masters, to an extraordinary pitch of excellence, whilst in many
essential respects he adhered to the more ideal feeling of the previous
period, imparting to this, by the means of his far richer powers of
representation, greater distinctness, truth of nature, and variety of
expression. Throughout his works he displayed an elevated and highly
energetic conception of the stern import of his labours in the service
of the Church. The prevailing arrangement of his subject is symmetrical,
holding fast the early architectonic rules which had hitherto presided
over ecclesiastic art. The later mode of arrangement, in which a freer
and more dramatic and picturesque feeling was introduced, is only seen
in Hubert van Eyck's works in subjection to these rules. Thus his heads
exhibit the aim at beauty and dignity belonging to the earlier period,
only combined with more truth of nature. His draperies unite its pure
taste and softness of folds with greater breadth; the realistic
principle being apparent in that greater attention to detail which a
delicate indication of the material necessitates. Nude figures are
studied from nature with the utmost fidelity; undraped portions are also
given with much truth, especially the hands; only the feet remain
feeble. That, however, which is almost the principal quality of his art,
is the hitherto unprecedented power, depth, transparency, and harmony of
his _colouring_. To attain this he availed himself of a mode of painting
in oil which he and his brother had perfected. Oil painting, it is true,
had long been in use, but only in a very undeveloped form, and for
inferior purposes. According to the most recent and thorough
investigations, the improvement introduced by the Van Eycks, and which
they doubtless only very gradually worked out, were the following.
First, they removed the chief impediment which had hitherto obstructed
the application of oil-paint to pictures properly so called. For, in
order to accelerate the slow drying of the oil colours, it had been
necessary to add a varnish to them, which consisted of oil boiled with a
resin. Owing to the dark colour of this varnish, in which amber, or more
frequently sandarac, was used, this plan, from its darkening effect on
most colours, had hitherto proved unsuccessful. The Van Eycks, however,
succeeded in preparing so colourless a varnish that they could apply it
without disadvantage, to all colours. In painting a picture they
proceeded on the following system. The outline was drawn on a _gesso_
ground, so strongly sized that no oil could penetrate the surface. The
under painting was then executed in a generally warm brownish glazing
colour, and so thinly that the light ground was clearly seen through it.
They then laid on the local colours, thinner in the lights, and, from
the quantity of vehicle used, more thickly in the shadows; in the latter
availing themselves often of the under painting as a foil. In all other
parts they so nicely preserved the balance between the solid and the
glazing colours as to attain that union of body and transparency which
is their great excellence. Finally, in the use of the brush they
obtained that perfect freedom which the new vehicle permitted; either
leaving the touch of the brush distinct, or fusing the touches tenderly
together, as the object before them required. Of all the works which are
now attributed to Hubert, but one is genuine and historically
authenticated. This noble work is certified by an inscription. It is a
large altar picture, consisting of two rows of separate panels, once in
the Cathedral of St. Bavon at Ghent. It was painted, as before remarked,
for Jodocus Vydts, Seigneur of Pamele, and Burgomaster of Ghent, and his
wife Elizabeth, of the then distinguished family of Burlunt, for their
mortuary chapel in that cathedral.[11] When the wings were opened, which
occurred only on festivals, the subject of the upper centre picture was
seen, consisting of three panels, on which were the Triune God--the King
of heaven and earth--and at his side the Holy Virgin and the Baptist; on
the inside of the wings were angels, who with songs and sacred music
celebrate the praises of the Most High: at the two extremities, each
inside the half-shutters which covered the figure of God the Father,
were Adam and Eve, the representatives of fallen man. The lower central
picture shows the Lamb of the Revelation, whose blood flows into a cup;
over it is the dove of the Holy Spirit; angels, who hold the
instruments of the Passion, worship the Lamb, and four groups, each
consisting of many persons, advance from the sides: they comprise the
holy martyrs, male and female, with priests and lay-men; in the
foreground is the fountain of life; in the distance the towers of the
heavenly Jerusalem. On the wing pictures, other groups are coming up to
adore the Lamb; on the left, those who have laboured for the kingdom of
the Lord by worldly deeds--the soldiers of Christ, and the righteous
judges; on the right, those who, through self-denial and renunciation of
earthly good, have served Him in the spirit--holy hermits and pilgrims;
a picture underneath, which represented hell, finished the whole.
This work is now dispersed: the centre pictures and the panels of Adam
and Eve only being in Ghent.[12] The lower picture of hell was early
injured and lost, and the others form some of the greatest ornaments of
the gallery of the Berlin Museum.[13]
The three figures of the upper centre picture are designed with all the
dignity of statue-like repose belonging to the early style; they are
painted, too, 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 on the frontier of two different styles, and, from the
excellence of both, form a wonderful and most impressive whole. In all
the solemnity of antique dignity the Heavenly Father sits directly
fronting the spectator--his right hand raised to give the benediction to
the Lamb, and to all the figures below; in his left 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 of this figure, ungirt, is of a deep red,
as well as the mantle, which last is fastened over the breast by a rich
clasp, and, falling down equally from both shoulders, is thrown in
beautiful folds over the feet. Behind the figure, and as high as the
head, is a hanging of green tapestry adorned with a golden pelican (a
well-known symbol of the Redeemer); behind the head the ground is gold,
and on it, in a semicircle, are three inscriptions, which again describe
the Trinity, as all-mighty, all-good, and all-bountiful. The two other
figures of this picture display equal majesty; both are reading holy
books and are turned towards the centre figure. The countenance of John
expresses ascetic seriousness, but in the Virgin's we find a serene
grace, and a purity of form, which approach very nearly to the happier
efforts of Italian art.
On the wing next to the Virgin stand eight angels singing before a
music-desk. They are represented as choristers in splendid vestments and
crowns. The brilliancy of the stuffs and precious stones is given with
the hand of a master, the music-desk is richly ornamented with Gothic
carved work and figures, and the countenances are full of expression and
life; but in the effort to imitate nature with the utmost truth, so as
even to enable us to distinguish with certainty the different voices of
the double quartet, the spirit of a holier influence has already passed
away. On the opposite wing, St. Cecilia sits at an organ, the keys of
which she touches with an expression of deep meditation: other angels
stand behind the organ with different stringed instruments. The
expression of these heads shows far more feeling, and is more gentle;
the execution of the stuffs and accessories is equally masterly. The two
extreme wings of the upper series, the subjects of which are Adam and
Eve, are now in the Museum at Brussels. The attempt to paint the nude
figure of the size of life, with the most careful attention to minute
detail, is eminently successful, with the exception of a certain degree
of hardness in the drawing. Eve holds in her right hand the forbidden
fruit. In the filling up, which the shape of the altar-piece made
necessary over these panels, there are small subjects in chiaroscuro:
over Adam, the sacrifice of Cain and Abel; over Eve, the death of
Abel--death, therefore, as the immediate consequence of original sin.
The arrangement of the lower middle picture, the worship of the Lamb, is
strictly symmetrical, as the mystic nature of the allegorical subject
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 the single figures which stand out from the four great
groups, that we no longer perceive either hardness or severity in this
symmetry. The wing picture on the right, representing the holy pilgrims,
is, in the figures, less striking than the others. Here St. Christopher,
who wandered through the world seeking the most mighty Lord, strides
before all, a giant in stature, whilst a host of smaller pilgrims, of
various ages, follow him. A fruitful valley, with many details, showing
a surprising observation of nature, is seen through the slender trees.
The cast of the folds in the ample red drapery of St. Christopher, as in
the upper picture, reminds us still of the earlier style. The whimsical
and singular expression in the countenances of the pilgrims is also very
remarkable. The picture next to the last described is more pleasing; it
represents the troop of holy anchorites passing out of a rocky defile.
In front are St. Paul the Hermit and St. Anthony, the two who set the
first example of retirement from the world; and the procession closes
with the two holy women who also passed the greater part of their lives
in the wilderness, Mary Magdalen and St. Mary of Egypt. The heads are
full of character, with great variety of expression: on every
countenance may be traced the history of its life. Grave old men stand
before us, each one differing from the other; one is firm and strong,
another more feeble; one cheerful and single-minded, another less open.
Some inspired fanatics wildly raise their heads, whilst others with a
simple and almost humorous expression walk by their side, and others
again are still struggling with their earthly nature. It is a remarkable
picture, and leads us deep into the secrets of the human heart--a
picture which in all times must be ranked amongst the master-works of
art, and which to be intelligible needs no previous inquiry into the
relative period and circumstances of the artists who created it. The
landscape background, the rocky defile, the wooded declivity, and the
trees laden with fruit, are all eminently beautiful. The eye would
almost lose itself in this rich sense of still life if it were not
constantly led back to the interest of the foreground.
The opposite wing pictures differ essentially in conception from those
just described. Their subject did not in itself admit such varied
interest, and it is rather the common expression of a tranquil harmony
of mind, and of the consciousness of a resolute will, which attracts the
spectator, combined at the same time with a skilful representation of
earthly splendour and magnificence. Inside the wing to the right we see
the soldiers of the Lord on fine chargers, simple and noble figures in
bright armour, with surcoats of varied form and colour. The three
foremost with the waving banners appear to be St. Sebastian, St. George,
and St. Michael, the patron saints of the old Flemish guilds, which
accompanied their earls to the Crusades. In the head of St. George, the
painter has strikingly succeeded in rendering the spirit of the chivalry
of the Middle Ages--that true heroic feeling and sense of power which
humbles itself before the higher sense of the Divinity. Emperors and
kings follow after him. The landscape is extremely beautiful and highly
finished, with rich and finely-formed mountain ridges, and the fleecy
clouds of spring floating lightly across. The second picture (the last
to the left) represents the righteous judges; they also are on
horseback, and are fine and dignified figures. In front, on a splendidly
caparisoned grey horse, rides a mild benevolent old man, in blue velvet
trimmed with fur. This is the likeness of Hubert, to whom his brother
has thus dedicated a beautiful memorial. Rather deeper in the group is
John himself, clothed in black, with his shrewd, sharp countenance
turned to the spectator. We are indebted to tradition for the knowledge
of these portraits.
Both these wing pictures have the special interest of showing us, by
means of armour, rich costumes, and caparisons, a true and particular
representation of the Court of Burgundy in the time of Philip the
Good--when it was confessedly the most superb court in Europe.
The upper wings, when closed, represented the Annunciation, and this was
so arranged that on the outer and wider ones (the backs of the two
pictures of angels singing and playing) were the figures of the Virgin
and the Angel Gabriel,--on the inner narrower ones (that is, on the back
of the Adam and Eve), a continuation of the Virgin's chamber. Here, as
was often the case in the outside pictures of large altar-pieces, the
colouring was kept down to a more uniform tone, in order that the full
splendour might be reserved to adorn with greater effect the principal
subject within. The angel and the Holy Virgin are clothed in flowing
white drapery, but the wings of the angel glitter with a play of soft
and brilliant colour, imitating those of the green parrot. The heads are
noble and well painted; the furniture of the room is executed with great
truth, as well as the view through the arcade which forms the background
of the Virgin's chamber, into the streets of a town, one of which we
recognize as a street in Ghent.
In the semicircles which close these panels above, on the right and
left, are the prophets Micah and Zechariah, whose heads have great
dignity, but are somewhat stiff and unsatisfactory in their attitudes.
In the centre (corresponding with the figures in chiaroscuro over Adam
and Eve) are two kneeling female figures represented as sibyls.
The exterior portion of the lower wings contains the statues of the two
St. Johns. These display a heavy style of drapery, and there is
something peculiarly angular in the breaks of the folds, imitated
perhaps from the sculpture of the day, which had also already abandoned
the older Northern mould. This peculiarity by degrees impressed itself
more and more on the style of painting of the Fifteenth Century, and the
drapery of the figures in the Annunciation already betrays a tendency
towards it. The heads exhibit a feeling for beauty of form which is rare
in this school. John the Baptist, who is pointing with his right hand
to the Lamb on his left, is appropriately represented, as the last of
the Prophets, as a man of earnest mien and dignified features, with much
hair and beard. John the Evangelist, on the other hand, appears as a
tender youth with delicate features, looking very composedly at the
monster with four snakes which, at his benediction, rises from the
chalice in his hand.
The likenesses of the donors are given with inimitable life and
fidelity. They show the careful hand of Jan van Eyck, but already
approach that limit within which the imitation of the accidental and
insignificant in the human countenance should be confined. The whole,
however, is in admirable keeping, and the care of the artist can hardly
be considered too anxiously minute, since feeling and character are as
fully expressed as the mere bodily form. The aged Jodocus Vydts, to
whose liberality posterity is indebted for this great work of art, is
dressed in a simple red garment trimmed with fur; he kneels with his
hands folded, and his eyes directed upwards. His countenance, however,
is not attractive; the forehead is low and narrow, and the eye without
power. The mouth alone shows a certain benevolence, and the whole
expression of the features denotes a character capable of managing
worldly affairs. The idea of originating so great a work as this picture
is to be found in the noble, intellectual, and expressive features of
his wife, who kneels opposite to him in the same attitude, and in still
plainer attire.
At Hubert van Eyck's death, on the 16th of September, 1426, Jodocus
Vydts engaged Jan van Eyck, the younger brother and scholar of Hubert,
to finish the picture in the incomplete parts.[14] A close comparison
of all the panels of this altar-piece with the authentic works of Jan
van Eyck shows that the following portions differ in drawing, colouring,
cast of drapery, and treatment, from his style, and may therefore with
certainty be attributed to the hand of Hubert:--of the inner side of the
upper series, the Almighty, the Virgin, St. John the Baptist, St.
Cecilia with the angels playing on musical instruments, and Adam and
Eve; of the inner side of the lower series, the side of the centre
picture with the apostles and saints, and the wings with the hermits and
pilgrims, though with the exception of the landscapes. On the other
hand, of the inner side of the upper series, the wing picture with the
singing angels is by Jan van Eyck; of the inner side of the lower
series, the side of the centre picture of the Adoration of the Lamb,
containing the patriarchs and prophets, etc., and the entire landscape;
the wing with the soldiers of Christ and the Righteous Judges, and the
landscapes to the wing with the hermits and pilgrims; finally, the
entire outer sides of the wings, comprising the portraits of the
founders, and the Annunciation. The Prophet Zechariah and the two
sibyls alone show a feebler hand.[15]
About one hundred years after the completion of this altar-piece an
excellent copy of it was made by Michael Coxis for Philip II. of Spain.
The panels of this work, like those of the original, are dispersed; some
are in the Berlin Museum, some in the possession of the King of Bavaria,
and others in the remains of the King of Holland's collection at the
Hague. A second copy, which comprises the inside pictures of this great
work, from the chapel of the Town-house at Ghent, is in the Antwerp
Museum.
_Handbook of Painting: the German, Flemish, and Dutch Schools_,
based on the handbook of Kugler remodelled by Dr. Waagen and
revised by J.A. Crowe (London, 1874).
FOOTNOTES:
[11] Carton, _Les Trois Frères van Eyck_, p. 36.
[12] Marc van Vaernewijck in a MS. of 1566-8, describing the Ghent
troubles, states that on the 19th of August, two days before the
iconoclasts plundered St. Bavon, the picture of the Mystic Lamb was
removed from the Vijdts chapel and concealed in one of the towers. See
the MS., _Van die Beroerlicke Tijden in die Nederlanden_{b}, recently
printed at Ghent (1872), p. 146. On the same page in which Vaernewijck
relates this story he says that he refers his readers, for the lives of
the Van Eycks to his book, _Mijn leecken Philosophie int xx^e bouck_.
This book, which probably still exists on the shelves of some library,
has not as yet been discovered.
[13] "The pictures here exhibited as the works of Hemmelinck, Messis,
Lucas of Holland, A. Dürer, and even Holbein, are inferior to those
ascribed to Eyck in colour, execution, and taste. The draperies of the
three on a gold ground, especially that of the middle figure, could not
be improved in simplicity, or elegance, by the taste of Raphael himself.
The three heads of God the Father, the Virgin, and St. John the Baptist,
are not inferior in roundness, force, or sweetness to the heads of L. da
Vinci, and possess a more positive principle of colour."--_Life of
Fuseli_, i. p. 267. This is a very remarkable opinion for the period
when it was written.
[14] This appears from the following inscription of the time, on the
frame of the outer wing:--
"Pictor Hubertus ab Eyck, major quo nemo repertus
Incepit; pondusque Johannes arte secundus
Frater perfecit, Judoci Vyd prece fretus
[VersV seXta MaI Vos CoLLoCat aCta tVerI]."
[The last verse gives the date of May 6, 1432.] The discovery of this
inscription, under a coating of green paint, was made in Berlin in 1824,
when the first word and a half of the third line, which were missing,
were [imperfectly] supplied [with "frater perfectus"] by an old copy of
this inscription, found by M. de Bast, the Belgian connoisseur.
[15] [Dr. Waagen did not always hold decided opinions as to what
portions of the altar-piece of Ghent are by Hubert and John van Eyck,
respectively. There is no doubt that some of "the sublime earnestness"
which Schlegel notes in the Eternal, the Virgin, and John the Baptist,
and much of the stern realism which characterizes those figures, is to
be found in the patriarchs and prophets, and in the hermits and
pilgrims, and in the Adam and Eve; but it is too much to say that these
wing pictures can "with certainty be assigned to Hubert," and it is not
to be forgotten that John van Eyck worked in this picture on the lines
laid down by his elder brother, and must have caught some of the spirit
of his great master.]
THE DEATH OF PROCRIS
(_PIERO DI COSIMO_)
EDWARD T. COOK
A very characteristic work by Piero, called di Cosimo, after his
godfather and master, Cosimo Rosselli. Piero's peculiarities are well
known to all readers of George Eliot's _Romola_, where everything told
us about him by Vasari is carefully worked up. The first impression left
by this picture--its quaintness--is precisely typical of the man. He
shut himself off from the world, and stopped his ears; lived in the
untidiest of rooms, and would not have his garden tended, "preferring to
see all things wild and savage about him." He took his meals at times
and in ways that no other man did, and Romola used to coax him with
sweets and hard-boiled eggs. His fondness for quaint landscape ("he
would sometimes stand beside a wall," says Vasari, "and image forth the
most extraordinary landscapes that ever were") may be seen in this
picture: so also may his love of animals, in which, says Vasari, he took
"indescribable pleasure."
[Illustration: THE DEATH OF PROCRIS.
_Piero di Cosimo._]
The subjects of his pictures were generally allegorical. In _Romola_ he
paints Tito and Romola as Bacchus and Ariadne; here he shows the death
of Procris, the story in which the ancients embodied the folly of
jealousy. For Procris being told that Cephalus was unfaithful,
straight-way believed the report and secretly followed him to the
woods, for he was a great hunter. And Cephalus called upon "aura," the
Latin for breeze, for Cephalus was hot after the chase: "Sweet air, O
come," and echo answered, "Come, sweet air." But Procris, thinking that
he was calling after his mistress, turned to see, and as she moved she
made a rustling in the leaves, which Cephalus mistook for the motion of
some beast of the forest, and let fly his unerring dart, which Procris
once had given him.
But Procris lay among the white wind-flowers,
Shot in the throat. From out the little wound
The slow blood drained, as drops in autumn showers
Drip from the leaves upon the sodden ground.
None saw her die but Lelaps, the swift hound,
That watched her dumbly with a wistful fear,
Till at the dawn, the hornèd wood-men found
And bore her gently on a sylvan bier,
To lie beside the sea,--with many an uncouth tear.
AUSTIN DOBSON: _Old World Lyrics_.
_A Popular Handbook to the National Gallery_ (London and New York,
1888).
THE DEATH OF PROCRIS
(_PIERO DI COSIMO_)
JOHN ADDINGTON SYMONDS
The point that connects him with Botticelli is the romantic treatment of
his classical mythology, best exemplified in his pictures of the tale of
Perseus and Andromeda.[16] Piero was by nature and employment a
decorative painter; the construction of cars for pageants, and the
adornment of dwelling rooms and marriage chests, affected his whole
style, rendering it less independent and more quaint than that of
Botticelli. Landscape occupies the main part of his compositions, made
up by a strange amalgam of the most eccentric details--rocks toppling
over blue bays, sea-caverns and fantastic mountain ranges. Groups of
little figures upon these spaces tell the story, and the best invention
of the artist is lavished on the form of monstrous creatures like the
dragon slain by Perseus. There is no attempt to treat the classic
subject in a classic spirit: to do that and to fail in doing it,
remained for Cellini....[17] The same criticism applies to Piero's
picture of the murdered Procris watched by a Satyr of the woodland.[18]
In creating his Satyr the painter has not had recourse to any antique
bas-relief, but has imagined for himself a being half human, half
bestial, and yet wholly real; nor has he portrayed in Procris a nymph of
Greek form, but a girl of Florence. The strange animals and gaudy
flowers introduced into the landscape background further remove the
subject from the sphere of classic treatment. Florentine realism and
quaint fancy being thus curiously blended, the artistic result may be
profitably studied for the light it throws upon the so-called Paganism
of the earlier Renaissance. Fancy at that moment was more free than when
superior knowledge of antiquity had created a demand for reproductive
art, and when the painters thought less of the meaning of the fable for
themselves than of its capability of being used as a machine for the
display of erudition.
_The Renaissance in Italy_ (London, 1877).
FOOTNOTES:
[16] Uffizi Gallery.
[17] See the bas-relief upon the pedestal of his 'Perseus' in the Loggia
de' Lanzi.
[18] In the National Gallery.
THE MARRIAGE IN CANA
(_TINTORET_)
JOHN RUSKIN
The Church of the Salute is farther assisted by the beautiful flight of
steps in front of it down to the canal; and its façade is rich and
beautiful of its kind, and was chosen by Turner for the principal object
in his well known view of the Grand Canal. The principal faults of the
building are the meagre windows in the sides of the cupola, and the
ridiculous disguise of the buttresses under the form of colossal
scrolls; the buttresses themselves being originally a hypocrisy, for the
cupola is stated by Lazari to be of timber, and therefore needs none.
The sacristy contains several precious pictures: the three on its roof
by Titian, much vaunted, are indeed as feeble as they are monstrous; but
the small Titian, _St. Mark with Sts. Cosmo and Damian_, was, when I
first saw it, to my judgment, by far the first work of Titian's in
Venice. It has since been restored by the Academy, and it seemed to me
entirely destroyed, but I had not time to examine it carefully.
[Illustration: THE MARRIAGE IN CANA.
_Tintoret_]