VANDYCK. 



afterwards he might have difcoverd the mifchief, he did not 

 change the paiating. 



It has been afferted by D'Argenvillc and others, that this 

 circumftance, and the growing ability of Vandyck, alarmed 

 the jealoufy of Rubens, and that, ia confequence of it, he 

 advifed his pupil to renounce hiilorical painting, and adhere 

 to portraiture. But this calumny muft be regarded as re- 

 futed, by the mere confideration of Rubens having advifed 

 Vandyck to go to Italy, where he himfelf had reaped fo 

 much benefit, and where hiftory would be the more fuie to 

 rivet the attention of a fludent. Had he, however, advifed 

 him to adhere to portrait painting, it is but a farther proof 

 of his clear perception of the native turn of mind of Van- 

 dyck, and a liberal hint how to employ his talents to moft 

 advantage, not originating in the mean pafTion to which it 

 has been afcribed, but in judgment and good-will. That 

 they did not feparate upon unfriendly terms is evident, by 

 Vandyck afting upon his advice, as to going to Italy ; and 

 prefenting his mailer, previous to liis departure, with two 

 hiftt)rical piftures, and a portrait of his fecond wife Helen 

 Forraan ; and receiving from Rubens in return a prefent of 

 one of his fineft horfes. 



In 1619, when he was 20 years old, Vandyck left his 

 native city for a refidence in Italy, and firft vifited that em- 

 porium of colour, Venice, where he copied and ftudied 

 with great attention, and imbibed the real fpirit, of the 

 works of Titian. At Petworth, the feat of the earl of 

 Egremont, are two portraits of fir James and lady Shirley, 

 (who was a Perfian lady,) in Perfian coftume, which ex- 

 hibit, in the freedom and fulnefs of colour with which they 

 are painted, the perfedl underftanding he had of the ftyle of 

 that great Venetian mafter. From Venice he went to 

 Genoa, where his power was recognifed, and his pencil em- 

 ployed, by the principal nobility in their portraits, as well 

 as bv feveral churches and convents, for which he painted 

 hiilorical piftures ; and nothing is more aftonilhing in the 

 hiftory of the art, than the rapidity and facility with which 

 fo great a number of works was produced by this extra- 

 ordinary artift. He is reported to have hung up in his 

 ftudy, on his return from Italy, forty copies made by him- 

 felf from piftures by Titian, though he was much engaged 

 in original works during his refidence there. After fome 

 Itay at Genoa, he went to Rome, and was there introduced 

 to that patron of elegant literature, the cardinal Bentivoglio, 

 who had been nuncio from the pope in Flanders, and to 

 whom, of courfe, his talents mull have been already known. 

 From this celebrated charafter he painted that prince of 

 portraits, which for feveral years was an ornament of the 

 gallery of the Louvre, but now is returned to its original 

 ilation, the mufeum at Florence. Nothing in painting has 

 ever farpaffed the Hfe and vigour of the head in this fur- 

 prifing and agreeable pifture. He painted fome hiilorical 

 fubjefts for the cardinal, and alfo feveral portraits of dillin- 

 guilhed perfons ; but not uniting with his countrymen, then 

 at Rome, in the Bentvogel fociety, they rendered his re- 

 fidence there unpleafant to him, and he returned to Genoa, 

 wher& he was carefled and honoured, and met with conllant 

 employment. Whilft there, he was invited to Palermo, to 

 paint the portrait of Philibert, prince of Savoy, the viceroy 

 of Sicily, and was engaged in feveral commiffions for the 

 court ; but the plague breaking out, obliged him to leave 

 that place, and he foon after returned to Flanders. 



The reputation o^his growing talents had led his country- 

 men to an anxious defire of witnefling his power, and feveral 

 religious communities advanced to employ his pencil. His 

 firft pubhc work was his celebrated pifture painted for the 

 church of the Auguftines at Antwerp. For a time it 



adorned the walls of the Louvre, but is now reftored to the 

 church whence it was taken. The fubjeft is St. Augulline , 

 in Ecftafy, fupported by angels, with other faints ; of 

 which there is a print by De Jode. Of this performance, 

 which procured him great reputation, Rubens was one of 1 

 the moll zealous admirers ; but fir Jofhua Reynolds oblerves, ) 

 " that in fome meafure it difappointed his expeftation : that 

 it has no effeft from the want of a large mafs of light." 

 In juftnefs to both painter and critic, it mull be oblerved, | 

 that as it was originally painted by Vandyck, St. Auguftine 1 

 was dreffed in white, and with the two angels that fupport 

 him, formed a principal mafs of light ; but that the monks 

 infilled upon their patron being drelTed in black, and would 

 not pay for the pifture till it was fo done. 



Commiffions now came faft upon him, and moft of the 

 principal public edifices of Antwerp, Brufiels, Ghent, and 

 Mechlin, were embelhlhed with the produftions of his 

 pencil. About this time he painted that beautiful feries of 

 fmall portraits of the eminent artifts of his time, which, for 

 chai-after, for variety, and exquifite execution, remain un- 

 equalled. Several of them he etched himfelf, and the reft 

 have been engraved by the beft en^avers of that day. One 

 of his moft excellent hiilorical produftions was painted for 

 the church of the RecoUefts at MechUn, which alfo paid a 

 vifit to the Louvre, but was returned with the reft of the 

 fpoil from Flanders. Its fubjeft is the Crucifixion, and 

 fir Jolhua fays of it, that, " upon the whole, it may be con- 

 fidered as the fineft of Vandyck's works, and eftabUIhes his 

 fame to the title of an hiftorical painter." 



The talle and ability thus difplayed by this great artift 

 did not infure him from ill treatment by his contemporaries, 

 by whom he was accufed of tamenefs and infipidity ; and in 

 addition to this, he endured a great mortification from the 

 canons of the collegiate church at Courtray, for whom he 

 painted the Elevation of the Crofs, bellowing upon it all 

 the power of his art. The pifture being completed, it was 

 fent to the place of its dellmation, when, inllead of receiv- 

 ing the due meed of praife for its extraordinary merit, it was 

 pronounced by the chapter to be a deteftable performance, 

 and they treated the author of it as a miferable artift ; and 

 with difficulty he could procure payment for his pifture. 

 It was not till the pifture had been ieen and commended by 

 feveral artifts and connoifleurs, that they became fenfible of 

 their error ; and then, to atone for fuch foolilh and infenfible 

 conduft, they refolved to commiffion him to paint two more 

 piftures for their church ; but Vandyck, with becoming 

 indignation, refufed to wafte his talents upon men fo un- 

 worthy of regard, and fo httle capable to judge of works 

 of art. 



Soon after this, he accepted an invitation from Frederic, 

 prince of Orange, to vifit the Hague ; and there he painted 

 the portrait of that prince, and thofe of his family, with 

 many of the principal perfonages of the court. 



The patronage which it was underftood was to be found 

 at the Enghlh court, where Charles I. then reigned, in- 

 duced Vandyck to vifit England in 1629, when he lodged 

 with his friend Geldorp, the painter ; but had not the good 

 fortune to attraft the notice of his majefty. Difappointed, 

 he returned to Antwerp, with intent to pafs the remainder 

 of his life there, when a portrait of fir Kenelm Digby, 

 which he had painted, was ftiewn to Charles, and he im- 

 mediately gave orders for an invitation being fent to the 

 painter to return ; and accordingly in i6jl he did fo, and 

 was moft gracioufiy received by the king. 



On this fecond arrival, he was lodged at Blackfriars, at 

 the king's expence ; and his majefty was fo much delighted 

 with his performances, that he often went by water to 



vifit 



