lovers who seem to be teasing each other. The lady seen in profile is
squeezing a lemon into a glass, and the young man sitting opposite with
his elbow on the table looks at her with a subtle smile. The costumes
are elegant--the lady wears a straw-colored skirt and a rose-colored
jacket. The man has on a garnet-colored doublet, scarlet knee-breeches,
and white stockings. He is bareheaded and wears a wig. If it were not
for the pipe in his hand he would remind you of Moliere's gentlemen.
They are sitting in a kind of courtyard of a house with a red-tiled
roof, and a window with red shutters is also visible. At the door of the
house a woman is standing with a glass in her hand. A servant is busy
with a kettle by the window. On the right there is an opening into a
clump of trees, suggesting a park, and to the left another enclosure.
One of the most beautiful pictures in the collection, a marvel very
difficult to describe because its superlative value lies in its luminous
effect, is thus described:
=A Picture Highly valued for its Luminous Effect.=--"We are in a room,
the door of which, in the background on the left, opens onto the quay
of a canal. A girl passes along the path; next we see a tree, a
stretch of the canal, and on the opposite bank another street, flooded
with sunlight, in which two cloaked men have halted in front of a
house. Above the door, which is slightly arched, is a large window
with small panes in four compartments, one of which is open. Under the
light falling from the window, in the corner of the room, a girl in a
blue bodice and white apron is seated, with her head turned toward a
youth who is entering through on the extreme right in the foreground.
In one hand he holds his hat, and presents a letter with the
other."[26]
=A Pleasing Sunlight Effect.=--Another picture shows a sunlight effect,
in which both De Hooch and Vermeer of Delft delighted. There is a window
on the left, above a table covered with a Turkey-red table-cloth, which
is silhouetted brightly on the lower part of the opposite wall, close to
a chimney piece. A servant is sweeping in front of the latter. Another
woman, almost full-face, is seated, holding a baby in a yellow frock,
with a child's cradle beside her. She wears a blue velvet jacket and red
skirt. Behind her a door opens into a courtyard, and gives us a glimpse
of the town. The rest of the background consists of a gray wall, on
which hangs a picture. There is also a picture over the fireplace.
=The Sick Lady.=--Very similar to the pictures by Jan Steen and Metsu is
Hooghstraten's The Sick Lady, who, very pale and with drooping head,
sits by a table on which her left elbow rests. On the red cloth, which
is covered with a piece of white linen, stand a pot and a phial. She
wears a white cap, a yellow jacket bordered with ermine, a Persian-blue
skirt, and a white apron. Her hands are clasped at her waist, and her
feet rest on a foot-warmer. Behind the table stands the doctor in his
conventional costume of black. The bed, draped with green curtains, is
seen in the background, where, to the left, a short flight of stairs
leads to a series of rooms opening one into another in the style of
Pieter de Hooch. The figures, about a foot high, are very finely drawn.
Burger says:
"The general harmony of color is strange, distinguished, and original.
There are tones of straw-color, tones of pearl-color, and silvery
tones, happily brought together, a clever distribution of light, and
lightness in the shadows."
=Jan Steen's Style patterned after Hals and A. van Ostade.=--Jan Steen
shows the influence of his models, Hals and Adriaen van Ostade, in
several of the seventeen pictures of this artist owned by the Rijks
Museum. His own portrait and those in the Oostwaard picture (dated 1659)
are strong, bright, and clear with the qualities he admired in Hals. The
other pictures are all distinguished by correct drawing, admirable
freedom and spirit of touch, and clear and transparent color. They range
in subject from the stately interiors of grave and opulent burghers to
tavern scenes of jollity and debauch.
=Some of the Seventeen of his Pictures owned by the Rijks.=--There are
two pictures of the charlatan who puffs his pills, draws teeth, and
sells everything helpful to those sick in body or in mind, from a
love-philtre to the Elixir of Life. Here, also, we see doctors and
patients, card-parties, marriage-feasts, and the festivals of St.
Nicholas and Twelfth Night. His delightful rendering of children is also
fully exemplified here. In detail, the pictures are as follows: A
Portrait of Himself, showing a rather handsome man with oval face,
arched brows, and well-cut mouth; A Charlatan Selling his Wares, in
which the chief figure is standing on a platform beneath the shade of a
tree, while around him are many little figures variously grouped,
forming comic episodes; The Baker Oostwaard with his Wife and a Son of
the Painter (1659). The baker is arranging his wares, and the little boy
is blowing on a horn. The Scullion represents a woman scouring a pewter
pot. She is in a kitchen, and wears a white jacket and a blue skirt. On
the table by which she stands are utensils and a lantern.
[Illustration: JAN STEEN
The Parrot Cage]
=Description of The Parrot Cage.=--The Parrot Cage is a domestic scene,
in what appears to be a tavern or a middle-class hall, in which there is
a bed, a chair, and a table, at which two men are playing backgammon,
while a third looks on smoking a pipe. At the big fireplace an old woman
is broiling oysters, which are likely to spoil, as she is taking more
interest in the backgammon than in her own task. A boy seated on a low
stool is feeding a kitten with milk from a spoon, and watching a woman
of graceful figure who is offering a biscuit to a parrot in a cage.
The Orgy is famous for the dash and abandon with which it is painted.
=The Village Wedding and Other Pictures.=--The Rijks owns also The
Birthday of the Prince of Orange, The Happy Return, The Rake, The
Dancing Lesson, in which merry children are teaching a cat to dance; The
Village Wedding, a little masterpiece, in which the light is treated as
if by Ostade, and where the bride and groom are seated at a table with
friends, while musicians play for many dancers.
=Description of The Happy Family.=--In The Happy Family we see a simply
furnished room, in which is a bed, and next it a cupboard, on the top of
which stand a mortar, some platters, and a vase of flowers; a happy
family group is seated at a table. Hanging on the bed curtains is the
legend in Dutch, "As the old ones sing so will the young ones pipe."
This is the keynote of the picture. Every one is singing, piping, and
making merry. Their gaiety is infectious. The father, seated at the end
of the table, has a viola in one hand, while the right holds a glass of
wine. Next him stands a boy playing bagpipes. Then the grandmother,
singing, with a jolly expression on her face; next, the merry mother,
with a merry baby, the image of her; next, a boy with a flute, another
with a pipe; next, a girl about to smoke a pipe, in front two children,
and at the open window a boy with a pipe. A dog stands by the master,
near an empty platter, that shows he too has shared in the feast. There
is a handsome table-carpet on the table, protected by a napkin, and on
it a ham and a loaf of bread.
[Illustration: JAN STEEN
The Happy Family]
=A Family Scene on Twelfth Night.=--Nearly all the same persons, only
grown older, appear in A Family Scene on Twelfth Night: Margarita van
Goyen, Steen's wife, seen this time from behind, with her profile
upturned, and wearing a red skirt and a blue jacket trimmed with ermine,
and ten other figures, including the old father and the painter himself,
who are smoking in the background. "Delicious in color and vivacity!" is
Burger's comment.
=A Doubtful Picture of Steen and his Wife.=--The Couple Drinking is said
to be Steen and his wife. The latter with a white handkerchief on her
head, a dark blue jacket, red skirt, and white apron is drinking from a
tall glass. The man in black behind her and talking to her is about to
drink from a mug. The ages of the couple make it doubtful if the painter
and his wife are represented.
=The Young Lady who is Ill.=--The Young Lady who is Ill, seated
languidly in a red arm-chair, with her head on a pillow, may be compared
with similar pictures in The Hague Gallery. She wears a yellow silk
skirt, and a jacket of lilac velvet bordered with ermine. The doctor is
one of Steen's best creations of this type.
=Steen's Most Popular Picture.=--The most popular of all Steen's
pictures, however, is the Eve of St. Nicholas, which shows a room in Jan
Steen's house, and himself, his first wife, and their children. Beside
the chimney sits the mother in lilac skirt and green velvet jacket
bordered with ermine, and on her left is a low table, on which is a
variety of cakes, fruits, and other holiday sweets. In the background
sits the father, who is enjoying the scene. Seven children are present.
The oldest, holding a baby with a rag doll in its arms, is pointing up
the chimney, explaining to the open-mouthed and staring little boy at
his side whence St. Nicholas came. On the extreme left a boy is crying
because all that St. Nicholas has rewarded him with is a birch rod,
which his sister is presenting to him in his wooden shoe, and with
evident pleasure. A little boy, with his father's cane in his hand, is
enjoying his brother's disappointment and probable future punishment. In
the background, the grandmother, drawing the curtains of the bed and
tauntingly beckoning to the crying boy, seems to invite him to spend
his St. Nicholas festival in bed. In the very centre of the picture is
the pet of the family--a little girl, the very image of her mother. She
has a pail full of toys, fruits, and cakes on one arm, and in her tiny
hands she holds the figure of St. Nicholas, whose head is surrounded
with a nimbus.
[Illustration: JAN STEEN
Eve of St. Nicholas]
A basket of wafers, cakes, waffles, buns, crullers, etc., stands on the
floor on the left; and leaning against the little table on the right is
an enormous flat loaf of bread or cake iced in lines and decorated with
figures of the cock at the four corners and in the centre that of St.
Nicholas.
=Early and Later Styles of Jan Miense Molenaer.=--Jan Miense Molenaer
(1610-68) was either a pupil or a very skilful imitator of Jan Steen in
his early works, which are painted in strong, clear color with bold
execution. About 1650, however, he adopted a brown tone with a light and
transparent execution, and concentrated his effects of light after the
manner of Ostade when the latter was under the influence of Rembrandt.
=A Fine Example of his Powers.=--The Lady at the Clavecin is a splendid
example of the powers of this artist who was almost as fond of making
musical instruments important features of his compositions as
Slingelandt was. It was painted in 1637 as the signature shows, and
therefore is full of the Hals influence. The lady and two children,
whose amiable faces are turned with interested expression toward the
spectator, are evidently portraits, probably of the artist's wife and
children. The other picture, Grace before Meat, is also a fine study
with Hals's technique. It is in the Van der Hoop Collection.
=Four Pictures by Metsu.=--Four Metsus hang in the Rijks: The Huntsman's
Present, purchased in 1843 for 12,400 florins, The Old Drinker,
purchased in 1827 for 2,960 florins, The Breakfast, acquired in 1809,
and the Old Woman in Meditation, bought in 1880 for 6,170 florins.
=Description of The Huntsman's Present.=--For taste, depth, warm
harmony, and careful execution, The Huntsman's Present is of the first
order. In a room lighted by a window on the left, a lady is seated by
the side of a table on which is a rich carpet. A large white apron of
exquisite tone covers her lap, and on it lies a little green cushion on
which she has been making lace, which she holds in her left hand. Her
jacket, bordered with ermine, is of that flesh-color that Metsu loved.
With her right hand she caresses a little King Charles spaniel perched
on the table. On her right, an old gentleman is seated. He still wears
his hunting clothes and holds his hat under his arm. Evidently he has
just returned from the chase, for his dog is with him, and on the floor
lie his game bag, gun, and a dead duck. To the lady he is presenting a
partridge. On a handsome _kas_ stands a statuette of Cupid.
=The Old Drinker.=--The Old Drinker represents a man with gray hair and
short gray beard, with a pipe in one hand and a mug in the other. He has
on a gray coat and a red cap edged with brown fur. He is perfectly
happy, as his joyous expression shows.
=The Breakfast.=--The Breakfast is a beautifully painted scene. At a
table covered with a Persian carpet over which is thrown a linen cloth,
a woman in a light pink bodice, a violet skirt, green apron, and white
fichu, seated at the right in profile, is pouring wine from a jug into a
tall glass. A man in a puce-colored vest is placing a dish of meat on
the table, which is already set with plates, bread, knives, and a glass.
On the left is a dark green curtain, and in the background a door is
indicated.
=Johannes Verkolje.=--Johannes Verkolje (1650-93) is represented by The
Family Concert (1673). He was the son of a locksmith in Amsterdam, and
studied with Jan Lievensz, but later imitated the highly finished style
of Gerard Pietersz Zijl (fl. 1655), whose works were in such favor. He
produced portraits, historical subjects, and conversations, delicate and
graceful in sentiment, charming in color, and excellent in drawing.
=Jan Victors's Pork Butcher.=--The Pork Butcher (1648) and The Dentist
(1654) are by Jan Victors, an artist about whom so little has been
known until recent years that he has been confused with two others of
the same name. The pork butcher is seen in the centre of the picture,
which represents a village street; the butcher is standing before his
freshly butchered quarter of pork, and a boy, in a large hat and jacket,
with yellow sleeves, with knife in hand, is helping his master, to whom
a woman is bringing a drink in a glass. On the right, a little boy
seated on a fence is blowing a bladder, while a little girl looks on and
laughs. Behind, a man is ascending a ladder into a barn. On the right a
little boy is washing a ham in a tub, and a woman is kneeling by him
with a dish.
=The Dentist.=--The pendant shows a table over which a rose-colored
umbrella is opened, and under it a charlatan is drawing the tooth of a
peasant. A man and a woman witness the operation, and three children on
the left, a peasant, and a woman with some vegetables on her head are
laughing heartily. In the foreground two dogs are quarrelling over a
bone; and in the background small figures and a village clock-tower are
visible.
=The Religious Pictures.=--The religious pictures need not detain us
long. Two or three in the style of Rembrandt: Isaac Blessing Jacob, by
Govert Flinck; The Woman Taken in Adultery, by G. van der Eckhout,
purchased in London in 1828 for 3,000 florins, and belonging to that
artist's best period; and the picture of Herodias with the Head of John
the Baptist are worth the student's attention. The latter is
particularly interesting, because, although the catalogues give it to
Cornelis Drost (1638-?), a pupil and imitator of Rembrandt, it is really
by the hand of Karel Fabritius (1624?-54), also a pupil of Rembrandt and
so close a follower that many of his pictures have passed for
Rembrandt's. The artist met with a tragic death; for he was killed in
Delft by the explosion of a powder magazine.
=Aertsen's Altarpieces.=--Of historic value are the altar wings by
Pieter Aertsen (Long Peter), The Presentation at the Temple; on the
reverse, King Balthasar, painted for the Delft church; and the Nativity
of Jesus Christ, a fragment of a picture destroyed in the fire of the
Town Hall in Amsterdam in 1652. On Dr. J. Six's authority, the rest of
this picture is in the New Church in Amsterdam. Aertsen was particularly
famous for his altarpieces, many of which were destroyed by the
Iconoclasts in 1566.
=Other Painters of Biblical Scenes.=--Of other painters whose
reputations are larger in other fields, but who are represented in this
gallery by one or two Biblical works, we may mention Berchem, with Ruth
and Boaz; Velvet Brueghel, Repose of the Holy Family, Christ Preaching
in a Fisherman's Boat, and the Adoration of the Kings, in a winter
landscape; Frans Francken II., Adoration of Jesus Christ, and The
Prodigal Son; and Maerten van Heemskerck (1498-1574), The Resurrection
of Christ. Benjamin Gerritsz Cuijp may be studied in Joseph Interpreting
the Dreams of the Baker and Butler; Dirck van Hoogstraten (1595-1640),
The Virgin, with Jesus and St. Anne; Eglon Hendrick van der Neer
(1643-1703), Young Tobias with the Angel; and Rubens, Bearing of the
Cross (a sketch for the picture in the Royal Museum in Brussels), and
Ecce Homo and Meeting of Jacob and Esau (copies).
In addition to several Biblical pictures in the Italian, Flemish, and
German schools, there are, by Francois Joseph Navez (1787-1839), Isaac
and Rebecca and the Resurrection of the Widow's Son; by A. van Dijck,
The Repentant Magdalen; (School of Van Dijck) The Holy Family; one by
Bronzino, Judith with the head of Holofernes; one of the School of Palma
Vecchio, The Holy Family; and Spain is represented by The Annunciation
to the Virgin, by Murillo (1618-82), and The Glorification of the
Virgin, by Antolines (1639-76). Hans Rottenhammer (1564-1623) has a
Virgin with the Infant Jesus (1604); Nicholas Bertin (1667-1736), Joseph
Fleeing from Potiphar's Wife, and Susannah at the Bath; Sebastian
Bourdon (1616-71), the Mystical Marriage of St. Catherine; copy after
Hieronymus van Aeken, surnamed Bosch (1462?-1516), Adoration of the
Magi; Leonard Bramer (1595-1674), a Biblical Subject(?) and King Solomon
Sacrificing to Idols; Mechior Brassauw (1709-57?), The Prodigal Son;
Peter Codde (1599?-1678), Adoration of the Shepherds; Jacob Cornelissen,
Saul and the Witch of Endor; Gasper de Craeyer (1584-1669), The
Adoration of the Shepherds and Descent from the Cross; Geertgen van St.
Jans (fifteenth century), Allegory on the Death of Jesus Christ; Barend
Graat (1628-1709), The Prodigal Son (1661); Nicolaes de Gijselaer
(1590-95-1644?), The Angel Gabriel Appearing to Zacharias in the Temple
(1625); Cornelis van Haerlem (1562-1638), Massacre of the Innocents, and
Adam and Eve in the Terrestrial Paradise; Pieter van Hanselaere, Chaste
Susannah; Frans Haseleer (1804-?), Esther before Ahasuerus; Isaac Isacsz
(1599-1648), Abimelech Giving Sarah to Abraham (1640); Cornelis Kruseman
(1797-1857), The Burial of Christ; J. A. Kruseman (1804-62), Elisha and
the Shunammite; Pieter Pietersz Lastman (1583-1633), The Sacrifice of
Abraham; Willem de Poorter (?-1645?), Solomon Sacrificing to Idols;
Joris van Schooten (1587-1651), The Adoration of the Kings (1646); Jan
van Scorel (1495-1562), St. Madeleine, Solomon and the Queen of Sheba,
and David and Bathsheba; Gerard Seghers (1591-1651), Christ and the
Penitents; Benvenuto Tisi (the Garofalo) (1481-1559), Holy Family, and
Adoration of the Magi; Tiziano Vecelli (1477-1576), Repentant Magdalen
(copy); Jan Victors (1620-82?), Joseph Interpreting Dreams (1648); Jacob
de Wet (1610?-71?), Christ Blessing the Children; Rogier van der Weyden
(1399?-1464), Descent from the Cross; and Joachim A. Wttewael
(1566-1638), David and Abigail (1597).
=Mythological Pictures combined with Landscape.=--It is noticeable that
in mythological pictures landscape forms a prominent feature. Rubens
was, doubtless, responsible for much of the popularity of this class of
art, and the vogue that the Italian landscape also enjoyed aided the
taste. Nymphs and satyrs and gods and goddesses were more appropriate
figures to introduce into the classic scenes of Italy than Dutch
peasants and cattle. We, therefore, find two classes of mythological
pictures: one in which the landscape is more important than the figures;
and one in which the figures take precedence.
Born more than half a century after Poelenburg, Gerard de Lairesse
(1641-1711), the most important Flemish painter of historical and
mythological subjects in the generation succeeding Rubens, followed
Poelenburg in his taste for Italian settings for his figures, although
he had never been to Italy. He is represented in the Rijks by Mars,
Venus, and Cupid; another of the same title, Seleucus Abdicating in
Favor of his Son Antiochus; Diana and Endymion; Virtue, an Allegory; and
two in _grisaille_,--The Revolution and Legitimate Power.
=G. de Lairesse, Portrait-painter.=--Gerard de Lairesse was the son of
an artist of some celebrity, studied under Bertholet Flemalle, and by
the age of sixteen had become known as a portrait-painter. Some
historical works for the Electors of Cologne and Brandenburg established
his reputation, and when he settled in Amsterdam he was regarded as the
greatest historical painter of his time. At the age of fifty he lost his
eyesight. His style is grand and poetical, and his background enriched
with architecture.
=More Mythological Pictures in the Rijks.=--The other mythological
pictures in this gallery are: Hendrick van Balen (1575-1632), Bacchus's
Homage to Diana; Jan Brueghel le Vieux (Velvet) (1568-1625), Latona in
Caria; Caravaggio (1569-1609), The Death of Orion; Johannes Glauber
(1646-1726), Mercury and Io, and Diana Bathing; Henricus Goltzius
(1558-1616), The Dying Adonis (1603); Hendrick Heerschop (1620 or
21-72?), Erechthonius Found by the Daughters of Cecrops; Jacob Jordaens
(1593-1678), A Satyr; Hendrik van Limborgh (1680-1759), Cupid and
Psyche; W. Ossenbeeck (?-1678), Mercury and Io (1632); Hans Rottenhammer
(1564-1623), Mars and Venus (1604); Adriaan van der Werff (1659-1722),
Cupid Embracing Venus; Pieter van der Werff (1665-after 1721), Cupid
Adorned with Flowers (1713), Young Hercules and Young Bacchus; Thomas
Willeborts (1614-54), Mars Armed by Venus; Flemish School (1610-20),
Dispute of Apollo and Pan; Dutch School (sixteenth century), Adonis
(supposed to be by Jan van Scorel); and Dietz (living in 1830), Hebe.
Here must be mentioned Rembrandt's mythological picture known by the
name of Narcissus.
=Painters of Exteriors and Painters of Interiors.=--No survey of Dutch
art would be complete without a brief account of the painters of
buildings; and these may be divided again into two classes: those who
painted the exteriors and those who painted the interiors.
=Murant and his Old Farm-house.=--The first of those who painted
exteriors seems to have been Emanuel Murant (1622-1700), a pupil of
Philips Wouwermans. He chose for his specialty Dutch village houses
which he painted with vigor and warmth, and introduced figures and
cattle into his foregrounds. These he painted himself. His works are
rare, because he spent so much time on each work that he produced few
pictures. He also spent much time in travel. His color is rich and
silvery in tone; his impasto fine, and he gives the details with great
truth and finish. By the aid of a magnifying-glass every stone in his
buildings and every leaf on his trees may be counted. The Rijks
possesses The Old Farm-house, which represents a dilapidated old house,
where a man is feeding the chickens, and there are also pigs and an old
woman at her spinning-wheel.
=Jan van der Heyden.=--Jan van der Heyden (1637-1712) was "the Gerard
Dou of architectural painters." The Rijks owns View of the Town of
Amersfoort, with delightful figures by A. van der Velde, A Drawbridge, A
Stone Bridge, and A Canal in Holland. He loved to paint canals bordered
with trees. His tone is warm, and his execution soft and free.