Chapter D: G. ROSSETTI: Early Italian Poets (6)

This picture (which is signed on a cartellino on the parapet) is, says Mr. Berenson, "delightful as a composition. The Madonna is seen down to the waist, holding the Child on a parapet, while behind her, to the left, a window opens out on a charming landscape. The Madonna's face has a tinge of almost Botticellian melancholy, as in Lotto's Recanati altarpiece. The Child is almost the _putto_ on the right in the Redentore picture, but somewhat more bony. The draperies already have the freedom of Alvise's latest works." The picture, formerly in the Manfrini Gallery, was presented by Mr. Charles Loeser in 1898.

1895. BARON WAHA DE LINTER OF NAMUR.

_Jacob Jordaens_ (Flemish: 1593-1678).

Jordaens, who stands next to Rubens and Van Dyck among the
great Flemish painters, was a fellow-pupil with the former
under Adam Van Noort, whose daughter he married in 1616. In
the same year he became a member of the Painter's Guild of
St. Luke, being described as a "water-colourist"; his first
works were in fact paintings in distemper and cartoons for the
tapestry workers. By 1620 his fame as a painter of pictures
was established. His works, which are very numerous, are of
all kinds of subjects, but he is little represented in British
Galleries. Examples may be seen, however, in the Wallace
Collection and the Dulwich Gallery.

The name of the sitter is on the frame; his coat of arms and crest, with the inscription "Aetatis suae 63, 1626," are on the upper corner of the picture. It is a fine portrait, characteristic of the exuberance and vigour which mark the work of Jordaens.

1896. INTERIOR OF A CHURCH.

_Pieter Saenredam_ (Dutch: 1597-1665).

Saenredam, who lived at Haarlem, is one of the leading Dutch
painters of architecture. His interiors in particular are
remarkable for their luminous effect. Another example of them
may be seen at Dulwich.

The church is the Domkerk at Utrecht. Notice the boy making a caricature on the wall; underneath this is the artist's signature.

1897. THE CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN.

_Lorenzo Monaco_ (Florentine: 1370-1425).

Don Lorenzo was born at Siena, but became a Camaldose monk of
the Convent of the Angeli at Florence, his early practice being
that of a miniaturist. In the principal of his known works--an
altar-piece of 1413 now in the Uffizi at Florence, Mr. Roger
Fry bids us note the cunning with which the painter "weaves
together his flowing curves," the "rare charm in his ætherial,
unstructural draperies," and "a kind of visible music" in his
design (_Monthly Review_, June 1901).

Something of these qualities may be seen in the long and slender figures of our picture. The decorativeness of its patterns, and the architectural details, should also be noticed. The picture, formerly in a church at Certaldo, is in its original Gothic frame. Crowe and Cavalcaselle (vol. i. p. 554) suppose the picture to have formed part of a larger altar-piece of which the two wings are in our gallery, ascribed to the school of Taddeo Gaddi (Nos. 215, 216). But the different scale of the figures in them negatives this supposition.

1903. LANDSCAPE, WITH DOGS AND GAME.

_Jan Fyt_ (Dutch: 1609-1661). _See 1003._
_See also_ (p. xxi)

1909. THE EXECUTION OF LADY JANE GREY.

_Paul Delaroche_ (French: 1797-1856).

Hippolyte, or (as he called himself) Paul, Delaroche, was the
popular French painter of his time, and this is one of his
best known pictures. He turned to historical illustration
as affording scope for an art which should reconcile the
"classical" with the "romantic." He was the embodiment in the
art of painting, as someone has put it, of Louis Philippe's
maxim of the _juste-milieu_. To the same class with the present
picture belong his "Death of Queen Elizabeth" (_Louvre_), "The
Princes in the Tower" (familiar from engravings), and several
works in the Wallace Collection. Ruskin, while not enamoured
of his pictures (see _Fors Clavigera_, Letter 35), allows
that his "honest effort to grasp the reality of conceived
scenes" compares favourably with "the deathful formalism and
fallacy of what was once called 'Historical Art,'" and that his
kindly-meant talent has "contributed greatly to the instruction
of innumerable households" (_Works_, vol. xix. pp. 50, 205).
Théophile Gautier, more contemptuously, described Delaroche's
art as that of "historical illustration for the family use of
the _bourgeoisie_," and the vogue which it enjoyed all over
Europe set the fashion for what became a prevailing style of
"stage-dramatic representation" in painting. In 1833 (the
date on our picture) Delaroche was appointed a professor at
the École des Beaux-Arts, and from 1837-1841 he was engaged
upon the principal work of his life, the decoration of the
amphitheatre of that school--the idea of his design being an
assemblage of the chiefs of the arts in past ages to witness
the triumphs of the labourers in his own age. He was assisted
in this colossal work by many pupils; among them was Edward
Armitage, R. A. (see vol. ii. No. 759), who has given an
interesting account of the manner of their co-operation (see
_Report of the Commissioners on the Royal Academy_, 1863, p.
64). The "Hemicycle" was much damaged by fire in 1853, and was
restored after the death of Delaroche by Robert Henry.

The scene is in the Tower, February 12, 1554. Lady Jane Grey, condemned for treason, has been blindfolded, and is being led to the block by the Lieutenant of the Tower.

1914. A ROYAL CHÂTEAU IN HOLLAND.

1915. A DUTCH CHURCH AND MARKET PLACE.

_Jan van der Heyden_ (Dutch: 1637-1712). _See 866._

The château in the former picture is "The House in the Wood" (Huis ten Bosch), built in 1647, in which the first Peace Conference was held at The Hague.

1917. AN ITALIAN LANDSCAPE.

_Jan Both_ (Dutch: 1610-1662). _See 71._

A fine example of the "soft golden tones" noted in our account of Both as characteristic of his best works.

1918. MARKET PLACE AT THE HAGUE.

_Paul Constantin La Fargue_ (Dutch: died 1782).

The work of an artist (best known by his drawings and etchings)
who painted many small pictures of his native city, The Hague.

A scene in the Groén Market; the tower of the Groote Kerk in the background.

1925. PORTRAIT OF A MAN.

_Lucas Cranach_ (German: 1472-1553). _See 291._

Upon the shield to the left is the painter's crest, as in No. 291; with the date 1524. The head is fine and full of character; the hands are less successful.

1930. PORTRAIT OF A LADY AS ST. MARGARET.

_Francisco Zurbaran_ (Spanish: 1598-1662). _See 230._

Zurbaran, it has been said, was "a great though not a professed, portrait painter." The lady is St. Margaret only in virtue of the dragon, the emblem of the saint; otherwise this is a portrait of a young lady in a fanciful country costume.

1937. PORTRAIT OF A LADY.

_Bartholomeus van der Helst_ (Dutch: 1611-1670). _See 140._

This picture, said to be a portrait of a lady of the house of Braganza, was formerly in the collection of Mr. Beckford at Fonthill. It is signed, and dated 1645. The "careful finish," which Sir Joshua Reynolds commended in the work of Van der Helst, may be well studied here in the rich and beautiful costume and jewellery.

1938. PORTRAIT OF HIS FATHER.

_Albrecht Dürer_ (German: 1471-1528).

The acquisition of this picture adds to the Gallery a fine
example of the great artist, who in all the characteristics
of his art is the central representative of the German
spirit,--"its combination of the wild and rugged with the
homely and the tender, its meditative depth, its enigmatic
gloom, its sincerity and energy, its iron diligence and
discipline." The range of his powers is shown not only in
his works that survive, but in the estimation in which he
was held by his contemporaries. When he went to Venice they
"praised his beautiful colouring," Bellini honoured him with
his friendship, "and he was everywhere treated," so he wrote,
"as a gentleman." Raphael sent him some drawings, on one of
which this note in Dürer's handwriting may still be seen:
"Raphael of Urbino, who has been so highly esteemed by the
Pope, drew these naked figures, and sent them to Albrecht Dürer
in Nuremberg to show him his hand." He was a writer as well as
an artist. "Painting," said Melanchthon, "was the least of his
accomplishments"; whilst of his personal qualities Luther bore
testimony when he wrote: "As for Dürer, assuredly affection
bids us mourn for one who was the best of men.... May he rest
in peace with his fathers: Amen!"

He was born at Nuremberg--the son of a goldsmith and the third
of eighteen children--and Albert of Nuremberg he remained
to the end--the painter of a city distinguished for its
"self-restrained, contented, quaint domesticity." His first
training was from his father in the goldsmith's trade; next,
when fifteen, he was apprenticed for three and a half years
to Wohlgemuth, the chief painter of the town; and lastly
came his _Wanderjahre_, a long course of travel and study
in foreign lands. In 1494 he settled down at Nuremberg, and
there, with the exception of a visit to Venice in 1505-1506
(see p. 190 _n._), and to the Netherlands in 1520-1521, he
passed the remainder of his life in the busy and honoured
exercise of the various branches of his art. He had married,
at the age of twenty-three, a well-to-do merchant's daughter.
The stories which have long passed current with regard to her
being imperious, avaricious, and fretful, have been entirely
discredited on closer knowledge of the facts. The marriage was
childless, but husband and wife lived throughout on terms both
of affection and companionship. As for examples of Dürer's
work, the widely-spread prints of the "Knight and Death"
and the "Melancholia" give the best idea of his powers of
imagination; while in actual specimens of his handiwork in
drawing, the British Museum is the second richest collection in
the world.

The best commentary on this picture is the description of his father which Dürer wrote in a history of his family:--

"My dear father became a goldsmith, a pure and skilful man. He
passed his life in great toil and stern, hard labour, having
nothing for his support save what he earned with his hand for
himself, his wife, and his children; so that he had little
enough. He underwent, moreover, manifold afflictions, trials,
and adversities. But he won just praise from all who knew him,
for he lived an honourable, Christian life; was a man patient
of spirit, mild and peaceable to all, and very thankful towards
God. For himself he had little need of company and worldly
pleasures: he was also of few words, and was a God-fearing man.
This my dear father was very careful with his children to bring
them up in the fear of God; for it was his highest wish to
train them well that they might be pleasing in the sight both
of God and man. Wherefore his daily speech to us was that we
should love God and deal truly with our neighbours."

It is just such a man that the painter here sets before us. "The face is pathetic with the deep furrows ploughed in by seventy years of labour and sorrow. Yet as he stands there, so quietly, for his son to paint him, there is just a trace of pleasure and pride lurking in the kind old face" (Conway's _Literary Remains of Dürer_, p. 35). An inscription on the top of the panel records that it was painted in 1497, when the father was seventy and the son twenty-six. There are three other versions of the picture--at Munich, Frankfort, and Syon House respectively, and the question which is the original has been much disputed. The present picture (exhibited at the Old Masters, 1903) was bought, with No. 1937, for £10,000 from the Marquis of Northampton.

1939. VIRGIN AND CHILD, WITH SAINTS.

_French School_ (15th century).

A little picture almost as delicately wrought as an illuminated page in a missal. The donor is kneeling in the door of the Gothic chapel. The Virgin and Child are in "a garden enclosed," where columbines spring up at her feet; at the top of the picture are two small figures of St Michael driving out Satan.

1944. "PORTRAIT OF ARIOSTO."

_Titian_ (Venetian: 1477-1576). _See 4._

This superb portrait, though traditionally called "Ariosto," bears no resemblance to the poet. It is the picture of an Italian aristocrat of the Renaissance that the painter sets before us; of a man refined and luxurious, unimpassioned, and somewhat cynical. Immortalised by art, he looks out upon us with a somewhat scornful glance; the handsome head is one of those thoroughly individualised representations which, once studied, fix themselves indelibly in the memory. Sober and yet sumptuous in colour, the picture is enveloped in a luminous haze; and the costume, with the quilted sleeve of steely grey, is a masterpiece of technique.

The picture, which is signed on the parapet Titianus V. (with another V. at the further end of the parapet), belongs to Titian's earlier period, when he was under the influence of Giorgione, to which master indeed it is sometimes attributed.[256] There are several versions of the picture, including one in Lord Rosebery's collection at Mentmore.[257] The present picture (Old Masters, 1895) was bought by Sir George Donaldson from Cobham Hall (Lord Darnley) for £30,000, and sold by him for the same price to the nation; a portion of the sum (£9000) being contributed by Mr. W. W. Astor, Mr. Alfred Beit, Lord Burton, Lord Iveagh, Mr. Pierpont Morgan, and Lady Wantage.

1951. PORTRAIT OF DR. PERAL.

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

"Perhaps as good an example as could be found of the brilliancy and execution and vivid portrayal of character which characterise this artist at his best" (Official Catalogue).

1952. MR. AND MRS. EDWIN EDWARDS.

_Henri Fantin-Latour_ (French: 1836-1904). _See 1686._

A fine example of this artist's portraiture, representing old friends of the French painter, with whom he stayed when in this country. Mr. Edwards, landscape painter in water-colours and etcher (1823-1879), is examining a print with an expert's eye. His wife, perhaps less happily posed (because seemingly disconnected with the other figure), looks out at the spectator with her arms folded. Mrs. Edwards who presented this picture to the nation in 1904 died in 1907. "Nearly every one of Fantin-Latour's pictures in this country passed through her hands, and have her private marks, by which she was able to identify them after a lapse of many years."

1953. THE VIRGIN AND CHILD.

_Lazzaro Bastiani_ (Venetian: about 1425-1512). _See 750._

In the background is the festoon of fruit, familiar to us in Crivelli's pictures.

1969. A GREEK CAPTIVE.

_Henriette Browne_ (French: 1829-1901).

2057. VENUS WITH THE MIRROR.

_Velazquez_ (Spanish: 1599-1660). _See 197._

This celebrated picture--commonly called "Venus and Cupid," but known in Spain as the "Venus del Espejo"--is one of the master's rare studies of the nude, and it is characteristic of his genius. The subject is professedly mythological, but Velazquez seeks no adventitious interest from legendary association or idealistic grace. Here, as everywhere, his standpoint is frankly realistic, whilst the work is saved from commonness by purity of colour and sincerity of artistic purpose. It has been truly said that the flesh-painting here makes many another picture in the Gallery look lifeless and unreal. The face of "Venus" in the mirror--with broad features enframed in plainly dressed hair--does not realise the promise of the pretty outline of the head with the brown hair tied in a knot; and it has been suggested (by Dr. Justi) that "perhaps the damsel did not wish to be recognised." However this may be, the very plainness of the face emphasises the artist's intention. The picturesqueness of the outline and modulations of the back in a youthful female figure was the artistic effect which he set himself to render.

The history of the picture is well authenticated.[258] It was painted about 1650, and passed into the possession of the Duke of Alba on his marriage in 1688 with Doña Catalina de Haro of Guzmom, Condessa-Duquesa de Olivares, the picture forming part of her dowry. It is mentioned in an inventory of the paintings belonging to her family as "a Venus of life size reclining nude with a child who holds up for her a mirror into which she gazes. This picture is an original work by Don Diego Velazquez." In an account of the Duke of Alba's palace in 1776 it is described as "the very celebrated Venus depicted from the back, in the reclining posture, with her face reflected in a mirror towards which she directs her gaze." Subsequently the picture became the property of the Spanish statesmen, Godoy. In 1808 it was sold and brought to this country; and purchased through Mr. Buchanan for the sum of £500, by Mr. Morritt, the friend of Sir Walter Scott. It became an heirloom in Mr. Morritt's family at Rokeby Hall, Teesdale. "Twice," says Dr. Justi in his life of Velazquez, "in 1879 and 1885 I had the privilege of seeing it there and convincing myself of its faultless preservation and the original brilliancy and freshness of its colour." It was exhibited in 1857 among the "Art Treasures" at Manchester and in 1890 at the "Old Masters." It was ultimately sold under an order of the Court of Chancery, the price obtained being £30,500. It passed into the hands of Messrs. Agnew, and its sale out of this country was believed to be imminent when the National Art Collections Fund came to the rescue and raised by subscription the amount now necessary for its purchase.

The sum paid was £45,000,[259] and the picture was presented by the Fund to the nation.

2058. SUNNY DAYS IN THE FOREST.

_Diaz_ (French: 1809-1876).

Narciso Virgilio Diaz de la Peña, one of the members of "the
Barbizon School" (see p. 698), was born, of Spanish extraction,
at Bordeaux. Left an orphan at the age of ten, he was adopted
by a Protestant clergyman, living at Bellevue, near Sèvres.
He was of a truant disposition, and sleeping once upon the
grass in the woods he was bitten by a viper; the accident
cost him his left leg, and he had to go through life with
a wooden one, which he called his _pilon_. In after years,
when his pictures were rejected at the Salon, he would make a
hole in the canvas with his wooden leg, saying with a laugh
"what's the use of being rich? I can't have my _pilon_ set in
diamonds." His early years were of uncertain fortune, spent in
earning a precarious living, sometimes as a painter on china
at Sèvres, sometimes as an errand-boy in the streets. But he
had confidence in his talent, and gradually found a market for
his pictures. These were at first of figures, flowers, or other
_genre_. A meeting in 1830 with Théodore Rousseau sent him to
Fontainebleau and nature. For Rousseau, he entertained the most
profound admiration, the story of "the toast of Diaz," is well
known. Diaz had been preferred to Rousseau in admission to the
Legion of Honour. In attending a dinner given in 1851 to the
new _officiers_, Diaz rose and invited the company to drink "À
Rousseau, notre maître oublié!" Of his figure-subjects, one of
the best "La Fée aux Perles" is in the Louvre, but it is on his
landscapes that his fame chiefly rests. "Go into the forest,"
it has been said, "lose yourself among its trees, and you can
only say 'À Diaz'." To him, however, the forest was not, as
to some others of the school, or as to Ruysdael, sombre or
serious. It was a keyboard on which to play colour-fantasies.
"You paint stinging-nettles," he said to Millet, "I prefer
roses." "Pearls," said Théophile Gautier of his pictures,
"brilliant as precious stones, prismatic gems and rainbow
jewels." His pictures have been called not so much landscapes,
as "tree-scapes." "Have you seen my last stem?" he used to say
himself to his visitors. But it was the play of sunlight on
the stems that he chiefly loved. Diaz is the colourist of the
Barbizon School.

The acquisition of this sparkling little picture of a glade in the forest of Fontainebleau, lit by the afternoon sun, marked somewhat of an era in the history of the National Gallery. It was the first illustration on its walls of the modern French school of landscape.

2062. CHRIST TEACHING FROM ST. PETER'S SHIP.

_Herman Saftleven_ (Dutch: 1609-1685).

This painter, whose landscapes were praised by connoisseurs of
the time as "distinguished by great care and accuracy," was
born at Rotterdam, was a pupil of Jan van Goyen, and worked
chiefly at Rotterdam and Utrecht. He painted many views on the
Rhine and Maas; and one of the former, in the Dulwich Gallery,
dated 1656, is among his best works.

The scene is the Lake of Gennesaret; the people are assembled on the shore to hear the words of Christ who is seated in St. Peter's ship (Luke v. 1-3).

2069. THE "MADONNA OF THE TOWER."

_Raphael_ (Urbino: 1483-1520). _See 1171._

This picture is attributed to the earlier portion of Raphael's "Roman period" (see p. 569); to about the same time, that is, as that of the "Garvagh Madonna" (No. 744). It takes its commonly accepted name from the small tower which may be seen in the distance of the landscape background; it is sometimes referred to as "The Madonna with the Standing Child," or "The Virgin with the Downcast Eyes," or "The Rogers Madonna." It is painted on canvas, and has suffered much from accident and repainting; but the feeling of the picture is thoroughly Raphaelesque in purity of colour and charm of expression. The mother's face is full of affection, sweet and yet serious; while the Child looks out of the canvas, "as if unconscious of all but the joy of the moment."

The picture was formerly in the Orleans collection, whence it was purchased by Mr. Willett in 1792 for £150. It next passed into the collection of Mr. Henry Hope, at whose sale in 1816 it was bought for 59 guineas by Samuel Rogers, the poet. "In the atmosphere of St. James's Place," says a chronicler of the works from the Orleans Collection which passed into the possession of Rogers, "they may safely be said to have been worshipped with a purer incense than they ever received before. We may be pardoned for recalling a few of them. Foremost was a Raphael, one of the master's sweetest compositions, the Child standing with one foot on his mother's hand. It had been reduced by ruthless rubbings to a mere shadow, but the beauty was ineffaceable: hanging--how well remembered!--in the best light on the left-hand wall in the drawing-room. Then two glorious Titians--one of them, Christ appearing to the Magdalene" (_Quarterly Review_, Oct. 1888). The picture last mentioned is also now in the National Gallery (No. 270) which possesses further from his collection, Nos. 269, 271, 276, 279. At his sale in 1856 the Raphael was bought for 480 guineas by Mr. R. J. Mackintosh, son of the historian, who exhibited it at Manchester in the Art Treasures Exhibition of 1857; it was also shown at the Old Masters in 1902. From him it passed to Miss Eva Mackintosh who has now (1906) presented it to the nation. In the British Museum there is a cartoon of the picture.

2078. THE HARBOUR OF TROUVILLE.

_Louis Eugène Boudin_ (French: 1825-1898).

A view from within the harbour looking out to the open sea "between the piers." Signed and dated "E. Boudin, '88," with the title on the back in the artist's handwriting, "Entre les jetées, Trouville." This picture by a fine sea-painter was presented by the National Art Collections Fund.

2081. LULLI AND HIS FELLOW MUSICIANS AT THE FRENCH COURT.

_Hyacinthe Rigaud_ (French, 1659-1743). _See 903._

Jean Baptiste de Lulli (or Lully) was the celebrated composer (1633-1687) for whose music Louis XIV. had a great predilection. For him the King created a new company of musicians called _Les Petits Violons_ or _La Bande des Seize_. Lulli composed also the incidental music for Molière's plays. The portraits of Lulli, says a contemporary, are fairly like him, but he was smaller and stouter than they show.

2082. A FLORENTINE LADY; _on the reverse_, A SYMBOLIC ANGEL.

_School of Botticelli_ (Florentine: 1447-1510). _See 1034._

The portrait is supposed to represent the unknown artist's wife; the angel holds an armillary sphere.

2083. PORTRAIT OF DR. BATTISTA FIERA.

_Lorenzo Costa_ (Ferrarese: 1460-1535). _See 629._

The portrait, "warts and all," of a theologian, physician, and poet of Mantua. So he is described under the engraving of this picture, which is the frontispiece to a book published at Padua in 1649 and entitled _Baptistae Fierae Mantuani Medici sua aetate clarissimi Coena notis illustrata a Carolo Avantio Rhodigino_. The portrait, a _chef d'oeuvre_ of a painter whose portraits are rare, was shown at the Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1894.

2084. A YOUNG MAN IN BLACK.

_Florentine School._

"This picture has been attributed to Piero Pollajuolo and to the painter known as 'Amico di Sandro'" (_National Gallery Report_, 1906).

2085. BIANCA CAPELLO.

_School of Bronzino_ (Florentine: 1502-1572). _See 649._

2086. THE GATE WITH A ROUND TOWER.

2087. A PASTORAL LANDSCAPE.

_Francesco Zuccarelli_ (Florentine: 1702-1788).

This painter of decorative landscape was much employed in
England, and during a sojourn here from 1752 to 1773 he became
one of the foundation members of our Royal Academy.

2088. CHRIST TEACHING.

_Bernardino Luini_ (Lombard: about 1475-1533). _See 18._

The face, attitude, and design are the same as in the Christ of No. 18; but the beautiful expression is absent.

2089. MADONNA AND CHILD.

_Lombard School_: 16th century.

Fresco on plaster; not unlike the work of Beltraffio.

2090, 2091. ANGELS.

_Moretto_ (Brescian: 1498-1555). _See 299._

Companion figures, with wreaths of roses, inscribed (on the first) _Ave Regina_, (on the second) _Coelorum_.

2092, 2093. ST. JOSEPH AND ST. JEROME.

_Moretto_ (Brescian: 1498-1555). _See 299._

2094. IL CAVALIERE.

_Moroni_ (Bergamese: 1525-1578). _See 697._

2095. A MAN IN BLACK.

_Alvise Vivarini_ (Venetian: painted 1461-1503). _See 1872._

A fine portrait, hitherto attributed to Antonello da Messina, but now assigned to Vivarini, on the analogy of similar busts attributed by Mr. Berenson to that painter.

2096. THE MAN WITH A BEARD.

_Romanino_ (Brescian: about 1485-1566). _See 297._

2097. THE LADY WITH THE CARNATIONS.

_Paris Bordone_ (Venetian: 1500-1570). _See 637._

2098. S. MARIA DELLA SALUTE, VENICE.

2099. THE DUCAL PALACE, VENICE

_Francesco Guardi_ (Venetian: 1712-1793). _See 210._

Excellent examples of the best manner of this painter.

2100. THE MARRIAGE OF THE EMPEROR FREDERICK I.

_Tiepolo_ (Venetian: 1692-1769). _See 1192, 1193._

It is mentioned in the account of Tiepolo (under Nos. 1192, 1193) that he executed wall-decorations in the Royal Palace, formerly the episcopal residence, at Wurzburg. The present picture is almost the same in composition as one of those. The subject--the marriage of Frederick Barbarossa in 1156, to Beatrix, daughter of the Count of Burgundy--lends itself well to Tiepolo's "feeling for splendour," and swift mastery of decorative effect. The Imperial banner, emblazoned with the black eagle, is borne by a warrior. The bishops of Wurzburg were princes of the Empire.

2101. ESTHER AT THE THRONE OF AHASUERUS.

_Sebastiano Ricci_ (Venetian: 1659-1734). _See 857._

An illustration of the Book of Esther (xv. 7-16); "Then lifting up his countenance that shone with majesty, he looked very fiercely upon her, and the queen fell down and was pale and fainted," etc.

2102, 2103. TOWN AND RIVER SCENES.

_Jacopo Marieschi_ (Venetian: 1711-1794).

By this painter, an imitator of Canaletto, two views of Venice
were bought by the National Gallery from the Beauconsin
Collection, but they were consigned to the National Gallery of
Dublin.

2104. A MAN WITH A WIDE COLLAR.

_Enrico Fiammingo._

This painter of whom little is known, was a follower of
Spagnoletto and Guido.

2105. A MAN WITH A POINTED BEARD.

_Annibale Carracci_ (Bolognese: 1560-1609). _See 9._

2106. PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST.

_Benedetto Gennari_ (Bolognese: 1633-1715).

The artist was the nephew and scholar of Guercino. He came
to England in 1674, and was for some time in the service
of Charles II. and James II. "I once saw," says Lanzi, "a
Bathsheba of Guercino, along with a copy by one of the Gennari.
The former appeared as if newly painted at the time, and the
latter as if many years previously, such was its inferiority
in strength of hand.... Benedetto subsequently formed for
himself a style in England, more polished and careful, and
exemplified it more particularly in his portraits."

2107. HAGAR IN THE DESERT.

_Salvator Rosa_ (Neapolitan: 1615-1673). _See 84._

2118. MADONNA AND CHILD.

_Giovanni Francesco da Rimini_ (Umbrian: dated 1406).

2127. PORTRAIT OF THE MARCHESE GIOVANNI BATTISTA CATTANEO.

_Van Dyck_ (Flemish: 1599-1641). _See 49._

It has been said in our notice of Van Dyck that many of his best works are to be seen in Genoa. Two of the portraits made during his "Genoese period" are now in our Gallery; having found their way to Paris and thence to England from the palace of the Marchese Cattaneo in Genoa, and having been bought by the Trustees from Messrs. Colnaghi. The price paid for the picture before us was £13,500. The portrait has not the pathetic charm of the "Gevartius" (52), to which it now forms a pendant; but in strength and vitality it is one of the painter's masterpieces. The Marchese lives before us, instinct with nervous energy; seeming, as has been well said, "at once to interrogate the spectator, and haughtily to repel interrogation."

2129. UNE PARADE.

_Gabriel Jacques de Saint Aubin_ (French: 1724-1780).

A pupil of Boucher; painter, first of heroic and then of
domestic subjects; also an etcher.

Spectators watching a turn with the foils by two mountebanks.

2130. THE WATER LANE.

_Jan Siberechts_ (Flemish: 1627-1703).

It is very fitting that this painter, whose works in
Continental galleries are rare, should be represented in ours;
for it was the Duke of Buckingham, who brought him into
vogue. Passing through Antwerp, the Duke was attracted by his
work, and took him in his train to England, where, according
to Walpole, he was much employed by the aristocracy. "Among
the landscapes of the Flemish school," says an enthusiastic
critic (A. J. Wauters), "there is not one of whom we think more
highly. If his colouring lacks the brilliancy and the soft
transparency of the tones of Rubens, it offers others both
rare and unexpected at a time when the Flemish landscape was
yet enslaved by conventional laws. Sieberechts boldly met the
difficulties offered by open-air scenes and foreshadowed the
daring colouring attempted by modern realism. His landscapes
are true pastorals. He understood the art of giving his
farm-girls and hinds real attitudes, taken from life; and how
to make the various hues of vermilion and silver, blue and
yellow of their costumes harmonise boldly together, which makes
his works so charming, and gives them such a free and entirely
personal character."

2133, 2134. "ROSES" AND "APPLES."

_Henri Fantin-Latour_ (French: 1836-1904). _See 1686._

2135. THE MARSH OF ARLEUX-DU-NORD.

_J. B. C. Corot_ (French: 1796-1875).

Corot is one of those original painters who bring new aspects
of nature and modes of beauty into ken. He is usually classed
with the Barbizon School (see p. 691), but he stands alone with
a peculiarly subtle and individual note of his own. "Rousseau,"
he once said, "is an eagle; I am only a lark." His mood, though
often tinged with melancholy, is tender, and delicate; what he
loved was not the grandiose in form or colour, but rather all
that was glimmering, uncertain, evanescent--such as the "shade
by the light quivering aspen made," or delicate effects, at
early dawn, or in moonlight. To read his letter on "the day of
a landscapist"[260] is the best introduction to his art. "One
rises early, at three o'clock in the morning before the sun is
up, one goes and sits down at the foot of a tree, one looks and
waits; he does not see much at first. Nature resembles a white
tablecloth, where he can hardly distinguish the profiles of
some of the masses. Everything is scented, everything trembles
with the fresh breeze of the dawn." And then, again, when the
sun has set: "Bien! bien! twilight commences. There is now
in the sky only that soft vaporous colour of pale citron.
One is losing sight of everything, but one still feels that
everything is there. The birds, those voices of the flowers,
say their evening prayer, the dew scatters pearls upon the
grass, the nymphs fly ... everything is again darkened; the
pond alone glitters. Good, there is my picture completed." It
was only gradually that Corot reached the style upon which
his fame rests. He was born in Paris of humble parents, and
served for some years in a draper's shop. He was twenty-two
before he was able to follow his artistic bent. He made the
usual classical tour to Italy, and it was not till 1843 that
he began to reveal the characteristic charm which he had found
in French landscape. He painted what few eyes are wont to see
and had to create the taste by which he was to be admired. But
affluence came to him, and he gave as readily as he received.
Many stories are told of his benevolence, and the love which he
inspired is recorded in the title, "le père Corot," by which
he was called. As a mark of their esteem his fellow-artists
presented him with a gold medal shortly before his death. His
last words were characteristic of his art and his life. It was
his practice to sketch early and late in the open air, dreaming
his pictures as he studied, and to "paint his dreams" in the
studio. "Last night," he said as he lay on his death-bed,
"I saw in a dream a landscape with a rosy sky; it will be
marvellous to paint." He was seen to draw in the air with his
fingers. "_Mon Dieu_" he said, "how beautiful that is; the most
beautiful landscape I have ever seen." His old housekeeper
offered to bring him his breakfast. He smiled and said, "To-day
Père Corot will breakfast above."

This little picture is characteristic of one of Corot's tastes. "He loved," we are told, "water in indetermined clearness and in the shining glance of light, leaving it here in shadow and touching it there with brightness. He loved morning before sunrise, when the white mists hover over pools like a light veil of gauze; he had a passion for evening which was almost greater; he loved the softer vapours which gather in the gloom." (Muther.) The picture was painted in 1871, and was purchased by Fantin-Latour at the posthumous sale of Corot's works.

2136. ENGRAVED PORTRAIT OF LULLY, THE MUSICIAN. _See 2081._

2143. LADY STANDING BY A SPINET.

_Jacob Ochtervelt_ (Dutch: died before 1710).

Jacob Ochtervelt (sometimes called wrongly Jan, and Achtervelt
or Uchtervelt) was born probably at Rotterdam. He formed
his style on the model of Terburg, to whom his pictures are
sometimes attributed (see, for instance, an example in the
Venice Academy formerly given to Terburg).

A beautiful example of a painter, by whom pictures in good condition are rare--a harmony in pink and grey and brown. There is poetical feeling, too, in the lady's attitude and the man who looks up intently at her; as also some humour in the dog turning his attention to an intruder.

2144. LA MARCHESA CATTANEO.

_Van Dyck_ (Flemish: 1599-1641). _See 49._

A companion picture to No. 2127.

2162. PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST.

_Joseph Ducreux_ (French: 1735-1802).

The artist is dressed as a French Abbé, with powdered hair.

2163. THE MAGDALEN.

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

2204. INTERIOR OF A CHURCH.

_Hendrick Steenwyck_ (Flemish: 1580-1649). _See 1132._

Dated 1615. The nave of a Gothic church; in the distance a funeral procession is entering the choir; beggars and dogs in the foreground.

2205. INTERIOR OF A CHURCH.

_Pieter Neeffs_ (Flemish: 1577-1661). _See 924._

A night scene in a church of Renaissance architecture. On a tomb on the floor is an inscription--"632 Hier legt begraven Henri Steenwick."

2206. VESPERS.

2207. AFTER VESPERS.

_Pieter Neeffs._

The chapel in No. 2207 is the same as that on the left in No. 2206.

2209. ULRICUS SIROSENIUS, DUKE OF EAST FRIESLAND.

_Cornelissen_ (Dutch: about 1475-1555). _See 657._

The title is written on the back of the oak panel. The Duke's sword is inscribed--"Victor est qui nomen Domini pugnavit." Among other versions of this portrait is one in the Oldenburg Gallery, attributed to Lucas van Leyden. Another (in the Duke of Rutland's collection) has Dürer's monogram.

2211. JACQUELINE DE BOURGOGNE.

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

The beautiful costume and jewellery should be noticed; the girl holds an orrery. This picture was shown in the Golden Fleece Exhibition at Bruges in 1907.

2216. "LA MAIN CHAUDE."

_Jean François de Troy_ (French: 1679-1752).

This painter (pupil of his father, François de Troy) was
employed by Louis XIV. to execute designs for tapestry in the
grand style, and he carved out much decorative work. Sets
of some of the tapestries from his designs are in the State
Apartments in Windsor Castle. Subsequently, he adopted the
style of Watteau, and painted "conversations galantes," such
as in the example before us. Other specimens of his work may
be seen in the Victoria and Albert Museum, and in the Wallace
collection.

2217. ELISA BONAPARTE, GRAND DUCHESS OF TUSCANY.

_J. L. David_ (French: 1748-1825).

Jacques Louis David, the founder of the "classical school"
in France and for many years the Dictator of French art,
was a nephew of Boucher, from whom he received his first
instruction. His celebrated "Oath of the Horatii" (1784)
and "Brutus" (1789), and other works of the kind, are in the
Louvre. They were not without influence on the politics of the
time, and David was elected a representative of Paris in the
Convention in 1792. He became a follower of Robespierre, and
naturally escaped execution. Abandoning politics, he became
acquainted with Napoleon, who made him his First Painter.
On the restoration of the Bourbons, he sought refuge in
Brussels, where he died. Many of his Napoleonic pictures are at
Versailles.

A vigorous portrait-sketch of Elisa, sister of Napoleon, whom he made Duchess of Tuscany, with the titles of Duchess of Lucca and Princess of Piombino. She was born in 1777 and died in 1820. We see her here in white empire costume.

2218. MADAME MALIBRAN.

_J. A. D. Ingres_ (French: 1780-1867).

A study of the famous singer; attributed to Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, a pupil of David, who imparted a grace of his own to the Classical School.

2251. PORTRAIT OF BONA OF SAVOY.

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

This striking full-length figure of a lady, richly attired and wearing jewels, was No. 7 in the exhibition of pictures by Milanese masters at the Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1894. It was then described as a portrait of Beatrice d'Este.

2256. RIVER SCENE.

2257. ILEX TREES, VILLEFRANCHE.

_Henri Harpignies_ (French: born 1819).

These two pictures, recently presented to the Gallery, are
slight examples of the work, in oil and water-colour, of an
artist who travelled with Corot and continued that master's
method of interpreting nature.

2258. A WOODLAND SCENE.

_Georges Michel_ (French: 1763-1843).

A good example of an artist who has been called "the Ruysdael of Montmartre."

2281. THE VIRGIN AND CHILD.

_Lorenzo Lotto_ (Venetian: 1480-1556). _See 699._

The Virgin, a pretty woman prettily dressed, is seated between St. Jerome and St. Anthony of Padua, who holds in his hand a "Madonna lily." This bright and dainty picture belongs to the year 1522 (see Berenson's _Lorenzo Lotto_, 1895, p. 187).

2282. THE BOHEMIANS.

_Philips Wouwerman_ (Dutch: 1619-1668). _See 878._

2283. DAWN.

_Aart van der Neer_ (Dutch: 1603-1677). _See 152._

2285. A FAMILY GROUP.

_Frans Hals_ (Dutch: 1580-1666). _See 1021._

An important accession to the Gallery, as an example of the large portrait-groups in which Hals excelled. The composition whereby the ten figures are all brought into a group is ingenious--the part played by the direction of the elder boy's attention to the other being in this respect important--though in colour the harmony is somewhat disturbed by the emphatic lights of the lace and linen worn by each member of the group. There is individual character in all the portraits; among the figures which most compel admiration are those of the mother, full of quiet dignity, of the eldest daughter, standing on the right with a work-basket in her hand (both beautifully painted), and of the little girl seated in front. The picture unknown to the connoisseurs before its acquisition for the National Gallery--was purchased in 1908 from Lord Talbot de Malahide for £25,000.

2288. PORTRAIT OF DR. FORLENZE.

_Jacques Antoine Vallin_ (French: 1770-1838).

Dr. J. N. B. Forlenze (1769-1833) was a physician and man of fashion in Naples. He had visited England and studied under John Hunter; and practised as an oculist in Paris. This portrait was exhibited at the Salon in 1808.

2289. ATTILA: AN ALLEGORY.

_F. V. E. Delacroix_ (French: 1798-1863).

Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix was the chief of the
"Romantic" school in painting, which in literature was
represented by de Musset, George Sand, and Victor Hugo. The
Romanticists revolted against the art of the Classicists as
cold, formal, and colourless. Delacroix, whose admiration
was for Byron in poetry and for Rubens in painting, sought
before all things passion, emotion, and colour. He had, says
Silvestre, "the sun in his head and a thunderstorm in his
heart, and his grandiose and awe-inspiring brush sounded the
entire gamut of human emotion." He loved strong colour, and he
was one of many French artists who were influenced by the sight
of Constable's pictures in the Salon. His pictures were as
fiercely assailed, as they were furiously painted. "It is the
massacre of painting," said Baron Gros of Delacroix's "Massacre
of Chios." "I became the abomination of painting," said the
artist, "I was refused water and salt;" but, he added, "I was
enchanted with myself," and he won his way into favour. He was
born at Charenton St. Maurice, near Paris. His father, who
held high office under the First Empire, had been a partisan
of the violent faction during the Revolution, and, like some
other revolutionaries, was more consumed with public ardour
than concerned with private affairs. The boy was exposed to
accidents and neglect in his childhood which make one wonder
that he survived. He had poor health throughout life, and there
was in him a hectic strain which was reflected in his art. In
1817 he entered the studio of Guérin, where he had Ary Scheffer
(see 1169) for a fellow-pupil and antagonist, and afterwards
he worked under Baron Gros. He was deeply stirred by the War
of Greek Independence; and a visit which he paid to Morocco
and Algiers in 1831 had the effect of enriching his sense of
colour. He had a strong supporter in Thiers, through whose
influence he received many important commissions for public
works--in the decoration of the Louvre, the Luxembourg, and the
Chamber of Deputies. Our picture was a design for the latter.
These and other large works occupied him till 1855; and at last
in 1857 he was admitted into the French Academy.

In this characteristic design the spirit of Ruthless Conquest is personified in the figure of Attila, the leader of the Huns, called "The Scourge of God." He drives before him, beneath a blood-red sky and amid the ghosts of the slain, figures emblematic of Beauty, Art, and Pleasure.

2290. PARC DE SANSAC, INDRE-ET-LOIRE.

_Armand Charnay_ (French: born 1844).

Jean Marie Armand Charnay, born at Charlieu (Loire); in 1864
entered the École des Beaux-Arts; genre and landscape painter.

This picture of autumn in the walks of a French château was presented by the artist.

2291. PORTRAIT OF CARDINAL DE RETZ.

_Philippe de Champaigne_ (French: 1602-1674). _See 798._

A portrait, in Cardinal's cape and skull-cap, of Jean François Paul de Gondi (1614-1679), Archbishop of Paris, and afterwards Cardinal de Retz. As Archbishop, he aided the rising of the Fronde against Mazarin. In 1652 he was arrested and imprisoned; he escaped, and for some years wandered abroad. In 1662 he was received into favour by Louis XIV., and in his later years was often employed as an envoy to Rome. He is described as having been in his youth short, near-sighted, ugly, and exceedingly awkward.

2292. PORTRAIT OF A LADY.

_Michiel Jansz van Mirevelt_ (Dutch: 1567-1641).

Mirevelt (or Miereveld) was the son of an engraver on precious
metals at Delft, and was trained as an engraver. He afterwards
entered the studio of Blocklandt at Utrecht, and devoted
himself to historical painting, still-life, and other subjects.
Presently he painted the portraits of some of the princes of
the House of Nassau, and these were so much admired that he
came into continuous request in that branch of art. Sandrart
relates that Mirevelt claimed to have painted nearly 10,000
portraits; doubtless an exaggeration, but "it may be said that
it was he who made the custom of having portraits painted
general in the United Provinces. His painting, thin, clean
finished, and rather cold, was intended to please his elegant
clients" (Havard).

This lady's stomacher embroidered with rows of pearls and pleated lace ruff are finely painted.

2293. HOLY FAMILY.

Ascribed to _Luca Penni_ (Roman: born about 1500).

One of the scholars and assistants of Raphael; after whose
death Penni is said to have attached himself to Perino del
Vaga. Subsequently he became an engraver.

2294. PORTRAIT OF GALILEO.

_Passignano_ (Florentine: 1558-1638).

Domenico Cresti, called Il Passignano from his native place,
a village near Florence, was a pupil of Zuccaro. Moving to
Venice, he studied for a while under Paolo Veronese, whose
works he greatly admired and whose manner he followed. His
facility and rapidity caused a play upon his surname, and he
was called "Passa ognuno."

The great astronomer (1564-1642) is represented with astrolabe, books, diagram, and compasses.

2295. PORTRAIT OF A MILITARY COMMANDER.

_Frans Pourbus, the younger_ (Flemish: 1569-1622).

Pourbus, son of Frans Pourbus the elder, was born at Antwerp,
and by 1591 was a master in the Guild of St. Luke. He was
employed by the Archduke Albert at Antwerp, at whose court
he attracted the notice of the Duke of Mantua. The Duke took
him into his service (1600-1609), and he shared with Rubens
the title of Painter to the Ducal Court. At Mantua he worked
at "a collection of the most beautiful women in the world,
whether princesses or private ladies." Like Rubens, Pourbus was
occasionally employed as Ambassador, and a mission to Paris
caused him to forsake Italy for France. Eleanor of Mantua was
a sister of Marie de' Medici, and Pourbus finally settled in
Paris as Painter to the Queen. There is a portrait of the queen
by him at Hampton Court.

2423. LITHOGRAPHS OF HORSES.

_J. L. A. T. Géricault_ (French: 1791-1824).

Jean Louis André Théodore Géricault, animal and historical
painter, was a precursor of the revolt of the Romanticists
against the Classicists, which was carried further by Delacroix
(see 2289). His most famous picture, "The Raft of the Medusa"
(Louvre), was exhibited at the Salon in 1819 and excited much
controversy. He was the son of a prosperous advocate; and as
a young man became a member of the Jockey Club, and lived the
life of the _jeunesse dorée_. He had some instruction in art
from Charles Vernet and Guérin, but his real master was Rubens
in the Louvre. In 1816 he went to Italy. After 1819 he visited
England, where he practised the then new art of lithography.
His picture of "The Derby at Epsom" (1821) is in the Louvre.

2439. A RIVER SCENE.

_P. E. Théodore Rousseau_ (French: 1812-1867).

Rousseau, one of the founders of the modern school of
landscape in France, had to fight his way to fame through
many difficulties and much neglect. The toast of Diaz, "à
notre maître oublié," has been already recorded (p. 691).
For thirteen years (1835-1848) his pictures were rejected
from the Salon; and official honours came to him tardily. He
had his revenge in the Exhibition of 1855, when his rejected
pictures "came back as victorious exiles," and again in that
of 1867, when he was chosen president of the jury. But he
was of a sensitive and jealous disposition; he was estranged
from his best friend, Dupré, and chagrin at being passed over
for promotion in the Legion of Honour in 1867 is said to
have hastened his death. A pleasanter episode in his life is
his generous and timely help to Millet. The heads of the two
artists are carved together on his tombstone in the cemetery
of Chailly, near Barbizon. He was born in Paris, the son of a
merchant-tailor. He studied painting under Rémond and Guillon
Lethière, and first exhibited at the Salon in 1831. His
pictures in successive years were loudly trumpeted by Thoré as
those of an innovator, and for that reason perhaps excited the
more hostility among the old school. His favourite ground was
the forest of Fontainebleau, and he made his home at Barbizon,
studying every aspect of nature with intense application. "It
is a good composition," he wrote, "when the objects represented
are not there solely as they are, but when they contain under
a natural appearance the sentiments which they have stirred in
our souls. If we contest that the trees have power of thought,
at any rate we may allow that they can make us think; and in
return for all the modesty of which they make use to elevate
our thoughts, we owe them, as recompense, not arrogant freedom
or pedantic and classic style, but the sincerity of a grateful
attention in the reproduction of their being." There is a good
example of his forest-pictures in the Wallace Collection.

Rousseau was the most various of the landscape painters of his time. In the present picture we see him in a peaceful mood; another picture (2635) is of a stormy sky.

2475. CHRISTINA, DUCHESS OF MILAN.

_Hans Holbein_ (German: 1497-1543). _See 1314._

Amongst Holbein's duties as painter to Henry VIII. was that of taking portraits of the ladies whom he proposed in turn to wed. After the death of Jane Seymour, the first favourite was the lady before us, "the demure half-smile not yet faded from her eyes"--Christina, daughter of Christian II. of Denmark, niece of the Emperor Charles V., and widow of the Duke of Milan. Reasons of state suggested her marriage to Henry VIII., and Holbein was sent to Brussels, where the Duchess was residing. Our portrait was painted a few years later than "The Ambassadors," from a sketch made at Brussels on March 12, 1538. The circumstances are entertainingly told in the letters of the English envoy, John Hutton, to Thomas Cromwell. On the 10th August Hutton had sent off a portrait by another artist to Henry VIII., that he might judge of the appearance of the young Duchess before making her a proposal of marriage. The next evening "Mr. Haunce" (_i.e._ Hans Holbein) arrived in company of a servant of the king, whereupon Hutton sent off an express-courier to fetch back the picture he had already despatched, "for that in my opinion," he said, "it was not so perfect as the case required, neither as the said Mr. Haunce could make it." "The next day following at one of the clock in the afternoon, the said Lord Benedick came for Mr. Haunce, who, having but three hours' space, both showed himself to be master of that science, for it is very perfect; the other is but slobbered in comparison to it, as, by the sight of both, your Lordships shall well perceive."

The original--the study, sketch, or miniature, the result of three hours' hard work--has disappeared; but the picture which the master made from it after he came home is now before us. The portrait, it would seem, did not make the king less anxious for the match--which, however, was broken off, it will be remembered, after long negotiations, by the hostility of the emperor. The duchess, in spite of her tender years, seems--and the picture does not belie the supposition--to have had a character of her own. The story of her reply, "that she had but one head, but that if she had two, one should be at the service of his majesty," is, indeed, now discredited; but her actual answer, "You know I am the Emperor's poor servant and must follow his pleasure," was, in the light of subsequent events, equally to the point. The English envoy specially reported "her honest countenance and the few words she wisely spoke."