_Van Dyck_ (Flemish: 1599-1641). _See 49._
That Van Dyck was at a very early age a portrait-painter of rare merit
may be seen, from this likeness of himself while still quite young and
beardless. In the Wallace Collection there is another early portrait of
himself, in the character of Paris. Our picture is the portrait of an
artist and a man of refinement. Notice especially the long, tapering
fingers--delicate almost to the point of feminineness. They are very
characteristic of Van Dyck's work, who, indeed, drew all his hands
from one model: the same delicate fingers may be seen in the so-called
"portrait of Rubens" (49). In giving this delicacy to all sitters Van
Dyck fell no doubt into mannerism; in giving it to great artists such
as himself he was entirely right. Palmistry assigns fine, tapering
fingers to "artistic temperament," and rightly, for fine fingers are
necessary for fine work. "The art of painting, properly so called,
consists in laying on the least possible colour that will produce the
required result; and this measurement, in all the ultimate--that is to
say the principal--operations of colouring, is so delicate that not
one human hand in a million has the required lightness" (_Two Paths_,
Appendix iv., where much interesting matter on this subject will be
found).