Panel with Our Lady and Virgin Saints, what is called a “=Paradise
Picture=,” apparently painted for a church or nunnery in Cologne, and
with the chief patronesses of the city churches or chapels grouped
around in adoration. Our Lady, with her typical German features, sits in
front, in a robe of blue, before a crimson damask curtain upheld by
angels. Her face is sweetly and insipidly charming. She holds a regal
court among her ladies. In front of her kneels the Magdalen, with her
long hair and pot of ointment. To the L., St. Catherine of Alexandria,
crowned as princess, and with her wheel embroidered in pearls on her red
robe as a symbol. The Infant Christ places the ring on her finger.
Further L., St. Cecilia with a bell, substituted in northern art (where
the chimes in the belfry were so important) for the organ which she
holds in Italy. Then, St. Lucy, with her eyes in a dish, and St.
Apollonia, holding her tooth in a pair of pincers. In front of these
two, in a richly brocaded dress, and beautiful crown, St. Ursula, the
great martyr of Cologne, with the arrows of her martyrdom lying at her
feet. To Our Lady’s right, St. Barbara, in a purple robe trimmed with
ermine and embroidered with her tower (of three windows), offers a rose
to the Infant. Her necklet is of towers. As usual in northern art, she
balances St. Catherine. Beside her kneels St. Agnes, in red, with her
lamb, and her ruby ring: beyond whom are St. Helena with the cross
(wearing a simple Roman circlet), St. Agatha, holding her own severed
breast in the pincers, and St. Cunera with the cradle and arrow, one of
the martyred companions of St. Ursula. In the background, the True Vine
on a trellis, the garden of roses (“is my sister, my spouse”), and a
landscape of the Rhine, in which St. George kills the dragon. This is a
particularly fine composition of the old German School.
65 and 66. **Dierick Bouts: Two companion panels, life-size figures,
known as =the Justice of the Emperor Otho=, and painted for the
Council-Room of the Hôtel-de-Ville at Louvain, as a warning to
evil-doers, perjurers, or unjust magistrates. (Compare the Gerard David
of the Flaying of Sisamnes in the Academy at Bruges.) It is first
necessary to understand _the story_. During the absence of the Emperor
Otho in Italy (according to tradition), his empress made advances to a
gentleman of the court, who rejected her offers. Piqued by this rebuff,
the empress denounced him to Otho on his return as having attempted to
betray her honour. Otho, without further testimony, had the nobleman
beheaded. His widow appeared before the Emperor’s judgment-seat, bearing
her husband’s head in her hands, and offered to prove his innocence by
the ordeal of fire. She therefore held a red-hot iron in her hand
unhurt. Otho, convinced of his wife’s treachery by this miraculous
evidence, had the perjured empress burned alive. The _first panel_, to
the R., represents the scene in two separate moments. Behind, the
nobleman, in his shirt and with his hands tied, walks towards the place
of execution, accompanied by his wife in a red dress and black hood, as
well as by a Franciscan friar. In the foreground, the executioner
(looking grimly stern) has just decapitated the victim, and is giving
the head to the wife in a towel. The headless corpse lies on the ground
before him. The neck originally spurted blood; flowers have been painted
in to conceal this painful element. All round stand spectators, probably
portraits of the Louvain magistrates, admirably rendered in Bouts’s dry
and stiff but life-like manner. Behind them, within a walled garden
belonging to a castle in the background, stand the Emperor with his
sceptre and crown, and the faithless Empress. Good town and landscape to
the L. The _second panel_, to the L., separated from this by a large
triptych, represents the nobleman’s wife appearing before the enthroned
Otho. In her right hand she holds her husband’s head; with her left she
grasps the red-hot iron, unmoved. The brazier of charcoal in which it
has been heated stands on the parti-coloured marble floor in the
foreground. Around are several portraits of courtiers. Behind is
represented the scene of the empress burning, which closes the episode.
I need not call attention to the admirable painting of the fur, the
green coat, Otho’s flowered red robe, the dog, the throne, and all the
other accessories. This is considered Dierick Bouts’s masterpiece. (Go
later to Louvain to complete your idea of him.)
Between these two pictures are arranged =five of the finest works= in
the collection.
292 and 293. =Memling=: **Portraits of William Moreel (or Morelli),
Burgomaster of Bruges, and his wife Barbara, the same persons
(Savoyards) who are represented in the St. Christopher triptych in the
Academy at Bruges. Their daughter is the Sibyl Sambetha of the St.
John’s Hospital. Both portraits, but especially the Burgomaster’s, are
good, hard, dry pictures.
515. Memling: **Triptych: perhaps painted in Italy (if I permitted
myself an opinion, I would say, doubtfully by Memling). At any rate, it
is for the Sforza family of Milan. _Central panel_, the Crucifixion,
with Our Lady and St. John. Beautiful background of a fanciful
Jerusalem. Sun and moon darkened. In the foreground kneel Francesco
Sforza in armour, his wife Bianca Visconti, and his son Galeazzo-Maria.
Behind the duke, his coat of arms. _Left panel_: the Nativity. In the
foreground St. Francis with the Stigmata, as patron saint of Francesco,
and St. Bavon with his falcon. _Right panel_: St. John the Baptist, as
patron saint of Giovanni Galeazzo. Below, St. Catherine with her sword
and wheel, and St. Barbara with her tower, two charming figures. I do
not know the reason of their introduction, but they are common pendants
of one another in northern art. You can get an attendant to unfasten the
_outer wings_ of the triptych for you, but they are not important. They
contain, in grisaille, L., St. Jerome and the lion; R., St. George and
the dragon. (The presence of St. Bavon in this enigmatic picture leads
me to suppose it was painted for a church at Ghent. But what were the
Sforza family doing there? Perhaps it has reference to some local
business of the Sforzas in Flanders.)
190. =**Roger van der Weyden=: Portrait of Charles the Bold of Burgundy,
wearing the Golden Fleece. An excellent and characteristic piece of
workmanship. The arrow has a meaning: it is the symbol of St. Sebastian,
to whom (as plague-saint) Charles made a vow in illness, and whom ever
after he specially reverenced.
294. Memling: **Portrait of an unknown man, which may be contrasted for
its comparative softness of execution with the harder work of his master
beside it. Above these:—
211. Triptych, by Heemskerck (early Dutch School), representing,
_Centre_, the Entombment, Christ borne, as usual, by Nicodemus and
Joseph of Arimathea. In front, the crown of thorns. Behind, the
Magdalen; then the Madonna and St. John, the two Maries, and an unknown
man holding a vase of ointment. _L. and R._ the donor and his wife, with
their patron saints Peter and Mary Magdalen (keys, box of ointment).
542. =*Dierick Bouts= of Louvain: The Last Supper. A fine and
characteristic example of the town painter of Louvain. The faces are
those of peasants or small bourgeois. To the right are the donors,
entering as spectators: their faces are excellent. Judas sits in front
of the table. The Christ is insipid. Note the admirable work of the
pavement and background. The servant is a good feature. If you have
Conway with you, compare this picture with the engraving of the very
similar one by Bouts at Louvain, (p. 277:) only, the architecture there
is Gothic, here Renaissance.
139. *Descent from the Cross (Van der Weyden or his school). Notice the
white sheet on which the body is laid, as later in the great Rubens.
Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea support the body, St. John and one of
the Maries holds the fainting Madonna. Left, the Magdalen, with her long
hair. By her feet, her box of ointment. Close beside it, the nails,
hammer and pincers. (M. Lafenestre, following Bode, attributes this
picture to Petrus Christus, but with a query.)
29. Pleasing transitional Madonna, School of Van Orley, somewhat Italian
in feeling, in a pretty arcade, with nice landscape background.
Above these, 109, a triptych, by Coninxloo. _Centre_, Family of St.
Anne. Interesting for comparison with the great Quentin Matsys in the
centre of the room. L., Joachim’s offering rejected in the Temple (small
episodes behind). R., the death of St. Anne. Come back to the central
panel after you have viewed the Quentin Matsys. (The component
personages are explained there.)
543. Tolerable triptych, Flemish school, representing the events of the
Infancy. _Centre_, Adoration of the Shepherds, with the usual
conventional features (ruined temple, shed, ox and ass, etc.), and St.
Joseph holding his candle, as often, to indicate night time. _Left_,
Annunciation, with the usual position of the angel reversed. Otherwise,
the portico and other features persist. Compare the great Van Eyck at
Ghent, from which some elements here are borrowed. _Right_, the
Circumcision. Symbolical figure of Moses on altar, full of the symbolism
of Van der Weyden’s school. (Outer shutters, uninteresting, SS.
Catharine and Barbara.)
585. Above it, good family group of a donor and his sons, with St.
George; and his wife and daughters, with St. Barbara. (The crucifixes
mark monks and nuns.)
At the corner, 624, German school. St. Mary Magdalen and St. Thomas, on
gold background. Companion piece to 624. At opposite end.
626. School of Martin Schongauer: Christ and the Magdalen in the house
of the Pharisee. Very contorted. Compare with the Gossart.
Above it, 106, Flemish school. Mass of St. Gregory, with the Crucified
Christ appearing on the altar. (Recall the Pourbus at Bruges.) A most
unpleasant picture. Behind, are the elements of the Passion. L., the
donors; R., Souls in Purgatory, relieved by masses. Many minor episodes
occupy the area.
On either side of it, *27, 28, beautiful soft-toned German portraits
(? by Beham) of two children, Maximilian II. and his sister Anne of
Austria.
563. Lombard: Unimportant picture, meaninglessly described as Human
Misfortunes. It seems to commemorate an escape from shipwreck and from
plagues by the same person. _L. panel_: A ship sinking; a man saved on
the shore. In the background, under divine direction of an angel, he
finds his lost gold in a fish’s body. _R. panel_, He lies ill of plague,
while above is seen the miracle of St. Gregory and the Angel of the
Plague (Michael) sheathing his sword on the Castle of St. Angelo.
540. Virgin and Child. Attributed without much certainty to Petrus
Christus.
535. Good unknown Flemish picture of the *Assumption of Our Lady
(closely resembling No. 534, which see again). The empty tomb stands in
the midst, with lilies; around, St. Peter and St. James, and the other
apostles; above, Our Lady ascending, borne by a duplicated figure of
Christ (one standing for the Holy Ghost), in an almond-shaped glory. R.,
Her Funeral, with St. Peter wearing the triple crown; L., St. Thomas
receiving the girdle from an angel. Compare with 534, which Lafenestre
judges to be the work of a different artist.
567. Good portrait attributed to Bernard Van Orley.
596. Six panels: Flemish School. Ornate, but not interesting. (1) The
Lord creating Eve; in the background the Temptation. (2) Abraham, Sarah,
and Isaac; in the background in three successive scenes, Abraham’s
Sacrifice. (3) Noah and his Family with the Ark. (4) Esau asks the
Blessing of Isaac. (5) Meeting of Jacob and Esau. Note the grotesquely
urban conception of the Semitic nomads. (6) The Nativity.
559. Attributed to Van Orley. Pietà, with the usual group, and family of
donors. Interesting as a work of transition.
Above it, 580. Triptych, with Descent from the Cross, Flemish school.
Usual figures; identify them. On the wings, L., Agony in the Garden,
Kiss of Judas, Peter and Malchus: R., The Resurrection. Noli Me Tangere,
Disciples at Emmaus, etc.
107. P. Coecke, 16th century: A Last Supper. Only interesting as showing
transition. Compare with Dierick Bouts.
Above it, 300. Patinier: Dead Christ on the knees of the Virgin (Our
Lady of the Seven Sorrows), painfully emaciated. A sword pierces Our
Lady’s breast (and will recur often). Around it, the rest of the Seven
Sorrows. Note the landscape, characteristic of the painter.
12. (Old number; no new number.) Coninxloo: Joachim and Anna, with the
rejected offering. From them, a genealogical tree bears the Madonna and
Child. L. and R., the Angel appearing to Joachim, and Joachim and Anna
at the Golden Gate. (Read up the legend.) Curious architectural setting.
301. Good portrait by an unknown (transitional) Fleming (Van Orley?),
probably of a lawyer; the charters seem to indicate a secretary of
Maximilian and Charles V.
The place of honour in the centre of the room is occupied by 299, a
magnificent =**triptych= by =Quentin Matsys=, one of the noblest works
of the _transitional school_, strangely luminous, with very
characteristic and curious colouring. It represents the favourite
Flemish subject of =the Family of St. Anne=. (It was painted for the
Confraternity of St. Anne at Louvain, and stood as an altar-piece in the
church of St. Pierre.) _Central panel_: An arcade, in the middle arch of
which appears St. Anne, in red and purple (throughout), offering grapes
to the Divine Child, who holds a bullfinch, and is seated on the lap of
Our Lady. R., Mary Salome, with her two sons James and John. L., Mary
Cleophas, with her sons James the Less, Simon, Thaddæus, and Joseph the
Just. Behind the parapet, beside St. Anne, her husband Joachim; and
beside Mary Salome, her husband Zebedee. Beside Our Lady, her husband
Joseph; beside Mary Cleophas, her husband Alphæus. Beautiful blue
mountain landscape. _L. panel_: The angel appearing to Joachim, in a
magnificent blue landscape. Joachim’s dress is constant. The angel’s
robe is most delicious in colour. _R. panel_: The Death of St. Anne,
with Our Lady and the other Maries in attendance. Behind, their
husbands. The young Christ gives the benediction.
Now, go round to the _back of the picture_, to observe the _outer
wings_. L., St. Joachim driven from the Temple by the High Priest R.
(chronologically the first), Joachim and Anna (much younger), making
their offerings (on marriage) to the High Priest in the Temple. (Same
High Priest, younger; same dresses.) The portrait behind recalls the
earlier Flemish manner; otherwise, the work is full of incipient
transition to the Renaissance. Little episode of Joachim and Anna
distributing alms in the background. (When the triptych is closed, this
wing comes in its proper place as first of the series.)
191. =Jan van Eyck=: (attribution doubtful; probably a later artist,
perhaps Gerard David): The Adoration of the Magi. Another good example
of this favourite Flemish subject. In the foreground, the Madonna and
Child: one of Van Eyck’s most pleasing faces (if his). Then, the Old
King, kneeling; the Middle-aged King, half-kneeling; and the Young King,
a Moor, with his gift, behind. (The Old King in such pictures has almost
always deposited his gift.) In the background, Joseph, and the retinue
of the Magi. Ruined temple, shed, ox, ass, etc., as usual.
291. Dierick Bouts: *Martyrdom of St. Sebastian. Characteristic peasant
face; admirable cloak and background.
Now go into the next hall, marked
ROOM II.
on the plan. This contains mainly German and Flemish pictures of the
=transition=.
Right of the door, 338. Very Raphaelesque Holy Family by Bernard Van
Orley, showing in the highest degree the Italian influence on this
originally quite Flemish painter.
Above it, 92 and 92A. Portraits of the Micaul family.
105. J. Joest: St. Anne enthroned, Joseph, Our Lady, the Infant. Early
transitional.
193. Jean Gossaert, Adam and Eve. Good later Flemish nude.
50. J. Bosch: Appalling Flemish Temptation of St. Anthony, with perhaps
the silliest and most grotesquely repulsive devils ever painted.
2. Aertsen: *The Dutch Cook. A famous picture, showing well the earlier
stages of Dutch _genre_ development.
217. Van Hemessen: _Genre_ piece, absurdly given the name of The
Prodigal Son, by a sort of prescription, but really a Flemish tavern
scene of the sort which afterwards appealed to Dutch artists. A
characteristic work: transitional, but with good humorous faces,
especially to the right. Painters still thought all pictures must
pretend to be sacred.
591. German Adoration of the Magi. A fragment only.
603. Herri met de Bles: The Temptation of St. Anthony. Figures and
landscape show Italian influence.
336. Transitional Adoration of the Shepherds. Observe the growing
Renaissance feeling and Italian influence.
247, 248. Excellent portraits by Adrien Key.
41. Lancelot Blondeel: St. Peter enthroned as Pope: in one of his usual
extravagant architectural frameworks. In circles above, his Imprisonment
and Crucifixion.
Close by, unnumbered, two excellent portraits.
81. P. Brueghel the Younger: absurdly called The Census at Bethlehem. In
reality a Flemish winter scene.
318. Sir Anthony More: *Portrait of the =Duke of Alva=, with the firm
lips and cruel eyes of the ruthless Spaniard. One understands him.
359. Good portrait by Pourbus of a plump and well-fed Flemish gentleman.
80. P. Brueghel the Younger: Described as the Massacre of the Innocents.
Flemish winter. The beginning of _genre_ painting.
Most of the pictures skied above these are of some interest for
comparison with earlier examples of the same subjects.
565. Unknown French portrait of Edward VI. of England. Hard and dry and
of little artistic value.
566. Tolerable Flemish portrait of Guillaume de Croy (Golden Fleece).
573. Good Flemish portrait of a woman, dated 1504.
555. Flemish school: Annunciation. Chiefly interesting for its
conventional features, and its very quaint figure of St. Mary of Egypt,
with her three loaves, in the R. panel.
124B. (Old number; no new number given.) Unusual combined picture of St.
Jerome, uniting the subjects usually known as St. Jerome in the Desert
and St. Jerome in his Study.
622. Fine German portrait of the early 17th century.
316. Good strong portrait, by Sir Anthony More, of Hubert Goltzius.
123. =Cranach= the Elder (German 16th cent.): *Adam and Eve. Fine
specimens of the later northern nude of the early Renaissance,
interesting for comparison with the cruder realism of Van Eyck. As yet,
however, even the figure of Eve has relatively little idealism or
beauty. Excellent stag in the background.
361. A good Pourbus. Beyond the door, 536, Flemish school: (Hugo Van der
Goes?). Donor, a lady in a nun’s dress (?), with her name-saint, St.
Barbara, bearing her palm as a martyr: in the background, her tower with
the three windows. To balance it, 536, Her brother (?) or husband, with
his patron, St. James. (Staff and scallop-shell.)
Above, 84, Triptych by Jan Coninxloo of the History of St. Nicholas.
(The wings are misplaced.) _R. wing_ (it should be L.), St. Nicholas,
three days old, stands up in his bath to thank God for having brought
him into the world. _Central panel_, the young St. Nicholas enthroned as
Bishop of Myra. _L. wing_ (should be R.), The Death of St. Nicholas,
with angels standing by to convey his soul to Heaven. A good
transitional Flemish picture. Beneath, tolerable portraits.
361A. A late Flemish Virgin, with portrait of the donor and St. Francis
receiving the stigmata.
572. Sir Anthony More. Portrait. Above it, 595, an Entombment, where
note again the conventional grouping.
337. Wings of a triptych by Bernard van Orley. The centre is missing.
L., Martyrdom of St. Matthias. R., The Doubting Thomas. In the
background, Lazarus and Dives, and other episodes. Renaissance
architecture.
4. Van Alsloot: The Procession of the Body of St. Gudula at Brussels: of
the Spanish period, with the guilds named. Interest purely
archæological. Each guild carries its mace and symbol. (The second part
comes later.)
586. Above this, skied, are four good female saints, transitional, named
on labels.
574. Portrait, of the school of Van Orley: lady with a pink, pleasing.
Italian influence is obvious.
505. Portrait of a lady, by M. De Vos. Early 17th century, marking the
latest transitional period. It belongs to a destroyed triptych.
79. Breughel the Elder: St. Michael the Archangel conquering the devils.
A hideous nightmare of a morbid and disordered imagination.
627. Crucifixion, by an unknown German, with small figures of donors,
and Rhine background.
597. German school. Tree of Jesse, of purely symbolical interest.
504. *Portrait by M. De Vos. Probably husband of (and pendant to) the
previous one. It was the other wing of the same triptych.
5. Van Alsloot: Remainder of the Procession of St. Gudula, with a quaint
dragon, and the Maison du Roi in the background. Observe, near the
centre, the personification of the patron, St. Michael: elsewhere are
St. Christopher, Ste. Gudule, etc.
561. Two panels from a triptych attributed to Van Orley. Centre,
missing. L., The Birth of the Virgin. Note this for the conventional
features: St. Anne in bed; attendant feeding her: bath for infant. In
the background presentation of the Virgin in the Temple: Joachim and
Anna below: the Virgin ascending: the High Priest welcoming her: the
Virgins of the Lord by the side. R., Joachim’s offering rejected. In the
background, the meeting of Joachim and Anna at the Golden Gate, and the
angel foretelling the Birth of the Virgin. Compare this with the great
Quentin Matsys, observing especially the money falling from the table.
76. Another example of a later Last Judgment.
584. Mostart: Two stories from the life of St. Benedict. (1) The miracle
of his dinner. (2) As a youth, he mends by prayer the dish broken by his
nurse. (See Mrs. Jameson’s _Monastic Orders_.)
Now pass through Room [VIII.], containing chiefly late Italian and
French pictures (which neglect for the present) and go on into
CORRIDOR A,
to the L., overlooking the Sculpture Gallery. This takes us at once into
the =Later Flemish school= of Rubens and his followers, whose works fill
all these large corridors, which are admirably adapted for them. Begin
to the R. of the door. (Remember that I do not attempt criticism, but
confine myself to historical indications.)
230. Jordaens: Fine landscape, with city to the right. As yet, however,
landscape dare not stand entirely on its own merits. Therefore, we have
here in the foreground figures of Eleazar and Rebecca at the well, which
retain the tradition that pictures must have some sort of sacred
purpose.
194A. Unknown. Interior of a picture-gallery, with well-known pictures.
L. of the door. 465. Van Thulden: Flemish Wedding Feast. Landscape is
beginning to triumph now; it gets rid of all pretence of sacredness, but
still retains small figures in the foreground. Landscape for landscape’s
sake is hardly yet dreamed of.
135. De Crayer, one of the best imitators of Rubens: *Adoration of the
Shepherds, in the master’s manner.
179A. Good Still Life by Fyt.
379. =Rubens=: **Coronation of the Virgin by God the Father and the Son,
the Holy Ghost hovering above in a glory. This altar-piece, for an altar
of Our Lady, is a magnificent specimen of the master’s rich and luminous
colouring. The crimson robe of the Christ, the blue and lilac harmony on
the Madonna, and the faint yellow of the Father’s robe, are admirably
contrasted. So are the darkness of the lower clouds and the luminosity
of the upper region, recalling Titian’s famous Assumption at Venice. The
little boy angels are sweet and characteristic. Here you may begin to
appreciate the force, the dash, the lavish wealth of Rubens. (According
to Rooses, however, the work of a pupil, touched up by the master.)
Then, unnumbered, Jordaens: *Susannah and the Elders: a very Flemish and
matronly Susannah. The nude of Rubens, without the glorious touch of the
master: but a good picture.
392. Study by the same for the ceiling in Whitehall.
386. Fine *portrait by Rubens of a fair man (J. C. de Cordes). “Inferior
work.” (Fromentin.)
390. Rubens: **Charming little Madonna and Child (called “Our Lady of
the Forget-me-not”), in a garden of roses (the landscape by J.
Brueghel). One of his best small pictures, in a careful style.