**596. _Gerard David._ Marriage at Cana. A splendid specimen of this
great and insufficiently recognised painter. Background of buildings at
Bruges. Every face and every portion of the decorative work, including
the jars in the foreground, should be closely noticed. The kneeling
donor is an admirable portrait. As a whole, what a contrast to the Paolo
Veronese! The pretty, innocent face of the bride, with her air of mute
wonder, is excellently rendered. I believe the donor in this work is a
younger portrait of the Canon who appears in the glorious Gerard David
in the National Gallery.
Skied above all these pictures on either side are several works by _Van
Veen_, _Jan Matsys_, _Snyders_ and others, mostly worthy of notice.
Among them, 136, _Van Dyck_, good Madonna with the Magdalen and other
saints.
We now come to the =**=great series by =Rubens= narrating the =History
of Marie de Médicis=, in the inflated allegorical style of the period.
To understand them, the spectator should first read an account of her
life in any good French history. These great decorative canvasses were
painted hurriedly, with even more than Rubens’s usual dash and freedom,
to Marie’s order, after her return from exile, for the decoration of her
rooms at the Luxembourg (see Part V) which she had just erected. Though
designed by Rubens, they were largely executed by the hands of pupils;
and while possessing all the master’s exuberant artistic qualities in
composition, they are not favourable specimens of his art, as regards
execution and technique. It is to be regretted that most Englishmen and
Frenchmen form their impressions of the painter from these vigorous but
rapid pictures, rather than from his far nobler works at Antwerp,
Munich, and Vienna. I give briefly the meaning of the series.
1. The Three Fates spin Marie’s destiny. A small panel for the side of a
door.
2. Birth of Marie at Florence. Lucina, goddess of birth, with her torch,
attends the mother. Genii scatter flowers; others hold her future crown.
In the foreground, the River God of the Arno, with his stream issuing
from an urn, and accompanied by the Florentine lion, as well as by boys
holding the Florentine lily. This curious mixture of allegorical
personages and realities is continued throughout the series.
3. Her Education, presided over by Minerva, with the aid of Mercury (to
indicate her rapidity in learning), and Apollo, as teacher of the arts.
Close by are the Graces, admirable nude figures. Among the accessories,
bust of Socrates, painting materials, etc.
4. The Genius of France in attendance upon Henri IV, while Love shows
him Marie’s portrait. The attitude of the king expresses delight and
astonishment. In the clouds, Jupiter and Juno smile compliance. Below,
little Loves steal the king’s shield and helmet.
5. Marriage of Marie by proxy. The Grand Duke Ferdinand represents the
king. Hymen holds the torch.
6. Marie lands at Marseilles, and is received by France, while Tritons
and Nereids give easy passage to her vessel. Above, her Fame. On the
vessel, the balls or _palli_ of the Medici family.
7. Consummation of the Marriage at Lyons. The town itself is seen in the
background. In the foreground, the (personified) city, crowned with a
mural coronet, and designated by her lions. Above, the King, as Jupiter,
with his eagle, and the Queen, as Juno, with her peacocks.
8. Birth of her son, afterwards Louis XIII, at Fontainebleau. Health
receives the infant. Fortune attends the Queen.
9. The King, setting out to his war against Germany, makes Marie
Regent—allegorically represented by passing her the ball of empire—and
confides to her their son.
Larger pictures: No. 10, the Coronation of the Queen, and No. 11, the
Apotheosis of Henri, the painful scene of his death being avoided. He is
represented as raised to the sky by Jupiter on one side, and Death with
his sickle on the other. Beneath, the assassin, as a serpent, wounded
with an arrow. Victory and Bellona mourning. Beyond, the allegorical
figure of France presenting the regency to Marie, with the acclamation
of the nobility and people.
12. The Queen’s government approved of by Jupiter, Juno, and the
heavenly powers. In the foreground Apollo, Mars, and Minerva (the first
copied from the antique statue known as the Belvedere), representing
courage, art, and literature, dispel calumny and the powers of darkness.
Continue on the =opposite side=, crossing over =directly=.
13. Civil discord arises. Marie starts for Anjou, attended by Victory.
Military preparations in the background.
14. The exchange of Princesses between allegorical figures of France and
Austria—each intended to marry the heir of the other empire.
15. The Happiness of the Regency. The Queen bears the scales of justice.
Plenty prevails. Literature, science, art, and beauty predominate over
evil, slander, and baseness.
16. Louis XIII attains his Majority (at 14) and mans the ship of State
in person, still attended by the counsels of his mother. The Virtues row
it.
17. Calumny overcomes the Queen. By the advice of her counsellors, she
takes refuge at Blois, escorted by Wisdom.
18. Mercury, as messenger, brings an olive branch to Marie, as a token
of reconciliation from her son, through the intermediation of Richelieu
and the Church party.
19. Marie enters the Temple of Peace, escorted by Mercury and Truth with
her torch, while blind Rage and the evil powers stand baffled behind
her.
20. Apotheosis of Marie and Louis: their reconciliation and happiness.
Final overthrow of the demons of discord.
21. Time brings Truth to light. Louis recognises the good influence of
his mother.
The history, as given in these pictures, is of course envisaged from the
point of view of a courtier, who desires to flatter and please his
patroness.
* * * * *
Beneath this great series of Rubens are a number of =Dutch and Flemish
Pictures=, mostly admirable and well worthy of attention, but, so to
speak, self-explanatory. They belong entirely to modern feeling. Dutch
and Flemish art, in its later form, is the domestic development of that
intense love of minute detail and accessories already conspicuous in Van
Eyck, Memling, and Gerard David. Sacred subjects almost disappear; the
wealthy burghers ask for portraits of themselves, their wives and
families, or landscapes for their households. I would call special
notice to the following among many which should be closely examined to
show the progress of art:—512, _Teniers_; 691, _Rubens_; 518,
_Teniers_; 238 and 239, _Van Huysum_; =*=425, a charming _Rubens_, in
his smaller and more delicate style; 147, admirable portrait by _Van
Dyck_; 513, an excellent _Teniers_; =*=461, a good portrait by _Rubens_;
125, exquisite, luminous _Gerard Dou_; next it =**=_Van der Helst’s_
Four Judges of the Guild of Cross-bow-men deciding on the prizes, one of
the most perfect specimens of this great portrait painter. Notice the
wonderful life-like expressions. Then 123, another exquisite luminous
_Dou_; 542, _Van de Velde_; 41, splendid portrait by _Bol_; 130, _Gerard
Dou_ by himself; =**=404, =Rembrandt=, Raphael leaving the house of
Tobias, a master-piece of the artist’s weird and murky
luminosity—strangely contrasted with Italian examples; 205, a good
_Hobbema_; 133, fine portrait by _Duchâtel_; 369, excellent family group
by _Van Ostade_; next it, 126, a delicious little _Dou_. But, indeed,
every one of these Dutch paintings should be examined separately, in
order to understand the characteristic Dutch virtues of delicate
handling, exquisite detail, and domestic portraiture. They are the
artistic outcome of a nation of housewives.
On the =opposite side= the series is continued with admirable
flower-pieces, landscapes by Van der Veldt and Karel du Jardin, and
several noteworthy portraits, among which notice the famous =*=_Van
Dyck_ (143) of the children of Charles I., most daintily treated. Beyond
the Rubenses, again, on this side, 144, two noble portraits by _Van
Dyck_, and several excellent examples of Philippe de Champaigne, a
Flemish artist who deeply influenced painting in France, where he
settled. =**=151, _Van Dyck’s_ Duke of Richmond, perhaps his most
splendid achievement in portraiture, deserves careful study. I do not
further enlarge upon these subjects because the names and dates of the
painters, with the descriptions given on the frames, will sufficiently
enable the judicious spectator to form his own conceptions. Devote at
least a day to Dutch and Flemish art here, and then go back to the Salon
Carré, to see how the Rembrandts, Dous, and Metsus, there unfortunately
separated from their compeers, fall into the general scheme of Dutch
development.
Good view out of either window as you pass the next archway. Look out
for these views in all parts of the Louvre. They often give you glimpses
of the minor courtyards, to which the general public are not admitted.
The =next two compartments= contain further Dutch and Flemish pictures
of high merit—portraits, still-life, landscape, and other subjects. The
scenes of village life are highly characteristic. Notice in this
connection the growing taste for =landscape=, at first with a pretence
of figures and animals, but gradually asserting its right to be heard on
its own account. In Italy, under somewhat similar commercial conditions,
we saw this taste arise in the Venetian School, with Cima, Giorgione,
and Titian; in Holland, after the Reformation put sacred art at a
discount, it became almost supreme. And note at the same time how the
Reformation in commercial countries has wholly altered the =type= of
northern art, focussing it on trivial domestic incidents.
Among the many beautiful pictures in these compartments the spectator
should at least not miss, on the L, the very charming =**=Portrait by
_Rubens_ (not quite finished) of his second wife and two children,
scarcely inferior to the lovely specimen at Munich. Near it, an
admirable Crucifixion with the Madonna, St. John, and Magdalen, more
reminiscent than is usual with Rubens of earlier compositions. On the R
side, notice a portrait of Elizabeth of France (459), by _Rubens_, in
his other, stiffer, and more courtly manner. We may well put down this
peculiarity to the wishes of the sitter. His =*=Kermesse, near it, is an
essay in the style afterwards popularized by Teniers, in which the great
artist permits his Flemish blood to overcome him, and produces a clever
but most unpleasant picture. The numerous admirable fruit and flower
pieces, works in still-life, etc., which these compartments contain,
must be studied for himself by the attentive visitor. In Rubens’ great
canvas of the Triumph of Religion, painted for a Spanish commission,
observe his curious external imitation of Spanish tendencies.
After having completed his examination of the Long Gallery, the visitor
may next proceed to the five small rooms—IX, X, XI, XII, and XIII on
Baedeker’s map—devoted to
The German, English and Early French Schools.
Among the =early German works= in the 2nd of these rooms, the visitor
may particularly notice (=*=22), _Hans Holbein’s_ portrait of Southwell,
full of character. Above it, a quaint Venus by _Cranach_, instinct with
the northern conception of the crude nude. Next, two good portraits by
_Holbein_. In the centre of this wall, =*=a Descent from the Cross, of
the School of Cologne, which should be compared with similar pictures of
the Italian and Flemish Schools. The somewhat exaggerated expression of
grief on all the faces is strongly characteristic of German tendencies.
The figure of the Magdalen, to the R, strikes the German keynote; so
does Joseph of Arimathea receiving the Crown of Thorns. Study this well,
for coincidences with and differences from Italian treatment. Beyond it,
two fine _Holbeins_, of the astronomer Kratzer, and =*=Warham,
Archbishop of Canterbury, the latter a marvellous piece of painting. The
opposite wall also contains good portraits and sacred pieces, among
which an altar-piece by the “Master of the Death of the Virgin,”
deserves careful study. (Most early German masters are unknown to us by
name, and are thus identified by their most famous pictures.) The Last
Supper in this work, below, is largely borrowed from Leonardo. Compare
with the copy of Leonardo’s fresco at Milan in the Long Gallery,
probably by Marco da Oggionno, which hangs near the Vierge aux Rochers.
The Adoration of the Magi (597), should also be compared with the
Italian examples; notice in particular the burgher character of the
Three Kings, which is essentially German. The other works in this room
can be sufficiently studied (for casual observers) by the aid of the
labels.
The =English Room= contains a few examples of English masters of the
last and present century, none of them first-rate. The most famous is
the frequently reproduced Little Girl with Cherries by the pastellist
_John Russel_. It is a pleasing work, but not good in colour.
The next room, with an admirable view from the window, begins the
=Modern French School= (in the wide sense), and contains Le Sueur’s
History of the Life of St. Bruno, painted for a Carthusian monastery
near the Luxembourg—of which order the saint was the founder. They are
characteristic examples of the French work of the early 17th century,
and they exhibit the beginnings of the national tendencies in art. The
legends are partially explained on the frames, and more fully in Mrs.
Jameson’s “Monastic Orders.” On a cursory inspection, the observer will
notice the marked French tendency in the 9th, 7th, 21st, and 22nd of the
series. Cold and lifeless in design and colour, these feeble works have
now little more than a historical interest.