TEN 



205 



TEN 



Orotava is on the declivity of a steep hill, nearly 1200 

 feet above the sea-level : it is a well-built and thriving 

 place, with nearly 8000 inhabitants. It carries on a con- 

 siderable commerce by means of its harbour, called Puerto 

 de la Orotava, which is about 2 miles distant, and contains 

 a population of 4600. 



Guimar, on the southern coast, is in a very fertile valley, 

 which produces much wine and wheat : it is rather well 

 built, and contains 3300 inhabitants. In the vicinity are 

 the tombs of the antient inhabitants, the Guanches. which 

 contain mummies. 



Muniifa-iurpx and Commerce, There are a few manufac- 

 tures of silk stuffs at Icod de los Vinos, a town on the north 

 coast, with 4000 inhabitants. These manufactures were 

 formerly very active, and their produce went to America ; 

 but they are now in a declining state, especially since the 

 population of Teneriffe have begun to wear cotton instead 

 of silk. Linen and woollen stuns are made by the families 

 for their own consumption. Woollen stockings were for- 

 merly made for the American market, but this branch of 

 industry has entirely ceased. Earthenware, especially 

 large water-filters, is still sent to Cuba and Puerto Rico. 

 There are manufactures of soap and vermicelli at Santa 

 Cruz. The tanneries produce a very indifferent leather, 

 which is not exported. The number of distilleries is large, 

 and the brandy is hardly inferior to Cognac. Ropes are 

 made from the agave ; and hats, baskets, and mats from 

 the leaves of the date-palms. Good cabinet-work has 

 lately begun to be made for the South American market. 



The maritime commerce is concentrated in the port of 

 Santa Cruz and Port Orotava, which are annually visited 

 by about 120 vessels, mostly English. The inhabitants 

 have a few vessels, with wfiich they visit the American 

 harbours. The most active commerce is that with 

 land, in which about 80 vessels are constantly employed. 

 The imports consist of iron utensils, hardware, iron in 6ars, 

 flax, gla.-.s-ware, crockery, leather, candles, soap, large 

 quantities of cotton goods, provisions, cod, and some 

 minor articles. The most important exports are wine, 

 brandy, and barilla : there are also exported almonds, 

 dry fruits, raw silk, and archil. The commerce with the 

 United States of America and with Hamburg is also con- 

 siderable. 



Ilin'.nry. The Canaries were known to the antients, 

 who called them the Fortunate Islands. [CANARIES, vol. 

 vi., 226.] Teneriffe was occupied by the Spaniards in 

 1496. and has always remained in their possession. 



(Glas, Hibt'iry and Coiir/nt-xt nf the Canary Ixlmiih ; 

 HumboJdt, Voyage an.r lif^iimx /:>/;/ /Ho.rm/.v tin \m/- 

 reau Continent, vol.i.; VonBuch, Physiknlische Benchrei- 

 firiny (/,,,. Canarischen Inseln ; and Die Canarischen 

 Inseln nnch ihrcm gegenu>3rtigen Zustande, von Mac 

 Gresror, Hannover, 1831.) 



TEXIERS, DAVID (the Elder), was born at Antwerp 

 in Io82. He had the good fortune to study painting under 

 Rubens, who highly esteemed him for his promising genius. 

 Besides the benefit of the instruction of that great master, 

 he had the advantage of learning his manner of preparing 

 rounds and managing his materials. It is said that 

 he began by painting pictures on a large scale ; but 

 having gone to Rome with the intention of improving 

 himself in the higher branches of the art, he there con- 

 tracted an intimate friendship with his countryman Adam 

 Elsheimer, whose exquisitely-finished cabinet pictures were 

 L'reatly esteemed, and ho studied with him several years, 

 painting only small pictures. It was here that he ac- 

 quired the neatness of pencilling for which his works are 

 med, and which, with the knowledge of colours ac- 

 '1 under Rubens, gives to his works so great a charm. 



K'.'turning to his native country after ten years' absence, 

 he devoted himself with the greatest ardour to the prac- 

 uf his art, and chose the familiar scenes of ordinary 

 Flemish lil'i', such as merry-makings, weddings, the inte- 

 rior and exterior of public-houses, rural games, chemists' 

 ilorips, and grotesque subjects, such as the Temptation 

 honyand the like. These subjects he treated 

 with the utmost truth and fidelity to nature. His colour- 

 ing, his touch, his design, the pleasing distribution of light 

 hade, the skilful composition of his groups, procured 

 him great reputation and constant employment: every 

 lover of the art was eager to possess some of his works. 

 H'- may in fact be considered as the inventor of a new 

 manner, which was followed and carried to a still higher 



degree of perfection by his son. He died at Antwerp in 

 the year 1049, at the age of sixty-seven. 



TENTERS, DAVID (the Younger), was born at Antwerp 

 in 1610, and received his first and principal instruction 

 from his father. Some authors have affirmed that he left 

 his father to become a disciple of Adrian Brouwer, who 

 however was only two years older than himself, and that 

 he had the advantage of the precepts of Rubens. Othei-s 

 have pretended that he was likewise a pupil of Elsheimer, 

 who died when Teniers was only ten years old. He 

 adopted, as we have observed, the subjects and style of his 

 father : but, with a more fertile imagination, he produced 

 compositions much more varied and ingenious ; his colour- 

 ing is more vivid, rich, and transparent, and the facility 

 of his execution is enchanting. He studied nature in 

 all her varied forms with the most critical attention. He 

 possessed, in perfection, what we have heard one of the 

 brightest living ornaments of the British school call ' the 

 art, or rather the gift, of seeing.' Hence the truth and 

 nature of his pictures, which look almost like reflections 

 in a convex mirror. His pencil is free and delicate ; 

 the touching of his trees light and firm ; his skies are ad- 

 mirably clear and brilliant, though not much varied. The 

 expression of his figures, in every varying mood, of mirth 

 or gravity, good or ill humour, is strongly marked, striking, 

 and natural ; he represented them however precisely as 

 he saw them before him, but was perhaps inferior in de- 

 lineation of character to Jan Steen or Wilkie. 



It is remarkable that at the commencement of his career 

 very little regard was shown to his merit, so that he was 

 often obliged to go in person to Brussels to dispose of his 

 pictures. But he was not long neglected. The archduke 

 Leopold having seen some of his pictures, immediately 

 distinguished him by his patronage, appointed him his 

 principal painter and gentleman of his bedchamber, pre- 

 sented him with a chain of gold to which his portrait was 

 affixed, and gave him the direction of his gallery of paint- 

 ings, which contained works of the most eminent masters 

 of the Italian and Flemish schools. Teniers, who pos- 

 sessed an extraordinary talent in imitating the works of 

 other artists, made copies of this gallery, in which the 

 touch, the colouring, and the manner of the several 

 painters, however different from each other, were repro- 

 duced with such a deceptive fidelity, that he acquired the 

 name of the Proteus of painting. Some writers have ob- 

 jected that his figures are too short and clumsy, and that 

 (here is too much sameness in their countenances and 

 habits: but it must be remembered that he designed 

 every object as he saw it; and the charm which his art has 

 thrown on scenes flat and insipid in their forms, even 

 subjects low, barren, and commonplace, justly excites 

 the admiration of all lovers of the art, and the extra- 

 ordinary prices which are given for his works in every part 

 of Europe are an incontestible proof of the universal ad- 

 miration and esteem in which they are held. This circum- 

 stance is the more deserving of attention, as his works, far 

 from being scarce, are extremely numerous : his extra- 

 ordinary facility of execution and the great age to which 

 lie attained enabled him to produce such a number of 

 pictures, that he was used to say in joke that to hold all 

 his paintings (though they were of such small dimensions) 

 it would be necessary to build a gallery two leagues in 

 length. It is worthy of remark that while of all the 

 Flemish painters his works are the most popular, he was 

 liabitually conversant with the higher classes of society. 

 The suavity of his manners and his irreproachable conduct 

 secured him the esteem of all his countrymen. Besides 

 Ihe archduke Leopold, he was honoured with the favour 

 and protection of Christina, queen of Sweden, the king of 

 ^pain, Don John of Austria, who became his pupil, the 

 Prince of Orange, the bishop of Ghent, and other eminent 

 personages. He often assisted the landscape-painters of 

 iis tim" by inserting figures into their pictures, and many 

 works of Artois, Van Uden, Breughel, and others derive 

 additional value from this circumstance. The galleries 

 and collections in England contain a great, number of his 

 finest, works. He died at Brussels, in the year 1694, at the 

 advanced age of eighty-four years. 



(Pilkington ; Fuseh ; Conversations Lexicon ; Hw- 

 graphie Universelle; Dr. Waagen, Arts and Artists in 

 nd.) 



TENIMBAR ISLANDS. [SUNDA ISLANDS, LKSSER.] 



TENISON, THOMAS (born 1636, died 1715), an Eng- 



