686 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1920. 



When it comes to true economy of labor, no other painter can 

 approach Rubens. The primitives and many moderns put into a 

 picture numerous details which can be seen only on close inspection, 

 and which are lost when we stand far enough away to grasp the pic- 

 ture as a whole. Many of our contemporaries, perhaps a majority, 

 including all of those who are most praised by the smart critics, omit 

 countless details which would be clearly apparent to one standing at 

 the point of sight. Eubens alone never falls into either of these 

 errors. He wastes no time in depicting things which we should not 

 see when far enough away to view the picture in its entirety, and he 

 omits nothing that could be seen at that distance. 



He is the lord of life. His pictures are sometimes gross and sensual, 

 but they possess an exuberant vitality unequaled in the realm of 

 art, or, for that matter, in nature, for his men and women seem more 

 alive than the living beings who stand before them. In depicting 

 the satiny sheen of palpitating flesh he knows no rival. He is the 

 most brilliant of all colorists, and time seems to have no power to 

 dim the immortal luster of his hues. 



That so supreme a master should be so inadequately represented in 

 America is greatly to be regretted. We are therefore peculiarly for- 

 tunate in possessing Mr. Johnson's splendid Rubens. It is a beau- 

 tiful Madonna nursing the infant Christ, whom St. Elizabeth watches 

 with rapt devotion, while behind, St. Joseph lifts his hand with a 

 protecting gesture. The St. Elizabeth is a portrait of Rubens's 

 splendid mother, one of the grandest of women. The Madonna is 

 full but not gross, and her neck and bosom are painted with the 

 glowing flesh tints that Rubens alone knew how to render. Ap- 

 parently it was painted about the same time as the Descent from the 

 Cross at Antwerp. 



But it is the English school that is most fully represented in this 

 remarkable collection, particularly the great portrait painters of the 

 eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. 



This is one of the noblest of all the schools of portraiture, and it 

 was fortunate in the subjects which it had to depict. No one can 

 doubt that the aristocracy of England is the finest aristocracy in the 

 world. Their vigorous life in the open air has made them strong and 

 tall and graceful. The respect and loyalty with which the common 

 people have generally treated them lends to their countenances a 

 serene nobility of expression. Of course, there are exceptions, but 

 taken as a whole they are a splendid body of men and women. No 

 wonder that Sir Joshua and his contemporaries loved to paint them. 



And with what dignity and elegance were thej^ portrayed by those 

 great masters ! No doubt the style of Van Dyck had much to do 

 with this. Sir Anthony had painted all the greatest lords and ladies 

 of the England of his day. His masterpieces were to be seen in many 



