920. ORPHEUS.

_Roelandt Savery_ (Dutch: 1576-1639).

Savery, a painter of Courtrai, was instructed by his brother

at Amsterdam. His works show the influence of Jan Breughel.

He visited France in the reign of Henry IV., by whom he was

employed in the royal palaces. He was subsequently invited to

Prague by the Emperor Rudolph II., in whose service he spent

several years.

A not very poetical rendering of the poetical legend of the power of

music:--

You shall perceive them make a mutual stand,

Their savage eyes turn'd to a modest gaze

By the sweet power of music: therefore the poet

Did feign that Orpheus drew trees, stones, and floods;

Since naught so stockish, hard, and full of rage,

But music for the time doth change his nature.

_Merchant of Venice_, Act v. Sc. 1.

A Popular Handbook to the National Gallery, Volume I, Foreign Schools Including by Special Permission Notes Collected from the Works of John Ruskin · 第 575 / 1401 题