PAINTING. | 131 
invited him to Paris, for the purpose of adorning with paintings two 
galleries in the Luxembourg palace; but of these only one was executed, in 
which he represented the principal events of the queen’s life in twenty-four 
pictures, unhappily in absurd allegories. - 
Subsequently Rubens again visited Madrid, where he was appointed 
secretary of state, loaded with high honors, and at length sent to England, 
to negotiate a peace between England and Spain, a commission which he 
executed with the greatest discretion. Rubens performed several other 
diplomatic missions, and afterwards married Helena Forman (1629), who 
was of such remarkable beauty that he often introduced her into his pic- 
tures, sometimes under one form and sometimes under another, now as a 
shepherdess and again as the queen of heaven, as e. g. in the beautiful 
Assumption of the Virgin (pl. 18, fig. 7). Rubens also frequently painted 
his own picture, sometimes as a portrait proper, such as is found in the 
Florence Museum (jig. 8), and sometimes in action, as e. g. with Helena 
Forman, as Shepherd and Shepherdess kissing each other, a picture preserved 
in Munich. As for Rubens’s style, he took for his models Titian and Paul 
Veronese; but he failed in attaining to either their noble simplicity, correct 
drawing, or beautiful forms. His coloring is distinguished by great purity, 
and by the fact that he laid on the shades close to one another and blended 
them together with the brush; he never painted over a color, excepting 
merely that now and then he added azure tints to his lights. His pictures 
are overloaded with reflexes and reflexions. His composition is remarkable 
and grand, but his draperies are almost too rich both as regards materials 
and profusion. Nearly 4,000 pictures are ascribed to Rubens; but although 
he lived to be sixty-three years old and was very industrious, he could not 
possibly have performed so much. Most of the pictures were painted by 
his pupils and assistants, and he retouched them; many too are doubtless 
only painted by them in his manner or are copies after him. His pupils, 
Van Thulden, Diepenbeck, Von Hock, Cornelius Schut, Vandyck, Jas. 
Jordaens, and many others, adhered faithfully to his manner. The most 
eminent of them was clearly Vandyck (1599-1641) of Herzogenbusch. 
Rubens soon perceived that Vandyck would be able to surpass him, and 
accordingly he employed every means to confine the young artist to por- 
traits. After Vandyck had painted two altar-pieces in the church of 
Savelthem, the celebrated S¢. Martin and a Holy Family, which however 
are no longer extant, he went to Italy to study the works of Titian, Paul 
Veronese, &c. Here he painted a good deal, but soon returned to his 
native land, in consequence of the annoyances he was subjected to by the 
envy of his countrymen. The most brilliant part of Vandyck’s career was 
spent in England, where he painted both historical pieces and portraits. 
Vandyck (his portrait, painted by himself (pl. 17, jig. 9), is preserved in the 
Florence Museum) is the only painter of portraits that can be compared 
to Titian, and his portrait of King Charles is a study for the portrait-paint- 
ers of all times. Yet Vandyck was great also in historical painting; and 
there are many pictures by him which deserve to be ranked above those of 
his master, his drawing being certainly more correct and his coloring more 
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