278 



VANDYCK, SIR ANTONY. 



VANE, SIR HENRY. 



276 



of the picture after the accident than before it ; but upon the circum- 

 stance being related to him, to have become jealous of Vandyck, and 

 to have repainted the part again himself. Another version of the 

 story eays that this accident increased his esteem for Vandyck. 

 Whatever may be the real statement of the case, liubens and Van- 

 dyck appear to have parted on the best of terms. Vandyck pre- 

 sented Rubens with two historical pictures, an Ecce Homo and Christ 

 in the Garden of Olives, and a portrait of Rubens's second wife : he 

 was presented in return by Rubens with one of his most beautiful 

 horses. 



At the age of twenty Vandyck set out for Italy, but delayed some 

 time at Brussels, fascinated by the charms of a peasant girl of Savel- 

 them, who persuaded him to paint two pictures for the church of her 

 native place a St. Martin on horseback, painted from himself and the 

 horse given him by Rubens; and a Holy Family, for which the girl 

 and her parents were models. In Italy he spent some time at Venice 

 and Genoa, where he painted many excellent portraits. From Genoa 

 he went to Rome, where he was also much patronised, and lived in 

 great style. A portrait of Cardinal Bentivoglio, painted at this time, 

 is one of his masterpieces : it is in the Pitti Palace, and hangs near the 

 celebrated portrait of Leo X. by Raffaelle, and is in every respect an 

 admirable picture. Vandyck was known in Rome as the Pittore Cava- 

 lieresoo. He avoided the society of his countrymen, who were men 

 of low and intemperate habits. They had formed themselves into a 

 well-known society called the Schilder-Bent, and annoyed Vandyck 

 so much that he was obliged to leave Rome and return to Genoa 

 about 1C25. Germans were also admitted into this society: it was 

 not broken up until the year 1720. Whilst at Genoa Vandyck received 

 an invitation to go to Palermo ; whither he went, and he painted there 

 portraits of Prince Philibert of Savoy, the viceroy, and other dis- 

 tinguished persons; also the celebrated painter Sophonisba Anguisciola, 

 then in her 92nd year. He remained only a short time in Sicily, being 

 driven away by the plague. He returned to Genoa, and thence to his 

 own country. 



Vanclyck's first picture after his return to Antwerp was a St. 

 Augustin, for the church of the Augustines in that place, by which he 

 established his reputation as one of the first painters of his time, and 

 it was followed by his still more celebrated picture of the Crucifixion 

 painted for the church of St. Michael at Ghent. He painted several 

 other excellent historical pictures, but acquired greater fame by his 

 portraits. He was in high favour with his old master Rubens, who is 

 said to have offered him his eldest daughter in marriage, but Vandyck 

 declined upon the plea that he intended to return shortly to Rome, or 

 really, as some say, because he was in love with the step-mother. 

 From Antwerp Vandyck went to the Hague by the invitation of the 

 prince of Orange, Frederick of Nassau, and painted many portraits of 

 the principal personages at that court. Whilst at the Hague he heard 

 of the great love of the arts of Charles I., and he came to England 

 with the hope of being introduced to the king. His hopes not being 

 realised, he went to Paris, and not being more successful in that place, 

 he returned to his own country. Charles however, having shortly 

 afterwards seen the portrait of the musician Nicolas Laniere, director 

 of the music of the king's chapel, requested Sir Kenelm Digby, who 

 had sat to Vandyck, to invite him to come again to England. He 

 came to England about 1632 ; was lodged by the king at Blackfriars ; 

 was knighted in that year, and in the year following, 1633, he was 

 granted an annual pension of 200?. for life, with the title of painter 

 to his majesty, besides being handsomely paid for his works. There is 

 a note in Walpole of a sum of 280^. paid to Vandyck by the king, for 

 various pictures in 1632. For a simple whole length the king paid 

 25., but other people appear to have paid more. Walpole says, 

 " Vandyck had 401. for a half, and 60L for a whole length ; a more 

 rational proportion than that of our present painters, who receive an 

 equal pi ice for the most insignificant part of the picture." 



Vandyck was indefatigable in his application ; he painted a portrait 

 in a day. He often detained people who sat to him to dinner, that he 

 might have an opportunity of studying their countenances, and he 

 retouched their portraits again in the afternoon. He kept a great 

 table, and was of most expensive habits ; he was also fond of music, 

 and was liberal to musicians. In the summer he lived at Eltham in 

 Kent. Buckeridge, in his ' Essay towards an English School,' speaking 

 of Vandyck, says, " He always went magnificently dressed, had a 

 numerous and gallant equipage, and kept so good a table in his apart- 

 ment, that few princes were more visited or better served." This 

 luxurious and sedentary life destroyed his constitution and wasted his 

 means. He endeavoured to repair his fortunes by the absurd study 

 of alchemy and the search of the philosopher's stone : a pursuit in 

 which he was probably encouraged, says Walpole, by the example of 

 Lis friend Sir Kenelm Digby. Shortly before he died, the king 

 bestowed on Vandyck, for a wife, Mary, daughter of the unfortunate 

 Lord Ruthven, earl of Gowry. Not long after they were married, he 

 went with his wife to Paris, " in hopes,'' says Walpole, " of being 

 employed in some public work ; " but after remaining there for a short 

 time, and seeing no prospects of success, he returned to London, and, 

 still bent upon executing eome public work, he proposed to the king, 

 by Sir Kcneltn Digby, to paint the walls of the Banqueting-house at 

 Whitehall with the history and procession of the Order of the Garter. 

 Ho made a design, with which the king is said to have been pleased, 



but he demanded such a large sum for the carrying it into execution 

 (80,OOOJ., probably a misprint for 8000J.), that it was judged unreason- 

 able ; and whilst the king was treating with him for a less sum, the 

 project was put an end to by the death of Vandyck : he died in 

 London, in 1641, in the 42nd year of his- age; and was buried in St. 

 Paul's Cathedral, near the tomb of John of Gaunt. He left one 

 daughter by his wife Mary Ruthven, who married Mr. Stepney, who 

 rode in the horse-guards on their first establishment by Charles II. 

 Notwithstanding his expensive habits, he died worth about 20,0002. 



Vandyck is generally allowed to dispute the palm with Titiau in 

 portrait painting, and he is by some accounted upon the whole 

 superior to him. He was inferior to Titian in richness and warmth 

 of colouring, but surpassed him in perhaps every other respect. Van- 

 dyck is unrivalled for the delicacy of drawing and beauty of hia 

 hands ; he was perfect master of drawing and of chiaroscuro ; he was 

 admirable in draperies; and with simplicity of expression and grace 

 of attitude, he combined both dignity and individuality. His portraits 

 generally impress us with the feeling that he has not only selected the 

 most suitable attitude for the figure, but that he has also chosen the 

 best view of the countenance. His latest works are executed iu a 

 careless though masterly manner, but some of his earliest portraits, 

 particularly some of those painted in Italy, combine with his own 

 masterly style of design the exquisite finish of Holbein. 



Although Vandyck has acquired his great name by his portraits, he 

 painted also many excellent historical pieces, and he never at any time 

 ceased to paint pictures in this line ; they are however very inferior 

 to his portraits : they want generally both feeling and expression. 

 His best historical picture, in the opinion of Sir Joshua Reynold*, ia 

 the ' Crucifixion between the two Thieves,' at the church of the Recol- 

 lets at Mechlin, of which he says, " This perhaps is the most capital 

 of all his works, in respect to the variety and extensiveness of the 

 design, and the judicious disposition pf the whole. In the efforts 

 which the thieves make to disengage themselves from the cross, he 

 has successfully encountered the difficulty of the art; and the expres- 

 sion of grief and resignation in the Virgin is admirable. This picture, 

 upon the whole, may be considered as one of the first pictures in the 

 world, and gives the highest idea of Vandyck's powers : it shows that 

 he had truly a genius for history-painting, if it had not been taken off 

 by portraits." 



Vandyck's pictures are very numerous, almost as much so aa those 

 of Rubens. Many of the best of them are in this country, at Windsor 

 Castle, at Hampton Court, at Wilton House, and at Blenheim, and in 

 many other private collections. His masterpiece, in the opinion of 

 Walpole, is the dramatic portrait of the Earl of Strafford and his 

 secretary Sir Thomas Mainwaring, at Wentworth House. There is 

 one also at Blenheim of this subject, which Dr. Waagen praises very 

 highly ; Walpole however says that the picture at Wentworth House 

 is infinitely superior to it. At Wilton House there are twenty-five 

 pictures by Vandyck, and it is here, says Walpole, that Vandyck is 

 upon his throne ; and the great portrait of Philip, earl of Pembroke, 

 with his family, says the same writer, " though damaged, would serve 

 alone as a school of this master." Charles I. was painted several times 

 by Vandyck, sometimes on horseback, and he repeated some of the 

 portraits of him : they are among his best works. Among his more iu- 

 terest^ng works also is the series of portraits of the most eminent artists 

 and others his contemporaries at Antwerp, painted in small in chiaro- 

 scuro, before he left Antwerp for the Hague. The originals were never 

 collected, but they were etched and have been published together, to 

 the number of one hundred, three times, under the following titles^ 

 ' Icones Virorum doctorum, pictorum, chalcographorum, &c. nurnero 

 centum, ab Antonio Vandyck pictore ad vivum expressse et ejus 

 sumptu seri incisse Antverpiae.' Vandyck etched some of the plates 

 himself. 



The superb head of Gevartius, as it is called, in the National Gallery 

 in London, attributed to Vandyck, is supposed by some critics to have 

 been painted by Rubens. Passavant and Dr. Waagen are both of this 

 opinion, but they think that the rest of the picture is the work of 

 Vandyck. Dr. Waagen has observed that this picture cannot be the 

 portrait of Caspar Gevartius, the friend of Rubens ; for he was not 

 born until 1593, and it represents a man between 50 and 60 ; and that 

 if it represents the canon John Gevartius, it cannot have been painted 

 by Vandyck, for he died in 1623, whilst Vandyck was in Italy; nor 

 can it have been painted by him before he went to Italy, for it is not 

 the production of a young hand. If it bo the head of John Gevartius, 

 it must have been painted by Rubens. Besides the Gevartius there 

 are three other works by Vandyck in the National Gallery A ' Por- 

 trait of Rubens,' ' The Emperor Theodosius refused Admission into 

 the Church by St. Ambrose,' which is little more than a free copy of 

 the picture by Rubens in the Imperial Gallery at Vienna ; and a ' Study 

 of Horses.' 



(Houbraken, Oroote Sckoulurgh, Ac. ; Descamps, La Vie des Peintres 

 Flamands, &c. ; Walpole, Anecdotes of Paintiny in England; ]'a-.-a- 

 vant, Kunstreise durch England und Udgien; Waagen, Kunsttrerke 

 und Kilnstlcr in England und Paris; Carpenter, Pictorial Notices; 

 consisting of a Memoir of Sir Anthony Van Dyclc.) 



VANE, SIR HENRY, the Younger, was born about the year 1612. 

 He was descended from an ancient family in the county of Kent, and 

 was the eldest son of Sir Heny Vane of Hadlow in Kent, knight, 



