421 



PAINTING. 



PAINTING. 



majestic simplicity of the old Christian type with a close imitation of 

 external nature and a homely strength characteristic of their country. 

 Their brother Lambert and sister Margaret were also artists. (Carton, I 

 ' Les Trois Freres van Eyck.') Hubert van Eyck may be said to have 

 BO far improved the method of painting in oil, as almost to be entitled 

 to the honour, long accorded by mistake to his brother, of being its 

 inventor. (See Eastlake's ' Materials for a History of Oil Painting,' 

 where the question is fully investigated.) The great work of the 

 brothers, it having been commenced by Hubert and finished by Jan, 

 was the altar-piece in St. Bavo at Ghent, painted for Judocusvan Vyt. 

 It consisted of a centre picture of the Worship of the Lamb, sur- 

 mounted by God the Father, the Virgin, and St. John, and flanked by 

 folding shutters, all relating to the principal subject. The different 

 parts of this painting, unquestionably one of the most remarkable 

 productions of modern art, are now separated. The upper and middle 

 portions remain at Ghent ; the others are at Berlin. Michael Coxis 

 executed a copy of it for Philip II., which is still more scattered. 

 [EvcK, HUBERT VAN, in BIOG. Div.] Two noble works by Hubert are 

 the ' Triumph of the Church,' in the Museum of Madrid, and ' St. 

 Jerome,' in the gallery at Naples, long attributed to Col-Antonio del 

 Fiore. Jan van Eyck, though he has acquired a wider fame than his 

 brother in a great measure from his being regarded as " the inventor 

 of oil-painting " was a much less imaginative painter ; but he carried 

 the technics of painting far beyond any predecessor, and some of his 

 pictures still remain in an almost perfect state of preservation as, 

 for example, that, dated 1484, of a man and woman (supposed to be 

 portraits of himself and wife), in the National Gallery, which is one of 

 the most admirable examples of his style. 



The school of the Van Kycks was fertile in good painters, and their 

 influence extended wherever painting was practised. One of the oldest 

 of their scholars in the Netherlands was Justus Van Ghent ; others of 

 considerable celebrity were Dierick Steurbout, or Dierick Van Harlem, 

 two altar-pieces by whom are in St. Peter's, Louvain, and some large 

 paintings from the legend of the emperor Otho are in the Town Hall 

 of the same city ; and Hugo van der Goes, of Ghent, who is mentioned 

 by Vasari, and some of whose pictures found their way to Italy. But 

 the most distinguished of the scholars of Jan van Eyck, and one who 

 by his numerous pupils did more than any other to extend the influence 

 of the school, was Rogier van der Weyden, better known as Roger of 

 Bruges (d. 1464). One of his finest works, a ' Last Judgment,' is in 

 the hospital of Beaume ; another, the ' Adoration of the Kings,' in the 

 Pinacothek at Munich ; and several admirable pictures by him are in 

 the Berlin museum ; others are in Antwerp, Brussels, Paris, and 

 London. Chief among the scholars of Hogier was Hans Memling, 

 perhaps the most eminent of the Netherlands' painters in all that 

 respecta refinement of feeling, beauty of form, and tenderness of 

 expression. Some very beautiful works by him are preserved in 

 St. John's II' .-pital, Bruges, of which he was an inmate about 1479. 

 In the church of Our Lady at Dnntzic is a large altar-piece, ' The Last 

 Judgment,' a work of great extent and vigour, and probably the most 

 important exatnjle of his pencil. Several of his pictures are at 

 Munich. The traditions of the school were continued into the next 

 century by Rogier van der Weyden the younger, Goswin van der 

 Wryden, De Witte, Gerhart, Jan Gossaert, or Jan Mabuse, Jan 

 Mostaert, and others, but towards the middle of the 16th century the 

 Van Eyck influence had been nearly superseded. 



Of the Antwerp painters of this time, the most famous is Quentin 

 Massys, or Malays, ' the Blacksmith ' (b. 1460, d. 1530), one of the 

 earliest painters of those homely subjects for which the artists of the 

 Netherlands afterwards became so celebrated. His ' Misers,' of which 

 there is a replica at Windsor Castle, is a well-known example of his 

 style ; but he also painted religious subjects, of which class the ' Virgin 

 and Child ' in the National Gallery is a favourable example. But his 

 masterpiece, a ' Deposition from the Cross,' is in the Antwerp Museum. 

 Luc Jacobez, or Lucas Van Leyilen (b. 14U4, d. 1533), was one of the 

 ablest and most Versatile artists of his time. The ' Last Judgment,' in 

 the Town House of Leyden, is hia most important work. But he 

 appears to moat advantage in his engravings, which are as numerous as 

 his paintings are scarce. 



The later works of Jan Mabuse (b. 1499, d. 1562), and the pictures 

 of Jan Schoreel (b. 1495, d. 1562), Michael Coxis (b. 1497, d. 1592), 

 Martin van Neen, or Martin Hemskerk (b. 1498, d. 1574), and Lambert 

 Susterman, or L. Lombard (b. 1506, d. 1560), show that forced iini- 

 titin of the Italians which characterises the transition from the old 

 Flemish to the school of Brabant. This tendency is more strongly 

 marked in Kr.ui/, Fl'.ris (b. 1520, d. 1570), in the elder and younger 

 Krancks, in Bernhanl van Orley (b. 1471, d. 1541), Heinrich <Jc.lty.iiw 

 -*, 'I. I'M 7), still more famous as an engraver than a painter, 

 1" \Vitti-. and Othc. V.i.im <!.. IS.Vi, d. 1>;34), the master of 

 Rultt-iM. The works of these artist* and their contemporaries Abraham 

 Klu'iiiait (b. 1 :,.;!. d. Mi;,, Cometi ran Harlem, Van Balen, and 

 - are deficient in m'l> ;uid genuine feeling, though 



they interest us as being the groundwork of the school of Rubens. 

 Among the portrait-painters of this time are several who acquired even 

 more celebrity in this country than in their own. Of these, we may 

 mention Sir Antony Moro (b. 1518, d. 1588), who, as painter to Philip 

 of Spain, resided at the court of Mary, and painted portraits of the 

 Queen, Lord Essex, Sir Henry Sidney, and other coin-tiers ; Paul van 



Somer (b. 1576, d. 1624), who painted Lord Bacon and other of the 

 distinguished men at the court of Elizabeth ; Mark Gerard (d. 1635), 

 the favourite painter of Elizabeth and her courtiers ; Daniel Mytens, 

 who painted James I. and Charles I. ; and Cornelius Jansen, who suc- 

 ceeded Mytens as court painter. 



The Netherlands witnessed, in the commencement of the 17th 

 century, a revival of painting more striking than that effected by the 

 Caracci. Peter Paul Rubens was born at Cologne in 1577, and died 

 at Antwerp in 1640. After leaving the school of Otho Venius, he 

 visited Italy, and studied particularly the works of Titian and Paul 

 Veronese. His system of colour was based on that of the Venetians, 

 and was only inferior to theirs. His forms are gross, but always full 

 of life and vigour. His later pictures exhibit increased knowledge of 

 effect, but the earlier are more attractive than those which were exe- 

 cuted when the overwhelming number of commissions obliged him to 

 employ unsparingly the pencil of his pupils. The ' Descent from the 

 Cross,' in the cathedral of Antwerp, and its companion, are deservedly 

 cited as among the best specimens of the master. His works may be 

 studied in the greatest perfection in the museum and church of Ant- 

 werp, in the gallery of Vienna, and more especially at Munich. But 

 almost every important Continental gallery contains paintings by him. 

 Our own country contains a large number of his works. Among 

 private collections, that at Blenheim is peculiarly rich in first-rate 

 pictures by Rubens. The National Gallery possesses several of great 

 excellence. Rubens is equally great in history, in landscape, and in 

 portrait. To complain that the fire of his genius was not chastened 

 as in the great Italian masters, is to wish that the artist had been a 

 different individual from what he was formed to be. When we look at 

 Rubens's works, then- facility of execution, their energy, and their 

 brilliancy hurry us beyond such considerations; when we think of 

 them, we may regret that his forms are often ill-selected, that the 

 brute animal vigour of his bacchanals is pushed to coarseness, and that 

 the physical prevails so generally over the spiritual. [R0BENS, in 

 BIOG. Div.] 



The most celebrated of the pupils of Rubens was Antony Vandyck 

 (b. 1599, d. 1641). At first he imitated closely the peculiarities of his 

 master ; but after his residence in Italy he adopted a more tranquil 

 tone of feeling and soberer colour. His historical pictures have many 

 excellent qualities, but they are not equal in their way to the nume- 

 rous and admirable portraits, many of which were executed during a 

 residence in England, and still remain in this country. [VANDYCK, 

 ANTONY, in BIOG. Div.] 



Of the other scholars of Rubens, few did more than imitate, and 

 sometimes exaggerate, the outward characteristics of their leader, 

 with the exception of Frans Snyders (b. 1579, d. 1657), who, as a 

 painter of animals in vigorous action, has never been equalled. After 

 Vandyck and Snyders, the best among Rubens's scholars were perhaps 

 Jacob Jordaens (b. 1594, d. 1678), and Gaspar de Crayer (b. 1585, 

 d. 1669). 



In Holland, Michael Mirevelt (b. 1567, d. 1641) and Franz Hals 

 (b. 1584, d. 1666) painted history and portraits, especially the latter, 

 with great success. Barthol. van der Heist (b. 1613, d. 1670) approached 

 very closely to Vandyck in colour. His finest work, the ' Festival given 

 by the Burgher-guard of Amsterdam on the conclusion of the Treaty 

 of Westphalia,' is in the museum of that city. Another excellent 

 picture of smaller dimensions is in the Louvre. 



The great master of the Dutch school, however, was Paul Rembrandt 

 van Ryn (b. 1608, d. 1674). In his portraits and ideal heads we find 

 the most wonderful truth and dignity ; but his peculiar power con- 

 sisted in a mastery of light and shade, which rendered the lowest 

 subjects vehicles for high and poetical feeling. The depth and bril- 

 liancy thus produced seem hardly attainable by mere colour on a flat 

 opaque surface ; and when we look at his numerous etchings, we 

 marvel still more how his needle on the copper has almost surpassed 

 his pencil on the canvas. Conscious of his power to attain sublimity 

 by light and shade alone, he seems often to have rejoiced in showing 

 how that one charm could make us heedless of coarseness of con- 

 ception and meanness of form. [REMBRANDT, in Bioo. Div.] Rem- 

 brandt's principal pupils and imitators were Gerbrand van den 

 Eeckhout (b. 1621, d. 1674), Ferd. Bol (b. 1611, d. 1681), who excelled 

 in portrait, Nicholas Maas (b. 1632, d. 1693), and Salomon Koning 

 (b. 1609, d. about 1674), who in all his best qualities approached 

 nearest to his master. Of another pupil, Gerard l)ow, we shall speak 

 immediately. 



It is necessary just to mention Gerard Honthorst, called by the 

 Italians Gherardo delle Notti (b. 1592, d. 1662), who imitated Cara- 

 vaggio and the Italian " Naturalist!." His effects of torch and candle 

 light are much celebrated. Gerard Lairesse (b. 1640, d. 1711) is best 



1 as a Flemish imitator of Nicolas Pousain. Adrian van der 



Werff (b. 1659, d. 1722) has little to recommend him besides a finish 

 and smoothness of surface, to which higher qualities are sacrificed : 

 his human figures present the texture of ivory rather than of flesh, 

 with much affectation and little genuine expression of passion or 

 character. 



We must now turn to those masters who arc most distinguished in 

 what is called " genre," a word for which it is difficult to find a substi- 

 tute, and still more difficult to furnish a definition. The subject may 

 boreal or fictitious; but if the picture is on a small scale, and the 



