411 



IK, MK'IIAEL. 



Clt.VLBE, QEOUGE. 



41* 



Right Honourable Henry Pelham, collected from the Family Papers,' 

 * roU. 4to, London. 1829. 



COXIE. MICHAEL, very celebrated old Flemish painter, bora at 

 Mechlin, in 1497. He itudied first under Bernard ran Orley. and 

 (voted afterwards much time to the study of the works of Raffjelle 

 at Rone, in which city he obtain, d some distinction ai a fresco painter. 

 He returned with an Italian wife, and with a good (lock of Italian 

 art, to hi* own country, where he enjoyed great renown and ama<sed 

 a large fortune by bU work*. They were chiefly altar-pieces, and 

 many of the beat of them were carried to Spain, but he kept a con- 

 nidenble gallery o&somo of hii choice*! productions, in three houses 

 or palaces which he potoeoed at Mechlin. Ho died at Antwerp in 

 1593, aged ninety-fire, in consequence of a fall from a scaffolding, 

 whilst engaged in painting a picture in the town-house of that 

 place. 



Though the works of Coxie had much merit, he is now better 

 known for his elaborate o- >py of the ' Adoration of the Lamb,' in the 

 church of St. Bavon, at Ghent, by the brothers Van Kyck, than for 

 his own original productions. It is a large altar-piece with folding- 

 wings, in two horizontal divisions, an upper and a low. r division, each 

 with two wings on aside; six of these wings are now in the royal 

 gallery of Berlin, and the other parts are still at Ghent Coxie's copy 

 of the two centre pictures of this altar-piece is also in the Berlin 

 tiallery, 'Ood the Father,' and the 'Adoration of the Lamb;' other 

 |*rt are in the Pinakothek of Munich, and in the royal gallery of 

 the Hague : in Munich are the large figures of ' John the BaptUt' and 

 the 'Virgin Mary; ' at the Hague are all the wings. The copy was 

 made by Coxie for Philip II. of Spain, and finished in 1559, after two 

 jean of uninterrupted labour, for winch he was paid 4000 florins, 

 about 400/. sterling. When painting this picture, Cexie complained 

 to Philip that he could not procure a blue good enough to paint the 

 Virgin's drapery with, upon which Philip wrote to Titian for souio 

 ultramarine, which Coxie received, and he used a quantity of the 

 value of thirty-two ducats over the single blue mantle of the Virgin. 

 The copy was painted with extreme care, and kept somewhat tofter 

 than the original ; it remained for a long time in the chapel of the 

 old palace of Madrid, whence it was removed and sent to Brussels by 

 General Blliard during the French occupation of Spain. Cean 

 Bermuda aays that Coxie himself took it to Spain. 



(Tan Mauder. Ltre* dtr Sclutder, ; Ktuutblalt, No. 28-27, IS 24; 

 Paaaavant, Ktautrtite dunk England tutd Btlgitn ; Woageu, Veruich- 

 nitt der Krmuldt-ltammlttxg da Ktaiglidu* Miutunt nt Berlin.) 



COY PEL, the name of a family of painters, eminent in the history 

 of French art. 



Nori. COTITI, the first of the family who attained any reputation, 

 was the son of Quyon Coypel, a younger son of a Nurinnu family, and 

 was born in 102$. Quyon practised painting, but apparently with little 

 success. He placed his son at an early age with Poncet, a pupil of 

 Vouet, a painter at Orleans, and afterwards under a painter named 

 Qnillerier. Noel rose rapidly in reputation, and was received into the 

 Academy at Paris in 1663. He was appointed by the king director of 

 the Academy at Home, where he resided some time, tnjoying the 

 acquaintance of Bernini, Carlo Maratti, and other eminent painters of 

 the day. Noel Coypel wat a diligent student, and the French Academy 

 ne profited greatly by his assiduous example. Having returned 

 to Paris, no was suoceesively made rector and director of the Academy. 

 He died in 1707, working at his art to the last. To a certain extent 

 be was on imitator of Nicolas Poiusin, and by way of distinguishing 

 him from the other Coypels he is ofu-n designated by French writers 

 ' Coypel le PouMio.' Hii designs are skilful and spirited, but marred 

 by affectation. Noel wss married twice, and left two sons, Antoine 

 and Noel Nicholas, and many daughter*. 



AvroiifS C'oTPEI, bis father's pupil, was born in Itiill, and accom- 

 panied his father to Home, when he studied the works of the old 

 masters. He afterwards travelled for improvement into Lombardy. 

 He left Rome at the age of eighteen, but had made such progress in 

 h profession, that at the age of twenty he wat received into the 

 Academy. In 1707 be was made professor and rector, and in 1714 

 diictor ; in 1716 he was named ' painter to the king,' an office which 

 bad been for more than twenty yean in abeyance; and in 1717 

 Louis XV. grauted him titles of nobility. Antoine Coypel during life 

 had a Kuropean reputation. He was by far the most famous of the 

 family, and has much power snd variety in bis design ; but the 

 mannered style of the French school was not corrected by hU study 

 of the Italian, nnce be was too ready to adopt the artificial graces of 

 Bernini, his friend and adviser. Many of his pictures have been 

 engraved, (one by himself, and others by eminent engravers of bis 

 own and the Mcce*dinK age. A large part of ' I'HUtoire N umismatique 

 da Berne de Louis XIV.,' is executed from his designs. He wrote a 

 Ducour., 1 and an 'Epltre en ver*,' on painting. Ho died in 1722, 

 bavin* one son, CHARMS, nl-o a painter, and his father's pupil, who 

 successively peesed all the ranks to the highest in the Academy. 



Nori. NICHOLS *, the second son and pupil of Noel, was born in 

 1CW. He was received into tbo Academy in 1720, during his 

 brother's rectorsU. He did not attract much notice until after hit 

 brother's death, but then rose rapidly in reputation till the time of 

 -n d.atli, in 1734. Noel Nicholas, although not free from the 

 fictitious elegance of his relative*, poeeresee a con-i in-able feeling for 



l>astorl enjoyment, which is evinced in some ruitio compositions. 

 The principal works of all the Coypels ore at Paris. 



O'VSEVOX, ANTOINE, a distinguished French sculptor, was 

 born at Lyon in 1G40: his family was originally Spanish. Ho ditlin- 

 guUhed himself at Lyon as early as his seventeenth year by a statue 

 of the Virgin, and he wont afterwards to Paris to perfect himself 

 under Lcrambert. He was scarcely twenty-seven years of age when 

 he was chosen by the Cardinal de Fiirstenberg to decorate his palace 

 at Saverne in Alsace, in which he was occupied for four years. After 

 the completion of these works he returned to Paris with a reputation 

 equal to that of any of his Parisian contemporaries, and he was elected 

 a member of the Academy in 1C76. He mode two bronze statues of 

 l.o is XIV., one for the court of the Hotel de Villc, and the other, a 

 colossal equestrian statue, for the States of Bretagno. Among his 

 most celebrated works ore the two winged horses, in marble, mounted 

 by ' Fame' and ' Mercury,' placed one on each side of the entrance to 

 the garden of the Tuileiies from the Place de la Concorde ; they were 

 originally in the garden of Marly : the marble is most elaborately 

 worked, but they show considerable manner. The hone of ' Mercury ' 

 has a bridle, and that of ' Fame* is without one, n conceit which is 

 taid to have much pleased Napoleon. In tho garden of the Tuileries 

 there are also a young fawn, a flute-player, and two other figures, by 

 Coysevox. He made also for tho garden of Marly the groups of 

 'Neptune' and ' Amphitrite,' for Chantilly the marble statue of the 

 great ' Condc,' and many works for Versailles, including two poraouiti- 

 cations in bronze of the riven Dordot;ue and Garonne. Some also of 

 the finest sepulchral monuments in Paris ore by Coysevox, tho 

 Cardinal Mazarin at Quatre Nations, Prince Ferdinand de Fiir&teu- 

 berg at St-Germaiu-des-Pri5s, Mansard at St. Paul ; and the moat 

 elaborate of all, that of Colbert at St. Eustache. Coysevox was also 

 an eminent sculptor of busts. When he died, in 1720, he was chan- 

 cellor of the Koyal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. (Da Fontonai, 

 Diclionnaire da Artiste*, <tc. ; U'Argenville, Fie i da fametu; A rchitecta 

 ct teulpteurt ; Qolignani, Jlittory ofParu.) 



CRABBE, QEORQE, was born at Aldborough, in Suffolk, on the 

 21th of December 1754. His parents were in an humble condition of 

 life, the father being a warehouse-keeper, and collector of the salt- 

 duties, ur saltmaster, at Aldborough. Tho future poet showed, at a 

 very early age, a taste for reading, and a delight in everything that 

 bore the shape of poetry ; and his father was thus led to give him an 

 education belter than he could well afford. It was determine 1 that 

 he should follow the profession of a surgeon ; and having made some 

 progress in mathematics at school, and also, as his son expresses it, 

 "laid the foundations of a fair classical education," ho was in hi* 

 fourteenth year apprenticed to a surgeon at Wickbam Brook ne.ir 

 Bury St Edmunds. Ho stayed with this surgeon three yearn, and, 

 not having been well treated, was, in 1771, transferred to another at 

 Woodbridge in Suffolk, with whom he finished his apprentu 

 HU father bad been in the habit of taking in a periodical, 

 ' Martin's Philosophical Magazine,' the lost sheet of which was always 

 devoted to "occasional poetry ; " and when, at the end of the ye ,r, In- 

 sent the magazines to be bound, these sheets of poetry war 

 tumeliously cut out, and became the property of George, I : 

 them over and over again, and when yet very young tried to writ < 

 pieces of poetry himself. Neither school nor surgery deprived him of 

 the taste formed thus early. While at Wickhom Brook he filled a 

 drawer with verse*, and at Woodbridge, having written a poem on 

 Hope for a prize offered in ' Whcble's Lady's Magazine,' and baring 

 been successful, he was induced to go on contributing to tho publi- 

 cation in which he had gained bis lint laurel*, and before his return 

 home published in a separate form, but anonymously, a poem entitled 

 1 Inebriety.' 



He returned home nt tho close of 1775, ami had now for a time to 

 submit to the drudgery of th>) warehouse, until his father could I 

 to send him to London in order to complete his medical education. 

 When at last he went, it was with means too scanty to allow of his 

 gaining any real advantage ; and he returned before a year had 

 expired, but not till his resources, though carefully husbanded, hod 

 been exhausted. Shortly after, he was encouraged by his friends to 

 set up as a surgeon and apothecary. He had never, it appear*, liked 

 his profession, though, impelled by a sense of duty, he had made 

 more than one effort to apply himself to it with diligence. His pre- 

 paration for tho duties which he was now liable to bo colle I upon 

 to perform hod been inadequate ; and added therefore to dislike of 

 those duties was uneasiness under the responsibility which attached to 

 him. He was in love, and the object of hi* attachment (wo quote hi* 

 son's word*) " too prudent to marry, where there seemed to bo no 

 chance of a competent livelihood ; and he, insta.id of being in a 

 position to maintain a family, could hardly, by labour whi.-h hi- 

 abhorred, cam daily bread fur himself. He was proud too; and, 

 though conscious that he had not deserved success in hi* profevion, 

 he was alo conocious of possessing no ordinary abilities, ami brooded 

 with deep mortiacation on his failure." After a short xtrugt;lu with 

 hiniarlt'. he resolved to abandon his profession, and proceed to London 

 a a literary adventurer. Being without money, be wrote to Mr. 

 Dudley North, wboee broth' r, Mr. Charles Long, had been a can- 

 didate for Aldborough, requesting the loan of fivo pound*. " A very 

 extraordinary letter it was," said Mr. North some years afterwards to 



