THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. There have 

 been numerous attempts to imitate Rubens 

 he was too great to escape that fate; but the 

 personality of the man was so dominating that it 

 transcended all imitation. His breadth and sweep, 

 his daring brush work, his rich and sensuous 

 coloring, and above all, his masterly flesh tints, 

 are the admiration and the despair of other artists; 

 his works, widely popular, are not among those 

 which appeal to the general public, but they are 

 the wonder of the artist. In many of his works 

 the dashing style might seem to indicate a hasty 

 treatment, but the composition is as well worked 

 out and the tones are as harmoniously blended as 

 the severest critic could wish. 



Rubens especially liked to deal with large 

 spaces. A commission for a huge wall-painting 

 in some cathedral brought him the keenest joy. 

 But that he was no less skilful in dealing with 

 small surfaces is evidenced by this little painting, 

 which in the original is but fifteen inches high. 

 This "sweetly luminous vision passing through 

 the night," lighted less by the crescent moon than 

 by the glory from the infant in Mary's arms, 

 shows well the human quality of the work of 

 Rubens; for even the angel guides have more 

 than a touch of the earth about them, in their 

 sturdiness and the rosy glow of their flesh. 



L. J. B. 



