_Mars_ and the _Mercury and Argus_, while the third and most beautiful
is the _Venus at the Mirror_ recently purchased for our national
collection. These were all of them painted for the decoration of the
royal palaces, and we may therefore suppose that the artist was not
entirely at liberty either in the choice of his subject or in his method
of treating it. Certainly he does not seem to have been fond of painting
the nude, unless with men, and it is noticeable that he has posed his
model in this case with more modesty and reserve than is to be observed
in the pictures of Rubens and Titian. The Holy Church was sternly averse
to this class of painting, in which, accordingly, none of the Spanish
school indulged; but at the same time the royal galleries did not
exclude the most exuberant fancies of Rubens, Titian, Tintoretto, and
others, and Velasquez was in all probability commissioned by Philip to
paint this Venus--and another which has perished--along with the Mars
and Mercury without regard to the ecclesiastical authorities. But it is
hardly surprising if Velasquez availed himself less fully of the
privilege than a Flemish or Italian painter would no doubt have done,
and has given us so chaste and beautiful a realisation of the goddess.
Having regard to the scepticism with which this masterpiece was received
in England at the time of its purchase for the nation it is worth
quoting Senor Beruete's remarks upon it in that connection. "The
authenticity of this work," he writes "has found numerous doubters in
Spain, less on account of its subject--being the only nude female figure
in the whole _oeuvre_ of Velasquez--than because so few people ever
suspected its existence; but after it was exhibited at Manchester in
1857 and in London in 1890, it was recognised that its attribution to
Velasquez was well founded. At the sight of the canvas all doubt
vanishes. There, indeed, is the style, the inimitable technique of
Velasquez."
This, from the connoisseur who has devoted years of study to the work of
the master, and who rejects such well established examples as the
Dulwich _Philip IV._ and the _Admiral Pulido Pareja_, is surely more
conclusive than the academic pedantry of ignorance masquerading as
authority.
* * * * *
BARTOLOME ESTEBAN MURILLO (1617-1682) has always been accounted the most
popular of the Spanish painters, and it is only in recent times that his
popularity has faded into comparative insignificance on the fuller
recognition and understanding of the genius of Velasquez. The intensely
Anglican feeling in this country during the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries
[Illustration: PLATE XIX.--VELAZQUEZ
THE ROKEBY VENUS
_National Gallery, London_]
seems to have found peculiar relief in the sentimental aspirations of
the followers of Raphael in the rendering of religious subjects from the
Romish point of view. At the present time we are readier to estimate
Murillo's justly high place in the annals of painting by such a picture
as his own portrait, lent by Lord Spencer to the recent Exhibition, than
to allow it on the strength of our recollection of the Madonnas and Holy
Families, Immaculate Conceptions and Assumptions, of which there exist
so many copies in the dining rooms of country rectories. The _Boy
Drinking_, which is here reproduced, if it is the least "important" of
the four examples in the National Gallery, is certainly not the least
excellent.
From the miserable state into which Spain had fallen by the end of the
seventeenth century, it could hardly be expected that anything further
in the nature of art would result, and it was not until towards the end
of the eighteenth that another genius arose, in the person of FRANCISCO
GOYA (1746-1828). Of this extraordinary phenomenon in the firmament of
art it is impossible to say more than a very few words in this place.
Like a meteor, he is rather to be pointed at than talked about, when
there are so many stars and planets whose regular courses have to be
observed and recorded. He was like a sharp knife drawn across the face
of Spain, gashing it here and there, but for the most part just touching
it lightly enough to sting and to leave a mark. As a Court painter he
was an unqualified success, his salary under Charles IV. rising in ten
years from 15,000 to 50,000 reals; but his official productions are not
the less devoid of interest on that account, and are sometimes the more
satirical from the necessity for concealment. In his more outspoken
works, such as the _Disasters of War_, and the series of prints called
_Los Caprichos_ and _Tauromachia_, he is too brutal not to affect the
ordinary observer's judgment upon his artistic qualities. Velasquez
himself could scarcely stop short enough, when painting dwarfs and
idiots and cripples, to let us admire his genius unhampered by shivers
of repulsion. Goya, being exactly the opposite of Velasquez in
temperament, had no scruples about expressing the utmost of his subject;
and even in decorating a church was reproved for "falling short of the
standard of chastity" required. But between the extremes of brutality
and conventionalism there is such a wide expanse of pure joy of painting
that nothing can diminish the reputation of Goya, however much it is
likely to be enhanced. To the modern Spanish painter he is probably as
fixed a beacon as Velasquez.
[Illustration: PLATE XX.--MURILLO
A BOY DRINKING
_National Gallery, London_]
_FLEMISH SCHOOL_
I
HUBERT AND JAN VAN EYCK
In 1383, on the death of Louis de Maele, his son-in-law Philip the
Hardy, Duke of Burgundy, assumed the government of Flanders. In the same
year Philip founded the Carthusian Convent at Dijon and employed a
Flemish painter named Melchin Broederlam to embellish two great shrines
within it. To the strong-handed policy of Philip and his successors
during the ensuing century may be attributed the rise of Netherlandish
art which, though existing before their time, required their vigorous
repression of intestine feuds to give it an opportunity of developing.
Under Louis and his predecessors Flanders and its cities had risen to
great commercial importance, but its rulers had neither the strength nor
the prestige to keep the turbulent spirit of their subjects in due
bounds. The school of painting which now arose so rapidly to perfection
under the Dukes of Burgundy thus owed a portion of its progress to the
wealth and independence of the commercial classes. The taste, power, and
cultivation of a Court gave it an additional spur; and the clergy
throwing in their weight, added their support in aid of art.
Two wings of one of the Dijon shrines are still preserved in the museum
there, and in these Messrs Crowe and Cavalcaselle observe the
characteristics of much that was to follow:--"Although Melchior's style
was founded on the study of the painters of the Rhine, his composition
was similar to the later productions of the Flemish school. A tendency
to realism already marks this early Fleming, and is the distinctive
feature of a manner in which the painter strives to imitate nature in
its most material forms. Idealism and noble forms are lacking, but
Broederlam is a fair imitator of the truth. Distinctive combination and
choice of colours in draperies, and vigorous tone, characterise him as
they do the early works at Bruges and other cities of the Netherlands
which may be judged by his standard." And again, "the painter evidently
struggled between the desire to give a material imitation, and the
inspirations of graceful teachers like those of Cologne.... Penetrated
with similar ideas the early Flemings might under similar circumstances
have risen to a sweet and dignified conception of nature; and if we fail
to discover that they attained this aim we must attribute the failure to
causes peculiar to Flanders. Amongst these we may class the social
status of the Flemish painters, whose positions in the household of
princes subjected them perhaps to caprices unfavourable to the
development of high aspirations, or the contemplation and free communion
with self which are the soul of art."
It is interesting to compare these observations, so far as they refer to
the realism which characterises Netherlandish painting, with those of Dr
Waagen, who it will be seen explains it on the broader grounds of
national temperament. "Early Netherlandish painting," he contends, "in
its freedom from all foreign influence, exhibits the contrast between
the natural feeling of the Greek and the German races respectively in
the department of art--these two races being the chief representatives
of the cultivation of the ancient and the modern world. In this
circumstance consists the high significance of this school when
considered in reference to the general history of art. While it is
characteristic of the Greek feeling--from which was derived the
Italian--to idealise,--and to idealise, be it observed, not only the
conceptions of the ideal world but even such material objects as
portraits,--by the simplification of forms and the prominence given to
the more important parts of a work of art, the early Netherlanders, on
the other hand, conferred a portrait-like character upon the most ideal
personifications of the Virgin, the Apostles, Prophets, and Martyrs, and
in actual portraiture aimed at rendering even the most accidental
peculiarities of nature, like warts and wrinkles, with excruciating
fidelity.
"While the Greeks expressed the various features of outward nature--such
as rivers, fountains, hills, trees, etc.--under abstract human forms,
the Netherlanders endeavoured to express them as they had seen them in
nature, and with a truth which extended to the smallest details.
"In opposition to the ideal, and what may be called the personifying
tendency of the Greeks, the Netherlanders developed a purely realistic
and landscape school.
"In this respect the other Teutonic nations are found to approach them
most nearly, the Germans first, and then the English."
But whatever may have been the causes which produced the distinguishing
features of Netherlandish painting, we have still to enquire the origin
from which the practice of painting in northern Europe proceeded. For
in taking Melchior Broederlam as a starting-point we are only going as
far back--with the exception of certain rude wall paintings--as the
earliest examples take us; and having seen how in Italy the whole
history of the art is traceable to Cimabue, Duccio, and Giotto, through
the Byzantines, at least a century before Broederlam comes under our
notice, we might naturally conclude that it was from Italy that it
spread to Cologne, and from Cologne to the Netherlands. So far as is
known, however, this was not the case, and we must look elsewhere than
to Italy for the influences which formed this school. Nevertheless it
was a collateral branch of the same stock--Byzantine art--and the family
resemblance comes out none the less strongly from the two branches
having developed under different circumstances. In Italy, as we have
seen, the Byzantine seed, sown in such fertile soil, attained suddenly a
great luxuriance. In the north, transplanted by Charlemagne to
Aix-la-Chapelle in the ninth century, it grew slowly and more timidly,
but none the less surely, under the cover of Monasticism, in the
manuscripts illuminated with miniatures; and thus when it did burst
forth into fuller blossom, the boldness of the Italian masters, who
worked at large in fresco, was wanting, and a detailed and almost
meticulous realism was its chief characteristic. Another point worth
noticing is that though primarily introduced for religious purposes, as
in Italy, namely the decoration of the cathedral erected by Charlemagne
at Aix-la-Chapelle, the paintings in his palace showed forth events in
his own life, such as his campaigns in Spain, seiges of towns and feats
of arms by Frankish warriors. At Upper Ingelheim, likewise, his chapel
was adorned with scenes from the Old and New Testaments, while the
banqueting hall exhibited on one wall the deeds of great Pagan rulers,
such as Cyrus, Hannibal, and Alexander, and on the other those of
Constantine and Theodosius, the seizure of Acquitaine by Pepin, and
Charlemagne's own conquest over the Saxons and finally himself enthroned
as conqueror. Although no trace remains of these paintings, contemporary
manuscripts executed by his order are still in existence in the
libraries of Paris, Treves, and elsewhere from which we can form some
idea of the style in which they were rendered and of the source from
which they were derived.
Of these we need only mention the Vulgate decorated by JOHN OF BRUGES,
painter to King Charles V. of France, in 1371, which contains a portrait
of the king in profile with a figure kneeling before him, and a few
small historical subjects. From these it is evident that the art of
painting, at any rate in little, had made considerable progress in the
Netherlands at that date, and the express designation of _pictor_
applied to John of Bruges, while the ordinary miniaturist was called
_illuminator_, shows the probability of his having painted pictures on a
larger scale. The high development of realistic feeling as it first
appears to us in the pictures of Hubert and Jan van Eyck is thus partly
accounted for, especially when we also consider the wholesale
destruction of larger works of art that took place in the disturbed
condition of the Netherlands in the sixteenth century. The main points,
however, to be borne in mind is that whereas Cimabue and Duccio started
painting on walls under the influence of Byzantine teachers, Hubert van
Eyck, a century later, began painting on wooden panels under that of
illuminators and painters in books.
To these, nevertheless, there must be added another scarcely less
important, namely, that the early Italians were ignorant of the use of
what we now call oil paints, and worked entirely in tempera--that is to
say, there was no admixture of oil or varnish with their pigments. To
Hubert van Eyck is attributed the invention of the modern practice, as
Vasari relates with more colour than historic truth in his life of
Antonello da Messina, who is supposed to have carried it into Italy. Be
that as it may, the works of the van Eycks and their successors are all
in oils, and there is no doubt that the employment of this medium from
the first considerably influenced the style, colour, and execution of
all the works of this school.
HUBERT VAN EYCK who according to the common acceptation was born in the
year 1366 at Maaseyck, a small town not far from Maestricht, must have
been settled before the year 1412 in Bruges, when we hear of him as a
member of the Brotherhood of the Virgin with Rays.
There can be little doubt that Hubert van Eyck was acquainted with the
work of this John of Bruges, and that it had a considerable influence on
him. But while on the one hand he carried the realistic tendencies of
such works to an extraordinary pitch of excellence, it is evident that
in many essential respects he was actuated by a more ideal feeling and
imparted to the realism of his contemporaries, by means of his far
richer powers of representation, greater distinctness, truth to nature,
and variety of expression. Throughout his works is seen an elevated and
highly energetic conception of the stern import of his labours in the
service of the Church.
The prevailing arrangement of his subjects is symmetrical, holding fast
to the earliest rules of ecclesiastical art. His heads appear to aim at
an ideal beauty and dignity only combined with actual truth to nature.
His draperies exhibit the purest taste and softness of folds, the
realistic principle being apparent in that greater attention to detail
which a delicate indication of the material of the drapery necessitates.
Nude figures are studied from nature with the utmost fidelity; undraped
portions of figures are also given with much truth, especially the
hands. But what is the principal distinguishing characteristic of his
art is the hitherto unprecedented power, depth, transparency and harmony
of his colouring. Whatever want of exact truth there may be in the story
as related by Vasari's story of the discovery of oil painting, there is
no doubt that Hubert Van Eyck succeeded in preparing so transparent a
varnish that he could apply it without disadvantage to all colours.
The chief work by Hubert Van Eyck is the large altar-piece painted for
the cathedral of S. Bavon at Ghent;--parts of this have been removed and
are now in the Berlin Gallery, and supplemented with excellent copies of
the rest, the whole of the wonderful composition may there be well
studied; a large photograph of the whole altar piece may also be seen in
the library at the Victoria and Albert Museum, which shows how the work
was originally designed. It was painted for Jodocus Vyts, Burgomaster of
Ghent, and his wife Elizabeth, for their mortuary chapel in the
cathedral.
The subject of the three central panels of the upper portion is the
Deity seated between _the Virgin and S. John the Baptist_. Underneath
these, of the same width, is the famous _Adoration of the Lamb_. These
together formed the back of the altar-piece, and were covered by wings
which opened out on hinges on either side.
The three large figures of the upper part are designed with all the
dignity and statuesque repose belonging to an earlier style, and they
are painted on a ground of gold and tapestry, as was constantly the
practice in earlier times: but united with the traditional type we
already find a successful representation of life and nature in all their
truth. They stand as it were on the frontier of two different styles,
and from the excellence of both form a wonderful and most impressive
whole. The Heavenly Father sits directly fronting the spectator, in all
the solemnity of ancient dignity, His right hand raised to give the
benediction to the Lamb and to all the multitude of figures below; in
His left hand is a crystal sceptre; on His head the triple crown, the
emblem of the Trinity. The features are such as are ascribed to Christ
by the traditions of the Church, but noble and well proportioned; the
expression is forcible, though passionless.
The tunic and the mantle of this figure are of a deep red, the latter
being fastened over the breast by a clasp, and falling down in ample
folds over the feet. Behind, as high as the head, is a hanging of green
tapestry which is ornamented with a golden pelican--a symbol of the
Redeemer. Behind the head the ground is gold, and on it in a semicircle
are three inscriptions describing the Trinity as almighty, all-good, and
all-bountiful. The figures of S. John and of the Virgin display equal
majesty; both are reading holy books, as they turn towards the centre
figure. The countenance of S. John expresses ascetic seriousness, but in
that of the Virgin we find a serene grace and a purity of form which
approach very nearly to the happier effects of Italian art.
The arrangement of the lower central picture, the worship of the Lamb,
is strictly symmetrical, as the mystic nature of the allegorical subject
might seem to
[Illustration: PLATE XXI.--JAN VAN EYCK
JAN ARNOLFINI AND HIS WIFE
_National Gallery, London_]
have demanded; but there is such beauty in the landscape, in the pure
atmosphere, in the bright green of the grass, in the masses of trees and
flowers--even in single figures which stand out from the four principal
groups--that we no longer perceive either hardness or severity in this
symmetry.
The landscape of this composition and that part of it containing the
patriarchs and prophets are generally supposed to have been completed by
JAN VAN EYCK (_c._ 1385-1441), whose name till within a comparatively
recent period had almost obscured that of Hubert. For although there is
little doubt that the elder brother was the first to develop the new
method of painting, yet the fame of it did not extend beyond Belgium and
across the Alps until after the death of Hubert, when the celebrity it
so speedily acquired throughout Europe was transferred to Jan Van Eyck.
Within fifteen years after his death, 1455, Jan was commemorated in
Italy as the greatest painter of the century, while the name of Hubert
was not even mentioned. It was Jan van Eyck to whom Antonello da Messina
is said by Vasari to have resorted in Bruges in order to learn the new
style of painting; he alone also is mentioned in Vasari's first edition
of 1550, Hubert not until the second edition in 1568, and then only
incidentally.
Fortunately there are in existence various authentic pictures by Jan Van
Eyck in which his original powers are more easily recognised than in the
part he took in the execution of the great altar-piece at Ghent, in
which he doubtless accommodated himself with proper fraternal piety both
to the composition and to the style of his elder brother--who was also
his master. In these we can see that he possessed neither the enthusiasm
for the rich imagery and symbolism of the ecclesiastical art of the
Middle Ages, nor that feeling for beauty in human forms or in drapery
which belonged to his elder brother. His feeling, on the other hand, led
him to the closest and truest conception of individual nature. Where he
had to paint portraits only--a task which was most congenial to the
tendency of his mind--he attained a life-like truth of form and
colouring in every part, extending even to the minutest details, such as
no other artist of his time could rival, and which art in general has
seldom produced. In his actual brush work he shows greater facility than
was ever attained by Hubert, by which he was enabled to render the
material of every substance with marvellous fidelity.
What little we know of the personal history of Jan Van Eyck is of
exceptional interest, inasmuch as we find him employed on diplomatic
errands to foreign countries, like his great successor Rubens; and as it
happens he landed in England, though not intentionally, in the course of
one of these voyages, being driven into Shoreham and Falmouth by adverse
weather. It was in 1425 that he was taken into the service of Philip
III., Duke of Burgundy, as painter and "varlet de chambre," shortly
after which he went to Lille. In the following year he was sent on a
pilgrimage as the Duke's proxy, and again on two secret missions. In
1428 he went with the Duke's Embassy to the King of Portugal which was
to sue for the hand of Isabella, the Portuguese princess. It was on this
occasion that he was driven on to our shores. Arriving at Lisbon he
painted two portraits of Isabella, one of which was sent home by sea and
the other overland. After a happy and successful career he died in 1441
at Bruges, where he had married and settled down on his return from
Portugal.
The most beautiful example of Jan Van Eyck's work in England is the
portrait of Jean Arnolfini and Jeanne de Chenany his wife, now in the
National Gallery (No. 186). This is dated with the charming inscription,
"Johannes de Eyck fuit hic 1434"--that is to say, instead of simply
signing the picture, he writes, "Jan Van Eyck was here, 1434." No other
picture shows so high a development of the master's extraordinary power
and charm. Besides every other quality peculiar to him, we observe here
a perfection of tone and of chiaroscuro which no other specimen of this
whole period affords. It is recorded that Princess Mary, sister of
Charles V. and Governess of the Netherlands, purchased this picture from
a barber to whom it belonged at the price of a post worth a hundred
gulden a year. Among its subsequent possessors were Don Diego de
Guevara, majordomo of Joan, Queen of Castile, by whom it was presented
to Margaret of Austria. In 1530 it was acquired by Mary of Hungary, and
later it returned to Spain. In 1789 it was in the palace at Madrid, and
soon after it was taken by one of the French Generals, in whose quarters
Major-General Hay found it after the battle of Waterloo.
Two other portraits in the National Gallery bear the signature of Jan
Van Eyck. No. 222, An elderly man, head and shoulders, on the frame of
which is the painter's motto, "als ich can," and his signature,
"Johannes de Eyck me fecit anno 1433, 21 Octobris." The other, No. 290,
is a younger man, half length, standing inside an open window, on the
sill of which is inscribed "[Greek: Timotheos]," and "Leal Souvenir,"
and below the date and signature, "Actum anno domini 1432, 10 die
Octobris a Iohanne de Eyck."
Among the Netherlandish scholars and followers of the Van Eycks of whom
any record has been preserved some appear to have been gifted with
considerable powers, though none attained the excellence of their great
precursors. Although a number of works representing this school still
exist in the various countries of Europe, yet compared with the actual
abundance of them at one time they constitute but a scanty remnant.