by Grant Allen
585. Above it, good family group of a donor and his sons, with St. George; and his wife and daughters, with St. Barbara. (The crucifixes mark monks and nuns.)
At the corner, 624, German school. St. Mary Magdalen and St. Thomas, on gold background. Companion piece to 624. At opposite end.
626. School of Martin Schongauer: Christ and the Magdalen in the house of the Pharisee. Very contorted. Compare with the Gossart.
Above it, 106, Flemish school. Mass of St. Gregory, with the Crucified Christ appearing on the altar. (Recall the Pourbus at Bruges.) A most unpleasant picture. Behind, are the elements of the Passion. L., the donors; R., Souls in Purgatory, relieved by masses. Many minor episodes occupy the area.
On either side of it, *27, 28, beautiful soft-toned German portraits (? by Beham) of two children, Maximilian II. and his sister Anne of Austria.
563. Lombard: Unimportant picture, meaninglessly described as Human Misfortunes. It seems to commemorate an escape from shipwreck and from plagues by the same person. L. panel: A ship sinking; a man saved on the shore. In the background, under divine direction of an angel, he finds his lost gold in a fish’s body. R. panel, He lies ill of plague, while above is seen the miracle of St. Gregory and the Angel of the Plague (Michael) sheathing his sword on the Castle of St. Angelo.
540. Virgin and Child. Attributed without much certainty to Petrus Christus.
535. Good unknown Flemish picture of the *Assumption of Our Lady (closely resembling No. 534, which see again). The empty tomb stands in the midst, with lilies; around, St. Peter and St. James, and the other apostles; above, Our Lady ascending, borne by a duplicated figure of Christ (one standing for the Holy Ghost), in an almond-shaped glory. R., Her Funeral, with St. Peter wearing the triple crown; L., St. Thomas receiving the girdle from an angel. Compare with 534, which Lafenestre judges to be the work of a different artist.
567. Good portrait attributed to Bernard Van Orley.
596. Six panels: Flemish School. Ornate, but not interesting. (1) The Lord creating Eve; in the background the Temptation. (2) Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac; in the background in three successive scenes, Abraham’s Sacrifice. (3) Noah and his Family with the Ark. (4) Esau asks the Blessing of Isaac. (5) Meeting of Jacob and Esau. Note the grotesquely urban conception of the Semitic nomads. (6) The Nativity.
559. Attributed to Van Orley. Pietà, with the usual group, and family of donors. Interesting as a work of transition.
Above it, 580. Triptych, with Descent from the Cross, Flemish school. Usual figures; identify them. On the wings, L., Agony in the Garden, Kiss of Judas, Peter and Malchus: R., The Resurrection. Noli Me Tangere, Disciples at Emmaus, etc.
107. P. Coecke, 16th century: A Last Supper. Only interesting as showing transition. Compare with Dierick Bouts.
Above it, 300. Patinier: Dead Christ on the knees of the Virgin (Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows), painfully emaciated. A sword pierces Our Lady’s breast (and will recur often). Around it, the rest of the Seven Sorrows. Note the landscape, characteristic of the painter.
12. (Old number; no new number.) Coninxloo: Joachim and Anna, with the rejected offering. From them, a genealogical tree bears the Madonna and Child. L. and R., the Angel appearing to Joachim, and Joachim and Anna at the Golden Gate. (Read up the legend.) Curious architectural setting.
301. Good portrait by an unknown (transitional) Fleming (Van Orley?), probably of a lawyer; the charters seem to indicate a secretary of Maximilian and Charles V.
The place of honour in the centre of the room is occupied by 299, a magnificent * *triptych by Quentin Matsys, one of the noblest works of the transitional school, strangely luminous, with very characteristic and curious colouring. It represents the favourite Flemish subject of the Family of St. Anne. (It was painted for the Confraternity of St. Anne at Louvain, and stood as an altar-piece in the church of St. Pierre.) Central panel: An arcade, in the middle arch of which appears St. Anne, in red and purple (throughout), offering grapes to the Divine Child, who holds a bullfinch, and is seated on the lap of Our Lady. R., Mary Salome, with her two sons James and John. L., Mary Cleophas, with her sons James the Less, Simon, Thaddæus, and Joseph the Just. Behind the parapet, beside St. Anne, her husband Joachim; and beside Mary Salome, her husband Zebedee. Beside Our Lady, her husband Joseph; beside Mary Cleophas, her husband Alphæus. Beautiful blue mountain landscape. L. panel: The angel appearing to Joachim, in a magnificent blue landscape. Joachim’s dress is constant. The angel’s robe is most delicious in colour. R. panel: The Death of St. Anne, with Our Lady and the other Maries in attendance. Behind, their husbands. The young Christ gives the benediction.
Now, go round to the back of the picture, to observe the outer wings. L., St. Joachim driven from the Temple by the High Priest R. (chronologically the first), Joachim and Anna (much younger), making their offerings (on marriage) to the High Priest in the Temple. (Same High Priest, younger; same dresses.) The portrait behind recalls the earlier Flemish manner; otherwise, the work is full of incipient transition to the Renaissance. Little episode of Joachim and Anna distributing alms in the background. (When the triptych is closed, this wing comes in its proper place as first of the series.)
191. Jan van Eyck: (attribution doubtful; probably a later artist, perhaps Gerard David): The Adoration of the Magi. Another good example of this favourite Flemish subject. In the foreground, the Madonna and Child: one of Van Eyck’s most pleasing faces (if his). Then, the Old King, kneeling; the Middle-aged King, half-kneeling; and the Young King, a Moor, with his gift, behind. (The Old King in such pictures has almost always deposited his gift.) In the background, Joseph, and the retinue of the Magi. Ruined temple, shed, ox, ass, etc., as usual.
291. Dierick Bouts: *Martyrdom of St. Sebastian. Characteristic peasant face; admirable cloak and background.
Now go into the next hall, marked
Room II.
on the plan. This contains mainly German and Flemish pictures of the transition.
Right of the door, 338. Very Raphaelesque Holy Family by Bernard Van Orley, showing in the highest degree the Italian influence on this originally quite Flemish painter.
Above it, 92 and 92A. Portraits of the Micaul family.
105. J. Joest: St. Anne enthroned, Joseph, Our Lady, the Infant. Early transitional.
193. Jean Gossaert, Adam and Eve. Good later Flemish nude.
50. J. Bosch: Appalling Flemish Temptation of St. Anthony, with perhaps the silliest and most grotesquely repulsive devils ever painted.
2. Aertsen: *The Dutch Cook. A famous picture, showing well the earlier stages of Dutch genre development.
217. Van Hemessen: Genre piece, absurdly given the name of The Prodigal Son, by a sort of prescription, but really a Flemish tavern scene of the sort which afterwards appealed to Dutch artists. A characteristic work: transitional, but with good humorous faces, especially to the right. Painters still thought all pictures must pretend to be sacred.
591. German Adoration of the Magi. A fragment only.
603. Herri met de Bles: The Temptation of St. Anthony. Figures and landscape show Italian influence.
336. Transitional Adoration of the Shepherds. Observe the growing Renaissance feeling and Italian influence.
247, 248. Excellent portraits by Adrien Key.
41. Lancelot Blondeel: St. Peter enthroned as Pope: in one of his usual extravagant architectural frameworks. In circles above, his Imprisonment and Crucifixion.
Close by, unnumbered, two excellent portraits.
81. P. Brueghel the Younger: absurdly called The Census at Bethlehem. In reality a Flemish winter scene.
318. Sir Anthony More: *Portrait of the Duke of Alva, with the firm lips and cruel eyes of the ruthless Spaniard. One understands him.
359. Good portrait by Pourbus of a plump and well-fed Flemish gentleman.
80. P. Brueghel the Younger: Described as the Massacre of the Innocents. Flemish winter. The beginning of genre painting.
Most of the pictures skied
above these are of some interest for comparison with earlier examples of the same subjects.
565. Unknown French portrait of Edward VI. of England. Hard and dry and of little artistic value.
566. Tolerable Flemish portrait of Guillaume de Croy (Golden Fleece).
573. Good Flemish portrait of a woman, dated 1504.
555. Flemish school: Annunciation. Chiefly interesting for its conventional features, and its very quaint figure of St. Mary of Egypt, with her three loaves, in the R. panel.
124b. (Old number; no new number given.) Unusual combined picture of St. Jerome, uniting the subjects usually known as St. Jerome in the Desert and St. Jerome in his Study.
622. Fine German portrait of the early 17th century.
316. Good strong portrait, by Sir Anthony More, of Hubert Goltzius.
123. Cranach the Elder (German 16th cent.): *Adam and Eve. Fine specimens of the later northern nude of the early Renaissance, interesting for comparison with the cruder realism of Van Eyck. As yet, however, even the figure of Eve has relatively little idealism or beauty. Excellent stag in the background.
361. A good Pourbus. Beyond the door, 536, Flemish school: (Hugo Van der Goes?). Donor, a lady in a nun’s dress (?), with her name-saint, St. Barbara, bearing her palm as a martyr: in the background, her tower with the three windows. To balance it, 536, Her brother (?) or husband, with his patron, St. James. (Staff and scallop-shell.)
Above, 84, Triptych by Jan Coninxloo of the History of St. Nicholas. (The wings are misplaced.) R. wing (it should be L.), St. Nicholas, three days old, stands up in his bath to thank God for having brought him into the world. Central panel, the young St. Nicholas enthroned as Bishop of Myra. L. wing (should be R.), The Death of St. Nicholas, with angels standing by to convey his soul to Heaven. A good transitional Flemish picture. Beneath, tolerable portraits.
361a. A late Flemish Virgin, with portrait of the donor and St. Francis receiving the stigmata.
572. Sir Anthony More. Portrait. Above it, 595, an Entombment, where note again the conventional grouping.
337. Wings of a triptych by Bernard van Orley. The centre is missing. L., Martyrdom of St. Matthias. R., The Doubting Thomas. In the background, Lazarus and Dives, and other episodes. Renaissance architecture.
4. Van Alsloot: The Procession of the Body of St. Gudula at Brussels: of the Spanish period, with the guilds named. Interest purely archæological. Each guild carries its mace and symbol. (The second part comes later.)
586. Above this, skied, are four good female saints, transitional, named on labels.
574. Portrait, of the school of Van Orley: lady with a pink, pleasing. Italian influence is obvious.
505. Portrait of a lady, by M. De Vos. Early 17th century, marking the latest transitional period. It belongs to a destroyed triptych.
79. Breughel the Elder: St. Michael the Archangel conquering the devils. A hideous nightmare of a morbid and disordered imagination.
627. Crucifixion, by an unknown German, with small figures of donors, and Rhine background.
597. German school. Tree of Jesse, of purely symbolical interest.
504. *Portrait by M. De Vos. Probably husband of (and pendant to) the previous one. It was the other wing of the same triptych.
5. Van Alsloot: Remainder of the Procession of St. Gudula, with a quaint dragon, and the Maison du Roi in the background. Observe, near the centre, the personification of the patron, St. Michael: elsewhere are St. Christopher, Ste. Gudule, etc.
561. Two panels from a triptych attributed to Van Orley. Centre, missing. L., The Birth of the Virgin. Note this for the conventional features: St. Anne in bed; attendant feeding her: bath for infant. In the background presentation of the Virgin in the Temple: Joachim and Anna below: the Virgin ascending: the High Priest welcoming her: the Virgins of the Lord by the side. R., Joachim’s offering rejected. In the background, the meeting of Joachim and Anna at the Golden Gate, and the angel foretelling the Birth of the Virgin. Compare this with the great Quentin Matsys, observing especially the money falling from the table.
76. Another example of a later Last Judgment.
584. Mostart: Two stories from the life of St. Benedict. (1) The miracle of his dinner. (2) As a youth, he mends by prayer the dish broken by his nurse. (See Mrs. Jameson’s Monastic Orders.)
Now pass through Room [VIII.], containing chiefly late Italian and French pictures (which neglect for the present) and go on into
Corridor A,
to the L., overlooking the Sculpture Gallery. This takes us at once into the Later Flemish school of Rubens and his followers, whose works fill all these large corridors, which are admirably adapted for them. Begin to the R. of the door. (Remember that I do not attempt criticism, but confine myself to historical indications.)
230. Jordaens: Fine landscape, with city to the right. As yet, however, landscape dare not stand entirely on its own merits. Therefore, we have here in the foreground figures of Eleazar and Rebecca at the well, which retain the tradition that pictures must have some sort of sacred purpose.
194a. Unknown. Interior of a picture-gallery, with well-known pictures.
L. of the door. 465. Van Thulden: Flemish Wedding Feast. Landscape is beginning to triumph now; it gets rid of all pretence of sacredness, but still retains small figures in the foreground. Landscape for landscape’s sake is hardly yet dreamed of.
135. De Crayer, one of the best imitators of Rubens: *Adoration of the Shepherds, in the master’s manner.
179a. Good Still Life by Fyt.
379. Rubens: * *Coronation of the Virgin by God the Father and the Son, the Holy Ghost hovering above in a glory. This altar-piece, for an altar of Our Lady, is a magnificent specimen of the master’s rich and luminous colouring. The crimson robe of the Christ, the blue and lilac harmony on the Madonna, and the faint yellow of the Father’s robe, are admirably contrasted. So are the darkness of the lower clouds and the luminosity of the upper region, recalling Titian’s famous Assumption at Venice. The little boy angels are sweet and characteristic. Here you may begin to appreciate the force, the dash, the lavish wealth of Rubens. (According to Rooses, however, the work of a pupil, touched up by the master.)
Then, unnumbered, Jordaens: *Susannah and the Elders: a very Flemish and matronly Susannah. The nude of Rubens, without the glorious touch of the master: but a good picture.
392. Study by the same for the ceiling in Whitehall.
386. Fine *portrait by Rubens of a fair man (J. C. de Cordes). “Inferior work.” (Fromentin.)
390. Rubens: * *Charming little Madonna and Child (called “Our Lady of the Forget-me-not”), in a garden of roses (the landscape by J. Brueghel). One of his best small pictures, in a careful style.
387. Rubens: *Portrait: Wife of the last: in his finest and richest portrait manner, which contrasts in many ways with his larger and freer allegorical style. (Fromentin thinks poorly of it.)
389. In the corner, four Fine *Heads of Negroes, a study for the Magi, by Rubens. Not caricatured, but full of genuine negro character.
Above it, 219. An Adoration of the Magi by Herreyns: Interesting only as showing the persistence of the school into the 18th century.
235. Jordaens: *An Allegory of Abundance. Studies from the nude in the style of the school: meritorious.
Pass the door of the Dutch school. Beyond it, more Still Life, excellently painted.
240. Next door, Jordaens: *Nymph and Satyr. (This corridor is largely given up to works by Jordaens, who was a Protestant, and preferred heathen mythological subjects to Catholic Christian ones.
434. Snyders: 17th century: *Still Life, which now begins to be painted on its own merits. This last is by the great animal painter of the Flemish school.
238. Jordaens: Very Flemish *family group, with a somewhat superfluous satyr. (Subject nominally taken from the fable of the Satyr and the Wayfarer.)
302. Vandermeulen: View of Tournai and landscape, with the siege by Louis XIV. introduced for the sake of figur
es in the foreground.
Above it, 240 (? old number). De Crayer: St. Anthony and St. Paul the Hermit. Interesting for persistence of the typical figures.
The other pictures in this corridor are, I think, self-explanatory.
Now enter
Room III.
Right hand, further corner from door, Still Life by Snyders.
100. Good portrait by Philippe de Champaigne.
387a. Splendid *portrait by Rubens (according to Rooses, by Van Dyck).
This room also contains several fine pictures by Teniers (father or son) and other late Flemish painters, deserving of attention, but needing no explanation. (Portraits, etc.) Do not imagine because I pass them by that you need not look at them.
Now enter
Corridor B.
L. of the door, good works by De Crayer and others.
166. Van Dyck (the greatest pupil of Rubens, leading us on to the later Dutch school). *St. Francis in ecstasy before the Crucifix. From the Franciscan Capuchin Church in Brussels.
288. P. Meert, good portraits.
165. Companion to 166. Another Franciscan picture by Van Dyck. *St. Anthony of Padua holding the Infant Jesus. (In neither is he seen to great advantage.)
In the centre, 378, Rubens: * *Assumption, high altar-piece from the Carmelite Church in Brussels. A fine picture, of Ruben’s early period, smooth of surface and relatively careful, with the apostles looking into the empty tomb, whence women are picking roses (See Legends of the Madonna). To the R., the youthful figure of St. Thomas, stretching his hands. Observe the fine contrast of colour between the lower and upper portions. This is a noble specimen of the master’s bold and dramatic treatment, but without his later ease of execution.
503. *Good portraits, by C. De Vos, of himself and his family.
127. De Crayer: St. Anthony, with his pig and staff, and St. Paul the Hermit, in his robe of palm-leaves, fed by a raven. In the background, the Death of St. Paul; two lions dig his grave. R., below, late figure of donor, seldom so introduced at this period. Jay in the background. Good landscape.
