was glad to give up the business of an ambassador and return to
Antwerp and to the life of a private gentleman. We must not forget
that all these years Rubens was painting a great number of pictures in
his ripest style. There was hardly a class of subjects or size of
canvas which he could not skillfully use, although he always
maintained that he could do his best work on large surfaces. There
were religious pictures of Madonnas and saints all crowded with
numerous figures and filled with vigorous human action. There were
portraits such as those of his wives, of Elizabeth of France, or "_The
Girl with a Straw Hat_," which rank among the best of the world. There
were wonderful animal pictures--hunting scenes, the excitement of
which even to-day makes the cheek glow. There were historical scenes
mingled with allegory. There were most beautiful children whose fat
and agile bodies and whose laughing faces make us want to hug them.
There were enchanting angels, and there were huge fauns and satyrs.
There were placid landscapes where, it may be, the artist's soul,
teeming with the life of all time, took its rest and recreation
sporting with the nymphs of the woodland streams or with the frisky
dryads of the trees.
In 1630, at the age of fifty-three, he married his second wife, Helen
Fourmont, only sixteen years old. Like his first wife she was very
beautiful, as his numerous portraits indicate. Five children came to
them and the felicity of his early years with Isabella Brandt
continued with his second wife.
The health of our painter gradually gave way. For many years he had
suffered intensely from repeated attacks of gout. As he aged, these
became more and more frequent and severe. Often the disease, working
in his fingers, kept him from painting. "_The Death of St. Peter_" was
painted for Cologne Cathedral in 1635. It seems as if in his last
years his heart turned affectionately to the city of his boyhood home
and he would thus commemorate it. Another picture belongs to these
last years. It was a family picture which he called "_St. George_."
It represented four generations of the painter's family and included
both his first and his second wife. He himself figured as the Saint,
clad in shining armor and triumphant over his late enemy, the deadly
dragon. Rubens was too great to be conceited, but he stood at the end
of a most successful life. If ever a man had conquered the dragon of
disappointment, that lies crouching at the door of every life, Rubens
had. He did well to represent himself as St. George. In both of these
last pictures the painter shows at his very strongest.
He died May 30th, 1640, and was buried in the church beside his mother
and his first wife. All the city attended his funeral, for in three
capacities they mourned their illustrious citizen--as an artist, as a
diplomat and scholar, and as a man of noble character. Two years after
his death the picture "_St. George_" was hung above his tomb where it
is found to-day.
He left great wealth which was largely represented by his collection
of pictures and jewels. There were three hundred and nineteen
paintings, all masterpieces. The collection sold for what would be in
our money about half a million dollars. This is a large sum at any
time but in Rubens' day it was well nigh fabulous.
[Illustration: SATYRS _Rubens_]
Rubens has left us more than fifteen hundred pictures bearing his
name. That any man could leave so many can be accounted for only by
reckoning many of them as largely executed by his pupils. He used to
make small sketches in color and hand them over to his pupils for
enlargement. He was always at hand to make corrections and, at the
end, to give the finishing touches. He used to charge for his pictures
according to the time he used in painting them, and he valued his time
at fifty dollars a day.
He shows none of the mystical visionary feeling of the Spaniards even
in his religious pictures. He was too much in love with life for that,
and so, sometimes, we are offended by stout Flemish Saints and
Madonnas too healthy to accord with our notions of their abstemious
lives. In his pictures there is spirited action, almost excess of
life, and rich unfading color in which the reds largely prevail. His
lights are fine but the deep, expressive shadows that made Rembrandt
famous are entirely lacking. The softly flowing way in which the color
leaves his brush is, perhaps, the most inimitable part of his art. On
this account someone has said, who evidently has great reverence for
both Velazquez and Rubens, that we will see another Velazquez before
another Rubens.
Considering the qualities of his art, the number of his pictures, his
scholarship, his eminence as a diplomat and his pure and honorable
life, we must place Rubens among the very greatest men who ever
wielded a brush.
QUOTATIONS ABOUT RUBENS.
Rubens was _par excellence_ the painter of the group that
included the heroes of the Dutch Republic; and, like many of his
contemporaries, whilst excelling in his own line, he was, in
other respects also, a great man, in a time of and among great
men.--CHAS. W. KETT.
I cannot sufficiently admire his personal appearance nor praise
his uprightness, his virtue, his erudition and wonderful
knowledge of antiquities, his skill and celerity of pencil, and
the charm of his manner.--A CONTEMPORARY.
His eye is the most marvellous prism that has ever been given us
of the light and color of objects, of true and magnificent
ideas.--EUGENE FROMENTIN.
SUBJECTS FOR LANGUAGE WORK.
1. A Day in Rubens' Studio.
2. An Evening with Rubens.
3. Rubens at the Monastery.
4. A Day with Rubens in London.
5. Rubens as a Diplomat.
6. Antwerp, the Home City of Rubens.
7. Rubens and His Friends.
8. The Women Rubens Loved.
9. My Favorite Picture by Rubens.
10. The Masters of Rubens.
[Illustration: DURER'S HOUSE, NUREMBERG]
ALBRECHT DURER AND HIS CITY
"Of a truth this man would have surpassed us all if he had had
the master-pieces of art constantly before him."
--RAPHAEL.
"Hardly any master has scattered with so lavish a hand all that
the soul has conceived of fervid feeling or pathos, all that
thought has grasped of what is strong or sublime, all that the
imagination has conceived of poetic wealth; in no one has the
depth and power of the German genius been so gloriously revealed
as in him."
--LUBKE.
"He was content to be a precious corner-stone in the edifice of
German Art, the future grandeur of which he could only foresee."
--RICHARD FORD HEATH.
[Illustration: DURER]
ALBRECHT DURER.
1471-1528.
In our study of the great artists so far, we have found that each
glorified some particular city and that, whatever other treasures that
city may have had in the past, it is the recollections of its great
artist that hallow it most deeply today. Thus, to think of Antwerp is
to think instantly of Rubens. Leyden and Amsterdam as quickly recall
to our minds the name of Rembrandt. Seville without Murillo would lose
its chief charm, while Urbino _is_ Raphael and, without the revered
name of the painter, would seldom draw the visitor to its secluded
precincts.
To the quaintest of European cities the name of Albrecht Durer
instinctively carries us--to Nuremberg.
"That ancient, free, imperial town,
Forever fair and young."
Were we to study Durer without first viewing his venerable city which
he so deeply loved all his life that no promise of gain from gorgeous
Venetian court or from wealthy Antwerp burgers could detain him long
from home, we should leave untouched a delightful subject and one
deeply inwoven in the life and thought of the artist. Were we to omit
a brief consideration of his time and the way the German mind looked
at things and naturally represented them in words and in pictures, we
should come away from Durer impressed only with his great homely
figures and faces and wondering why, in every list of the great
artists of the world, Durer's name should stand so high.
Having these things in mind, it will not then seem so far away to
speak of Nuremberg and Luther before we rehearse the things which make
up the life of Albrecht Durer.
Nuremberg does not boast a very early date, for she began her
existence just after the year one thousand when men, finding out
surely that the end of the world was not come, took as it were a new
lease of life. The thing she does boast is that her character as a
mediaeval town has been almost perfectly preserved up to the present
day.
There were many things which made Nuremberg an important city in early
times. She was conveniently located for traders who shipped vast
amounts of merchandise from Venice to the great trade centers in the
Netherlands. For many years she was a favorite city of the Emperor and
here were kept the crown jewels which were displayed with great pomp
once a year.
The country immediately about Nuremberg was sandy but carefully
cultivated. There were also large banks of clay very useful to the
citizens in the manufacture of pottery. Like the salt of Venice, it
was a natural source of wealth to the citizens. Very early we find a
paper mill here, and here, too, were set up some of the earliest
printing presses. Perhaps the most interesting of the early wares of
this enterprising city were the watches. The first made in the world
were manufactured here and from their shape they were called
"Nuremberg Eggs." We have a story that Charles V. had a watchmaker
brought in a sedan chair all the way from Nuremberg that he might have
his watch repaired. Here was manufactured the first gun-lock, and here
was invented the valued metallic compound known as brass.
From all these sources the citizens grew rich, but their wealth did
not make them forget their city. A little more than fifty years before
Durer's birth, the Emperor being very much in need of money, they
bought their freedom. For this they paid what would be, in our money,
about a million of dollars. It was a goodly price, but they gave it
freely. Then they destroyed the house where their governor or Burgrave
had lived and they were henceforth ruled by a council selected from
their own number.
The city lies on both sides of the river Pegnitz which divides it into
two almost equal parts. The northern side is named from its great
church, St. Sebald's, and the southern for that of St. Lawrence.
Originally the city was enclosed by splendid ramparts. Three hundred
and sixty-five towers broke the monotony of the extensive walls. Of
these one hundred are still standing today. In days gone by, a moat
thirty-five feet wide encircled the wall, but since peace has taken
the place of war and security has come instead of hourly danger, the
moat has been drained and thrifty kitchen gardens fill the space.
[Illustration: SHRINE OF ST. SEBALD, NUREMBERG
In the church of sainted Sebald sleeps enshrined his holy dust,
And in bronze the Twelve Apostles guard from age to age their
trust.--_Longfellow_]
Within the city are some of the most beautiful buildings both private
and public. Here, too, sculpture, which the Germans cultivated before
they did painting, has left rare monuments. Among these last we must
notice the wonderful shrine of St. Sebald in the church of the same
name. For thirteen years Peter Vischer and his five sons labored on
this work. Long it was to toil and vexing were the questions which
arose in the progress of the work; but the result was a master-piece
which stands alone among the art works of the world. Nor can we forget
the foamy ciborium of the Church of St Lawrence. For sixty-five feet
this miracle of snowy marble rises in the air, growing more lacey at
every step until, in its terminal portions, so delicate does it
become that it seems like the very clouds in fleeciness.
[Illustration: THE CIBORIUM (PYX) CHURCH OF ST. LAWRENCE]
Church doorways are carved with beautiful and fantastic forms by men
whose names were long ago forgotten. Common dwellings are adorned with
picturesque dormer windows. Even the narrow crooked streets hold their
share of beauty, for here are fountains so exquisite in their
workmanship that their like is not to be found elsewhere. Here it is
the Beautiful Fountain, gay with sculptures of heroes and saints, and
there it is the Little Gooseman's Fountain where humor is added to
beauty. Through all the years stands the little man with a goose
under either arm, patiently receiving his daily drenching. Still two
other fountains known to fame send up their crystal waters to greet
the light.
[Illustration]
If we seek for more modern things we are also rewarded, for here in
Durer Square stands Rauch's great statue of the artist, copied from
Durer's portrait of himself in Vienna. We note the custom house, one
of the oldest buildings, the town hall and the burg or castle, which
for many years was the favorite residence of the Emperor.
[Illustration: THE BEAUTIFUL FOUNTAIN IN NUREMBERG
Everywhere I see around me rise the wondrous world of art;
Fountains wrought with richest sculpture standing in the
common mart.--_Longfellow_]
Here, too, are many fine old houses which used to belong to noblemen
of the city. It is not these residences that we seek, however, if
we are visiting Nuremberg. We ask rather for the house of Hans Sachs,
the cobbler poet, of John Palm, the fearless patriot, who gave his
life for the privilege of beating Napoleon, and above all we seek that
quaint house where Durer lived and worked. In choosing these as
objects of our special attention we feel like Charles I., who said,
when he compelled a reluctant courtier to hold Durer's ladder, "Man
can make a nobleman, but only God can make an artist."
In our search for interesting things in old Nuremberg, we come
suddenly upon a house bearing a tablet on which are these words,
"Pilate's House." At first we are mystified, for was not Pilate's
house in Jerusalem? But at once we recall that this is the house of
the pious Jacob Ketzet who twice visited the Holy Land that he might
measure exactly the distance from Pilate's house to Calvary. When he
was satisfied with his measurements he returned to Nuremberg and
commissioned the great sculptor, Adam Kraft, to carve "stations," as
he called them, between his home and St. John's Cemetery to the
northwest of the city. These "stations," which are merely stone
pillars on which are carved in relief scenes from the sufferings of
our Lord just before his death, are still standing, and if we go to
Durer's grave, as I am sure we should wish to do, we shall pass them
on our way.
[Illustration: 1526 VIVENTIS POTVIT DVRERIVS ORA PHILIPPI
MENTEM NON POTVIT PINGERE DOCTA
MANVS
AD
MELANCTHON]
The Nurembergers have long taken pride in the quaint appearance of
their city, so that many of the newer houses are built in the old
style with their gables to the street. As we note the patriotic spirit
of the people and recount the beauties of the old city, we feel that
Durer was warranted "in the deep love and affection that I have borne
that venerable city, my fatherland," as he expressed it.
[Illustration: ERASMUS]
As to the time when Durer came into the world, it was truly a
wonderful age in which to live! Less than twenty-five years after his
birth, Columbus found a vast new world. People were already much
agitated over the evil practices in the old established church. Durer
knew and loved Luther and Melancthon but he was quite as much attached
to the scholarly Erasmus, who wished not to break away from the old
church, but merely to correct its abuses. In short Durer belonged to
the Conservative class which found it possible to accept the food in
the new doctrines and retain the pure from the old without revolution.
Such were the citizens of Nuremberg and thus did the ancient city as
easily accept the new doctrines as she did the morning sunshine
pouring in at her storied windows. Thus, too, were preserved the
ancient buildings and institutions, which, through the wisdom of her
citizens, were not called upon to withstand sieges and other military
attacks.
Durer was above everything a true representative of the German people,
and so we ought to take note of some of the qualities of the German
mind. As Goethe, their greatest poet, says, one of their strongest
characteristics is that of wishing to learn and to do rather than to
enjoy. The Germans love truth and they do not stop short in their
imaginings when they wish to drive it home. So in German art, the
toiling man or woman is often accompanied by angels and demons, the
equal of which were never pictured by any other people. The greatest
extremes of beauty and ugliness have these people given in their art.
In either extreme, however, thoughts on the deepest questions of human
life are at the foundation.
[Illustration: DOORWAY IN ST. SEBALD'S CHURCH, NUREMBERG
And above cathedral doorways saints and bishops carved in stone,
By a former age commissioned as apostles to our own.--_Longfellow_]
On a summer's day in 1455, there wandered into the far-famed city of
Nuremberg a young goldsmith from Hungary. The ramparts of the city
with their towers and gateways, the splendid buildings enclosed, were
like miracles to the youth. It was a fete day in celebration of the
marriage of the son of a prominent citizen, Pirkheimer by name.
Albrecht Durer, for that was the youth's name, long studied the gay
throng, little thinking how in the future the name of his son and that
of the bridegroom there would together be known to fame, the one as
the greatest artist, the other as the most learned man of Nuremberg.
The wandering youth was the father of our artist and the bridegroom
was the father of Wilibald Pirkheimer, Durer's life long friend and
companion.
The young goldsmith loved the city at once and, encouraged by the
business activity of the place, he made it his permanent abode. He
found employment with Hieronymus Holper, and soon married his master's
comely daughter, Barbara. They resided in a little house which was a
sort of appendage to the great house of Pirkheimer. A few months after
a much longed for son came to bless the Pirkheimers, a little boy was
born in the goldsmith's house whom they named, for his father,
Albrecht Durer. As the years went by, seventeen other children came to
the Durer home. Three only of all these children grew to maturity.
With such a family to support we can easily imagine that the father's
life was a hard one. He was a pious and industrious man whom his
illustrious son never tires of praising. In one place he says of him,
"He had a great reputation with many who knew him, for he led an
honorable Christian life, was a patient man, gentle, in peace with
everyone and always thankful to God. He had no desire for worldly
pleasures, was of few words, did not go into society and was a
God-fearing man. Thus my dear father was most anxious to bring up his
children to honor God. His highest wish was that his children should
be pleasing to God and man; therefore he used to tell us every day
that we should love God and be true to our neighbors."
Durer sorrowed deeply when his father died in 1502. On his death-bed
he commended the mother to her son. Durer was faithful to his trust
and cared tenderly for his mother until her death, several years
later. Never did boy or man more faithfully keep the command, "Honor
thy father and mother," than did our artist.
For many reasons Albrecht seemed to be his father's favorite child. We
find him, in spite of numerous other cares, taking great pains with
the boy's education. He taught him to read and write well and must
have given him instruction in Latin. These were years when thirst for
learning was abroad in the land. Free Latin schools were established
to meet the needs. Durer's father was filled with this spirit and he
communicated it to his son.
[Illustration: DORMER WINDOW IN THE BISHOP'S HOUSE, NUREMBERG
On the square the oriel window, where in old heroic days,
Sat the poet Melchoir singing Kaiser Maximilian's praise.
--_Longfellow_]
As was customary at the time, the son was trained to follow his
father's trade and so he learned the goldsmith's art in his father's
shop. It is said that in his tender years he engraved, on silver,
events from Christ's passage to Calvary. Albrecht's drawing was
superior to that usually done in a goldsmith's shop. In his free
hours he drew to entertain his companions. After a while he began to
feel that he might paint pictures instead of merely drawing designs
for metal work. He loved the work and so had the courage to tell his
father of his wish to become a painter. The elder Durer was patient
with the boy, regretting only that he had lost so much time learning
the goldsmith's trade. Albrecht, then only sixteen, was surely young
enough to begin his life work! His father put him to study with
Wolgemut, the foremost painter of the city, which is not high praise,
for the art of painting was then new in the prosperous city of the
Pegnitz. Wolgemut was, however, a good engraver on wood and so perhaps
was able to direct the young apprentice in quite as valuable a line as
painting.
Here Durer remained for three years, until 1490. He was now but
nineteen, full of hope and perhaps conscious, to a certain extent,
that his was no ordinary skill of hand. He was now ready, according to
the custom of his countrymen, for his "wanderschaft" or journeyman
period, when he should complete his art education by going abroad to
other towns to see their ways and thus improve his own method. For
four years he traveled among neighboring towns. The evidence is strong
that the last year was spent in Venice. We have little certain
knowledge of where he spent these years but we feel quite sure that
one of the places he visited was Colmar, where he became acquainted
with the artist, Martin Schougauer.
He was called home rather suddenly in 1494 by his father, who had
arranged what he thought was an acceptable marriage for his son. A
short time before Durer had sent his father a portrait of himself in
which he figured as a remarkably handsome and well-dressed young man.
It is supposed that the father sent for this portrait to help him
along in his arrangements for the marriage of his son. However
Albrecht may have felt about the matter of making his marriage merely
a business affair, he never expressed himself, but was married shortly
after his return to Nuremberg.
[Illustration: ST. JOHN AND ST. PETER _Durer_]
[Illustration: ST. MARK AND ST. PAUL _Durer_]
Agnes Frey, the woman selected by Durer's father, was a handsome woman
of good family with a small fortune of her own. She has come down to
us with a most unenviable record as a scold who made life almost
unendurable for her husband. It is now quite certain, however, that
for all these years she has been grossly misrepresented, simply
because her husband's friend Pirkheimer, for small reason, became
offended with her. It seems that in his lifetime Durer, who had
collected many curious and valuable things, had gathered together some
remarkably fine stag-horns. One pair of these especially pleased
Pirkheimer. The widow, without knowing Pirkheimer's desire for
these, sold them for a small sum and thus brought upon herself the
anger of her husband's choleric friend, who wrote a most unkind letter
concerning her which has been quoted from that day to this to show how
Albrecht Durer suffered in his home. The truth seems really to be that
Agnes Durer was as sweet-tempered as the average woman, fond of her
husband and a good housekeeper.
The earlier works of Durer are largely wood-cuts, the art which more
than any other was the artist's very own. The discussions of the times
regarding religious matters made a demand for books even at great
cost. It was a time when written and spoken words held people's
attention, but when, in addition, the text was illustrated by strong
pictures the power and reach of the books were increased ten-fold. A
place thus seemed waiting for Albrecht Durer, the master
wood-engraver.