have caused the liveliest emotion. The two groups to the left ofChrist are full of impassioned excitement, the figures in the firstturning to the Saviour, those in the second speaking to eachother, --horror, astonishment, suspicion, doubt, alternating in thevarious expressions. On the other hand, stillness, low whispers, indirect observations, are the prevailing expressions in the groups onthe right. In the middle of the first group sits the betrayer; acunning, sharp profile, he looks up hastily to Christ, as if speakingthe words, 'Master, is it I?' while, true to the Scriptural account, hisleft hand and Christ's right hand approach, as if unconsciously, thedish that stands before them. [5]

A sketch of the head of Christ for the original picture, which has beenpreserved on a torn and soiled piece of paper at Brera, expresses themost elevated seriousness, together with Divine gentleness pain onaccount of the faithless disciple, a full presentiment of his own death, and resignation to the will of the Father. It gives a faint idea of whatthe master may have accomplished in the finished picture. 

During his stay at Florence Lionardo painted a portrait of that GinevraBenci already mentioned as painted by Ghirlandajo; and a still morefamous portrait by Lionardo was that of Mona Lisa, the wife of hisfriend Giocondo. This picture is also known as 'La Jaconde. ' I wish tocall attention to it because it is the first of four surpassinglybeautiful portraits of women which four great painters gave insuccession to the world. The others, to be spoken of afterwards, areRaphael's 'Fornarina, ' Titian's 'Bella Donna, ' and Rubens' 'Straw Hat. 'About the original of 'La Jaconde' there never has been a mystery suchas there has been about the others. At this portrait the unsatisfiedpainter worked at intervals for four years, and when he left it hepronounced it still unfinished. 'La Jaconde' is now in the Louvre innearly ruined condition, yet a judge says of it that even now 'there issomething in this wonderful head of the ripest southern beauty, with itsairy background of a rocky landscape, which exercises a peculiarfascination over the mind. '

There is a painting of the Madonna and Child Christ said to be byLionardo, and probably, at least, by one of his school, and whichbelongs, I think, to the Duke of Buccleuch, and was exhibited latelyamong the works of the old masters. The group has at once somethingtouching and exalted in its treatment. The Divine Child in the Mother'sarms is strangely attracted by the sight of a cross, and turns towardsit with ineffable longing, while the Virgin Mother, with a pang offoreboding, clasping the child in her arms, seeks to draw him back. 

The fragment of the cartoon in which Lionardo competed with MichaelAngelo, may be held to survive in the fine painting by Rubens called'the Battle of the Standard. ' Of a famous Madonna and St Anne, byLionardo, the original cartoon in black chalk is preserved under glassin our Royal Academy. [6]

Michael Angelo Buonarroti, born at Castel Caprese near Tuscany, 1475, isthe next of these universal geniuses, a term which we are accustomed tohold in contempt, because we have only seen it exemplified in parody. After Lionardo, indeed, Michael Angelo, though he was also painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, poet, musician, might almost be regardedas restricted in his pursuits, yet still so manifold was he, that menhave loved to make a play upon his name and call him 'Michael theangel, ' and to speak of him as of a king among men. 

Michael Angelo was of noble descent, and though his ancient house hadfallen into comparative poverty, his father was mayor or podesta ofChiusi, and governor of the castle of Chiusi and Caprese. Michael Angelowas destined for the profession of the law, but so early vindicated histaste for art, that at the age of thirteen years he was apprenticed toGhirlandajo. Lorenzo the Magnificent was then ruling Florence, and hehad made a collection of antique models in his palace and gardens, andconstituted it an academy for young artists. In this academy MichaelAngelo developed a strong bias for sculpture, and won the directpatronage of the Medici. 

To this period of his life belong two characteristic anecdotes. In astruggle with a fellow-student, Michael Angelo received a blow from amallet in his face, which, breaking bone and cartilage, lent to his nosethe rugged bend, 'The bar of Michael Angelo. '

An ill-advised member of the Medician house, while entertaining a partyof guests during a snowstorm, sent out the indignant artist to make asnow man within sight of the palace windows. These anecdotes bearindirectly on the ruling qualities of Michael Angelo--qualities sointegral that they are wrought into his marble and painted on hiscanvas--proud independence and energy. 

Before going farther I wish to guard against a common misapprehension ofMichael Angelo--that he was a haughty, arrogant man, absolutely narrowin his half-idolatrous, half-human worship of art. Michael Angelo wassevere in place of being sweet; he was impatient of contradiction; hewas careless and scornful of ceremony; and in his very wrath at flatteryand hypocrisy, he was liable to sin against his own honesty andsincerity. But he was a man with a lofty sense of duty and a profoundreverence for God. He was, unlike Lionardo, consistently simple, frugal, and temperate, throughout his long life. If he held up a high standardto others, and enforced it on them with hardness, he held up a higherstandard to himself, and enforced it on himself more hardly still. Hewas a thoroughly unworldly man, and actions which had their root inunworldliness have been ascribed unjustly to a kind of Lucifer pride. Greed, and the meanness of greed, were unknown to him. He worked for thelast ten years of his life (under no less than five different Popes) athis designs for St Peter's, steadfastly refusing pay for the work, saying that he did it for the honour of God and his own honour. He mademany enemies and suffered from their enmity, but I cannot learn that, except in one instance, he was guilty of dealing an unworthy blow athis opponents. He was generous to his scholars, and without jealousy ofthem, suffering them to use his designs for their own purposes. He said, 'I have no friends, I need none, I wish for none;' but that was infeeling himself 'alone before Heaven;' and of the friends whom he didpossess, he loved them all the more devotedly and faithfully, becausethey were few in number. 

One need only be told of his love for his old servant Urbino, whom hepresented with two thousand crowns to render him independent of service;and when the servant was seized with his last illness Michael Angelonursed him tenderly, sleeping in his clothes on a couch that he might beready to attend his patient. When his cares were ended, Michael Angelowrote to a correspondent--'My Urbino is dead--to my infinite grief andsorrow. Living, he served me truly; and in his death he taught me how todie. Of Michael Angelo's more equal friendship with Vittoria Colonna Ihope my readers will read at leisure for themselves. No nobler, truerfriendship ever existed. It began when the high-born and beautiful, gifted, and devout Marchesa de Pescara--most loyal of wives and widows, was forty-eight, and Michael Angelo sixty-four years of age. After a fewyears of privileged intercourse and correspondence, which were thehappiest years in Michael Angelo's life, it ended for this world when hestood mourning by her lifeless clay. 'I was born a rough model, and itwas for thee to reform and re-make me, ' the great painter had writtenhumbly of himself to his liege lady. [7]

Italy, in Michael Angelo's time, as Germany in Albert Dürer's, was allquickened and astir with the new wave of religious thought which broughtabout the Reformation. Ochino and Peter Martyr, treading in thefootsteps of Savonarola, had preached to eager listeners, but 'in Italymen did not adopt Lutheranism, though they approached it;' and in allthe crowd of great Italian artists of the day, Michael Angelo showsdeepest traces of the conflict--of its trouble, its seriousness, itsnobleness. He only, among his brethren, acted out his belief that thethings of the world sank into insignificance before those thoughts ofGod and immortality which were alone fully worthy of the soul. And itwas, as to a religious work for which he was fitted, that he at lastgave himself up to the raising of St Peter's. We shall have next inorder the life of a man who had all the winning qualities which MichaelAngelo wanted, but we shall hardly, through the whole range of history, find a nobler man than Michael Angelo. 

After his first visit to Rome, 1496, Michael Angelo executed hiscolossal statue of David. In 1503 he entered into the competition withLionardo for the painting of one end of the Council-hall, in Florence, which has been already mentioned. For this object he drew as hiscartoon, 'Pisan soldiers surprised while bathing by a sudden trumpetcall to arms. ' The grand cartoon, of which only a small copy exists, wassaid to have been torn to pieces as an act of revenge by afellow-sculptor, whom Michael Angelo had offended. 

Michael Angelo was invited to Rome by Julius II. In 1504 to aid inerecting the unapproachable monument which the Pope projected raisingfor himself. Then commenced a series of contentions and strugglesbetween the imperious and petulant Pope and the haughty, uncompromisingpainter, in which the latter certainly had the best of it. At one timein the course of the quarrel, Michael Angelo departed from Rome withoutpermission or apology, and stoutly refused to return, though followedhotly by no less than five different couriers, armed with threats andpromises, and urged to make the reparation by his own gonfaloniere. Atlast a meeting and a reconciliation between Michael Angelo and the Popewere effected at Bologna. Michael Angelo designed for Pope Julius II, not only the statue of Pope Julius at Bologna, which was finallyconverted into a cannon, and turned against the very man whose effigy ithad originally presented, but also for that tomb which was nevercompleted, the famous figure of Moses seated, grasping his beard withone hand. 

While employed at the tomb, Michael Angelo, then in his fortieth year, was desired by the Pope to undertake the decoration of the ceiling ofthe Sistine Chapel. Here, again, the hand of an enemy is said to havebeen at work. Michael Angelo, with the first place as a sculptor, wasinexperienced in fresco painting; while Raphael, who was taking theplace of Lionardo as Michael Angelo's most formidable rival (yet whom itis said Michael Angelo pointed out as the fittest painter of theceiling), and who was then engaged in painting the Vatican chambers, hadalready achieved the utmost renown. It was anticipated by secrethostility, so records tradition, that Michael Angelo would fail signallyin the unaccustomed work, and that his merit as an artist would palealtogether before that of Raphael's. I need hardly write how entirelymalice was balked in the verdict to which posterity has set its seal. 

Michael Angelo brought artists from Florence to help him in his greatundertaking, for over the chapel, whose walls had already been paintedby older artists--among them Ghirlandajo, was an enormous vault of 150feet in length by 50 in breadth, which Michael Angelo was required tocover with designs representing the Fall and Redemption of Man. But thepainter was unable to bear what seemed to him the bungling attempts ofhis assistants; so dismissing them all and destroying their work, heshut himself up, and working in solitude and secrecy, set himself toevolve from his own inner consciousness the gigantic scenes of atremendous drama. In 22 months (or, as Kugler holds, in three years, including the time spent on the designs) he finished gloriously thework, the magnitude of which one must see to comprehend. On All Saints'Day, 1512, the ceiling was uncovered, and Michael Angelo was hailed, little though he cared for such clamorous hailing, as a painter indeed. For this piece of work Michael Angelo received 3000 crowns. 

Pope Julius died, and was succeeded by Leo X. Of the Medician house, but, in spite of early associations as well as of mother country, Michael Angelo was no more acceptable to the Pope--a brilliantlypolished, easy-tempered man of the world, who filled the chair of StPeter's, than Lionardo had been. Leo X, greatly preferred Raphael, towhom all manner of pleasantness as well as of courteous deference wasnatural, to the two others. At the same time, Leo employed MichaelAngelo, though it was more as an architect than as a painter, and ratherat Florence than at Rome. At Florence Michael Angelo executed for PopeClement VII. , another Medici, the mortuary chapel of San Lorenzo, withits six great statues, those of the cousins Lorenzo de Medici andGiuliano de Medici, the first called by the Florentines 'Il Pensièro, 'or 'Pensive Thought, ' with the four colossal recumbent figures namedrespectively the Night, the Morning, the Dawn, and the Twilight. 

In 1537 Michael Angelo was employed by his fellow citizens to fortifyhis native city against the return of his old patrons the Medici, andthe city held out for nine months. 

Pope Paul III. , an old man when elected to the popedom, but bent onsignalizing his pontificate with as splendid works of art as thosewhich had rendered the reigns of his predecessors illustrious, summonedanother man, grown elderly, Michael Angelo, upwards of sixty years, reluctant to accept the commission, to finish the decoration of theSistine Chapel; and Michael Angelo painted on the wall, at the upperend, his painting, 'The Last Judgment. ' The picture is forty-seven feethigh by forty-three wide, and it occupied the painter eight years. Itwas during its progress that Michael Angelo entered on his friendshipwith Vittoria Colonna. 

For the chapel called the Paolina or Pauline Chapel Michael Angelo alsopainted less-known frescoes, but from that time he devoted his life toSt Peter's. He had said that he would take the old Pantheon and 'suspendit in air, ' and he did what he said, though he did not live to see thegreat cathedral completed. His sovereign, the Grand Duke of Florence, endeavoured in vain with magnificent offers to lure the painter back tohis native city. Michael Angelo protested that to leave Rome then wouldbe 'a sin and a shame, and the ruin of the greatest religious monumentin Christian Europe. ' Michael Angelo, like Lionardo, did not marry; hedied at Rome in 1563, in his eighty-ninth year. 

His nephew and principal heir, [8] by the orders of the Grand Duke ofFlorence, and it is believed according to Michael Angelo's own wish, removed the painter's body to Florence, where it was buried with allhonours in the church of Santa Croce there. 

The traits which recall Michael Angelo personally to us, are theprominent arch of the nose, the shaggy brows, the tangled beard, thegaunt grandeur of a figure like that of one of his prophets. 

While Michael Angelo lived, one Pope rose on his approach, and seatedthe painter on his right hand, and another Pope declined to sit down inhis painter's presence; but the reason given for the last condescension, is that the Pope feared that the painter would follow his example. Andif the Grand Duke Cosmo uncovered before Michael Angelo, and stood hatin hand while speaking to him, we may have the explanation in anotherassertion, that 'sovereigns asked Michael Angelo to put on his cap, because the painter would do it unasked. '

The solitary instance in which Michael Angelo is represented as takingan unfair advantage of an antagonist, is in connection with thepainter's rivalry in his art with Raphael. Michael Angelo undervaluedthe genius of Raphael, and was disgusted by what the older manconsidered the immoderate admiration bestowed on the younger. Afavourite pupil of Michael Angelo's was Sebastian Del Piombo, who beinga Venetian by birth was an excellent colourist. For one of hispictures--the very 'Raising of Lazarus' now in the National Gallery, which the Pope had ordered at the same time that he had orderedRaphael's 'Transfiguration'--it is rumoured that Michael Angelo gave thedesigns and even drew the figures, leaving Sebastian the credit, andtrusting that without Michael Angelo's name appearing in the work, bythe help of his drawing in addition to Sebastian's superb colouring, Raphael would be eclipsed, and that by a painter comparatively obscure. 

The unwarrantable inference that the whole work was that of one painter, constituted a stratagem altogether unworthy of Michael Angelo, and if ithad any existence, its getting wind disappointed and foiled its authors. When the story was repeated to Raphael, his sole protest is said to havebeen to the effect that he was glad that Michael Angelo esteemed him sohighly as to enter the lists with him. 

We can judge of Michael Angelo's attainments as a poet, even withouthaving recourse to the original Italian, by Wordsworth's translations ofsome of the Italian master's sonnets, and by Mr John Edward Taylor'stranslations of selections from Michael Angelo's poems. 

Michael Angelo was greater as an architect and a sculptor than as apainter, because his power and delight lay in the mastery of form, andin the assertion, through that mastery, of the idealism of genius. It isnot necessary to speak here of the mighty harmonies and the ineffabledignity of simplicity, somewhat marred by the departure from MichaelAngelo's designs, in St Peter's. It has been the fashion to praise themto the skies, and it has been a later fashion to decry them, in awardinga preference to the solemn shades and the dim rich dreaminess of Gothicarchitecture. Both fashions come to this, after all, that beauty, likethese great men of genius of old, is many-sided. 

In Michael Angelo's works of sculpture a weird charm attaches to hismonuments in honour of the Medici in the chapel of San Lorenzo, Florence. Perhaps something of this weirdness has to do with the tragichistory of the men, and with a certain mystery which has always shroudedthe sculptor's meaning in these monuments. 

Mrs Jameson quotes an account of Michael Angelo at work. An eye-witnesshas left us a very graphic description of the energy with which, even inold age, Michael Angelo handled his chisel:--"I can say that I haveseen Michael Angelo at the age of sixty, and, with a body announcingweakness, make more chips of marble fly about in a quarter of an hourthan would three of the strongest young sculptors in an hour, --a thingalmost incredible to him who has not beheld it. He went to work withsuch impetuosity and fury of manner, that I feared almost every momentto see the block split into pieces. It would seem as if, inflamed by theidea of greatness which inspired him, this great man attacked with aVigenére. "

In painting Michael Angelo regarded colouring as of secondaryimportance. He is not known to have executed one painting in oil, and hetreated oil and easel-painting generally as work only fit for women oridle men. While he approached the sublime in his painting, it was by nomeans faultless. Even in form his efforts were apt to tend to heavinessand exaggeration, and the fascination which robust muscular delineationhad for him, betrayed him into materialism. Fuseli's criticism ofMichael Angelo's work, that Michael Angelo's women were female men, andhis children diminutive giants, is judged correct. Incomparably thegreatest painting of Michael Angelo's is his ceiling of the SistineChapel. It includes upwards of 200 figures, the greater part colossal, as they were to be looked at, in the distance, from below. 

 'The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel contains the most perfect works done by Michael Angelo in his long and active life. Here his great spirit appears in noblest dignity, in its highest purity; here the attention is not disturbed by that arbitrary display to which his great power not unfrequently seduced him in other works. The ceiling forms a flattened arch in its section; the central portion, which is a plain surface, contains a series of large and small pictures, representing the most important events recorded in the book of Genesis--the Creation and Fall of Man, with its immediate consequences. In the large triangular compartments at the springing of the vault are sitting figures of the Prophets and Sibyls, as the foretellers of the coming Saviour. In the soffits of the recesses between these compartments, and in the arches underneath, immediately above the windows, are the ancestors of the Virgin, the series leading the mind directly to the Saviour. The external of these numerous representations is formed by an architectural frame-work of peculiar composition, which encloses the single subjects, tends to make the principal masses conspicuous, and gives to the whole an appearance of that solidity and support so necessary, but so seldom attended to in soffit decorations, which may be considered as if suspended. A great number of figures are also connected with the frame-work; those in unimportant situations are executed in the colour of stone or bronze; in the more important, in natural colours. These serve to support the architectural forms, to fill up and to connect the whole. They may be best described as the living and embodied _genii_ of architecture. It required the unlimited power of an architect, sculptor, and painter, to conceive a structural whole of so much grandeur, to design the decorative figures with the significant repose required by the sculpturesque character, and yet to preserve their subordination to the principal subjects, and to keep the latter in the proportions and relations best adapted to the space to be filled. '--_Kugler_. 

The pictures from the Old Testament, beginning from the altar, are:--

 1. The Separation of Light and Darkness. 2. The Creation of the Sun and Moon. 3. The Creation of Trees and Plants. 4. The Creation of Adam. 5. The Creation of Eve. 6. The Fall and the Expulsion from Paradise. 7. The Sacrifice of Noah. 8. The Deluge. 9. The Intoxication of Noah. 

 'The scenes from Genesis are the most sublime representations of these subjects;--the Creating Spirit is unveiled before us. The peculiar type which the painter has here given of the form of the Almighty Father has been frequently imitated by his followers, and even by Raphael, but has been surpassed by none. Michael Angelo has represented him in majestic flight, sweeping through the air, surrounded by _genii_, partly supporting, partly borne along with him, covered by his floating drapery; they are the distinct syllables, the separate virtues of his creating word. In the first (large) compartment we see him with extended hands, assigning to the sun and moon their respective paths. In the second, he awakens the first man to life. Adam lies stretched on the verge of the earth in the act of raising himself; the Creator touches him with the point of his finger, and appears thus to endow him with feeling and life. This picture displays a wonderful depth of thought in the composition, and the utmost elevation and majesty in the general treatment and execution. The third subject is not less important, representing the Fall of Man, and his Expulsion from Paradise. The tree of knowledge stands in the midst; the serpent (the upper part of the body being that of a woman) is twined around the stem; she bends down towards the guilty pair, who are in the act of plucking the forbidden fruit. The figures are nobly graceful, particularly that of Eve. Close to the serpent hovers the angel with the sword, ready to drive the fallen beings out of Paradise. In this double action, this union of two separate moments, there is something peculiarly poetic and significant: it is guilt and punishment in one picture. The sudden and lightning-like appearance of the avenging angel behind the demon of darkness has a most impressive effect. '--_Kugler_. 

The lower portion of the ceiling is divided into triangles, occupied bythe Prophets and Sibyls in solemn contemplation, accompanied by angelsand genii. Beginning from the left of the entrance their order is--

 1. Joel. 2. Sibylla Erythræa. 3. Ezekiel. 4. Sibylla Persica. 5. Jonah. 6. Sibylla Libyca. 7. Daniel. 8. Sibylla Cumæa. 9. Isaiah. 10. Sibylla Delphica. 

 'The prophets and sibyls in the triangular compartments of the curved portion of the ceiling are the largest figures in the whole work; these, too, are among the most wonderful forms that modern art has called into life. They are all represented seated, employed with books or rolled manuscripts; genii stand near or behind them. These mighty beings sit before us pensive, meditative, inquiring, or looking upwards with inspired countenances. Their forms and movements, indicated by the grand lines and masses of the drapery, are majestic and dignified. We see in them beings, who, while they feel and bear the sorrows of a corrupt and sinful world, have power to look for consolation into the secrets of the future. Yet the greatest variety prevails in the attitudes and expression: each figure is full of individuality. Zacharias is an aged man, busied in calm and circumspect investigation; Jeremiah is bowed down, absorbed in thought, the thought of deep and bitter grief; Ezekiel turns with hasty movements to the genius next to him, who points upwards with joyful expectation, etc. The sibyls are equally characteristic: the Persian, a lofty, majestic woman, very aged; the Erythræan, full of power, like the warrior goddess of wisdom; the Delphic, like Cassandra, youthfully soft and graceful, but with strength to bear the awful seriousness of revelation. '--_Kugler_. 

 'The belief of the Roman Catholic Church in the testimony of the sibyl is shown by the well-known hymn, said to have been composed by Pope Innocent III, at the close of the thirteenth century, beginning with the verse--

 "Dies iræ, dies illa, Solvet sæclum in favilla Teste David cum Sibylla. "

 It may be inferred that this hymn, admitted into the liturgy of the Roman Church, gave sanction to the adoption of the sibyls into Christian art. They are seen from this time accompanying the prophets and apostles, in the cyclical decorations of the church.... But the highest honour that art has rendered to the sibyls has been by the hand of Michael Angelo, on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Here in the conception of a mysterious order of women, placed above and without all considerations of the graceful or the individual, the great master was peculiarly in his element. They exactly fitted his standard, of art, not always sympathetic, nor comprehensible to the average human mind, of which the grand in form and the abstract in expression were the first and last conditions. In this respect, the sibyls on the Sistine Chapel ceiling are more Michael Angelesque than their companions the prophets. For these, while types of the highest monumental treatment, are yet men, while the sibyls belong to a distinct class of beings, who convey the impression of the very obscurity in which their history is wrapt--creatures who have lived far from the abodes of men, who are alike devoid of the expression of feminine sweetness, human sympathy, or sacramental beauty; who are neither Christians nor Jewesses, Witches nor Graces, yet living, grand, beautiful, and true, according to laws revealed to the great Florentine genius only. 

 Thus their figures may be said to be unique, as the offspring of a peculiar sympathy between the master's mind and his subject. To this sympathy may be ascribed the prominence and size given them, both prophets and sibyls, as compared to their usual relation to the subjects they environ. They sit here on twelve throne-like niches, more like presiding deities, each wrapt in self-contemplation, than as tributary witnesses to the truth and omnipotence of Him they are intended to announce. Thus they form a gigantic frame-work round the subjects of the Creation, of which the birth of Eve, as the type of the Nativity, is the intentional centre. For some reason, the twelve figures are not prophets and sibyls alternately--there being only five sibyls to seven prophets, --so that the prophets come together at one angle. Books and scrolls are given indiscriminately to them. 

'The Sibylla Persica, supposed to be the oldest of the sisterhood, holdsthe book close to her eyes, as if from dimness of sight, which fact, contradicted as it is by a frame of obviously Herculean strength, givesa mysterious intentness to the action. 

'The Sibylla Libyca, of equally powerful proportions, but less closelydraped, is grandly wringing herself to lift a massive volume from aheight above her head on to her knees. 

'The Sibylla Cumana, also aged, and with her head covered, is readingwith her volume at a distance from her eyes. 

'The Sibylla Delphica, with waving hair escaping from her turban, is abeautiful young being, the most human of all, gazing into vacancy orfuturity. She holds a scroll. 

'The Sibylla Erythræa, grand, bare-headed creature, sits readingintently with crossed legs, about to turn over her book. 

'The prophets are equally grand in structure, and though, as we havesaid, not more than men, yet they are the only men that could well bearthe juxtaposition with their stupendous female colleagues. Ezekiel, between Erythræa and Persica, has a scroll in his hand that hangs by hisside, just cast down, as he turns eagerly to listen to some voice. 

'Jeremiah, a magnificent figure, with elbow on knee and head on hand, wrapt in meditation appropriate to one called to utter lamentation andwoe. He has neither book nor scroll. 

'Jonah is also without either. His position is strained and ungraceful, looking upwards, and apparently remonstrating with the Almighty upon thedestruction of the gourd, a few leaves of which are seen above him. Hishands are placed together with a strange and trivial action, supposed todenote the counting on his fingers the number of days he was in thefish's belly. A formless marine monster is seen at his side. 

'Daniel has a book on his lap, with one hand on it. He is young, and apiece of lion's skin seems to allude to his history. '[9]

In the recesses between the prophets and sibyls are a series of lovelyfamily groups, representing the genealogy of the Virgin, and expressiveof calm expectation of the future. The four corners of the ceilingcontain groups illustrative of the power of the Lord displayed in theespecial deliverances of his chosen people. Near the altar are:

Right, The Deliverance of the Israelites by the Brazen Serpent. 

Left, The Execution of Haman. 

Near the entrance are:

Right, Judith and Holofernes. 

Left, David and Goliath. [10]

Michael Angelo was thirty-nine years of age when he painted the ceilingof the Sistine. When he began to paint the 'Day of Judgment' he wasabove sixty years of age, and his great rival, Raphael, had already beendead thirteen years. 

The picture of the 'Day of Judgment, ' with much that renders itmarvellous and awful, has a certain coarseness of conception andexecution. The moment chosen is that in which the Lord says, 'Departfrom me, ye cursed, ' and the idea and even attributes of the principalfigure are taken from Orcagna's old painting in the Campo Santo. Butwith all Michael Angelo's advantages, he has by no means improved on theoriginal idea. He has robbed the figure of the Lord of its transcendantmajesty; he has not been able to impart to the ranks of the blessed thelook of blessedness which 'Il Beato' himself might have conveyed. Thechief excellence of the picture is in the ranks of the condemned, whowrithe and rebel against their agonies. No wonder that the picture issombre and dreadful. 

Of the allegorical figures of 'Night' and 'Morning' in the chapel of SanLorenzo, there are casts at the Crystal Palace. 

A comparison and a contrast have been instituted between Michael Angeloand Milton, and Raphael and Shakespeare. There may be something in them, but, as in the case of broken metaphors, they will not bear being pushedto a logical conclusion or picked to pieces. The very transparentcomparison which matches Michael Angelo with his own countryman, Dante, is after all more felicitous and truer. Michael Angelo with Lionardo arethe great chiefs of the Florentine School. 

Raphael Sanzio, or Santi of Urbino, the head of the Roman School, wasone of those very exceptional men who seem born to happiness, to inspirelove and only love, to pass through the world making friends anddisarming enemies, who are fully armed to confer pleasure while almostincapable of either inflicting or receiving pain. To this day hisexceptional fortune stands Raphael's memory in good stead, since for oneman or woman who yearns after the austere righteousness and pricelesstenderness of Michael Angelo, there are ten who yield with all theirhearts to the gay, sweet gentleness and generosity of Raphael. No doubtit was also in his favour as a painter, that though a man of highlycultivated tastes, 'in close intimacy and correspondence with most ofthe celebrated men of his time, and interested in all that was goingforward, ' he did not, especially in his youth, spend his strength on avariety of studies, but devoted himself to painting. While he thusvindicated his share of the breadth of genius of his country and time, by giving to the world the loveliest Madonnas and Child-Christs, themost dramatic of battle-pieces, the finest of portraits, his noble andgraceful fertility of invention and matchless skill of execution wereconfined to and concentrated on painting. He did not diverge long or farinto the sister arts of architecture and sculpture, though his classicresearches in the excavations of Rome were keen and zealous; a heap ofruins having given to the world in 1504 the group of thethat a writer of his day could record that 'Raphael had sought and foundin Rome another Rome. '

Raphael was born in the town of Urbino, and was the son of a painter ofthe Umbrian School, who very early destined the boy to his futurecareer, and promoted his destination by all the efforts in GiovanniSanti's power, including the intention of sending away and apprenticingthe little lad to the best master of his time, Perugino, so called fromthe town where he resided, Perugia. Raphael's mother died when he wasonly eight years of age, and his father died when he was no more thaneleven years, before the plans for his education were put into action. But no stroke of outward calamity, or loss--however severe, could annulRaphael's birthright of universal favour. His step-mother, the uncleswho were his guardians, his clever, perverse, unscrupulous master, alljoined in a common love of Raphael and determination to promote hisinterests. 

Raphael at the age of twelve years went to Perugia to work underPerugino, and remained with his master till he was nearly twenty yearsof age. In that interval he painted industriously, making constantprogress, always in the somewhat hard, but finished, style of Perugino, while already showing a predilection for what was to prove Raphael'sfavourite subject, the Madonna and Child. At this period he painted hisfamous _Lo Sposalizio_ or the 'Espousals, ' the marriage of the VirginMary with Joseph, now at Milan. In 1504 he visited Florence, remainingonly for a short time, but making the acquaintance of Fra Bartolommeoand Ghirlandajo, seeing the cartoons of Lionardo and Michael Angelo, andfrom that time displaying a marked improvement in drawing. Indeednothing is more conspicuous in Raphael's genius in contra-distinction toMichael Angelo's, than the receptive character of Raphael's mind, hispower of catching up an impression from without, and the candour andhumility with which he availed himself unhesitatingly of the assistancelent him by others. 

Returning soon to Florence, Raphael remained there till 1508, when hewas twenty-five years, drawing closer the valuable friendships he hadalready formed, and advancing with rapid strides in his art, until hisrenown was spread all over Italy, and with reason, since already, whilestill young, he had painted his 'Madonna of the Goldfinch, ' in theFlorentine Gallery, and his 'La Belle Jardinière, ' or Madonna in agarden among flowers, now in the Louvre. 

In his twenty-fifth year Raphael was summoned to Rome to paint for PopeJulius II. My readers will remember that Michael Angelo in the abruptseverity of his prime of manhood, was soon to paint the ceiling of theSistine Chapel for the same despotic and art-loving Pope, who hadbrought Raphael hardly more than a stripling to paint the '_Camere_' or'_Stanze_' chambers of the Vatican. 

The first of the halls which Raphael painted (though not the first inorder) is called the Camera della Segnatura (in English, signature), andrepresents Theology, Poetry, Philosophy, with the Sciences, Arts, andJurisprudence. The second is the 'Stanza d'Eliodoro, ' or the room ofHeliodorus, and contains the grandest painting of all, in the expulsionof Heliodorus from the Temple of Jerusalem (taken from Maccabees), theMiracle of Bolsena, Attila, king of the Huns, terrified by theapparition of St Peter and St Paul, and St Peter delivered from prison. The third stanza painted by Raphael is the 'Stanza dell' Incendio' (theconflagration), so called from the extinguishing of the fire in theBorgo by a supposed miracle, being the most conspicuous scene inrepresentations of events taken from the lives of Popes Leo III, andIV. ; and the fourth chamber, which was left unfinished by Raphael, andcompleted by his scholars, is the 'Sala di Constantino, ' and containsincidents from the life of the Emperor Constantine, including thesplendid battle-piece between Constantine and Maxentius. At thesechambers, or at the designs for them, during the popedoms of Julius II. , who died in the course of the painting of the Camere, and Leo X. , for aperiod of twelve years, till Raphael's death in 1520, after which the'Sala di Constantino' was completed by his scholars. 

Raphael has also left in the Vatican a series of small pictures from theOld Testament, known as Raphael's Bible. This series decorates thethirteen cupolas of the 'Loggie, ' or open galleries, running round threesides of an open court. Another work undertaken by Raphael should havestill more interest for us. Leo X. , resolving to substitute woven forpainted tapestry round the lower walls of the interior of the SistineChapel, commanded Raphael to furnish drawings to the Flemish weavers, and thence arose eleven cartoons, seven of which have been preserved, have become the property of England, and are the glory of the KensingtonMuseum. The subjects of the cartoons in the seven which have been saved, are 'The Death of Ananias, ' 'Elymas the Sorcerer struck with Blindness, ''The Healing of the Lame Man at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, ' 'TheMiraculous Draught of Fishes, ' 'Paul and Barnabas at Lystra, ' 'St PaulPreaching at Athens, ' and 'The Charge to St Peter. ' The four cartoonswhich are lost, were 'The Stoning of St Stephen, ' 'The Conversion of StPaul, ' 'Paul in Prison, ' and 'The Coronation of the Virgin. '

In those cartoons figures above life-size were drawn with chalk uponstrong paper, and coloured in distemper, and Raphael received for hiswork four hundred and thirty gold ducats (about _£650_), while theFlemish weavers received for their work in wools, silk, and gold, fiftythousand gold ducats. The designs were cut up in strips for theweavers' use, and while some strips were destroyed, the rest lay in awarehouse at Arras, till Rubens became aware of their existence, andadvised Charles I, to buy the set, to be employed in the tapestrymanufactory established by James I. At Mortlake. Brought to this countryin the slips which the weavers had copied, the fate of the cartoons wasstill precarious. Cromwell bought them in Charles I. 's art collection, and Louis XIV, sought, but failed, to re-buy them. They fell intofarther neglect, and were well-nigh forgotten, when Sir Godfrey Knellerrecalled them to notice, and induced William III, to have the slipspasted together, and stretched upon linen, and put in a room set apartfor them at Hampton Court, whence they were transferred, within the lastten years, for the greater advantage of artists and the public, toKensington Museum. 

The woven tapestries for which the cartoons were designed had quite aschequered a career. In the two sacks of Rome by French soldiers, thetapestries were seized, carried off, and two of them burnt for thebullion in the thread. At last they were restored to the Vatican, wherethey hang in their faded magnificence, a monument of Leo X, and ofRaphael. An additional set of ten tapestry cartoons were supplied to theVatican by Raphael's scholars. 

Raphael painted for the Chigi family in their palace, which is now theVilla Farnesina, scenes from the history of Cupid and Psyche, and theTriumph of Galatea, subjects which show how the passion for classicalmythology that distinguishes the next generation, was beginning to work. To these last years belong his 'Madonna di San Sisto, ' so named from itshaving been painted for the convent of St Sixtus at Piacenza, and hislast picture, the 'Transfiguration, ' with which he was still engagedwhen death met him unexpectedly. 

Raphael, as the Italians say, lived more like a '_principe_' (prince)than a '_pittore_' (painter). He had a house in Rome, and a villa in theneighbourhood, and on his death left a considerable fortune to hisheirs. There has not been wanting a rumour that his life of a principewas a dissipated and prodigal life; but this ugly rumour, even if it hadmore evidence to support it, is abundantly disproven by the nature ofRaphael's work, and by the enormous amount of that work, granting himthe utmost assistance from his crowd of scholars. He had innumerablecommissions, and retained an immense school from all parts of Italy, themembers of which adored their master. Raphael had the additionaladvantage of having many of his pictures well engraved by a contemporaryengraver named Raimondi. 

Like Giotto, Raphael was the friend of the most distinguished Italiansof his day, including Count Castiglione, and the poet Ariosto. He wasnotably the warm friend of his fellow-painters both at home and abroad, with the exception of Michael Angelo. A drawing of his own, whichRaphael sent, in his kindly interchange of such sketches, to AlbertDürer, is, I think, preserved at Nüremberg. The sovereign princes ofItaly, above all Leo X. , were not contented with being munificentpatrons to Raphael, they treated him with the most marked consideration. The Cardinal Bibbiena proposed the painter's marriage with his niece, ensuring her a dowry of three thousand gold crowns, but Maria diBibbiena died young, ere the marriage could be accomplished; andRaphael, who was said to be little disposed to the match, did not longsurvive her. He caught cold, as some report, from his engrossingpersonal superintendence of the Roman excavations; and, as othersdeclare, from his courtly assiduity in keeping an appointment with thePope, was attacked by fever, and died on his birth-day, April 6th, 1520, having completed his thirty-seventh year. 

All Rome and Italy mourned for him. When his body lay in state, to belooked at and wept over by multitudes, his great unfinished picture ofthe 'Transfiguration' was hung above the bed. He was buried in a spotchosen by himself in his lifetime, and, as it happened, not far from theresting-place of his promised bride. Doubts having been raised as toRaphael's grave, search was made, and his body was exhumed in 1833, andre-buried with great pomp. Raphael's life and that of Rubens form theideal painter's life--bountiful, splendid, unclouded, and terminatingere it sees eclipse or decay--to all in whom the artistic temperament isunited to a genial, sensuous, pleasure-loving nature. 

Raphael was not above the middle height, and slightly made. He wassallow in colour, with brown eyes, and a full yet delicate mouth; buthis beautiful face, like that of our English Shakespeare, is familiar tomost of us. With regard to Raphael's face, the amount of womanliness init is a striking characteristic. One hears sometimes that no man'scharacter is complete without its share of womanliness: surely Raphaelhad a double share, for womanliness is the most distinctive quality inhis face, along with that vague shade of pensiveness which we find notinfrequently, but strangely enough, in those faces which have beenassociated with the happiest spirits and the brightest fortunes. 

Raphael and his scholars painted and drew about nine hundred picturesand sketches, including a hundred and twenty Madonnas, eight of whichare in private collections in England. Of Raphael's greatness, Kuglerwrites that 'it is not so much in kind as in degree. No master leftbehind _so many_ really excellent works as he, whose days were so earlynumbered; in none has there been observed so little that is unpleasant. 'All authorities agree in ascribing much of Raphael's power to his purelyunselfish nature and aim. His excellence seems to lie in the nearlyperfect expression of material beauty and harmony, together withgrandeur of design and noble working out of thought. We shall see thatthis devotion to material beauty has been made something of a reproachto Raphael, as it certainly degenerated into a snare in the hands of hisfollowers, while unquestionably the universal appreciation of Raphael'swork, distinguished from the partial appreciation bestowed on the greatworks of others, proceeds from this evident material beauty which isopen to all. 

Then, again, Raphael, far more than Andrea del Sarto, deserved to becalled 'faultless;' and this general absence of defects and equality ofexcellence is a great element of Raphael's wide popularity; for, as onecan observe for one's self, in regarding a work of art, there is alwaysa large proportion of the spectators who will seize on an error, dwellon it, and be incapable of shaking off its influence, and rising intothe higher rank of critics, who discover and ponder over beauties. Iwould have it considered also, that this equality of excellence does notnecessarily proceed always from a higher aim, but may arise rather froman unconsciously lower aim. 

The single reproach brought against Raphael as a painter isthat--according to some witnesses only, for most deny theimplication--Raphael so delighted in material beauty that he becameenslaved by it, till it diminished his spiritual insight. It is anincontestable truth that in Raphael, as in all the great Italianpainters of his century, there was a falling away from the simpleearnestness, the exceeding reverence, the endless patience, theself-abstraction, and self-devotion of the earliest Italian and Flemishpainters. Therefore there has been within the last fifty or sixty yearsthat movement in modern art, which is called Pre-raphaelitism, and whichis, in fact, a revolt against subjection to Raphael, and his supposedundue exaltation of material beauty, and subjection of truth tobeauty--so called. But we must not fall into the grave mistake ofimagining that there was any want of vigour and variety in Raphael'sgrace and tenderness, or that he could not in his greatest works riseinto a grandeur in keeping with his subject. Tire as we may of hearingRaphael called the king of painters, as the Greeks tired of hearingAristides called 'the just, ' this fact remains: no painter has leftbehind him such a mass of surpassingly good work; in no other work isthere the same charm of greatest beauty and harmony. 

It is hard for me to give you an idea in so short a space of Raphael'swork. I must content myself with quoting descriptions of two of hisStanze, those of the Heliodorus and the Segnatura. 'Heliodorus drivenout of the Temple (2 Maccabees iii. ). In the background Onias thepriest is represented praying for Divine interposition;--in theforeground Heliodorus, pursued by two avenging angels, is endeavouringto bear away the treasures of the temple. Amid the group on the left isseen Julius II. , in his chair of state, attended by his secretaries. Oneof the bearers in front is Marc-Antonio Raimondi, the engraver ofRaphael's designs. The man with the inscription, "Jo Petro de FolicariisCremonen, " was secretary of briefs to Pope Julius. Here you may fancyyou hear the thundering approach of the heavenly warrior, and theneighing of his steed; while in the different groups who are plunderingthe treasures of the temple, and in those who gaze intently on thesudden consternation of Heliodorus, without being able to divine itscause, we see the expression of terror, amazement, joy, humility, andevery passion to which human nature is exposed. '[11]

'The Stanza della Segnatura is so called from a judicial assembly onceheld here. The frescoes in this chamber are illustrative of the Virtuesof Theology, Philosophy, Poetry, and Jurisprudence, who are representedon the ceiling by Raphael, in the midst of arabesques by _Sodoma_. Thesquare pictures by Raphael refer:--the Fall of Man to Theology; theStudy of the Globe to Philosophy; the Flaying of Marsyas to Poetry; andthe Judgment of Solomon to Jurisprudence. 

'_Entrance Wall_. --"The School of Athens. " Raphael consulted Ariosto asto the arrangement of its 52 figures. In the centre, on the steps of aportico, are seen Plato and Aristotle, Plato pointing to heaven andAristotle to earth. On the left is Socrates conversing with his pupils, amongst whom is a young warrior, probably Alcibiades. Lying upon thesteps in front is Diogenes. To his left, Pythagoras is writing on hisknee, and near him, with ink and pen, is Empedocles. The white mantle isFrancesco Maria della Rovere, nephew of Julius II. On the right isArchimedes drawing a geometrical problem upon the floor. The young mannear him with uplifted hands is Federigo II. , Duke of Mantua. Behindthese are Zoroaster, Ptolemy, one with a terrestrial, the other with acelestial globe, addressing two figures, which represent Raphael and hismaster Perugino. The drawing in brown upon the socle beneath thisfresco, is by _Pierino del Vaga_, and represents the death ofArchimedes. 

'_Right Wall_. --"Parnassus. " Apollo surrounded by the Muses; on hisright, Homer, Virgil, and Dante. Below on the right, Sappho, supposed tobe addressing Corinna, Petrarch, Propertius, and Anacreon; on the leftPindar and Horace, Sannazzaro, Boccaccio, and others. Beneath this, ingrisaille, are, --Alexander placing the poems of Homer in the tomb ofAchilles, and Augustus preventing the burning of Virgil's Æneid. 

'_Left Wall_. --Above the window are Prudence, Fortitude, and Temperance. On the left, Justinian delivers the Pandects to Tribonian. On the right, Gregory IX. (with the features of Julius II. ) delivers the Decretals toa jurist;--Cardinal de' Medici, afterwards Leo X. , Cardinal Farnese, afterwards Paul III. , and Cardinal del Monte, are represented near thePope. In the socle beneath is Solon addressing the people of Athens. 

'_Wall of Egress_. --"The Disputa. " So called from an impression that itrepresents a Dispute upon the Sacrament. In the upper part of thecomposition the heavenly host are present; Christ between the Virgin andSt John the Baptist; on the left, St Peter, Adam, St John, David, StStephen, and another; and on the right, St Paul, Abraham, St James, Moses, St Lawrence, and St George. Below is an altar surrounded by theLatin fathers, Gregory, Jerome, Ambrose, and Augustine. Near StAugustine stand St Thomas Aquinas, St Anacletus, with the palm of amartyr, and Cardinal Buenaventura reading. Those in front are InnocentIII. , and in the background, Dante, near whom a monk in a black hood ispointed out as Savonarola. The Dominican on the extreme left is supposedto be Fra Angelico. The other figures are uncertain. ' ... 

'Raphael commenced his work in the Vatican by painting the ceiling andthe four walls in the room called _della Segnatura_, on the surface ofwhich he had to represent four great compositions, which embraced theprincipal divisions of the encyclopedia of that period; namely, Theology, Philosophy, Poetry, and Jurisprudence. 

'It will be conceived, that to an artist imbued with the traditions ofthe Umbrian School, the first of these subjects was an unparalleledpiece of good fortune: and Raphael, long familiar with the allegoricaltreatment of religious compositions, turned it here to the mostadmirable account; and, not content with the suggestions of his owngenius, he availed himself of all the instruction he could derive fromthe intelligence of others. From these combined inspirations resulted, to the eternal glory of the Catholic faith and of Christian art, acomposition without a rival in the history of painting, and, we may alsoadd, without a name; for to call it lyric or epic is not enough, unless, indeed, we mean, by using these expressions, to compare it with theallegorical epic of Dante, alone worthy to be ranked with thismarvellous production of the pencil of Raphael. 

'Let no one consider this praise as idle and groundless, for it isRaphael himself who forces the comparison upon us, by placing the figureof Dante among the favourite sons of the Muses; and, what is still morestriking, by draping the allegorical figure of Theology in the verycolours in which Dante has represented Beatrice; namely, the white veil, the red tunic, and the green mantle, while on her head he has placed theolive crown. 

'Of the four allegorical figures which occupy the compartments of theceiling, and which were all painted immediately after Raphael's arrivalin Rome, Theology and Poetry are incontestably the most remarkable. Thelatter would be easily distinguished by the calm inspiration of herglance, even were she without her wings, her starry crown, and her azurerobe, all having allusion to the elevated region towards which it is herprivilege to soar. The figure of Theology is quite as admirably suitedto the subject she personifies; she points to the upper part of thegrand composition, which takes its name from her, and in which theartist has provided inexhaustible food for the sagacity and enthusiasmof the spectator. 

'This work consists of two grand divisions, --Heaven and Earth--which areunited to one another by that mystical bond, the Sacrament of theEucharist. The personages whom the Church has most honoured for learningand holiness, are ranged in picturesque and animated groups on eitherside of the altar, on which the consecrated wafer is exposed. StAugustine dictates his thoughts to one of his disciples; St Gregory, inhis pontifical robes, seems absorbed in contemplation of celestialglory; St Ambrose, in a slightly different attitude, appears to bechanting the Te Deum; while St Jerome, seated, rests his hands on alarge book, which he holds on his knees. Pietro Lombardo, Duns Scotus, St Thomas Aquinas, Pope Anacletus, St Buenaventura, and Innocent III. , are no less happily characterized; while, behind all these illustriousmen, whom the Church and succeeding generations have agreed to honour, Raphael has ventured to introduce Dante with his laurel crown, and, withstill greater boldness, the monk Savonarola, publicly burnt ten yearsbefore as a heretic. 

'In the glory, which forms the upper part of the picture, the ThreePersons of the Trinity are represented, surrounded by patriarchs, apostles, and saints: it may, in fact, be considered in some sort as a_resumé_ of all the favourite compositions produced during the lasthundred years by the Umbrian School. A great number of the types, andparticularly those of Christ and the Virgin, are to be found in theearlier works of Raphael himself. The Umbrian artists, from having solong exclusively employed themselves on mystical subjects, had certainlyattained to a marvellous perfection in the representation of celestialbeatitude, and of those ineffable things of which it has been said thatthe heart of man cannot conceive them, far less, therefore, the pencilof man portray; and Raphael, surpassing them in all, and even in thisinstance, while surpassing himself, appears to have fixed the limits, beyond which Christian art, properly so called, has never since beenable to advance. '[12]

Of Raphael's Madonnas, I should like to speak of three. The Madonna diSan Sisto: 'It represents the Virgin standing in a majestic attitude;the infant Saviour _enthroned_ in her arms; and around her head a gloryof innumerable cherubs melting into light. Kneeling before her we see onone side St Sixtus, on the other St Barbara, and beneath her feet twoheavenly cherubs gaze up in adoration. In execution, as in design, thisis probably the most perfect picture in the world. It is paintedthroughout by Raphael's own hand; and as no sketch or study of any partof it was ever known to exist, and as the execution must have been, fromthe thinness and delicacy of the colours, wonderfully rapid, it issupposed that he painted it at once on the canvas--a _creation_ ratherthan a picture. In the beginning of the last century the Elector ofSaxony, Augustus III. , purchased this picture from the monks of theconvent for the sum of sixty thousand florins (about £6000), and it nowforms the chief boast and ornament of the Dresden Gallery'[13]

The Madonna del Cardellino (our Lady of the Goldfinch): 'The Virgin issitting on a rock, in a flowery meadow. Behind are the usual light andfeathery trees, growing on the bank of a stream, which passes off to theleft in a rocky bend, and is crossed by a bridge of a single arch. Tothe right, the opposite bank slopes upward in a gentle glade, acrosswhich is a village, backed by two distant mountain-peaks. 

'In front of the sitting matronly figure of the Virgin are the holychildren, our Lord and the Baptist, one on either side of her rightknee. She has been reading, and the approach of St John has caused herto look off her book (which is open in her left hand) at the new comer, which she does with a look of holy love and gentleness, at the sametime caressingly drawing him to her with her right hand, which toucheshis little body under the right arm. In both hands, which rest acrossthe Virgin's knee, he holds a captive goldfinch, which he has brought, with childish glee, as an offering to the Holy Child. The infant Jesus, standing between his mother's knees, with one foot placed on her foot, and her hand, with the open book, close above his shoulder, regards theBaptist with an upward look of gentle solemnity, at the same time thathe holds his bent hand over the head of the bird. 

'So much for mere description. The inner feeling of the picture, themotive which has prompted it, has surely hardly ever been surpassed. TheBlessed Virgin, in casting her arm round the infant St John, looks downon him with a holy complacency for the testimony which he is to bear toher Son. Notice the human boyish glee with which the Baptist presentsthe captured goldfinch, and, on the other hand, the divine look, even ofmajesty and creative love, with which the infant Jesus, laying his handon the head of the bird, half reproves St John, as it were saying, "Lovethem and hurt them not. " Notice, too, the unfrightened calm of the birditself, passive under the hand of its loving Creator. All these arefeatures of the very highest power of human art. 

'Again, in accompaniments, all is as it should be. The Virgin, modestlyand beautifully draped; St John, girt about the loins, not only inaccord with his well-known prophetic costume, but also as partaking ofsinful humanity, and therefore needing such cincture: the ChildRedeemer, with a slight cincture, just to suggest motherly care, but notover the part usually concealed, as indeed it never ought to be, seeingthat in Him was no sin, and that it is this spotless purity which isever the leading idea in representations of Him as an infant. Notice, too, his foot, beautifully resting on that of his mother; the unitybetween them being thus wonderfully though slightly kept up. Her eye hasjust been dwelling on the book of the Prophecies open in her hand; andthus the spectator's thought is ruled in accordance with the highmission of the Holy One of God, and thrown forward into the grand andblessed future. It is a holy and wonderful picture; I had not seen anyin Italy which had struck or refreshed me more. '[14]

And allow me to write two or three words with regard to the 'Madonnadella Sedia, ' or our Lady of the Chair, an engraving of which used tocharm me when a child. The Virgin, very young and simple-looking in herloveliness, is seated on a low chair, clasping the Divine Child, who isleaning in weariness on her breast. In the original picture, St Johnwith his cross is standing--a boy at the Virgin's knee, but he is absentfrom the old engraving. The meek adoring tenderness in the face of themother, the holy ingenuousness in that of the child, are expressions tobe long studied. 

Of Raphael's cartoons, which, so many of us can see for ourselves, Icannot trust myself to do more than to repeat what strikes me as asingularly apt phrase of Hazlitt's, given by Mrs Jameson, that thecartoons are instances in which 'the corruptible has put onincorruption. ' That from the very slightness of the materials employed, and the very injuries which the cartoons have sustained, we have thegreatest triumph of art, where 'the sense of power supersedes theappearance of effort, ' and where the result is the more majestic forbeing in ruins. 'All other pictures look like oil and varnish, we arestopped and attracted by the colouring, the penciling, the finishing, the instrumentality of art; but the on the canvas.... There is nothingbetween us and the subject; we look through a frame and see Scripturehistories, and amidst the wreck of colour and the mouldering of materialbeauty, nothing is left but a universe of thought, or the broad imminentshadows of calm contemplation and majestic pains. '

And that Raphael did not neglect the minutest details in these sketches, will be seen by the accompanying note: 'The foreground of Raphael's twocartoons, "The Miraculous Draught of Fishes, " and "The Charge toPeter, " are covered with plants of the common sea cole-wort, of whichthe sinuated leaves and clustered blossoms would have exhausted thepatience of any other artist; but have appeared worthy of prolonged andthoughtful labour to the great mind of Raphael. '--_Ruskin_. 

Whole clusters of anecdotes gather round the cartoons, which, as theyhave to do with the work and not the worker, I leave untouched, withregret. But I must forewarn my readers by mentioning some of the refutedcriticisms which have been applied to the cartoons. Reading thecriticisms and their answers ought to render us modest and wary in'picking holes' in great pictures, as forward and flippant critics, oldand young, are tempted to pick them. With regard to the 'MiraculousDraught of Fishes, ' a great outcry was once set up that Raphael had madethe boat too little to hold the figures he has placed in it. But Raphaelmade the boat little advisedly; if he had not done so, the picture wouldhave been 'all boat, ' a contingency scarcely to be desired; on theother hand, if Raphael had diminished the figures to suit the size ofthe boat, these figures would not have suited those of the othercartoons, and the cartoon would have lost greatly in dignity and effect. 

In the cartoon of the 'Death of Ananias, ' carping objectors were readyto suggest that Raphael had committed an error in time by introducingSapphira in the background counting her ill-gotten gains, at the momentwhen her no less guilty husband has fallen down in the agonies of death. It was hours afterwards that Sapphira entered into the presence of theapostles. But we must know that time and space do not exist forpainters, who have to tell their story at one stroke, as it were. 

In the treating of the 'Lame Man at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, 'some authorities have found fault with Raphael for breaking thecomposition into parts by the introduction of pillars, and, farther, that the shafts are not straight. Yet by this treatment Raphael hasconcentrated the principal action in a sort of frame, and thus has beenenabled to give more freedom of action to the remaining figures in theother divisions of the picture. 'It is evident, moreover, that had theshafts been perfectly straight, according to the severest law of goodtaste in architecture, the effect would have been extremely disagreeableto the eye; by their winding form they harmonize with the manifold formsof the moving figures around, and they illustrate, by their elaborateelegance, the Scripture phrase, "the gate which is calledBeautiful. "'--_Mrs Jameson_. 

Of Raphael's portraits I must mention that wonderful portrait of Leo X. , often reckoned the best portrait in the world for truth of likeness andexcellence of painting, and those of the so-called 'Fornarina, ' or'baker'. Two Fornarinas are at Rome and one at Florence. There is astory that the original of the first two pictures was a girl of thepeople to whom Raphael was attached; and there is this to be said forthe tradition, that there is an acknowledged coarseness in the verybeauty of the half-draped Fornarina of the Barberini Palace. The'Fornarina' of Florence is the portrait of a noble woman, holding thefur-trimming of her mantle with her right hand, and it is said that thepicture can hardly represent the same individual as that twicerepresented in Rome. According to one guess the last 'Fornarina' isVittoria Colonna, the Marchesa de Pescara, painted by Seba Piombo, instead of by Raphael; and according to another, the Roman 'Fornarina'is no Fornarina beloved by Raphael, but Beatrice Pio, a celebratedimprovisatrice of the time. 

An 'innovation of modern times is to spell Raphael's name in England asthe modern Italians spelt it, _Raffaelle_, a word of four syllables, andyet to pronounce this Italian word as if it were English, as _Raphael_. Vasari wrote Raffaello; he himself wrote Raphael on his pictures, andhas signed the only autograph letter we have of his, Raphaello. '[15]

Titian, or Tiziano Vecelli, the greatest painter of the VenetianSchool, reckoned worthy to be named with Lionardo, Michael Angelo andRaphael, was born of good family at Capo del Cadore in the VenetianState, in 1477. There is a tradition that while other painters madetheir first essays in art with chalk or charcoal, the boy Titian, wholived to be a glorious colourist, made his earliest trials in paintingwith the juice of flowers. Titian studied in Venice under the Bellini, and had Giorgione, who was born in the same year, for hisfellow-scholar, at first his friend, later his rival. When a young manTitian spent some time in Ferrara; there he painted his 'Bacchus andAriadne, ' and a portrait of Lucrezia Borgia. In 1512, when Titian wasthirty-five years of age, he was commissioned by the Venetians tocontinue the works in the great council-hall, which the advanced age ofGian Bellini kept him from finishing. Along with this commission Titianwas appointed in 1516 to the office of la Sanseria, which gave him theduty and privilege of painting the portraits of the Doges as long as heheld the office; coupled with the office was a salary of one hundredand twenty crowns a year. Titian lived to paint five Doges; two others, his age, equal to that of Gian Bellini, prevented him from painting. 

In 1516, Titian painted his greatest sacred picture, the 'Assumption ofthe Virgin. ' In the same year he painted the poet Ariosto, who mentionsthe painter with high honour in his verse. 

In 1530, Titian, a man of fifty-three years, was at Bologna, where therewas a meeting between Charles V, and Pope Clement VII. , when he waspresented to both princes. 

Charles V, and Philip II, became afterwards great patrons and admirersof Titian, and it is of Charles V. And Titian that a legend, to which Ihave already referred, is told. The Emperor, visiting the painter whilehe was at work, stooped down and picked up a pencil, which Titian hadlet fall, to the confusion and distress of the painter, when Charlespaid the princely compliment, 'Titian is worthy of being served byCæsar. ' Titian painted many portraits of Charles V. , and of the membersof his house. As Maximilian had created Albrecht Dürer a noble of theEmpire, Charles V, created Titian a Count Palatine, and a Knight of theOrder of St Iago, with a pension, which was continued by Philip II. , offour hundred crowns a year. It is doubtful whether Titian ever visitedthe Spain of his patrons, but Madrid possesses forty-three of hispictures, among them some of his finest works. 

Titian went to Rome in his later years, but declined to abandon for Romethe painter's native Venice, which had lavished her favours on her son. He lived in great splendour, paying annual summer visits to hisbirth-place of Cadore, and occasionally dwelling again for a time atFerrara, Urbino, Bologna. In two instances he joined the Emperor atAugsburgh. When Henry III, of France landed at Venice, he wasentertained _en grand seigneur_ by Titian, then a very old man; and whenthe king asked the price of some pictures which pleased him, Titian atonce presented them as a gift to his royal guest. 

Titian married, as has been recently ascertained, and had threechildren, --two sons, the elder a worthless and scandalous priest; thesecond a good son and accomplished painter; and a daughter, thebeautiful Lavinia, so often painted by her father, and whose name willlive with his. Titian survived his wife thirty-six years; and hisdaughter, who had married, and was the mother of several children, sixyears. His second son and fellow-painter died of the same plague whichstruck down Titian, in 1566, at the ripe age of eighty-nine years. 

Titian is said to have been a man of irritable and passionate temper. The hatred between him and the painter, Pordenone, was so bitter, thatthe latter thought his life in danger, and painted with his shield andponiard lying ready to his hand. Titian grasped with imperious tenacityhis supremacy as a painter, sedulously kept the secrets of his skill, and was most unmagnanimously jealous of the attainments of his scholars. No defect of temper, however, kept Titian from having two inseparableconvivial companions--one of them the architect, Sansovino, and theother the profligate wit, Aretino, who was pleased to style himself the'friend of Titian and the scourge of princes. ' Though Titian is said, inthe panic of the great plague, to have died not only neglected, butplundered before his eyes, still Venice prized him so highly, that shemade in his favour the single exception of a public funeral, during theappalling devastation wrought by the pestilence. 

From an engraving of a portrait of Titian by himself, which is beforeme, I can give the best idea of his person. He looks like one of themerchant princes, whom he painted so often and so well, in richly furredgown, massive chain, and small cap, far off his broad forehead: astately figure, with a face--in its aquiline nose and keen eyes, full ofsagacity and fire, which no years could tame. 

Towards the close of Titian's life, there was none who even approachedthe old Venetian painter in the art which he practised freely to thelast. Painting in Italy was everywhere losing its pre-eminence. It hadbecome, even when it was not so nominally, thoroughly secularized;--andwith reason, for the painters by their art-creed and by their lives werefitter to represent gods and goddesses, in whom no man believed, than togive earnest expression to a living faith. Even Titian, great as he was, proved a better painter of heathen mythology than of sacred subjects. 

But within certain limits and in certain directions, Titian standsunequalled. He has a high place for composition and for drawing, and hiscolouring was, beyond comparison, grand and true. He was great as alandscape painter, and he was the best portrait painter whom the worldever saw. In his painting is seen, not, indeed, the life of the spirit, but the life of the senses 'in its fullest power, ' and in Titian therewas such large mastery of this life, that in his freedom there was noviolence, but the calmness of supreme strength, the serenity of perfectsatisfaction. His painting was a reflection of the old Greek idea of thelife of humanity as a joyous existence, so long as the sun of youth, maturity, health, and good fortune shone, without even that strain offoreboding pain, and desperate closing with fate, which troubled thebliss of ancient poet or sculptor. A large proportion of Titian'sprincipal pictures are at Venice and Madrid. 

Among Titian's finest sacred pictures, are his 'Assumption of theVirgin, ' now in the Academy, Venice, where 'the Madonna, a powerfulfigure, is borne rapidly upwards, as if divinely impelled; .. , fascinating groups of infant angels surround her, beneath stand theapostles, looking up with solemn gestures;' and his 'Entombment ofChrist, ' a picture which is also in Venice. Titian's Madonnas were notso numerous as his Venuses, many of which are judged excellent examplesof the master. His 'Bacchus and Ariadne, ' in the National Gallery, isdescribed by Mrs Jameson, 'as presenting, on a small scale, an epitomeof all the beauties which characterize Titian, in the rich, picturesque, animated composition, in the ardour of Bacchus, who flings himself fromhis car to pursue Ariadne; the dancing bacchanals, the frantic grace ofthe bacchante, and the little joyous satyr in front, trailing the head ofthe sacrifice. '

Titian's landscapes are the noble backgrounds to many of his pictures. These landscapes were not only free, but full. 'The great masters ofItaly, almost without exception, and Titian, perhaps, more than anyother (for he had the highest knowledge of landscape), are in theconstant habit of rendering every detail of their foregrounds with themost laborious botanical fidelity; witness the Bacchus and Ariadne, inwhich the foreground is occupied by the common blue iris, the aquilegia, and the wild rose; _every stamen_ of which latter is given, while theblossoms and leaves of the columbine (a difficult flower to draw) havebeen studied with the most exquisite accuracy. '--_Ruskin_. 

In portraits, Titian conveyed to the sitters and transferred to hiscanvas, not only a life-likeness, but a positively noble dignity in thatlikeness. What in Van Dyck and Sir Joshua Reynolds was the bestowing ofhigh breeding and dainty refinement, became under Titian's brushdignity, pure and simple, very quiet, and wonderfully real. There isthis peculiarity in connection with the number of portraits which Titianexecuted, that many of them have descended to us without further titlesthan those of 'A Venetian Senator, ' 'A Lady, ' etc. , etc. , yet of theindividual life of the originals no one can doubt. With regard toTitian's portraits of women, I have already referred to those of hisbeautiful daughter, Lavinia. In one portrait, in the Berlin Museum, sheis holding a plate of fruit; in another, in England, the plate of fruitis changed into a casket of jewels; in a third, at Madrid, Lavinia isHerodias, and bears a charger with the head of John the Baptist. A'Violante'--as some say, the daughter of Titian's scholar, Palma, thoughdates disprove this--sat frequently to Titian, and is said to have beenloved by him. 

I have written, in connection with Lionardo's 'Jaconde' and Raphael's'Fornarina, ' of Titian's 'Bella Donna. ' He has various 'Bellas, ' but, asfar as I know, this is _the_ 'Bella Donna, '--'a splendid, seriousbeauty, in a red and blue silk dress, ' in the Sciarra Gallery, Rome. 

I have read that critics were at one time puzzled by the singularyellow, almost straw colour, appearing profusely in the hair of thewomen of the Venetian painters of this time, and that it was only byconsulting contemporary records that it was learnt that the Venetianwomen indulged in the weak and false vanity of dyeing their black hair apale yellow--a process, in the course of which the women drew the hairthrough the crown of a broad-brimmed hat, and spreading it over thebrim, submitted patiently to bleaching the hair in a southern sun. 

Among Titian's portraits of men, those of the 'Emperor Charles V. ' andthe 'Duke of Alva' are among the most famous. 

Titian painted, and painted wonderfully, to the very last. He waseighty-one when he painted the 'Martyrdom of St Lawrence, ' one of hislargest and grandest compositions, and in the last year of his life hepainted--leaving it not quite completed, --a 'Pietà;' showing that hishand owned the weight of years, [16] but the conception of the subject isstill animated and striking, the colours still glowing; while, Titian-like, the light still flows around the mighty group in everygradation of tone. 

CHAPTER V. 

GERMAN ART--ALBRECHT DÜRER, 1471-1528. 

Albrecht Dürer carries us to a different country and a different race. And he who has been called the father of German painting is thoroughlyGerman, not only in his Saxon honesty, sedateness, and strength, but inthe curious mixture of simplicity, subtlety, homeliness, andfantasticalness, which are still found side by side in German genius. 

Albrecht Dürer was born at that fittest birth-place for the great Germanpainter, quaint old Nuremberg, in 1471. He was the son of a goldsmith, and one of a family of eighteen children; a home school in which he mayhave learnt early the noble, manly lessons of self-denial and endurance, which he practised long and well. He was trained to his father's tradeuntil the lad's bent became so unmistakable that he was wiselytransferred to the studio of a painter to serve his apprenticeship toart. 

When the Nuremberg apprenticeship was completed, Albrecht followed theGerman custom, very valuable to him, of serving another and a 'wanderingapprenticeship, ' which carried him betimes through Germany, theNetherlands, and Italy, painting and studying as he went. He painted hisown portrait about this time, showing himself a comely, pleasant, andpleased young fellow, in a curious holiday suit of plaited low-bodiedshirt, jerkin, and mantle across the shoulder, with a profusion of longfair curls, of which he was said to have been vain, arranged elaboratelyon each side, the blue eyes looking with frank confidence out of theblonde face. He painted himself a little later with the brave kindlyface grown mature, and the wisdom of the spirit shining in the eyes, andweighing on the brows. 

On his return from his travels, Albrecht Dürer's father arranged hisson's marriage with the daughter of a musician in Nuremberg. Theinducement to the marriage seems to have been, on the father's part, thedowry, and on the son's the beauty of the bride. How unhappy the unionproved, without any fault of Albrecht's, has been the theme of so manystories, that I am half inclined to think that some of us must be morefamiliar with Albrecht Dürer's wedded life than with any other part ofhis history. It seems to me, that there is considerable exaggeration inthese stories, for granted that Agnes Dürer was a shrew and a miser, wasAlbrecht Dürer the man to be entirely, or greatly, at such a woman'smercy? Taking matters at their worst, dishonour and disgrace did notcome near the great painter. He was esteemed, as he deserved to be; hehad a true friend in his comrade Pirkheimer; he had his art; he had thepeace of a good conscience; he had the highest of all consolations inhis faith in Heaven. Certainly it is not from Albrecht himself that thetale of his domestic wretchedness has come. He was as manfully patientand silent as one might have expected in a man upright, firm, andself-reliant as he was tender. I do not think it is good for men, andespecially for women, to indulge in egotistical sentimentality, and tobelieve that such a woman as Agnes Dürer could utterly thwart and wreckthe life of a man like Albrecht. It is not true to life, in the firstplace; and it is dishonouring to the man, in the second; for although, doubtless, there are men who are driven to destruction or heart-brokenby even the follies of women, these men have not the stout hearts, theloyal spirits, the manly mould of Albrecht Dürer. 

But making every allowance for the high colours with which a tale thathas grown stale is apt to be daubed, I am forced to admit the inferencethat a mean, sordid, contentious woman probably did as much as was inher power to harass and fret one of the best men in Germany, or in theworld. Luckily for himself, Albrecht was a severe student, had muchengrossing work which carried him abroad, and travelled once at leastfar away from the harassing and galling home discipline. For anythingfurther, I believe that Albrecht loved his greedy, scolding wife, whosefair face he painted frequently in his pictures, and whom he left atlast well and carefully provided for, as he bore with her to the end. 

In 1506 Albrecht Dürer re-visited Italy alone, making a stay of eightmonths in Venice, where he formed his friendship with the old GianBellini, and where Albrecht had the misfortune to show the proofs andplans of his engravings to the Italian engraver, Raimondi, who engravedRaphael's paintings, and who proved himself base enough to steal andmake use of Albrecht Dürer's designs to the German's serious loss andinconvenience. 

A little later Albrecht Dürer, accompanied by his wife, visited theNetherlands. The Emperor Maximilian treated the painter with greatfavour, and a legend survives of their relations:--Dürer was painting solarge a subject that he required steps to reach it. The Emperor, who waspresent, required a nobleman of his suite to steady the steps for thepainter, an employment which the nobleman declined as unworthy of hisrank, when the Emperor himself stepped forward and supplied thenecessary aid, remarking, 'Sir, understand that I can make Albrecht anoble like and above you' (Maximilian had just raised Albrecht Dürer tothe rank of noble of the empire), 'but neither I nor any one else canmake an artist like him. ' We may compare this story with a similar andlater story of Holbein and Henry VIII. , and with another earlier story, having a slight variation, of Titian and Charles V. The universality ofthe story shakes one's belief in its individual application, but atleast the legend, with different names, remains as an indication ofpopular homage to genius. 

While executing a large amount of work for the great towns and sovereignprinces of Germany, some of whom were said to consult the painter ontheir military operations, relying on his knowledge of mathematics, andhis being able to apply it to military engineering and fortification, Albrecht Dürer was constantly improving and advancing in his art, layingdown his prejudices, and acquiring fresh ideas, as well as freshinformation, according to the slow but sure process of the true Germanmind, till his last work was incomparably his best. 

Germany was then in the terrible throes of the Reformation, and AlbrechtDürer, who has left us the portraits of several of the great Reformers, is believed to have been no uninterested spectator of the struggle, andto have held, like his fellow-painter, Lucas Cranach--though in AlbrechtDürer's case the change was never openly professed--the doctrines of theReformation. 

There is a portrait of Albrecht Dürer, painted by himself, in his lateryears. (By the way, Albrecht was not averse to painting his own portraitas well as that of his friend Pirkheimer, and of making the fullestclaim to his work by introducing into his religious and historicalpictures his own figure holding a flag or tablet, inscribed with hisname in the quiet self-assertion of a man who was neither ashamed ofhimself, nor of anything he did. ) In that last portrait, Albrecht is athoughtful, care-worn man, with his fair locks shorn. Some willattribute the change to Agnes Dürer, but I imagine it proceeds simplyfrom the noble scars of work and time; and that when Albrecht Dürer diedin his fifty-seventh year, if it were in sourness and bitterness ofspirit, as some of his biographers have stated, that sourness andbitterness were quite as much owing to the grievous troubles of his timeand country, which so large-minded a man was sure to lay to heart, as toany domestic trouble. Albrecht Dürer was greatly beloved by his own cityof Nuremberg, where his memory continues to be cherished. His quainthouse still stands, and his tomb bears the motto 'Emigravit, '

 'For the great painter never dies. '

Albrecht Dürer's name ranks with the names of the first painters of anytime or country, though his work as a painter was, as in the case ofWilliam Hogarth, subservient to his work as an engraver. With theknowledge of a later generation to that of the earliest Italian andFlemish painters, Albrecht Dürer had much of their singleness ofpurpose, assiduity of application, and profound feeling. He had tolabour against a tendency to uncouthness in stiff lines and angularfigures; to petty elaboration of details; and to that grotesquenesswhich, while it suited in some respects his allegorical engravings, marred his historical paintings, so that he was known to regret thewasted fantastic crowding and confusion of his earlier work. From theItalians and Flemings he learnt simplicity, and a more correct sense ofmaterial beauty. The purity, truth, and depth of the man's spirit, fromwhich ideal beauty proceeds, no man could add to. 

Among Albrecht Dürer's greatest paintings are his 'Adoration of theTrinity' at Vienna, his 'Adam and Eve' at Florence, and that lastpicture of 'The Apostles, ' presented by Albrecht Dürer to his nativecity, 'in remembrance of his career as an artist, and at the same timeas conveying to his fellow-citizens an earnest and lasting exhortationsuited to that stormy period. ' The prominence given to the Bible in thepicture, points to it as the last appeal in the great spiritualstruggle. With regard to this noble masterly picture, Kugler haswritten, 'Well might the artist now close his eyes. He had in thispicture attained the summit of art; here he stands side by side with thegreatest masters known in history. '

But I prefer to say something of Albrecht Dürer's engravings, which aremore characteristic of him and far more widely known than his paintings;and to speak first of those two wonderful and beautiful allegories, 'Knight, Death, and the Devil, ' and 'Melancolia. ' In the first, which isan embodiment of weird German romance as well as of high Christianfaith, the solitary Knight, with his furrowed face and battered armour, rides steadfastly on through the dark glen, unmoved by his grislycompanions, skeleton Death on the lame horse, and the foul Fiend inperson. Contrast this sketch and its thoughtful touching meaning withthe hollow ghastliness of Holbein's 'Dance of Death. '

In 'Melancolia' a grand winged woman sits absorbed in sorrowful thought, while surrounded by all the appliances of philosophy, science, art, mechanics, all the discoveries made before and in Albrecht Dürer's day, in the book, the chart, the lever, the crystal, the crucible, the plane, the hammer. The intention of this picture has been disputed, but thebest explanation of it is that which regards the woman as pondering onthe humanly unsolved and insoluble mystery of the sin and sorrow oflife. 

In three large series of woodcuts, known as the Greater and the LesserPassion of the Lord, and the Life of the Virgin, and taken partly fromsacred history and partly from tradition, Albrecht Dürer exceededhimself in true beauty, simple majesty, and pathos. Photographs havespread widely these fine woodcuts, and there is, at least, one which Ithink my readers may have seen, 'The Bearing of the Cross, ' in which theblessed Saviour sinks under his burden. In the series of the Life of theVirgin there is a 'Repose in Egypt, ' which has a naïve homeliness in itsgrace and serenity. The woodcut represents a courtyard with a dwellingbuilt in the ruins of an ancient palace. The Virgin sits spinning witha distaff and spindle beside the Holy Child's cradle, by which beautifulangels worship. Joseph is busy at his carpenter's work, and a number oflittle angels, in merry sport, assist him with his labours. [17]

I shall mention only one more work of Albrecht Dürer's, that which isknown as the Emperor Maximilian's Prayer Book. This is pen-and-inksketches for the borders of a book (as the old missals wereilluminated), which are now preserved in the Royal Library, Munich. Inthese little drawings the fancy of the great artist held high revel, byno means confining itself to serious subjects, such as apostles, monks, or even men in armour, but indulging in the most whimsical vagaries, with regard to little German old women, imps, piping squirrels, withcocks and hens hurrying to listen to the melody. 

CHAPTER VI. 

LATER ITALIAN ART--GIORGIONE, 1477-1511--CORREGGIO. ABOUT1493-1534--TINTORETTO, 1512-1574--VERONESE, 1530-1588. 

Giorgio Barbarelli, known as 'Giorgione, --in Italian, 'big, ' or, as Ihave heard it better translated, 'strapping George'--was born atCastelfranco, in Treviso, about 1477, the same year in which Titian wasborn. Nothing is known of his youth before he came to Venice and studiedin the school of Gian Bellini along with Titian. 

The two men were friends in those days, but soon quarrelled, andGiorgione's early death completed their separation. Titian was impatientand arrogant; Giorgione seems to have been one of those proud, shy, sensitive men--possibly morbidly sensitive, with whom it is alwaysdifficult to deal; but it is recorded of him, as it is not recorded ofhis great compeer, that Giorgione was frank and friendly as an artist, however moody and fitful he might be as a man. 

Giorgione soon became known. According to one account, he painted thefaçade of the house which he dwelt in, for an advertisement of hisabilities as a painter, a device which was entirely successful inprocuring him commissions; but unfortunately for posterity, these werefrequently to paint other façades, sometimes in company with Titian;grand work, which has inevitably perished, if not by fire, by time andby the sea-damp of Venice, for to Venice Giorgione belonged, and thereis no sign that he ever left it. 

He had no school, and his love of music and society--the last tastefound not seldom, an apparent anomaly, in silent, broodingnatures--might tend to withdraw him from his art. He has left a trace ofhis love for music in his pictures of 'Concerts' and of 'Pastorals, ' inwhich musical performances are made prominent. In Giorgione, with hisromantic, idealizing temperament, genre[18] pictures took this form, while he is known to have painted from Ovid and from the Italian talesof his time. He was employed frequently to paint scenes on panels, forthe richly ornamented Venetian furniture. Giorgione was not without abent to realism in his very idealism, and is said to have been the firstItalian painter who 'imitated the real texture of stuffs and painteddraperies from the actual material. '

Giorgione died at the early age of thirty-three years, in 1511. Oneaccount represents him as dying of the plague, others attribute hisdeath to a sadder cause. He is said to have had a friend andfellow-painter who betrayed their friendship, and carried off the girlwhom Giorgione loved. Stung to the quick by the double falsehood, thetradition goes on to state that Giorgione fell into despair with lifeand all it held, and so died. 

A portrait of Giorgione is in the Munich Gallery; it is that of a veryhandsome beardless lad, 'with a peculiar melancholy in the dark glowingeyes. '

Giorgione was, like Titian, grand and free in drawing and composition, and superb in colour. [19] Mrs Jameson has drawn a nice distinctionbetween the two painters as colourists. That the colours of Giorgione'appear as if lighted from within, and those of Titian from without;'that 'the epithet glowing applies best to Giorgione, that of golden toTitian. '

Giorgione's historic pictures are rare, his sacred pictures rarer still;among the last is a 'Finding of Moses, ' now in Milan, thus described byMrs Jameson: 'In the centre sits the princess under a tree; she lookswith surprise and tenderness on the child, which is brought to her byone of her attendants; the squire, or seneschal, of the princess, withknights and ladies, stand around; on one side two lovers are seated onthe grass; on the other are musicians and singers, pages with dogs. Allthe figures are in the Venetian costume; the colouring is splendid, andthe grace and harmony of the whole composition is even the moreenchanting from the naïveté of the conception. This picture, like manyothers of the same age and style, reminds us of those poems and talesof the middle ages, in which David and Jonathan figure as _preuxchevaliers_, and Sir Alexander of Macedon and Sir Paris of Troy fighttournaments in honour of ladies' eyes and the "blessed Virgin. " Theymust be tried by their own aim and standard, not by the severity ofantiquarian criticism. '

In portraits Giorgione has only been exceeded by Titian. In the NationalGallery there is an unimportant 'St Peter the Martyr, ' and a finer'Maestro di Capella giving a music lesson, ' which Kugler assigns toGiorgione, though it has been given elsewhere to Titian. The 'refinedvoluptuousness and impassioned sombreness' of Giorgione's painting haveinstituted a comparison between him and Lord Byron as a poet. 

Correggio's real name was Antonio Allegri, and he has his popular namefrom his birth-place of Correggio, now called Reggio; although at onetime there existed an impression that Correggio meant 'correct, ' fromthe painter's exceedingly clever feats of fore-shortening. 

His father is believed to have been a well-to-do tradesman, and the ladis said to have had an uncle a painter, who probably influenced hisnephew. But Correggio had a greater master, though but for a very shorttime, in Andrea Mantegna, who died when Correggio was still a young boy. Mantegna's son kept on his father's school, and from him Correggio mighthave received more regular instruction. He early attained excellence, and in the teeth of the legends which lingered in Parma for a fullcentury, his genius received prompt notice and patronage. He marriedyoung, and from records which have come to light, he received aconsiderable portion with his wife. 

The year after his marriage, when he was no more than six-and-twenty, Correggio was appointed to paint in fresco the cupola of the church ofSan Giovanni at Parma, and chose for his subject the 'Ascension ofChrist;' for this work and that of the 'Coronation of the Virgin, 'painted over the high altar, Correggio got five hundred gold crowns, equivalent to £1500. He was invited to Mantua, where he painted from themythology for the Duke of Mantua. Indeed, so far and wide had thepreference for mythological subjects penetrated, that one of Correggio'searliest works was 'Diana returning from the Chase;' painted for thedecoration of the parlour of the Abbess of the convent of San Paulo, Parma. 

Correggio was a second time called upon to paint a great religious workin Parma--this time in the cathedral, for which he selected 'TheAssumption of the Virgin. ' A few of the cartoons for these frescoes werediscovered thirty or forty years ago, rolled up and lying forgotten in agarret in Parma; they, are now in the British Museum. 

In 1533, Correggio, then residing in his native town, was one of thewitnesses to the marriage of his sovereign, the Lord of Correggio. Inthe following year the painter had engaged to paint an altar-piece foran employer, who paid Correggio in advance twenty-five gold crowns, butthe latter dying very soon afterwards, in the forty-first year of hisage, 1534, his father, who was still alive, was in circumstances torepay the advance on the picture, which had not been painted. 

Correggio is said to have been modest and retiring in disposition, andthis, together with the fact that, like Giorgione, he did not have aschool, has been suggested as the source of the traditions whichprevailed so long in Italy. These traditions described the painter as aman born in indigent circumstances, living obscurely in spite of hisgenius (there is a picture of Correggio's in England, which was said tohave been given in payment for his entertainment at an inn), and leadingto the end a life of such ill-requited labour, that having been paid forhis last picture in copper money, and being under the necessity ofcarrying it home in order to relieve the destitution of his family, hebroke down under the burden, and overcome by heat and weariness, drank arash draught of water, which caused fever and death. 

The story, disproven as it is, is often alluded to still, and remains asa foil to those flattering and courtly anecdotes which I have beenrepeating of royal and imperial homage paid to Dürer, Titian, andHolbein. I fancy the last-mentioned stories may have grown from smallbeginnings, and circulated purely in the artist world; but that theformer is an utterance of the engrained persuasion of the great worldwithout, that art as a means of livelihood is essentiallynon-remunerative in the sense of money-getting. 

Modest as Correggio may have been, he was not without pride in his art. After looking for the first time on the St Cecilia of Raphael, Correggiois reported to have exclaimed with exultation, 'And I too am a painter. '

He left behind him on his death a son and a daughter, the former livingto be a painter of no great name. In the picture of Correggio in theattitude of painting, painted by himself, we see him a handsome spareman with something of a romantic cavalier air, engaged in his chosenart. 

Correggio's pictures go to prove that under his seemingly quiet exteriorhe was a man of the liveliest sensibilities and the keenest perceptions, His pictures, unlike Titian's in their repose, are full of motion andexcitement. Correggio is spoken of as a painter who delighted 'in thebuoyance of childish glee, the bliss of earthly, the fervour of heavenlylove, ' whose radiant sphere of art sorrow rarely clouded; but whensorrow did enter, it borrowed from the painter's own quivering heart thevery sharpness of anguish. The same authority tells us of Correggio, that he has painted 'the very heart-throbs of humanity. ' But it seems asif such a nature, with its self-conscious veil of forced stillness, musthave had a tendency to vehemence and excess; and so we hear thatCorreggio's fore-shortening was sometimes violent, and the energy of hisactors spasmodic; thus the cruelly smart contemporary criticism waspronounced on his frescoes of the 'Assumption of the Virgin, ' in whichlegs and arms in wild play are chiefly conspicuous from below, thatCorreggio had prepared for the Parmese 'a fricassée of frogs. ' Inaddition, the great modern critic, Mr Ruskin, has boldly accusedCorreggio 'both of weakness and meretriciousness, ' and there is this tobe said of a nature so highly strung as Correggio's was strung, that itwas not a healthily balanced nature. 

But if the painter were really inferior in his sense of form andexpression to his great predecessors, he was so great in one department, that in it he was held worthy, not only to found the school of Parma, but to be classed with the first four painters of Italy. 

That chiarascuro, or treatment of light and shade, in which Lionardo andAndrea Mantegna were no mean proficients, was brought to such perfectionby Correggio, that, as Mrs Jameson has sought to illustrate technicalexpressions, 'you seem to look through. Correggio's shadows, and to seebeyond them the genuine texture of the flesh. ' In undulating grace ofmotion, in melting softness of outline, fixed on a canvas, he surpassedall rivals, including Raphael; and this widely attractive quality('luscious refinement, ' Mr Ruskin terms it) in connection withCorreggio's ardent, if undisciplined sensibility, has rendered him oneof the most valued of painters; his best paintings being highly prizedand costly as the easel pictures attributed to Raphael. Sir W. StirlingMaxwell writes that an old Duke of Modena was suspected of having causedCorreggio's 'Notte' to be stolen from a church at Reggio, and that theprinces of Este were wont to carry 'The Magdalene Reading' with them ontheir journeys, while the king of Poland kept it under lock and key in aframe of jewelled silver. 

Among Correggio's masterpieces, besides his frescoes, there is at Parmahis picture called 'Day, ' from the broad flood of daylight in thepicture (and doubtless in contrast to his famous 'Notte' or 'Night, ' inthe Dresden Gallery). Here is a Virgin and Child, with St Jeromepresenting to them his translation of the Scriptures, and the Magdalenebending to kiss in adoration the feet of the infant Saviour. 

In the Dresden Gallery in addition to the 'Notte' are five pictures, oneof the marriage of St Catherine as the Church--the bride, espoused witha ring to the infant Saviour, a favourite subject of Italian painters, and a specially favourite subject with Correggio; and another, theMagdalene reading, half shrouded with her flowing hair, so well knownby engravings. I must say a few more words of the 'Notte, '--it is anativity illuminated entirely by the unearthly glory shining from theChild Christ. Virgin and Child are bathed and half lost in the fairradiance, which falls softly on a shepherd and maiden, leaving the restof the figures, the stalled beasts, and the surroundings of the stable, in dim shadow. 

In our National Gallery there are fine specimens of Correggio. There isan 'Ecce Homo': Christ crowned with thorns, holding out his bound hands, with a Roman soldier softening into pity, Pilate hardening inindifference, and the Virgin fainting with sorrow. There are also 'theVirgin with the Basket, ' so named from the little basket in front of thepicture; and 'a Holy Family;' and there is a highly-esteemed picturefrom a mythological subject, 'Mercury teaching Cupid to read in thepresence of Venus. '

We must return to the Venice of Titian, and see how his successors, withmuch more of the true painter in them than the fast degeneratingscholars of other Italian schools, were mere men, if great men, matchedwith Titian. 

Tintoretto is only Tintoretto or Tintoret because his father was a dyer, and 'Il Tintoretto' is in Italian, 'the little dyer. ' Tintoretto's realname was one more in keeping with his pretensions, Jacopo Robusti. Hewas born in Venice, in 1512, and early fore-shadowed his future careerby drawing all kinds of objects on the walls of his father's dye-house, an exercise which did not offend or dismay the elder Robusti, but, onthe contrary, induced him to put the boy into the school of Titian, where Tintoretto only remained a short time. Titian did not choose toimpart what could be imparted of his art to his scholars, and, in allprobability, Tintoretto was no deferential and submissive scholar. Thereis a tradition that Titian expelled this scholar from his academy, saying of the dyer's son, that 'he would never be anything but adauber. '

Tintoret was not to be daunted. He lived to be a bold-tempered, dashingman, and he must have been defiant, even in his boyhood, as he wasswaggering in his youth, when he set up an academy of his own, andinscribed above the door, 'The drawing of Michael Angelo and thecolouring of Titian. ' He had studied and taught himself from casts andtheories since he left the school of Titian, and then, with worldlywisdom equal to his daring, he commenced his artistic career byaccepting every commission, good or bad, and taking what pay he couldget for his work; but, unfortunately for him and for the world, heexecuted his work, as might have been expected, in the same headlong, indiscriminate spirit, acquiring the name of 'Il Furioso' from therapidity and recklessness of his manner of painting. Often he did noteven give himself the trouble of making any sketch or design of hispictures beforehand, but composed as he painted. 

Self-confident to presumption, he took for his inspirations the merestimpulses, and considerably marred the effect of his unquestionably grandgenius by gross haste and carelessness. He was a successful man in hisday, as so energetic and unscrupulous a man was likely enough to be, andhis fellow-citizens, who saw principally on the surface, [20] werecharmed beyond measure by his tremendous capacity for invention, hisdramatic vigour, his gorgeous, rampant richness and glare; or, bycontrast, his dead dulness of ornament and colouring; and were not toogreatly offended by his occasional untruthfulness in drawing andcolouring, and the inequality of his careless, slovenly, powerfulachievements. Yet even Tintoret's fascinated contemporaries said of himthat he 'used three pencils: one gold, one silver, one lead. '

Naturally Tintoretto painted an immense number of pictures, to onlythree of which, however, he appended his name. These were, 'TheCrucifixion, ' and 'The Miracle of the Slave, ' two of fifty-sevenpictures which he painted for the school of St Roch alone, in Venice;the other was the 'Marriage at Cana, ' in the church of Santa Mariadella Saluto, Venice. 

There is an authentic story told of Tintoretto in his age, which is intouching contrast to what is otherwise known of the man. Dominico, whowas a painter, Tintoret had a daughter, Marietta, very dear to him, whowas also a painter--indeed, so gifted a portrait painter, as to havebeen repeatedly invited to foreign courts to practise her art, invitations which she declined, because she would not be parted from herfather. To Tintoret's great grief, this daughter died as she was thirtyyears of age, and her father was in his seventy-eighth year. When herend was unmistakably near, the old man took brush and canvas andstruggled desperately to preserve a last impression of the belovedchild's face, over which death was casting its shadow. 

Tintoretto died four years later, in 1594. His portrait is that of a manwho holds his head high and resolutely; he has, strange to say, asomewhat commonplace face, with its massive nose, full eye, short curlybeard and hail. The forehead is not very broad, but the head is 'long, 'as Scotch people say, and they count long-headedness not only anindication of self-esteem, but of practical shrewdness. Tintoret's powerwas native, and had received little training; it is a proof of thestrength of that power that he could not quench it. His faults, as apainter, I have already had to chronicle in the sketch of the man. Hewas greatest on large canvases, where his recklessness was lost in hisstrength; and in portraits, where his quickness in seizing strikingtraits more than equalled that rapidity of conclusion in realizing, andstill more notably in classifying, character, which, to say the least, is liable to error. 

Even before Tintoretto lived sacred subjects and art had entirelychanged places. In the days of Fra Angelico and the Van Eycks, art wasthe means by which painters brought before men sacred subjects, to whosedesign painters looked with more or less of conviction and feeling. Bythe time that Tintoret painted, sacred subjects were the means by whichpainters showed their art; means, the design of which was largely lostsight of, and which might be freely tortured and twisted, falsified, well-nigh burlesqued, if, by so doing, painters could better displaytheir originality, skill, and mastery of technicalities. Sacred subjectshad become more and more human in the lower sense, and less and lessdivine. A man who had so little reverence as Tintoret showed for his ownhigher self, his fellow-men, and his art, would scarcely seem wellqualified to take up sacred subjects. But criticism is entirely andhopelessly divided on the question, for while some authorities hold thathe made of the awful scene of the Crucifixion a merely historical anddecidedly theatrical procession, other authorities maintain that hepreserved in that 'great composition' 'repose and dignity, solemnity andreverence. '

Here is M. Charles Blanc, the French art critic's opinion of Tintoret'slargest work, seventy-four feet in length and thirty feet in height: TheGlory of Paradise, in the great hall or throne-room of the Doge'sPalace:--

'If the shadows had not become so black, such a picture would have hadsomething of sublimity; but that sky, without transparency, the lightsof which, even, are of a burnt and baked colour, has rather the air of alit-up Erebus than of a Paradise. Four hundred figures are in motion inthis vast enclosure, some naked, others draped, but draped uniformly ina staring red or a hard blue, which form as many spots, in some sortsymmetrical. The manner is quick; a little loose, but confident. Themodels are neither taken from nature nor from the ideal, they are drawnfrom practice, and are in general only turns of the head, without beautyand without delicacy. The angels are agitated like demons; and thewhole--coarse enough in execution as in thought, is imposingnevertheless by mass, movement, and number. It is the striking image ofa multitude in the air, a rout in the heavens, or rather in purgatory. '

Here, again, is Mr Ruskin's unequalled estimate of Tintoret's works: 'Ishould exhaust the patience of the reader if Ion the various stupendousdevelopments of the imagination of Tintoret in the Scuola di San Roccoalone. I would fain join awhile in that solemn pause of the journey intoEgypt, where the silver boughs of the shadowy trees lace with theirtremulous lines the alternate folds of fair cloud, flushed by faintcrimson light, and lie across the streams of blue between those rosyislands like the white wakes of wandering ships; or watch beside thesleep of the disciples among those mossy leaves that lie so heavily onthe dead of the night beneath the descent of the angel of the agony, andtoss fearfully above the motion of the torches as the troop of thebetrayer emerges out of the hollows of the olives; or wait through thehour of accusing beside the judgment-seat of Pilate, where all isunseen, unfelt, except the one figure that stands with its head boweddown, pale like the pillar of moonlight, half bathed in the glory of theGodhead, half wrapt in the whiteness of the shroud. Of these and allother thoughts of indescribable power that are now fading from the wallsof those neglected chambers, I may perhaps endeavour at a future time topreserve some image and shadow more faithfully than by words; but Ishall at present terminate our series of illustrations by reference to awork of less touching, but more tremendous appeal; the Last Judgment inthe church of Santa Maria dell' Orto. '

'By Tintoret only has this unimaginable event been grappled with in itsverity; not typically, nor symbolically, but as they may see it whoshall not sleep, but be changed. Only one traditional circumstance hehas received with Dante and Michael Angelo, the Boat of the Condemned;but the impetuosity of his mind bursts out even in the adoption of thisimage; he has not stopped at the scowling ferryman of the one, nor atthe sweeping blow and demon-dragging of the other; but, seizedHylas-like by the limbs, and tearing up the earth in his agony, thevictim is dashed into his destruction; nor is it the sluggish Lethe, northe fiery lake, that bears the cursed vessel, but the oceans of theearth and the waters of the firmament gathered into one white, ghastlycataract; the river of the wrath of God, roaring down into the gulfwhere the world has melted with its fervent heat, choked with the ruinof nations, and the limbs of its corpses tossed out of its whirling likewater-wheels. Bat-like, out of the holes, and caverns, and shadows ofthe earth, the bones gather, and the clay-heaps heave, rattling andadhering into half-kneaded anatomies, that crawl, and startle, andstruggle up among the putrid weeds, with the clay clinging to theirclotted hair, and their heavy eyes sealed by the earth darkness yet, like his of old who went his way unseeing to the Siloam pool; shakingoff one by one the dreams of the prison-house, hardly hearing theclangour of the trumpets of the armies of God; blinded yet more, as theyawake, by the white light of the new heaven, until the great vortex ofthe four winds bears up their bodies to the judgment-seat; the Firmamentis all full of them, a very dust of human souls, that drifts, andfloats, and falls in the interminable, inevitable light; the brightclouds are darkened with them as with thick snow; currents of atom lifein the arteries of heaven, now soaring up slowly, and higher and higherstill, till the eye and thought can follow no farther, borne up, wingless, by their inward faith, and by the angel powers invisible, nowhurled in countless drifts of horror before the breath of theircondemnation. '

There is only one little work, of small consequence, by Tintoretto inthe National Gallery, but there are nearly a dozen in the RoyalGalleries, as Charles I. Was an admirer and buyer of 'Tintorettos. ' TwoTintorettos which belonged to King Charles I, are at Hampton Court; theone is 'Esther fainting before Ahasuerus, ' and the other the 'NineMuses. ' With another 'Esther' I have been familiar from childhood by anold engraving. In the congenial to Tintoret, and he has certainlyrevelled in the sumptuousness of the mighty Eastern tyrant, in royalmantle and ermine tippet, seated on his throne, and stretching hisjewelled sceptre to Esther, who is in the rich costume of a Venetianlady of the period, and sinking into the arms of her watchful maids, with a fair baby face, and little helpless hands, having dainty frillsround the wrists, which scarcely answer to our notion of the attributesof the magnanimous, if meek, Jewish heroine. 

Paul Cágliari of Verona is far better known as Paul Veronese. He wasborn in Verona in 1530, and was the son of a sculptor. He was taught byhis father to draw and model, but abandoned sculpture for the sister artof painting, which was more akin to his tastes, and which he followed inthe studio of an uncle who was a fair painter. 

Quitting Verona, Paul Veronese repaired to Venice, studying the works ofTitian and Tintoret, and settling in their city, finding no want ofpatronage even in a field so fully appropriated before he came to takehis place there. His first great work was the painting of the church ofSt Sebastian, with scenes from the history of Esther. Whether he chosethe subject or whether it was assigned to him, it belonged even more tohim than to Tintoret, for Veronese was the most magnificent of themagnificent Venetian painters. From that date he was kept in constantemployment by the wealthy and luxurious Venetians. He visited Rome inthe suite of the Venetian ambassador in 1563, when he was in histhirty-fourth year, and he was invited to Spain to assist in thedecoration of the Escurial by Philip II. , but refused the invitation. 

Veronese is said to have been a man of kindly spirit, generous anddevout. In painting for churches and convents, he would consent toreceive the smallest remuneration, sometimes not more than the price ofhis colours and canvas. For his fine picture now in the Louvre, the'Marriage of Cana, ' he is believed not to have had more than fortypounds in our money. He died when he was but fifty-eight years of age, in 1588. He had married and left sons who were painters, and worked withtheir father. He had a brother, Benedotto, who was also a painter, andwho is thought to have painted many of the architectural backgrounds toVeronese's pictures. 

Veronese's portrait, which he has left us, gives the idea of a moreearnest and impressionable man than Tintoret. A man in middle age, bald-headed, with a furrowed brow, cheeks a little hollowed, headslightly thrown back, and a somewhat anxious as well as intentexpression of face; what of the dress is seen, being a plain doubletwith turned-over collar, and a cloak arranged in a fold across thebreast, and hanging over the right shoulder like a shepherd's 'maud' orplaid. Looking at the engraving, and hearing of Paul Veronese'samiability and piety, one has little difficulty in thinking of themagnificent painter, as a single-hearted, simple-minded man, neithervain nor boastful, nor masterful save by the gift of genius. 

I have called Paul Veronese a magnificent painter, and magnificence isthe great attribute of his style; but before going farther into hismerits and defects, I should like to quote to you a passage from MrRuskin, the most eloquent and dogmatic of art critics, prefacing thepassage with the statement that the true lesson which it teaches isparticularly needful for women, who, if they love art at all, are apt toregard it chiefly for its sentiment, and to undervalue such properpainter's work, such breadth and affluence and glory of handling, as areto be met with on the canvases of painters like Veronese and Rubens. 'But I perceive a tendency among some of the more thoughtful critics ofthe day to forget the business of a painter is _to paint_, and soaltogether to despise those men, Veronese and Rubens for instance, whowere painters, _par excellence_, and in whom the expressional qualitiesare subordinate. Now it is well, when we have strong moral or poeticalfeeling manifested in painting, to mark this as the best part of thework; but it is not well to consider as a thing of small account thepainter's language in which that feeling is conveyed; for if thatlanguage be not good and lovely, the man may indeed be a just moralistor a great poet, but he is not a _painter_, and it was wrong of him topaint. '

It was said of Paul Veronese, that while he had not 'the brilliance anddepth of Titian' or the 'prodigious facility' of Tintoret, yet, in somerespects, Veronese surpassed both. But he was certainly deficient in asense of suitability and probability. He, of all painters, carried to anoutrageous extent the practice, which I have defended in some degree, ofpainting sacred and historical subjects as if they had happened in hisown day and city. He violated taste and even reason in painting everyscene, lofty or humble, sacred or profane, alike, with the pomp ofsplendour and richness of ornament which were the fashion of the time;but he had a vivid perception of character, and a certain greatness ofmind which redeemed his plethora of gorgeousness from monotony orvulgarity. 

Veronese is reported to have been far more correct and careful indrawing than was Tintoret, while Veronese's prodigality of colour was amellowed version of Tintoret's glare or deadness. One of Veronese's bestpictures is the 'Marriage of Cana, ' painted originally for the refectoryof the convent of San Giorgio, Venice, and now in the Louvre. 'It is notless than thirty feet long and twenty feet high, and contains about onehundred and thirty figures, life size. The Marriage Feast of theGalilean citizen is represented with a pomp worthy of "Ormuz or of Ind. "A sumptuous hall of the richest architecture; lofty columns, long linesof marble balustrades rising against the sky; a crowd of guestssplendidly attired, some wearing orders of knighthood, are seated attables covered with gorgeous vases of gold and silver, attended byslaves, jesters, pages, and musicians. In the midst of all this dazzlingpomp, this display of festive enjoyment, these moving figures, theselavish colours in glowing approximation, we begin after a while todistinguish the principal personages, our Saviour, the Virgin Mary, thetwelve Apostles, mingled with Venetian senators and ladies, clothed inthe rich costume of the sixteenth century; monks, friars, poets, artists, all portraits of personages existing in his own time; while ina group of musicians he has introduced himself and Tintoretto playingthe violoncello, while Titian plays the bass. The bride in this pictureis said to be the portrait of Eleanor of Austria, the sister of CharlesV, and second wife of Francis I. '[21]

Though Veronese is not greatly esteemed as a portrait painter, it sohappens that the highly-prized picture of his in our National Gallery, called 'The Family of Darius before Alexander, ' is understood to befamily portraits of the Pisani family in the characters of Alexander, the Persian queen, etc. , etc. Another of Veronese's pictures in theNational Gallery is 'The Consecration of St Nicholas, Bishop of Myra. '

CHAPTER VII. 

CARRACCI, 1555-1609--GUIDO RENI, 1575-1642--DOMENICHINO, 1581-1641--SALVATOR ROSA, 1615-1673. 

In the falling away of the schools of Italy, and especially of thefollowers of Michael Angelo and Raphael, into mannerism andexaggeration, fitly expressed in delineation of heathen gods andgoddesses, there arose a cluster of painters in the North of Italy whohad considerable influence on art. 

The Carracci included a group of painters, the founders of the laterBolognese School. Lodovico, the elder of the three, was born at Bologna, 1555. He was educated as a painter, and was so slow in his education, that he received from his fellow-scholars the nickname of 'Il Bue' (theox). But his perseverance surmounted every obstacle. He visited thedifferent Italian towns, and studied the works of art which contained, arriving at the conclusion that he might acquire and combine theexcellences of each. This combination, which could only be a splendidpatch-work without unity, was the great aim of his life, and was theorigin of the term _eclectic_ applied to his school. Its whole tendencywas to technical excellence, and in this tendency, however it mightachieve its end, painting showed a marked decline. As an example of themotives and objects supplied by the school, I must borrow some linesfrom a sonnet of the period written by Agostino Carracci:

 'Let him, who a good painter would be, Acquire the drawing of Rome, Venetian action, and Venetian shadow, And the dignified colouring of Lombardy, The terrible manner of Michael Angelo, Titian's truth and nature, The sovereign purity of Correggio's style, And the true symmetry of Raphael;

 * * * * *

 And a little of Parmegiano'a grace, But without so much study and toil, Let him only apply himself to imitate the works Which our Niccolino has left us here. '

Lodovico opened a school of painting at Bologna, in which he was for atime largely assisted by his cousins. He died 1619. 

Agostino Carracci, cousin of Lodovico, was born at Bologna in 1559. Hisfather was a tailor, and Agostino himself began life as a jeweller. Hebecame a painter and an engraver in turn, devoting himself chiefly toengraving. Towards the beginning of the seventeenth century he was withhis more famous brother, Annibale, at Rome, where he assisted inpainting the Farnese Gallery, designing and executing the two frescoesof Galatea and Aurora with such success, according to hiscontemporaries, that it was popularly said that 'the engraver hadsurpassed the painter in the Farnese. ' Jealousy arose between thebrothers in consequence, and they separated, not before Annibale hadperpetrated upon Agostino a small, but malicious, practical joke, whichhas been handed down to us. Agostino was fond of the society of peopleof rank, and Annibale, aware of his brother's weakness, took theopportunity, when Agostino was surrounded by some of his aristocraticfriends, to present him with a caricature of the two brothers' fatherand mother, engaged in their tailoring work. 

Agostino died at Parma when he was a little over forty, and was buriedin the cathedral there, in 1602. 

Annibale, Agostino's younger brother, was born in 1560. It was intendedby his parents that he should follow their trade and be a tailor, but hewas persuaded by his cousin Lodovico to become a painter. After visitingParma, Venice, and Bologna, he worked with his cousin and teacher forten years. Annibale was invited to Rome by the Cardinal Odoardo Farnese, to decorate the great hall of his palace in the Piazza Farnese, withscenes from the heathen mythology, for which work he received a monthlysalary of ten scudi, about two guineas, with maintenance for himself andtwo servants, and a farther gift of five hundred scudi. It was aparsimonious payment, and the parsimony is said to have preyed on themind and affected the health of Annibale, and a visit to Naples, wherehe, in common with not a few artists, suffered from the jealouspersecutions of the Neapolitan painters, completed the breaking up ofhis constitution. He painted, with the assistance of Albani, thefrescoes in the chapel of San Diego in San Giacomo degli Spagnole, andpressed upon his assistant more than half of his pay. Annibale's healthhad already given way, and after a long illness he died, when forty-nineyears of age, at Rome, 1609, and was buried near Raphael in thePantheon. 

The merit of the Carracci lay in their power of execution, and in acertain 'bold naturalism, or rather animalism, ' which they added totheir able imitations, for their pictures are not so much their own, as'After Titian, ' 'After Correggio, ' etc. In this intent regard to style, and this perfecting of means to an end, thought and in a mannerneglected. Yet to the Carracci, and their school, is owing a certainstudied air of solemnity and sadness in 'Ecce Homos, ' and 'Pietás, 'which, in proportion to its art, has a powerful effect on manybeholders, who prefer conventionality to freedom; or rather, who fail todistinguish conventionality in its traces. Annibale was the mostoriginal while the least learned of the Carracci; yet, even of Annibale, it could be said that he lacked enthusiasm in his subjects. His bestproductions are his mythological subjects in the Farnese Palace. Acelebrated picture of his, that of the 'Three Marys' (a dead Christ, theMadonna, and the two other Marys), is at Castle Howard, and has beenexhibited at Manchester, and I think also at Leeds. At Manchester itattracted the greatest attention and admiration. I believe this was notonly because Annibale Carracci in the 'Three Marys' does attain to amost piteous mournfulness of sentiment, but because such work as that ofthe Carracci finds readiest acceptance from a general public, whichdelights in striking, superficial effects. The same reason, inconjunction with the decline of Italian art, may account for the greatnumber of the Carracci school and followers. 

Annibale Carracci was one of the first who practised landscape paintingand genre pictures, such as 'The Greedy Eater, ' as separate branches ofart. Two of Annibale's landscapes are in the National Gallery. 

Guido Reni, commonly called 'Guido, ' was born at Bologna, 1575. Hisfather was a musician, and Guido was intended for the same calling, butfinally became a painter and student in the school of the Carracci. Hefollowed Annibale Carracci to Rome, and dwelt there for twenty years. Heobtained great repute and favour, but taking offence at some supposedinjustice, he left Rome, and settled at last in Bologna, where heestablished a large school. Though he made great sums of money, whichmight have enabled him to live in the splendour which he coveted, onaccount of his addiction to gambling and his grossly extravagant habits, he was constantly in debt, and driven to tax his genius to the utmost, and to sell its fruits for what they would bring, irrespective of whathe owed to himself, his art, and to the giver of all good gifts. He diedat Bologna, and was buried with much pomp in the church of San Dominico, 1642. 

Of Guido we hear that he had three styles: the first, after the vigorousmanner of Michael Angelo; the second, in the prevailing ornamental tasteof the Rome of his day and the Carracci. This is considered Guido's beststyle, and is distinguished by its subtle management of light and shade. His third, which is called his 'silvery style, ' from its greys, degenerated into insipidity, with little wonder, seeing that at thisstage he sold his time at so much per hour to picture-dealers, who stoodover him, watch in hand, to see that he fulfilled his bargain, andcarried away the saints he manufactured wet from the easel. Suchmanufactory took him only three hours, sometimes less. His charges hadrisen from five guineas for a head, and twenty guineas for a wholefigure, to twenty times that amount. He painted few portraits, but many'fancy' heads of saints. Nearly three hundred pictures by Guido arebelieved to be in existence. Guido's individual distinction was hisrefined sense of beauty, but it was over-ruled by 'cold calculation, 'and developed into a mere abstract conception of 'empty grace' withoutheart or soul. 

His finest work is the large painting of 'Phoebus and Aurora' in apavilion of the Rospigliosi Palace at Rome. In our National Gallerythere are nine specimens of Guido's works, including one of his best'Ecce Homos, ' which belonged to the collection of Samuel Rogers. 

Domenico Zampieri, commonly called Domenichino, was another Bolognesepainter, and another eminent scholar of the Carracci. He was born in1581, and, after studying under a Flemish painter, passed into theschool of the Carracci. While yet a very young man, Domenichino wasinvited to Rome, where he soon earned a high reputation, competingsuccessfully with his former fellow-scholar, Guido. Domenichino's'Flagellation of St Andrew, ' and 'Communion of St Jerome, ' in payment ofwhich he only received about five guineas; his 'Martyrdom of StSebastian, ' and his 'Four Evangelists, ' which are among hismasterpieces, were all painted in Rome, and remain in Rome. 

Domenichino is said to have excited the extreme hostility of rivalpainters, and to have suffered especially from the malice of theNeapolitans, when he was invited to work among them. After a cruelstruggle Domenichino died in Naples, not without a horrible suspicion ofhaving being poisoned, at the age of sixty, in 1641. One of hisenemies--a Roman on this occasion--destroyed what was left ofDomenichino's work in Naples. 

The painter's fate was a miserable one, and by a coincidence between hisfortune and his taste in subjects, he has identified his name withterrible representations of martyrdoms. Kugler writes that martyrdom asa subject for painting, which had been sparingly used by Raphael and hisscholars, had come into fashion in Domenichino's time, for 'painters andpoets sought for passionate emotion, and these subjects (martyrdoms)supplied them with plentiful food. ' Sensationalism is the florid hecticof art's decay, whether in painting or in literature. 

Domenichino is accredited with more taste than fancy. He made free useof the compositions of even contemporary artists, while heindividualized these compositions. His good and bad qualities are thoseof his school, already quoted, and perhaps it is in keeping with thesequalities that the excellence of Domenichino's works lies in subordinateparts and subordinate characters. There are examples of Domenichino inthe National Gallery. 

I shall close my long list of the great Italian painters of the pastwith one who was quite apart from and opposed to the Carracci school, and whose triumphs and failures were essentially his own. Salvator Rosa, born in 1615 near Naples, was the son of an architect. In opposition tohis father Salvator Rosa became a painter. Having succeeded in sellinghis sketches to a celebrated buyer, the bold young Neapolitan startedfor Rome at the age of twenty years; and Rome, 'the Jerusalem ofPainters, ' became thenceforth Salvator Rosa's head-quarters, though thecharacter of the man was such as to force him to change his quarters notonce or twice only in his life, and thus he stayed some time, in turn, at Naples, Viterbo, Volterra, and Florence. At Volterra the aggressivenature of the painter broke forth in a series of written satires on amedley of subjects--music, poetry (both of which Salvator himselfcultivated), painting, war, Babylon, and envy. These incongruous satiresexcited the violent indignation of the individuals against whomSalvator's wit was aimed, and their efforts at revenge, together withhis own turbulent spirit, drove him from place to place. 

Salvator Rosa was at Naples 1647, and took part in the riots, so famousin song and story, which made Masaniello, the young fisherman, for atime Captain-General and Master of Naples, when it was, according tolaw, a Spanish dependency governed by a viceroy. Salvator was in theCompagnia della Morte commanded by Falcone, a battle painter, during thetroubles, a wild enough post to please the wild painter, even had he notbeen in addition a personal adherent of the ruling spirit Masaniello, whom Salvator Rosa painted more than once. After so eventful a life, the painter died peaceably enough in his fifty-ninth year, of dropsy, atRome, and left a considerable fortune to his only son. 

Salvator Rosa was the incarnation of the arrogant, fickle, fierceNeapolitan spirit, and he carried it out sufficiently in anundisciplined, stormy life, without the addition of the popular legendthat he had at one time joined a troop of banditti, and indulged intheir excesses. The legend seems to have a familiarity with mountainpasses, and his love of peopling them appropriately with banditti inaction. Salvator Rosa was a dashing battle painter, a mediocrehistorical painter, and an excellent portrait painter as well aslandscape painter. But it is chiefly by the savage grandeur of hismountain or forest landscapes, with their fitting _dramatis personæ_, that he has won his renown. Mr Ruskin, while he allows Salvator's giftof imagination, denounces him for the reckless carelessness anduntruthfulness to nature of his painting. Many of Salvator Rosa'spictures are in the Pitti Palace in Florence, and many are in England. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

RUBENS, 1577-1640--REMBRANDT, 1606 OR 1608-1669--TENIERS, FATHER ANDSON, 1582-1694--WOUVERMAN, 1620-1668--CUYP, 1605; STILL LIVING, 1638--PAUL POTTER, 1625-1654--CORNELIUS DE HEEM, 1630. 

A long interval elapsed between the Van Eycks and Quintin Matsys, andRubens; but if Flemish art was slow of growth and was only developedafter long pauses, it made up for its slowness and delays by the burstof triumph into which Flemish and Dutch art broke forth in Rubens andhis school, in Rembrandt and Cuyp and Ruysdael. 

Peter Paul Rubens was born at Siegen in Westphalia, on the day of StPeter and St Paul, 1577. But though Rubens was born out of Antwerp, hewas a citizen of Antwerp by descent as well as by so many laterassociations. His father, John Rubens, a lawyer, an imprudent, thriftless man in character and habits, had been compelled to leaveAntwerp in consequence of religious disturbances which broke out thereabout the time that the northern provinces, more at one and more decidedin their union than the southern provinces, established theirindependence. Rubens spent his early boyhood at Cologne, but on thedeath of his father when he was ten years of age, his mother, a good and'discreet' woman, to whom the painter owed much, and confessed his debt, returned with her family to Antwerp. His mother had destined him for hisfather's profession, but did not oppose her son's preference for art. 

After studying under two different artists, and becoming a master in theguild of St Luke, Rubens went to Italy in 1600, when he was a young manof three-and-twenty years of age. He was eight years absent, enteringthe service of the ducal sovereign of Mantua, being sent by him on adiplomatic mission to Madrid to Philip III, of Spain, visiting on hisown account Rome, where he found the Carracci and Guido[22] at theheight of their fame, Venice and Genoa, 'leaving portraits where hewent. '

With Genoa, its architecture, and its situation, Rubens was speciallycharmed, but he quitted it in haste, being summoned home to attend thedeath-bed of his mother, from whom he had parted eight years before; andarriving too late to see her in life. A man of strong feelings in sorrowas in joy, he withdrew into retirement, and resided for his season ofmourning in a religious house. 

Loving Italy with a painter's enthusiasm, so that to the latest day ofhis life he generally wrote in Italian, and loved to sign his name'Pietro Paolo Rubens, ' he had intended to return and settle in Mantua, but having been named court painter to the Governess of the Netherlands, Clara Eugenia, and her husband Albert, Rubens had sufficient patriotismand sufficient worldly foresight to induce him to relinquish his idea, and establish himself in his native Antwerp. He was already a man ofeminence in his profession, and a man of mark out of it. Go where hewould he made friends, and he so recommended himself to his royalpatrons by his natural suavity, tact, and sagacity, that he was not onlyin the utmost favour with them as a right courtly painter, but wasemployed by them, once and again, on delicate, difficult, privateembassies. But it was not only to his patrons that Rubens was endeared, he was emphatically what men call 'a good fellow, ' alike to superiors, equals, and inferiors; a frank, honest, bountiful, and generous man. Hislove of courts and their splendour was the chivalrous homage which a manof his cast of mind paid to the dignity and picturesqueness of highestate. 

He married a year after his mother's death, when he was in histhirty-third year. His first wife, Isabella Brant, was a connection ofhis own (and so was his second wife). He built and painted, in fresco, afine house in Antwerp, and laid out a pleasant garden, which contained arotunda, filled with his collection of pictures by the Italian masters, antique gems, etc. Etc. , already gathered abroad. He set himself to keephouse in a liberal fashion, to dispense benefits, and to entertainfriends--above all, to paint with might and main in company with hisgreat school, the members of which, like those of Raphael's school whereRaphael was concerned, were, for the most part, Rubens' devotedcomrades. Counting his work not only as the great object, but the greatzest of his life, never did painter receive such sweeping andaccumulating commissions, and never, even by Tintoret, were commissionsexecuted with such undaunted, unhesitating expedition. 

Withal Rubens frequently left his studio and went abroad, either to actas an unofficial ambassador, or to paint at the special request of someforeign sovereign. Thus he was residing in Paris in 1620, planning forMarie de Medici the series of remarkable pictures which commemorated hermarriage with Henry IV. (When I was a little girl, I went occasionallyto a country house, the show place of the neighbourhood, where therewere copies of this series of Rubens' pictures. I can remember yetlooking at them with utter bewilderment, caused by the dubious tastethat impelled Rubens to indulge in the oddest mixture of royalpersonages, high church dignitaries, patron saints, and gods andgoddesses. ) In 1628 Rubens was in Spain on a mission from his sovereignto her kinsman, Philip IV. ; in the following year he was in England, ona service of a similar description to Charles I. , from whom, even asRubens had already received it from King Philip, the painter had thehonour of knighthood. 

In the mean time Rubens' first wife died, after a union of seventeenyears, in 1626; and four years later, in 1630, the painter, when he wasa man of fifty years, re-married another connection of his own, HelenaFourment, a girl only in her sixteenth year. Both of his wives werehandsome, fair, full-formed Flemish beauties. Elizabeth (in Spanish, Isabella) Brant's beauty was of a finer order than that of hersuccessor, expressing larger capacity of affection and intellect. But onHelena Fourment Rubens doted, while to both women he seems to have beenaffectionately attached. He has painted them so often, that the face ofno painter's wife is so familiar to the art world, and even to thegreater world without, as are the faces of these two women, and aboveall, that of Helena Fourment. He had seven children, who frequentlyfigure in their mothers' portraits. He has left notable portraits of histwo sons by his first wife, of his eldest daughter, Clara Eugenia, wheneight years of age, and of his daughter Elizabeth, a buxom baby, dressedin velvet and point lace, playing with toys. 

After a life of unbroken success and the highest honours, the lastdistinction conferred on Rubens was, that he was chosen to arrange thegala, and to be the right-hand man who should conduct the CardinalInfant, the successor of Clara Eugenia, on his first entrance intoAntwerp. But the hand of premature disease and death, which not even hecould resist, was already on the great painter; his constitution hadbeen undermined by repeated attacks of gout, and he died at the age ofsixty years, in 1640. He was the possessor of great wealth at the timeof his death, and only a part of his collection, which was then sold, brought so large a sum in those days, as twenty thousand pounds. Rubens'second wife, Helena Fourment, to whom he had been married ten years, survived him, a widow at twenty-six years of age Rubens' portrait iseven better known than those of his wives, for, as I have said ofRaphael in his popularity, Rubens in his life is the beau-ideal of apainter to the many. The portrait is worthy of the man, with somethinggallant in the manliness, and with thought tempering what might havebeen too much of bravado and too much of débonnaireté in the traits. Hisfeatures are handsome in their Flemish fulness, and match well withhazel eyes, chestnut hair, and a ruddy complexion; his long moustache isturned up, and he wears the pointed beard which we see so often in theportraits by Rubens' scholar, Van Dyck. The great flapping hat, wornalike by men and women, slightly cocked to one side, is the perfectionof picturesque head gear. Equally picturesque, and not in the slightestdegree effeminate on a man like Rubens, is the falling collar of pointedmechlin, just seen above the cloak draped in large folds. 

In his own day Rubens was without a rival as a painter. In a much laterday Sir Joshua Reynolds pronounced Rubens 'perhaps the greatest masterin the mechanical part of the art, _the best workman with his tools_that ever exercised a pencil. ' His consummate excellence lay in hisexecution and colouring. It is brought as a reproach against hispainting, that his noblest characters, even his sacred characters, werebut big, brawny, red and white Flemings. His imagination only reached acertain height, and yet, if it were a very earthly Flemish imagination, it could be grandly, as it was always vigorously, earthly and Flemish. At the same time he could be deficient where proportion, and even whereall the laws of art, are concerned. 

It is right that I should, with regret and shame, say this of Rubens, whose geniality bordered on joviality, and whose age was a grosser agethan our own, that he debased his genius by some foul and revoltingpictures. 

Of the general distinction between Rubens and some of his predecessors Ishould like to quote Mr Ruskin's passage in his defence:

 'A man long trained to love the monk's vision of Fra Angelico, turns in proud and ineffable disgust from the first work of Rubens, which he encounters on his return across the Alps. But is he right in his indignation? He has forgotten that, while Angelico prayed and wept in his _olive shade_, there was different work doing in the dank fields of Flanders:--wild seas to be banked out; endless canals to be dug, and boundless marshes to be drained; hard ploughing and harrowing of the frosty clay; careful breeding of the stout horses and cattle; close setting of brick-walls against cold winds and snow; much hardening of hands, and gross stoutening of bodies in all this; gross jovialities of harvest homes, and Christmas feasts, which were to be the reward of it; rough affections, and sluggish imaginations; fleshy, substantial, iron-shod humanities, but humanities still, --humanities which God had his eye upon, and which won perhaps, here and there, as much favour in His sight as the wasted aspects of the whispering monks of Florence (Heaven forbid that it should not be so, since the most of us cannot be monks, but must be ploughmen and reapers still). And are we to suppose there is no nobility in Rubens' masculine and universal sympathy with all this, and with his large human rendering of it, gentleman though he was by birth, and feeling, and education, and place, and, when he chose, lordly in conception also? He had his faults--perhaps great and lamentable faults, --though more those of his time and his country than his own; he has neither cloister-breeding nor boudoir-breeding, and is very unfit to paint either in missals or annuals; but he has an open sky and wide-world breeding in him that we may not be offended with, fit alike for king's court, knight's camp, or peasants cottage. '

Rubens' works are very many, nearly four thousand pictures and sketchesbeing attributed to him and his scholars. Many are still at Antwerp, many at Madrid, but most are at Munich, where, in one great saloon andcabinet, there are ninety-five pictures by Rubens. In England, atBlenheim, there are fifteen pictures by Rubens, as the great Duchess ofMarlborough would give any price for his works. I can only indicate avery few examples in the different branches of art which he made hisown. 

First, of his 'Descent from the Cross:' it is a single large group, distinguished by luminous colouring and correct drawing, and with regardto which the mass of white sheet against which the body of Christ is inrelief in the picture, has been regarded as a bold artistic venture. Anenthusiastic admirer has called it 'a most wonderful monument of thedaring genius of the painter. The grandest picture in the world forcomposition, drawing, and colouring. ' Its defects are held to be 'thebustle of the incidents and the dreadfully true delineation of merelyphysical agony--too terrible, real, picturesque, but not sublime--- anearthly tragedy, not a divine mystery. '

 'Remit the anguish of that lighted stare; Close those wan lips! let that thorn-wounded brow Stream not with blood. '

There is a tradition that an accident happened to the picture whileRubens was painting it, and that Van Dyck remedied the accident byre-painting the cheek and chin of the Virgin and the arm of theMagdalene. 

With regard to another picture of Rubens at Antwerp, 'The Assumption ofthe Virgin, ' it is said that he painted it in sixteen days, for sixteenhundred florins, his usual terms being a hundred florins a-day. 

'The Virgin and Serpent' (from the 12th chapter of Revelation) in theMunich gallery is very splendid. The Virgin with the new-born Saviour inher arms is mounting on the wings of an eagle, surrounded by a flood oflight. The serpent, encircling the moon on which she stands, is writhingbeneath her feet. God the Father is extending his protecting sceptreover her from above. The archangel, clothed in armour, is in fearfulcombat with the seven-headed dragon, which is endeavouring to devour thechild. Although struck by lightning, the dragon is striving to twist histail round the legs of the angel, and seizes the cloak of the Virginwith one of his hands. Other infernal monsters are writhing withimpotent rage, and falling with the dragon into the abyss. '

'Nothing was more characteristic of Rubens than his choice of subjectsfrom the mythology of the Greeks and the works of the ancient poets; andin nothing did he display more freedom, originality, and poetry. ' Amonghis most famous mythological pictures is the 'Battle of the Amazons, 'now at Munich. 'The women are driven back by the Greeks over the riverThermodon; two horses are in savage combat on the bridge; one Amazon istorn from her horse; a second is dragged along by a sable steed, andfalling headlong into the river, where others are swimming andstruggling. No other battle-piece, save that of the Amazons, can comparewith Raphael's "Battle of Constantine. "'

Another great picture is The 'Carrying off of Proserpine. ' 'Pluto in hiscar is driven by fiery brown steeds, and is bearing away the goddess, resisting and struggling. The picture absolutely glows with genial fire. The forms in it are more slender than is general with Rubens. Among thecompanions of Proserpine the figure of Diana is conspicuous for graceand beauty. The victorious god of love hovers before the chariot, andthe blue ocean, warmly tinted with the sunbeams, forms a splendidback-ground. '[23]

Rubens was famous for the loveliness and grace of his paintings ofchildren. Perhaps the most beautiful is that of 'The Infant Jesus andJohn playing with a Lamb. '

Rubens was a great animal painter. One of his celebrated animal picturesis 'Daniel in the Lions' Den, ' now at Hamilton Palace, in which eachlion is a king of beasts checked in his fiercest have been painted byRubens in a fit of pique at a false report which had been circulatedthat he could not paint animals, and that those in his pictures weresupplied by the animal-painter, his friend and scholar, Schneyders. 

Rubens' landscapes are not the least renowned of his pictures. He gaveto his own rich but prosaic Flanders, all the breadth and breeziness andmatchless aerial effects of a master of painting, and a true lover ofnature under every aspect, who can indeed distinguish, under the mostordinary aspect, those hidden treasures which all but a lover and a manof genius would pass by. His 'Prairie of Laacken, ' 'with the sun ofFlanders piercing the dense yellow clouds with the force of fire, ' is ofgreat repute. 

Among his famous portraits I shall mention that called 'The FourPhilosophers' (Justus Lepsius, Hugo Grotius, Rubens, and his brother), with peaked beards and moustaches, in turned-over collars, ruffs andfur-trimmed robes, having books and pens, a dog, and a classic bust asaccessories. The open pillared door is wreathed with a spray fromwithout, and there is a landscape in the background. This portrait isfull of power, freedom, and splendid painting. 

Another portrait contains that sweetest of Rubens' not often sweetfaces, called 'the Lady in the Straw Hat. ' Rubens himself did not namethe picture otherwise in his catalogue. Tradition says the original wasMdlle Lundens, the beauty of the seventeen provinces, and that she diedyoung and unmarried. Connoisseurs value the picture because of thetriumph of skill by which Rubens has painted brilliantly a face so muchin the shade; to those who are not connoisseurs I imagine the picturemust speak for itself, in its graceful, tender beauty. Forming part ofthe collection of the late Sir Robert Peel (I think he gave threethousand pounds for 'the Lady in the Straw Hat'), which has been boughtfor the country, this beautiful portrait is now in the National Gallery. 

And now I must speak of the picture of the Arundel Family. But first, aword about Thomas, Earl of Arundel. It is impossible to write an Englishwork on art and omit a brief account of one of England's greatest artbenefactors. Thomas, Earl of Arundel, representing in his day the greathouse of Howard, had a love of art which approached to a mania; andwithout being so outrageously vain as Sir Kenelm Digby, there is nodoubt that the Earl counted on his art collection as a source ofpersonal distinction. James I. , himself an art collector, so farhumoured the Earl in his taste as to present him with Lord Somerset'sforfeited collection, valued at a thousand pounds. But Charles I, andthe Earl became rival collectors, and little love was lost between them. The Earl of Arundel impairing even his great revenues in the pursuit, employed agents and ambassadors--notably Petty and Evelyn--all overEurope, to obtain for him drawings, pictures, ancient marbles, gems, etc. , etc. When the civil wars broke out, Lord Arundel conveyed hispriceless collection for safety to Antwerp and Padua. Eventually it wasdivided among his sons and scattered far and wide. The only portion ofit which fell to the nation, in the course of another generation, wasthe Greek Marbles, known as the Arundel Marbles, which were finallypresented to the University of Oxford. But in Rubens' day all this grandcollection was intact, and displayed in galleries at Arundel House, which the mob thought fit to nickname 'Tart Hall;' and through thesegalleries Rubens was conducted by the Earl. 

Lord Arundel desired to have an Arundel family portrait painted for himby Rubens. The Earl was rather given to having Arundel family portraits, for there are no less than three in which he figures. One by Van Somer, in which the hero is pointing somewhat comically with his truncheon tothe statues of his collection in the background, and the last oneprojected by Van Dyck, but executed by an inferior artist, in whichvarious family pieces of armour, swords, and shields, worn at Flodden, or belonging to the poet Earl of Surrey, are introduced in the hands ofthe sons of the family. 

But it is with Rubens' 'Arundel Family, ' which, we must remember, rankssecond in English family pictures, that we have to do. Thomas, Earl ofArundel, and the Lady Alathea, [24] are under a portico with twistedcolumns, like those in Raphael's cartoons; a rich curtain, and alandscape with a large mansion are seen beyond. The Countess is seatedin a chair of state, with one hand on the head of a white greyhound; shewears a black satin gown, laced ruff, gold bracelets, and pearlnecklace. Her hair is light, and decked with pearls and plumes. The Earlstands behind with a hand on her chair. His head is uncovered, the shorthair inclining to grey; the whiskers and beard pointed. His vest isolive-coloured, and he has a brown mantle lined with crimson over theshoulders beneath his ruff. There is a little boy--Earl Thomas'sgrandson, Philip Howard, afterwards Cardinal Howard, in crimson velvet, trimmed with gold lace, and a dwarf on the other side of the dog, withone hand on its back. 

Among other masterpieces of Rubens, including the 'Straw Hat, ' whichare in the National Gallery, there are the 'Rape of the Sabines, ' andthe landscape 'Autumn, ' which has a view of his country château, deStein, near Mechlin. In Dulwich Gallery there is an interesting portraitby Rubens of an elderly lady in a great Spanish ruff, which is believedto be the portrait of his mother. 

Rembrandt Van Rhyn is said to have been born near Leyden about 1606 or1608, for there is a doubt as to the exact date. His father was a milleror maltster, and there is a theory that Rembrandt acquired some of hiseffects of light and shade from the impressions made upon him during hislife in the mill. He was a pupil at the Latin school of Leyden, and ascholar in studios both at Leyden and Amsterdam. 

In 1630, when Rembrandt was a mere lad, he seems to have settled inAmsterdam, and married there in 1634, when he was six or eight andtwenty years of age, a young Dutchwoman possessed of a considerablefortune, which, in case of her death and of Rembrandt's re-marriage, wasto pass to her children, a provision that in the end wrought Rembrandt'sruin. The troubles of his country in the painter's time rendered hisprices comparatively small and precarious, and Rembrandt, like Rubens, without Rubens' wealth, was eager in making an art collection andsurrounding himself with those very forms of beauty in the great Italianmasters' works, in the appreciation of which the Dutch master--judged byhis own works--might have been reckoned deficient. 

Rembrandt's wife died after eight years of marriage, and left him withone surviving son, Titus, and Rembrandt, having re-married, was calledupon to give up the lad's inheritance. This call, together with theexpenditure of the sums which Rembrandt had lavished on his collection, was too heavy upon funds never very ample, and the painter, afterstruggling with his difficulties, became a bankrupt in 1656. His sontook possession of Rembrandt's house, and from the sale of thepainter's art collection and other resources eventually recovered hismother's fortune, but Rembrandt himself never rose above the misery, degradation, and poverty of this period. He lived thirteen years longer, but it was in obscurity--out of which the only records which reach us, are stories of miserly habits acquired too late to serve their purpose, a desperate resort to low company dating from his first wife's death, and his gradual downfall. 

Rubens and Rembrandt have been sometimes contrasted as the painters oflight and of darkness; the contrast extended to their lives. 

It will read like a humorous anti-climax after so sad a history, when Iadd that no other painter painted his own likeness so often as Rembrandtpainted his. In the engraving before me the face is heavy andstolid-seeming enough to be that of a typical Dutchman. The eye-browsare slightly knit over the broad nose; the full lips are scantily shadedby a moustache; there is no hair on the well-fleshed cheeks and doublechin. Rembrandt wears a flat cap and ear-rings. He has two rows of achain across his doublet, and one hand thrust beneath the cloak hangingacross his breast. 

Rembrandt's great merits were his strong truthfulness, and his almostequally powerful sense of a peculiar kind of picturesqueness. It seemsas if the German weirdness perceptible in Albrecht Dürer had inRembrandt taken a homelier, but a more comprehensible and effectiveDutch form. Kugler argues, that the long winter, with its short darkdays, of Northern Europe produces in its inhabitants instinctive delightin hearth-warmth and light, and that the pleasure in looking atRembrandt's pictures is traceable to this influence. It is in scenes byfire-light, camp-light, torch-light, that he triumphs, and his somewhatgrim but very real romance owes its origin to the endless suggestions ofthe deep black shadows which belong to these artificial lights. There isthis objection to be urged to the theory, that Rembrandt was also a goodpainter of his own flat Dutch landscape, painting it, however, ratherunder the sombre dimness of clouds and tempests than in the brightnessof sunshine. But whatever its source, there is a charm so widely felt inthat wonderfully perfect surrounding of uncertainty, suspicion, andalarm, with which Rembrandt has encompassed so many of his otherwiseprosaic, coarse, and sometimes vulgar Dutch men and women, that we havecoined a new word to express the charm, and speak of groups andincidents being _Rembrandtesque_, as we speak of their beingpicturesque. 

Rembrandt did not always leave the vague thrill of doubt, terror, oreven horror, which he sought to produce, to imagination working in themysterious depths of his shadows. A very famous picture of his is 'DrDeeman (an anatomist) demonstrating from a dead subject. ' In anotherpicture a man stealing from the gloom is in the act of stabbing in theback the unconscious man in the foreground. [25] Rembrandt's originalityis as undoubted as his ability, and he was as great in etching as inpainting. His defect as a painter was the frequent absence of anyevidence in his work of a sense of refinement, grace, or even beauty;this can be said of him who spent means not his own on gatheringtogether images of beauty and grace produced by the pencils and brushesof others. Many of Rembrandt's pictures are in the galleries ofAmsterdam and the Hague, and we have many in London. The NationalGallery has several examples, including two of Rembrandt's portraits. 

Passing over Van Dyck, whom I reserve, as I have reserved Holbein, toclass among the foreign painters resident in or closely connected withEngland, I come to the Teniers--father and son. David the elder was bornat Antwerp in 1582, and David the younger also at Antwerp, in 1610. David the younger is decidedly the more eminent painter, though theworks of the father are often mistaken for those of the son. The twoTeniers' class of subjects was the same, being ordinarily 'fairs, markets, peasants' merry-makings, beer-houses, guard rooms. '

David the younger had great popularity, was court painter to theArchduke of Austria, and earned such an independence, that he bought forhimself a château at the village of Perck, not very far from the Châteaude Stein of Rubens, with whom David Teniers was on terms of friendlyintimacy. There Teniers, like his great associate, lived in the utmoststate and bounty, entertaining the noblest of the land. David Teniersmarried twice, his first wife being the daughter of one of a family ofFlemish painters, who were known, according to their respectiveproclivities in art, by the names of Peasant Breughel, Velvet Breughel, and Hell Breughel. Teniers had many children. 

The elder Teniers died at Antwerp in 1649; the younger died at Brussels, and was buried at Perck, in 1694. 

The distinction of the Teniers was the extreme fidelity and clevernesswith which they copied (but did not explain) the life they knew--thehomeliest, humblest aspect of life. They brought out with marvellousaccuracy all its traits, except, indeed, the underlying strain ofpoetry, which, while it redeems plainness, sordidness, and evencoarseness, is as true to life as is its veriest prose. With those whoask a literal copy of life, whether high or low, and ask no more, theTeniers and their school must always be in the highest favour; and tothose who are wearied and sceptical of blunders and failures in seekingthat underlying strain of life, the mere rugged genuineness of theTeniers' work recommends itself, and is not without its own pathos;while to very many superficial observers the simple homeliness of thelife which the Teniers chose to represent, prevents the observers frommissing what should be present in every life. Men and women are onlyconscious of the defect when the painters wander, now and then, intohigher spheres and into sacred subjects, and there is the unavoidablerecoil from gross blindness. I have taken the Teniers as therepresentatives of a numerous school of Flemish and Dutch artists, whoseworks abound in this country. David Teniers the younger appears at hisbest, several times, in Dulwich Gallery and the National Gallery. 

Philip Wouverman was born at Haarlem in 1620. He was the son of apainter, able, but unrecognized in his own day. Philip Wouverman foundfew patrons, disposed of his pictures by hard bargains to dealers, wastempted by his want of success to abjure his art, and even went so far, according to tradition, as to burn his studies and sketches, in order toprevent his son pursuing the career which had been to him a career ofbitter disappointment. He died at Haarlem, 1668, when he was no morethan forty-eight years of age. Yet some nine hundred paintings bear(many of them falsely) Wouverman's name. 

With all the truth and excellent execution of his contemporaries andcountrymen', Philip Wouverman, who had, as he thought, missed his mark, had something which those successful men lacked--he had not only afeeling for grace, but a touch of sentiment. His scenes are commonly'road-side inns, hunts, fights;' but along with an inclination to adopta higher class of actors--knights and ladies, instead of peasants--thereis a more refined treatment and a dash of tenderness and melancholy--thelast possibly born of his own disastrous fortunes. In his love of horsesand dogs, as adjuncts to his groups, he had as great a fondness for aspecial white horse, as Paul Potter had for black and white cattle. 

Albert Cuyp was born at Dort in 1605. He was a brewer by trade, and onlypainted as an amateur. In spite of this, he was a great landscapepainter, and has given delight to thousands by his power of expressinghis own love of nature. Little is known of Cuyp's life, and the date ofhis death is uncertain, farther than it was later than 1638. 

In affected enthusiasm, Cuyp has been called the Dutch Claude, but inreality, Cuyp surpassed, Claude in some respects. The distinction, whichMr Ruskin draws between them, is that, while Claude, in the sense ofbeauty, is the superior to Cuyp, in the sense of truth Claude is theinferior. Besides Cuyp's landscapes, he painted portraits, and what iscalled 'still life' (dead game, fruit or flower pieces, etc. ), but Cuyp'striumph was found in his skies, with their 'clearness and coolness, ' andin 'expressions of yellow sunlight. ' Mr Ruskin admits, while he isproceeding to censure Cuyp, parts might be chosen out of the goodpictures of Cuyp which have never been equalled in art. ' On anotheroccasion, Mr Ruskin has this passage full of dry humour in reference toCuyp:

'Again, look at the large Cuyp in Dulwich Gallery, which Mr Hazlittconsiders "finest in the world, " and of which he very complimentarilysays, "the tender green of the valleys, the gleaming lake, the purplelight of the hills" have an effect ought to have apologized before nowfor not having studied sufficiently in Covent Garden to be provided withterms of correct and classical criticism. One of my friends begged me toobserve, the other day, that Claude was "pulpy;" another added the yetmore gratifying information that he was "juicy;" and it is now happilydiscovered that Cuyp is "downy. " Now I dare say that the sky of thisfirst-rate Cuyp is very like an unripe nectarine: all that I have to sayabout it is, that it is exceedingly unlike a sky. We may see forourselves Cuyp's lovely landscapes both in the National Gallery and atDulwich. 

Paul Potter was born at Enkhuysen, in North Holland, in 1625, and wasthe son of a painter. Paul Potter settled, while still very young, atthe Hague as an animal painter, and died in his thirtieth year, in 1654. His career, which was thus brief, had promised to be very successful, and he had established his fame, while no more than twenty-two years ofage, by painting for Prince Maurice of Nassau that which continues hismost renowned, though probably not his best picture, his 'Young Bull, 'for some time in the Louvre, now restored to the painter's nativecountry, and placed in the Museum at the Hague. This picture isconsidered nearly faultless as a vigorous, if somewhat coarse, representation of animal life in the main figure; but Paul Potter'slater pictures, especially his smaller pictures of pastures with cattlefeeding, having fine colouring and fine treatment of light, are nowregarded as equally good in their essential excellences, and of widerscope. Paul Potter etched as well as painted. There is no example ofPaul Potter in the National Gallery. 

Jan David de Heem[26] and his son Cornelius, the father born in 1603, the son in 1630, and Maria Von Oesterwyck, the elder man's pupil, wereeminent Flemish and Dutch flower and fruit painters. The gorgeous bloomand mellow ripeness in some of the flower and fruit pieces of Flemishand Dutch painters, like those I have mentioned, are beyond description. I would have you look at them for yourselves, where they are wellrepresented, in the Dulwich Gallery; I would have you notice also how, as travellers declare of the splendour of tropical flowers, that theyare deficient in the tender sweetness and grace of our more sober-tintedand less lavishly-blossoming English flowers; so these Flemish and Dutchfull blown flower pieces have not a trace of the sentiment which modernflower painters cannot help seeking, with good result or bad result, tointroduce into every tuft of primroses or of violets, if not into everycluster of grapes and bunch of cherries. 

From a fact which I have already mentioned, that so many Flemish andDutch pictures, which we may often come across, are in England, I amsorry that my space will not suffer me to give a few special words toother famous painters of these schools or school, for they merge intoone, to Snyders, Jan Steen, Gerard Dow, Ruysdael, Hobbema, Van de Velde, etc. , etc. 

CHAPTER IX. 

SPANISH ART--VELASQUEZ, 1599-1660--MURILLO, 1618-1682. 

Spanish art, from its dawn to the time of Velasquez, had been of a'severely devotional character, ' austere and formal; and although oneman did not work a revolution by his independent example, he didsomething to humanize and widen art. In the rich city of Seville in1599, Diego Rodriguez, de Silva y Velasquez, --and not, as he isincorrectly called, Diego Velasquez de Silva, was born, and, accordingto an Andalusian fashion, took his mother's name of Velasquez, while hisfather was of the Portuguese house de Silva. Velasquez was gently born, though his father was in no higher position than that of a lawyer inSeville. 

The painter was well educated, though, according to his Englishbiographer (Sir W. Stirling Maxwell), 'he was still more diligent indrawing on his grammars and copybooks than in turning them to theirlegitimate use. ' The lad's evident bent induced his father to painter. He studied in two different Spanish studios, and married the daughter ofhis second master, whom the talents, assiduity, and good qualities ofVelasquez had already strongly attached to the young painter. 

From the first, Velasquez struck out what was then a new line in Spanishart. He gave himself up to the materialistic studies, to which theFlemish and Dutch painters were prone, painting diligently 'still life'in every form, taking his living subjects from the streets andway-sides, and keeping a peasant lad as an apprentice, 'who served himfor a study in different actions and postures (sometimes crying, sometimes laughing), till Velasquez had grappled with every variety ofexpression. ' The result of those studies was Velasquez's famous pictureof the 'Aguador, ' or water-carrier of Seville, which was carried off byJoseph Buonaparte in his flight from Spain, taken in his carriage atVittoria, and finally presented by Ferdinand VII, of Spain, as agrateful offering to the Duke of Wellington, in whose gallery at ApsleyHouse the picture remains. 'It is a composition of three figures, ' SirW. Stirling Maxwell writes; 'a sunburnt way-worn seller of water, dressed in a tattered brown jerkin, with his huge earthen jars, and twolads, one of whom receives a sparkling glass of the pure element, whilsthis companion quenches his thirst from a pipkin. The execution of theheads and all the details is perfect; and the ragged trader dispensing afew maravidi's worth of his simple stock, maintains, during thetransaction, a grave dignity of deportment, highly Spanish andcharacteristic, and worthy of an emperor pledging a great vassal inTokay. '

Just such a group may still be seen, or was to be seen till very lately, in the quaint streets of Seville. I have read an anecdote of Velasquezand this picture, which is quite probable, though I cannot vouch forits accuracy. It is said that, while painting the water-carrier dayafter day, when he had been engaged with his work for several hours, Velasquez found himself vexed by perceiving, as it were, the effect of ashadow cast by some of the drapery. Small flaw as it might have been, itappeared to him to interfere with and spoil the picture. Again andagain, in endeavouring to do away with this 'shadow, ' Velasquez undidportions of his work, and had to repeat them next day, but always, towards the end of his task, the invidious shadow stole upon his vision. At last a friend, who was present and full of admiration for thepicture, heard Velasquez exclaim, 'That shadow again!' and saw him seizea brush and prepare to dash it across the canvas. The friendremonstrated, besought, and by main force held back the painter, and atlast induced him to leave the picture untouched till next day, whenVelasquez discovered, to his great relief, that the shadow had been inhis own wearied young eyes, and not in his admirable representation ofthe 'Water-carrier. '

Velasquez was in Madrid in 1623, when he was in his twenty-fifth year, and having been introduced by the Prime Minister, Olivares, to the Kingof Spain, Philip IV. , a king who was only known to smile once or twicein his lifetime, whose government was careless and blundering, but whohad the reputation of being a man of some intelligence and veryconsiderable taste, --Velasquez was received into the king's service witha monthly salary of twenty ducats, and employed to paint the royalportrait. 

From the time that he became court painter, Velasquez was largelyoccupied in painting portraits of members of the royal family, withspecial repetitions of the likeness of his most Catholic Majesty. WithVelasquez's first portrait of Philip in armour, mounted on an Andalusiancharger, the king was so pleased, that he permitted the picture to bepublicly exhibited, amidst the plaudits of the spectators, in front ofthe church of San Felipe el Real in Madrid. Nor was the exhibition abarren honour to the painter, for the king not only 'talked ofcollecting and in future Velasquez should have the monopoly of the royalcountenance, ' he paid three hundred ducats for the picture. 

About this time our own Charles I. , then Prince of Wales, went in hisincognito of Charles Smith to Madrid on his romantic adventure ofseeking to woo and win, personally, the Infanta of Spain, and Velasquezis said to have gained Charles's notice, and to have at least begun aportrait of him. If it were ever completed it has been lost, amisfortune which has caused spurious pictures, purporting to be the realwork, to be offered to the public. Sir W. Stirling Maxwell holds, withgreat show of truth, that this visit of Charles to Madrid, when itsaltars were 'glowing' with the pictures of Titian, confirmed the unhappyking's taste for art. 

In 1628 Rubens came to Madrid as an envoy from the governess of theNetherlands, and the two painters, who had many points in common, andwho had already corresponded, became fast friends. By the advice ofRubens, Velasquez was induced to put into execution his cherisheddesire of visiting Italy, the king granting his favourite painter leaveof absence, the continuance of his salary, and a special sum for hisexpenses. 

Velasquez went to Venice first, and afterwards to Rome, where he wasoffered, and declined, a suite of apartments in the Vatican, asking onlyfree access to the papal galleries. There he copied many portions ofMichael Angelo's 'Last Judgment'--not a hundred years old, and 'yetundimmed by the morning and evening incense of centuries, ' and portionsof the frescoes of Raphael. At Rome Velasquez found there before him, Domenichino, Guido Reni, alternating 'between the excitements of thegaming table and the sweet creations of his smooth flowing pencil;''Nicolas Poussin, an adventurer fresh from his Norman village; andClaude Gelée, a pastry-cook's runaway apprentice from Lorraine. '[27]Velasquez remained a year in Rome. Besides his studies he painted threeoriginal pictures, one of them, 'Joseph's Coat, ' well known among thepainter's comparatively rare religious works, and now in the Escurial. In this picture his biographer acknowledges, that 'choosing rather todisplay his unrivalled skill in delineating vulgar forms than to riskhis reputation in the pursuit of a more refined and idealized style, 'Velasquez's 'Hebrew patriarchs are swineherds of Estramadura orshepherds of the Sierra Morena. '

From Rome Velasquez proceeded to Naples, where he was enabled by hisprudence and forbearance to face without injury the disgraceful 'reignof terror' which the Neapolitan artists had established in the south ofItaly. The Neapolitan artists more than any other Italian artists arebelieved to have influenced Velasquez's style. 

In 1639 Velasquez painted his principal religious work, 'TheCrucifixion, ' for the nunnery of San Placido in Madrid, a painting inwhich his power has triumphed successfully over his halting imagination. 

With regard to the many court groups which Velasquez was constantlytaking, I may quote Sir W. Stirling Maxwell's amusing paragraph about acurious variety of human beings in the Court Gallery. 'The Alcazar ofMadrid abounded with dwarfs in the days of Philip IV. , who was very fondof having them about him, and collected curious specimens of the race, like other rarities. The Queen of Spain's gallery is, in consequence, rich in portraits of these little monsters, executed by Velasquez. Theyare, for the most part, very ugly, displaying, sometimes in an extremedegree, the deformities peculiar to their stunted growth. Maria Barbola, immortalized by a place in one of Velasquez's most celebrated pictures, was a little dame about three feet and a half in height, with the headand shoulders of a large woman, and a countenance much underjawed, andalmost ferocious in expression. Her companion, Nicolasito Pertusano, although better proportioned than the lady, and of a more amicableaspect, was very inferior in elegance as a royal plaything to hiscontemporary, the valiant Sir Geoffrey Hudson; or his successor in thenext reign, the pretty Luisillo of Queen Louisa of Orleans. Velasquezpainted many portraits of these little creatures, generally seated onthe ground; and there is a large picture in the Louvre representing twoof them leading by a cord a great spotted hound, to which they bear thesame proportion that men of the usual size bear to a horse. '

In 1648 Velasquez again visited Italy, sent by the king this time tocollect works of art for the royal galleries and the academy about to befounded. Velasquez went by Genoa, Milan, Venice (buying there chieflythe works of Tintoret), and Parma, to Rome and Naples, returning toRome. At Rome Velasquez painted his splendidly characteristic portraitof the Pope Innocent X. , 'a man of coarse features and surly expression, and perhaps the ugliest of all the successors of St Peter. '

Back at Madrid, Philip continued to load Velasquez and his family withfavours, appointing the painter Quarter-Master-General of the king'shousehold with a salary of three thousand ducats a year, and the rightof carrying at his girdle a key which opened every lock in the palace. 

Philip is said to have raised Velasquez to knighthood in a manner asgracious as the manner of Charles V, when he lifted up Titian's pencil. In painting one of his most renowned pictures, to which I shall referagain, 'The Maids of Honour, ' Velasquez included himself at work on alarge picture of the royal family. The painter represented himself withthe key of his office at his girdle, and on his breast the red cross ofthe Order of Santiago. Philip, who came every day to see the progress ofthis picture, remarked in reference to the figure of the artist, that'one thing was yet wanting, and taking up the brush painted the knightlyinsignia with his own royal fingers, thus conferring the accolade with aweapon not recognized in chivalry. '

As it is believed, Velasquez's court office, with all its prestige andinfluence, helped in causing his death. King Philip went in June, 1660, to the Isle of Pheasants in the river Bidassa, where, on ground whichwas neither Spanish nor French, the Spanish and French courts were tomeet and celebrate with the greatest magnificence the marriage of theGrand Monarque and the Infanta Maria Teresa. One of Velasquez'sofficial duties was to prepare lodgings for the king on his journeys, and in this instance the lodging included not only the decoration of thecastle of Fuenterrabia, but the erection of a sumptuous pavilion inwhich the interviews of the assembled kings and queens and theirrevelries were to be held. Velasquez did his part of the preparations, and doubtless shared in the royal festivities, but returned to Madrid soworn out by his undertaking, and by constant attendance on his master, that he was seized with tertian fever, of which he died a few dayslater, while but in his sixty-first year, to the great grief of hiscountrymen, and above all of his king. Velasquez's wife, Doña Juana, died eight days after her husband, and was buried in his grave. Thecouple left one surviving child, a daughter, married to a painter. 

In one picture, now at Vienna, Velasquez gives a glimpse of his familylife at a time when it would seem that he had four sons and twodaughters, so that the fortunate painter's home had not been free fromone shadow--that of death, which must have robbed him of five of hischildren. In this pleasant picture, 'his wife dressed in a brown tunicover a red petticoat, sits in the foreground of a large room, with apretty little girl leaning on her knees, and the rest of her childrengrouped around her; behind are the men in deep shadow, one of them, perhaps, being Mazo, the lover or the husband of the eldest daughter, and a nurse with a child; and in an alcove Velasquez himself appears, standing before his easel, at work on a portrait of Philip IV. This isone of the most important works of the master out of the Peninsula; thefaces of the family sparkle on the sober background like gems. As apiece of easy actual life, the composition has never been surpassed, andperhaps it excels even "The Meninas, " inasmuch as the hoops and dwarfsof the palace have not intruded upon the domestic privacy of thepainter's home, in the northern gallery. '[28]

Velasquez seems to have been a man of honour and amiability. He filleda difficult office at the most jealous court in Europe with credit. Hewas true to his friends, and helpful to his brother artists. Hisbiographer writes of Velasquez as handsome in person, and describes hiscostume when he appeared for the last time with his king in the galas atPheasants' Isle:--'over a dress richly laced with silver he wore theusual Castilian ruff, and a short cloak embroidered with the red crossof Santiago; the badge of the order, sparkling with brilliants, wassuspended from his neck by a gold chain; and the scabbard and hilt ofhis sword were of silver, exquisitely chased, and of Italianworkmanship. ' In the likeness of Velasquez, which is the frontispiece ofSir W. Stirling Maxwell's 'Life, ' the painter appears as a man ofswarthy complexion, with a long compressed upper lip, unconcealed by hislong, elaborately trimmed moustache; his hair, or wig, is arranged intwo large frizzed bunches on each side of a face which is inclined to belantern-jawed. He wears a dark doublet with a 'standing white collar. '

Velasquez's excellence as a painter was to be found, like that ofRembrandt, in his truth to nature; but the field of truth presented tothe stately Spaniard, while it had its own ample share of humour, was awidely different field from that which offered itself to the Dutchburgher. Together with absolute truth, Velasquez had the ease andfacility in expressing truth which are only acquired by a great master. Like Rubens, Velasquez made essays in many branches of painting. Insacred art, if we except his 'Crucifixion, ' he did not attain a highplace. With regard to his landscapes, Sir David Wilkie borewitness:--'Titian seems his model, but he has also the breadth andpicturesque effect for which Claude and Salvator Rosa are remarkable;'and Sir David added of those landscapes, 'they have the very same sun wesee, and the air we breathe, the very soul and spirit of nature. '

Velasquez's _genre_ pictures, to which I shall refer by and by, areexcellent, but the fate was kind which confined him largely to portraitpainting. It was brought as a reproach against Velasquez in hislifetime, that he could paint a head and nothing else, to which hereplied with mingled spirit, sense, and good nature, that his detractorsflattered him, 'for he knew nobody of whom it could be said that hepainted a head thoroughly well. '

Sir W. Stirling Maxwell asserts of Velasquez's portrait painting, thatno artist 'ever followed nature with more catholic fidelity; hiscavaliers are as natural as his boors; he neither refined the vulgar, nor vulgarized the refined, ' and goes on to quote this among othercriticism:--'his portraits baffle description and praise; he drew theminds of men; they live, breathe, and are ready to walk out of theframes. ' Sir William winds up with the enthusiastic declaration, 'Suchpictures as these are real history; we know the persons of Philip IV, and Olivares, as familiarly as if we had paced the avenues of the Pardowith Digby and Howell, and perhaps we think more favourably of theircharacters. '

I shall borrow still further from Sir W. Stirling Maxwell's graphic andentertaining book, descriptions of two of Velasquez's _genre_ pictures, 'The Maids of Honour, ' and the more celebrated 'Spinners, ' both atMadrid. 'The scene (of the first) is a long room in a quarter of the oldpalace which was called the prince's quarter, and the subject, Velasquezat work on a large picture of the royal family. To the extreme right ofthe composition is seen the back of the easel and the canvas on which heis engaged; and beyond it spalette, pausing to converse, and to observethe effect of his performance. In the centre stands the little InfantaMaria Margarita, taking a cup of water from a salver which Doña MariaAugustina Sarmiento, maid of honour to the queen, presents kneeling. Tothe left, Doña Isabel de Velasco, another meniña, seems to be dropping acourtesy; and the dwarfs, Maria Barbolo and Nicolas Pertusano, stand inthe foreground, the little man putting his foot on the quarters of agreat tawny hound, which despises the aggression, and continues in astate of solemn repose. Some paces behind these figures, Doña Marcela deUlloa, a lady of honour in nun-like weeds, and a _guardadimas, _ are seenin conversation; at the far end of the room an open door gives a view ofa staircase, up which Don Josef Nieto, queen's apasentador, is retiring;and near this door there hangs on the wall a mirror, which, reflectingthe countenance of the king and queen, shows that they form part of theprincipal group, although placed beyond the bounds of the picture. Theroom is hung with paintings which Palomino assures us are works ofRubens; and it is lighted by three windows in the left wall, and by theopen door at the end, an arrangement of which an artist will at oncecomprehend the difficulties. The perfection of art which conceals art, was never better attained than in this picture. Velasquez seems to haveanticipated the discovery of Daguerre, and taking a real room, and realchance grouped people, to have fixed them, as it were by magic, for alltime on his canvas. The little fair-haired Infanta is a pleasing studyof childhood; with the hanging-lip and full cheek of the Austrianfamily, she has a fresh complexion and lovely blue eyes, and gives apromise of beauty which as empress she never fulfilled. Her youngattendants, girls of thirteen or fourteen, contrast agreeably with theill-favoured dwarf beside them; they are very pretty, especially DoñaIsabel de Velasco, who died a reigning beauty, and their hands arepainted with peculiar delicacy. Their dresses are highly absurd, theirfigures being concealed by long stiff corsets and prodigious hoops; forthese were the days when the mode was--

 "Supporters, pooters, fardingales, above the loynes to weare;"

and the _guardainfante_, the oval hoop peculiar to Spain, was in fullblow; and the robes of a dowager might have curtained the tun ofHeidelberg, and the powers of Velasquez were baffled by the perversefancy of "Fribble, the woman's tailor. " The gentle and majestic hound, stretching himself and winking drowsily, is admirably painted, and seemsa descendant of the royal breed immortalized by Titian in portraits ofthe Emperor Charles and his son. '

'The Spinners:' 'The scene is a large weaving-room, in which an oldwoman and young one sit, the first at her spinning-wheel, and thesecond winding yarn, with three girls beside them, one of whom playswith a cat. In the background, standing within an alcove filled with thelight from an unseen window, are two other women displaying a largepiece of tapestry to a lady customer, whose graceful figure recalls thatwhich has given its name to Terburg's picture of "The Satin Gown. " Ofthe composition, the painter Mengs observed, "it seemed as if the handhad no part in it, and it had been the work of pure thought. "'Velasquez, who must have seen many a bull fight, has left the world afine example of field sports in 'The Boar Hunt, ' in our NationalGallery, a picture which was bought for two thousand two hundred poundsfrom Lord Cowley. When ambassador at the Court of Spain, it was given tohim by Ferdinand VII. In a circular pen in the Pardo, 'Philip IV. And aparty of cavaliers display their skill in slaying boars, to a fewladies, who sit secure in heavy old-fashioned blue coaches, ' whilemotley groups of courtiers and peasants, huntsmen and hounds, postilionsand their mules fill the foreground. Sir Edwin Landseer remarked ofthis picture that he had never before seen 'so much large art on sosmall a scale. '

Bartolomé Estévan Murillo was born at Seville in 1618, and was thereforenearly twenty years younger than his great countryman Velasquez. Murilloseems to have been of obscure origin, and to have begun his life inhumble circumstances. There are traditions of his being self-taught, ofhis studying ragged boys, himself little more than a boy, in the gypsyquarter of Triana in Seville; of his painting in the marketplace, wherehe probably found the originals of the heads of saints and Madonnas (bywhich he made a little money in selling them for South America) in thepeasants who came to Seville with their fruit and vegetables. In 1642, Murillo, then twenty-four years of age, visited Madrid, and was kindlyreceived, and aided in his art by his senior and fellow artist, thecourt painter, Velasquez. It had been Murillo's intention to proceed toEngland to study under Van Dyck, but the death of the latter put a stopto the project. Murillo was prevented from making the painter'spilgrimage to Italy by want of means, but the loss of culture was so farsupplied by the instructions given to him by Velasquez. 

In 1645, when Murillo was twenty-seven years of age, he returned toSeville, and settled there, becoming as successful as he deserved; andbeing acknowledged as the head of the school of Seville, where heestablished the Academy of Art, and was its first president. Murillomarried, in 1648, a lady of some fortune, and was accustomed toentertain at his house the most exclusive society of Seville. 

In 1682, Murillo was at Cadiz painting a picture of the marriage of StCatherine in the church of the Capuchins there, when, in consequence ofthe accidental fall of the scaffolding, he received so severe an injury, that he was forced to leave his work incomplete, and to return toSeville, where he died within a few weeks, aged sixty-four years. He hadtwo sons, and an only daughter, who was a nun, having taken the veileight years before her father's death. 

Murillo appears to have been in character a gentle, enthusiastic man, not without a touch of fun and frolic. He would remain for hours in thesacristy of the cathedral of Seville before 'the solemn awful picture ofthe 'Deposition from the Cross, ' by Pedro de Campana. When Murillo wasasked by the sacristan why he stood thus gazing there, the painteranswered, 'I am waiting till these holy men have finished their work. 'By his own desire, Murillo was buried before this picture. Beforeanother 'too truthful picture of Las dos Cadaveres' in the small churchof the hospital of the Caridad, Murillo used to hold his nose. One ofMurillo's pictures has the odd name of 'La Virgen Sarvilleta, ' or theVirgin of the Napkin. Murillo was working at the Convento de la Merced, which is almost filled with his works, when the cook of the conventbegged a memorial of him, offering as the canvas a napkin, on whichMurillo at once painted a 'brilliant glowing Madonna, ' with a child, 'which seems quite to bound forward out of the picture. '[29]

Murillo's portrait by himself represents him in a dark doublet havingwide sleeves and a square collar closed in front. His thumb is in hispallet, and the other hand, with fingers taper and delicate as those ofa hand by Van Dyck, holds one of his brushes. The smooth face, withregular features, is pale and thoughtful, and with the womanliness ofthe aspect increased from the dark hair, which is divided slightly toone side, being allowed to fall down in long wavy curls on theshoulders. 

In spite of the naturalistic studies of his early youth, and even of thenaturalistic treatment which he gave to his first religious work, Murillo was possessed of greater and higher imagination than Velasquezcould claim, and the longer Murillo lived and worked the more refinedand exalted his ideas became. Unlike Velasquez, Murillo was a greatreligious painter, and during the last years of his life he paintedsacred subjects almost exclusively. But, like Velasquez, Murillo waseminently a Spanish painter--his virgins are dark-eyed, olive-complexioned maidens, and even his Holy Child is a Spanish babe. 

Without the elevation and the training of the best Italian painters, Murillo has left abundant proofs of great original genius. The painter'sworks are widely circulated, but the chief are still in Seville. Six arein the church of the Caridad, and these six include his famous 'Mosesstriking the Rock, ' and his 'Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes;' seven'Murillos' are in the Convento de la Merced, among them Murillo's ownfavourite picture, which he called 'Mi Cicadro' of 'St Thomas ofVillaneuva. ' 'St Thomas was the favourite preacher of Charles V. , andwas created Archbishop of Valencia, where he seemed to spend the wholeof his revenues in charity, yet never contracted any debt, so that hispeople used to believe that angels must minister to his temporal wants. He is represented at his cathedral door, distributing alms, robed inblack, with a white mitre. A poor cripple kneels at his feet, and othermendicants are grouped around. '

In the cathedral, Seville, is Murillo's 'Angel de la Guarda, ' 'in whicha glorious seraph, with spreading wings, leads a little trustful childby the hand, and directs him to look beyond earth into the heavenlylight;' and his 'St Antonio. ' 'The saint is represented kneeling in acell, of which all the poor details are faithfully given, while the longarcade of the cloister can be seen through the half-open door. Above, ina transparent light, which grows from himself, the Child Jesus appears, and descends, floating through wreaths of angels, drawn down by thepower of prayer. '[30]

Another of Murillo's renowned pictures is that of the patron saints ofSeville, 'Santa Rufina and Santa Justina, ' who were stoned to death forrefusing to bow down to the image of Venus. 

With regard to Murillo's pictures of flower-girls and beggar-boys, Ithink my readers are sure to have seen an engraving of one of theformer, '_The_ Flower-Girl, ' as it is called, with a face as fresh andradiant as her flowers. In the National Gallery there is a large HolyFamily of Murillo's, and in Dulwich Gallery there is a laughing boy, anirresistible specimen of brown-cheeked, white-teethed drollery. 

CHAPTER X. 

ART--NICOLAS POUSSIN, 1594-1665--CLAUDE[31] LORRAINE, 1600-1682--CHARLESLE BRUN, 1619-1690--WATTEAU, 1684-1721--GREUZE, 1726-1805. 

Nicolas Poussin was born at Andely in Normandy in 1594. Of his parentagelittle seems to have been ascertained, but it is believed that he waswell educated, and his classical learning in after life was reckonedgreat. He was regularly trained to be a painter under a master in hisnative town, and afterwards in Paris. 

Dissatisfied with the patronage which he received in Paris, Poussin wentto Rome when he was about thirty years of age. In Rome he is said tohave lived on familiar terms with a sculptor whose devotion to antiqueart influenced his taste, and lent it the strong classical bent which itretained. Poussin studied regularly in the school of Domenichino. Aftersome delay in attracting public notice, 'The Death of Germanicus, ' and'The Capture of Jerusalem, ' which Poussin painted for CardinalBarberini, won general approval. In 1629, when Nicolas Poussin was inhis thirty-fifth year, he married the sister of his pupil, GasparDughet, who took Poussin's name, and is known as a painter, inferior tohis master, by the name of Gaspar Poussin. 

Nicolas Poussin returned to Paris when he was a middle-aged man, waspresented to the king, Louis XIII. , by Cardinal Richelieu, and offeredapartments in the Tuileries, with the title of painter in ordinary, anda salary of a hundred and twenty pounds a year. Poussin agreed to settlein Paris, but on his going back to Rome to fetch his wife, and on theKing of France's dying, the attractions of the Eternal City proved toogreat for the painter, and in place of removing his home to his nativecountry, he lived for the rest of his years in Rome, and died there in1665, when he was seventy-one years of age. Except what can be judged ofhim from his work, I do not know that much has been gathered of theprivate character and life of Nicolas Poussin, notwithstanding thatthere was a biography written of him fifty years ago by Lady Calcott, and that his letters have been published in Paris. In the absence ofconclusive testimony one may conclude with some probability that he was'quiet, ' like his best paintings; a man who minded his own business, anddid not trouble the world by astonishing actions, good or bad. [32]

In painting his own picture, from which an engraving has been taken, Poussin's classical preferences seem to have passed into the likeness, for in the dress of the seventeenth century, the cloak (not unlike atoga), the massive hand with the heavy signet-ring resting on what lookslike a closed portfolio, the painter has something of the severe air andhaughty expression of an old Roman; still more, perhaps, of theFrench-Romans, if I may call them so, of whom revolutionary timesnearly two centuries later, afforded so many examples. This is ahandsome, dignified face, with austerity in its pride. The slightlycurled hair is thrown back with a certain consciousness from the knitbrow, and from the shoulders. There is only the faintest shadow of amoustache over the cleanly cut, firmly closed mouth. 

Poussin painted largely, and his pictures have been often engraved. Withharmonious composition, good drawing and colouring, his pictures alikeprofited and suffered from the classical atmosphere in which they hadtheir being. They gained in that correctness which in its highest formbecomes noble truthfulness, but they lost in freedom. The figures in thepictures had frequently the statuesqueness which in sculpture suits thematerial, but in painting is stiffness. 

Nicolas Poussin had an exceptional reputation for a historical painterin his day. As a landscape painter, Mr Ruskin, while waging war withNicolas Poussin's brother-in-law and assumed namesake, Gaspar, notablyexcepts Nicolas from his severest strictures, and treats his efforts inlandscape painting with marked respect. At the same time, however, thecritic censures the painter for a want of thorough acquaintance withnature, and the laws of nature, ignorance not uncommon in any day, andnearly universal in Nicolas Poussin's day. 'The great master of elevatedideal landscape, ' Mr Ruskin calls Nicolas Poussin, and illustrates hisexcellence in one respect, after contrasting it with the slovenliness ofSir Joshua Reynolds, by describing the vine in Poussin's 'Nursing ofJupiter, ' in the Dulwich Gallery, thus:--

'Every vine-leaf, drawn with consummate skill and untiring diligence, produces not only a true group of the most perfect grace and beauty, butone which in its pure and simple truth belongs to every age of nature, and adapts itself to the history of all time. ' 'One of the finestlandscapes that ancient art has produced, the work of a really greatmind, ' Mr Ruskin distinguishes the 'Phocian' of Nicolas Poussin in theNational Gallery, before proceeding to point out its faults. 

Again, Mr Ruskin, writing of the street in the centre of anotherlandscape by Nicolas Poussin, indicates it with emphasis:--'the streetin the centre of the really great landscape of Poussin (great infeeling, at least) marked 260 in the Dulwich Gallery, ' The criticismwith which Mr Ruskin follows up this praise is so perfect a bit ofword-painting, that I cannot refrain from writing it down here. 'Thehouses are dead square masses, with a light side and a dark side, andblack touches for windows. There is no suggestion of anything in any ofthe spaces, the light wall is dead grey, the dark wall dead grey, andthe windows dead black. How differently would nature have treated us. She would have let us see the Indian corn hanging on the walls, and theimage of the Virgin of the tiled eaves, and the deep ribbed tiles withthe doves upon them, and the carved Roman capital built into the wall, and the white and blue stripes of the mattresses stuffed out of thewindows, and the flapping corners of the neat blinds. All would havebeen there; not as such, not like the corn, nor blinds, nor tiles, notto be comprehended nor understood, but a confusion of yellow and blackspots and strokes, carried far too fine for the eye to follow;microscopic in its minuteness, and filling every atom and space withmystery, out of which would have arranged itself the general impressionof truth and life. ' Once more, Mr Ruskin freely admits that 'all thelandscape of Nicolas Poussin is imagination. '

Mr Ruskin's first definition of ideal landscape is in this manner. Everydifferent tree and leaf, every bud, has a perfect form, which, were itnot for disease or accident, it would have attained; just as everyindividual human face has an ideal form, which but for sin and sufferingit would present: and the ideal landscape-painter has realized theperfect form, and offers it to the world, and that in a sense quitedistinct from the fallacy of improving nature. 

But I wish to take my readers further into imaginative landscape, and toshow it to them, if possible, under additional lights. I despair ofsucceeding if I cannot do it by one or two simple examples. In passingthrough a gallery we may stop before a picture to be struck, almoststartled, by the exact copy which it presents of some scene in nature;how like the clouds in the sky, the leaves on the trees, the veryplumage of the birds! But pass on to another picture which may or maynot have the same exact likeness, and we are possessed with quiteanother feeling; instead of being merely surprised by the cleverness ofthe imitation, we feel a thrill of delight at a reproduction of nature. In this picture there are not only the clouds we remember, but we canalmost feel the shadows which they cast, and the air which stirs them. These tree-leaves are not only green, or yellow, or russet, they aretender, or crisp living leaves. One half expects to see the birds'throats swell, and hear the sweetness or the shrillness of their songs. 

The first picture, with all its correctness, brightness, richness, ordelicacy it may be, remains bare, hard, and barren, compared to thesecond. I cannot explain to my readers the cause of the difference, Ican Only show it to them as they may see it for themselves, and saythat I suppose it proceeds from this--that the second painter has seenfarther into the heart of nature than the first, and has been able bysubtler touches to make us see with his eyes. 

But imaginative landscape is much more than this vivid feeling andexpression of nature; there is not a cloud, or leaf, or bird too many orout of keeping with the place and the hour. The clouds are the veryclouds of sunset, or sunrise, or high noon--clouds differing widely fromeach other, as you have no doubt observed. The trees are the beeches, orchestnuts, or pines, which would grow on the conformation of rocks, inthe sheltered nook, or on the breezy upland; the birds are the linnetsor the larks, the thrushes or the lapwings, which frequent these specialtrees, and may be seen and heard at this particular hour. 

Again, landscape often tells a story, and tells it inimitably. Myreaders have heard of the ballad of the 'Two Corbies, ' which the writerof the ballad has made to meet and tell gruesomely where and on whatcarrion their feast has been. Suppose the writer of the ballad had beena painter, he might have painted the story as intelligibly by the lonehill-side, the bleaching bones of the faithful hound and gallant grey, the two loathly blue-black birds satiated with their prey. There is asignificant old Scotch song with a ballad ring, by Lady Nairne, twoverses of which form each a complete picture not only of differentseasons, but of different phases of feeling--happiness and misery. 

 'Bonnie ran the burnie down, Wandering and winding; Sweetly sang the birds aboon, Care never minding. 

 'But now the burn comes down apace, Roaring and reaming, And for the wee birdies' sang Wild howlets screaming. '

Imagine these two verses painted, and the painter, from a lack ofcomprehension, introducing the 'wild howlets screaming' _beside theburnie_, 'wandering and winding, ' and the 'wee birdies' foolishly andinconsequently singing with their feeble song drowned in the rush of theburn (no longer a burnie), 'roaring and reaming, ' when the 'spate' isspreading desolation on every side. Don't you see how the picture wouldbe spoilt, and the story of complete contrast left untold? I have takenadvisedly an extreme and, therefore an unlikely case of haltingimagination. But in imaginative landscape every 'white flower with itspurple stain, ' every crushed butterfly, is made to play its part in thewhole, and at the same time due proportion is never lost sight of, andthe less is always kept subordinate to the greater. 

I have already had occasion to mention examples of Nicolas Poussin inthe National Gallery and in Dulwich Gallery. 

Claude Gelée, better known as Claude Lorraine, was a native of Lorraine, and was born at Chateau de Chamagne in the Vosges, in 1600. His parentswere in humble life, and apprenticed Claude to a baker and pastry-cook. According to some biographers the cooks of Lorraine were in such requestthat they occasionally repaired to Rome with their apprentices in theirtrain to serve the successor of St Peter, and Claude was thus carried, in the way of trade, to the city which might well have been the goal ofhis ambition. According to other writers of art histories, Claudeabandoned the kneading-trough and the oven; and it was as a runawayapprentice that by some occult means he reached Rome. And when he hadarrived he entered into the service of a landscape painter of goodrepute, to whom he was colour-boy as well as cook. The last is theaccount, so far, which Claude gave of himself to a friend, and it ishardly likely either that he misrepresented his history, or that hisfriend invented such details, though lately French authorities havequestioned the authenticity of the narrative. Claude remained for nearlythe entire remainder of a long life in Rome. He only once re-visitedFrance, while he was yet a young man, under thirty years of age, in 1625or 1627. He is supposed to have painted his earliest pictures andexecuted his etchings about this time, 1630 and to have painted his bestpictures fifteen years later, when he was in the maturity of his lifeand powers. He was counted successful during his life time, as alandscape painter, but did not amass a larger fortune than about twothousand pounds. [33] He was a slow and careful painter (working afortnight at a picture with little apparent progress); his painstakingwork, and his custom of keeping a book, in which he verified hispictures, are about the most that I can tell you of the habits of one ofthe foreign painters, who has been most fully represented in England, and was long in the highest favour with English lovers of art. ClaudeLorraine died at Rome in the eighty-third year of his age, in 1682. 

Claude Lorraine's name has become a very vexed name with art critics. There was a time when he had an unsurpassed reputation as a landscapepainter. The possession of a Claude was enough to confer art glory on acountry-house, and possibly for this reason England, in public andprivate collections, has more 'Claudes' than are held by any othercountry. But Claude's admirers, among whom Sir George Beaumont, thegreat art critic of his generation, took the lead, have had their day, and, if they have not by any means passed away, are on the wane. 

The wrathful indignation of the English landscape painter, Turner, atthe praise which was so glibly lavished on Claude--an indignation thatcaused Turner to bequeath two of his own landscape paintings to thetrustees of the National Gallery, on the caustic condition that theyshould always be placed between the two celebrated 'Claudes, ' known as'The Marriage of Isaac and Rebecca' and 'The Embarkation of the Queen ofSheba'--helped to shake the English art world's faith in its formeridol. Mr Ruskin's adoption and proclamation of Turner's opinion shookthe old faith still further. This reversal of a verdict with regard toClaude is peculiar; it is by no means uncommon for the decision ofcontemporaries to be set aside, and we shall hear of an instancepresently, in the case of the painter Le Brun. In fact, it is oftenominous with regard to a man's future fame, when he is 'cried up to theskies' in his own day. The probability may be that his easy success hasbeen won by something superficial and fleeting. But Claude's greatpopularity has been in another generation, and with another nation. English taste may have been in fault; or another explanation seemspreferable--that Claude's sense of beauty was great, with all its faultsof expression, and he gave such glimpses of a beautiful world as thegazers on his pictures were capable of receiving, which to them provedirresistible. 

While Claude adopted an original style as a landscape painter, so far ashis contemporaries were concerned, he was to such a degree self taught, and only partially taught, that it is said he never learnt to paintfigures--those in his pictures were painted by other painters, and thatClaude even painted animals badly. 

Mr Ruskin has been hard on Claude, whether justly or unjustly, I cannotpretend to say. 

The critic denies the painter not only a sense of truth in art, but allimagination as a landscape painter 'Of men of name, ' Mr Ruskin writes, 'Perhaps Claude is the best instance of a want of imagination, nearlytotal, borne out by painful but untaught study of nature, and muchfeeling for abstract beauty of form, with none whatever for harmony ofexpression. ' Mr Ruskin condemns in the strongest terms 'the mourning andmurky olive browns and verdigris greens, in which Claude, with theindustry and intelligence of a Sèvres china painter, drags the laboriousbramble leaves over his childish foreground. ' But Mr Ruskin himselfacknowledges, with a reservation, Claude's charm in foliage, andpronounces more conditionally his power, when it was at its best, inskies--a region in which the greater, as well as the less, Poussin wasdeclared to fail signally; 'a perfectly genuine and untouched sky ofClaude, ' Mr Ruskin writes, 'is indeed most perfect, and beyond praise, in all qualities of air; though even with him I often feel rather thatthere is a great deal of pleasant air between me and the firmament, thanthat the firmament itself is only air. '

When all has been said that can be said, let us look at a mellow or asunny Claude on any wall where it may hang, and judge for ourselves ofthe satisfaction it is calculated to give. 

Claude was fond of painting scenes on the Tiber and in the RomanCampagna, but while he tried to reproduce the hills and woodlands ofItaly, he did not seek to paint the mountain landscapes of theApennines. 

Besides Claude's numerous works in England and scattered through othercountries, some of his finest paintings are in the Doria and Sciarrapalaces in Rome. He rarely put his name to his works; when he did so hesigned it frequently 'Claudio, ' sometimes 'Claudius. ' I have spoken ofhis book of sketches, in which he had been wont to note on the back ofthe sketch the date of the completed picture, and to whom sold. Thisbook he called the 'Libro di Verita, ' or, Book of Truth, and itsapparent use was to check the sale of spurious paintings in Claude'sname, even during his lifetime. The 'Book of Truth' is in possession ofthe Duke of Devonshire, and has been employed in recent years withreference to the end for which it seemed designed, so woe to thatcountry-house which has long pride that 'Claude' does not happen to havea place in the 'Book of Truth, ' though I do not know that it is at allcertain that Claude took the precaution of inscribing _every_ paintingwhich he painted after a certain date in the 'Book of Truth. '

Claude Lorraine is well represented in the National Gallery. Engravingsof his pictures are common. 

Charles le Brun was born in Paris, in 1619. He was trained to be apainter, and went young to Rome, studying there for six years under theguidance of Nicolas Poussin. Le Brun returned to Paris, and, through thepatronage of the Chancellor Segnier, was introduced to the court, andgot the most favourable opportunities of practising his profession withworldly success. He speedily acquired a great name, and was appointedpainter to the King, Louis XIV. Le Brun had enough influence with hisroyal master, and with the great minister Colbert, to succeed inestablishing, while the painter was yet a young man, the Royal Academyof Art, of which he was the first member, and virtually the head, holding, in his own person, the directorship of the Gobelin tapestryworks, which was to be the privilege of a member of the Academy. Le Bruncontinued in the utmost favour with the King, who, not content withemploying the painter largely at Fontainebleau and in Versailles, invested him with the order of St Michael, bestowed on him letters ofnobility, and visited him frequently at his work, occasions when therewere not wanting adroit courtiers to liken the Grand Monarque to theEmperor Charles V. , and Le Brun to Titian. 

Le Brun seems to have been a man of energy, confidence, and industry, neither mentally before nor after his time, and by no means tooretiring, meditative, or original, to fail to profit by his outward goodfortune. He wrote, as well as painted, artistic treatises, which werereceived as oracular utterances, and entirely deferred to in the schoolsof his day. He died at Paris in 1690, when he was in his seventiethyear. 

Le Brun's real merits as a painter were limited to respectable abilitiesand acquirements, together with florid quickness and ease, and such aneye to what was splendid and scenic as suited admirably a decorator ofpalaces in an age which prized sumptuousness, and an exaggeration ofdramatic effect, over every other quality. Nicolas Poussin's quietrefinement of style became in Le Brun what is called academic(conventionally learned), pompous, and grandiose, and men decidedlypreferred the degeneration. But later critics, who have not the naturalpartiality of the French to the old master, return to their first loves, and condemn Le Brun's swelling violence, both in the tints and poses ofhis figures. Among his most famous works, which have been magnificentlyengraved, are his 'Battles of Alexander. '

Antoine Watteau was born at Valenciennes in 1684. A very differentpainter from Le Brun, he was yet as characteristic of French art in thereign of Louis XIV. I think my readers must be familiar with his name, and I dare say they associate it, as I do, not only with the fans whichwere painted largely after his designs, but with mock pastorals andSèvres china. I don't know if his birth-place at Valenciennes, with itschief product of dainty lace, had anything to do with it, but the otheritems of poor Watteau's history are considerably removed from the veryartificial grace which one connects with his name. He was the son of acarpenter, and struggled up, by the hard instrumentality of third-ratemasters and of picture-dealers, to the rank which he attained amongartists, taking his stand from the first, however, as the painter ofwell-bred, well-apparelled people--the frequenters of _bals masqués, _and _fêtes champêtres, _ who were only playing at shepherds andshepherdesses. 

Watteau was elected an Academician in 1717, when he was thirty-threeyears of age, and he afterwards came to England, but did not remainthere. He died of consumption at Nogent-sur-Marne in 1721, when he wasthirty-six years of age. [34] Watteau's gifts were his grace andbrilliance on a small scale. He did not draw well; as to design, hiscomposition may be said to be suited to such a work as the collection of'fashionable figures, ' which he engraved and left behind him. Yet, if wewere to see at this moment some of his exquisite groups of ladies insacques and Watteau hats, and cavaliers in flowing wigs and lace, cravats, I have no doubt that the most of us would admire them much, forthey are exceedingly pretty, and exceeding prettiness is attractive, particularly to women. But I would have my readers to remember that thisart is a finical and soulless art, after all. I would fain have themtake this as their maxim, 'That the art is greatest which conveys to themind of the spectator, by any means whatsoever, the greatest number ofthe greatest ideas. '

Jean Baptiste Greuze was born at Tournus in Burgundy in 1726. He studiedpainting from his youth in the studios of artists at Lyons, Paris, andRome, and his studies resulted in his being a celebrated genre painter. He only painted one historical picture, but, with the touchy vanitywhich seemed natural to the man, he ranked his genre pictures as highart; and when he was placed in the ordinary list of genre painters onhis election as a member of the French Academy of Painting, Greuzeresented the imputation, and withdrew from the Academy. He died in 1805, aged seventy-nine years. Greuze was a showy, clever, but neither earnestnor truthful painter of domestic subjects and family pictures. Hispictures of women and heads of girls, the expression in some of whichhas been severely condemned, are among his best known works, and bythese he is represented in the National Gallery. [35]

CHAPTER XI. 

HOLBEIN, 1494-1543--VAN DYCK, 1599-1641--LELY, 1618-1680--CANALETTO, 1697-1768--KNELLER, 1646-1723. 

Hans Holbein, sometimes entitled Hans the Younger, was born at Augsburgabout 1494 or 1495. He was the son of a painter, and belonged to afamily of painters, one or more of whom had preceded Hans Holbein inleaving Augsburg, and taking up his residence at Basle. There Holbeinwas under the patronage of, and on terms of friendly intercourse with, the great scholar Erasmus. One bad result proceeded from this friendlyfamiliarity, that of establishing or originating the charge thatHolbein, as a young man, at least, was coarse and dissipated in hishabits. The evidence is sufficiently curious. There is still inexistence the copy of a Latin book, called the 'Praise of Folly, 'written by Erasmus, which Holbein, not being a scholar, could not haveread for himself, but which, according to tradition, Erasmus himself, or some other friend, read to him, while Holbein was so delighted withthe satire that he covered the margin of the book with illustrativesketches. (The sketches remain, and are unmistakably Holbein's. )Opposite a passage, recording the want of common sense and energy inmany learned men, Holbein had drawn the figure of a student, and writtenbelow, '_Erasmus_. ' The book coming again into the hands of Erasmus, hewas offended with the liberty taken by the painter. , and sought toretaliate in kind by writing below the sketch of a rude boor drinking, '_Holbein_. ' In spite of the rough jesting, the friendship betweenscholar and painter was not interrupted. 

In these early days Holbein sometimes practised painting on glass, afterthe example of some of his kinsmen. At Basle, Holbein painted what isconsidered his finest work, the 'Meier Madonna, ' now at Darmstadt, witha copy in the Dresden Gallery, and there he executed the designs for hisseries of woodcuts of the 'Dance of Death. '

At Basle Holbein married, while still a young man. The presumption thatthe painter's marriage, like that of his countryman, Albert Dürer, wasunhappy, has rested on the foundation that he left his wife and herchildren behind when he repaired to England, and that although here-visited Basle, and saw his wife and family, they did not return withhim to England. A fancied confirmation to the unhappiness of themarriage is found in the expression of the wife in a portrait whichHolbein painted of her and his children when he was at Basle. 'Cross-looking and red-eyed, ' one critic calls the unlucky woman;another describes her as 'a plain, coarse-looking, middle-aged woman, 'with an expression 'certainly mysterious and unpleasant. ' Holbein'slatest biographer[36] has proved that the forsaken wife, ElssbethSchmid, was a widow with one son when Holbein married her, and hasconjectured that she was probably not only older than Holbein, but incircumstances which rendered her independent of her husband. So far thecritic has done something to clear Hans Holbein from the miserableaccusation often brought against him, that he abandoned his wife andchildren to starve at Basle, while he sunned himself in such courtfavour as could be found in England. But, indeed, while Hans Holbein mayhave been honest and humane enough to have been above such basesuspicions, there is no trace of him which survives that goes todisprove the probability that he was a self-willed, not over-scrupulousman, if he was also a vigorous and thorough worker. 

Holbein came to England about 1526 or 1527, when he must have beenthirty-one or thirty-two years of age, and repaired to Chelsea to thehouse of Sir Thomas More, to whom the painter brought a letter ofintroduction, and still better credentials in the present, from Erasmusto More, of the portrait of Erasmus, painted by Hans Holbein. There areso many portraits and copies of portraits of Erasmus, not only byHolbein, but by other painters--for Erasmus was painted by Albert Dürerand Quintin Matsys, --that this special portrait, like the true Holbeinfamily portrait of the More family, remains very much a subject ofspeculation. Most of us must be well acquainted with the delightfulaccount which Erasmus gave of Sir Thomas More's country-house atChelsea, and the life of its occupants. It has been cited hundreds oftimes as an example of what an English family has been, and what it maybe in dutiful discipline, simple industry, and high cultivation, whenSir Thomas's young daughters repeated psalms in Latin to beguile thetime in the drudging process of churning the butter. During Holbein'sresidence in or visits to the Mores' house at Chelsea, he sketched orpainted the original of the More family picture. 

Holbein was introduced to Henry VIII, by Sir Thomas More, and wasimmediately taken into favour by the king, and received into hisservice, with a lodging in the palace, a general salary of thirty poundsa year, and separate payment for his paintings. According to HoraceWalpole, Holbein's palace lodging was probably 'the little study calledthe new library' of square glazed bricks of different colours, designedby the painter at Whitehall. (This gateway, with the porch at Wilton, were the painter's chief architectural achievements. ) By anotherstatement, Holbein's house was on London Bridge, where it was destroyedin the great fire. 

I have already alluded to the anecdote of the value which Henry VIII, put on Holbein. It was to this effect: that when an aggrieved courtiercomplained to the king that the painter had taken precedence of him--anobleman, the king replied, 'I have many noblemen, but I have only oneHans Holbein. ' In fact, Holbein received nothing save kindness fromHenry VIII. ; and for that matter, there seemed to be something in commonbetween bluff King Hal and the equally bluff German Hans. But on oneoccasion Hans Holbein was said to have run the risk of forfeiting hisimperious master's favour by the too favourable miniature which thepainter was accused of painting of Anne of Cleves. 

At Henry's court Holbein painted many a member of the royal family, noble and knight, and English gentleman and lady. His fortune had madehim a portrait painter, but he was fully equal to other branches of art, as shown by his 'Meier Madonna, ' and still more by the designs whichhave been preserved of his famous allegory of 'the Triumphs of Richesand Poverty, ' painted for the hall of the Easterling Steelyard, thequarters of the merchants of Allemagne, then traders in London. Inaddition to painting portraits Holbein designed dagger hilts, clasps, cups, as some say after a study of the goldsmith's work of Cellini. 

For a long time it was believed that Hans Holbein died after Mary Tudorsucceeded to the English throne; indeed, some said that his death hadbeen occasioned or hastened by that change in the affairs of men, whichcompelled him to quit his lodgings in the palace to make room for 'thenew painter, ' Sir Antony More, who came in the suite of Mary'swell-beloved husband, Philip of Spain. There was even a theory, creditable to Hans Holbein, drawn from this conclusion, that he mighthave adopted the Protestant views of his late gracious master, and havestood by them stoutly, and so far forfeited all recognition from thebitter Catholic Mary. But, unfortunately for the tradition and theory, and for the later pictures attributed to Hans Holbein, his will has beendiscovered, and that quite recently, proving, from the date of itsadministration, his death of the plague (so far only the tradition hadbeen right), when yet only in his forty-eighth year, as early as 1543, four years before the death of Henry VIII. In spite of court patronageHolbein did not die a rich man, and there is an impression that he wasrecklessly improvident in his habits. 

Holbein had re-visited Basle several times, and the council had settledon him a pension of fifty florins a year, provided he would return andreside in Basle within two years, while his wife was to receive apension of forty florins a year during Holbein's two years' absence. Holbein did not comply with the terms of the settlement. About the timeof his death his son Philip, then a lad of eighteen, was a goldsmith inParis. Of Hans Holbein's portraits I have two to draw from; one, painted in his youth at Basle, shows the painter in an open doublet, andcurious stomacher-like shirt, and having on his head a great flappinghat. His face is broad and smooth-skinned, with little hair seen, andthe features, the eyes especially, rather small for such an expanse ofcheek and chin. The other picture of Holbein to which I have referredbelongs certainly to a considerably later period of his life, andrepresents him with short but bushy hair, and short bushy beard andmoustache, a man having a broad stout person with a mixture ofdauntlessness and _bonhommie_ in his massive face. 

Mr Ruskin says of Holbein, as a painter, that he was complete inintellect; what he saw he saw with his whole soul, and what he paintedhe painted with his whole might. 

In deep and reverential feeling Holbein was far behind his countrymanAlbert Dürer, but Holbein was far more fully furnished than Dürer(unless indeed as Albrecht Dürer showed himself in that last picture of'the Apostles') in the means of his art; he was a better draughtsman inthe maturity of his powers, and a far better colourist. For Hans Holbeinwas not more famous for the living truthfulness of his likenesses ('aman very excellent in making physiognomies'), than for the 'inimitablebloom' that he imparted to his pictures, which 'he touched, till not atouch became discernible. ' Yet beneath this bloom, along with histruthfulness, there was a dryness and hardness in Holbein's treatment ofhis subjects, and he is far below Titian, Rubens, and even Rembrandt asa portrait painter. 

Holbein was in the habit of painting his larger portraits on a peculiargreen, and his miniatures on a blue background. He drew his portraitsketches with black and red chalk on a paper tinted flesh-colour. It issaid, that with the exception, of Philip Wouwermann, no painter has beenso unfortunate in having the works of other painters attributed to himas Hans Holbein has been, and 'that three out of every four picturesascribed to him are misnamed. '[37]

The 'Meier, or Meyer Madonna, ' is otherwise called 'the Meier Familyadoring the infant Christ in the arms of the Virgin. ' The subject isunderstood to prove that it must have been painted in Holbein's youth, before Protestantism was triumphant at Basle. The figures are theBurgomaster Meier and his wife, whom Holbein painted twice; their son, with a little boy _nude_ beside him; another woman, elderly, conjecturedto be a grandmother of the family, and beside her the young daughter ofthe house. In the centre on a turkey carpet stands the Madonna, holdingin her arms an infant stretching out its left hand to the group ofworshippers. In course of time, and in its transfer from hand to hand, adoubt has arisen with regard to the subject of this picture. Somecritics have regarded it as a votive picture dedicated in a privatechapel to commemorate the recovery from sickness or the death of achild. This conjecture seems to rest mainly on the fact, that the childin the Dresden copy (it is said to be otherwise in the Darmstadtpicture) is of an aspect so sickly, as to have given rise to theimpression that it represented an ailing, or even a dead child, and noglorious child Christ. Critics have gone still farther, and imaginedthat the child is a figure of the soul of a dead child (souls weresometimes painted by the old painters as new-born children), or of thesoul of the elder and somewhat muffled-up woman who might have beenrecently dead. Mr Ruskin regards the picture as an offering for therecovery of a sick child, and thus illustrates it:

 'The received tradition respecting the Holbein Madonna is beautiful, and I believe the interpretation to be true. A father and a mother have prayed to her for the life of their sick child. She appears to them, her own child Christ in her arms; she puts down her child beside them, takes their child into her arms instead; it lies down upon her bosom, and stretches its hand to its father and mother, saying farewell. '

Yet another much more prosaic and less attractive interpretation of thepicture has been suggested by Holbein's biographer, that the twochildren may represent the same child. The child standing by his brothermay be the boy restored to health, the feeble child in the arms of theVirgin may indicate the same child in its sickness, while the extendedarm may point to the seat of the disease in an arm broken or injured. After all, the child may simply be a child Christ, marred in execution. I have given this dispute at length, because I think it is interesting, and, so far as I know, unique in reference to such a picture. By an oddenough mistake this very picture was once said to be the famous MoreFamily picture. 

The idea of the 'Dance of Death' did not originate with Holbein, neitheris he supposed to have done more than touch, if he did touch, thepaintings called the 'Dance of Death, ' on the wall of the Dominicanburial-ground, Basle, painted long before Holbein's day, by the order ofthe council after the plague visited Basle, and considered to have forits meaning simply a warning of the universality of death. But Holbeincertainly availed himself of the older painting, to draw from it thegrim satire of his woodcuts. Of these there are thirty-seven designs, the first, 'The Creation;' the second, 'Adam and Eve in Paradise;' thethird, 'The Expulsion from Paradise;' the fourth, 'Adam Tilling theEarth;' the fifth, 'The Bones of all People;' till the dance reallybegins in the sixth. Death, a skeleton, as seen through the rest of thedesigns, sometimes playing on a guitar or lute, sometimes carrying adrum, bagpipes, a dulcimer, or a fiddle, now appearing with mitre onhead and crozier in hand to summon the Abbot; then marching before theparson with bell, book, and candle; again crowned with ivy, when heseizes the Duke, claims his partners, beginning with the Pope, goingdown impartially through Emperor of Francis I. , nobleman, advocate, physician, ploughman, countess, old woman, little child, etc. , etc. , andleading each unwilling or willing victim in turn to the terrible dance. One woman meets her doom by Death in the character of a robber in awood. Another, the Duchess, sits up in bed fully dressed, roused fromher sleep by two skeletons, one of them playing a fiddle. 

Granting the grotesqueness, freedom, variety, and wonderful precision ofthese woodcuts, I beg my readers to contrast their spirit with that ofAlbrecht Dürer's 'The Knight, Death, and the Devil, ' or Orcagna's'Triumph of Death. ' In Holbein's designs there is no noble consolingfaith; there is but a fierce defiance and wild mockery of inevitablefate, such as goes beyond the levity with which the Venetians in thetime of the plague retired to their country-houses and danced, sung, andtold tales, till the pestilence was upon them. It has a closerresemblance to the piteous madness with which the condemned prisonersduring the French Reign of Terror rehearsed the falling of theguillotine, or the terrible pageant with which the same French, asrepresented by their Parisian brethren, professed to hail the arrival ofthe cholera. 

Of the 'More Family' there are so many duplicates or versions, that, asin the case of Erasmus's picture, it is hard to say which is theoriginal picture, or whether Holbein did more than sketch the original, or merely sketch the various heads to be afterwards put together by aninferior artist. A singular distribution of the light in the bestauthenticated picture has been supposed to favour this conjecture. Butunder any supposition, this, the second of the three noted Englishfamily pictures, is of the greatest interest. I shall record a minuteand curious description given of this 'More Family, ' which is still inthe possession of a descendant of the Mores and Ropers. 

'The room which is here represented seemed to be a large dining-room. Atthe upper end of it stands a chamber-organ on a cupboard, with a curtaindrawn before it. On each end of the cupboard, which is covered with acarpet of tapestry, stands a flower-pot of flowers, and on the cupboardare laid a lute, a base-viol, a pint pot or ewer covered in part with acloth folded several times, and _Boetius de Consolatione Philosophiæ_, with two other books upon it. By this cupboard stands a daughter of SirThomas More's, putting on her right-hand glove, and having under her arma book bound in red Turkey leather and gilt, with this inscription roundthe outside of the cover--_Epistolica Senecæ_. Over her head is writtenin Latin, _Elizabeth Dancy_, daughter of Sir Thomas More, aged 21. 

'Behind her stands a woman holding a book open with both her hands, overwhose head is written _Spouse of John Clements_. [38]

'Next to Mrs Dancy is Sir John More in his robes as one of the justicesof the King's Bench, and by him Sir Thomas in his chancellor's robes, and collar of SS, with a rose pendant before. They are both sitting on asort of tressel or armed bench, one of the arms and legs and one of thetassels of the cushion appear on the left side of Sir Thomas. At thefeet of Sir John lies a cur-dog, and at Sir Thomas's a Bologna shock. Over Sir John's head is written, _John More, father, aged_ 76. Over SirThomas's, _Thomas More, aged_ 50. Between them, behind, stands the wifeof John More, Sir Thomas's son, over whose head is written _AnneCresacre, wife of John More, aged_ 15. Behind Sir Thomas, on his lefthand stands his only son, John More, pictured with a very foolishaspect, and looking earnestly in a book which he holds open with bothhis hands. Over his head is written, _John, son of Thomas More, aged_19. ' (The only and witless son of the family, on whom Sir Thomas madethe comment to his wife:--'You long wished for a boy, and you have gotone--for all his life. ')

'A little to the left of Sir Thomas are sitting on low stools his twodaughters, Cecilia and Margaret. Next him is Cecilia, who has a boot inher lap, clasped. By her side sits her sister Margaret, who has likewisea book on her lap, but wide open, in which is written, _L. An. Senecæ--Oedipus--Fata si liceat mihi fingere arbitrio meo, temperemzephyro levi_. On Cecilia's petticoat is written, _Cecilia Heron, daughter of Thomas More, aged_ 20, and on Margaret's, _Margaret Roper_, _daughter of Thomas More, aged_ 22. ' (The best beloved, mostamiable, and most learned of Sir Thomas's daughters, who visitedhim in the Tower and encouraged him to remain true to hisconvictions, while her step-mother urged him to abjure his faith. Margaret Roper intercepted her father on his return to the Towerafter his trial, and penetrating the circle of the Guards, hung onhis neck and bade him farewell. There is a tradition that shecaused her father's head to be stolen from the spike of the bridgeon which it was exposed, and, getting it preserved, kept it in acasket. She and her husband, William Roper, wrote together thebiography of her father, Sir Thomas More. )

'Just by Mrs Roper sits Sir Thomas's lady in an elbow-chair (?), holdinga book open in her hands. About her neck she has a gold chain, with across hanging to it before. On her left hand is a monkey chained, andholding part of it with one paw and part of it with the other. Over herhead is written '_spouse of Thomas More, aged_ 57. '

(Dame Alice More, the second wife of Sir Thomas More, a foolish andmean-spirited woman. )

'Behind her is a large arched window, in which is placed a flower-pot (avase) of flowers, and a couple of oranges. Behind the two ladies standsSir Thomas's fool, who, it seems, was bereft of his judgment bydistraction. He has his cap on, and in it are stuck a red and whiterose, and on the brim of it is a shield with a red cross on it, and asort of seal pendant. About his neck he wears a black string with across hanging before him, and his left thumb is stuck in a broadleathern girdle clasp'd about him. Over his head is written _HenryPattison, servant_ of Thomas More. At the entrance of the room where SirThomas and his family are, stands a man in the portal who has in hisleft hand a roll of papers or parchments with two seals appendant, as ifhe was some way belonging to Sir Thomas as Lord Chancellor. Over hishead is written _Joannes Heresius, Thomae Mori famulus_. In another roomat some distance is seen through the door-case a man standing at a largesleeved gown of a sea-green colour, and under it a garment of ablossom-colour, holding a book open in his hands written or printedin the black letter, and reading very earnestly in it. About themiddle of the room, over against Sir Thomas, hangs a clock withstrings and leaden weights without any case. '[39]

It is notable that not one of Sir Thomas's sons-in-law is in thispicture, neither is there a grandchild, though one or more is known tohave been born at the date. 

The miniature of Anne of Cleves, if it ever existed, is lost; it isprobable that what was really referred to was the portrait of Anne byHolbein in the Louvre, where she appears 'as a kindly and comely womanin spite of her broad nose and swarthy complexion, but by no means sucha painted Venus as might have deceived King Hal. '[40]

A well-known portrait by Holbein is that of a 'Cornish Gentleman, ' withreddish hair and beard. I saw this portrait not long ago, as it wasexhibited among the works of the Old Masters, and so much did it lookas though the figure would step from the frame, that it was hard tobelieve that more than three hundred years had passed since the originalwalked the earth. [41]

Doubtless the last of Holbein's portrait pieces, which it is reported heleft uncompleted when he died, is that of the 'Barber Surgeons, ' paintedon the occasion of the united company receiving their charter from theking, and including the king's portrait. This picture still hangs in theold company's hall. 

I have only to say a few more words of those sketches which survive thedestruction of the picture--Holbein's allegory of the 'Triumph ofRiches, ' and the 'Triumph of Poverty, ' and of his portrait sketches. Inthe 'Triumph of Riches, ' Plutus, an old man bent double, drives in acar, drawn by four white horses; before him, Fortune, blind, scattersmoney. The car is followed by Croesus, Midas, and other noted misers andspendthrifts--for Cleopatra, the only woman present, is included in thegroup. In the 'Triumph of Poverty, ' Poverty is an old woman in squalorand rags, who is seated in a shattered vehicle, drawn by asses and oxen, and guided by Hope and Diligence. The designs are large and bold. In thefirst, a resemblance to Henry VIII, is found in Croesus. If theresemblance were intentional on Holbein's part, it showed the same wantof tact and feeling which the painter early betrayed in his caricatureof Erasmus. 

But the best of Holbein's drawings are his portrait sketches withchalks, on flesh-tinted paper. These sketches have a history of theirown, subsequent to their execution by Holbein. After being in thepossession of the art-loving Earl of Arundel, and carried to France, they were lost sight of altogether for the space of a century, untilthey were discovered by Queen Caroline, wife of George II. , in a bureauat Kensington. You will hear a little later that the finest collectionof miniatures in England went through the same process of disappearanceand recovery. [42] These original sketches, in addition to their greatartistic merit, form a wonderful collection of speaking likenesses, belonging to the court of Henry VIII. , --likenesses which had beenhappily identified in time by Sir John Cheke (in the reign ofElizabeth), since the names of the originals have been inscribed on theback of each drawing, as it is believed, by Sir John Cheke's hand. Thecollection is now in the Queen's library, Windsor, with photographs atKensington Museum. There are one or two of Holbein's reputed portraitsat Hampton Court. 

I must pass over some painters as not being sufficiently represented formy purpose. Among these is Sir Antony More, Philip II, of Spain'sfriend. It is recorded that Philip having rested his hand on theshoulder of More while at work, the bold painter turned round, anddaubed the royal hand with vermilion. This gave rise to thecourtier-saying that Philip 'made slaves of his friends, and friends ofhis painters. ' Another is Zucchero, one of the painters who wasrequested by Queen Elizabeth to paint her picture without shade, theresult being 'a woman with a Roman nose, a huge ruff and farthingale, and a bushel of pearls. ' There are also Van Somer, --Janssens, whopainted Lady Bowyer, named for her exquisite beauty, 'The star of theEast, ' and Susanna Lister, the most beautiful woman at court, whenpresented in marriage to Sir Geoffrey Thornhurst by James I, inperson, [43]--and Daniel Myttens, all foreigners, Flemish or Dutch, whomwe must thus briefly dismiss. And now we come to Van Dyck. 

Antony Van Dyck was born at Antwerp, in 1599. His father was a merchant;his mother was famous for painting flowers in small, and for needleworkin silk. The fashion of painting 'in small' had prevailed for some time. Horace Walpole mentions that the mother of Lucas de Heere, a Flemishpainter, born in 1534, could paint with such 'diminutive neatness' thatshe had executed 'a landscape with a windmill, miller, a cart and horse, and passengers, ' which half a grain of corn could cover. At ten years ofage, Van Dyck began to study as a painter, and he soon became a pupil, and afterwards a favourite pupil, of Rubens. In 1618, when Van Dyck wasbut a lad of seventeen years, he was admitted as a master into thepainters' guild of St Luke. Two years later, he was still working withRubens, who, seeing his lameness of invention, counselled him to abideby portrait painting, and to visit Italy. A year later, in 1621, whenVan Dyck was twenty years of age, he came to London, already becoming aresort of Flemish painters, and lodging with a countryman of his own, worked for a short time in the service of James I. 

On Van Dyck's return to Flanders, and on the death of his father, he wasable to take Rubens' advice, and in 1623, when Van Dyck was still onlytwenty-two years of age, he set out for Venice, the Rome of the Flemishpainters. Before quitting Antwerp, Van Dyck, in proof of the friendshipwhich existed between the painters, presented Rubens with several of theformer's pictures, among them his famous portrait of 'Rubens' wife. ' Asa pendant to this generosity, when Van Dyck came back to Antwerp, andcomplained to Rubens that he--Van Dyck--could not live on the profits ofhis painting, Rubens went next day and bought every picture of VanDyck's which was for sale. 

Van Dyck spent five years in Italy, visiting Venice, Florence, Rome, andPalermo, but residing principally at Genoa. In Italy, he began toindulge in his love of splendid extravagance, and in the fastidiousfickleness which belonged to the evil side of his character. At Rome hewas called 'the cavalier painter, ' yet his first complaint on his returnto Antwerp was, that he could not live on the profits of his painting!He avoided the society of his homelier countrymen. 

At Palermo, Van Dyck knew, and according to some accounts, painted theportrait of Sophonisba Anguisciola, who claimed to be the most eminentportrait painter among women. She was then about ninety years of age, and blind, but she still delighted in having in her house a kind ofacademy of painting, to which all the painters visiting Palermoresorted. Van Dyck asserted that he owed more to her conversation thanto the teaching of all the schools. A book of his sketches, which wasrecovered, showed many drawings 'after Sophonisba Anguisciola. ' She issaid to have been born at Cremona, was invited at the age of twenty-sixby Philip II, to Spain, and was presented by him with a Spanish don fora husband, and a pension of a thousand crowns a-year from the customs ofPalermo. 

The plague drove Van Dyck from Italy back to Flanders, where he paintedfor a time, and presented his picture of the 'Crucifixion' to theDominicans as a memorial gift in honour of his father, but in FlandersRubens' fame overshadowed that of every other painter, and Van Dyck, recalling an invitation which he had received from the Countess ofArundel while still in Italy, came a second time to England, in 1630, when he was about thirty years of age, and lodged again with afellow-countryman and painter named Gildorp. But his sensitive vanitywas wounded by his not at once receiving an introduction to the king, orthe countenance which the painter considered his due, and therestlessness, which was a prominent feature in his character, beingre-awakened, he withdrew once more from England, and returned to the LowCountries in 1631. At last, a year later, in 1632, Van Dyck's pride waspropitiated by receiving a formal invitation from Charles I. , throughSir Kenelm Digby, to visit England, and this time the painter had nocause to complain of an unworthy reception. He was lodged by the kingamong his artists at Blackfriars, having no intercourse with the city, save by water. He had the king, with his wife and children, to sit tohim, and was granted a pension of two hundred a-year, with thedistinction of being named painter to his Majesty. 

A year later Van Dyck was knighted. Royal and noble commissions flowedupon him, and the king, who had a hereditary love of art, visited thepainter continually, and spent some of the happiest and most innocenthours of his brief and clouded life in Van Dyck's company. Thus beganVan Dyck's success in England. 

To give you an example of how often, and in how many different manners, Van Dyck painted the king and royal family, I shall quote from a list ofhis pictures--

 'King Charles in coronation robes. '

 'King Charles in armour' (twice). 

 'King Charles in white satin, with his hat on, just descended from his horse; in the distance, view of the Isle of Wight. '

 'King Charles in armour, on a white horse; Monsieur de St Antoine, his equerry, holding the king's helmet. '

 'The King and Queen sitting; Prince Charles, very young, standing at the King's side; the Duke of York, an infant, on the Queen's knee. '

 'The King and Queen holding a crown of laurel between them. '

 'The Queen in white. '

 'Prince Charles in armour' (two or three times). 

 'King, Queen, Prince Charles, and Princess Mary. '

 'Queen with her five children. '

 'Queen with dwarfs, [44] Sir Geoffrey Hudson having a monkey on his shoulder. '

Van Dyck had several great patrons, after the king. For the Earl ofArundel, in addition to portraits of the Earl and Countess, the painterdesigned a second Arundel family picture, which was painted byFruitiers. For George, Duke of Buckingham, Van Dyck painted one of hisfinest double portraits of the Duke's two sons, when children. For theNorthumberland family Van Dyck painted, besides portraits of Henry andAlgernon, Earls of Northumberland, another famous picture, that of thetwo beautiful sisters, Lady Dorothy Percy, afterwards Countess ofLeicester, and her sister, Lady Lucy Percy, afterwards Countess ofCarlisle, whose charms figure frequently in the memoirs of her time. William and Philip, Earls of Pembroke, were also among his patrons, andfor the second he painted his great family picture, 'The WiltonFamily. ' Sir Kenelm Digby, too, whose wife Venitia was more frequentlypainted than any woman of her day, and was not more distinguished forher beauty than for her lack of nobler qualities. Van Dyck alone paintedher several times, the last after her sudden death, for her vain andeccentric, if gallant, husband, who in the end was no friend to VanDyck. 

But these high names by no means exhaust the list of patrons of apainter who, among various contradictory qualities, was indefatigablyindustrious. His work is widely distributed among the Scotch as well asthe English descendants of the nobility whom he painted, so that thepossession of at least one ancestral 'Van Dyck' accompanies very manypatents of nobility, and is equivalent to a warrant of gentle birth. 

The Earl of Clarendon, in the next reign, had a great partiality for VanDyck's pictures, and was said to be courted by gifts of them until hisapartments at Cornbury were furnished with full-length 'Van Dycks. ' Athird of his collection went to Kitty Hyde, Duchess of Queensberry, oneof the Earl's three co-heiresses. Through the Rich family many of these'Van Dycks' passed to Taymouth Castle, where by a coincidence they werelodged in the company of numerous works of George Jamieson of Aberdeen, who is said to have been for a short time a fellow-pupil of Van Dyck'sunder Rubens, who has been called 'the Scotch Van Dyck, ' and who iscertainly the first native painter who deserves honourable mention. Since the death of the last Marquis of Breadalbane these travelled 'VanDycks' have gone back to the English representative of the Rich family. 

Van Dyck had forty pounds for a half, and sixty pounds for awhole-length picture;--for a large piece of the King, Queen, and theirchildren, he had a hundred pounds. For the Wilton family picture he hadfive hundred and twenty-five pounds. But Van Dyck soon impaired hisfortune. He was not content with having a country-house at Eltham inKent, where he spent a portion of each summer; he would emulate in hisexpenditure the most spendthrift noble of that reign. 'He always wentmagnific so good a table in his apartment that few princes were morevisited and better served. ' His marriage was not calculated to teach himmoderation. In his thirty-ninth year the King gave him the hand of MarieRuthven, who was nearly related to the unhappy Earl of Gowrie. She washis niece, her father having been the scarcely less unhappy youngerbrother Patrick, a physician, who, apprehended when a young man on thecharge of being concerned in the treason of his elder brothers, spenthis manhood in the Tower. He was kept a prisoner there from 1584 to1619, nearly forty years, and was only released in his age and infirmitywhen his mind was giving way. Patrick Ruthven's infant daughter had beenadopted, either through charity or perversity, by Anne of Denmark, andbrought up first at the court of Anne, and afterwards at that ofHenrietta Maria. The assertion that Marie Ruthven was a very beautifulwoman has been contradicted. It was said that 'she was bestowed inmarriage on Sir Antony Van Dyck as much to humble further the alreadyhumbled and still detested family of Ruthven, as to honour the painter;but this does not seem consistent with King Charles's known favour forVan Dyck. Yet such a view might have been entertained by Marie Ruthvenherself, who, according to tradition, held herself degraded by themarriage, and never forgave the degradation. She was not a loving wifeto a man who could hardly have been a very loving or loyal husband. Andcertainly the marriage did not unite the painter closer to the king. 

With his professional industry, Van Dyck combined an equallyunquenchable love of pleasure, which, with his luxurious and sedentaryhabits, induced paroxysms of gout, from which Rubens also sufferedseverely. This must have ultimately disqualified him for good work, andwhen his debts accumulated in greater proportion even than his receipts, in place of having recourse, like Rubens, to his painting-room, Van Dycktried a shorter road to get rich, by following the idle example of SirKenelm Digby in his pursuit of alchemy and the philosopher's stone. 

In the year of his marriage, Van Dyck re-visited Flanders, in companywith his wife, and then repaired to France, it is understood with theintention of settling there. He was instigated to the step by his wife, and his own ambition of rivalling Rubens' triumphs at the Luxembourg;but the preference which the French gave to the works of theircountryman, Nicolas Poussin, roused his latent jealousy, and somortified him as to induce him to renounce his intention. He determinedto return to England, and was, to his credit, confirmed in hisresolution by the threatening civil war which was to shake his royalmaster's throne to the foundation, rather than deterred from it. 

Again in England, Van Dyck employed Sir Kenelm Digby to make an offer onthe painter's part that for eight hundred pounds he would paint thehistory, and a procession of the Knights of the Garter on the walls ofthe Knights' banqueting-room at Whitehall--that palace which was tohave surpassed the Louvre, the Tuileries, and the Escurial, and from oneof the windows of which Charles stepped out on his scaffold. But theproposal was rejected, and immediately afterwards the civil war brokeout, and was speedily followed by the death of Van Dyck, about a yearafter his marriage, when he was a little over forty years old, atBlackfriars, in 1641. He was buried in old St Paul's, near the tomb ofJohn of Gaunt. His daughter, Justiniana, was born a short time--some sayonly eight days--before her father died, and was baptized on the day ofhis death. Van Dyck left effects and sums due to him to the amount oftwenty thousand pounds; but the greater part of the debts were foundbeyond recovery at the close of the civil war. His daughter grew up, andmarried a Mr Stepney, 'who rode in King Charles's life guards. ' Hiswidow re-married; her second husband was a Welsh knight. 

Van Dyck's contradictory elements. He was actuated by opposite motiveswhich are hard to analyze, and which in their instability have withinthemselves, whatever their outward advantages, the doom of failure inthe highest excellence. He was a proud man, dissatisfied both withhimself and his calling, resenting, with less reason than Hans Holbeinshowed, that he should be condemned to portrait painting, yet by nomeans undervaluing or slurring over his work. He 'would detain thepersons who sat to him to dinner for an opportunity of studying theircountenances and re-touching their pictures, ' 'would have a sitter, sitting to him seven entire days, mornings and evenings, and would notonce let the man see the picture till it pleased the painter. ' Van Dyckappears to have been a man with the possibilities in him of greaterthings than he attained, possibilities which were baffled by hisweakness and self-indulgence, leaving him with such a sense of this asspoiled his greatest successes. 

I have the varying indications of two pictures of Van Dyck from which toget an impression of his personal appearance. The first picture is thatof a youthful face, soft, smiling, with dark eyes, finely-formed nose, a slightly open mouth, having a full-cleft under lip, the hair profuseand slightly curled, but short, and no beard or moustache. The dress isan open doublet, without a collar, a lace cravat, and one arm half bare. The second is the picture of Van Dyck in the Louvre, which is judged thebest likeness of the painter. In this his person is slender, hiscomplexion fair, his eyes grey, his hair chestnut brown, his beard andwhiskers red. He wears a vest of green velvet, with a plain collar. 

In his art, Van Dyck, with something of the glow of Rubens, and with adelicacy peculiarly his own, was decidedly inferior to his great master, both in power and in fertility of genius. In the superficial refinementwhich was so essential a part of Van Dyck, he had the capacity ofconferring on his sitters a reflection of his own outward statelinessand grace. When he painted at his best his portraits were solid, true, and masterly, but he has been reproached with sacrificing truth to therefining process which he practised. Even in the case of Charles I. , whose portraits are our most familiar examples of Van Dyck, and who thuslives in the imagination of most people as the very personification of anoble and handsome cavalier, there have not been wanting critics whohave maintained that Charles, --the son of a plain uncouth father, and ofa mother rather floridly buxom than delicately handsome, and who was inhis childhood a sickly rickety child, --was by no means so well endowedin the matter of manly beauty as we have supposed. These students of oldgossip and close investigation, have alleged that Charles was long andlanky, after he had ceased to be Baby Charles; that his nose was toolarge, and, alas! apt to redden; that his eyes were vacillating; and hismouth, the loosely hung mouth of a man who begins by being irresolute, and ends by being obstinate. [45] Again, in the hands of a sitter, whichVan Dyck was supposed to paint with special care and elegance, it hasbeen argued that he copied always the same hand, probably his own, inignorance, or in defiance of the fact that hands have nearly as much andas varying character as a painter can discover in faces. Though Van Dyckpainted many beautiful women, he did not excel in rendering thembeautiful on canvas, so that succeeding generations, in gazing on VanDyck's versions of Venitia, Lady Digby, and Dorothy Sydney--Waller'sSacharissa, --have wondered how Sir Kenelm, Waller, and theircontemporaries, could find these ladies so beautiful. 

Van Dyck certainly owed something of the charm of his pictures to thedress of the period, with regard to which he received this credit that'Van Dyck was the first painter who e'er put ladies' dress into acareless romance. ' But in reality never was costume better suited for apainter like Van Dyck. 

The hair in the men was allowed to flow to the shoulders or gathered ina love knot, while the whiskers and beard formed a point. In the womenthe hair was crisped in curls round the face. The ruff in men and womenhad yielded to the broad, rich, falling collar, with deep scallops ofpoint lace. Vest and cloak were of the richest velvet or satin, or else, on the breaking out of the civil war, men appeared in armour. The man'shat was broad and flapping, usually turned up at one side, and having anostrich feather in the band; his long wide boots were of Spanishleather, and he wore gauntlet gloves, and rich ruffles at his wrists. The women wore hoods and mantles, short bodices, ample trains, and widesleeves terminating in loose ruffles at the elbow, which left half ofthe arm bare. Pearl necklaces and bracelets, round feather fans, and'knots of flowers, ' were the almost universal ornaments of women. Another ornament of both men and women, which belonged to the day, andwas very common in the quarters I have been referring to, was aminiature enclosed in a small case of ivory or ebony, carved like arose, and worn on the left side in token of betrothal. [46] Van Dyck, along with the appreciation of black draperies which he held in commonwith Rubens, was specially fond of painting white or blue satin. He issaid to have used a brown preparation of pounded peach-stones forglazing the hair in his pictures. 

In the end, with all the aids that critics may have given him, and allthe faults they may find in him, Van Dyck was a great, and in the mainan earnest portrait painter. Perhaps 'Charles in white satin, justdescended from his horse, ' is the best of the single portraits whichwere held to be Van Dyck's forte. 

I must try to give my readers some idea of Van Dyck's 'Wilton Family. 'It has been so praised, that some have said 'it might have been coveredwith gold as a price to obtain it;' on the other hand, it has notescaped censure. One critic asserts that there is no common actionuniting the figures, and that the faces are so different incomplexion--one yellow-faced boy appearing either jaundiced or burnt bya tropical sun, that the family might have lived in different climates. 

This is the story of the picture. 'Earl Philip of Pembroke havingcaused his family to meet, informs them with great emotion of thenecessity of his eldest son Charles, Lord Herbert, going into the armyof the Grand Duke of Tuscany, there to acquire military honour andexperience, notwithstanding his having just married Mary, daughter ofGeorge, Duke of Buckingham. Lord Herbert is receiving the news withardour, the young bride is turning aside her fair face to hide hertears. (Charles Lord Herbert was married Christmas, 1634, went toFlorence, and died there of small pox, January, 1636. )

'In the Pembroke picture (or "Wilton Family") there are ten figures. TheEarl and Countess are seated on a dais, under a coat of arms. He wears agreat lace collar, an order on his breast, a key at his girdle, and hasgreat shoes with roses. She has flowing curls, hanging sleeves, armscrossed, necklace on the bare neck. (The Countess of Pembroke was theEarl's second wife, Anne Clifford, daughter of George, Earl ofCumberland, the brave lady who defied Cromwell, and was fond of signingher name with the long string of titles derived from her two husbands, "Anne Dorset, Pembroke, Montgomery. ") Robert Dormer, Earl of Carnarvon, is introduced with his wife, Lady Anne Sophia Herbert, daughter of EarlPhilip; they are on the Countess's left hand. The daughter-in-law, aboutto be parted from her husband, stands on the lowest step of the dais;she is elegantly dressed, with hanging sleeves knotted with bows fromshoulder to elbow. Two young men, the bridegroom and his brother, are attheir father's right hand; they wear great falling collars and cloaks. There are three half-grown boys in tunics without collars, and greatroses in their shoes, with a dare three daughters of the family who diedin infancy. '

Van Dyck's finest sacred pictures were his early 'Crucifixion, ' and aPieta, at Antwerp. In these he gave a promise of nobler and deeperpathos than he afterwards fulfilled. His pictures are to be foundfreely, as I have written, in old English mansions, such as Arundel andAlnwick Castles, Knowsley, Knole, Petworth, etc. A head said to be byVan Dyck is in the National Gallery. 

Van Dyck had few pupils: one, an Englishman named Dobson, earned anhonourable reputation as a painter. 

From Sir Antony More's time down to that of Leíly and Kneller, the ragefor portraits was continually increasing, and took largely the form ofminiatures, which were painted chiefly by foreigners; notably byHilliard and two Olivers or Oliviers, a father and son of Frenchextraction, and by a Swiss named Petitot. A collection of miniatures bythe Oliviers, including no less than six of Venitia, Lady Digby, had asimilar fate to that of Holbein's drawings. The miniatures had beenpacked in a wainscot box and conveyed to the country-house in Wales ofMr Watkin Williams, who was a descendant of the Digby family. In courseof time the box with its contents, doubtless forgotten, had beentransferred to a garret, where it had lain undiscovered for, it has beensupposed, fully a hundred years. It was two hundred years after thedate of the painting of the miniatures, that on some turning over of thelumber in the garret, the exquisite miniatures, fresh as on the day whenthey were painted, were accidentally brought to light. [47]

Sir Peter Lely was born in Westphalia in 1618. His real name was VanderFacs, and his father was a 'Captain of Foot, ' who, having chanced to beborn in rooms over a perfumer's shop which bore the sign of a lily, tookfantastically enough the name of Du Lys, or Lely, which he transmittedto his son. Sir Peter Lely, after studying in a studio at Haarlem, cameto England when he was twenty-three years of age, in 1641, and sethimself to copy the pictures of Van Dyck, who died in the year of Lely'sarrival in England, and whom he succeeded as court painter. Lely wasknighted by Charles II. , married an English woman, and had a son and adaughter, who died young. He made a large fortune, dying at last ofapoplexy, with which he was seized as he was painting the Duchess ofSomerset, when he was sixty-two years of age, in 1680. 

With regard to Lely's character, we may safely judge from his works thathe was such a man as Samuel Pepys, 'of easy virtue, ' a man holding a lowenough standard by which to measure himself and others. Mr Palgravequotes from Mr Leslie the following characteristic anecdote of Lely, which seems to prove that he was aware of, and coolly accepted, thedecline of art in his generation and person. A nobleman said to Lely, 'How is it that you have so great a reputation, when you know, as wellas I do, that you are no painter?' 'True, but I am the best you have, 'was the answer. Lely's punishment followed him into his art, forbeginning by copying Van Dyck, it is said of Lely that he degenerated inhis work till it bore the very 'stamp of the depravity of the age. '

Lely's sitters were mostly women. Among them was one who deserved afitter painter, Mistress Anne Killigrew, Dryden's--

 'Youngest virgin daughter of the skies. '

In Lely's portrait of her, she is a neat, slightly prim, delicatebeauty, with very fine features, and such sleepy eyes, as were probablythe gift of Lely, since he has bestowed them generally on the women whomhe painted. Mistress Anne Killigrew's hair is in curls, piled up infront, but hanging down loosely behind. Her bodice is gathered togetherby a brooch, and she has another brooch on one shoulder. She wears alight pearl necklace, and 'drops' shaped like shamrocks in her ears. 

Lely painted both Charles I, and Cromwell, who desired his painters toomit 'no pimple or wart, ' but to paint his face as they saw it. 

Among less notable personages Lely painted Monk, Duke of Albemarle, andhis rough Duchess, once a camp follower, according to popular rumour, and named familiarly by the contemptuous wits of the day 'Nan Clarges. 'It is with not more honourable originals than poor 'Nan Clarges' thatLely's name as a painter is chiefly associated. We know what an eviltime the years after the Restoration proved in England, and it was toimmortalize, as far as he could, the vain, light women of thegeneration that Lely lent what skill he possessed. There their pictureshang in what has been called 'the Beauty Room' at Hampton Court, and nogood man or woman can look at them without holding such beautydetestable. 

At Hampton Court also there are several of the eleven portraits ofAdmirals whom Lely painted for James II, when Duke of York. 

Antonio Canal, called Canaletto, incorrectly Canaletti, was born atVenice in 1697. He was the son of a scene painter at the theatre. In hisyouth he worked under his father; a little later he went to Rome, andstudied for some time there. Then he came to England, where he remainedonly for two years. I have hesitated about placing his name among thoseof the foreign painters resident in England, but so many of his worksare in this country that he seems to belong to it in an additionalsense. He is said to have 'made many pictures and much money. ' He diedat Venice when he was seventy years of age, in 1768. As a painter hewas famous for his correctness of perspective and precision of outline(in which it is alleged he aided himself by the use of the camera), qualities specially valuable in the architectural subjects of which hewas fond, drawing them principally from his native Venice. But his veryexcellence was mechanical, and he showed so little originality or, forthat matter, fidelity of genius, that he painted his landscapes ininvariable sunshine. 

 * * * * *

The great wood-carver Grinling Gibbons deserves mention among theartists of this date. He was a native of Rotterdam, where he was born in1648. He came to London with other carvers the year after the great fireof London, and was introduced by Evelyn to Charles II. , who took himinto his employment. 'Gibbons was appointed master carver in wood toGeorge I. , with a salary of eighteen-pence a day. ' He died at his housein Bow Street in the sixty-third year of his age, in 1721. It is saidthat no man before Gibbons 'gave to wood the lightness of flowers. ' Forthe great houses of Burghley, Petworth, and Chatsworth, Gibbons carvedexquisite work, in festoons for screens, and chimney-pieces, and panelsfor pictures, of fruit, flowers, shells, and birds. 

 * * * * *

Sir Godfrey Kneller was born at Lübeck in 1646, and was the son of anarchitect. He is said to have studied under Rembrandt; but if this betrue, it must have been in Kneller's early youth. It is more certainthat he travelled in Italy and returned to settle in Hamburg, butchanging his plans, he came to England, when he was about thirty yearsof age, in 1675. London became his home. There he painted portraits withgreat success; his prices being fifteen guineas for a head, twenty ifwith one hand, thirty for a half, and sixty for a whole-length portrait. Charles II, sat at the same time to Kneller and to Lely. Not Titianhimself painted more crowned heads than it fell to the lot of Kneller topaint--not less than six reigning kings and queens of England, and, inaddition, Louis XIV. Of France, Charles VI, of Spain, and the Czar Peterof Russia. 

William III, created Kneller a knight, and George I, raised thepainter's rank to that of a baronet. Sir Godfrey was notorious for hisconceit, irritability, and eccentricity, and for the wit which sparkledmore in his conversation than in any originality of observationdisplayed in his painting. Walpole attributes to Kneller the oppositequalities of great negligence and great love of money. The negligence orslovenliness, whether in the man or the artist, did not interfere withan immense capacity for work, such as it was, but if Horace Walpole beright, that Kneller employed many Flemish painters under him toundertake the wigs, draperies, etc. Etc. , the amount of work in portraitpainting which Sir Godfrey Kneller accomplished is so far explained. Heattained the end of being a very rich man, and married an English woman, but left no family to succeed to his wealth and his country-seat ofWhitton, when he died at his house in London in his seventy-eighth year, in 1723. 

As a painter Sir Godfrey Kneller showed considerable talent in drawing, and a certain cumbrous dignity of design, but he had much more industryof a certain kind than artistic feeling or taste. When he and Lelypainted Charles II, together, Kneller's application and rapidity ofexecution were so far before those of Lely, who was technically thebetter painter of the two, that Kneller's picture was finished whenLely's was dead-coloured only. Kneller was highly praised by Dryden, Addison, Prior, and Steele. Apropos of these writers, among the mostfamous works of Kneller are the forty-three portraits, paintedoriginally for Tonson, the bookseller, of the members of the Kit Catclub, the social and literary club of the day, which got its name fromthe chance of its holding its meetings in a house the owner of whichbore the unique name of Christopher Cat. Another series of portraits byKneller are what ought to be, in their designation, the Hampton CourtBeauties. These are still, like the other 'Beauties, ' at Hampton. Thesecond series was proposed by William's Queen Mary, and includedherself, Sarah Jennings, Duchess of Marlborough, and Mary Bentinck. ToSarah Jennings men did award the palm of beauty, but poor Queen Mary, who had a modest, simple, comely, English face as a princess, had losther fresh youthful charm by the time she became Queen of England, andwas still further disfigured by the swelling of the face to which shewas liable. Her proposal to substitute the worthier women of her courtfor the unworthy beauties of her uncle King Charles' court was notrelished, and helped to render Mary unpopular--among the women, atleast, of her nobility. Neither was Sir Godfrey Kneller qualified toenhance the attractions of Mary's maids of honour and ladies in waiting, who, to complete their disadvantages, lived at a period when it hadbecome the fashion for women to crown their persons by an erection ontheir natural heads of artificial 'edifices of three heads. '

To Kneller, as I have already written, we owe the preservation ofRaphael's cartoons. 

CHAPTER XII. [48]

ITALIAN MASTERS FROM THE FOURTEENTH TO THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES--TADDEOGADDI, 1300, SUPPOSED TO HAVE DIED 1366--FRA FILIPPO, 1412-1469--BENOZZOGOZZOLI, 1424-1496--LUCA SIGNORELLI, 1441, SUPPOSED TO HAVE DIED ABOUT1524--BOTTICELLI, 1447-1515--PERUGINO, 1446-1522--CARPACCIO, DATE ANDPLACE OF BIRTH AND DEATH UNKNOWN--CRIVELLI--FILIPPINO LIPI, EARLIER THAN1460--ANTONELLA DA MESSINA, BELIEVED TO HAVE DIED AT VENICE, 1496--GAROPALO, 1481-1559--LUINI, DATE OF BIRTH UNKNOWN, SUPPOSED TOHAVE DIED ABOUT 1530--PALMA, ABOUT 1480-1528--PARDENONE, 1483-1538--LOSPAGNA, DATE OF BIRTH UNKNOWN, 1533--GIULIO ROMANO, 1492-1546--PARISBORDONE, 1500-1570--IL PARMIGIANINO, 1503-1540--BAROCCIO, 1528-1612--CARAVAGGIO, 1569-1609--LO SPAGNOLETTO, 1593-1656--GUERCINO, 1592-1666--ALBANO, 1578-1660--SASSOFERRATO, 1605-1685--VASARI, 1513-1574--SOFONISBA ANGUISCIOLA, 1535, ABOUT 1620--LAVINIA FONTANA, 1552-1614. 

Taddeo Gaddi, the most important of Giotto's scholars, was born in 1300, and was held at the baptismal font by Giotto himself. Gaddi rather wentback on earlier traditions and faults. His excellence lay in his purityand simplicity of feeling. His finest pictures are from the life of theVirgin, in S. Croce, Florence. He was, like his master, a greatarchitect as well as painter. He furnished the plans for the PonteVecchio and Campanile, Florence, after Giotto's death. He was possessedof great activity and industry. He is supposed to have died in 1366, andrests in the scene of his labours, since he was buried in the cloistersof S. Croce. 

Fra Filippo, 1412-1469, a Carmelite friar. The romantic, scandalouslife, including his slavery in Barbary, attributed to him by Vasari, thegreat biographer of the early Italian painters, has received nocorroboration from modern researches. It is rather refuted. He alwayssigned his pictures 'Frater Filippus, ' and his death is entered in theregister of the Carmine convent as that of 'Frater Filippus. ' In allprobability he was from first to last a monk, and not a disreputableone. He describes himself as the poorest friar in Florence, with sixmarriageable nieces dependent on him, and he is said to have beeninvolved in debt. 

His colouring was 'golden and broad, ' in anticipation of that of Titian;his draperies were fine. He was wanting in the ideal, but full of humanfeeling, which was apt to get rude and boisterous; his angels were 'likegreat high-spirited boys. ' Withal, his style of composition was stately. Among the best examples of his work are scenes from the life of St Johnthe Baptist in frescoes in the choir of the Duomo at Prato. His panelpictures are rather numerous. There are two lunette[49] pictures by FraFilippo in the National Gallery. 

Benozzo Gozzoli, 1424-1496, a scholar of Fra Angelico, but resemblinghim only in light and cheerful colouring. He is said to have been thefirst Italian painter smitten with the beauty of the natural world. Hewas the first to create rich landscape backgrounds, and he enlivenedhis landscapes with animals. He displayed a fine fancy for architecturaleffects, introducing into his pictures open porticoes, arcades, balconies, and galleries. He liked to have subsidiary groups and circlesof spectators about his principal figures. In these groups he introducedportraits of his contemporaries, true to nature and full of expressionand delicate feeling. His best work is in the Campo Santo, Pisa, scenesfrom the history of the Old Testament, ranging from Noah to the Queen ofSheba. The Pisans were so pleased with his work as to present him, in1478, with a sarcophagus intended to contain his remains when theyshould be deposited in the Campo Santo. He survived the gift eighteenyears, dying in 1496. His easel pictures are rare, and do not offer goodrepresentations of the master. There is one in the National Gallery--aVirgin and Child, with saints and angels. 

Luca d'Egidio di Ventura, called also Luca 'da Cortona, ' from hisbirth-place, and Luca Signorelli, 1441, supposed to have died about1524. His is a great name in the Tuscan School. He played an importantpart in the painting of the Sistine Chapel, though he is onlyrepresented by one wall picture, the History of Moses. At his best heanticipated Michael Angelo in power and grandeur, but he was given toexaggeration. His fame rests principally on his frescoes at Orvieto, where, by a strange chance, he was appointed, after an interval of time, to continue and complete the work begun by Fra Angelico, the master mostopposed to Signorelli in style. Luca added the great dramatic sceneswhich include the history of Antichrist, executed with a grandeur which'only Lionardo among the painters sharing a realistic tendency couldhave surpassed. ' These scenes, which contain The Resurrection, Hell, andParadise, bear a strong resemblance to the work of Michael Angelo. Inhis fine drawing of the human figure Signorelli may be known by 'thesquareness of his forms in joints and extremities. ' A conspicuous detailin his pictures is frequently a bright-coloured Roman scarf. His work israrely seen north of the Alps. 

Sandro Filipepi, called Botticelli, 1447-1515. He was an apprentice toa goldsmith, and then became a scholar of Filippo Lipi's. Botticelli wasvehement and impetuous, full of passion and poetry, seeking to expressmovement. He was the most dramatic painter of his school. Occasionallyhe rises to a grandeur that allies him to Signorelli and Michael Angelo. His circular pictures of the Madonna and Child, with angels, arenumerous. Like Fra Filippo, Botticelli's angels are noble youths, someof them belonging to the great families of the time. They are prone tobe ecstatic with joy or frantic with grief. There is a grand Coronationof the Virgin, by Botticelli at Hamilton Palace, and a beautifulNativity by the old master belongs to Mr Fuller Maitland. His Madonnaand Child are grand and tragic figures always. Botticelli's noblefrescoes in the Sistine Chapel are apt to be overlooked because ofMichael Angelo's 'sublime work' on the ceiling. There has been a revivalof Botticelli's renown within late years, partly due to the newinterest in the earlier Italian painters which Mr Browning has donesomething to stimulate. 

I quote some thoughtful remarks on Botticelli by W. C. Lefroy in_Macmillan's Magazine_: 'Mr Ruskin, we know, divides Italian art intothe art of faith, beginning with Giotto, and lasting rather more than200 years, and the art of unbelief, or at least of cold and inoperativefaith, beginning in the middle of Raphael's life. But whatever divisionwe adopt, we must remember that the revival of Paganism, as a matter offact, affected men in different ways. Right across the schools this newspirit draws its line, but the line is not a hard and sharp one. Somemen lie wholly on one side of it, with Giotto, Angelico, and Orcagna;some wholly upon the other, with Titian and Correggio, but there aresome on whom it seems to fall as a rainbow falls upon a hill-side. Such, for instance, is Botticelli. Now he tries to paint as men painted in theold days of unpolluted faith, and then again he breaks away and paintslike a very heathen. 

'The interest which this artist has excited in the present generationhas been exaggerated into something like a fashion, and recent criticismhas delighted to find or imagine in him the idiosyncrasies of recentthought. To us it may be he does in truth say more than he or hiscontemporaries dreamed of, but while true criticism will sternly refuseto help us to see in his pictures that which is purely subjective, itwill, I think, recognise the fact that a day like ours is capable ofreading in the subtle suggestions of ancient art thoughts which haveonly now come to be frankly defined or exquisitely analysed. To us, moreover, Botticelli presents not only the poem of the apparition of theyoung and beautiful manhood of humanism before the brooding andentranced, yet half expectant, maidenhood of mediævalism, but also thepoem of the painter's own peculiar relation to that crisis. For us thereis the poetry of the thing itself, and also the poetry of Botticelli'sattempt to express it. The work of Botticelli does not supply auniversal utterance for mankind like Shakespeare's plays, but when westand before the screen on which his "Nativity" is hung, or contemplatein the adjoining room his two perplexed conceptions of "Aphrodite, " weare face to face with a genuine outcome of that memorable meeting, mediævalism, humanism, and Savonarola, which no generation can afford toignore, and our own especially delights to contemplate. There has beenmuch dispute about the date of Botticelli's "Nativity, " and somedefenders of Savonarola have hoped to read 1511 in the strange characterof its inscription, so that this beautiful picture, standing forth asthe work of one for many years under the influence of "the Frate, " mayrefute the common calumny that that influence was unfriendly to art. Ourcatalogue, indeed, unhesitatingly asserts of Botticelli, that "he becamea follower of Savonarola and no doubt suffered from it;" but thoughthere seems to be really little doubt that the "Nativity" was painted in1500, the inscription, with its mystic allusion to the Apocalypse, andthe whole character of the picture, afford unmistakable evidence of theinfluence of Savonarola. '

Pietro Perugino, 1446, died of the plague at Frontignano in 1522. Perugino is another painter who has been indebted to the lastRenaissance. His fame, in this country rested chiefly on thecircumstance that he was Raphael's master, whom the generous prince ofpainters delighted to honour, till the tide of fashion in art rosesuddenly and floated old Pietro once more to the front. At his best hehad luminous colour, grace, softness, and enthusiastic earnestness, especially in his young heads. His defects were monotony, and formality, together with comparative ignorance of the principles of his art. Hisconception of his calling in its true dignity was not high. His attemptsat expressing ardour degenerated into mannerism, and he acquired habitsand tricks of arrangement and style, among which figured his favouriteupturned heads, that in the end were ill drawn, and, like every otheraffectation, became wearisome. In the process of falling off as anartist, when mere manual dexterity took the place of earnest devotionand honest pains, Perugino had a large studio where many pupils executedhis commissions, and where, working for gain instead of excellence inart, he had the satisfaction, doubtless, of amassing a large fortune. Among his finest works is the picture of an enthroned Madonna and Childin the gallery of the Uffizi. Another fine Madonna with Saints is atCremona. His frescoes in the Sala del Campio at Perugia are among hisbest works. The subjects of these frescoes are partly scriptural; partlymythological. In the execution there is excellence alike in drawing, colouring, and the disposal of drapery. A _chef d'oeuvre_ by the masteris the Madonna of the Certosa at Pavia, now in, the National Gallery. Yet it is said to have been painted at the very period when MichaelAngelo ridiculed Perugino's work as 'absurd and antiquated. ' VittoreCarpaccio, date and place of birth unknown, though he is said to havebeen a native of Istria. He was a historical painter of the earlyVenetian School and a follower of the Bellini. His romantic _genre_pictures show the daily life of the Venice of his time, and arefurnished with landscape and architectural backgrounds. His masterly andrich work is mostly in Venice. He introduces animals freely and well inhis designs. 

Carlo Crivelli was another master of the fifteenth century who deservesnotice. He had strong individuality, yet was influenced by the Paduanand Venetian Schools. He displayed an old-fashioned preference forpainting in tempera. Sometimes his drawing approaches that of Mantegna, while he has a gorgeousness of colouring all his own. His picturesoccasionally show dignity of composition in combination with grace anddaintiness; but he could be guilty of exaggerated vehemence ofexpression. He frequently introduced fruit, flowers, and birds in hiswork. He is fully represented in the National Gallery, his works thereranging from 'small tender pictures of the dead Christ with angels, to asumptuous altar-piece in numerous compartments. '

Filippino Lipi was an adopted son and probably a relation of FraFilippo's, though a scholar's use of his master's name was not uncommon. The date of his birth is earlier than 1460. Filippino was also a pupilof Botticelli's, while there was a higher sense of beauty and grace inthe pupil than in the teacher. Among his last works is the Vision of StBernard, an easel picture in the Badia at Florence. The apparition ofthe Madonna in this picture is said to be 'full of charm. ' In his largerworks he is one of the greatest historical painters of his country. Roman antiquities had the same keen interest for him which they held forthe greatest of his contemporaries, and he made free use of them in thearchitecture of his pictures. He has fine work in the Carmelite Church, Florence, and in S. Maria Sopra Minerva, Rome. Much of some of hispictures is painted over. The National Gallery has a picture ofFilippino's 'of grand execution, ' though almost colourless--the Madonnaand Child, with St Jerome and St Francis. 

Antonella da Messina was the Neapolitan painter who brought the practiceof painting in oils from the Netherlands into Italy, though it is nowbelieved, from stubborn discrepancies in dates, that the story of hisgreat friendship with Jan Van Eyck, as given by Vasari, is apochryphal. Very likely Hans Memling, called also 'John of Bruges, ' was the realfriend and leader of Antonella. His best work consisted of portraits. Heis believed to have died at Venice in 1496. 

Benvenuto Tisio, surnamed from the place of his birth Garofalo, was bornin 1481, and died in 1559. He passed from the early school of Ferrara tothat of Raphael. His conception was apt to be fantastic, while hiscolouring was vivid to abruptness, and he was deficient in charm ofexpression. He fell into the fault of monotonous ideality. At the sametime his heads are beautiful, and his drapery is classic. His finestwork is an 'Entombment' in the Borghese Palace, Rome. There is analtar-piece by Garofalo, a Madonna and Child with angels, in theNational Gallery. 

Bernardo Luini, who stands foremost among the scholars of Lionardo daVinci, was born by the Lago Maggiore, the date unknown, came to Milan in1500, was elderly in 1525, and is supposed to have died not long after1530. His work is chiefly found in Milan. His great merit has been onlylately acknowledged. He is not 'very powerful or original, ' but for'purity, grace, and spiritual expression, ' he ranks very high. He unitesthe earnestness of the older masters with the prevailing feeling forbeauty of the great masters of Italian Art. His pictures were longmistaken for those of his master, Lionardo, though it is said that whenthe difference between them is once pointed out, it is easilyrecognised; indeed, the resemblance is confined to a smiling beatificexpression in the countenances, which abounds more in Luini's pictures. His heads of women, children, and angels present every degree ofserenity, sweet cheerfulness and happiness, up to ecstatic rapture. 'Christ Disputing with the Doctors, ' in the National Gallery, formerlycalled a Lionardo, is now known to be a Luini. He painted much, whetherin tempera, fresco, or oil. His favourite subjects in oil were theMadonna and Child, with St John and the Lamb, and the Marriage of StCatherine. Probable he appears to greatest advantage in frescoes. He issaid to have reached his highest perfection in the figure of St John ina Crucifixion in the Monasterio Maggiore, Milan. 

Jacopo Palma, called Il Palma Vecchio, was born about 1480 near Bergamo, and died in 1528. He is believed to have studied under Giovanni Bellini, while he is also the chief follower of Giorgione. His characteristicsare ample forms and gorgeous breadth of drapery. His female saints, withtheir large rounded figures, have a soft yet commanding expression. Hehad an enchanting feeling for landscape, which seems to have been thebirthright of the Venetian painters. To Palma is owing what are called'Santa Conversazione, ' where there are numerous groups round the Virginand Child, as if they are holding a court in a retired and beautifulcountry nook. Palma rivalled Giorgione and Titian as a painter ofwomen's portraits. Among these is that of his daughter Violante, believed to have been loved by Titian. 'Palma's three Daughters, ' in theDresden Gallery, is a masterpiece of 'fair, full-blown beauty. ' The hairof the women is of the curiously bleached yellow tint affected then bythe Venetian ladies. Palma painted many pictures, leaving at his deathforty-our unfinished. 

Giovanni Antonio da Pardenone, born 1483, died 1538. He had many names, 'Pardenone' from his birth-place, 'Corticellis' from that of his father, and he is believed to have assumed the name 'Regillo' after he receivedknighthood from the King of Hungary. He was Venetian in his artisticqualities. Many of his works are in his native Pardetowns near. All havesuffered and some are now hidden by whitewash. His chief strength lay infresco. His scenes from the Passion in the cathedral, Cremona, aregreatly damaged and wretchedly restored, but they still reveal thepainter as a great master. They have 'fine drawing, action, excellentcolouring, grand management of light and shade, with freedom of hand anddignity of conception. ' In the prophets and sibyls around the cupola ofthe Madonna di Campagna, Piacenza, Pardenone's power is fully proven. His immense works in fresco account for the rarity of his oil picturesand their comparative inferiority. There is only one picture, and that aportrait, indisputably assigned to Pardenone in England, in the BaringCollection. 

Giovanni di Pietro, known as Lo Spagna (the Spaniard), was acontemporary of Raphael's, a fellow-pupil of his under Perugino. Thereis no record of the time and place of Lo Spagna's birth. He died in1533. He was a careful, conscientious follower of Perugino and Raphael, doing finished and delicate work; an 'Assumption' in a church at Treviis a fine example of his qualities. His best picture was painted in1516, and is at Assisi. It represents the Madonna enthroned with threesaints on each side. In his later works he betrayed feebleness. Picturesby Lo Spagna are often attributed to Raphael. 

Giulio Pippi, surnamed Romano, born in 1492, died in 1546, was a verydifferent painter, while he was the most celebrated of Raphael'sscholars. He had a vigorous, daring spirit, with a free hand and a boldfancy. So long as he painted under Raphael, Giulio followed his masterclosely, especially in his study of the antique, but he lacked thepurity and grace of his teacher, on whose death, the pupil leaving Rome, pursued his own coarser, more vehement impulses. The frescoes in theVilla Modama, Rome, are good examples of his style, so is thealtar-piece of the Martyrdom of St Stephen in S. Stefano, Genoa. GiulioRomano was the architect who designed the rebuilding of half Mantua. His best easel picture in England is the 'Education of Jupiter by Nymphsand Corybantes, ' in the National Gallery. In Raphael's lifetime hisprincipal scholar was accustomed to work on the master's pictures, andon his death Giulio, together with another pupil, Gianfrancesco Penni, were left executors of Raphael's will and heirs of his designs. 

Paris Bordone was born at Treviso in 1500 and died in 1570. He waseducated in the Venetian School, and remained remarkable for delicaterosy colour in his flesh tints and for purple, crimson, and shot hues inhis draperies, which were usually small and in crumpled folds. His _chefd'oeuvre_ is in the Venetian Academy. It is a fisherman presenting a ringto the Doge, and is a large and fine picture with many figures. He dealtfrequently in mythological or poetic subjects. There is an example ofthe first in the National Gallery. He was great in single femalesubjects and women's portraits. There is a portrait by Bordone of alovely woman of nineteen belonging to the Brignole family, in theNational Gallery. He had often fine landscape and grand architecture inhis pictures. 

Il Parmigianino, born 1503, died 1540, was a follower of Correggio's. InParmigianino's case the danger of the master's peculiarities becameapparent by the lapse into affectation and frivolity. 'His Madonnas areempty and condescending, his female saints like ladies in waiting. 'Still there were certain indestructible beauties of the master which yetclung to the scholar. He had clear warm colouring, decision, and goodconception of human life. He was highly successful in portraits. Thereis a splendid portrait by Parmigianino, said to be Columbus, in Naples. Among his celebrated pictures is 'The Madonna with the Long Neck, ' inthe Pitti Palace. An altar-piece in the National Gallery, whichrepresents a Madonna in the clouds with St John the Baptist appearingto St Jerome, is a good example of Parmigianino. It is said that he wasengrossed with this picture during the siege of Rome in 1527. Thesoldiers entered the studio intent on pillage, but surprising themaster at his work, respected his enthusiasm and protected him. 

Federigo Baroccio, of Urbino, born in 1528, died in 1612, was also afollower of Correggio's, and made a stand against the decline of art inhis day. He was tender and idyllic, though apt in his turn to beaffected and sentimental. When painting in the Vatican, Rome, his rivalssought to take his life by poison. The attempt caused Baroccio to returnto Urbino, where he established himself and executed his commissions. 

Amirighi da Caravaggio was born at Caravaggio in 1569, and died at PortoErcole in 1609. He was chief of the naturalistic school, the members ofwhich painted common nature and violent passions in bitter opposition tothe eclectics, especially the Caracci. The feud was sometimes carried onappositely enough on the side of the naturalistic painters by poison anddagger. Caravaggio was distinguished by his wild temper and stormy life, in keeping with his pictures. He resided principally in Rome, but dweltalso in Naples. He is vulgar but striking, even pathetic in some of hispictures. The 'Beheading of John the Baptist, ' in the Cathedral, Malta, is one of his masterpieces. His Holy Families now and then resemblegipsy _ménages_. 

Guiseppe Ribiera, a Spaniard, and so called Lo Spagnoletto, was born1593 and died 1656. He followed Caravaggio, while he retainedreminiscences of the Spanish School and of the Venetian masters. Some ofhis best pictures, such as 'the Pieta with the Marys and the Disciples, 'and his 'Last Supper, ' are in Naples. He had a wild fancy with apreference for horrible subjects--executions, tortures--in this respectresembling Domenichino. Lo Spagnoletto is said to be particularlyunpleasant in his mythological scenes. Many of his pictures haveblackened with time. His 'Mary of Egypt standing by her open Grave' is aremarkable picture in the Dresden Gallery. 

Giovanni Francesco Barbiera, surnamed Guercino da Cinto, approached theschool of the Caracci. In his art he resembled Guido Reni, with the samesweetness, greater liveliness, and fine chiaroscuro. 'Dido's LastMoments' and 'St Peter raising Tabitha' in Rome and in the Pitti Palaceare fine examples of Guercino's work. His later pictures, like Guido's, are fascinating in softness, delicate colouring and tender sentiment, degenerating, however, into mannerism and insipidity, while hiscolouring becomes at last pale and washy. 

Albano, born 1578, died 1660. He had elegance and cheerfulness whichhardly rose to grace. He painted mostly scenes from ancient mythology, such as 'Venus and her Companions. ' Religious subjects werecomparatively rare with him; one, however, often repeated was the'Infant Christ sleeping on the Cross. '

Giovanni Battista Salvi, surnamed from his birth-place Sassoferrato, wasborn in 1605 and died in 1685. He followed the scholars of the Caracci, but with some independence, returning to older and greater masters. Hisart was distinguished by a peculiar but slightly affected gentleness ofconception, pleasing and sweet--with the sweetness verging on weakness. He finished with minute care. He gave constant representations of theMadonna and Child and Holy Families in a domestic character. In one ofhis pictures in Naples the Madonna is engaged in sewing. His mostcelebrated, 'Madonna del Rosario, ' is in S. Sabina, Rome. The Madonnabending in ecstatic worship over an infant Christ lying on a cushion isin the Dresden Gallery. 

Giorgio Vasari was born at Arezzo in 1512 and died at Florence in 1574. He was an architect, or jeweller, and a historical painter of heavycrowded pictures. His lives of the early Italian painters and sculptorsup to his own time, the sixteenth century, though full of traditionalgossip, are invaluable as graphic chronicles of much interestinginformation which would otherwise have been lost. 

Sofonisba Anguisciola, born 1535, died about 1620, was a pupil ofBernardino Campi about the close of the sixteenth century at Cremona. She is justly praised by Vasari. Though her works are rare there are afew in England and Scotland. Three of her pictures which are mentionedwith high commendation by Dr. Waagen are, 'a nun in the white robes ofher order, nobly conceived and delicately coloured, ' in LordYarborough's collection; in Mr Harcourt's collection, 'her ownportrait, still very youthful, delicate, charming, and clear;' and inthe collection of the late Sir W. Stirling Maxwell, 'another portrait ofherself at an easel painting the Virgin and Child on wood, delicatelyconceived, clear in colour, and very careful. '

Lavinia Fontana, born in 1552, died 1614, was a daughter of ProsperoFontana, who belonged to the fast degenerating Bolognese artists at theclose of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth century. She wasa better artist than her fellow painters, worked cleverly and boldly, and showed truth to nature. She has left excellent portraits. In thelate Sir W. Stirling Maxwell's collection there is a picture by her, 'Two girls in a boat with a youth rowing, ' on wood, 'of very gracefulmotive and careful treatment. '

CHAPTER XIII. [50]

GERMAN, FLEMISH, AND DUTCH ARTISTS FROM THE FIFTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTHCENTURY--VAN DER WEYDEN, A CONTEMPORARY OF THE VAN EYCKS, 1366-1442--VANLEYDEN, 1494-1533--VAN SOMER, 1570-1624--SNYDERS, 1579-1657--G. HONTHORST, 1592-1662--JAN STEEN, 1626-1679--GERARD DOW, 1613-1680--DEHOOCH, DATES OF BIRTH AND DEATH UNKNOWN--VAN OSTADE, 1610-1685--MAAS, 1632-1693--METZU, 1615, STILL ALIVE IN 1667--TERBURG, 1608-1681--NETCHER, 1639-1684--BOL, 1611-1680--VAN DER HELST, 1613-1670--RUYSDAEL, 1625 (?)-1682--HOBBEMA, 1638-1709--BERCHEM, 1620-1683--BOTH, 1610 (?)-1650 (?)--DU JARDIN, 1625-1678--ADRIAN VAN DEVELDE, 1639-1672--VAN DER HEYDEN, 1637-1712--DE WITTE, 1607-1692--VANDER NEER, 1619(?)-1683--WILLIAM VAN DE VELDE THE YOUNGER, 1633-1707--BACKHUYSEN, 1631-1708--VAN DE CAPELLA, ABOUT1653--HONDECOETER, 1636-1695--JAN WEENIX, 1644-1719--PATER SEGERS, 1590-1661--VAN HUYSUM, 1682-1749--VAN DER WERFF, 1659-1722--MENGS, 1728-1774. 

Roger van der Weyden was a contemporary of the Van Eycks, born atTournai. His early pictures in Brussels are lost. He visited Italy in1439, and was treated with distinction at Ferrara. His Flemish realisticcast of mind and artistic power remained utterly unaffected by the grandItalian pictures with which he came in contact; so did his profoundearnestness, which must have been great indeed, since its effects arefelt through all impediments down to the present day. His expressiverealism chose subjects in which the sentiments of grief and pity couldbe most fitly shown. He sternly rejected any suggestion to idealise thehuman form, and paint heads, hands, or feet different from those inordinary life. 'It is the simplicity with which he gives expression bylarge and melancholy eyes, thought by projections of the forehead, griefby contracted muscles, and suffering by attenuation of the flesh whichtouches us. ' The deadly earnestness of the man impresses the spectatorat this distant date. 'There is no smile in any of his faces, but thereis many a face wrung with agony, and there is many a tear. ' He objectedto shadow in every form, and filled his pictures with an invariableatmosphere and light--those which belong to dawn before sunrise. Amonghis finer works are a triptych[51] belonging to the Duke of Westminster, a 'Last Judgment' in the Hospital at Bearne, and a large 'Descent fromthe Cross' in Madrid. In the triptych in the centre is Christ with blackhair, which is unusual, in his left hand the globe. On his right is theVirgin Mary, on his left St John the Evangelist; on the right wing isSt John the Baptist, on his left the Magdalene. 

Lucas Van Leyden was born in 1494 and died in 1533. He painted bothscriptural subjects and everyday scenes, being a man of varied powers. He worked admirably for his time, and added to his art that of anengraver. He followed the Van Eycks, but lowered their treatment ofsacred subjects. In incidents taken from common life he showed himselffull of observation, and possessed of some humour. His pictures arerare. A 'Last Judgment, ' in the Town House, Leyden, is a striking butunpleasant example of Lucas Van Leyden's work. 

Paul Van Somer was born at Antwerp in 1570, and died in 1624. He workedfor many years in England, where his best works--portraits--remain. Hewas truthful, a good colourist, and finished carefully. His portraits ofLord Bacon at Panshanger and of the Earl and Countess of Arundel atArundel Castle are well known. 

Frans Snyders was born in 1579, and died, at Antwerp in 1657. AfterRubens, Snyders was the greatest Flemish animal painter. He paintedalong with Rubens often, Snyders supplying the animals and Rubens thefigures. Frans Snyders paid a visit to Italy and Rome, from which heseems to have profited, judging by his skill in arrangement. This skillhe displayed also in his kitchen-pieces (magnificent shows of fruit, vegetables, game, fish, etc. ), which, like his animal pictures, arenumerous. In one of these kitchen-pieces in the Dresden Gallery, Rubensand his second wife are said to figure as the cooks. Princes and noblesbade for Snyders' pictures. There is a famous 'Boar Hunt' in the Louvre, in Munich 'Lionesses Pursuing a Roebuck, ' in Vienna 'Boar attacked byNine Dogs. ' Snyders' animal pictures are full of energetic action andfierce passion. To these qualities is frequently added hideous realismin detail. There are many Snyders in English galleries. 

Gerard Honthorst was born at Utrecht in 1592, and died in 1662. He was afollower of Caravaggio. He visited Italy and found favour in Rome, wherehe got from his night-pieces Correggio's name, 'Della Notte. ' Honthorstwas summoned to England by Charles I. , for whom he painted severalpictures. He entered the service of Prince Frederick Henry of Orange, and painted also for the King of Denmark. He left an extraordinarynumber of works, sacred, mythological, historical, and latterly manyportraits. He drew well and painted powerfully, but was coarselyrealistic in his treatment. At Hampton Court there are two of his bestportraits, those of the unfortunate Queen of Bohemia and the Duke ofBuckingham and his family. Gerard Honthorst's younger brother, William, was a portrait painter not unlike the elder brother in style. 

Jan Steen was born at Leyden in 1626, and died in 1679. He was great asa _genre_ painter. He is said to have been, after Rembrandt, the mosthumorous of Dutch painters, full of animal spirits and fun. At his best, composition, colouring, and execution were all in excellent keeping. Athis worst, he was vulgar and repulsive in his heads, and careless andfaulty in his work. He was very rarely either kindly or reverent in hissubjects, though, in spite of what is known to have been his riotouslife, he is comparatively free from the grossness which is often theshame of Flemish and Dutch art. Jan Steen succeeded his father as abrewer and tavern-keeper at Delft. He renounced the brewery, in which hedid not succeed, and joined the Painters' Guild, Haarlem; but hisposition as a tavern-keeper is reflected in his pictures, of whicheating and drinking, card-playing, etc. , are frequently the _motifs_. His family relations were not conducive to higher principles and tastes. He is said to have been so lost to common feeling as to have painted hisfirst wife when she was in a state of intoxication. [52] His second wifemay have been a worthier woman, but she was drawn from the lowest class, and had been accustomed to sell sheeps' heads and trotters in thebutchers' market. Without doubt Jan Steen had extraordinary geniuscoexisting with his coarse, careless nature and jovial habits, and hemust have worked with great facility, since, in spite of his idlenessand comparatively early death, he left as many as two hundred pictures, rendered him extremely popular. Besides his favourite subjects, such as'The Family Jollification, ' 'The Feast of the Bean King, ' 'Game ofSkittles, ' he has pictures in a slightly higher atmosphere, such as 'APastor Visiting a Young Girl, ' 'The Parrot, ' 'Schoolmaster withUnmanageable Boys, ' 'The Pursuit of Alchemy. ' Among the latter a goodexample is 'The Music Master' in the National Gallery. 

Gerard Dow was born in 1613 and died in 1680. He was a _genre_ painterof great merit. He belonged to Leyden, and was a pupil of Rembrandt. Hebegan with portraiture, often painting his own face, and went on toscenes from low and middle-class life, but rarely attempted to representhigh society. Compared to Jan Steen, however, he is refined. He had acurious fondness for painting hermits. The lighting of his pictures isfrequently by lantern or candle. They are mostly small, and withoutanimated action, but are full of picturesqueness. He was a goodcolourist, 'with a rare truth to nature and a marvellous distinctness ofeye and precision of hand. ' Minute as his execution was, his touch was'free and soft. ' His best pictures are 'like nature's self seen throughthe camera obscura. ' An instance often given of his exquisite finish isthat of a broom in the corner of one of his pictures. Some contemporaryhad remarked how careful and elaborate was the labour bestowed on it, when the painter answered that he was still to give it several hours'work. He must have been exceedingly industrious as well as painstaking, since he left two hundred pictures as his contribution to Dutch art. Among his finer pictures are 'An Old Woman reading the Bible to herHusband, ' in the Louvre; 'The Poulterer's Shop, ' in the NationalGallery. His _chef d'oeuvre_, 'The Woman Sick of the Dropsy, ' is in theLouvre. His candlelight is the finest rendered by any master. There is agood example of it in 'The Evening School, ' in the Amsterdam Gallery. 

Peter de Hooch--spelt often, De Hooge--was the _genre_ painter of full, clear sunlight. The dates of his birth and death can only be guessed bythose of his pictures, which extend from 1656 to 1670. His groups aregenerally playing cards, smoking, drinking, or engaged in domesticoccupations--almost always in the open air. No other _genre_ painter cancompare with him in reproducing the effects of sunlight. His prevailingcolour is red, varied and repeated with great delicacy. English loversof art brought De Hooch into favour, and many of his pictures are inEngland. There are fine examples--'The Court of a Dutch House' and 'ACourtyard'--in the National Gallery. 

Adrian van Ostade was born at Haarlem in 1610 and died in his nativetown in 1685. He has been called 'the Rembrandt of _genre_ painters, 'and, like Rembrandt, he was without the sense of human beauty and grace, for even his children are ugly; yet it is the purer, happier side ofnational life which he constantly represents, and he had great feelingfor nature, with picturesqueness and harmony of design and colouring, aswell as mastery of the technique of his art. He suffered many hardshipsin his youth, and grew up a quiet, industrious, family man. He left avery large number of pictures, nearly four hundred, many of them good, and not a few in England. 'The Alchemist'[53] is in the NationalGallery. 

Maas, born in 1632, died in 1693, is a much-prized _genre_ painter, whose pictures are rare. He was a pupil of Rembrandt. He is said to havetreated 'very simple subjects with naïve homeliness and kindly humour. 'His pictures are 'well lit, with deep warm harmony, and a vigoroustouch. ' 'The Idle Servant-maid, ' in the National Gallery, is amasterpiece. 

Metzu, like Terburg, is _par excellence_ one of the two painters ofDutch high life. Metzu was born in 1615, and is known to have been alivein 1667. He painted both on a large and a small scale, and occasionallydeparted from his peculiar province to represent market-scenes, etc. Heis the most refined and picturesque of _genre_ painters on a smallscale. Among his _chefs d'oeuvre_ are a 'Lady holding a Glass of Wine andreceiving an Officer, ' in the Louvre; and a 'Girl writing, a Gentlemanleaning on her chair and another girl opposite playing the Lute, ' in theHague Gallery. The fine 'Duet, ' and the 'Music Lesson' are both in theNational Gallery. 

Gerard Terburg was born at Zwol, in 1608, and died in 1681. He visitedGermany and Italy in his youth. His small groups and single figures, taken from the wealthier classes, with their luxurious surroundings, are'given with exquisite delicacy and refinement. ' Included in hismasterpieces are a 'Girl in white satin (a texture which he renderedmarvellously) washing her hands in a basin held before her by amaid-servant, ' in the Dresden Gallery; an 'Officer in confidential talkwith a Young Girl, and a Trumpeter who has brought him a Letter, ' in theHague Gallery; a 'Young Lady in white satin sitting playing the Lute, 'in the Chateau of Wilhelmshöe, at Cassell. There are twenty-threeTerburgs in England and Scotland. 

Caspar Netcher, born in 1639, died in 1684. He formed himself upon Metzuand Terburg. He is the great Dutch painter of childhood. His finestworks are in the Dresden Gallery. In the National Gallery is his'Children blowing Bubbles. '

Ferdinand Bol was born at Dordrecht in 1611, and died at Amsterdam in1680. He was a student of Rembrandt's, and distinguished himself insacred and historical pictures, and especially in portraits. He followedhis master in his youth, fell off in his art in middle life, but becameagain excellent in his later years. Among his fine pictures are 'David'sCharge to Solomon, ' in the Dublin National Gallery; and 'Josephpresenting his father Jacob to Pharaoh, ' in the Dresden Gallery. Hislast portraits are considered very fine. They are taken in the fullestlight, and have a surprising amount of animation. Such a portrait, called 'The Astronomer, ' is in the National Gallery. [54]

Jacob Ruysdael was born in 1625(?) at Haarlem. In 1668 he was inAmsterdam, and acted as witness to the marriage of Hobbema, whose lackof worldly prosperity Ruysdael shared. He himself was unmarried, andmaintained his father in his old age. In the prime of life JacobRuysdael in turn fell into extreme poverty, and died an inmate of theHaarlem Almshouse in 1682--a sad record of Holland's greatest landscapepainter, for 'beyond dispute' Ruysdael is the first of the famous Dutchlandscape painters. 

'In no other is there the feeling for the poetry of Northern natureunited with perfect execution, admirable drawing, great knowledge ofchiaroscuro, powerful colouring, and a mastery of the brush which rangedfrom the minutest touch to broad, free execution. ' His prevailing toneof colour is a full, decided green, though age has given many of hispictures a brown tone. A considerable number of his pictures are in agreyish, clear, cool tone (good examples of the last are to be seen inthe Dresden Gallery). He generally painted the flat Dutch country intranquil repose. He dealt usually in heavy clouded skies which told ofshowers past and coming, and dark sheets of water overshadowed bytrees, lending a melancholy sentiment to the picture. He was fond ofwide expanses of land and water, fond also of introducing the spires ofhis native Haarlem, touching the horizon line. He has left a fewsea-pieces, always with cloudy heavens and heaving or raging seas;[55]where he has given sketches of sea, and shore, the ærial perspective isrendered in tender gradations 'full of pathos. ' He has other picturesrepresenting hilly, even mountainous, landscapes. In these foamingwaterfalls form a prominent feature. Ruysdael was weak in his drawing ofmen and animals, in which he was occasionally assisted byfellow-artists, such as Berchem and Van de Velde. Among his finestpictures are 'A View of the Country round Haarlem, ' in the Museum of theHague; 'A flat country, with a road leading to a village and fields withwheat sheaves, ' in the Dresden Gallery; 'A hilly bare country throughwhich a river runs; the horseman and beggar on a bridge, byWouvermans, ' in the Louvre. His most remarkable waterfall is in theHague Museum. In the Dresden Gallery there is 'A Jewish Cemetery, ' 'fullof melancholy. ' Three of Ruysdael's fine waterfalls are in the NationalGallery. Of two very grand storms which he painted one is in the Louvre, the other in the collection of the Marquis of Lansdowne at Bowood. Thereare many of Ruysdael's pictures in England. In the great landscapepainter, as in the other renowned Dutch artists of the seventeenthcentury, the influence of Rembrandt is marked. 

Meindert Hobbema was born in 1638, married in 1638, and died in povertyat Amsterdam in 1709. His works, which were neglected in his lifetime, now fetch much more than their weight in gold. Sums as large as fourthousand pounds have been paid more than once for a Hobbema, yet hisname was not found in any dictionary of art or artists for more than acentury after his death. The English were the first to acknowledgeHobbema's merit, and nine-tenths of his works are in England, where heis the most popular Dutch landscape painter. But he is said by judges tohave less invention and less poetic sensibility than his contemporaryand friend Ruysdael. Hobbema's subjects are usually villages surroundedby trees like those in Guelderland, water-mills, a slightly brokencountry, with groups of trees, wheatfields, meadows, and small pools, more rarely portions of towns, and still more seldom old castles andstately mansions. [56] He has all the lifelike truthfulness of the Dutchartists. In tone he is as warm and golden as Ruysdael is cool in hisgreens. In the National Gallery there are excellent specimens ofHobbema, such as 'The Avenue Middelharnis' and 'A Landscape in ShoweryWeather. '

Nicolas Berchem, often spelt Berghem, was born at Haarlem in 1620, anddied at Amsterdam in 1683. He was an excellent Dutch landscape painter. He had evidently visited Italy, and displayed great fondness forItalian subjects. His pictures show 'varied composition, good drawing, fine ærial effects, freedom, playfulness, and spirit. ' As a colourist hewas unequal, being often warm and harmonious, but at other times heavyand cold. It is clear that he was no student of life, from the monotonyof his shepherds and shepherdesses and the sameness of his animals. Hewas naturally industrious, and was spurred on, as a still greater artistis said to have been, by the greed of his wife. He painted upwards offour hundred pictures, besides doing figures and animals for otherpainters. The great northern European galleries are rich in his works. One of his best pictures, 'A Shepherdess driving her cattle through aford in a rocky landscape, ' where the cool tone of the landscape iscontrasted with the golden tone of the cattle, is in the Louvre. Anotherfine picture, 'Crossing the Ford, ' is in the National Gallery. 

Jan Both, born in 1610 (?), died in 1650 (?), was another Dutchlandscape painter still more spellbound by Italy, [57] which he visited, and where he fell under the influence of Claude Lorraine. Both devotedhimself thenceforth to Italian landscape to a greater degree than waspractised by any other Dutch painter. He was excellent in drawing andskilful in rendering the golden glories of Italian sunsets. He paintedfreely and with solidity. The figures of men and animals in his pictureswere often introduced by his brother Andreas. Jan Both excelled both inlarge and small pictures, but he was most uninterestingly uniform indesign. He had generally a foreground of lofty trees, and for abackground a range of mountains rising step by step, with a wide plainat their feet. Sometimes he introduced a waterfall or a lake. He rarelypainted particular points in a landscape. His life was not a long one, so that his pictures do not number more than a hundred and fifty. Occasionally his warm tone of colouring degenerates to a foxy red. Oneof Both's best pictures--a landscape in which the fresh light ofmorning is apparent--is in the National Gallery. 

Karil du Jardin, born in 1625, died in 1678, is a third great Dutchlandscape painter, whose fancy Italy laid hold of, so that he settled inthe country, dying at Venice. He was, it is said, a pupil of Berchem's, from whom he may have first drawn his Italian proclivities. He has moretruth and feeling for animated nature than Berchem. Indeed, in thisrespect Du Jardin followed Paul Potter. According to contemporaryaccounts, Du Jardin, who had his share of the national humour, wastedhis time in the pursuit of pleasure, and did not leave more picturesbehind him than Both left. Du Jardin's best works are in the Louvre, butthere are also many of his pictures in England. Among his masterpieces, 'Cattle of all kinds in a meadow surrounded by rocks, and watered by acascade; a horseman giving alms to a peasant boy;' and his celebrated'Charlatan, ' full of observation and humour, are in the Louvre. A finepicture, 'Figures of Animals under the shade of a Tree, ' is in theNational Gallery. 

Adrian Van de Velde, born in 1639, died in 1672, the younger brother ofa great marine painter, ranks almost as high as Paul Potter in cattlepainting. If 'inferior in modelling and solidity' to his rival, AdrianVan de Velde is superior in variety, taste, and feeling. Like the greatEnglish animal painter, Landseer, Van de Velde was a distinguishedartist when a mere boy of fourteen. Like his compatriot, Paul Potter, Van de Velde died young, at the age of thirty-two. He generally disposedof his cattle among broken ground with trees and pools of water. Sometimes he has a herdsman or a shepherdess, sometimes there is ahunting party passing. His scenery is reckoned masterly. It is mostlytaken from the coast of Scheveningen. He often painted in men, horses, and dogs for other painters. He must have been very industrious, withgreat facility in his work, since, in spite of his premature death, hehad painted nearly two hundred pictures. 'A brown cow grazing and agrey cow resting, ' which is in the Berlin Museum, was done at the age ofsixteen, yet it is full of observation, delicacy, and execution. 'Cattlegrazing before a peasant's cottage, ' which is in the Dresden Gallery, isconsidered very fine. A fine 'Winter Landscape, ' and a 'Farm Cottage, 'are in the National Gallery. Some of Adrian Van de Velde's best work, aswell as his brother's, is in England. 

Jan Van der Heyden, 'the Gerard Dow of architectural painters, ' was bornin 1637 and died in 1712. He combined an unspeakable minuteness ofdetail with the closest observation of nature. His subjects, which heselected with great taste, were chiefly well-known buildings, palaces, churches, and canal banks in Holland and Belgium. He painted in a warmtransparent tone, with close application of the laws of perspective. Thefigures in his pictures, in excellent keeping, were often introduced byAdrian Van de Velde. Van der Heyden's productiveness as a painter waslessened by the circumstance that his mechanical talent led him to makean invention by which the construction of the fire-engines of his daywas greatly improved. In consequence he was placed by the magistrates ofAmsterdam at the head of their fire-engine establishment, which had thusmany claims on his time. A beautiful 'Street in Cologne' is in theNational Gallery. 

Emanuel De Witte, born in 1607, died in 1692, was great in architecturalinteriors, especially in churches of Italian architecture. He stood tothis branch of Dutch art in the same relation that Ruysdael did tolandscape and William Van de Velde to seascape. 

Aart Van der Neer was born in 1619(?), died in 1683. He is famous forhis canal banks by moonlight, and fine disposal of broad masses ofshadow. After his moonlights come his sunsets, conflagrations, andwinter scenes. He rarely painted full daylight. He sometimes painted onthe same Van der Neer in the National Gallery. Many of his works are inEngland. 

William Van de Velde the younger, the elder brother of Adrian Van deVelde, the cattle painter, was born at Amsterdam in 1633, and died atGreenwich in 1707. His early life was spent in Holland. He followed hisfather, William Van de Velde, a painter also, to England, where, underthe patronage of Charles II, and James II. , William the younger paintedthe naval victories of the English over the Dutch, just as in Holland hehad already painted the naval victories of the Dutch over the English. He was a greater and more consistent artist than he was a patriot. Without question he is the first marine painter of the Dutch School. Hewas untiring in his study of nature, so that his perfect knowledge ofperspective and the incomparable mastery of technical qualities which heinherited from his school, enabled him to render sea and sky under everyaspect. His vessels 'were drawn with a knowledge which extended to everyrope. ' He has been an exceedingly popular painter both with the Dutchand the English. Of upwards of three hundred pictures left by him manyare in Holland and still more in England, where in his lifetime he waslargely employed by the English nobility and gentry. William Van deVelde has a great picture in the Amsterdam Museum, where the Englishflag-ship, the _Princess Royal_, is represented as striking her coloursto the Dutch fleet in 1666. In the companion picture, also by Van deVelde, 'Four English men-of-war brought in as prizes, ' the painterintroduces himself in the small boat from which he witnessed the fight. William Van de Velde's triumphs in calm seas are seen especially in hispictures at the Hague and in Munich. Some of Van de Velde's best worksare in the National Gallery. 

Backhuysen born in 1631, died at Amsterdam in 1708, was anotheradmirable marine painter. He did not study painting till he had followeda trade up to the age of eighteen years; he then gave himself withardour to art, making many studies of skies, coasts, and vessels. He wasinferior to William Van de Velde in his colouring, which was heavy, witha cold effect. But he had in full a Dutch painter's truthfulness, whilehis 'stormy waves and rent clouds' are given with poetic feeling. He wasan industrious and successful man, painting nearly two hundred pictures, and receiving many commissions from the King of Prussia, Grand Duke ofTuscany, etc. One of his finest works, 'A View of the River from theLanding-place called the Mosselsteiger, ' is in Amsterdam Museum. In theLouvre is 'A view of the Mouth of the Texel, with ten Men-of-war Sailingbefore a Fresh Wind. ' 'Dutch Shipping' is in the National Gallery. 

Van de Capella is another capital marine painter, though little is knownof him. He was a native of Amsterdam about 1653. His favourite subjectis a quiet sea in sunny weather. His work bears some resemblance to thatof Cuyp. His best pictures are in England. 'A Calm at Low Water' is inthe National Gallery. 

Melchior de Hondecoeter, born in 1636, died in 1695, chose the featheredtribe for his subjects. He has been called 'the Raphael of birdpainters. ' He painted especially poultry, peacocks, turkeys, andpigeons, which he usually represented alive, and treated with greattruthfulness and picturesque feeling. Among his best pictures are 'TheFloating Feather, ' a feather given with singular lightness drifting in apool, with different birds on the water and the shore--a pelicanprominent--in Amsterdam Museum, and 'A Hen defending her Chickensagainst the attacks of a Pea-hen, with a Peacock, a Pigeon, a Cassowary, and a Crane, ' also in Amsterdam. 

Jan Weenix, born in 1644, died in 1719. He was a painter of 'stilllife, ' and was especially famous for his dead hares, 'which in form andcolour, down to the rendering of every hair, are marvels of execution. 'He painted sometimes, though rarely, a living dog in his pieces. A fineWeenix sometimes painted flower pieces. [58]

Pater Segers, so called because he was a Father in a Jesuit convent, which he entered at twenty-four years of age. He was born in 1590, anddied in the Jesuit convent, Antwerp, 1661. He was a famous flowerpainter, but did not paint flowers by themselves; he painted them inconjunction with the historical and sacred subjects of other painters. He added many a wreath to the Virgin and Child. He worked in thisfashion with Rubens, but painted more frequently along with painters ofa lower rank in art. Pater Segers' flowers are finely drawn andtastefully arranged. The red of his roses has remained unchanged byyears, while the roses of other painters have become violet or fadedaltogether. He had endless royal commissions. There are six of hispictures of much merit in the Dresden Gallery. 

Besides the elder and younger De Heem and Maria Von Oesterwyck mentionedat page 258, Jan Van Huysum, 1682-1749, was great in flower painting, choosing flowers rather than fruit for his brush. If De Heem has beencalled the Titian, Van Huysum has been defined as the Correggio, offlowers and fruit. He reversed the ordinary course of artists bybeginning in a broad style, and progressing into an execution of thefinest details. In masterly drawing and truthfulness he was not inferiorto De Heem, though hardly reckoned his equal in other respects. Even inVan Huysum's lifetime there was an eager demand for his pictures, ofwhich he left more than a hundred. There is an excellent fruit andflower piece by him in Dulwich Gallery, and a masterpiece, 'A Vase withFlowers, ' is in the National Gallery. 

Andrian Van der Werff was born in 1659, and died in 1722. He ishonourably distinguished for his pursuit of the ideal, in which he stoodalone among the Dutch artists of his day. He showed much sense of beautyand elegance of form with great finish, but he had more thancounterbalancing faults. His grouping was artificial, his headsmonotonous, his colouring 'cold and heavy, ' with 'a frosty feeling' inhis pictures. His flesh tints resembled ivory, yet his elegance was sohighly prized that he had many royal and noble patrons, for whom heexecuted sculptural and mythological pieces. Many of his pictures are inthe Munich Gallery. 

Anton Raphael Mengs was born in Bohemia 1728, and died in Rome 1774. Hisfather was a distinguished miniature painter, and gave his son a carefuleducation, training him to copy the masterpieces of Michael Angelo andRaphael from his twelfth year. Unfortunately he remained a copyist andan eclectic. He drew well, learnt chiaroscuro from studying Correggio, and colouring from analysing Titian. He was acquainted with the besttechnical processes in oil and fresco. All that teaching could do for aman was done, and to a great extent in vain. For though he worked withgreat conscientiousness, fancy and feeling were either originallylacking, or they were overlaid and stifled by his excess of culture andsevere education. The most successful of his works are portraits, inwhich masterly treatment makes up to some extent for the absence oforiginality and subtle sympathy. But in his day, and with some reason, Raphael Mengs was greatly prized, since he figured among a host ofignorant, careless, and conceited painters. At the age of seventeen hewas appointed court painter to King Augustus of Saxony. He was summonedto Spain by Charles III. , who gave him a high salary. Among his goodworks is an 'Assumption' on the high altar of the Catholic Church, Dresden. An allegorical subject in fresco on the ceiling of the Camerade Papini in the Vatican has 'beauty of form, delicate observation, andmasterly modelling. ' Mengs wrote well on art, though in his writing alsohis eclecticism comes out. 

NOTE TO PAGE 96. 

 'I have been told that I have not done justice to Lionardo in this short sketch. I give in an abridged form the accurate appreciative analysis of the man and his work in Sir C, and Lady Eastlake. '--KUGLER. It is stated that the versatility of Lionardo was against him. He attempted too much for one man and one life. An additional impediment was produced by his temperament, 'dreamy, perfidious, procrastinating, ' withal desirous of shining in society. His ideal of the Lord's head is the highest that art has realised. The apostles' heads are among the truest and noblest. The countenances of his Madonnas are full of ineffable sweetness and pathos. 'At the same time he analysed the monstrous and misshapen, and has left us caricatures in which he seems to have gloated over hideousness half human, half brute. He altered and retouched without ceasing, always deferring the conclusion of the task which he executed with untiring labour and ceaseless dissatisfaction. ' The wonder is not that he should have left so little, but that he left enough to prove the transcendent nature of his art. 'There is nothing stranger in history than the fact that his great fame rests on one single picture--long reduced to a shadow--on half-a-dozen pictures for which his hand is alternately claimed and denied, and on unfinished fragments which he himself condemned. ' Lionardo was too universal to be of any school. 

INDEX. 

 PAGE

 Albino 387 Angelico, Fra 36 Anguisciola 388 Backhuysen 415 Baroccio 385 Bartolommeo, Fra 77 Bellini, The 54 Berchem 407 Bol 402 Bordone 393 Both 418 Botticelli 369 Canaletto 358 Capella, Van de 416 Caravaggio 385 Carpaccio 375 Carracci, The 212 Cellini 69 Claude Loraine 296 Correggio 185 Crivelli 375 Cuyp 255 Domenichino 220 Dow 398 Du Jardin 410 Dürer 169 Eycks, The Van 41 Filippo, Fra 365 Fontana 389 Francia, Il 73 Gaddi 374 Garofalo 377 Ghiberti 31 Ghirlandajo 69 Gibbons, Grinling 359 Giorgione 181 Giotto 8 Gozzoli 366 Greuze 307 Guercino 386 Guido 218 Heem, De 258 Helst, Van der 403 Heyden, Van der 412 Hobbema 406 Holbein 309 Hondecoeter 416 Honthorst 395 Hooch 399 Huysum, Van 418 Kneller 359 Le Brun 303 Lely 355 Leyden, Van 393 Lionardo da Vinci 83 Lipi 376 Luini 378 Maas 401 Mabuse 48 Mantegna 64 Masaccio 34 Matsys 50 Memling 48 Mengs 420 Messina, Da 377 Metzu 259, 401 Michael Angelo 96 Murillo 280 Netcher 402 Orcagna 24 Ostade, Van 400 Palma 379 Pardenone 380 Parmigianino 384 Perugino 373 Pisano 23 Potter 257 Poussin 286 Raphael 125 Rembrandt 245 Romano 382 Rubens 225 Ruysdael 403 Salvator Rosa 222 Sarto, Del 81 Sassa errato 387 Segers 418 Signorelli 367 Snyders 394 Somer, Van 394 Spagna 381 Spagnoletto 386 Steen 396 Teniers, Father and Son 251 Terburg 259, 402 Tintoretto 194 Titian 157 Van Dyck 333 Vasari 388 Velasquez 360 Velde, Van de 411 Velde, Van de, The Younger 414 Veronese 205 Watteau 305 Wouvermans 253

FOOTNOTES:

[1] It is in their unconsciousness and earnestness that a parallel isdrawn between the first Italian painters and the Elizabethean poets. Inother respects the comparison may be reversed, for the early Italianpainters, from their restriction to religious painting, with even thattreated according to tradition, were as destitute of the breadth ofscope and fancy attained by their successors, as the Elizabethean poetswere distinguished by the exuberant freedom which failed in the moreformal scholars of Anne's reign. 

[2] Kugler's Handbook of Art. 

[3] While writing of goldsmiths that became painters, I may say a wordof a goldsmith who, without quitting his trade, was an unrivalled artistin his line. I mean Benvenuto Cellini, 1500--1571, a man of violentpassions and little principle, who led a wild troubled life, of which hehas left an account as shameless as his character, in an autobiography. Cellini was the most distinguished worker in gold and silver of his day, and his richly chased dishes, goblets, and salt cellars, are still ingreat repute. 

[4] Kugler's _Handbook of Painting_. 

[5] Kugler's _Handbook of Painting_. 

[6] See note, page 422. 

[7] Mrs Roscoe's _Life of Vittoria Colonna_

[8] Michael Angelo's will was very simple. 'I bequeath my soul to God, my body to the earth, and my possessions to my nearest relations. '

[9] Lady Eastlake, _History of Our Lord_. 

[10] Hare, _Walks in Rome_. 

[11] Lanzi, in Hare's _Walks in Rome_. 

[12] Rio. _Poetry of Christian Art_, in Hare's _Walks in Rome. _

[13] Mrs Jameson. 

[14] Dean Alford. 

[15] _Imperial Biographical Dictionary_. 

[16] Titian's age is variously given; some authorities make itninety-nine years, placing the date of his death in 1570 or 7. 

[17] Kugler. 

[18] The term originated in the French expression, '_du genre bas_. '

[19] He had a peculiar fondness for blue and bronze hues. 

[20] It is due to Tintoret to say, that there are modern critics, wholook below the surface, and are at this date deeply enamoured of hispictures. Tintoret's name now stands very high in art. 

[21] Mrs Jameson. 

[22] Guido said of Rubens: 'Does this painter mix blood with hiscolours?'

[23] _Life of Rubens_. 

[24] If I mistake not, this is the same Countess of Arundel who, in herwidowhood, resided in Italy in order to be near her young sons then atPadua. Having provoked the suspicion of the Doge and Council of Venice, she was arrested by them on a charge of treason, and brought before thetribunal, where she successfully pled her own cause, and obtained herrelease, the only woman who ever braved triumphantly the terrible 'ten. '

[25] Here is the description of a very different Rembrandt which appearsin this year's Exhibition of the Works by Old Masters: 'There is noportrait here which equals Rembrandt's picture, from Windsor, "A LadyOpening a Casement;" a not particularly appropriate name, because thepicture represents no such action. The lady is simply looking from anopen window, her left hand raised and resting at the side of theopening. We believe there is nothing left to tell who this lady was, with the grave, sad eyes, and lips that seem to quiver with a troublehardly yet assuaged collar, almost a tippet, for it falls below hershoulders, together with lace cuffs. A triple band of large pearls goesabout her neck, and she has similar ornaments round each wrist. Shewears a mourning robe and black jewellery.... This picture, whichresembles in most of its qualities a pair, of somewhat larger size, which were here last year, and also came from the Royal collection, issigned and dated "Rembrandt, F. 1671. " It is, therefore, a late work ofhis. What wonderful harmony is here, of light, of colour, of tone. Hownearly perfect is the keeping of the whole picture; as a whole, and alsoin respect of part to part. Could anything be truer than the breadth ofthe chiaroscuro? Notice how beautifully, and with what subtlegradations, the light reflected from her white collar strikes on herslightly faded cheek; how tenderly it seems to play among the softtangles of the hair that time has thinned. '--_Athenæum_. 

[26] He had been called the Titian of flower and fruit painters. Hepreferred fruit for his subject. His works are not common in England. His masterpiece, 'The Chalice of the Sacrament, ' crowned with a statelywreath, and sheaves of corn and bunches of grapes among the flowers, isat Vienna. 

[27] Sir W. Stirling Maxwell. 

[28] Sir W. Stirling Maxwell. 

[29] Hare, _Wanderings in Spain_. 

[30] Hare's _Wanderings in Spain_. 

[31] The spelling is an English corruption of the French Claude. 

[32] Poussin had a villa near Ponte Molle, and the road by which he usedto go to it is still called in Rome 'Poussin's walk. '

[33] Claude's summer villa is still pointed out near Rome. 

[34] _Imperial Biographical Dictionary_. 

[35] Madame Le Brun, whose maiden name was Vigée, born 1755, died 1842, was an excellent portrait painter. 

[36] Wornum. 

[37] Wornum. 

[38] Supposed to be a niece of Sir Thomas More's. 

[39] Rev. J. Lewis, 1731. 

[40] Wornum. 

[41] A still more famous picture by Holbein is that called 'The TwoAmbassadors, ' and believed to represent Sir Thomas Wyatt and hissecretary. 

[42] Walpole. 

[43] Walpole. 

[44] Dwarfs figured at Charles's court, as at the court of Philip IV. OfSpain. 

[45] The notion that Van Dyck sacrificed truth to grace is absolutelycontradicted by certain critics, who bring forward as a proof of theircontradiction what they consider the 'over-true' picture of the QueenHenrietta Maria, shown at the last exhibition of the works of OldMasters. The picture seems hardly to warrant the strong opinion of thecritics. 

[46] Walpole. 

[47] Walpole. 

[48] Lady Eastlake and Dr. Waagen's works on Italian, Flemish, and DutchArt, modelled on Kugler. 

[49] A lunette is a small picture, generally semicircular, surmountingthe main picture in an altar-piece. 

[50] The Dutch still more than the Italian artists belonged largely tofamilies of artists bearing the same surnames. 

[51] A picture with one door of two panels is called a diptych, with twodoors of three panels a triptych, with many doors and panels apolyptych. 

[52] Fairholt's 'Homes and Haunts of Foreign Artists. '

[53] Alchemists, like hermits, still existed in the seventeenth century. 

[54] Bartholomew Van der Helst, 1613-1670, was another great Dutchportrait painter. His portrait pieces with many figures are famous. An'Archery Festival, ' commemorating the Peace of Westphalia, includestwenty-four figures full of individuality and finely drawn and coloured. One of his best works is 'In the Workhouse, ' at Amsterdam. Two women andtwo men are conversing together in the foreground. There is a man with abook, and a preacher delivering a sermon in the background. 

[55] It may be that Ruysdael's straggling life was reflected in hislowering skies and stormy seas. 

[56] Other eminent painters, such as Van de Velde, Wouvermans, andBerchem often supplied cattle and figures to Hobbema's landscapes. 

[57] Was the apparently greater success of these partly denaturalisedDutch landscape painters, as contrasted with the adversity of Ruysdaeland Hobbema, due to the classic mania?

[58] Peter Gysels was another painter of 'still life. ' His butterfliesare said to have been rendered with 'exquisite finish. '

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 IN THE HEART OF AFRICA. By JOSEPH THOMSON. CLIMBING THE HIMALAYAS. By W. W. GRAHAM. ON THE ROAD TO THE POLE. By Captain A. H. MARKHAM. With Forty-five Illustrations. "A more delightful prize or present for boys than this it would be hard to find. " _Record_. 

FAITHFUL FRIENDS. 

 Stories of Struggle and Victory. By L. T. MEADE and others. With Twenty Illustrations by French, Barnes, etc. "A carefully illustrated little book.... With truth and pathos. "--_Daily News_. "Capital reading for young folks.... All brisk and wholesome. "--_Scotsman_. 

HEROES AND MARTYRS OF SCIENCE. 

 By HENRY C. EWART. With Thirty Illustrations. "It is an admirable book of its order, full of the inspiration of great lives. " _School Board Chronicle_. 

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15 & 16, TAVISTOCK STREET, COVENT GARDEN, W. C.