Chapter D: G. ROSSETTI: Early Italian Poets (5)

This painter--of greater genius and of a more national spirit,
says Sir William Stirling-Maxwell, than any his century
produced--was the son of humble parents. Until the age of 16
he lived without any knowledge of art, when his passion for
painting was awakened by a monk of Santa Fé, near Saragossa,
after which he was admitted into the studio of José Luxan
Martinez, who had been educated in Italy. He distinguished
himself at this time, not so much in the studio as in the
streets, in the quarrels of painters and confraternities,
sometimes ending in bloodshed. At Madrid, to which city he
afterwards escaped, his mode of life appears to have been
anything but that of an orderly citizen. Being a good musician,
and gifted with a voice, he sallied forth nightly, serenading
the caged beauties of the capital, with whom he seems to have
been a general favourite, and whose portraits he painted. In
consequence of a street brawl in Madrid he fled to Italy, in
company with a party of bull-fighters, and resided at Rome,
where he fraternised with Louis David. In 1774 he returned
to Spain, married, and settled down to his profession. He
soon attracted the notice of Mengs, the King's painter, by
some designs which he executed for the royal manufactory of
tapestry, and became a popular artist of that capital, and a
prime favourite with its fashionable society. In 1789 he was
appointed painter-in-ordinary to Charles IV., a post which
he continued to hold under Ferdinand VII. He was so largely
employed that he was able to maintain a fine villa near Madrid,
where he entertained in the grand style. Among distinguished
persons who sat to him was the Duke of Wellington, but on his
making a remark which raised the artist's choler, Goya seized
a plaster cast and hurled it at the Duke's head. The artist's
declining years were spent in retirement at Bordeaux, where he
died at the age of 82.

"Goya's earlier life indicated," says W. B. Scott, "the
character of his painting--bizarre and wild, with a gleam of
infernal splendour in his choice of beauty. He was an inventor,
and gives us the most vivid and novel sensations, although
he serves us with vinegar as well as wine." "Much that was
bizarre and tumultuous, the strangeness of charm, a certain
curious and sombre side of beauty, the sense of the strength
of a personality, the reflection of extravagant gaiety, or
excessive horror, Goya was able to render in a manner that had
never been seen before" (_Goya_, by W. Rothenstein: 1900). He
was in no way the slave to the technicalities of the studio
or academical rules. In sacred subjects, which he painted
by no means _con amore_, he affects the hard style of David
and his French followers. But it was otherwise in those more
congenial works in which his hand spoke as his fancy prompted,
and in which he poured forth the gaiety of his art or the gall
of his sarcasm. There the daubing boldness of the execution
rivals the coarseness of the idea or the rudeness of the jest.
His colours were laid on as often with sticks, sponges, or
dish-clouts as with the brush. "Smearing his canvas with
paint," says Gautier of him, "as a mason plasters a wall, he
would add the delicate touches of sentiment with a dash of
his thumb." So dexterous was he in turning all materials to
artistic account that during morning visits to his friends he
would take the sandbox from the inkstand, and, strewing the
contents on the table, amuse them with caricatures traced in
an instant by his ready finger. His versatility is proverbial;
in addition to numerous oil paintings he executed many crayon
sketches, engravings, and etchings. It is by the latter that he
is perhaps best known. "The Caprices" are the most surprising,
showing humanity in all the stages of brutality and ugliness,
with a _mélange_ of beauty and demonology quite unexampled.
(W.B. Scott, _The Spanish School_; Bryan's _Dictionary of
Painters_; and Stirling-Maxwell, _Annals of the Artists of
Spain_.) The three following pictures are representative of
Goya's several styles--scenes of country life, demoniacal
fancies, and portraiture.

From the collection of the Duke of Ossuna at Madrid. Théophile Gautier described Goya--in the language of hyperbole--as "a combination of Watteau and Rembrandt," and in this picture we have a Watteau-like subject, treated, however, in a more grotesque fashion than that of the charming French painter of rural _fêtes_.

1472. "THE BEWITCHED."

_Francisco Goya_ (Spanish: 1746-1828). _See 1471._

A scene from a play ("El hechizado por fuerza"), showing a player on the stage, dressed as a padre in complete black, and in the act of pouring oil into a lamp which is held by an obsequious demon, while a team of ghostly and affrighted mules are rearing in the background. Goya, who has been called the Hogarth of Spain, specially delighted in satirising the clergy, whose enchantments and incantations he parodied, and whom he was fond of portraying in the form of asses or apes.

1473. PORTRAIT OF DOÑA ISABEL CORBO DE PORCEL.

_Francisco Goya_ (Spanish: 1746-1828). _See 1471._

"The lady was evidently a plump and rosy voluptuous woman, having large and liquid eyes with much dilated pupils, as well as coarse and full lips, and wearing her loose brown tresses about her eyes and ears, while a black mantilla fell from a lofty comb upon her shoulders. It is obvious--and this accounts for the lady's flushed carnations and glittering pupils, not frequent elements in Goya's work--that she prepared herself for sitting, not only by blacking her eyelids with kohl, but using belladonna to dilate her eyes, and rouge for her cheeks" (_Athenæum_, July 4, 1896). This portrait, says Sir Edward Poynter, "is perhaps as good an example as could be found of the brilliancy of execution and vivid portrayal of character which characterise Goya at his best."

1476. JUPITER AND SEMELE.

_Andrea Schiavone_ (Venetian: 1522-1582).

Andrea Meldolla, called Il Schiavone (from his birthplace in
Dalmatia, the country of the Slaves), was born of poor parents,
and died, we are told, "after a life of much suffering as
well as labour"--his works, by which the dealers enriched
themselves, barely supplying him with the means of existence.
He was employed at very small remuneration to paint the outside
of houses and panels for furniture. It is said that he was
rescued from obscurity by Titian. He was a good colourist, and
had considerable imagination. "The colouring of Schiavone,"
says Zanetti, "was much admired by Tintoret, who kept a
painting by that artist in his studio and advised others to
do the same." Among the illustrious painters who followed
Tintoret's advice was our own Lord Leighton, from whose
collection the present picture was bought.

The picture illustrates the myth which told how Jupiter came to Semele, whom he loved, attended by clouds, lightning, and thunderbolts. This panel was doubtless painted, as described above, for some piece of furniture.

1478. THE CRUCIFIXION.

_Giovanni Mansueti_ (Venetian: born about 1450).

Of the life of this painter little is known. The registers of
San Giovanni, Venice, tell us that he was lame; and by his own
authority we learn that he was a pupil of Giovanni Bellini,
and a believer in the miracle of the Cross, which took place
in 1474, and forms the subject of a picture by him, now in
the Academy of Venice. His pictures in that collection are
interesting as illustrating Venetian costume and architecture,
and Ruskin finds "much that is delightful in them." Mansueti's
figures, says Kugler (i. 332), are short and stumpy, and he
lacks the variety of expression and action of Gentile Bellini,
and the brilliancy of colour and fancy of Carpaccio.

This picture--which is not a very ambitious or characteristic illustration of the painter--gives a symbolic representation of the Crucifixion. "In front of an architectural screen--on the right and left of which is an open tabernacle in sculptured stone, enclosing, instead of the usual statue of the Virgin or a saint, an angel singing, and holding an instrument of the Passion of our Saviour--lie the spear, and the sponge upon the reed. Between these is a Majesty of the usual type, the flesh of the Redeemer being, doubtless owing to the partial fading of the carnations or the fact of the under-paint coming through, more greenish and opaque than the Venetian artists, especially the school of Bellini, affected. At the foot of the group the Magdalen kneels in the act of kissing the Saviour's feet. On her left stands the Virgin, and on the same side are two men, representing, of course, the Magi and the shepherds who attended the nativity of our Lord. On our right stand SS. John the Baptist and Peter, in front of whom kneels a man who holds the pincers as an implement of the Passion. The picture, as becomes its origin, is bright in colour as well as in its effect and local tints, very carefully and almost laboriously as well as timidly drawn; the architecture would not discredit Peter Neeffs" (_Athenæum_, 24th October 1896). The picture is signed, and dated 1492.

1479. A WINTER SCENE ON THE ICE.

_Hendrik van Avercamp_ (Dutch: 1586-1663). _See 1346._

A winter scene such as Mr. Pater describes in his _Imaginary Portraits_ (p. 91), with "all the delicate poetry together with all the delicate comfort of the frosty season," in "the leafless branches, the furred dresses of the skaters, the warmth of the red-brick house fronts, and the gleam of pale sunlight."

1481. A PHILOSOPHER.

_Cornelis Pietersz Bega_ (Dutch: 1620-1664).

This painter, who lived and died at Haarlem, was the son of
a sculptor and a pupil of Adrian van Ostade. "Though," says
Havard (p. 148), "a more finished draughtsman, with more
regard for grace of form and for the beauty of his figures,
in all other respects he was very inferior to Ostade. When we
notice his dry and heavy execution, his ruddy flesh-colouring,
and his opaque shadows, we are surprised that he should have so
far neglected the examples placed before him."

This picture, executed throughout with extreme care and finish, is signed, and dated 1663.

1489, 1490. PORTRAITS OF VENETIAN SENATORS.

(_Venetian School_: 16th Century.)

Transferred from the South Kensington Museum, where the portraits were attributed to Tintoret.

1493. LANDSCAPE, WITH VIEW OF THE CARRARA MOUNTAINS.

_G. Costa_ (Italian: born 1826).

Giovanni Costa, Professor in the Florentine Academy of Fine
Arts, is distinguished alike as a painter and a patriot. He
fought in the Venetian campaign of 1848, was a follower of
Mazzini, in 1853 joined the Piedmontese regiment of lancers
known as the Aosta Cavalleggieri, served on Garibaldi's staff
at Mentana, and in 1870 fought his way through the streets
of Rome at the head of the Italian army, and was the first
to enter the Capitol. This ended his military career; but
he afterwards served on the Municipal Council of Rome and
interested himself specially in the prevention of inundations
of the Tiber. It was in 1852 that Costa first began the study
of landscape painting, in which he was destined to become the
greatest ornament of the modern Italian School. His home was
in the Alban Hills, near Rome, and afterwards at Florence,
where in 1859 he inaugurated the "open-air school" in Italy.
In 1864 he returned to Rome, and in 1870 was appointed to
his professorship at Florence. In the earlier portion of
his artistic career, Costa exhibited at Paris (with Corot,
Troyon, and others); afterwards he found in England his chief
patrons, and many of his pupils. In 1853, at Rome, he made the
acquaintance of Leighton, whose intimate friend he remained
until the President's death. Another celebrated English artist
with whom Costa was intimate was Mason; there is considerable
affinity in some respects between the work of the two men.
The Italian painter has depicted almost every part of his
beautiful country. He has been called "the Italian Millet,"
for the feeling of sublimity which he knows so well how to
impart to the simplicities of peasant life; while in works
of pure landscape he especially excels in giving to blue
mountains, reedy banks, and olive-grown shores a poetical
charm. (See an interesting account of Professor Costa,
largely autobiographical, in the _Magazine of Art_, vol. vi.
His personal reminiscences of Mason and Leighton have been
published in the _Cornhill Magazine_, March 1897.)

The scenery of the Carrara Mountains is a favourite subject of the painter. In his pictures of these mountains, "seen across a broad expanse of plain through a misty atmosphere, he invests forms undeniably grand in themselves with a more solemn splendour and a deepened poetry."

1495. CHRIST DISPUTING WITH THE DOCTORS.

_Ludovico Mazzolino_ (Ferrarese: 1480-1528). _See 169._

This brilliant and characteristic little picture, containing twenty-eight delicately and elaborately finished figures, is enriched with one of Mazzolino's usual backgrounds of marble bas-reliefs. The lower of them represents Moses showing the Tables of the Law to the Israelites. The upper, the battle between the Israelites and the Philistines, with David beheading Goliath.

1653. PORTRAIT OF HERSELF.

_Madame Vigée Le Brun_ (French: 1755-1842).

All visitors to Paris know this charming artist. Her two
portraits of herself with her little girl in her arms are in
the Louvre, and engravings or photographs of them are in every
printseller's window. They are characteristic of her refined
drawing, her limpid and transparent colour, her graceful
sentiment. She excelled in rendering the candour of innocence,
the charm of childhood, and maternal tenderness. She aimed
rather at a certain ideal of soft and smiling beauty than at
realism of portraiture. Some of her personages, even those in
the highest ranks of life, seem, it has been well said, to
have traversed the sentimental scenes of the tender Greuze,
and she was fond of enveloping her sitters in semi-allegorical
surroundings. If she cannot be reckoned among the great
portrait-painters, she yet shows a power which is rare among
artists of her sex, and a charming style of her own which will
always make her works attractive. Madame le Brun was herself
one of the most beautiful and accomplished women of her time.
Elizabeth Louise Vigée was born in Paris, and her early years
were spent in the studio of her father, who was a painter, and
among other artistic surroundings. Her own talents rapidly
developed; by the time she was 15 she had many commissions,
and at 20 she was already celebrated. Her beauty and social
charm soon gained for her the friendship of the greatest men
and women of the day, including La Harpe, D'Alembert, and
Marie Antoinette. With the Queen she was a great favourite.
She painted her portrait in 1779, and afterwards no less than
thirty times. She was made a member of the Royal Academy of
Painting in 1780, but when the Revolution broke out she left
Paris in haste. She went from capital to capital; in each
in turn the charm of her person and manner made her many
friends, and she was always full of commissions. In 1795 she
settled for some years at St. Petersburg, where she enjoyed
the favour of the Imperial Court. In 1802 she came for three
years to England, where she painted portraits of the Prince
of Wales and Lord Byron, among others. She was a favourite
wherever she went, but in spite of all the adulation she
received she remained simple and natural to the end. When she
returned to Paris, her salon became the rendezvous of the
most distinguished writers, painters, and politicians of that
brilliant period, and her _Souvenirs_, published in 1837, are
crowded with interesting sketches of her friends. In this frank
and engaging autobiography she gives us particulars of the
worthless husband--M. Le Brun, a picture-dealer whom she had
married when she was 20. He squandered her fortune, but she
found unfailing consolation in the daughter whom she presses
to her in those portraits in the Louvre. She outlived both her
daughter and her husband by many years and died at the age of
87.

This portrait was painted by the artist in her 27th year. Its acquisition for the National Gallery is specially interesting, for it was painted in emulation of the celebrated "Chapeau de Paille" of Rubens (No. 852). She had seen and admired that work at Antwerp in 1782, and determined to represent herself in a similar effect of shadow and reflected light. The portrait had so great a success that it gained her admission to the Académie, where she was received in the following year, 1783.

1660. PORTRAIT OF HIMSELF.

_Adrian van der Werff_ (Dutch: 1659-1722).

"The painter who by his astounding success did most after
Gerard de Lairesse to lead the art of painting into a
perverse path was Adrian van der Werff. He was born at
Kralinger-Ambacht, near Rotterdam, and received lessons in
drawing from Cornelis Picollet, and then entered the studio
of Eglon van der Neer, where he made rapid progress. At
first he seemed inclined to follow the bent of his master,
but he deserted the study of nature for the pursuit of the
ideal, and in doing so he fell into cold sentimentality and
tasteless affectation. His groups became pretentious, his heads
monotonous, his bodies have no life, and his flesh-colouring
assumes the polish and the tint of ivory. These defects,
however, did not prevent his misleading a certain number of
people who believed themselves to be connoisseurs. The Duke of
Wolfenbüttel and other high personages of his time contended
for the possession of his pictures at enormous prices, and
praised the merits of their favourite artist to the skies.
No one more assisted him in his career, and in the making of
his reputation, than the Elector-Palatine John William, who,
not satisfied with giving him very considerable commissions,
also conferred upon him the title of Chevalier, and ennobled
his family. (The artist signs himself on occasion 'Chevalier
van Werff'). The compositions which he painted for his patron
are now to be seen at Munich" (Havard: _The Dutch School_, p.
280). There is in the Dulwich Gallery a "Judgment of Paris" by
Van der Werff--a celebrated work painted in 1718 for the Duke
of Orleans and much admired by Sir Joshua Reynolds. The heads
are wanting in expression and the flesh is bloodless, but the
painting is of the greatest finish. There are also pictures
by him in the Wallace Collection. "The cold porcelain-like
colour," says Mr. Phillips in his catalogue, "and mechanical
finish of this artist in the treatment of the nude are much
less appreciated by modern connoisseurs than they were by
his contemporaries. Still his general accomplishment and
the certainty of his execution, in a vicious and wholly
conventional style, are not to be denied."

In our picture "the courtly painter of polished, lascivious nudities faces the spectator in a wig of the period of Louis Quatorze, looking as dignified and impersonal as the painters of that particular age did manage to look in their portraits." The statue of Fame, holding a wreath, is characteristic. The portrait is signed, and dated 1685.

1661, 1662. WINGS OF THE ALTAR-PIECE, No. 1093.

_Ambrogio de Predis_ (Milanese: about 1450-1515).

This long-forgotten painter was rediscovered by Morelli in
1880, who claimed for him a considerable place in the Milanese
school. This claim has since been historically confirmed by the
document, referred to in the notes to No. 1093, showing that
Ambrogio de Predis was at work in Milan with Leonardo da Vinci,
employed as his assistant to paint the wings of the altar-piece
of which the central portion was the "Vierge aux Rochers." By
a fortunate purchase these wings by Ambrogio now hang in our
Gallery, on either side of Leonardo's picture. Ambrogio's best
work was in portraiture, of which an example (one of the two
signed and dated by the artist) is also in our Gallery (No.
1665). Ambrogio and his brother Bernardino were sons of a
certain Lorenzo Preda of Milan. There is also a Cristoforo de
Predis, a miniaturist, one of whose miniatures (representing
Galeazzo Maria Sforza) is in the Wallace Collection, and it is
probable that from him Ambrogio received his first education in
art. In 1482 he was established as Court Painter to Ludovico
il Moro. In 1493 he accompanied Bianca Maria Sforza on the
occasion of her marriage to the Emperor Maximilian, but was
back again at Milan in 1494. In 1502 we find him at Innsbruck,
where he seems to have settled. In 1506 he designed some
tapestries for the Emperor, after which year nothing more is
known of him. In the Vienna Gallery is a signed portrait by him
of the Emperor, dated 1502, and to him Morelli ascribes the
celebrated profile portrait of Bianca Maria in the Ambrosiana
at Milan (there erroneously called Beatrice Sforza), hitherto
assigned to Leonardo. Among other portraits now ascribed to
Ambrogio are the "Page" in the Morelli Collection at Bergamo,
and "Fr. Brivio" in the Poldi Pezzoli Collection at Milan. De
Predis is "a conscientious and careful painter, though his
drawing and modelling are often defective, particularly in the
representation of the hand." He "seems to have been an artist
of some individuality, even after coming under Leonardo's
influence. He was by nature too much of a miniaturist to
concern himself with the larger problems of painting, and was
very limited in his range--even his portraits are uniformly
treated. He seems, judging by his drawings, to have sought
to improve himself by a careful and conscientious study of
Leonardo's work, and when he had the advantage of the master's
guiding hand he could produce works (like these angels) one
of which, though lacking the qualities of profound art, has
a certain charm and even dignity of its own" (_Catalogue of
Milanese Pictures_ at the Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1898,
p. li.; Morelli's _German Galleries_, pp. 413-415; _Roman
Galleries_, pp. 180-189).

The angel in 1661 may, as suggested above, have been designed, or begun, by Leonardo himself; that in 1662 must be entirely the work of Ambrogio. These paintings remained in their place, as we have seen under 1093, up to 1787. They were purchased in 1878 from Duke Jean Melzi d'Erie at Milan for £2160.

1664. "LA FONTAINE."

_J. B. S. Chardin_ (French: 1699-1779). _See 1258._

The woman is drawing water from a copper "fontaine" into a black jug.

1665. PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG MAN.

_Ambrogio de Predis_ (Milanese: about 1450-1515). _See 1661._

In his right hand he holds a scroll which bears the painter's signature AM. PR., the date 1494, and the words AN. 20. Formerly in the possession of the Archinti family, and supposed to represent Francesco di Bartolommeo Archinto (1474-1551), who was Governor of Chiavenna. A very refined portrait; but Morelli points out that the hand is "coarse and wanting in life."

1674. A BURGOMASTER.

_Rembrandt_ (Dutch: 1606-1669). _See 45._

"The costume and rapid execution of this magnificent picture point rather," says Sir Edward Poynter, "to its being a study than a portrait painted on commission." Probably also the title by which the picture has long been known is a mistake: a Burgomaster would not be painted in such dingy and fantastic garb. The old man was no doubt a model dressed up by Rembrandt in studio "properties." The knotted stick which he holds in his hands may be recognised in the painter's portrait of himself in Lord Ilchester's possession (No. 61 in the Academy Exhibition of 1899). That portrait is dated 1658, and this picture probably belongs to the same period. The picturesque but nondescript headgear worn by the "burgomaster" may have belonged to the master himself in those latter days when all relics of the former splendours had vanished. Whoever he may have been, the "Burgomaster," as he lives for ever on Rembrandt's canvas, is a striking personage; the refined, intellectual face recalls to some spectators one of the late ornaments of the Episcopal Bench in our own day. The portrait is a masterpiece alike of character-reading and of modelling.

1675. PORTRAIT OF AN OLD LADY.

_Rembrandt_ (Dutch: 1606-1669). _See 45._

A noble portrait. Rembrandt was a painter who reverenced old age, and gave its dignity and beauty to faces the least promising. We may notice especially the pathetic eyes,--with an expression at once so living and so sorrowful, and the character in the hands which Rembrandt never failed to give his sitters. The old lady wears a large white ruff, "evidently clinging to the costume of her earlier years, for ruffs had long been out of fashion at the time when the picture was painted." The picture has been known as the Burgomaster's Wife, but this description is without authority or probability. There is another portrait of the same old lady in Lord Wantage's possession (No. 15 in the Academy Exhibition, 1899). Lord Wantage's picture is dated 1661.

The two magnificent pictures just described, which hold their own triumphantly even on a wall of masterpieces,[251] were formerly in possession of Sir William Middleton, Bart., great-uncle to Lady de Saumarez, and were exhibited at the British Institution in 1858. Since that date they had been lost to sight until they were purchased for the National Gallery in 1899.[252] They are believed to have been in possession of the Lee family, Lady de Saumarez's ancestors, from the time that they were painted, but they may have come into the family with a certain John van Enkoren, a Dutch gentleman, who married a second cousin of Sir William Middleton.

1676. CHRIST DISPUTING WITH THE DOCTORS.

_Francesco de Herrera, the elder_ (Spanish: 1576-1656).

Francesco de Herrera, the elder--so called to distinguish him
from a son of the same name who was also a painter--was the
first to throw off the timid conventional style hitherto in
vogue, and to adopt the bold and vigorous manner which became
characteristic of the school of Seville. He drew, we are told,
with charred reeds, and painted with a housepainter's brush. It
is said that on occasions he would employ a servant to smear
the paints on his canvas with a coarse brush, and then himself
shape the rough masses into figures and draperies. In the
Louvre there is an important picture by Herrera, "St. Basil
dictating his Doctrine," of which Théophile Gautier said that
it was "dashed off with an unimaginable fury of the brush, and
blazed with the flashing of some auto-da-fè." In the Earl of
Clarendon's Collection are three powerful pictures (shown at
the New Gallery, 1895-96) representing scenes in the life of
St. Bonaventura. But most of Herrera's extant works, in oil and
fresco, remain at Seville. The vigour of his style was equalled
by the impetuosity of his temper. Pupils flocked round him,
but the violence of his outbursts drove them away. Among this
number was Velazquez. He perverted his talent as an engraver
of medals to the work of coining, and when suspected of this
offence fled for sanctuary to the Jesuits' College. There he
painted a picture which was shown to Philip IV. "What need,"
said the King, "has a man gifted with abilities like yours of
silver and gold? Go, you are free; and take care that you do
not get into this scrape again." He could not, however, change
his violent habits, and his children, we are told, robbed him
and fled from his house. In 1650 Herrera removed to Madrid,
where he had the pleasure, or mortification, of seeing his
former pupil, Velazquez, at the height of his fame.

A work in the painter's less impetuous style, but marked by the vigour characteristic of the Spanish and Italian "naturalists."

1680. PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG MAN.

_Dutch School_ (17th Century).

An admirable portrait of a young man with long golden hair, looking out at the spectator. The picture is signed J. Karel du Jardin. It has sometimes been attributed to the well-known painter of that name (see 826), and been said to be a portrait of the artist by himself. But the initial J. does not confirm this theory.

1682. VIRGIN AND CHILD.

_Francesco di Giorgio_ (Sienese: 1439-1502).

Francesco di Giorgio Martini was one of the most distinguished
architects and engineers of his time. He wrote a treatise on
"Civil and Military Architecture," and was a great authority,
says Vasari, on "all instruments required for the purposes of
war." There are two altar-pieces by him in the Siena Academy,
and he also occasionally produced works in sculpture: "this he
could do very conveniently, being a man of fair possessions as
well as of remarkable ability, wherefore he did not work for
the sake of gain, but for his own pleasure, and when he felt
inclined, to the end that he might leave honourable memorials
of his existence behind him."

"This quaint little picture represents the Virgin in the attitude of walking, leading the Infant Saviour by the hand. She wears a white dress, shaded blue, with a small gold pattern delicately painted upon it, and a rose-coloured mantle lined with dark green, and holds in her right hand a branch of roses. The drapery falls with much grace, and she looks down with a sweet expression to the Child" (_National Gallery Report_, 1899).

1683. STUDY OF A HORSE.

_Cuyp_ (Dutch: 1620-1691). _See 53._

The glossy texture of the horse is well rendered.

1686. STUDY OF FLOWERS.

_Henri Fantin-Latour_ (French: 1836-1904).

Ignace Henri Jean Théodore Fantin-Latour was born at Grenoble,
the son of a famous pastellist. He first exhibited at the Salon
in 1861. In 1864 his "Hommage à Delacroix" created a sensation.
In this country, where he was a constant exhibitor at the Royal
Academy, he is best known for his exquisite studies of roses
and other flowers. But he was also a painter of portraits (see
No. 1952) and of romantic subjects inspired by his musical
tastes. In portraiture, a thorough, though a sympathetic,
realist (witness his "Monet's studio at the Batignolles" in the
Luxembourg),--he becomes fanciful when he enters the domain
of romance. A favourite medium was lithography, in which he
excelled; the British Museum has a fine set of proofs. His
subjects are taken from the motives used in the musical dramas
of Wagner and Berlioz.

Late summer flowers, chiefly roses, in a vase on a wooden table. The background, as usual with this painter, is of a flat tone of warm gray.

1689. A MAN AND WIFE.

_Mabuse_ (Flemish: about 1470-1541). _See 656._

Portraits, uncompromising in thoroughness, of a severe and uncompromising couple. "This masterpiece," says Sir Edward Poynter, "combines with a high perfection of finish and modelling, every detail being finished with the utmost care, even to the stubble of the man's beard, great breadth of effect and a beautiful quality of light and shade" (_National Gallery Report_, 1900). The portraits, formerly in the collection of Captain A. F. Dawson, used to be attributed to Quentin Matsys. Some authorities ascribe them to his brother, Jan. Others believe that the work belongs to the German school. The attribution to Mabuse is made in the Director's Report for 1900.

1694. VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH ST. JOHN.

_Fra Bartolommeo_ (Florentine: 1475-1517).

Bartolommeo di Pagholo del Fattorino, one of the greatest of
the Florentine masters, is commonly known as Baccio della
Porta, or Fra Bartolommeo. He was born at the village of
Savignano, near Prato, and was sent while still a lad to the
studio of Cosimo Rosselli at Florence, where he lived with
some kinsfolk in a house near the gate of San Piero Gattolini
(now the Porta Romana). The neighbours, seeing him come and
go to his work, and ignoring surnames with the custom of the
time, distinguished him from all the other Bartholemews as
Baccio della Porta. "He was loved in Florence," says Vasari,
"for his virtue, for he was very diligent at his work, quiet
and good-natured, fearing God, living a tranquil life, flying
all vicious practices, and taking great pleasure in preaching,
and the society of worthy and sober persons." In the studio of
Rosselli he made the acquaintance of Mariotto Albertinelli, as
erratic, gay, and idle as his companion was pure, gentle, and
austere. Between the two young men a warm friendship sprang
up, which continued unbroken till the death of Albertinelli
in 1515. When Fra Bartolommeo temporarily relinquished the
practice of art in 1500, Albertinelli took up his abandoned
canvases, and from 1509 onwards the two men worked in formal
partnership. The religious spirit of Bartolommeo had been
profoundly impressed by Savonarola's preaching. To the famous
bonfire, into which the people cast their pomps and vanities,
our painter brought all the studies and drawings which he had
made from the nude. He was among the band of faithful followers
who shut themselves up with Savonarola in San Marco. "Having
very little courage," says Vasari, "being indeed of a timid
and even cowardly disposition, he lost heart on hearing the
clamours of an attack, which was made upon the convent shortly
after, and seeing some wounded and others killed, he began to
have grievous doubts respecting his position. Thereupon he
made a vow, that if he might be permitted to escape from the
rage of that strife, he would instantly assume the religious
habit of the Dominicans." This he did in the year 1500, and
for some time afterwards his brush was idle. When he resumed
work, it was on condition that the convent received all the
produce of his labours. In 1506, when Raphael visited Florence,
he formed a friendship with Fra Bartolommeo, in whose work he
doubtless found something to assimilate. Some years afterwards,
Fra Bartolommeo went to Rome, where he painted a figure of
St. Paul, and part of one of St. Peter (now in the Quirinal),
leaving Raphael to finish the work. Fra Bartolommeo suffered
from ill-health, and died at the early age of 42.

The contributions made by Fra Bartolommeo to Italian art were
fourfold. He exhibited a scientific scheme of composition
based on principles of strict symmetry, and in this respect
he was the precursor of Raphael. In colouring he was equal
to the best of his contemporaries; in his better works
brilliance is combined with harmony of tone in a very charming
manner. In some of his works, however, the attempt to adopt
the chiaroscuro of Leonardo led to an over-darkening of
the shadows. Vasari noticed even in his day that the use
of printer's-black and ivory-black had caused some of Fra
Bartolommeo's shadows to become unduly heavy. In his landscape
backgrounds, Fra Bartolommeo showed a considerable advance on
his predecessors. "Everything is true and harmonious, up to
its intention, which is to be simple, calm, consistent, and
real,--real, and yet breathing an idyllic beauty." Lastly, he
was the inventor of the "lay figure." "He always considered
it advisable," says Vasari, "to have the living object before
him when he worked; and the better to execute his draperies,
arms, and things of similar kind, he caused a figure, the site
of life, to be made in wood, with the limbs moveable at the
joints, and on this he then arranged the real draperies."

Fra Bartolommeo's range was limited. He is seen at his best
not in works (such as the fresco of the "Last Judgment," now
in the picture gallery of the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova)
which call for the exercise of powerful imagination, but in
Madonna pieces. "Nature made Fra Bartolommeo," says Symonds,
"the painter of adoration." He excels in the poetry of simple
religious feeling. His works are rare outside Italy. Copies
from some of his frescoes at Florence are in the Arundel
Society's Collection; but the treasure city of Fra Bartolommeo
at his best is Lucca. Few figures in Italian art have been more
often copied and photographed than his charming little angel
who sings at the foot of the Madonna's throne in the Cathedral
of Lucca.

Fra Bartolommeo's pictures "sum up," says Ruskin, "the principles of great Italian religious art in its finest period,--serenely luminous sky,--full light on the faces; local colour the dominant power over a chiaroscuro more perfect because subordinate; absolute serenity of emotion and gesture; and rigid symmetry in composition." And elsewhere he speaks of "the precious and pure passages of intense feeling and heavenly light, holy and undefined, and glorious with the changeless passion of eternity, which sanctify with their shadeless peace the deep and noble conceptions of the early school of Italy--of Fra Bartolommeo, Perugino, and the early mind of Raffaelle" (_Modern Painters_, vol. i. pt. ii. sec. ii. ch. i. § 22, and epilogue of 1883 to vol. ii.). Some trace of these characteristics may be found in the present picture. It is bright in colour, balanced in composition, simple in feeling, and shows a charming Tuscan landscape. Thoroughly Tuscan also is the type of peasant Madonna, with her brown hair tied up in a blue handkerchief. The infant Christ is almost grotesque, but the little St. John may take his place among Fra Bartolommeo's collection of sweet child-faces. Our picture[253] is ascribed to the years 1507-9. In the Corsini Gallery at Rome is a repetition of it done at a later period, with the figures, life-sized, reversed, and with St. Joseph added to complete the pyramidal composition.

1695. LANDSCAPE WITH NYMPHS.

_Venetian School_ (early 16th Century).

From the South Kensington Museum: very characteristic of the Venetian school is the beautiful blue distance.

1696. MADONNA AND CHILD.

_Giovanni Bellini_ (Venetian: 1426-1516). _See 189._

A fragment of a fresco, painted in 1481 and originally brought from the church of Magre, near Schio, in the neighbourhood of Vicenza. The work, if by Bellini, is somewhat earlier than the "Madonna and Child" (280) of our Gallery.[254] "We have," says Mr. Roger Fry, "no example of Bellini's fresco work by which to judge it. It may therefore be argued that the weak construction of the Virgin's figure and the poor drawing of the child are the result of Bellini's want of familiarity with the medium, nor can it be denied that the weaknesses are exaggerations of certain peculiarities of Bellini's own design. This is particularly noticeable in the drawing of the child, which approaches very nearly in type and expression the child of the 'Madonna between the Magdalen and St. Catherine' of the Academy at Venice. But in no undoubted work by Bellini is the drawing so clumsy as this. Much, however, may be attributed to restoration, particularly in the Infant Christ, and it is impossible to deny the great beauty of the colour--a peculiar golden glow which is very unusual in fresco, and is indeed a translation into that medium of the golden richness of Bellini's _tempera_ and oil pieces. The Madonna's expression has a certain tenderness and charm which is characteristic of Bellini, but it lacks the definite realisation of a mood which he almost invariably compassed" (_The Pilot_, Jan. 5, 1901). On the other hand, according to a well-known critic, writing in the _Daily Telegraph_, "the wistfulness of the Virgin is not the wistfulness of Giambellino, but rather that of Bartolommeo Montagna or some kindred painter of the school of Vicenza. Again, the type of the Virgin and the adjustment of her headgear recall the severe yet passionate master of Vicenza just named, under the influence, not so much of Giovanni Bellini as of the elder school of Venice--that of the Vivarini."

1699. THE LESSON.

_Jan Vermeer of Delft_ (Dutch: 1632-1675). _See 1383._
_See also_ (p. xxi)

A "symphony in black and white"; cool in effect, almost to the point of austerity and chilliness. The faces are full of expression. The master turns in expectation to the pupil, as much as to say "Come, don't you know?" The pupil is ready with his answer, and seems to appeal for encouragement: "That is right, is it not?" There is a severe absence of details; everything in the picture is made to contribute to the colour scheme. "The play of cool light on the faces and hands, on the man's black dress, and the gray tablecloth with its patches of blue shadow; the design of the man's large hat against the dark background, the almost pathetic charm of the fair-haired boy's expression, the regular black and white of the tiled floor,--all seem chosen for their pictorial value alone and skilfully composed into this grave, almost austere harmony. The largeness of design and rejection of all superfluous detail in this picture connect it with Vermeer's more daring compositions" (M. H. Witt, in the _Nineteenth Century_, October 1900). Only one life-size group by the master is certainly authenticated--the signed "Courtesans" at Dresden. The attribution of our picture to the master is uncertain.

1700. PORTRAIT OF A GENTLEMAN.

_Unknown_ (Dutch School: 17th Century).

A strong face, finely painted. The iron-gray of the man's hair combines harmoniously with the lawn collar and cuffs; a harmony in black and gray.

1701. LANDSCAPE WITH WATERMILL.

_Allart van Everdingen_ (Dutch: 1612-1675).

This painter, an elder contemporary and precursor of Ruysdael,
was born at Alkmaar. He studied successively under Roelandt
Savery at Utrecht and Pieter Molyn at Haarlem. In a voyage
which he made to the Baltic he was shipwrecked on the coast
of Norway, and he remained for some time in that country.
On returning to his native land he reproduced the scenes
among which he had dwelt--torrents edged around by huge firs
springing out from sombre masses of rock, and throwing their
spray into large stretches of transparent water. A large number
of studies from nature remain from his hand, and these he
composed into pictures. His works had some vogue in Holland,
where they provided a counter-attraction to the views of the
softer and more smiling country which the "Italianisers" were
offering to the public. If Ruysdael did not himself go to
Norway, it must have been Everdingen's Norwegian scenes that
inspired him. Everdingen's "colouring is simple and pure, his
touch broad and facile, and it is evident that every object
in his pictures was studied from nature." He was also an
accomplished etcher. He died at Amsterdam.

1776. THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS.

_Signorelli_ (Cortona: 1441-1523). _See 1128._

A _predella_ picture; characteristic of the master, and in good preservation. Formerly in the possession of Count Colonna Ferretti (a nephew of Pius IX.) at Cortona.

1786. THE LAKE OF THUN.

_Alexandre Calame_ (Swiss: 1810-1864).

This painter is of some interest in the history of painting as
one of the pioneers who discovered for artistic purposes the
picturesqueness of Switzerland. He was born at Vevay, and was
the son--not (as sometimes stated) of a simple mason, but--of
a clever stone-cutter. He was very delicate as a child, and
an accident at school deprived him of the sight of his right
eye. As a youth, Calame obtained employment in a bank at
Geneva. He further aided the narrow resources of his home by
making little Swiss views in colour, which the shopkeepers
took up. Foreigners were glad to bring them away as travelling
memorials, in place of photographs, which did not then exist.
His employer, M. Diodati, noticing young Calame's talent for
art, generously enabled him to obtain instruction. He made
rapid progress, and became headmaster of a drawing-school in
Geneva. In 1837 he began contributing to foreign exhibitions
views of Switzerland, and these won for him a considerable
reputation. He visited England in 1850, and here, as in other
countries, his works found many purchasers. In the South
Kensington Museum there is a large collection of his Swiss
views in water-colour. He was a lithographer and engraver, as
well as a painter, and his plates of Swiss landscapes were at
one time well known. He received commissions from many European
sovereigns, and was visited by all the great personages who
passed through Geneva.

In France, indeed, art-circles were cool towards him. "_Un
Calame, deux Calames, trois Calames--que de calamités_" ran the
phrase every year in the Paris Salon. But in Germany he found
warm admirers and formed several imitators. His lithographed
studies of trees, and his landscapes for copying remained in
use for some decades as a medium of instruction in drawing.
He was a conscientious workman, who finished the whole of
his canvas or paper with equal industry, and his drawing was
correct. But his colouring is insipid, and his atmosphere
somewhat heavy. "By painting he understood the illumination of
drawings, and his drawing was that of an engraver. Sentiment
is replaced by correct manipulation, and in the deep blue
mirror of his Alpine lakes, as in the luminous red of his
Alpine summits, there is always to be seen the illuminator who
has first drawn the contours with a neat pencil and pedantic
correctness" (Muther's _History of Modern Painting_, ii. 322).
Calame's fertility was very great. His note-books contain the
record of 450 finished pictures in oil, 500 studies, and 1200
water-colours (E. Rambert: _Alexandre Calame. Sa vie et son
oeuvre_, Paris, 1884).

The mountain in our picture is the Blumlis Alp: an afternoon effect.

1810. PORTRAIT OF A BOY.

_François Duchatel_ (Flemish: 1616-1694).

This painter, whose works are very rare, is said to have
been a pupil of David Teniers, the younger. In some of his
pictures representing village festivals he followed the style
of that master; in others, of family groups, his work rather
resembles that of Gonzales Coques. His most important picture
is in the Museum at Ghent. It represents the "Inauguration
of Charles II., King of Spain, as Count of Flanders," and
comprises about a thousand small figures. Duchatel was born at
Brussels. He worked for some time in Paris in conjunction with
his fellow-countryman Van der Meulen (see 1447). The picture
before us, with its vigorous touch and warm colour, shows that
Duchatel was an accomplished portrait-painter.

1812. THE AGONY IN THE GARDEN.

Ascribed to _Lo Spagna_. (_See 1032_).

"The figure of the Saviour and the angel are identical with those in the picture by Lo Spagna in the National Gallery numbered 1032, but the execution of the work points to possibly a different hand. It was ascribed by Passavant to Raphael. On the back of the panel are incised the initials G. D. H. in a monogram surmounted by a crown, and an inscription on paper of probably the 18th century; 'All' Illmo et Eccmo Giovanni Hiccolini (_sic_) Imbascatore (_sic_) di Toscana in Roma.' It was exhibited in the Art Treasures Exhibition at Manchester in 1857 (No. 146) under the name of Raphael, when it belonged to Mr. Henry Farrer, who had it from Russia" (_National Gallery Report_, 1900).

1842. HEADS OF ANGELS.

_Tuscan School_ (15th century).
_See also_ (p. xxi)

A characteristic fragment of fresco.

1843. THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI.

_Benedetto Bonfigli_ (Umbrian: 1420-1496).

A characteristic, if unimportant, example of one of the early
masters of the Umbrian School. Bonfigli (or Buonfiglio)
was a native of Perugia, and his principal work, a series
of frescoes, full of quaint costume and fantastic detail,
representing the lives of St. Louis of Toulouse and St.
Herculanus, is in the Palazzo del Consiglio there.

There is much naïvete in the surprised expression of the seated Sir Joseph, and much dainty charm in the youths with their vessels of gold.

1845. THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.

_Paris Bordone_ (Venetian: 1503-1570). _See 637._

The Saviour holds in his hand a scroll inscribed "Ecce sum lux mundi," but the expression is vapid.

1847. THE VIRGIN CROWNED BY ANGELS.

_Luca Signorelli_ (Umbrian: 1441-1523). _See 1128._

This important picture, in a splendid frame of the period, is of special interest from the record of authenticity which it bears. On the cartellino at the foot, is an inscription informing us that "the noble picture before us was an offering of devotion by Master Aloiusius, a French physician, and Thomasina his wife," that "Luca Signorelli, the illustrious painter of Cortona" was the artist, and that the date was 1515. In the archives of the little town of Montone, near Umbertide, a deed, dated September 10, 1515, has been discovered, which informs us further that the picture was painted for Master Aloiusius, living at Montone, for the chapel of St. Christina at that place, by Luca Signorelli "on account of their mutual and cordial friendship, and in consideration of the free services which he had received, and in future hopes to receive, from the said Aloiusius." The physician on his part undertakes in the same deed to give free medical attendance henceforth to the said Luca, and to any member of his household. The place for which the picture was painted accounts for the figure of St. Christina, on the right of the Virgin. Among her adventures was being tied to a millstone and cast into the Lake of Bolsena, but angels upheld the millstone, and she floated back to land. The legend explains also the charming view of a lake seen beneath the feet of the Virgin. The altar-piece was discovered by Signor Mancini in a cellar at Montone, much obscured by neglect, and was for some time in his collection at Città di Castello. It has now been cleaned, and is apparently in fine condition.

The date of the picture shows that it was painted towards the end of the artist's life, when he was 74 years of age, and some critics have found in the work signs that the master's hand was losing its cunning. Certainly the composition of the principal lines--with the upper figure at each side in line with the lower--is somewhat awkward, and the St. Christina is a heavy figure with a meaningless expression. That of St. Sebastian, however, is vigorous; the central group of the Madonna and Child borne by cherubims is impressive; the angels above are very fine, and St. Jerome and St. Nicholas of Bari are good. The details of St. Nicholas's robe and mitre deserve study. It is amusing to note that two of the critics who scarify the picture single out the landscape--the one, as the worst part of it, the other, as its redeeming feature.

1848. PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG MAN.

_Abraham Raguineau_ (Dutch: 1623-1681).

This painter, born in London, settled at the Hague, where he
seems to have met with little prosperity. At a later time, he
was living at Leyden, and was writing-master to the Prince of
Orange.

The picture is signed, and dated (1657), at the top of the oval on the left, and is the only known signed work of the painter in existence. It shows us a pleasant-looking, if somewhat characterless youth, aged 18 (as the description states), whose coat, shirt, and collar make a delicate study in cool grey tones.

1849. THE NATIVITY.

_Jacopo Pacchiarotto_ (Sienese: 1474-1540).

The story of this painter and revolutionist--who, joining
the Bardotti and taking part in popular risings in Siena,
was concealed by the monks in a tomb, beside a newly-buried
corpse--is familiar from Browning's humorous telling of it
in his _Pacchiarotto and how he worked in Distemper_. He was
originally a pupil of Bernardino Fungai (see 1331); but his
later work shows the influence of Fra Bartolommeo and Raphael.

"He appears to have studied Raphael," says Lanzi, "with the greatest care; and there are heads and whole figures so lively, and with such grace in the features, that to some connoisseurs they seem to possess the ideal." Certainly there is a liveliness and an appropriateness of expression about the figures in this picture which distinguish it from the stiff mannerism of earlier Sienese pictures. Kneeling in adoration are St. John the Baptist and St. Jerome (with the stone, in his character as penitent). St. Stephen, behind St. John, carries on his head the stone, as symbol of his martyrdom. Behind St. Jerome is St. Nicholas of Bari, a finely rendered portrait of venerable age. Of the figures in the niche-shaped panels in the frame, that, at the top on the left, of the Angel of the Annunciation is particularly graceful. The panels of the predella show the Agony in the Garden, the Betrayal, the Crucifixion, the Deposition, and the Resurrection.

1850. A SCENE ON THE ICE.

_Andries Vermeulen_ (Dutch: 1763-1814). _See 1447._

1851. THE INTERIOR OF A STABLE.

_Dutch School_ (17th century).

1860. PORTRAIT OF A LADY.

_Ascribed to Sir Antonio More_ (Flemish: 1572-1578).

1872. VIRGIN AND CHILD.

_Alvise Vivarini_ (Venetian, painted 1461-1503).

All visitors to Venice are familiar with a picture, in the
church of the Redentore, of the Madonna and Sleeping Child,
with two playing angels; there is a bird on the curtain above,
and some fruit on the parapet below. It is one of the most
charming little pictures in Venice, and is usually shown as a
work of Giovanni Bellini. Modern criticism assigns it, however,
to Alvise Vivarini, to whom an important place in the history
of Venetian painting is now accorded as an artist developing on
lines independent of the Bellinis, and as the Master of Lorenzo
Lotto.[255] That he was largely employed in the Ducal Palace
we know from Vasari, who describes his works there, commending
more particularly their fine perspective and "portraits from
the life so well depicted as to prove that this master copied
nature very faithfully." These works, begun in 1489 and stopped
by the artist's death in 1503, were destroyed in the fire of
1577. Of his extant works, the earliest one, which is dated
(1475), is at Montefiorentino. The altar-piece in the Venice
Academy is dated 1480, and that in the Berlin Gallery is
probably of the same period. To a later date are assigned the
Madonnas of the Redentore and S. Giovanni in Bragora at Venice,
and the present picture. His latest work, finished after his
death by Marco Basaiti, is the large altar-piece of St. Ambrose
in the Frari.