THE MUSIC LESSON
_National Gallery, London_]
Dordrecht 1632, died 1693, was actually a pupil of Rembrandt. His much
prized and rare _genre_ pictures treat very simple subjects, and consist
seldom of more than two or three figures, generally of women. The
naivete and homeliness of his feeling, with the addition sometimes of a
trait of kindly humour; the admirable lighting, and a touch resembling
Rembrandt in impasto and vigour, render his pictures very attractive. In
the National Gallery, besides _The Card Players_, are _The Cradle_, _The
Dutch Menage_, dated 1655; and _The Idle Servant_: all these are
admirable, and the last-named a _chef-d'oeuvre_.
PETER DE HOOGH (1629-1677) decidedly belongs to the numerous artistic
posterity of Rembrandt, possibly through Karel Fabritius, and stands
nearer to Vermeer and to Maes, than to any other painter. His biography
can only be gathered from the occasional dates on his pictures,
extending from 1658 to 1670. Although he impresses the eye by the same
effects as Maes, yet he is also very different from him. He has not his
humour, and seldom his kindliness, and his figures, which are either
playing cards, smoking or drinking, or engaged in the transaction of
some household duty,--with faces that say but little--have generally
only the interest of a peaceful or jovial existence. If Maes takes the
lead in warm lighting, Peter de Hoogh may be considered _par excellence_
the painter of full and clear sunlight. If, again, Maes shows us his
figures almost exclusively in interiors, Peter de Hoogh places them most
frequently in the open air--in courtyards. In the representation of the
poetry of light, and in that marvellous brilliancy and clearness with
which he calls it forth in various distances till the background is
reached, which is generally illumined by a fresh beam, no other master
can compare with him. His prevailing local colour is red, repeated with
greater delicacy in various planes of distance. This colour fixes the
rest of the scale. His touch is of great delicacy; his impasto
admirable.
GERARD TERBURG, born at Zwol 1608, died 1681, learned painting under his
father, and when still young visited Germany and Italy, painting
numerous portraits on a small scale, and occasionally the size of life.
But his place in the history of art is owing principally to a number of
pictures, seldom representing more than three, and often only one
figure, taken from the wealthier classes, in which great elegance of
costume, and of all accompanying circumstances, is rendered with the
finest keeping, and with a highly delicate but by no means over-smooth
execution. He may be considered as the originator of this class of
pictures, in which, after his example, several other Dutch painters
distinguished themselves. With him the chief mass of light is generally
formed by the white satin dress of a lady, which gives the tone for the
prevailing cool harmony of the picture. Among his pictures we
occasionally find some which, taken successively, represent several
different moments of one scene. Thus in the Dresden Gallery, there are
two good pictures: the one of an officer writing a letter, while a
trumpter waits for it; the other of a girl in white satin washing her
hands in a basin held before her by a maid-servant; while at Munich, is
another fine work, in which the trumpeter is offering the young lady the
letter, who owing to the presence of the maid, who evidently
disapproves, is uncertain whether to take the missive. Finally, in the
Amsterdam Gallery, the celebrated picture known by the title of _Conseil
paternel_, furnishes
[Illustration: PLATE XXX.--PIETER DE HOOCH
INTERIOR OF A DUTCH HOUSE
_National Gallery, London_]
the closing scene. The maid has betrayed the affair to the father, and
he is delivering a lecture to the young lady, in whom by turning her
back on the spectator, the painter has happily expressed the feeling of
shame; good repetitions are in the Berlin Museum, and in the Bridgewater
Gallery. But Terburg's perfection as regards the clearness and harmony
of his silvery tone is shown in a picture at Cassel, representing a
young lady in white satin sitting playing the lute at a table.
JAN VERMEER OF DELFT (1632-1675) was certainly a pupil of Fabritius, and
thus "grandson" of Rembrandt. To class him with painters of _genre_
seems almost a profanation of the exquisite sense of beauty with which,
almost alone among the Dutch painters, he seems to have been endowed. It
is like classing Walter Pater with art critics. But as Vermeer had to
express himself in some form, it is perhaps fortunate that the school
had developed this kind of poetic portraiture, under Terburg, Metsu and
others, to a point where a genius like Vermeer could use it as the
vehicle of his fascinating self-revelations. In landscape we have the
_View of Delft_, at the Hague, which has shown the nineteenth century
painters more than they could ever see in their more famous
predecessors; but it is in the simple compositions like _The Letter
Reader_ at Amsterdam, _The Proposal_, at Dresden, or the _Lady at the
Virginals_, in the National Gallery, that he displays his greatest power
and charm.
IV
PAINTERS OF ANIMALS
As a link between the painters of _genre_ and the landscapists, we may
here mention some of the numerous artists who either made landscape the
background for groups of figures and animals, or peopled their
landscapes with groups--it matters not which way we put it. Among these
we shall find several of the most famous, or at any rate the most
popular artists of the Dutch School.
PHILIPS WOUVERMAN (1619-1668), whose reputation during the last century
was greater than that of almost any of the Dutch painters except
Rembrandt and Dou, is said to have studied under Hals, but it is more
certain that the master from whom he learnt most, if not all, was Jan
Wynants at Haarlem, whose whole manner in landscape he quickly succeeded
in acquiring, and surpassed him in his facility with horsemen and other
figures.
Wouverman's works have all the excellences that may be expected from
high finishing, correctness, agreeable composition and colouring. It
does not appear that he was ever in Italy, or even quitted the city of
Haarlem, though it would seem probable that his more elaborate
compositions owed something to other influences than those of Hals or
Wynants. In his earlier pictures there are no horses, but later in his
career he generally subordinated his landscapes to the groups or
subjects for which he is most famous. In the National Gallery, among
eleven examples, are a _Halt of Officers_, _Interior of a Stable_, _A
Battle_, _The Bohemians_, and _Shoeing a Horse_, all of which contain
numerous figures, mounted and unmounted--and there is nearly always a
white horse.
With all his success, he died a poor man, and it is related that in his
last hours he burned a box filled with his studies and drawings, saying,
"I have been so ill repaid for all my labours, that I would not have
[Illustration: PLATE XXXI.--JAN VERMEER
THE LACE MAKER
_Louvre, Paris_]
those designs engage my son to embrace so miserable a profession as
mine." This son followed his advice, and became a Chartreux friar. Peter
and Jan Wouverman were his brothers. The former painted hawking scenes,
and his horses, though well designed, were not equal to those of
Philips. The latter is represented in the National Gallery by a
landscape in which the spirit of Wynant's, rather than that of
Philips's, is discernible.
At Hertford House, out of seven examples, two are of more than usual
excellence, and well represent his earlier and later manners. _The
Afternoon Landscape with a White Horse_ (No. 226 in Room XIII), which
Smith (in his Catalogue Raisonne), characterizes as possessing unusual
freedom of pencilling, and powerful effect, dates from the transition
from the early to the middle period, and is a very effective picture, as
well as being very characteristic. The _Horse Fair_ (No. 65, in Room
XVI), is not only much larger than the other--it measures 25 x 35
inches--but is a really important picture. Lord Hertford paid L3200 for
it in 1854. It was engraved by Moyrean, for his series of a hundred
prints after Wouverman, under the title of _Le Grand Marche aux
Chevaux_. It is thus described by Smith:--"This very capital picture
exhibits an open country divided in the middle distance by a river whose
course is lost among the distant mountains. The principal scene of
activity is represented along the front and second grounds, on which may
be numbered about twenty-four horses, exhibiting that noble animal in
every variety of action, and nearly fifty persons. On the right of the
picture is a coach, drawn by four fine grey horses, and in front of this
object are a grey and a bay horse, on the latter of which are mounted a
man and a boy. In advance of them is a group of four horses and several
persons, among whom may be noticed a cavalier and a lady observing the
paces of a horse which a jockey and his master are showing off. A
gentleman on a black horse seems also to be watching the action of the
animal. Near this person is a mare lying down, and a foal standing by it
which a boy is approaching. On the opposite side of the picture is a
gentleman on a cream-coloured horse, near two spirited greys, one of
which is kicking, and a woman, a man and a boy are escaping from its
heels. From thence the eye looks over an open space occupied by men and
horses, receding in succession to the bank of the river, along which are
houses and tents concealed in part by trees. This picture is painted
throughout with great care and delicacy in what is termed the last
manner of the master, remarkable for the prevalent grey or silvery hues
of colouring."
ALBERT CUYP, born at Dortrecht 1620, died there about 1672. Of the life
of this great painter little more is known with any certainty than that
he was the scholar of his father, Jacob Gerritsz Cuyp. Cattle form a
prominent feature in many of his works, though never so highly finished
as in those of Paul Potter or Adrian van de Velde; indeed, in many of
Cuyp's pictures, they are quite subordinate. His favourite subjects, a
landscape with a river, with cattle lying or standing on its banks, and
landscapes with horsemen in the foreground, were suggested to him no
doubt by the country about Dortrecht and the river Maas: but he also
painted winter landscapes, and especially views of rivers where the
broad extent of water is animated by vessels. Sometimes, too, with great
perfection, fowls as large as life, hens, ducks, etc., and still life.
He also painted portraits, though less successfully. However great the
skill displayed in the composition of his works, their principal charm
lies in the beauty and truthfulness of their peculiar lighting. No other
painter, with the exception of Claude, has so well understood the cool
freshness of morning, the bright but misty light of a hot noon, or the
warm glow of a clear sunset. The effect of his pictures is further
enhanced by the skill with which he avails himself of the aid of
contrasts; as for example, dark, rich colours of the reposing cattle as
seen against the bright sky. In his own country no picture of his, till
the year 1750, ever sold for more than thirty florins. Indeed, Kugler
was informed by a Dutch friend, that in past times, when a picture found
no bidder, the auctioneer would offer to throw in "a little Cuyp" in
order to induce a sale. The merit of having first given him his due rank
belongs to the English, who as early as 1785, gave at the sale of Linden
van Slingelandt's collection at Dortrecht high prices for Cuyp's works;
About nine-tenths of his pictures are consequently to be found in
England.
One of his finest works is the landscape, in bright, warm, morning
light, with two cows reposing in the foreground, and a woman conversing
with a horseman, in the National Gallery (No. 53). The whole picture
breathes a cheerful and rural tranquillity. In his mature time, these
admirable qualities are seen in higher development. In the Louvre (No.
104), is another fine example--a scene with six cows, a shepherd blowing
the horn, and two children listening to him. This is admirably arranged,
of greater truthfulness as regards the form and colouring of the cattle
than usual, and with the warm lighting of the sky executed with equal
decision and softness. This picture is one of the master's chief
productions, being also about 4 ft. high by 6 ft. wide. Another with
three horsemen, and a servant carrying partridges, and in the centre a
meadow with cattle, is also in the Louvre. This is less attractive in
subject, but ranks equally high as a work of art. In Buckingham Palace
are two pictures, one with three cows reposing, and one standing by a
clear stream, near them a herdsman and a woman; other cows are in water
near the ruins of a castle. In this picture, we see Cuyp in every
respect at his culminating point of excellence. Not less fine, and of
singular force of colour, is the landscape, with a broad river running
through it, and a horseman under a tree in conversation with a
countryman.
PAUL POTTER, born at Enckhuysen 1625, died at Amsterdam 1654. Although
the scholar of his father, Pieter Potter, who was but a mediocre
painter, he made such astonishing progress as to rank at the age of 15
as a finished artist. He removed very early to the Hague, where his
talents met with universal recognition, including that of Prince Maurice
of Orange, and where he married. In the year 1652, however, he removed
to Amsterdam at the instance of one of his chief patrons, the
Burgomaster Tulp. Of the masters who have striven pre-eminently after
truth he is, beyond all question, one of the greatest that ever lived.
In order to succeed in this aim, he acquired a correctness of drawing, a
kind of modelling which imparts an almost plastic effect to his animals,
an extraordinary execution of detail in the most solid impasto, and a
truth of colouring which harmonises astonishingly with the time of day.
In his landscapes, which generally consist of a few willows in the
foreground, and of a wide view over meadows, the most delicate
graduation of aerial perspective is seen. With few exceptions, his
animals are small, and his pictures proportionately moderate in size. By
the year 1647 he had attained his full perfection. Of this date is the
celebrated group called _The Young Bull_, in the Hague Gallery. All the
figures in this are as large as life, and so extraordinarily true to
nature as not only to appear real at a certain distance, but even to
keep up the illusion when seen near.
A picture dated 1649, now in Buckingham Palace, of two cows and a young
bull in a pasture, combines with his customary fidelity to nature a more
than common power of effect, and breadth and freedom of treatment. To
the same year belongs also The _Farmyard_, formerly in the Cassel
Gallery, now in that of S. Petersburg, which, according to Smith, fully
deserves its celebrity both for the clearness and warmth of the sunset
effect, as well as for its masterly execution. To 1650 belongs the
picture of _Orpheus_, charming the animal world by the strains of his
lyre, in the Amsterdam Museum. Here we see that the master had also
studied wild animals. He is most successful in the bear. In the same
gallery is another _chef-d'oeuvre_ of the same year--a hilly landscape
with a shepherdess singing to her child, a shepherd playing on the
bagpipe, and oxen, sheep, and goats around.
The names of Weenix and Hondecoeter are so inseparably associated in the
popular mind as painters of birds, whose respective works are not
readily distinguishable moreover by the casual observer, that a short
excursion into their family histories is advisable, for the purpose of
showing how it was that this particular branch of the art was so
successfully practised by the two. Moreover, as there were three
Hondecoeters and two Weenixes who were painters, it is necessary to say
something about each of them.
MELCHIOR HONDECOETER, the best known, was of an ancient and noble
family. He was instructed till the age of seventeen by his father
Gysbert, who was a tolerable painter. Giles Hondecoeter, his
grandfather, painted live birds admirably, but chiefly cocks and hens in
the taste of Savery and Vincaboom. Melchior was born in 1636, and
studied for a time with his father; but meantime his aunt Josina had
married Jan Baptist Weenix, and a son was born to them, Jan Weenix, who
inherited from old Giles Hondecoeter, his grandfather, his talent for
painting poultry, and from his father, Jan Baptist Weenix, he acquired
the benefit of several influences which were not shared by his cousin
Melchior.
JAN BAPTIST WEENIX, who was nicknamed "Rattle," was born at Amsterdam
about 1621. His father was an architect, who bred his son up to that
profession, but he was afterwards put to study painting under Abraham
Bloemart. Soon after his marriage with Josina he was seized with the
desire to visit Italy, and he set off alone to Rome, promising to return
in four months. In Rome, however, he was so well received that he stayed
there four years, and Italianized himself to an extent that may be seen
in a picture in the Wallace Collection, a _Coast Scene with Classic
Ruins_, which he signs _Gio. Batta. Weenix_. Though he returned to
Holland and settled near Utrecht, his manner was sensibly modified by
his sojourn in Rome.
JAN WEENIX, who was born at Amsterdam in 1649, though he succeeded in so
far assimilating his father's style that his earlier works are often
confused with those of "Giovanni Battista," did not acquire the energy
or the dramatic force displayed by Melchior Hondecoeter in representing
live birds and animals, though he sometimes surpassed him in the finish
and the harmony of his decorative arrangements of dead game and still
life. Accordingly the one usually painted dead and the latter live
birds. In other respects there is not much to distinguish their works.
NICHOLAS BERCHEM was the only other pupil of Jan Baptist Weenix of whom
we know anything. Berchem had other masters, beginning with his father,
who was a painter of fish and tables covered with plates, china dishes,
and such like. Having given his son the first rudiments of his art he
found himself unequal to the task of cultivating the excellent
disposition he observed in him, and therefore placed him with Van Goyen,
Nicholas Moyaert, Peter Grebber, Jan Wils, and lastly with Jan Baptist
Weenix, all of whom had the honour of assisting to form so excellent a
painter. Indefatigable at his easel, Berchem acquired a manner both easy
and expeditious; to see him work, painting appeared a mere diversion to
him.
His wife was the daughter of his instructor, Jan Wils, and was so
avaricious that she allowed him no rest. Busy as he was by nature, she
used to sit under his studio, and when she neither heard him sing nor
stir, she struck upon the ceiling to rouse him. She got from him all the
money he earned by his labour, so that he was obliged to borrow from his
scholars when he wanted money to buy prints that were offered him, which
was the only pleasure he had. _The Musical Shepherdess_ at Hertford
House is a good example of his style, and the description of it in
Smith's catalogue shows in what estimation the artist was held in early
Victorian days:--"This beautiful pastoral scene represents a bold rocky
coast under the appearance of the close of day. The rustics have ended
their labours and are recreating with music and dancing. A group
composed of two peasants and a like number of women occupies the
foreground; one of the latter, attired in a blue mantle, is gaily
striking a tambourine, and dancing to the music; her companion in a
yellow dress sits near her; the shepherds also are seated, and one of
them appears to have just ceased playing a pipe which he holds. The
goats are browsing near them. Painted in the artist's most fascinating
style."
That Berchem had been to Italy is pretty certain, and though no
authentic account of his visit is recorded, there is a story that when
Jacob Ruisdael went to Rome as a young man, Nicholas Berchem was the
first acquaintance he met, and that their friendship was of long
standing. Their frequent walks round about Rome gave them the
opportunity of working together from Nature, and one day a cardinal
seeing them at work, inquired what they were doing. His eminence was
agreeably impressed with their drawings, and invited them to visit him
in Rome. The painters returned to their work, where they met with a
second _rencontre_ of a very different nature; a gang of thieves robbed
and stripped them of their clothes. They returned in their shirts to the
city, and called on the cardinal, who took pity upon them, ordered them
clothes, and afterwards employed them in several considerable works in
his palace.
Berchem at one time took up his abode in the Castle of Bentheim, and as
both he and Ruisdael have left several pictures of this castle it may be
inferred that they worked there together, as at Rome.
Apart from personal friendship there is nothing to connect Berchem with
Ruisdael, the popularity of the former being derived from qualities of a
totally different nature from those which raise Ruisdael far above any
of his contemporaries as a landscape painter.
JAN VAN HUYSUM was born at Amsterdam in 1682. His father, Justus Van
Huysum, who dealt in pictures, was himself a middling painter in most
kinds of painting. He taught his son to paint screens, figures and vases
on wood, landscape, and sometimes flowers; but the son being arrived at
a reasoning age perceived that to work in every branch of his art was
the way to excel in none, therefore he confined himself to flowers,
fruit, and landscape, and quitting his father's school set up for
himself.
No one before Van Huysum attained so perfect a manner of representing
the beauty of flowers and the down and bloom of fruit; for he painted
with greater freedom than Velvet Breughel and Mignon, with more
tenderness and nature than Mario di Fiori, Andrea Belvedere, Michel de
Campidoglio or Daniel Seghers; with more mellowness than de Heem, and
with more vigour of colouring than Baptist Monoyer.
His pictures of flowers and fruit pleasing an English gentleman, he
introduced them into his own country, where they came into vogue and
yielded a high price. To express the motions of the smallest insects
with justice he used to contemplate them through the microscope with
great attention. At the times of the year when the flowers were in
bloom, and the fruit in perfection, he used to design them in his own
garden, and the Sieur Gulet and Voorhelm sent him the most beautiful
productions in those kinds they could pick up.
His reputation rose to such a height that all the curious in painting
sought his works with great eagerness, which encouraged him to raise his
prices so high that his pictures at last grew out of the reach of any
but princes and men of the greatest fortune. He was the first flower
painter that ever thought of laying them on light grounds, which
requires much greater art than to paint them on dark ones.
Van Huysum died at Amsterdam in 1749. He never had any pupil but a young
woman named Haverman, and his brother Michael. Two other brothers have
distinguished themselves in painting, one named Justus, who painted
battles, and died at twenty-two years old, the other named James, who
ended his days in England in 1740. He copied the pictures of his brother
John so well as to deceive the connoisseurs: he had usually L20 for each
copy. For the originals, it may be noted, from a thousand to fourteen
hundred florins was paid.
V
PAINTERS OF LANDSCAPE