The early history of the Flemish school has been already traced (pp.
38-41). The birth of its later period is almost exactly contemporaneous
with that which has been described in the case of the Dutch school.
In 1598 the Archduke Albert and his consort Isabel established what
was almost an independent State in the Spanish Netherlands (= roughly
Flanders, or the modern Belgium). The "Spanish Fury" was at an end, the
Inquisition was relaxed. Albert and Isabel eagerly welcomed artists
and men of letters, and the exuberant art of Rubens responded to the
call. This is the third and great period in the Flemish school--the
succession being carried on by Rubens's pupils, Van Dyck and Teniers.
Rubens, the greatest master of the Flemish School, was born in 1577
in Germany, but brought up at Antwerp, then the depository of western
commerce, and he coloured every subject that he touched with the same
hues of gay magnificence. It is by his pictures, and those of Van
Dyck, that this room is dominated, and it is unnecessary to anticipate
here the accounts of those masters given below (pp. 111, 130). They
were painters of the Courts. The works of Teniers complete the picture
of Flemish life and manners by taking us among the common people in
country fairs and village taverns.
[Illustration]