with a wooded background. On the left, through the gate of a park comes
a huntsman with the hounds. A large chestnut palfrey with a green saddle
embroidered with silver is led by a valet in red livery, and a little
farther away a gray horse with trappings of scarlet velvet is led by
another valet. On the right are seated two men: one in red, the other in
brown, and before them a big fawn and a white dog; another large dog is
sniffing the ground in the foreground on the left.
=Other Works by A. van de Velde.=--A Landscape with Cattle shows a
somewhat sombre country with clumps of trees; on the left, sheep, goats,
and a little shepherd; in full light two cows, one white standing in
profile, and the other black, seen from behind and foreshortened. It
brought 5,650 florins in 1838. A Landscape with Ferry (1666), The Cabin
(1671), and another Landscape complete the list of A. van de Velde's
works in the Rijks.
=An Appreciation of A. van de Velde's Pictures.=--His cattle browse in
velvet meadows under a beautiful sky. Animals, meadows, grassy hills,
and trees--he painted them all with affection. He excels in depicting
the various hides and skins of goats, sheep, horses, and asses. Animals
always occupy a prominent place in Van de Velde's canvases. The air
seems to circulate--light, pure air gently moving the trees or slightly
waving the grass. The blue sky is filled with vaporous clouds, which are
often mirrored in tranquil lakes. The chestnut with its thick foliage,
the willow with its flexible branches, the oak, he paints in masses, or
singly, with exquisite skill.
=General Description of Aelbert Cuijp's Style.=--Aelbert Cuijp
(1620-91), son and pupil of Jacob Cuijp, first followed his father's
style, as is evidenced in the Hilly Landscape in the Rijks. Little by
little he formed his own style and became thoroughly original. He
excelled in depicting the humid atmosphere about Dordrecht, and on the
horizon of all his landscapes generally the clock-tower of his native
city is represented half veiled in golden mist emerging from the lush
meadows, where placid cows repose in the bright sunshine.
=His Versatility.=--Though Cuijp loves to paint the calm meadows of
Holland under a golden light, his elegant figures of men and animals,
dashing cavaliers, boats driven by the approaching storm, and landscapes
seen under the enchantment of moonlight prove how versatile he was.
Moreover, he was a brilliant painter of still life, as the partridges in
The Return from the Chase (in the Louvre), the Salmons Offered to Mr. de
Roovere Directing the Fisheries in Dordrecht (in The Hague), and the
Dead Game (in the Rotterdam Gallery) show.
[Illustration: A. CUIJP
Fight between a Turkey and a Cock]
=His Skill in painting Living Birds.=--As for painting living birds he
is only equalled by Melchior d' Hondecoeter. It is only necessary to
look at his magnificent Fight between a Turkey and a Cock which hangs in
the Rijks. The sky has darkened in sympathy, as it were, with this epic
combat, where two splendid specimens are using their beaks and claws
with the greatest fury, and the brilliant feathers fly in all
directions. Splendid in color, furious of action, and beautiful in its
arrangement of light and shade, it deserves its great reputation.
The Rijks owns four other pictures: Portrait of a Young Man, Shepherds
with their Flocks, Cattle, and View of Dordrecht.
[Illustration: A. CUIJP
Shepherds with their Flocks]
=Description of Shepherds with their Flocks.=--Shepherds with their
Flocks represents an Autumn morning in a meadow, where four grazing cows
and a shepherd on a mule occupy the foreground; on the left, a man on an
ass and a man on foot wearing a red vest; on the right, two large trees;
in the middle distance, some trees, a river, and a tower; and in the
background, mountains.
=Description of Cattle.=--This painting represents a great red ox with a
white head, standing in profile on the left, occupying half the picture;
a little behind is seen a black ox, full face; both stand out from the
gray wall of a house. In front of the red ox three lovely pigeons are
pecking. On the left, in the middle distance, a brown and a dun-colored
ox are lying down. In the background, on the horizon, are trees and the
spires and towers of Dordrecht. The sky is superb.
The View of Dordrecht seen from a great expanse of water, marvellously
painted, is also a beautiful picture.
=Jacob G. Cuijp's Scene Champetre.=--Jacob Gerritsz Cuijp (1594-1651?),
father of Aelbert, is a painter whose pictures are very scarce. His
Portrait of a Woman is dated 1651; and a very fine _Scene Champetre_,
which brought no less than 4,000 florins in 1849, represents, according
to Immergeel, the family of the painter Cornelis Troost, a gay and large
family. The grandmother, father, mother, four boys, and two girls are
walking in a landscape where is also seen a chariot drawn by a handsome
black horse of the Frisian race that Aelbert Cuijp so often paints.
=The Cuijp Family.=--The founder of this family was Gerrit Gerritsz
Cuijp, originally from Venlo, who settled in Dordrecht, where in 1585 he
entered the Guild of St. Luke as a painter on glass. He sent his
talented son, Jacob, to study with Abraham Bloemaert. Jacob Cuijp became
known as a portrait-painter, and was noted for his fine drawing,
splendid coloring, and force of expression. His pictures were ranked
with those of Th. de Keijser. He was no less skilful in painting animals
and landscapes and family groups in the open air, undisturbed by
browsing cattle.
=Benjamin G. Cuijp's Style.=--Benjamin Gerritsz Cuijp (1612-52), brother
of Jacob and uncle of Aelbert, a painter who has attracted much
attention of late years, differed entirely in taste and style from them
both. He was particularly fond of historical and mythological subjects,
and belonged to the Italian group of Dutch painters, who tried to
amalgamate the traditions of classic art with the growing realism of the
day. Some of his works show the influence of the young Rembrandt. His
Joseph Interpreting Dreams was acquired by the Rijks in 1883.
=Jan van Goyen.=--Jan van Goyen has five beautiful landscapes: River
Scene, View on the Meuse and Town of Dordrecht, View of Valkenhof at
Nimeguen, View of Dordrecht, and a Landscape.
[Illustration: JAN VAN GOYEN
View of Dordrecht]
=Burger's Explanation of the River Scene.=--"The view of a river in
the Van der Hoop Collection is the last expression of his magnificent
and exalted manner. A better name for this picture would be The
Windmill. In a few words here is the picture: A bit of the Meuse; on
the right a piece of ground covered with trees and houses, and on the
summit a black mill with its sails spread to the winds, extending high
upon the canvas; a stockade, against which the waves of the river
break gently, the water heavy, soft, and admirable; and a little
corner of the almost lost horizon, very attenuated, very firm, very
pale, yet very distinct, on which rises the white sail of a boat, a
flat sail without the slightest wind in the canvas, but having a value
tender and perfectly exquisite. Above, a great sky filled with clouds;
through the rifts and holes the shining blue that they efface, the
clouds all gray and filling the space from the stockade to the top of
the canvas; so that there is no light in any part of this powerful
tonality, composed of dark brown and sombre slate colors. In the
centre of the picture one ray of light glimmers like a smile upon the
clouds. A great square _grave_ picture, of an extreme sonority in the
deepest register, and my notes add _merveilleux dans l'or_."
=Karel Dujardin (1625-78).=--Of the Portrait of a Gentleman with a Dog
and a Dead Hare (1670), Burger says:
=A Dead Picture of a Dead Hare.=--"The deadest one in the lot is not
the hare; for if the hare were alive the dog certainly could not run
after him, nor could the gentleman run after his dog. The gentleman is
dressed in tin-plate and is represented to the knees and of natural
size, with the background of a dark sky. The hands have been praised;
but they do not look as if they could move."
=A Good Portrait of Gerard Reinst.=--A Portrait of Gerard Reinst, a
celebrated art collector of Amsterdam, who died in 1658, and who was a
patron of Dujardin, is painted sympathetically. He is bareheaded, with a
blond wig, and is dressed in a grayish violet with chocolate tones. One
hand rests on his hip; the other is marvellously represented. A
landscape and sky form the background, and two greyhounds are at the
gentleman's side.
=A Portrait of Himself.=--A portrait of himself is signed and dated
1660. This is only nine inches by six and one-half inches. It is only a
bust showing a shaven face with a thread of a moustache, long black
hair, brilliant eyes, and handsome mouth. He wears a grayish costume
with puffed sleeves, and his right hand somewhat pretentiously holds the
drapery of his cloak on his chest.
=Dujardin's Other Works.=--A Landscape, dated 1655, and showing a
peasant winnowing corn, is noted for its silvery tone; A Trumpeter on
Horseback shows a cavalier in a blue mantle and on a white horse,
stopping before the door of an inn, and drinking from a glass offered by
the hostess, who is standing at the door. His other works are an Italian
Landscape with Animals and The Muleteers. Another Landscape in the Van
der Hoop Collection was bought at the Duchesse de Berry's sale in 1837
for 4,000 florins. A copy after Karel Dujardin shows an Italian
Landscape with figures, and a white horse.
=Adam Pynacker.=--Adam Pynacker has four landscapes: Border of a Lake in
Italy, Italian Landscape, Landscape, and Pilgrimage.
=Johannes Both's Pictures.=--Johannes Both may be studied in The
Courtyard of a Farm; two Italian Landscapes, one of which is a luminous
picture of a summer morning, with mountains on the horizon on the left,
trees to the right in the foreground, and many small figures on the
road; and in Painters Studying from Nature. Here we see on a canvas
about six feet by seven, a vast landscape of much beauty, having the
Apennines for a background. Beneath a tall oak tree on the right and
among the rocks, Johannes Both himself is seated, with his back turned
to the spectator. He has a sketch book before him and is talking to a
beggar; his brother Andries is facing us; and the fourth person is
talking to some one in the distance. The time is a beautiful Summer
morning.
=Jan Asselijn.=--Jan Asselijn (1610-60) was a pupil of Esaias van de
Velde, but went when young to Italy, where he was called by the band of
Dutch painters "Krabbetje," on account of a contraction in his fingers.
His pictures are highly valued, representing, as a rule, views of Rome,
enriched with figures and cattle in the style of N. Berchem. He greatly
resembles Jan Both.
His Italian Landscape in the Rijks is considered a very true and
important landscape, with a background of bluish mountains, and a bridge
on the left. The artist has introduced Italian ruins and some muleteers.
He is also represented by a Cavalry Combat, signed and dated 1646; and
the Allegory on John de Witt.
=Philips Wouwermans's Hawking Scene.=--Of the thirteen pictures by
Philips Wouwermans we may pause before the well-known Hawking Scene,
noted as a specimen of his delicacy and precision on a small scale. It
is only one foot high by eight inches wide. The exceedingly animated
composition shows about a dozen people on horseback scattered through a
delicate landscape. Other figures of men, women, and children enliven
the scene. This is painted in his last and most prized period.
=His Horse-pond.=--The Horse-pond is a lovely picture, with a silvery
sky filled with luminous morning clouds, and, far away in the distance,
hills, trees, and women bleaching linen. In the centre of the picture, a
lovely stream in which children are bathing, and a ferry with persons
and animals passing over in little boats. It is the moment when grooms
and peasants are taking their horses and animals to water; and
naturally, therefore, we have some beautiful groups: here a man is
leading two horses, one of which is kicking at a barking dog; other
horses are at the edge of the stream; others have plunged in. Among the
eight horses, there is one splendid white one, and there are about
twenty figures, including washerwomen and children. It is impossible,
even with Wouwermans, who is so _spirituel_ and clever, to find a
richer, more animated, more varied, and more brilliant composition.
A Landscape with Water belongs to the first period when Wouwermans
followed Wijnants; The Camp shows horsemen and other people; a horseman
turned to the right and mounted on a white and brown horse is very
remarkable.
=Description of The Kicking White Horse.=--A celebrated canvas is The
Kicking White Horse. Two mounted horses and one lead horse are under a
tree in the foreground. The white horse, after having knocked over an
old woman with a basket of fruit, is kicking the lead horse on the
right, while a dog is snarling at his heels. On the extreme left, a
richly dressed lady and gentleman are watching the affair with interest,
and in the middle distance, on the right, two men are watering their
horses at a ford. There is fine painting of distance in the low
landscape and beautiful aerial perspective in the Summer sky with its
floating clouds.
Besides landscapes, a camp, and others in his usual style, there are two
pictures of fighting peasants.
His brother, Pieter Wouwermans (1623-82), is represented by two works:
Assault on the Town of Koevorden, 1672, and The Hunting Party. His works
have frequently been mistaken for Philips's, though, as may be seen in
these pictures, his brush work has less freedom, and his tones are
heavier than his brother's.
=Jan Wijnants Unsuccessful in peopling his Scenery.=--Jan Wijnants
(1600-79), who is said to have been the master of Philips Wouwermans,
has eight pictures by which his qualities may be compared with those of
that painter. These are Landscape in the Dunes, with Hunters;
Mountainous Country; The Farm; and Flock in a Landscape; and four
landscapes in the Van der Hoop Collection. He was a painter of extreme
care and finish; and in painting nature he ranks among the highest. Like
so many other Dutch landscape-painters, however, he was not successful
with figures; and for peopling his scenery he availed himself of the
assistance of his great pupil, Adriaen van de Velde (as in the case of
the above-mentioned Landscape in the Dunes), Lingelbach, Wouwermans,
Helt Stokade, and others.
=Jan Wijnants's Love of painting the Dunes.=--Durand Greville says:
"His dated pictures are of his last period, 1641-79, so that he may
claim the honor of first having introduced into the landscape the
neighboring dunes of Haarlem and of having been the first to love
them. He faithfully translated in their blond harmony the dunes, gray
or golden, with the sun, the trees with their pale foliage, and the
skies with their light vaporous veilings. To his last hour he went
back again and again to that inexhaustible theme in its apparent
monotony. He put into the execution of the dazzle of the sand,
tree-trunks, spaces of moss and clumps of grasses an astonishing
sincerity, perhaps even somewhat too minute from the point of view of
the impression of the whole, but, even by that, quite accessible to
the taste of the majority of people. None the less he remains to-day
one of the most remarkable landscape-painters of Holland."
=Cornelis van Poelenburg.=--Cornelis van Poelenburg has four
characteristic pictures in his favorite Italian style: The Bathers,
Women Coming from the Bath, Adam and Eve Expelled from Paradise, and The
Bathers Spied Upon.
=Winter Scenes by A. van der Neer.=--The most noted painter of winter
scenes and of the magic beauty of snow and ice is Aart van der Neer
(1603-77), a friend of A. Cuijp, from whom he doubtless learned much, as
they frequently worked together on the same canvas. His winter pieces
are generally warm in their lighting. Two fine specimens hang in this
gallery, one of which is brightened by numerous figures skating and
playing ball on a frozen canal. The sky is full of dark snow-clouds. He
may also be studied by a Landscape.
=His Moonlight Scenes.=--He is also famous for his beautiful towns on
the canals, lighted by the moon, and his conflagrations. No other
painter has depicted the broad masses of shadow, and the effects of
light and tranquillity of character peculiar to a moonlight night, with
so much truthfulness as Van der Neer. In his rendering of the warm glow
of sunset he has been compared to his friend Cuijp.
=Hendrick Averkamp.=--In this connection The Skaters, by Hendrick
Averkamp (1585-after 1663), should be noted. This artist was surnamed
"the Mute of Kampen" because of his taciturnity. He produced many
marines, landscapes, and festivals on the ice, which have,
unfortunately, lost their color.
=Esais van de Velde's Pictures.=--Winter amusements by Esais van de
Velde will afford pleasure to the student, who may also see this
artist's Dutch Landscape, painted in 1623; The Surrender of Bois-le-Duc
(1629-30), and an original replica of his curious satire on religious
quarrels in 1618-19, Prince Maurice Fastening Bells on a Cat. Many of
the architectural painters have depicted the well-known street scenes
and buildings under the mantle of winter.
=Three Excellent Pictures by Hendrik Dubbels.=--Hendrik Dubbels
(1620-76?), about whom comparatively little is known, has three pictures
of great excellence: A Marine, a Calm, and a River Scene. Dubbels is
supposed to have taught Ludolf Bakhuysen (1631-1708), who was also a
pupil of Allart van Everdingen.
=Bakhuysen, Painter of Stormy Seas.=--Bakhuysen loved the ocean in its
angry moods, and used to hire fishermen to take him out in their boats
in the fury of storms. His works are highly valued, and some critics
prefer them to the more placid pictures of Willem van de Velde. The
Rijks owns two views of The Ij (or Y) near Amsterdam; The Port of
Amsterdam, painted in 1673; Agitated Water: Haarlemmer Meer (for which
3,500 florins was paid in 1840); Stormy Sea After the Storm (1672);
Embarkation of Jan de Witt on the Dutch Fleet; and Portrait of the
Painter by himself.
=Van de Velde, the Elder and the Younger.=--Willem van de Velde the
Elder (1611-93), who was Court Painter to Charles II. and James II. of
England, is represented in the Rijks by eleven marine drawings. We have
already seen fine examples of his more famous son, Willem van de Velde,
at the Mauritshuis, but thirteen splendid examples hang in this gallery.
=Some Notable Pictures of Naval Warfare.=--The Ij (or Y) at Amsterdam,
dated 1686, which formerly hung in the Schreierstoren in Amsterdam, was
described by Sir Joshua Reynolds as follows:
"At the office of the Commissary of the Wharfs is one of Vandervelde's
most capital pictures: it is about twelve feet long; a view of the
port of Amsterdam with an infinite quantity of shipping."
[Illustration: W. VAN DE VELDE
The Ij or Y at Amsterdam]
The Four Days' Combat is a picture of the moment when the English
flag-ship, the "Prince Royal," is striking her colors in the fight with
the Dutch fleet in 1666; and its companion, The Capture, shows four
English men-of-war brought in as prizes in the same fight. Here the
painter has represented himself in a small boat, for in such a position
he actually witnessed the battle. An Agitated Sea, with various
sailing-vessels, is delightful because of the warm lighting and movement
of the waves; two Calms represent the painter in the mood he best loves
to paint the sea. Other canvases represent the sea under squalls, light
breezes, etc. The Canon Shot, with a large ship in the foreground, was
bought in 1834 for 3,000 florins.
=A Beautiful Picture of the Dutch Coast.=--View on the Coast of
Scheveningen shows the dunes on the right, above which rises the steeple
of a church; on the left is the calm sea under a lovely afternoon light.
Two fishing-boats are seen in the distance; a boat lies on the beach; a
fisherman walks by with his nets, and in the foreground are three men.
The sea, the dunes, the tiny figures, and the light all combine to make
a beautiful picture.
=How some Painters helped each Other.=--The great geniuses could do
everything well--portraits, landscapes, marines, figure subjects,
architecture, interiors, and still life. Some, however, excelled in one
particular branch, and, sometimes against their will bowed to the
popular demand for their works in that line, and devoted themselves
entirely to it. This specialization was carried to great lengths; and it
seems strange to us to find one master of landscape calling upon a
famous figure-painter to people his landscapes _a la mode_, and _vice
versa_, as happened in numberless instances. Sometimes even cattle were
supplied; and, more particularly, live and dead game, flowers, fruits,
household stuff, and all kinds of still life.
=The Effect of this on their Reputation.=--Sometimes a young artist's
facility in a certain field was detrimental to high esteem. Paul Potter,
for example, had to live down the reproach that he was nothing but a
painter of animals,--which he very quickly did. Those who made a
specialty of live animals apart from landscape are very few. With the
exception of the works of Snyders, hunting scenes are rare. Wouwermans's
hunts are confined to the start and the return of the cavalcades.
=Blanc's Description of Weenix's Style.=--J. B. Weenix must have loved
hunting also, for it forms one of the familiar motives in his landscapes
in the Italian style. However,
"as he painted above all for the pleasure of painting, his usual
custom was to group in the foreground of his composition the products
of the chase rather than to represent the hunt itself. It is only in
the distance that hounds and huntsmen are seen hunting the hare, while
the poor animal is already dead and hanging by its foot to a branch of
a tree in the foreground. A brilliant gamecock, one or two partridges,
some ribbons and flowers, and a big garden vase will accompany the
hare and form a charming picture for the mere delight of the eyes.
Truth, finesse of local color, delightful light and shade, exquisite
handling, and the whole technique of art are employed to make us
admire this still life. We cannot help noticing the masterly manner in
which the artist has rendered the fur of his dead hare, crimsoned with
blood; and how lovingly he has caressed the plumage of the neck and
crop of his partridges, and reproduced the beautiful lustrous black of
the cock, whose wings are splashed with white; how he has made us feel
the velvet of the skin at the joining of the muscles, and accentuated
the feet and claws. But the final luxury of the palette seems to have
been reserved for a superb hunting-dog with delicate ears, that
watches with an eye full of life over his master's gun and the
glorious trophies of the chase; and distends his nostrils as if to
snuff the odor of the gunpowder, the aroma of the gin, and the strong
scents of the venison."
=Painters of Still Life.=--Usually the painters of inanimate objects
take the trouble to arrange their inert models, just as a historical
painter would dispose his living figures. The human figures in Snyders's
pictures were painted by Rubens, Jordaens, or Martin de Vos. His pupils
were Jan Fyt, Nicasius Bernarts, and Pieter Boel. The Rijks Gallery has
two splendid pictures by him: one, a dish garnished with fruits and dead
game; and the other, a dead roebuck, a wild boar's head, and vegetables.
=Snyders's Dead Game and Vegetables.=--Beautiful in composition and
color is his Dead Game and Vegetables. On a shelf are placed choice
specimens of china, glass, earthenware, fruit stands, etc., and these
are balanced on the left by a beautiful glass vase of roses and iris
standing in a niche. A large basket of apples, peaches, melons, pears,
and grapes, a hung deer, a boar's head, a lobster, a few artichokes, and
a bunch of asparagus show the artist's wonderful arrangement of form and
color.
[Illustration: FRANS SNYDERS
Dead Game and Vegetables]