Chapter XI: Front Matter (11)

=An Interior, by J. B. Scheffer.=--Johan Baptist Scheffer, who died in Amsterdam in 1809, has here An Interior, showing a room in which a young peasant woman is sitting at a table preparing vegetables. Beside her stands a pedler who has placed his right hand on her shoulder, while his left dangles a gold chain before her eyes. On the left, a little girl is amusing herself by scaring a cat with her dog; in the background an open door gives a view through the next room into the street.

=Ary Scheffer's Training.=--Scheffer's more famous son, Arie (1795-1858), inherited talent also from his mother, Cornelia Lamme, a very distinguished miniature-painter. He received his first instruction from his father and in Paris studied under Pierre Guerin. Gericault and Eugene Delacroix joined him in striking into a new path of art.

=His Two Paintings of Ulrich of Wurtemburg.=--Here Arie Scheffer has two sketches--Heads of Two Children, and A Shepherd Under a Stormy Sky, and two large canvases on Uhland's ballad representing Ulrich, son of Count Eberhard of Wurtemburg. He first represents the young warrior who, having lost the Battle of Reutlingen, returns to Stuttgart and finds his father at the table alone. He has a cold welcome; and Count Eberhard without greeting him takes a knife and cuts the table-cloth in halves. In Scheffer's picture Ulrich is standing by the table on the right, and the angry father is cutting the table-cloth. Exasperated by this insult, Ulrich returned to the army and, throwing himself into the thickest of the fray at Doffingen, was killed. The old count spent the night weeping over the body of his only son. The companion picture, called The Weeper, represents the bereaved father with clasped hands seated by Ulrich's body, which still is in armor and lying on a bearskin in the tent.

=Hendrik Scheffer's The First Child.=--Arie's younger brother, Hendrik Scheffer (1798-1862), also a pupil of Guerin, was a capable painter whose work, The First Child, hangs in this gallery. A young mother in bed receives a visit from her husband, who is kissing her hand. On the right the nurse is seen with the child in her arms.

=A Similar Picture by Cornelis Troost.=--Another similar picture is by Cornelis Troost. The lady is lying in bed eating her breakfast. Near her are a cradle, a nurse with the baby, and a little girl. The wall is hung with portraits, and a clock and a painted screen are seen.

=Brakenburg's Malade Imaginaire and Interior.=--Richard Brakenburg (1650-1702), a pupil of Ostade, has a _Malade Imaginaire_, in which a young woman in blue rests languidly on her pillow, attended by a physician, who is feeling her pulse. A little dog plays by her side, and several persons are variously grouped and laughing. A parrot cage hangs from the ceiling. This picture is dated 1696. A different phase of life appears in his Interior, showing a large room full of peasants, including women and children. They are laughing at an owl on a perch, because a man dressed in a black satin doublet is giving it a piece of cake on the point of a knife. A bird-cage hangs from the ceiling.

=Bollongier's Carnival.=--Hans or Johan Bollongier, who lived in the middle of the seventeenth century, has a Carnival. A man and woman are dancing in a street, the former being dressed as a savage and carrying a club; an individual follows them with a "rommel pot." In the foreground we see a dog, and a man in a blue toga, holding a sword and an imperial globe in his hands. Behind these persons a house is visible, the doors and windows of which are filled with people. The picture is dated 1720.

=Jan Steen's Feast of St. Nicholas.=--Turning now to humorous pictures, Jan Steen affords two. The Feast of St. Nicholas differs slightly from the one in the Rijks, and represents the painter's family. On the right is seated a young woman in a white satin dress and a blue velvet jacket trimmed with white fur. She is holding out her hands to a little girl, whose arms are full of spiced bread and other dainties. On the left a boy is crying behind the table, on which is a shoe containing a switch, and near him a servant, a boy, and an elderly man are laughing at his distress. The last has a glass of wine in his hand. Behind the group is an old woman, who is showing a piece of silver to the poor little boy to console him for St. Nicholas's present.

=Another Humorous Picture by Jan Steen.=--Another picture which shows Jan Steen in his most humorous vein is The Operator, who is removing the stones from a man's head. In Holland in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to say that a man had "a stone in his head" was only the equivalent for saying that he was "cracked"; and "to extract the stone from one's brain" merely meant to cure him of his folly. The patient is seated in a surgeon's office, and the surgeon, who is behind him performing an imaginary operation, ostentatiously places some stones in a basin that an old woman is holding in the full view of the patient. On the left stands a boy with a basket full of stones, from which the surgeon supplies himself. The patient's arms are tightly bound with a rope of straw; a crow is pecking at his hand, and he is screaming with all his might. Some spectators at an open window are laughing heartily.

=A Similar Picture in the Style of Frans Hals.=--This may be compared with a picture of the school of Frans Hals, called The Quack Doctor. The doctor pretends to be cutting stones from the head of a man. To his cap is fastened a piece of parchment with Hebrew letters and three seals, and he wears spectacles. The patient is crying out; and a boy, dressed as a negro, stands in front with a basin full of stones. On the right is a table covered with a red cloth, upon which are scissors and other instruments, books, gourds, and a water bottle.

=Cuijp's Eater of Mussels.=--Aelbert Cuijp's Eater of Mussels has a double interest because the painter has represented himself here. The scene is laid in a forge, where the master is eating mussels from a plate that stands beside a glass of beer on a keg. Two little girls and a boy are watching him with great attention, and through an open window two gentlemen are peeping in from outside. One has a glass of wine in his hand, and the other is the artist himself, who is laughing heartily at the man devouring the mussels. In the foreground are seen a dog, a large jug, an anvil, some shells, an overturned basket of wood, a cat, and a hen. In the background are seen a blacksmith and many utensils.

=Two Bright Pictures by Van Stry.=--Abraham van Stry (1753-1826), a pupil of his father, the architectural painter, has an amusing Table Well Served. In a middle-class room a fat man is seated at a table, on which stand a fine roast and other dishes. He casts an approving glance upon a dish which a servant is just bringing in. Behind him another servant is pouring out some wine. This artist's Village Inn represents a peasant on a white horse. He is taking a glass of beer from the innkeeper's wife. A servant, a barking dog, a woman, and a boy are the other figures. The sunlight is very vivid.

=Some Characteristic Examples of the Early Netherlands School.=--The early Netherlands school is well represented by a few characteristic examples. Toost van der Beke, called "The Master of the Death of the Virgin Mary," may be studied by three pictures,--Saint Jerome in his Study, the Virgin Mary and the Infant Jesus, and Portrait of Joris van der Helde (who died in Ghent in 1569). Dierick, or Dirck, Bouts is represented by The Apostle Saint John, which was formerly attributed to Rogier van der Weijden. Saint John is seated in a landscape writing the first verse of his Gospel on a sheet of paper, and a devil is tormenting him.

"The Master of the Half-Length Female Figures," a Dutch painter who is supposed to have worked at Bruges between 1520 and 1540, and who is known only by his pictures of saints on altarpieces and young women playing musical instruments, may be studied here in pictures called Golgotha and Young Woman Playing on a Lute. The latter is dressed in the costume of 1540, and she is singing from a music-book the words:

"Si jayme mon amy
Trop, plus que mon mary,
Se n'est pas de mervelles."

Golgotha represents the Crucifixion. The Cross, bearing the livid figure of Christ, is in the foreground, and beside it stand the Virgin on the left and St. John on the right. The landscape is very fine, but is entirely Flemish in character, although soldiers are supposed to be returning to the distant Jerusalem. At the foot of the hills Flemish cottages are noticeable, and the sky is gradually darkened from the sun on the horizon, until it gets very black just above the Cross.

This may be compared with The Crucifixion of Christ of the Netherlands school, an altarpiece of the sixteenth century, formerly attributed to Bernard van Orley (died in Brussels in 1525). Like the former, it presents a green landscape with horsemen wending their way to the distant Jerusalem. The Virgin and St. John are kneeling at the foot of the Cross, and in the clouds are two female saints, God the Father, and the dove representing the Holy Ghost.

THE END

INDEX

[Names will be found indexed under the surname, not under the prefix thereto; as, Dijck, van, Heem, de.]

A

Aelst, Evert van, 58, 97, 98

Aelst, Willem van, 96-98, 250

Aertsen, Pieter, 132, 183, 184, 215

Alchemist, The (Wijck), 136

Allebe, 209

Allegory of the Vigilance of the Grand Pensionary (Asselijn), 155

Alma-Tadema, 205, 208

Amalia of Solms, 4, 122

Amateur Musicians (Metsu), 74, 75

Amsterdam, Old Bourse at, 241

Amsterdam, Town Hall at, 241

Anatomy pictures, 11, 115

Anatomy Pictures, Hall of, 114, 127

Anatomy (Rembrandt), 5, 9, 11-13

Antiochus to the Augur, Visit of (Moeyaert), 32

Apol, 205, 208, 238

Architectural pictures in the Boijmans, 241-243, 262

Architectural pictures in the Mauritshuis, 57, 58

Architectural pictures in the Rijks, 187-190

Arquebusiers of Amsterdam (Flinck), 126

Arquebusiers of St. Andrew (Hals), 213

Arrival at an Inn, 50, 51

Artists' portraits of themselves, 122, 140, 145

Artist's Studio (Ostade), 169

Artz, 207, 238

As, Pieter Jansz van, 235

Asselijn, Jan, 46, 146, 155

Ast, Balthasar van der, 98

Avenue of Ash-trees (Hackaert), 132

Avercamp (or Averkamp), H., 149, 244

B

Backer, Adriaen, 215, 260

Backhuysen (or Bakhuysen), L., 52, 55, 122, 149, 150

Bakhuijzen, J. J. van de Sande, 199, 205, 208, 209, 238

Balen, Hendrick van, 186, 204, 224, 246, 250

Balten, Peter, 172

Banning Cock Company, Sortie of the, 115, 116

Barentsz, Dirck, 127

Bas, Elizabeth, Portrait of (Rembrandt), 115, 118

Bassen, Bartholomew van, 57, 104, 172, 261

Batist, Karel, 159

Battle Picture, E. van de Velde, 221

Bavegom, Jan van, 103

Bear Hunt (Potter), 139

Beelt, Kornelis, 188

Beerstraten, A., 188, 233, 241

Beerstraten, Jan, 223, 224

Beest, Osias, 250

Beest, Sybrandt van, 240

Bega, Cornelis, 169, 170, 215

Begeyn, 6

Beijeren (or Beyeren), Abraham van, 6, 98, 157, 252

Beke, Toost van der, 271

Bent, Johannes van der, 220, 224

Berchem, N., 32, 35, 36, 40, 46, 146, 162, 184, 222, 224, 234

Berckheyde (or Berck-Heyde), Gerard (or Gerrit), 58, 188, 215, 216,
242

Berck-Heyde, J. A., 188

Berckheyde, Job, 216, 241

Berckman, Hendrik, 260

Berg, G. J. van den, 260

Berghen, Dirk van, 224

Bernarts, Nicasius, 152

Bertin, Nicholas, 184

Beyerex, Abraham van, 53

Biblical pictures in the Mauritshuis, 8, 32

Biblical pictures in the Rijks, 183-185

Bicker Collection, 113

Bicker's Company Captain (B. van der Helst), 125

Bijlert, J. van, 133, 134

Bilders, 207

Binnenhof, The, 3

Birds, pictures of, 8, 56, 89, 90, 153-162, 250, 254

Biset, C. E., 103, 138

Bisschop, Christoffel, 202, 203, 208, 243, 260

Blanc, quoted, 20, 21, 26, 27, 55, 56, 73, 75, 78, 87, 88, 89-91, 95,
96, 138, 151, 164, 165, 167, 168, 176, 177, 248, 249

Bleecker, G. C., 225

Bles, David, 208

Bloem, Matthys, 155

Bloemaert, Abraham, 30, 34, 37, 133, 143, 172

Bloemaert, Adriaen, 220

Bloemaert, Hendrick, 172

Blommers, B. J., 205, 207, 238

Bloot, Pieter de, 133

Bock, Theophile de, 208, 238

Bode, quoted, 14, 15, 18, 48

Boel, Pieter, 103, 152, 251

Boeyermans, Theodoor, 103

Bol, Ferdinand, 21-23, 126, 255, 260

Bol, Ferdinand, Portrait of, 122

Bolen, van, 102

Bollongier. _See_ Boulengier, Hans.

Boone, Daniel, 137

Boonen, Arnold, 82

Borman, J., 159

Borselen, van, 208

Borssom, A. van, 159

Bosboom, 208

Bosboom, Johannes, 188, 205, 242

Bosch (Hieronymus van Aeken), 184

Bosch, Jerome, 172

Bosch, L. J. van den, 156

Bosschaert, Ambrosius, 156

Bosse, Mevrouw Bilders van, 208

Both, Andreas (or Andries), 31, 34, 146

Both, Jan (or Johannes), 31, 34-36, 46, 145, 146, 220, 224, 233, 246

Boudwijns, N., 225

Boulengier (or Bollongier), Hans, 156, 157, 269

Bourdon, Sebastian, 184

Bourse, Esaias, 137

Bout, Pieter, 220, 225

Bouts, Dierick (or Dirck), 271

Braekeleer, F. der, 188

Brakenburgh (or Brakenburg), Richard, 169, 171, 268

Bramer, Leonard, 185

Brandt, Isabella, 100, 101

Brassauw, Mechior, 185

Breakfast, The (Metsu), 182

Bredael, Pieter van, 103

Bredius, quoted, 10, 18, 21, 42-44, 65, 68, 70, 71, 100, 154

Breenborch, B., 31

Breitner, G. H., 205, 207

Brekelenkam, Q. G., 166, 167

Breughel, Abraham, 251

Breughel, Jan ("Velvet"), 57, 153, 234

Breughel, Jan, the Elder, 36, 102, 184, 186, 190, 234

Breughel, Pieter, III., 104

Bril, Paul, 46

Brise, C., 157

Broeck, Elias van den, 157,252

Bronckhorst, Jan van, 223

Brouwer, Adriaen, 66, 68, 83, 85, 105, 119, 134, 135, 215

Bull (Paul Potter), 9, 10

Burgh, R. van der, 159

Burgher, quoted, 10, 14, 25-26, 37, 41, 101, 106, 126, 128, 129, 144,
154, 173-174, 175, 177, 180, 243

Burgomasters Deliberating with Regard to the Visit of Marie de Medici
(T. de Keijser), 19-21

Byler, Jan van, 227