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THE STANDARD GALLERIES
HOLLAND
[Illustration: JAN VERMEER
View of Delft]
THE STANDARD GALLERIES
HOLLAND
BY
ESTHER SINGLETON
_Author of "Dutch and Flemish Furniture," "Great Pictures
Described by Great Writers," etc., etc._
WITH FORTY-SIX ILLUSTRATIONS
[Illustration: A. C. McClurg & Co Logo]
CHICAGO
A. C. MCCLURG & CO.
1908
COPYRIGHT
A. C. MCCLURG & CO.
1908
Entered at Stationers' Hall, London, England
_All rights reserved_
Published October 10, 1908
THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A.
_Preface_
When a tourist who, having mapped out his itinerary in accordance with
the time at his disposal for a European trip, arrives at a city for
seeing which he has allowed two or three days at the utmost, the first
question he puts to a fellow traveller, the hotel clerk, or his Baedeker
is, "What must I see?"
First, there is the city itself: its streets, bridges, canals, parks,
and drives. Then there are famous churches, city halls, and other
ancient buildings, including city gates and castles in the immediate
neighborhood. Perhaps there is a palace, and most certainly one or more
museums of art and antiquities. The tourist gazes his fill on
architecture, stone and wood carving, exterior and interior; but above
all he feels that he must make the best use of his opportunities of
seeing the pictures, the fame of which has spread into all civilized
countries. His time is short. He is therefore grateful for a guide that
will direct him to the beauties and celebrities of the famous local
picture-gallery, and point out to him the qualities of the paintings as
well as tell him something of the art of the masters and of the school
to which they belong. It is important first for him to know what he
should see, and secondly what he should see in it beyond the bare facts
he can gather from the catalogue.
On returning home with a few photographs of the canvases that have
struck his fancy, he is also pleased to renew his acquaintance with the
gallery in the pages of a modest work that does not go too deeply into
art questions beyond the grasp of the ordinary layman. Such a guide and
companion this book aims to be; it leads the tourist rapidly through the
most important picture-galleries of Holland, and points out the pictures
that all the world talks about; and gives some account of the Dutch
masters, their qualities and characteristics as exemplified in their
works, there and elsewhere. It does not pretend to be exhaustive, and
confines itself almost exclusively to the consideration of the examples
of native schools.
On going through a gallery the visitor, in accordance with his
individual tastes, will frequently be halted by a picture whose fame has
not reached him, but whose beauty appeals to him quite as much as the
celebrities with which he is familiar from numberless reproductions,
such as Potter's Bull, Rembrandt's Night Watch, or Snyder's Boar Hunt.
The traveller is tempted to linger over the little pictures of the
Little Masters, the charming interiors, marines, landscapes, and still
life of the galaxy of painters of the seventeenth century. It is for
this reason, therefore, that for illustrating the following pages I have
selected many of the less familiar examples of the art of that period.
Sir Joshua Reynolds, who was a sound art critic as well as a great
painter--an unusual combination of qualities--described with fine
appreciation the pleasure derived from the contemplation of the works of
the Dutch school. He says:
"The most considerable of the Dutch school are Rembrandt, Teniers, Jan
Steen, Ostade, Brouwer, Gerard Dow, Mieris, Metsu, and Terburg,--these
excel in small conversations. For landscapes and cattle, Wouvermans,
P. Potter, Berchem, and Ruysdael; and for buildings, Venderheyden. For
sea-views, W. Vandervelde, jun., and Backhuysen. For dead game, Weenix
and Hondekoeter. For flowers, De Heem, Vanhuysum, Rachael Roos, and
Brueghel. These make the bulk of the Dutch school.
"I consider those painters as belonging to this school, who painted
only small conversations, landscapes, etc. Though some of these were
born in Flanders, their works are principally found in Holland--and to
separate them from the Flemish school, which generally painted figures
large as life, it appears to me more reasonable to class them with the
Dutch painters, and to distinguish those two schools rather by their
style and manner, than by the place where the artist happened to be
born.
"Rembrandt may be considered as belonging to both or either, as he
painted both large and small pictures.
"A clearness and brilliancy of coloring may be learned by examining
the flower-pieces of De Heem, Huysum, and Mignon; and a short time
employed in painting flowers would make no improper part of a
painter's study. Rubens's pictures strongly remind one of a nosegay of
flowers, where all the colors are bright, clear, and transparent.
"A market woman with a hare in her hand, a man blowing a trumpet, or a
boy blowing bubbles, a view of the inside or outside of a church, are
the subjects of some of their most valuable pictures; but there is
still entertainment, even in such pictures--however uninteresting
their subjects, there is some pleasure in the contemplation of the
imitation. But to a painter they afford likewise instruction in his
profession; here he may learn the art of coloring and composition, a
skilful management of light and shade, and indeed all the mechanical
parts of the art, as well as in any other school whatever.
"The same skill which is practised by Rubens and Titian in their large
works, is here exhibited, though on a smaller scale. Painters should
go to the Dutch school to learn the art of painting as they would go
to a grammar school to learn languages. They must go to Italy to learn
the higher branches of knowledge."
In attempting to be of some service to the art lover who has no leisure
for extended and independent study, I have by no means relied entirely
upon my own impressions and observation.
In describing the pictures, I have drawn largely on the writings of the
best English, French, German, and Dutch art critics and
historians,--Crowe, Reynolds, Blanc, Burger, Havard, Fromentin, Michel,
Mainz, Wurtz, Bode, Bredius, and many others.
When so many authorities disagree with one another in the spelling of
the names of the Dutch artists, I have endeavored to avoid all criticism
by adopting the spelling used in the official catalogues of The Hague,
Amsterdam, and Rotterdam galleries; and in a few instances these are not
agreed.
For valuable aid in compiling this work, my thanks are due to Mr. Arthur
Shadwell Martin.
E. S.
NEW YORK, August 1, 1908.
_Galleries Included_
PAGE
THE HAGUE GALLERY 1
THE RIJKS MUSEUM 109
THE STEDELIJK MUSEUM 193
THE TOWN HALL, HAARLEM 211
THE BOIJMANS MUSEUM, ROTTERDAM 217
_Illustrations_
THE HAGUE GALLERY
PAGE
Vermeer, View of Delft _Frontispiece_
Paul Potter, _Vache qui se mire_ 10
Rembrandt, Portrait of Himself as Officer 14
Rembrandt, Homer 16
F. Bol, Admiral de Ruyter 24
Moeyaert, The Visit of Antiochus to the Augur 32
Ruisdael, Distant View of Haarlem 40
A. van de Velde, A Dutch Roadstead 48
P. Wouwermans, The Hay Wain 50
P. Wouwermans, The Arrival at the Inn 52
Dou, The Good Housekeeper 60
Ostade, The Fiddler 66
Ter Borch, The Despatch 70
Metsu, The Amateur Musicians 74
Rubens, Helena Fourment 100
THE RIJKS MUSEUM
Moreelse, The Little Princess 118
Mierevelt, Prince Maurits of Nassau 120
Van der Helst, Company of Captain R. Bicker 126
Hobbema, The Water Mill 130
Hackaert, Avenue of Ash-trees 132
Maes, The Spinner 136
Cuijp, Fight between a Turkey and a Cock 140
Cuijp, Shepherds with their Flocks 142
Jan van Goyen, View of Dordrecht 144
W. van de Velde, The Ij, or Y, at Amsterdam 150
F. Snyders, Dead Game and Vegetables 152
M. d'Hondecoeter, The Floating Feather 154
Asselijn, The Swan 156
A. de Vois, Lady and Parrot 164
F. van Mieris, The Grocer's Shop 172
P. de Hooch, The Country House 176
Jan Steen, The Parrot Cage 178
Jan Steen, The Happy Family 180
Jan Steen, Eve of St. Nicholas 182
THE STEDELIJK MUSEUM, THE TOWN HALL, HAARLEM AND THE BOIJMANS MUSEUM
Mauve, Sheep on the Dunes 196
Israels, Fisherman's Children 198
Roelofs, Marshy Landscape 200
A. Neuhuys, By the Cradle 202
Mesdag, Sunrise on the Dutch Coast 204
Israels, Old Jewish Peddler 206
J. Maris, Two Windmills 208
Frans Hals, Reunion of the Arquebusiers of St. Andrew. 214
Bisschop, Winter in Friesland 226
Mauve, Cows in a Shady Nook 236
Klinkenberg, View of the Vijver at The Hague 246
Jongkind, View of Overschie in Moonlight 256
The Standard Galleries
of Holland
THE HAGUE GALLERY
THE OLD MAURITSHUIS
Not far from the Binnenhof, on the Vijver, where the principal historic
buildings of The Hague are grouped, stands the Mauritshuis, now the home
of one of the most famous collections of paintings in Europe. Originally
it was the palace of Prince John Maurice of Nassau, Governor of Brazil,
who, on his return to his fatherland in the year 1644, found it
completed and took up his residence there.
This splendor-loving prince had had this building erected to please his
own tastes by the court architect of The Hague, Pieter Post, after the
plans of Jacob van Campen, the designer of the Dam Palace in Amsterdam
and other buildings; and for the decoration of the interior he had sent
rare and costly woods from Brazil. Everything was heavily gilded and
painted; and, in particular, a very artistic staircase attracted
universal admiration. Brazilian landscapes painted by Frans Post, richly
carved chimney-pieces, and exotic objects of every kind adorned the
halls; but, alas! in 1704 all this magnificence was destroyed by a fire,
and only the walls of the palace remain.
=The Restored Building made into an Art Gallery.=--The exterior of the
building was restored just as it was originally; but the interior was
finished in a much simpler style that does not in the least suggest the
splendor of the past.
It was not until the year 1820 that the Mauritshuis was devoted by royal
decree to its present use,--the sheltering of the royal picture
collection, which was at that time combined with the Cabinet of
Rarities, now in the Rijks Museum in Amsterdam.
=History of the Collection.=--The collection has an interesting history
as a whole; and the majority of the pictures have their own special
history. The nucleus of the gallery formed the collection of the last
Stadtholder of the Netherlands, William V. of Orange.
The Princes of Orange were art-collectors as early as the beginning of
the sixteenth century. Although we do not know much regarding the art
tastes of Prince Maurice of Orange, who died in 1625, yet we learn from
a document that he employed Esais van de Velde as a court painter. On
the other hand, we do know that his brother, Prince Frederick Hendrik,
was a collector of fine taste and a Maecenas. He employed a great number
of important artists, among whom were Rembrandt, Honthorst, Dirck
Bleker, Cornelis Vroom, Christiaen Couwenberch, Cornelisz Jacobsz Delff,
Thomas Willeborts, Moses van Uyttenbrouck, Jacob Backer, Gonzales
Coques, Frans Pietersz de Grebber, Dirck Dalens, Gerrit van Santen,
Adriaen Hanneman, Nicholaes de Helt Stocade, and Dirck van der Lisse.
Besides works by these artists, he acquired in Antwerp pictures by
Rubens, Paulus de Vos, Adriaen van Utrecht, and others. To the Jesuit
Father Soghers he even gave a golden palette made in The Hague by the
goldsmith Hans Coenraet Brechtel. No wonder that his widow, Princess
Amalia of Solms, following the ideas of her dead husband, employed
Jordaens, Van Thulden, De Grebber, Casar van Everdingen, Honthorst,
Lievens, Solomon de Bray, Pieter Soutman, and Cornelis Brise to decorate
the House in the Wood.
At her death in 1675, she left a collection of two hundred and fifty
pieces, which were divided among her four daughters. Some of these
pictures are now in Dessau and Moscow, and others in Prussian castles.
William III., who gained the English throne, had a fine picture-gallery,
of which the portrait-painter, Robert Duval was the director. The
greater part of this collection was sold in Amsterdam in 1713; but a few
of these pictures are still in The Hague Gallery. The latter, however,
owes its importance and distinction to the collection of William V.
=The Collection of William V. of Orange.=--This prince purchased his
treasures at the best auctions of the day, such as the Lomier, De la
Court, Braamcamp, and Slingerlandt collections. A German painter,
Tethardt Philip Christian Haag, was made the director of this gallery,
which was established in the Buitenhof. When the French entered The
Hague in 1795 these pictures were carried to Paris by the troops and
placed in the Louvre. When Napoleon's lucky star set, the French had the
grace to return the pictures that they had carried away as spoils from
various countries; and on November 20, 1815, the one hundred and ten
pictures belonging to the prince's collection were returned to The Hague
amid the ringing of bells, firing of cannon, and rejoicing of the
people. Although a certain number remained in France, the chief gems
were restored undamaged.
=Growth of The Hague Gallery.=--In 1817 the gallery contained only one
hundred and twenty-three pictures. Gradually others were purchased; for
example, in 1829, King William I. bought Rembrandt's Anatomy for 3200
gulden. Very few purchases were made from 1831 to 1874; but during the
reign of the art-loving William III. the gallery was greatly augmented
by both purchase and gift. The growth of the collection is principally
the result of the great generosity of the Baron Victor de Stuers, who in
1874 issued an admirable catalogue (revised ed., 1895).
=The Cabinet Pieces.=--The nucleus of this collection, originally a
"princely cabinet," consists of the cabinet pieces. Therefore we find
here pictures (that were highly valued in their day) by Poelenburgh,
Dou, Van Mieris, De Vois, Schalcken, Netscher, Van der Werff, P. van
Dyck, Ostade, Jan Steen, Ter Borch, and Metsu. There were also four
Rembrandts, two De Keijsers, three Potters, the beautiful Moro, and
examples by Adriaen and Willem van de Velde. The modern additions,
generally speaking, do not equal in interest the original collection.
The most important are two portraits by Hals; a triptych, by Jacob
Cornelisz van Ootsanen, a bequest; an Aert de Gelder, a gift,
unfortunately much restored and spoilt by Houbraken; a signed still
life, by Jan van Huysum; a portrait by Bol; a broad and spirited Begeyn;
a Dusart; a strong, dark, and somewhat sunken view of The Hague by Jacob
van Ruisdael; a beautiful Van Goyen; a head by Vermeer of Delft; a
landscape by G. du Bois; a wonderful flower-piece by Abraham van
Beyeren; several still-life pictures; and some portraits, among the
latter Moreelse's portrait of himself.
=Sir Joshua Reynolds's Visit to the Gallery.=--Sir Joshua Reynolds left
an account of his visit to the Prince of Orange's Gallery in 1781; and
among the pictures that he especially admired are those that critics
unite in extolling to-day. He calls attention to the Wouwermans, two Van
de Veldes, the portraits of Rubens's two wives, Rembrandt's Portrait of
a Young Man, a Conversation by Ter Borch (The Despatch it is now
called), Van Dijck's Portrait of Simons the Painter, Teniers's Kitchen,
two Ostades, a landscape by Rubens, Paul Potter's _Vache qui se mire_,
the Inside of a Delft Church, by Hoogest (Houckgeest), Fruit, by De
Heem, "done with the utmost perfection"; a Woman with a Candle, by
Gerard Dow; a Woman writing, looking up and speaking to Another Woman,
by Metsu; a picture of Dutch Gallantry by Mieris,--"a man pinching the
ear of a dog which lies on his mistress's lap"; a Boy blowing Bubbles,
also by Mieris, and The Flight into Egypt, by Van der Werff,--"one of
his best."
=The Vijver Lake.=--But while we have been talking of the past history
of the Mauritshuis and its treasures, we have failed to notice the
Vijver, a pretty lake bordered with trees and dotted with islands, the
haunt of swans and other waterfowl--descendants, perhaps, of
Hondecoeter's and Weenix's models--that float upon its glassy surface,
and cut through those quiet reflections of the long line of picturesque
buildings, including the Mauritshuis. The long quay on the other side is
the favorite and fashionable promenade of The Hague. We must note the
Vijver, because it has been an attractive subject for Dutch painters of
all periods; and the traveller will frequently see representations of
it. One of the most recent is Klinkenberg's View of the Vijver at The
Hague, which was presented to Boijman's Museum in 1876, by the Rotterdam
Society for Promoting Art. The Mauritshuis is represented on the right.
And now, having looked at this building from across the Vijver, we will
pass to the entrance.
=Paucity of Foreign Pictures in Dutch Galleries.=--The Dutch galleries
differ from many other great European galleries, such as the National
Gallery, the Louvre, the Hermitage, and the big German galleries, by
being devoted almost exclusively to works of the Dutch and Flemish
masters. Pictures of foreign schools are insignificant in number and of
very slight importance. The foreign pictures in the Mauritshuis can be
dismissed in a few words.
=Italian Pictures in the Mauritshuis.=--The Italian pictures include:
Holy Family, by Fra Bartolommeo; Holy Family, by P. Berettini; Christ
Blessing, by P. Bordone; Adoration of Magi, by C. Caliari; Virgin and
Child, and Birth of Virgin, by L. Cambiaso; Temptation of Adam and
Eve, by C. Cignani; Virgin, Child, and Saints, by M. Fogolino;
Massacre of Innocents, by L. Mazzolini; Holy Family, by F. Santafede;
Madonna, by G. B. Sassoferrato; Annunciation, by F. Solimena; Holy
Family, and two Portraits, by Titian; Venus, Mistress of the World, by
A. Turchi; an Italian Landscape, by F. Zuccherelli; Cupid (poor copy),
by Guido Reni; Venus and Cupid (copy), by Raphael; two Male Portraits,
by Piero de Cosimo; Female Portrait, by G. Palma; Female Portrait, by
A. Allori; Landscape, by F. Lauri; two Landscapes with Pilgrims, Monks
in a Grotto and Capuchins in a Grotto, by A. Magnasco; two Ruins, by
L. Carlevaris; and Prometheus and Sisyphus, by L. Giordano.
Of unknown Italian artists of the sixteenth century, the subjects are:
God the Father and Holy Spirit, Landscape with Mary Magdalen,
Landscape with St. Paul and the Hermit, Death of Abel, Venus, Dalilah,
St. John the Evangelist, Ecce Homo, Martyrdom of St. Sebastian, and
The Musicians.
=Other Foreign Pictures in the Mauritshuis.=--France is represented only
by a portrait by J. A. Aved, A Group of Merchants by S. Bourdon, and two
ideal landscapes by C. Vernet. The Spanish school is represented by a
portrait by Velasquez, a Virgin and Child by Murillo, a Magdalen by M.
Cereso, and a landscape and a portrait by unknown artists. The German
artists are scarcely more numerous. There are two portraits by Holbein
and three others of his school, three portraits by B. Beham, an Italian
landscape by J. H. Roos, three portraits by J. F. A. Tischbein, and four
Biblical and one mythological pictures by H. Rottenhamer. The subjects
of these are: The Meeting of David and Abigail, St. Philip Baptizing the
Eunuch, The Rest in Egypt, Christ Delivering Souls from Purgatory, and
The Fall of Phaeton. The meagre list of foreign works also includes two
portraits by the Danish artist, J. G. Ziesenis.
=Strength and Weakness of the Gallery.=--The strength of The Hague
Gallery lies mainly in its portraits, either single or in groups. Of
these there are considerably more than a hundred; of _genre_ pictures
there are about seventy, and of landscape more than sixty. There are
nearly fifty Biblical and religious subjects, and more than thirty taken
from pagan mythology. The Gallery is weak in historical pictures, of
which there are only seventeen. Only seven canvases represent the great
marine painters; and the pictures of birds, flowers and fruits, and
still life are comparatively few.
The student naturally turns first to the great pictures that have a
world-wide reputation. The two most famous are undoubtedly Paul
Potter's Bull and Rembrandt's Lesson in Anatomy.
=Paul Potter's Bull.=--The picture represents an enormous black and
white bull standing on a hillock beneath two trees. Beneath the trees
lie a cow, a sheep, and a lamb, and behind the trunks stand a ram and a
shepherd. An immense meadow, on which cattle are grazing, stretches away
to the dim horizon, where the buildings of a town are barely visible. In
the broad expanse of sky a bird soars with outspread wings. The bull is
proud and defiant, with silky hide and loose dewlap, and stands with
firmly planted feet. His eye is savage. This picture has been the
subject of much criticism: the figures of the man, the sheep, and the
lamb have been condemned by most critics, while the ram's horns have
been called "a splendid piece of sculpture," and the head of the cow
"the gem of the whole work." The face of the cow is marvellous. The
eyes, and the wet and dripping nose and mouth, rivet the spectator's
gaze. He fancies he smells the grass-laden breath of the animal, and
sees her jaw begin to move as she chews the cud. "No painter ever
concentrated so much life and truthful expression in the face of a
ruminant," remarks a critic. Strange, then, that the fawn-colored body
and crumpled leg are hard and wooden.
The Bull was painted in 1647, when Paul Potter was but twenty-two years
of age, and was living in Amsterdam and Haarlem. The picture was
purchased in 1749 for 630 florins, and in 1795 was carried by the French
to Paris and placed in the Louvre, where it was ranked as the fourth
most valuable painting,--the others being Raphael's Transfiguration,
Domenichino's Communion of St. Jerome, and Titian's Martyrdom of St.
Peter. The Dutch government offered 60,000 florins to Napoleon for its
restoration.
=The Mirrored Cow.=--A more beautiful picture, and greatly preferred by
most critics to the Bull, is the Mirrored Cow, known generally by the
French title, _La Vache qui se mire_. This was painted in 1648, and
represents a beautiful landscape on a hot summer day. The meadows are
flooded with sunshine; a limpid pool on the border of a forest is shown
in the foreground, where cows, goats, and sheep are lying or standing
under the shade of the trees. Two cows and a sheep stand in the water
and are reflected there; one cow is drinking, and the other has her back
to the spectator and is idly standing in the mud. Boys and men are
swimming or playing on the banks, and two have evidently finished their
bath. On the right is a farmhouse with some cows. One of these an old
woman is milking, and a man stands by with his arm over the cow's back.
In the middle distance a coach and six horses with lackeys is seen, and
in the background the spires and towers of Rijswick are basking in the
sunlight. The castle of Binkhorst is visible, and Delft lies on the
horizon.
[Illustration: PAUL POTTER
La Vache qui se mire]
=Criticism of these two Pictures.=--Burger very wittily said that _La
Vache qui se mire_ was a _chef d'oeuvre_, and not a _hors d'oeuvre_,
like the Bull. And Sir Joshua Reynolds noted: "Cattle finely painted by
Potter, remarkable for the strong reflection of one of them in the
water: dated 1648." "How bright, how sunny is this landscape!" exclaims
Dr. Bredius. "How splendidly are all these animals drawn and modelled!
The whole composition is beautiful and full of charm." It is painted in
the small size which Potter usually preferred, and is one of his
greatest creations.
=Other Pictures by Potter, his Father, and Van der Helst.=--The third
picture by Potter, painted four years later, is also ranked among his
best works. Like the two others it represents cattle in a meadow.
A portrait of Paul Potter by Van der Helst, painted shortly before his
death (January 27, 1654), hangs near his masterpieces. It is the only
work by which Van der Helst is represented in The Hague Gallery.
A picture by Paul Potter's father, Pieter Symonsz Potter, Shepherds with
their Troops, signed and dated 1638, is owned by the Mauritshuis, but a
better work is his Straw-Cutter in the Rijks.
=Rembrandt.=--The Hague Gallery is particularly rich in works by
Rembrandt (1606-69). The Rijks Museum is the place to study the great
productions of his middle and last periods; but The Hague Gallery is
strong in works of his first period, owning no less than five painted
during the first ten years of his career.
=The Anatomy Lesson.=--First, let us look at the most important work of
Rembrandt in this gallery, The Anatomy Lesson by Dr. Tulp (1632), which
made Rembrandt the most sought-after painter of his time.
Rembrandt was barely settled in Amsterdam and had painted only a few
pictures there when the famous Amsterdam surgeon, Dr. Nicholaes Tulp,
gave him the order to represent him with his students at an operation
for the Amsterdam Guild of Surgeons, to be hung on the walls of their
dissecting room with other works of a similar nature, such as the great
anatomy pictures by Aert Pietersz (1603), by Thomas de Keijser (1618),
by Claes Elias (1625), two by Mierevelt (1617), and one by Vosmaer.
Rembrandt's work overshadowed them all. There is a resemblance to
Vosmaer's picture and also to that of De Keijser too striking to be
accidental; but Rembrandt's work shows the master's genius in the style,
the arrangement of the figures, and the illumination. Bode says:
"Instead of an accidental arrangement of single persons, a masterly
rounded-out composition has been created, in the happiest way, and at
the most important moment, when at a point in the lecture to the
learned anatomists the interest is concentrated on the body. The
circumstances and the way it is painted deprive the picture of all
disgust. In contrast with his predecessors, Rembrandt has painted his
doctors, not as if they were having their photographs taken and gazing
at the spectator, but in the most natural way--some looking at the
body and some at the lecturing Dr. Tulp, Tulp himself quiet, and
explaining his subject with the greatest authority. The body is
painted in a masterly manner and the portraits are beyond all praise."
=Physicians portrayed in the Anatomy Lesson.=--On a paper held by
Hartman Harmansz, the names of the physicians are inscribed: his own;
Matthijs Kalkoen, who is leaning forward; Jakob de Wit, almost in
profile, with extended neck, looking with extreme attention, with his
collar almost touching the head of the corpse; below him, Jakob Blok,
with fixed glance and furrowed brow; above Blok, Frans van Loenen, the
only one present not a Master of the Guild; and, finally, lower down in
the foreground, Adriaan Slabbraan, with his back turned to the
spectator, but his head in profile; and Jakob Koolveld, entirely in
profile, the last on the left. All are bareheaded, robed in black with
plated ruffs, with the exception of Harmansz, who wears an old-fashioned
ruff.
This work remained in the Surgeons' Hall in Amsterdam until 1828, when
King William I. bought it for 32,000 florins.
Sir Joshua Reynolds saw it in Amsterdam in 1781, and thus described it:
"To avoid making it an object disagreeable to look at, the figure is
but just cut at the wrist. There are seven other portraits colored
like nature itself, fresh and highly finished. One of the figures
behind has a paper in his hand, on which are written the names of the
rest; Rembrandt has also added his own name with the date, 1672. The
dead body is perfectly well drawn (a little foreshortened), and seems
to have been just washed. Nothing can be more truly the color of dead
flesh. The legs and feet, which are nearest the eye, are in shadow;
the principal light, which is on the body, is by that means preserved
of a compact form. All these figures are dressed in black.
"Above stairs is another Rembrandt of the same kind of subject;
Professor Deeman[1] standing by a dead body, which is so much
foreshortened that the hands and the feet almost touch each other; the
dead man lies on his back with his feet toward the spectator. There
is something sublime in the character of the head, which reminds one
of Michael Angelo; the whole is finely painted, the coloring much like
Titian."
=Rembrandt's first Important Work.=--Critics are uncertain as to whether
the Presentation in the Temple, also called Simeon in the Temple, was
painted in Leyden or in Amsterdam, to which city Rembrandt removed in
1631, the date of this picture; but all agree that it is his first
important work, far exceeding in certainty of composition and treatment
the Simeon of 1628, Peter's Denial of 1628, and the Good Samaritan of
1631.
In the centre of a temple whose roof is supported by gigantic columns,
the Virgin and St. Joseph make their offering and present the newborn
child, who is in the arms of Simeon, to the Lord. They gaze tenderly at
the infant. In front of the group stands the High Priest in a long
violet robe, holding up his hands in ecstasy. The light is focussed on
the faces of Mary, Simeon, and Jesus, and falls on the High Priest's
back and hand. Behind the Virgin, who is dressed in light blue, are two
rabbis; and in the background in the nave are several groups almost
imperceptible in the shadows; and to the right in the chiaroscuro are a
number of persons ascending and descending a flight of steps, at the top
of which stands a priest. In the foreground on the right two old men are
sitting on a bench, the arm of which bears the monogram "R. H.," and the
date 1631. It is supposed that Rembrandt's sister was the model for
Mary. Emile Michel says:
"The simple garb of the Virgin and St. Joseph and the squalor of the
two beggars beside them emphasize the splendor of the High Priest and
of Simeon, whose heavy cymar seems to be woven of gems and gold. The
execution is a miracle of subtlety and skill. Note how supreme a
colorist has been at work on the High Priest's cope! With what science
is the violet carried through the lights and shadows, and with what
truth are the tones observed and rendered, with what scrupulous care
is the general harmony preserved in spite of the marvellous treatment
of detail!"
Of this picture, so particularly remarkable for its artistic treatment
and composition, Bode exclaims:
"How appropriately are the groups in the halls of the high fantastic
vaults distributed! How masterly is the chief group in the middle
distance! How complete in drawing and action is every single figure,
though so minute! How powerfully is the light sprinkled over the chief
figures before it slowly melts away into the mystic darkness of the
broad nave whereby that peculiar mood of reverence--the holy calm of
the place--results as the most happy effect of handling."
=Lights and Coloring of the Picture.=--Notwithstanding their smallness,
the figures are most completely and expressively treated, so that in the
half-lights the background shimmers here and there. The coloring equals
that of the other pictures of this period; in the lights, greenish brown
tones come to the aid of the local colors--blue, violet, and, very
seldom, yellow (next to gray and brown, which are used only in a very
modest way).
William de Poorter made a striking copy of this picture, which hangs in
the Dresden Gallery.
=Susanna.=--The chief beauty of Susanna, which bears the signature "R.
f. 1637," lies in the brilliant, warm coloring which bestows a rich
effect on the somewhat ugly form of the crouching heroine. Bode, like
Burger before him, thinks that he recognizes in the little head the
likeness of Rembrandt's wife, Saskia. The flesh is wonderfully painted,
the figure lifts itself splendidly out from the dark but transparent
background. Moreover, the modelling of the body leaves nothing to be
desired.
Susanna is represented as about to step into the bath and is alarmed by
the presence of the two Elders, one of whom is seen lurking in the
shrubbery. Burger notes:
"Placed by the side of the School of Anatomy and the Simeon, the
merits of this work are too often overlooked. Yet Susanna, strongly
relieved against a dark background, is one of the most interesting
female figures ever painted by Rembrandt, being remarkably faithful to
nature, though not of classic beauty."
Of this picture Sir Joshua Reynolds remarks, and many will agree with
him:
"It appears very extraordinary that Rembrandt should have taken so
much pains and have made at last so very ugly and ill-favored a
figure; but his attention was principally directed to the coloring and
effect, in which it must be acknowledged he has attained the highest
degree of excellence."
=Portraits of Rembrandt and Others.=--The portraits are of Rembrandt,
aged about twenty-two, painted about 1629; one of his mother, about
1628; one of a young woman, painted about 1635, supposed to be Saskia
van Ulenborgh, whom Rembrandt married in 1634; a portrait of Rembrandt
as an officer, about 1635, and one of an old man's head, supposed to be
that of his brother Adriaen Harmensz van Rijn (1597-8-1654), painted in
1650.
The portrait of himself is one of Rembrandt's earliest known pictures
and was painted in Leyden between 1628 and 1629. It belongs to similar
works that are now in Cassel, Gotha, Nuremberg, and in the possession of
Count Esterhazy at Nordkirchen, etc., but is the most beautiful because
of its perfect condition. Rembrandt, aged twenty-two or twenty-three, is
dressed in a somewhat fanciful costume and wears a steel cuirass. The
artistic way in which the light falls and the management of the
chiaroscuro foretells what was destined to be Rembrandt's peculiarity of
manner, which Sir Joshua Reynolds has so happily described as "of
admitting but little light and giving to that little a wonderful
brilliancy." Bode says: "Although the brush work is broad, the finish is
strong. It stands out above all others of this period; we feel already
in this youthful work the paw of the lion."
[Illustration: REMBRANDT
Portrait of Himself as Officer]
=Rembrandt's Portraits of Himself.=--The artist was not handsome; indeed
he selected himself so often for a model only for the sake of making a
study of light and shade, etc., and because he had not always any other
casual model than himself at hand. As keen as the glance of his eyes is
the painting of this picture,--sharp, broad, but not so heavily
_impasto_ as is the case a few years later.
At this period he painted many portraits of himself. The Wallace
Collection in London alone possesses two of the master's self-studies,
as does also the Berlin Picture-Gallery, all of which are contemporary
with this picture. The date of this portrait is about 1634, when the
artist was twenty-eight. It is familiar to every one. Sir Joshua
Reynolds described it as "a portrait of a young man by Rembrandt,
dressed in a black cap and feathers, the upper part of the face
overshadowed; for coloring and force nothing can exceed it."
Homer reciting his Poems (1663) represents an old man in yellow robe.
Part of the picture has suffered by having been cut.
[Illustration: REMBRANDT
Homer]
=Van Ravesteyn (1572-1657).=--J. A. van Ravesteyn was in The Hague what
Rembrandt was in Amsterdam, Hals in Haarlem, Mierevelt in Delft,
Moreelse in Utrecht, and Cuijp in Dordrecht. We have to thank him for
the beautiful Shooting Meetings in The Hague Gemeente Museum, and we
also have to thank him for a series of fine portraits full of character
of officers in the Mauritshuis. Although he had a dangerous rival in
Mierevelt, who was employed principally by the Court of the Prince of
Orange, yet Ravesteyn was the official painter of The Hague. When the
marksmen wanted to have their portraits painted, or when the magistracy
wanted to be immortalized, it was Ravesteyn's brush that had to
undertake the work. He was not very highly paid, in common with all
other Dutch artists of that period.
=Van Ravesteyn's Masterpiece.=--His great masterpiece, the splendid
shooting picture of 1618, the most important one that had been painted
up to that time in Holland, brought him only 500 gulden; but in freeing
him from all guard duties and from beer and wine taxes, the rulers of
The Hague showed that they wanted to honor their artist.
=Portraits by Van Ravesteyn.=--The portraits of this magnificent
portrait-painter are noble in conception and full of life and
character; and in his first period were brilliant in color. Indeed, the
flesh tones of his first period are even too red in his male portraits.
Yet the pictures which he painted before 1625-30 are stronger and more
full of spirit than the later pictures, which are cooler and flatter in
the tones and softer in the painting. There is a series of twenty-three
portraits of officers who are unknown.
=Pot's Schutzenstueck.=--It was not until 1886 that the greatsmuelddddddd
Schutzenstueck, a Civic Guard picture in the Haarlem Museum, which had
always been so greatly admired by critics, was discovered to be the
long-lost picture painted by Pot (1585-1657) in 1630, which had been
falsely attributed to Van der Helst. At the date when he painted the
picture Pot was so famous that the historiographer, Ampzingh, had rhymed
two years earlier, 1628, "then shall also Hendrik Pot rightfully wear
his crown. We wonder what his busy hand is creating to-day." He calls
the Allegory of the Death of William I., the great Prince of Orange,
painted by Pot in 1620, and now unfortunately lost, "a very fine and
artistically painted picture." We have no means of following his
development, because his pictures are rare, and seldom dated. The Hague
picture shows us a young gallant in bright green costume in the gay
company of three sirens and an old woman whose calling is unmistakable.
The young woman on his right is in violet; the one on the left, in pink;
and the third, in yellow and blue. All this is in a strongly pronounced
local color. The drawing is careful and good. This is far superior in
all respects to a similar picture in the Berlin Gallery. The background
of this picture is a fine gray. The details are convincingly and
beautifully painted. The painting of the high lights reminds us of the
Hals School. The picture was probably painted about 1630, and takes a
commanding place among the contemporary pictures of this style. It was
bought for 1300 gulden. A similar picture hangs in the National
Gallery.
=Two Portraits by Frans Hals.=--"The Government was happily inspired,"
writes Mr. Bredius, "in 1881, when it bought for The Hague Gallery two
portraits by the great Frans Hals [1580-1666], who had not been
represented up till that time. Yet there were and still are
dissatisfied people who maintain that the authorities ought to have
tried to acquire a still better example of the art of the master,
these pictures of his being too trifling and not worthy of the
collection," etc. But people forgot that such an opportunity does not
often occur, and then that the price is often so high that the slim
purse of The Hague Gallery makes a purchase not to be thought of.
"The smaller and more beautiful of the pair, the male portrait, is
quite capable of giving us a good idea of the virtuosity of the
portrait-painting of Hals. How fine, how self-assertive, is the
attitude of this twenty-nine-year-old patrician Haarlemite! How
sympathetically the costume is painted! How well are the head and
hands modelled and drawn! The portraits were painted in the year
1625."
The portraits here described are of Jacob Olycan and his wife, Aletta
Hanemans.
=Bode's Opinion of Hals's Pictures.=--In his celebrated study of Hals of
this period, Bode says:
"About the year 1625 the master had advanced to a style of impression
and way of handling that in general remained stationary for about ten
years. A gay, delightful humor laughs out at us from all these
pictures: from the rich, full local colors, the clear blonde tones,
playful easy handling, which quickly, in a few minutes with a few
scattered strokes and sweeps of the brush and palette knife blade,
brings the personality of the subject upon the canvas, and soon the
conception is rendered to the smallest detail in lovely, delicate
completeness."
=Characteristics of Thomas de Keijser's Work.=--Of all important
painters who flourished in Amsterdam when Rembrandt settled there at the
end of 1631, Thomas de Keijser (1596-1667) was by far the greatest. His
portraits, particularly those of small dimensions, take high rank among
those which the Dutch school in its glory produced. His work is
distinguished by a masterly technique, a splendid characterization in
portraiture, a powerful but brilliant selection of color, and a broad,
heavy brush.
=Description of a Portrait painted by him.=--These qualities are found
in the Portrait of a Man of Distinction, signed and dated 1631. The man,
nearly life size, is seated before a table covered with a reddish
Oriental carpet, and with his left hand is turning over the leaves of a
book that rests upon a desk. He is not looking at the book, however, but
at the spectator. His hair is gray and quite short, he wears a
moustache, his eyes are full of fire, and his face is expressive. He has
on a large black hat, and a white collar spreads out over his black silk
doublet; his stockings are black silk, and his shoes are ornamented with
rosettes. The right hand, which is superb, rests on his hip. The floor
is paved with black and gray tiles and in the sober background, which
serves to bring out the face, a library is indicated on the left.
=Group of Four Burgomasters.=--The portrait is painted on oak, as is
also that of the Amsterdam Burgomasters Deliberating with Regard to the
Visit of Marie de Medici to that city. This very small picture, in which
the figures are only eight and a half inches high, was painted by De
Keijser in 1638, when the widow of the French King Henri IV. visited
Amsterdam.
"It is no small glory," says Blanc, "for De Keijser to have painted a
picture which in value of execution may be placed between the Peace of
Munster and the Syndics by Rembrandt."
=Description of the Figures.=--Here we find four burgomasters sitting
around a table covered with a green cloth in an austere hall, whose gray
walls are broken by niches containing statues. These four old
men--Abraham Boom, Petrus Hasselaer, Albert Coenraet Burgh, and Antonie
Oetgens van Waveren--are dressed in black and wear black felt hats
unadorned with plumes. Their grave deliberations regarding the
entertainment of the royal guest are interrupted by the entrance of the
lawyer, Cornelis van Davelaer, who, hat in hand, salutes them with the
greatest respect, as he announces the arrival of Marie de Medici.
=Blanc's Opinion of the Picture.=--Blanc, who greatly admires this
picture, calls attention to the fact that no useless piece of furniture
or accessory of any kind disturbs the solemnity of this little scene,
which, on account of the simple manner in which it is conceived, is
great, notwithstanding its size. He says:
"With the exception of Rembrandt, I do not know of a single Dutch
painter, not even Van der Helst (who painted such great canvases), who
would not have belittled his picture, either by elegance of touch and
finish, or by the richness of the costumes and arms, or by the effect
of a carpet variegated with a thousand shades. I imagine that Gerard
Ter Borch, in spite of his habitual dignity, would have found some
pretext for introducing into his composition a beautiful sword with a
baudrick, a crossbow, or a chandelier; that Metsu would certainly have
found some excuse for placing a richly chiselled silver _aiguiere_ or
a golden goblet on the table; and I am sure that through the door by
which the lawyer, Davelaer, enters, Pieter de Hooch would have let you
see the antechamber of the Council, with its high chairs covered with
Utrecht velvet, or a winding stairway, or a distant door opening into
a garden or street. The attention would then have been somewhat
distracted by the very striking accessories, or by the optical charm
of the chiaroscuro. Here we find nothing of the kind; not a single
concession to conventional treatment. By the gravity of their
attitude, we see that these four citizens, chosen by a free people who
sit here with covered heads, express in themselves the majesty of the
United Provinces, and they consider themselves of equal rank with the
Queen of France, whose arrival is being announced; you feel at once
that they bring a plebeian pride to their magnificent reception of
that princess who was, like them, originally from a republic of
merchants. All the costumes being black,--that beautiful, warm,
transparent, silky black peculiar to Velasquez and Anthonis Moro,--you
only notice in this picture the hands and the heads. The heads have an
expression that will remain engraven in the mind forever, for the
painter has accented them so deeply, and brought into contrast both
physical and moral features. Notwithstanding their individuality, they
all have a certain grandeur. The peculiar trait of this master,
however, is the neutral background, the exquisite sobriety of the tone
of the wall, recalling the beautiful gray of the great Spanish
painter; and from this stand out the black of the doublets and the
white collars."
Blanc also calls attention to the splendid painting of the faces: the
eyes sunken by age, the wrinkles of the skin, and the withered cheeks.
Bredius writes:
"What character has the artist put into these heads! We feel at once
that it must have been this kind of men who conducted Amsterdam to
greatness and fame. What worth and dignity in the way they hold
themselves! What self-confidence in the proud glance!"
=Other Portraits in the Mauritshuis.=--Of other notable portraits in the
Mauritshuis there are three by Moreelse (one of himself); six by
Honthorst, including one of a child gathering fruit, originally in the
Castle of Honsholredijk; nine by Mierevelt (chiefly of various Princes
of Orange); three by Ravesteyn, one a group; two by Moro, one of a
goldsmith, the other supposed to be Prince William I. in his youth;
three by Netscher; Ter Borch's of himself; two by Frans van Mieris; one
by Cuijp, and other examples by Rubens and Van Dijck.