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diff --git a/37313.txt b/37313.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3a49a3f --- /dev/null +++ b/37313.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11657 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Standard Galleries - Holland, by Esther Singleton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Standard Galleries - Holland + +Author: Esther Singleton + +Release Date: September 4, 2011 [EBook #37313] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STANDARD GALLERIES - HOLLAND *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Judith Wirawan and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +----------------------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Notes: | + | | + | Words surrounded by _ are italicized. | + | Words surrounded by = are bold. | + | Words surrounded by { } are superscript. | + | | + | A number of obvious errors have been corrected in this text. | + | For a complete list, please see the bottom of this document. | + | | + +----------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + + THE STANDARD GALLERIES + + HOLLAND + + + + +[Illustration: JAN VERMEER +View of Delft] + + + + + THE STANDARD GALLERIES + + HOLLAND + + BY + + ESTHER SINGLETON + + _Author of "Dutch and Flemish Furniture," "Great Pictures + Described by Great Writers," etc., etc._ + + WITH FORTY-SIX ILLUSTRATIONS + + [Illustration: A. C. McClurg & Co Logo] + + CHICAGO + A. C. MCCLURG & CO. + 1908 + + COPYRIGHT + A. C. MCCLURG & CO. + 1908 + + Entered at Stationers' Hall, London, England + + _All rights reserved_ + + Published October 10, 1908 + + THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A. + + + + +_Preface_ + + +When a tourist who, having mapped out his itinerary in accordance with +the time at his disposal for a European trip, arrives at a city for +seeing which he has allowed two or three days at the utmost, the first +question he puts to a fellow traveller, the hotel clerk, or his Baedeker +is, "What must I see?" + +First, there is the city itself: its streets, bridges, canals, parks, +and drives. Then there are famous churches, city halls, and other +ancient buildings, including city gates and castles in the immediate +neighborhood. Perhaps there is a palace, and most certainly one or more +museums of art and antiquities. The tourist gazes his fill on +architecture, stone and wood carving, exterior and interior; but above +all he feels that he must make the best use of his opportunities of +seeing the pictures, the fame of which has spread into all civilized +countries. His time is short. He is therefore grateful for a guide that +will direct him to the beauties and celebrities of the famous local +picture-gallery, and point out to him the qualities of the paintings as +well as tell him something of the art of the masters and of the school +to which they belong. It is important first for him to know what he +should see, and secondly what he should see in it beyond the bare facts +he can gather from the catalogue. + +On returning home with a few photographs of the canvases that have +struck his fancy, he is also pleased to renew his acquaintance with the +gallery in the pages of a modest work that does not go too deeply into +art questions beyond the grasp of the ordinary layman. Such a guide and +companion this book aims to be; it leads the tourist rapidly through the +most important picture-galleries of Holland, and points out the pictures +that all the world talks about; and gives some account of the Dutch +masters, their qualities and characteristics as exemplified in their +works, there and elsewhere. It does not pretend to be exhaustive, and +confines itself almost exclusively to the consideration of the examples +of native schools. + +On going through a gallery the visitor, in accordance with his +individual tastes, will frequently be halted by a picture whose fame has +not reached him, but whose beauty appeals to him quite as much as the +celebrities with which he is familiar from numberless reproductions, +such as Potter's Bull, Rembrandt's Night Watch, or Snyder's Boar Hunt. +The traveller is tempted to linger over the little pictures of the +Little Masters, the charming interiors, marines, landscapes, and still +life of the galaxy of painters of the seventeenth century. It is for +this reason, therefore, that for illustrating the following pages I have +selected many of the less familiar examples of the art of that period. +Sir Joshua Reynolds, who was a sound art critic as well as a great +painter--an unusual combination of qualities--described with fine +appreciation the pleasure derived from the contemplation of the works of +the Dutch school. He says: + + "The most considerable of the Dutch school are Rembrandt, Teniers, Jan + Steen, Ostade, Brouwer, Gerard Dow, Mieris, Metsu, and Terburg,--these + excel in small conversations. For landscapes and cattle, Wouvermans, + P. Potter, Berchem, and Ruysdael; and for buildings, Venderheyden. For + sea-views, W. Vandervelde, jun., and Backhuysen. For dead game, Weenix + and Hondekoeter. For flowers, De Heem, Vanhuysum, Rachael Roos, and + Brueghel. These make the bulk of the Dutch school. + + "I consider those painters as belonging to this school, who painted + only small conversations, landscapes, etc. Though some of these were + born in Flanders, their works are principally found in Holland--and to + separate them from the Flemish school, which generally painted figures + large as life, it appears to me more reasonable to class them with the + Dutch painters, and to distinguish those two schools rather by their + style and manner, than by the place where the artist happened to be + born. + + "Rembrandt may be considered as belonging to both or either, as he + painted both large and small pictures. + + "A clearness and brilliancy of coloring may be learned by examining + the flower-pieces of De Heem, Huysum, and Mignon; and a short time + employed in painting flowers would make no improper part of a + painter's study. Rubens's pictures strongly remind one of a nosegay of + flowers, where all the colors are bright, clear, and transparent. + + "A market woman with a hare in her hand, a man blowing a trumpet, or a + boy blowing bubbles, a view of the inside or outside of a church, are + the subjects of some of their most valuable pictures; but there is + still entertainment, even in such pictures--however uninteresting + their subjects, there is some pleasure in the contemplation of the + imitation. But to a painter they afford likewise instruction in his + profession; here he may learn the art of coloring and composition, a + skilful management of light and shade, and indeed all the mechanical + parts of the art, as well as in any other school whatever. + + "The same skill which is practised by Rubens and Titian in their large + works, is here exhibited, though on a smaller scale. Painters should + go to the Dutch school to learn the art of painting as they would go + to a grammar school to learn languages. They must go to Italy to learn + the higher branches of knowledge." + +In attempting to be of some service to the art lover who has no leisure +for extended and independent study, I have by no means relied entirely +upon my own impressions and observation. + +In describing the pictures, I have drawn largely on the writings of the +best English, French, German, and Dutch art critics and +historians,--Crowe, Reynolds, Blanc, Burger, Havard, Fromentin, Michel, +Mainz, Wurtz, Bode, Bredius, and many others. + +When so many authorities disagree with one another in the spelling of +the names of the Dutch artists, I have endeavored to avoid all criticism +by adopting the spelling used in the official catalogues of The Hague, +Amsterdam, and Rotterdam galleries; and in a few instances these are not +agreed. + +For valuable aid in compiling this work, my thanks are due to Mr. Arthur +Shadwell Martin. + + E. S. +NEW YORK, August 1, 1908. + + + + +_Galleries Included_ + + + PAGE + + THE HAGUE GALLERY 1 + + THE RIJKS MUSEUM 109 + + THE STEDELIJK MUSEUM 193 + + THE TOWN HALL, HAARLEM 211 + + THE BOIJMANS MUSEUM, ROTTERDAM 217 + + + + +_Illustrations_ + + +THE HAGUE GALLERY + + PAGE + + Vermeer, View of Delft _Frontispiece_ + + Paul Potter, _Vache qui se mire_ 10 + + Rembrandt, Portrait of Himself as Officer 14 + + Rembrandt, Homer 16 + + F. Bol, Admiral de Ruyter 24 + + Moeyaert, The Visit of Antiochus to the Augur 32 + + Ruisdael, Distant View of Haarlem 40 + + A. van de Velde, A Dutch Roadstead 48 + + P. Wouwermans, The Hay Wain 50 + + P. Wouwermans, The Arrival at the Inn 52 + + Dou, The Good Housekeeper 60 + + Ostade, The Fiddler 66 + + Ter Borch, The Despatch 70 + + Metsu, The Amateur Musicians 74 + + Rubens, Helena Fourment 100 + + +THE RIJKS MUSEUM + + Moreelse, The Little Princess 118 + + Mierevelt, Prince Maurits of Nassau 120 + + Van der Helst, Company of Captain R. Bicker 126 + + Hobbema, The Water Mill 130 + + Hackaert, Avenue of Ash-trees 132 + + Maes, The Spinner 136 + + Cuijp, Fight between a Turkey and a Cock 140 + + Cuijp, Shepherds with their Flocks 142 + + Jan van Goyen, View of Dordrecht 144 + + W. van de Velde, The Ij, or Y, at Amsterdam 150 + + F. Snyders, Dead Game and Vegetables 152 + + M. d'Hondecoeter, The Floating Feather 154 + + Asselijn, The Swan 156 + + A. de Vois, Lady and Parrot 164 + + F. van Mieris, The Grocer's Shop 172 + + P. de Hooch, The Country House 176 + + Jan Steen, The Parrot Cage 178 + + Jan Steen, The Happy Family 180 + + Jan Steen, Eve of St. Nicholas 182 + + +THE STEDELIJK MUSEUM, THE TOWN HALL, HAARLEM AND THE BOIJMANS MUSEUM + + Mauve, Sheep on the Dunes 196 + + Israels, Fisherman's Children 198 + + Roelofs, Marshy Landscape 200 + + A. Neuhuys, By the Cradle 202 + + Mesdag, Sunrise on the Dutch Coast 204 + + Israels, Old Jewish Peddler 206 + + J. Maris, Two Windmills 208 + + Frans Hals, Reunion of the Arquebusiers of St. Andrew. 214 + + Bisschop, Winter in Friesland 226 + + Mauve, Cows in a Shady Nook 236 + + Klinkenberg, View of the Vijver at The Hague 246 + + Jongkind, View of Overschie in Moonlight 256 + + + + + The Standard Galleries + + of Holland + + + + +THE HAGUE GALLERY + +THE OLD MAURITSHUIS + + +Not far from the Binnenhof, on the Vijver, where the principal historic +buildings of The Hague are grouped, stands the Mauritshuis, now the home +of one of the most famous collections of paintings in Europe. Originally +it was the palace of Prince John Maurice of Nassau, Governor of Brazil, +who, on his return to his fatherland in the year 1644, found it +completed and took up his residence there. + +This splendor-loving prince had had this building erected to please his +own tastes by the court architect of The Hague, Pieter Post, after the +plans of Jacob van Campen, the designer of the Dam Palace in Amsterdam +and other buildings; and for the decoration of the interior he had sent +rare and costly woods from Brazil. Everything was heavily gilded and +painted; and, in particular, a very artistic staircase attracted +universal admiration. Brazilian landscapes painted by Frans Post, richly +carved chimney-pieces, and exotic objects of every kind adorned the +halls; but, alas! in 1704 all this magnificence was destroyed by a fire, +and only the walls of the palace remain. + +=The Restored Building made into an Art Gallery.=--The exterior of the +building was restored just as it was originally; but the interior was +finished in a much simpler style that does not in the least suggest the +splendor of the past. + +It was not until the year 1820 that the Mauritshuis was devoted by royal +decree to its present use,--the sheltering of the royal picture +collection, which was at that time combined with the Cabinet of +Rarities, now in the Rijks Museum in Amsterdam. + +=History of the Collection.=--The collection has an interesting history +as a whole; and the majority of the pictures have their own special +history. The nucleus of the gallery formed the collection of the last +Stadtholder of the Netherlands, William V. of Orange. + +The Princes of Orange were art-collectors as early as the beginning of +the sixteenth century. Although we do not know much regarding the art +tastes of Prince Maurice of Orange, who died in 1625, yet we learn from +a document that he employed Esais van de Velde as a court painter. On +the other hand, we do know that his brother, Prince Frederick Hendrik, +was a collector of fine taste and a Maecenas. He employed a great number +of important artists, among whom were Rembrandt, Honthorst, Dirck +Bleker, Cornelis Vroom, Christiaen Couwenberch, Cornelisz Jacobsz Delff, +Thomas Willeborts, Moses van Uyttenbrouck, Jacob Backer, Gonzales +Coques, Frans Pietersz de Grebber, Dirck Dalens, Gerrit van Santen, +Adriaen Hanneman, Nicholaes de Helt Stocade, and Dirck van der Lisse. +Besides works by these artists, he acquired in Antwerp pictures by +Rubens, Paulus de Vos, Adriaen van Utrecht, and others. To the Jesuit +Father Soghers he even gave a golden palette made in The Hague by the +goldsmith Hans Coenraet Brechtel. No wonder that his widow, Princess +Amalia of Solms, following the ideas of her dead husband, employed +Jordaens, Van Thulden, De Grebber, Casar van Everdingen, Honthorst, +Lievens, Solomon de Bray, Pieter Soutman, and Cornelis Brise to decorate +the House in the Wood. + +At her death in 1675, she left a collection of two hundred and fifty +pieces, which were divided among her four daughters. Some of these +pictures are now in Dessau and Moscow, and others in Prussian castles. + +William III., who gained the English throne, had a fine picture-gallery, +of which the portrait-painter, Robert Duval was the director. The +greater part of this collection was sold in Amsterdam in 1713; but a few +of these pictures are still in The Hague Gallery. The latter, however, +owes its importance and distinction to the collection of William V. + +=The Collection of William V. of Orange.=--This prince purchased his +treasures at the best auctions of the day, such as the Lomier, De la +Court, Braamcamp, and Slingerlandt collections. A German painter, +Tethardt Philip Christian Haag, was made the director of this gallery, +which was established in the Buitenhof. When the French entered The +Hague in 1795 these pictures were carried to Paris by the troops and +placed in the Louvre. When Napoleon's lucky star set, the French had the +grace to return the pictures that they had carried away as spoils from +various countries; and on November 20, 1815, the one hundred and ten +pictures belonging to the prince's collection were returned to The Hague +amid the ringing of bells, firing of cannon, and rejoicing of the +people. Although a certain number remained in France, the chief gems +were restored undamaged. + +=Growth of The Hague Gallery.=--In 1817 the gallery contained only one +hundred and twenty-three pictures. Gradually others were purchased; for +example, in 1829, King William I. bought Rembrandt's Anatomy for 3200 +gulden. Very few purchases were made from 1831 to 1874; but during the +reign of the art-loving William III. the gallery was greatly augmented +by both purchase and gift. The growth of the collection is principally +the result of the great generosity of the Baron Victor de Stuers, who in +1874 issued an admirable catalogue (revised ed., 1895). + +=The Cabinet Pieces.=--The nucleus of this collection, originally a +"princely cabinet," consists of the cabinet pieces. Therefore we find +here pictures (that were highly valued in their day) by Poelenburgh, +Dou, Van Mieris, De Vois, Schalcken, Netscher, Van der Werff, P. van +Dyck, Ostade, Jan Steen, Ter Borch, and Metsu. There were also four +Rembrandts, two De Keijsers, three Potters, the beautiful Moro, and +examples by Adriaen and Willem van de Velde. The modern additions, +generally speaking, do not equal in interest the original collection. +The most important are two portraits by Hals; a triptych, by Jacob +Cornelisz van Ootsanen, a bequest; an Aert de Gelder, a gift, +unfortunately much restored and spoilt by Houbraken; a signed still +life, by Jan van Huysum; a portrait by Bol; a broad and spirited Begeyn; +a Dusart; a strong, dark, and somewhat sunken view of The Hague by Jacob +van Ruisdael; a beautiful Van Goyen; a head by Vermeer of Delft; a +landscape by G. du Bois; a wonderful flower-piece by Abraham van +Beyeren; several still-life pictures; and some portraits, among the +latter Moreelse's portrait of himself. + +=Sir Joshua Reynolds's Visit to the Gallery.=--Sir Joshua Reynolds left +an account of his visit to the Prince of Orange's Gallery in 1781; and +among the pictures that he especially admired are those that critics +unite in extolling to-day. He calls attention to the Wouwermans, two Van +de Veldes, the portraits of Rubens's two wives, Rembrandt's Portrait of +a Young Man, a Conversation by Ter Borch (The Despatch it is now +called), Van Dijck's Portrait of Simons the Painter, Teniers's Kitchen, +two Ostades, a landscape by Rubens, Paul Potter's _Vache qui se mire_, +the Inside of a Delft Church, by Hoogest (Houckgeest), Fruit, by De +Heem, "done with the utmost perfection"; a Woman with a Candle, by +Gerard Dow; a Woman writing, looking up and speaking to Another Woman, +by Metsu; a picture of Dutch Gallantry by Mieris,--"a man pinching the +ear of a dog which lies on his mistress's lap"; a Boy blowing Bubbles, +also by Mieris, and The Flight into Egypt, by Van der Werff,--"one of +his best." + +=The Vijver Lake.=--But while we have been talking of the past history +of the Mauritshuis and its treasures, we have failed to notice the +Vijver, a pretty lake bordered with trees and dotted with islands, the +haunt of swans and other waterfowl--descendants, perhaps, of +Hondecoeter's and Weenix's models--that float upon its glassy surface, +and cut through those quiet reflections of the long line of picturesque +buildings, including the Mauritshuis. The long quay on the other side is +the favorite and fashionable promenade of The Hague. We must note the +Vijver, because it has been an attractive subject for Dutch painters of +all periods; and the traveller will frequently see representations of +it. One of the most recent is Klinkenberg's View of the Vijver at The +Hague, which was presented to Boijman's Museum in 1876, by the Rotterdam +Society for Promoting Art. The Mauritshuis is represented on the right. +And now, having looked at this building from across the Vijver, we will +pass to the entrance. + +=Paucity of Foreign Pictures in Dutch Galleries.=--The Dutch galleries +differ from many other great European galleries, such as the National +Gallery, the Louvre, the Hermitage, and the big German galleries, by +being devoted almost exclusively to works of the Dutch and Flemish +masters. Pictures of foreign schools are insignificant in number and of +very slight importance. The foreign pictures in the Mauritshuis can be +dismissed in a few words. + +=Italian Pictures in the Mauritshuis.=--The Italian pictures include: + + Holy Family, by Fra Bartolommeo; Holy Family, by P. Berettini; Christ + Blessing, by P. Bordone; Adoration of Magi, by C. Caliari; Virgin and + Child, and Birth of Virgin, by L. Cambiaso; Temptation of Adam and + Eve, by C. Cignani; Virgin, Child, and Saints, by M. Fogolino; + Massacre of Innocents, by L. Mazzolini; Holy Family, by F. Santafede; + Madonna, by G. B. Sassoferrato; Annunciation, by F. Solimena; Holy + Family, and two Portraits, by Titian; Venus, Mistress of the World, by + A. Turchi; an Italian Landscape, by F. Zuccherelli; Cupid (poor copy), + by Guido Reni; Venus and Cupid (copy), by Raphael; two Male Portraits, + by Piero de Cosimo; Female Portrait, by G. Palma; Female Portrait, by + A. Allori; Landscape, by F. Lauri; two Landscapes with Pilgrims, Monks + in a Grotto and Capuchins in a Grotto, by A. Magnasco; two Ruins, by + L. Carlevaris; and Prometheus and Sisyphus, by L. Giordano. + +Of unknown Italian artists of the sixteenth century, the subjects are: + + God the Father and Holy Spirit, Landscape with Mary Magdalen, + Landscape with St. Paul and the Hermit, Death of Abel, Venus, Dalilah, + St. John the Evangelist, Ecce Homo, Martyrdom of St. Sebastian, and + The Musicians. + +=Other Foreign Pictures in the Mauritshuis.=--France is represented only +by a portrait by J. A. Aved, A Group of Merchants by S. Bourdon, and two +ideal landscapes by C. Vernet. The Spanish school is represented by a +portrait by Velasquez, a Virgin and Child by Murillo, a Magdalen by M. +Cereso, and a landscape and a portrait by unknown artists. The German +artists are scarcely more numerous. There are two portraits by Holbein +and three others of his school, three portraits by B. Beham, an Italian +landscape by J. H. Roos, three portraits by J. F. A. Tischbein, and four +Biblical and one mythological pictures by H. Rottenhamer. The subjects +of these are: The Meeting of David and Abigail, St. Philip Baptizing the +Eunuch, The Rest in Egypt, Christ Delivering Souls from Purgatory, and +The Fall of Phaeton. The meagre list of foreign works also includes two +portraits by the Danish artist, J. G. Ziesenis. + +=Strength and Weakness of the Gallery.=--The strength of The Hague +Gallery lies mainly in its portraits, either single or in groups. Of +these there are considerably more than a hundred; of _genre_ pictures +there are about seventy, and of landscape more than sixty. There are +nearly fifty Biblical and religious subjects, and more than thirty taken +from pagan mythology. The Gallery is weak in historical pictures, of +which there are only seventeen. Only seven canvases represent the great +marine painters; and the pictures of birds, flowers and fruits, and +still life are comparatively few. + +The student naturally turns first to the great pictures that have a +world-wide reputation. The two most famous are undoubtedly Paul +Potter's Bull and Rembrandt's Lesson in Anatomy. + +=Paul Potter's Bull.=--The picture represents an enormous black and +white bull standing on a hillock beneath two trees. Beneath the trees +lie a cow, a sheep, and a lamb, and behind the trunks stand a ram and a +shepherd. An immense meadow, on which cattle are grazing, stretches away +to the dim horizon, where the buildings of a town are barely visible. In +the broad expanse of sky a bird soars with outspread wings. The bull is +proud and defiant, with silky hide and loose dewlap, and stands with +firmly planted feet. His eye is savage. This picture has been the +subject of much criticism: the figures of the man, the sheep, and the +lamb have been condemned by most critics, while the ram's horns have +been called "a splendid piece of sculpture," and the head of the cow +"the gem of the whole work." The face of the cow is marvellous. The +eyes, and the wet and dripping nose and mouth, rivet the spectator's +gaze. He fancies he smells the grass-laden breath of the animal, and +sees her jaw begin to move as she chews the cud. "No painter ever +concentrated so much life and truthful expression in the face of a +ruminant," remarks a critic. Strange, then, that the fawn-colored body +and crumpled leg are hard and wooden. + +The Bull was painted in 1647, when Paul Potter was but twenty-two years +of age, and was living in Amsterdam and Haarlem. The picture was +purchased in 1749 for 630 florins, and in 1795 was carried by the French +to Paris and placed in the Louvre, where it was ranked as the fourth +most valuable painting,--the others being Raphael's Transfiguration, +Domenichino's Communion of St. Jerome, and Titian's Martyrdom of St. +Peter. The Dutch government offered 60,000 florins to Napoleon for its +restoration. + +=The Mirrored Cow.=--A more beautiful picture, and greatly preferred by +most critics to the Bull, is the Mirrored Cow, known generally by the +French title, _La Vache qui se mire_. This was painted in 1648, and +represents a beautiful landscape on a hot summer day. The meadows are +flooded with sunshine; a limpid pool on the border of a forest is shown +in the foreground, where cows, goats, and sheep are lying or standing +under the shade of the trees. Two cows and a sheep stand in the water +and are reflected there; one cow is drinking, and the other has her back +to the spectator and is idly standing in the mud. Boys and men are +swimming or playing on the banks, and two have evidently finished their +bath. On the right is a farmhouse with some cows. One of these an old +woman is milking, and a man stands by with his arm over the cow's back. +In the middle distance a coach and six horses with lackeys is seen, and +in the background the spires and towers of Rijswick are basking in the +sunlight. The castle of Binkhorst is visible, and Delft lies on the +horizon. + +[Illustration: PAUL POTTER +La Vache qui se mire] + +=Criticism of these two Pictures.=--Burger very wittily said that _La +Vache qui se mire_ was a _chef d'oeuvre_, and not a _hors d'oeuvre_, +like the Bull. And Sir Joshua Reynolds noted: "Cattle finely painted by +Potter, remarkable for the strong reflection of one of them in the +water: dated 1648." "How bright, how sunny is this landscape!" exclaims +Dr. Bredius. "How splendidly are all these animals drawn and modelled! +The whole composition is beautiful and full of charm." It is painted in +the small size which Potter usually preferred, and is one of his +greatest creations. + +=Other Pictures by Potter, his Father, and Van der Helst.=--The third +picture by Potter, painted four years later, is also ranked among his +best works. Like the two others it represents cattle in a meadow. + +A portrait of Paul Potter by Van der Helst, painted shortly before his +death (January 27, 1654), hangs near his masterpieces. It is the only +work by which Van der Helst is represented in The Hague Gallery. + +A picture by Paul Potter's father, Pieter Symonsz Potter, Shepherds with +their Troops, signed and dated 1638, is owned by the Mauritshuis, but a +better work is his Straw-Cutter in the Rijks. + +=Rembrandt.=--The Hague Gallery is particularly rich in works by +Rembrandt (1606-69). The Rijks Museum is the place to study the great +productions of his middle and last periods; but The Hague Gallery is +strong in works of his first period, owning no less than five painted +during the first ten years of his career. + +=The Anatomy Lesson.=--First, let us look at the most important work of +Rembrandt in this gallery, The Anatomy Lesson by Dr. Tulp (1632), which +made Rembrandt the most sought-after painter of his time. + +Rembrandt was barely settled in Amsterdam and had painted only a few +pictures there when the famous Amsterdam surgeon, Dr. Nicholaes Tulp, +gave him the order to represent him with his students at an operation +for the Amsterdam Guild of Surgeons, to be hung on the walls of their +dissecting room with other works of a similar nature, such as the great +anatomy pictures by Aert Pietersz (1603), by Thomas de Keijser (1618), +by Claes Elias (1625), two by Mierevelt (1617), and one by Vosmaer. +Rembrandt's work overshadowed them all. There is a resemblance to +Vosmaer's picture and also to that of De Keijser too striking to be +accidental; but Rembrandt's work shows the master's genius in the style, +the arrangement of the figures, and the illumination. Bode says: + + "Instead of an accidental arrangement of single persons, a masterly + rounded-out composition has been created, in the happiest way, and at + the most important moment, when at a point in the lecture to the + learned anatomists the interest is concentrated on the body. The + circumstances and the way it is painted deprive the picture of all + disgust. In contrast with his predecessors, Rembrandt has painted his + doctors, not as if they were having their photographs taken and gazing + at the spectator, but in the most natural way--some looking at the + body and some at the lecturing Dr. Tulp, Tulp himself quiet, and + explaining his subject with the greatest authority. The body is + painted in a masterly manner and the portraits are beyond all praise." + +=Physicians portrayed in the Anatomy Lesson.=--On a paper held by +Hartman Harmansz, the names of the physicians are inscribed: his own; +Matthijs Kalkoen, who is leaning forward; Jakob de Wit, almost in +profile, with extended neck, looking with extreme attention, with his +collar almost touching the head of the corpse; below him, Jakob Blok, +with fixed glance and furrowed brow; above Blok, Frans van Loenen, the +only one present not a Master of the Guild; and, finally, lower down in +the foreground, Adriaan Slabbraan, with his back turned to the +spectator, but his head in profile; and Jakob Koolveld, entirely in +profile, the last on the left. All are bareheaded, robed in black with +plated ruffs, with the exception of Harmansz, who wears an old-fashioned +ruff. + +This work remained in the Surgeons' Hall in Amsterdam until 1828, when +King William I. bought it for 32,000 florins. + +Sir Joshua Reynolds saw it in Amsterdam in 1781, and thus described it: + + "To avoid making it an object disagreeable to look at, the figure is + but just cut at the wrist. There are seven other portraits colored + like nature itself, fresh and highly finished. One of the figures + behind has a paper in his hand, on which are written the names of the + rest; Rembrandt has also added his own name with the date, 1672. The + dead body is perfectly well drawn (a little foreshortened), and seems + to have been just washed. Nothing can be more truly the color of dead + flesh. The legs and feet, which are nearest the eye, are in shadow; + the principal light, which is on the body, is by that means preserved + of a compact form. All these figures are dressed in black. + + "Above stairs is another Rembrandt of the same kind of subject; + Professor Deeman[1] standing by a dead body, which is so much + foreshortened that the hands and the feet almost touch each other; the + dead man lies on his back with his feet toward the spectator. There + is something sublime in the character of the head, which reminds one + of Michael Angelo; the whole is finely painted, the coloring much like + Titian." + +=Rembrandt's first Important Work.=--Critics are uncertain as to whether +the Presentation in the Temple, also called Simeon in the Temple, was +painted in Leyden or in Amsterdam, to which city Rembrandt removed in +1631, the date of this picture; but all agree that it is his first +important work, far exceeding in certainty of composition and treatment +the Simeon of 1628, Peter's Denial of 1628, and the Good Samaritan of +1631. + +In the centre of a temple whose roof is supported by gigantic columns, +the Virgin and St. Joseph make their offering and present the newborn +child, who is in the arms of Simeon, to the Lord. They gaze tenderly at +the infant. In front of the group stands the High Priest in a long +violet robe, holding up his hands in ecstasy. The light is focussed on +the faces of Mary, Simeon, and Jesus, and falls on the High Priest's +back and hand. Behind the Virgin, who is dressed in light blue, are two +rabbis; and in the background in the nave are several groups almost +imperceptible in the shadows; and to the right in the chiaroscuro are a +number of persons ascending and descending a flight of steps, at the top +of which stands a priest. In the foreground on the right two old men are +sitting on a bench, the arm of which bears the monogram "R. H.," and the +date 1631. It is supposed that Rembrandt's sister was the model for +Mary. Emile Michel says: + + "The simple garb of the Virgin and St. Joseph and the squalor of the + two beggars beside them emphasize the splendor of the High Priest and + of Simeon, whose heavy cymar seems to be woven of gems and gold. The + execution is a miracle of subtlety and skill. Note how supreme a + colorist has been at work on the High Priest's cope! With what science + is the violet carried through the lights and shadows, and with what + truth are the tones observed and rendered, with what scrupulous care + is the general harmony preserved in spite of the marvellous treatment + of detail!" + +Of this picture, so particularly remarkable for its artistic treatment +and composition, Bode exclaims: + + "How appropriately are the groups in the halls of the high fantastic + vaults distributed! How masterly is the chief group in the middle + distance! How complete in drawing and action is every single figure, + though so minute! How powerfully is the light sprinkled over the chief + figures before it slowly melts away into the mystic darkness of the + broad nave whereby that peculiar mood of reverence--the holy calm of + the place--results as the most happy effect of handling." + +=Lights and Coloring of the Picture.=--Notwithstanding their smallness, +the figures are most completely and expressively treated, so that in the +half-lights the background shimmers here and there. The coloring equals +that of the other pictures of this period; in the lights, greenish brown +tones come to the aid of the local colors--blue, violet, and, very +seldom, yellow (next to gray and brown, which are used only in a very +modest way). + +William de Poorter made a striking copy of this picture, which hangs in +the Dresden Gallery. + +=Susanna.=--The chief beauty of Susanna, which bears the signature "R. +f. 1637," lies in the brilliant, warm coloring which bestows a rich +effect on the somewhat ugly form of the crouching heroine. Bode, like +Burger before him, thinks that he recognizes in the little head the +likeness of Rembrandt's wife, Saskia. The flesh is wonderfully painted, +the figure lifts itself splendidly out from the dark but transparent +background. Moreover, the modelling of the body leaves nothing to be +desired. + +Susanna is represented as about to step into the bath and is alarmed by +the presence of the two Elders, one of whom is seen lurking in the +shrubbery. Burger notes: + + "Placed by the side of the School of Anatomy and the Simeon, the + merits of this work are too often overlooked. Yet Susanna, strongly + relieved against a dark background, is one of the most interesting + female figures ever painted by Rembrandt, being remarkably faithful to + nature, though not of classic beauty." + +Of this picture Sir Joshua Reynolds remarks, and many will agree with +him: + + "It appears very extraordinary that Rembrandt should have taken so + much pains and have made at last so very ugly and ill-favored a + figure; but his attention was principally directed to the coloring and + effect, in which it must be acknowledged he has attained the highest + degree of excellence." + +=Portraits of Rembrandt and Others.=--The portraits are of Rembrandt, +aged about twenty-two, painted about 1629; one of his mother, about +1628; one of a young woman, painted about 1635, supposed to be Saskia +van Ulenborgh, whom Rembrandt married in 1634; a portrait of Rembrandt +as an officer, about 1635, and one of an old man's head, supposed to be +that of his brother Adriaen Harmensz van Rijn (1597-8-1654), painted in +1650. + +The portrait of himself is one of Rembrandt's earliest known pictures +and was painted in Leyden between 1628 and 1629. It belongs to similar +works that are now in Cassel, Gotha, Nuremberg, and in the possession of +Count Esterhazy at Nordkirchen, etc., but is the most beautiful because +of its perfect condition. Rembrandt, aged twenty-two or twenty-three, is +dressed in a somewhat fanciful costume and wears a steel cuirass. The +artistic way in which the light falls and the management of the +chiaroscuro foretells what was destined to be Rembrandt's peculiarity of +manner, which Sir Joshua Reynolds has so happily described as "of +admitting but little light and giving to that little a wonderful +brilliancy." Bode says: "Although the brush work is broad, the finish is +strong. It stands out above all others of this period; we feel already +in this youthful work the paw of the lion." + +[Illustration: REMBRANDT +Portrait of Himself as Officer] + +=Rembrandt's Portraits of Himself.=--The artist was not handsome; indeed +he selected himself so often for a model only for the sake of making a +study of light and shade, etc., and because he had not always any other +casual model than himself at hand. As keen as the glance of his eyes is +the painting of this picture,--sharp, broad, but not so heavily +_impasto_ as is the case a few years later. + +At this period he painted many portraits of himself. The Wallace +Collection in London alone possesses two of the master's self-studies, +as does also the Berlin Picture-Gallery, all of which are contemporary +with this picture. The date of this portrait is about 1634, when the +artist was twenty-eight. It is familiar to every one. Sir Joshua +Reynolds described it as "a portrait of a young man by Rembrandt, +dressed in a black cap and feathers, the upper part of the face +overshadowed; for coloring and force nothing can exceed it." + +Homer reciting his Poems (1663) represents an old man in yellow robe. +Part of the picture has suffered by having been cut. + +[Illustration: REMBRANDT +Homer] + +=Van Ravesteyn (1572-1657).=--J. A. van Ravesteyn was in The Hague what +Rembrandt was in Amsterdam, Hals in Haarlem, Mierevelt in Delft, +Moreelse in Utrecht, and Cuijp in Dordrecht. We have to thank him for +the beautiful Shooting Meetings in The Hague Gemeente Museum, and we +also have to thank him for a series of fine portraits full of character +of officers in the Mauritshuis. Although he had a dangerous rival in +Mierevelt, who was employed principally by the Court of the Prince of +Orange, yet Ravesteyn was the official painter of The Hague. When the +marksmen wanted to have their portraits painted, or when the magistracy +wanted to be immortalized, it was Ravesteyn's brush that had to +undertake the work. He was not very highly paid, in common with all +other Dutch artists of that period. + +=Van Ravesteyn's Masterpiece.=--His great masterpiece, the splendid +shooting picture of 1618, the most important one that had been painted +up to that time in Holland, brought him only 500 gulden; but in freeing +him from all guard duties and from beer and wine taxes, the rulers of +The Hague showed that they wanted to honor their artist. + +=Portraits by Van Ravesteyn.=--The portraits of this magnificent +portrait-painter are noble in conception and full of life and +character; and in his first period were brilliant in color. Indeed, the +flesh tones of his first period are even too red in his male portraits. +Yet the pictures which he painted before 1625-30 are stronger and more +full of spirit than the later pictures, which are cooler and flatter in +the tones and softer in the painting. There is a series of twenty-three +portraits of officers who are unknown. + +=Pot's Schutzenstueck.=--It was not until 1886 that the greatsmuelddddddd +Schutzenstueck, a Civic Guard picture in the Haarlem Museum, which had +always been so greatly admired by critics, was discovered to be the +long-lost picture painted by Pot (1585-1657) in 1630, which had been +falsely attributed to Van der Helst. At the date when he painted the +picture Pot was so famous that the historiographer, Ampzingh, had rhymed +two years earlier, 1628, "then shall also Hendrik Pot rightfully wear +his crown. We wonder what his busy hand is creating to-day." He calls +the Allegory of the Death of William I., the great Prince of Orange, +painted by Pot in 1620, and now unfortunately lost, "a very fine and +artistically painted picture." We have no means of following his +development, because his pictures are rare, and seldom dated. The Hague +picture shows us a young gallant in bright green costume in the gay +company of three sirens and an old woman whose calling is unmistakable. +The young woman on his right is in violet; the one on the left, in pink; +and the third, in yellow and blue. All this is in a strongly pronounced +local color. The drawing is careful and good. This is far superior in +all respects to a similar picture in the Berlin Gallery. The background +of this picture is a fine gray. The details are convincingly and +beautifully painted. The painting of the high lights reminds us of the +Hals School. The picture was probably painted about 1630, and takes a +commanding place among the contemporary pictures of this style. It was +bought for 1300 gulden. A similar picture hangs in the National +Gallery. + + =Two Portraits by Frans Hals.=--"The Government was happily inspired," + writes Mr. Bredius, "in 1881, when it bought for The Hague Gallery two + portraits by the great Frans Hals [1580-1666], who had not been + represented up till that time. Yet there were and still are + dissatisfied people who maintain that the authorities ought to have + tried to acquire a still better example of the art of the master, + these pictures of his being too trifling and not worthy of the + collection," etc. But people forgot that such an opportunity does not + often occur, and then that the price is often so high that the slim + purse of The Hague Gallery makes a purchase not to be thought of. + + "The smaller and more beautiful of the pair, the male portrait, is + quite capable of giving us a good idea of the virtuosity of the + portrait-painting of Hals. How fine, how self-assertive, is the + attitude of this twenty-nine-year-old patrician Haarlemite! How + sympathetically the costume is painted! How well are the head and + hands modelled and drawn! The portraits were painted in the year + 1625." + +The portraits here described are of Jacob Olycan and his wife, Aletta +Hanemans. + +=Bode's Opinion of Hals's Pictures.=--In his celebrated study of Hals of +this period, Bode says: + + "About the year 1625 the master had advanced to a style of impression + and way of handling that in general remained stationary for about ten + years. A gay, delightful humor laughs out at us from all these + pictures: from the rich, full local colors, the clear blonde tones, + playful easy handling, which quickly, in a few minutes with a few + scattered strokes and sweeps of the brush and palette knife blade, + brings the personality of the subject upon the canvas, and soon the + conception is rendered to the smallest detail in lovely, delicate + completeness." + +=Characteristics of Thomas de Keijser's Work.=--Of all important +painters who flourished in Amsterdam when Rembrandt settled there at the +end of 1631, Thomas de Keijser (1596-1667) was by far the greatest. His +portraits, particularly those of small dimensions, take high rank among +those which the Dutch school in its glory produced. His work is +distinguished by a masterly technique, a splendid characterization in +portraiture, a powerful but brilliant selection of color, and a broad, +heavy brush. + +=Description of a Portrait painted by him.=--These qualities are found +in the Portrait of a Man of Distinction, signed and dated 1631. The man, +nearly life size, is seated before a table covered with a reddish +Oriental carpet, and with his left hand is turning over the leaves of a +book that rests upon a desk. He is not looking at the book, however, but +at the spectator. His hair is gray and quite short, he wears a +moustache, his eyes are full of fire, and his face is expressive. He has +on a large black hat, and a white collar spreads out over his black silk +doublet; his stockings are black silk, and his shoes are ornamented with +rosettes. The right hand, which is superb, rests on his hip. The floor +is paved with black and gray tiles and in the sober background, which +serves to bring out the face, a library is indicated on the left. + +=Group of Four Burgomasters.=--The portrait is painted on oak, as is +also that of the Amsterdam Burgomasters Deliberating with Regard to the +Visit of Marie de Medici to that city. This very small picture, in which +the figures are only eight and a half inches high, was painted by De +Keijser in 1638, when the widow of the French King Henri IV. visited +Amsterdam. + +"It is no small glory," says Blanc, "for De Keijser to have painted a +picture which in value of execution may be placed between the Peace of +Munster and the Syndics by Rembrandt." + +=Description of the Figures.=--Here we find four burgomasters sitting +around a table covered with a green cloth in an austere hall, whose gray +walls are broken by niches containing statues. These four old +men--Abraham Boom, Petrus Hasselaer, Albert Coenraet Burgh, and Antonie +Oetgens van Waveren--are dressed in black and wear black felt hats +unadorned with plumes. Their grave deliberations regarding the +entertainment of the royal guest are interrupted by the entrance of the +lawyer, Cornelis van Davelaer, who, hat in hand, salutes them with the +greatest respect, as he announces the arrival of Marie de Medici. + +=Blanc's Opinion of the Picture.=--Blanc, who greatly admires this +picture, calls attention to the fact that no useless piece of furniture +or accessory of any kind disturbs the solemnity of this little scene, +which, on account of the simple manner in which it is conceived, is +great, notwithstanding its size. He says: + + "With the exception of Rembrandt, I do not know of a single Dutch + painter, not even Van der Helst (who painted such great canvases), who + would not have belittled his picture, either by elegance of touch and + finish, or by the richness of the costumes and arms, or by the effect + of a carpet variegated with a thousand shades. I imagine that Gerard + Ter Borch, in spite of his habitual dignity, would have found some + pretext for introducing into his composition a beautiful sword with a + baudrick, a crossbow, or a chandelier; that Metsu would certainly have + found some excuse for placing a richly chiselled silver _aiguiere_ or + a golden goblet on the table; and I am sure that through the door by + which the lawyer, Davelaer, enters, Pieter de Hooch would have let you + see the antechamber of the Council, with its high chairs covered with + Utrecht velvet, or a winding stairway, or a distant door opening into + a garden or street. The attention would then have been somewhat + distracted by the very striking accessories, or by the optical charm + of the chiaroscuro. Here we find nothing of the kind; not a single + concession to conventional treatment. By the gravity of their + attitude, we see that these four citizens, chosen by a free people who + sit here with covered heads, express in themselves the majesty of the + United Provinces, and they consider themselves of equal rank with the + Queen of France, whose arrival is being announced; you feel at once + that they bring a plebeian pride to their magnificent reception of + that princess who was, like them, originally from a republic of + merchants. All the costumes being black,--that beautiful, warm, + transparent, silky black peculiar to Velasquez and Anthonis Moro,--you + only notice in this picture the hands and the heads. The heads have an + expression that will remain engraven in the mind forever, for the + painter has accented them so deeply, and brought into contrast both + physical and moral features. Notwithstanding their individuality, they + all have a certain grandeur. The peculiar trait of this master, + however, is the neutral background, the exquisite sobriety of the tone + of the wall, recalling the beautiful gray of the great Spanish + painter; and from this stand out the black of the doublets and the + white collars." + +Blanc also calls attention to the splendid painting of the faces: the +eyes sunken by age, the wrinkles of the skin, and the withered cheeks. +Bredius writes: + + "What character has the artist put into these heads! We feel at once + that it must have been this kind of men who conducted Amsterdam to + greatness and fame. What worth and dignity in the way they hold + themselves! What self-confidence in the proud glance!" + +=Other Portraits in the Mauritshuis.=--Of other notable portraits in the +Mauritshuis there are three by Moreelse (one of himself); six by +Honthorst, including one of a child gathering fruit, originally in the +Castle of Honsholredijk; nine by Mierevelt (chiefly of various Princes +of Orange); three by Ravesteyn, one a group; two by Moro, one of a +goldsmith, the other supposed to be Prince William I. in his youth; +three by Netscher; Ter Borch's of himself; two by Frans van Mieris; one +by Cuijp, and other examples by Rubens and Van Dijck. + +=Ferdinand Bol's Pay for Portraits.=--Of Rembrandt's numerous pupils, +one of the most eminent in portraiture was Ferdinand Bol (1616-80), +whose earliest signed work is dated 1642. In his earliest period he +devoted himself chiefly to large pictures of Biblical subjects; but, +like many other artists, he very soon found that there was a great deal +more money to be made in portraiture. At that time, when photography was +unknown, it was only natural that everybody who could afford it had his +picture painted. From the burgomaster to the ordinary tailor or +skipper--all wanted to have pictures of themselves and their families +hanging on their own walls; and the purchaser could indulge himself in +this natural vanity at comparatively small cost, for the demand +naturally increased the supply; and there were only too many painters +who were glad enough to serve their patrons. As the artists became +famous their prices naturally increased; and some received higher pay +than others who to-day have a greater reputation. Rembrandt probably +received as much as anybody else for a time; but at the end of his life +there was a greater demand for portraits by others, such as Maes, who +were more pliant to the changing mode. Rembrandt received 500 gulden +each for his famous portraits, whilst others were content with 150, 100, +and even 30 or 40 gulden. Caspar Netscher, for instance, received only +from 50 to 70 gulden for his elegantly finished pictures. The usual +custom was for an artist to paint portraits for a living, meanwhile +working and developing himself along the lines of his special genius. +Thus we find several of the Little Masters practically relinquishing +portraiture as soon as they had made a big reputation in _genre_, or +other fields. + +=Bol's Work in Portraiture.=--Bol was a portrait-painter exclusively; he +married first in 1653, and a second time in 1669. Probably both wives +belonged to rich and important families, for Bol was kept busy his whole +life long and became wealthy, dying in 1680 in his beautiful house with +its fine grounds and stables. + +With him, as with so many other successful painters, his last pictures +were not his best. In his earlier portraits he represents his sitters in +beautiful chiaroscuro. The painting is broad and spirited; the color +strong and brilliant. He painted so much in Rembrandt's style at first +that many of Bol's pictures have been taken for those of his master; and +later, when Bol's reputation had faded, unscrupulous dealers did not +hesitate to change his signature on the canvases for that of Rembrandt. +A celebrated instance of this practice is the so-called Portrait of +Flinck and his Wife in Munich, which by many connoisseurs was long +admired as Rembrandt's work; but, by Hauser's skill, the false Rembrandt +signature was obliterated and the real one of Bol brought to light. + +=Bol's Portrait of De Ruyter's Son.=--The Mauritshuis owns one of the +best portraits by Bol, painted in his later period, that of the handsome +twenty-year-old son of the great Admiral de Ruyter. This son, Engel de +Ruyter, was born in 1649 and died in 1683. Bol painted him in the year +1669, as may be seen by the date on the picture. It is only quite +recently that the pendant, a portrait of the great Admiral de Ruyter, +has come to be regarded as a copy after Bol. The charming little marine +in the picture is undoubtedly by the hand of Willem van de Velde the +younger, and adds greatly to the interest of the painting because it is +of itself a fine picture of that great master. In many of his later +portraits, Bol is somewhat dull in his color and painted them too +rapidly, besides giving to his flesh too strong a red-rose tint; but +that cannot be said of him in this case, where he has done his very +best. In particular, he has handled the rich costume with affectionate +and masterful touch. + +[Illustration: F. BOL +Admiral de Ruyter] + +=Description of the Sitter.=--The genial countenance, which displays +none of the real martial type of his celebrated father, rises finely out +of the red drapery. The bearing is elegant, though perhaps there is a +little too much pose in it. The portrait is particularly interesting, +because the sitter had a career of great promise which was cut short all +too soon. Nine years after the portrait was painted, the youth had +already risen to the rank of Vice-Admiral and had been created a Spanish +count, having also refused the title of duke; but before he had attained +thirty-four years of age, he died, not a hero's death like his father, +as he had desired, but in his own luxurious dwelling in Amsterdam. +However, he had already while very young fought valiantly beside his +father in the Battle of Solebay. + +=A Picture by Salomon Koninck.=--Another pupil of Rembrandt whom we +shall see in the Rijks is G. van den Eeckhout. A picture formerly +attributed to him, the Adoration of the Magi, is now known to be by +Salomon Koninck (1618-88). One of the Magi in a red cloak is kneeling +before the Infant Jesus and another on the right wears a golden mantle. +The color is vigorous and the work shows the knowledge of chiaroscuro +for which Rembrandt's school was so famous. + +=Two Pictures by Nicholas Maes.=--Nicholas Maes (1632-93) is represented +in the Mauritshuis by only two pictures,--one of them of questionable +origin, moreover; and therefore the student must go to Amsterdam for +varied examples of his work. The portrait here is that of the Grand +Pensionary, Jakob Cats, an original replica of which hangs in the +Budapesth gallery. Diana and Her Nymphs shows some of the qualities to +be expected of one who worked in Rembrandt's studio for eighteen years; +but it is now sometimes attributed to Vermeer of Delft. The signature, +"N. M. 1650," is said to be false. + +=Maes's Work as a Portrait-Painter.=--Maes was a pupil of Rembrandt and +became a very successful portrait-painter by copying the master's style. +He soon became rich by his talents, his wit, his polished manners, and +by flattering his sitters. He charged high prices for his pictures; and +he deserved his great reputation. The chiaroscuro of his paintings is +very vigorous. If the shadows are not heavily massed as with Rembrandt, +they are at least strongly accented; and, as the half-tones are very +summary, the passage from light to dark is very brusque, and by this +means the painter attains a powerful effect and strong relief. + +=His Visit to Jordaens at Antwerp.=--Having become rich, and getting +tired of everlastingly painting the rich burghers of Amsterdam and their +wives, Maes thought he would like to go to see the works of the great +artists of Antwerp, who at that time were so much talked about +throughout Europe. Having been initiated into the high freemasonry of +art by Rembrandt, he was cordially received by the Antwerp painters and +soon recognized by them as a brother. Among others, he went to visit +Jordaens and was shown into a room filled with pictures, which he +examined while awaiting the appearance of the latter, who was watching +his visitor through the keyhole. When he entered, Jordaens said: "I see +plainly that you are a great connoisseur, or perhaps an able painter, +for the best pictures in my gallery detained you longer than the +others." + +Maes simply replied, "I am a portrait-painter." + +"In that case," replied Jordaens, "I sincerely pity you. So you also are +one of those martyrs of painting who so richly deserve our +commiseration!" + +In fact, Maes's weariness at having to put up with the whims of human +vanity probably had much to do with his turning to _genre_, by which he +is now best known and for which he is most highly prized. + +=Maes's Pictures of Familiar Scenes.=--The average art-lover, however, +cares little for the portraiture of Maes, but prizes him as a painter of +familiar scenes, like Pieter de Hooch. Although less varied and less +supple, but not less robust than the latter, Maes was his equal in the +power of his effects. The triviality of the subject which he often +selects is relieved by the charm of an astonishingly vigorous and +spirited execution. Burger says: + + "On passing through a kitchen, perhaps, you see an old woman scraping + carrots, having various kitchen utensils about her. If you have seen + this humble interior in one of Maes's pictures, it will be impossible + for you not to halt and spend some time in looking at it. The painting + of Nicholas Maes is one of those that become encrusted in the memory. + The light gleams in it, the canvas glows, the subject stands out, the + eye runs over it, and if the figures were of natural size one would go + forward to meet them, so strong is the impression, so solid is the + tone, so palpable, and modelled in relief are the forms. + + "In his little familiar scenes, Maes is not always insignificant or + vulgar in his choice of subject. Most often, indeed, his composition + is ingenious, witty, and piquant. In the first place, it is set in the + most picturesque corner of the room; the painter likes to take up his + position in a place whence he can see at once the house from top to + bottom,--both the stairs descending to the cellar and those mounting + to the first floor. Then the figures he brings into the scene usually + have some malicious trick to play, some secret conversation to + overhear, some theft to discover, or some infidelity to discover." + +=Samuel van Hoogstraaten.=--It is singular how few pictures are known by +Rembrandt's remarkable pupil, Samuel van Hoogstraaten (1625-78), a +versatile painter of landscapes, portraits, marines, architecture, +fruits, flowers, and, more particularly, interiors, in which he followed +Pieter de Hooch. In his Lady in a Vestibule he has demonstrated his +knowledge of perspective, of which he was very proud. The chief feature +of the picture, however, is the beautiful chiaroscuro, for which he has +to thank Rembrandt's teaching. The lady is walking in a portico of very +fine architecture, and reading. With one hand she is holding up her +straw-colored dress. This figure is only two feet high, while the +spaniel that accompanies her is life size! + +=Effects of Rembrandt's Teaching on his Pupils.=--Thirty of Rembrandt's +pupils made great names for themselves by copying that great master in +one or other of his manners. Some made a system of what with him was +merely a mood or caprice. Not being able to follow him in the expression +of the human soul, they made a specialty, some of portraiture, some of +costume, some of chiaroscuro, some of _genre_, and some of landscape. + +=Philip Koninck's Landscapes.=--Philip Koninck (1619-88) is almost the +only pupil of Rembrandt who painted landscapes almost exclusively, and +he listened to the teachings of his master with great docility. His +principle was to regard nature from a little distance, so as to grasp +the masses, rather than to enter into details. The Mauritshuis possesses +a beautiful and characteristic specimen of his genius. In composition +and treatment, it reminds us of Rembrandt's Landscape of the Three +Trees.[2] Blanc says: + + "Among the Dutch landscape painters perhaps there is not one, unless + it is Van der Hagen, who would have dared to paint this monotonous + plain, all the lines of which are horizontal, all the clumps and rows + of trees of the same height, and in which the only objects in the + foreground are a cottage half hidden among trees, and, a little + farther on, a low sandy hill which does not rise beyond the level of + the middle distance. The vast stretch of country is traversed by so + many courses of water that it almost looks as if it were threatened + with an inundation. The meadows are on a level with the sea; the + distant villages look like flotillas at anchor, and the houses seem to + be floating on the canals. The painter has placed his point of view so + high that neither the sails of the windmills, nor the points of the + belfries, nor the tops of the highest trees stand out against the sky. + The picture is cut in half by the almost straight line of a horizon + which gradually recedes until lost to view, and the towns we perceive + in the distance, the rows of trees, the hamlets, and rivers all run + parallel with this horizon. That is to say, that Philip Koninck (and + this picture resembles all the others of his we know) is conceived + entirely at variance with the ideas that are generally held regarding + the picturesque." + +Gilpin says: + + "'The greatest enemies of the picturesque are the symmetry of the + forms, the resemblance and parallelism of the lines, the polish of the + surfaces, and the uniformity of the colors.' + + "Very well! Here is a landscape by Koninck that fulfils all the + conditions of the non-picturesque; and which, nevertheless, produces a + certain impression of grandeur and sadness, solely by means of the + canvas being furrowed into infinite depths, the gradations of the + perspective being extremely well observed, and the uniformity of the + ground being happily contrasted with a sky full of movement, a fine + disorder of clouds which the breeze slowly drives before it as a + shepherd does his flock." + +=Dutch Painters who imitated Italians.=--Rembrandt, although he arose at +a time when the influence of Italian art was supreme, never went to +Rome; nevertheless, he owed a great deal to the studies of those artists +who had been there. The Hague Gallery contains several pictures of this +period; and these are sufficient to give us a very good idea of the +qualities of Dutch art just before Rembrandt, in 1629, set up for +himself in Amsterdam at the age of twenty-one. + +=Hendrik Goltzius.=--An influential founder of a large school of +painters who modelled themselves on the great Italians was Hendrik +Goltzius (1558-1616). He started for Rome in 1590, and indulged to the +full his intense admiration for Michelangelo, which led him to surpass +that master in the extravagance of his designs. The works by his own +hand he most valued were his eccentric imitations of the designs of +Michelangelo. His portraits show exquisite finish, and are fine studies +of character. The beauty and freedom of his execution make amends for +his extravagance. In the Mauritshuis are three pictures painted shortly +before he died--Mercury, Hercules, and Minerva. + +=His Academy at Haarlem.=--On his return from Italy Mander, who was a +great friend of Goltzius, induced him to open an academy at Haarlem, in +combination with Mander and Cornelisz, and with the assistance of his +old pupils, Matham, Muller, Sanraedam, and De Gheyn, as professors. As +might be expected, Italian taste predominated in this academy, not +solely on account of the personal preference of the founders, but +because the Italian style had been popularized in the Low Countries by +Lambert Lombard, and his pupils, Hubert Golz, Lambert Zutman, Dominic +Lampson, William Key, and Frans Floris (1518-70). Of these the most +famous was Floris, who also studied in Italy, and himself founded a +large school. The Hague possesses in Venus and Adonis a charming example +of his style. + +=The Italian Style followed by Cornelisz.=--Cornelis Cornelisz +(1562-1638) had never been to Italy, but his education and environment +had given him Italian tendencies. We learn that even after he had +attained proficiency he never dispensed with the model; nevertheless, he +was neither a slavish imitator of nature, nor altogether a painter of +style. He has two large pictures in The Hague Gallery that were painted +about the time he joined Goltzius in the Haarlem academy. These are the +Massacre of the Innocents (1591) and the Marriage of Peleus and Thetis +(1593). The dominating idea of the artist in the Massacre of the +Innocents, which covers a canvas 8-3/4 by 8-1/4 feet, is the wish to +appear a great master of drawing by curves and modeling that exaggerate +the relief of the muscles. There are more than two hundred figures which +are almost all entirely nude. The executioners, and the infants in +particular, show an attempt at noble form which rises above nothing more +than affectation. There is an obvious striving after the genius of +Michelangelo which, in the Dutch master, is merely pretentious imitation +of what would be facile and superb in the great Florentine. There is not +a single attitude nor a movement that is not _contrasted_; for instance, +if the left arm is behind, the right leg is in front. In fact, the study +of nature is completely subordinated to academic conventions. The color +is far more natural than the drawing. The artist has been extremely +successful in rendering the flesh tints of life as well as of death, and +he has varied the _nuances_ in accordance with sex and age, giving very +faithfully the tenderness and freshness of the flesh tints of infancy, +and the softness of the female form, the stronger tones of the +executioners in action, and even the cadaverous hue of the bloodless +corpses. As for the expressions of the faces, they are vulgar though +energetic. + +=His Love of painting the Nude.=--The love of Cornelisz for compositions +thronged with nude figures in the most varied attitudes wherein he could +exhibit all the resources of his learning and study of the works of +Michelangelo is again shown in the large canvas, measuring 8 by 14 feet, +entitled Banquet of the Gods of Olympus, or Marriage of Peleus and +Thetis. + +=Gilles Coignet.=--Cornelisz had received his tastes and instruction +principally from Gilles Coignet (1540-99), who set out for Italy with +another painter named Stello in 1555 and worked principally at Terni, +between Loretto and Rome, for five years. He painted historical and +mythological subjects of easel size, but was more successful in +landscapes, and more particularly in candle-light subjects and +moonlight. He took up his abode in Amsterdam in 1586. His influence on +the Haarlem school was pronounced. + +=Elsheimer's Excellence in Chiaroscuro.=--The Mauritshuis possesses two +Italian Landscapes by Adam Elsheimer (Elshaimer or Elzheimer) +(1574-1620), a German painter, whom the Italians call Adam Tedesco, who +possessed great influence over his contemporaries, particularly the +elder Teniers and Rembrandt, who followed out the same characteristics +of chiaroscuro. Elsheimer delighted in the effects of moonlight and +evening dusk; also in torchlight, conflagrations, and every other kind +of artificial light,--all of which he represented with greater +excellence than had ever been done before him. Visiting Italy, he became +charmed with the country and settled in Rome, where his little pictures, +usually painted on copper with microscopic and beautifully finished +figures, had great success. Elsheimer was visited by all the artists of +his country, including Poelemburg, who saw him in 1617. He was almost as +great in chiaroscuro as Rembrandt; and his immense reputation did not +diminish until after the eighteenth century. + +=Cornelis van Poelemburg.=--A picture of Women Bathing, by Cornelis van +Poelemburg (1586-1667), is a fine example of his style. He studied first +under Bloemaert, but during a protracted visit to Italy he fell under +the influence of Elsheimer; and on his return to his own country he +became quite the rage as a painter of classic landscape. In Rome he had +been fascinated by Raphael's pictures, and studied him with affectionate +admiration. Poelemburg possessed a happy and tranquil nature. + + =His Attractive Landscapes.=--"The little pictures that his + imagination painted breathe a quiet happiness, and are imprinted with + a suave poesy. They nearly always represent a countryside adorned with + ancient ruins and frequented by demi-nude nymphs. His landscapes, + enveloped in vapor which, while decreasing the dryness of the + outlines and crudity of the tones, would soften the aspect of the most + rugged spots, serve as a background for the whiteness of the goddesses + who dance with fauns or repose in the shade of some abandoned + monument. Sometimes, as though the vale that they dwell in were + reserved for the gods, Poelemburg's nymphs do not fear to remove their + light vesture and bathe in some open pool where only the painter may + see them. But, most frequently, it is in the neighborhood of a grotto, + at the foot of rocks perpetually washed by a spring of fresh water, + that one likes to surprise them, nude, trembling, their bodies + rendered whiter by the transparent veil of the atmosphere, playing + with the water they are disturbing, swimming after one another and + half-hidden by the current of their chaste fountains." + +=Dutch Artists who migrated to Rome.=--Bartholomeus Breenborch +(1599-1659) was another member of that band of artists who at the +beginning of the seventeenth century deserted the banks of the Meuse for +those of the Tiber, and exchanged the land that was to produce Rembrandt +for the country of Raphael's birth. A few Dutch artists successfully +resisted the lures of the Eternal City; but the majority of painters of +that period followed the example of Elsheimer, Poelemburg, Karel +Dujardin, Herman Swanevelt, Andreas and Jan Both, and others, and formed +a little Dutch colony among the Seven Hills. + +=Breenborch compared with Poelemburg.=--Breenborch devoted himself to +history and landscape alternately. His historical subjects were chiefly +Biblical and mythological. He was fond of painting classical landscapes +with ruins; and the only artist who could excel him in painting charming +little figures in a landscape was Van de Velde. The chief characteristic +of Poelemburg, with whom Breenborch is so often compared, is grace. The +only picture of this artist in The Hague Gallery, Mercury appearing to +the Nymph Herse, resembles Poelemburg both in subject and treatment. + +=Van der Ulft's Architectural Paintings.=--Van der Ulft (1627-90), +another artist of this school, was originally a painter on glass. +Later, he turned to historical compositions of small dimensions; but his +real talent lay in the representation of architectural monuments, and +scenes inside city walls. It is strange that he never visited Italy, but +formed himself by the study of the works of returning Roman art pilgrims +and of engravings. His perspective is exact; his ancient ruins, +triumphal arches, and statues are correctly placed in his pictures, and +his architectural backgrounds, abounding in strong and golden grays, +form an excellent frame for the little figures that animate his spirited +paintings. He delighted to paint Roman processions. The Hague picture +shows an army on the march in a landscape adorned with architectural +remains. + +=Nicolas Moeyaert's Best Points.=--A follower of Elsheimer, who later +became a disciple of Rembrandt, was Nicolas Moeyaert (1630-?), who +settled in Amsterdam in 1624 and joined the Painters' Guild in 1630. In +some of his pictures he imitated Rembrandt very closely. He excelled in +portraits, animals, landscapes, and historical and Biblical scenes. The +Hague Gallery contains three: Mercury appearing to the Nymph Herse; +Triumph of Silenus, and a Biblical scene, also called the Visit of +Antiochus to the Augur. + +=Description of one of his Pictures.=--Antiochus, about to engage in a +war, is consulting the augur. In the centre stands the king dressed in a +long blue robe, with a white girdle and a purple cloak lined with fur; +also a furred bonnet. He is talking to an old man, the augur, who has a +long white beard. He is wrapped in a yellow cloak, is barefooted, and he +is writing in a book. By him are some animals, including a dog and some +rabbits, and on the right of Antiochus are two goats and a sheep. On a +rock on the left is a group of ten persons; and in the centre of the +picture between the two high rocks stand a tower and a temple. For +pupils Moeyaert had Berchem, Van der Does, Salomon Koninck, and J. B. +Weenix. + +[Illustration: MOEYAERT +The Visit of Antiochus to the Augur] + +=Pieters and Lastman.=--Gerrit Pieters, the best pupil of C. Cornelisz, +also went to Rome. He painted assemblies, _genre_, and small portraits; +his success prevented him from devoting himself to historical painting, +which he preferred. A pupil of his was Pieter Lastman (1583-1633), who +also made a long sojourn in Italy under Elsheimer's influence. He groped +about in different styles for a long time, devoting himself principally +to Biblical subjects. He learned a good deal about light effects from +Elsheimer; on his return he imparted what he knew to Rembrandt, who +studied with him for a short time. Later, when his brilliant pupil grew +famous, Lastman humbly followed his lead. Jan Lievens (1607-74), was +another of his pupils. A picture by him, painted in 1622, when Rembrandt +was still only fourteen years old, and therefore could not have +influenced him, is in the Mauritshuis. It is called The Resurrection of +Lazarus. + +An artist who accompanied Lastman to Italy in 1605 was named Jan Pinas +(f. 1608-21). He painted portraits, landscapes, and historical subjects. + +=Herman Swanevelt's Study of Nature.=--Herman Swanevelt (Herman of +Italy) (1600-55) was a pupil and imitator of Claude Lorraine in Rome, +whither he went in 1624, and where his excessive application to study +gained for him the name of "the Hermit" from the band of Dutch and +German artists established in that city. Unlike Claude, with whom he +used to walk in the environs of Rome, and who never sketched from +nature, Swanevelt always had his pencil in his hand, taking note of all +that he saw, studying the oaks and large plants, and copying the +buildings, campaniles, and vine-wreathed arcades and ruins. He left +nothing to his imagination. While Claude's landscapes speak of the +Golden Age, Swanevelt's are actual reproductions of the country as he +saw it. His buildings are not imaginary villas, temples, and palaces, +but are the Roman ruins and the facades and cloisters that he knew. In +his arrangement and composition he resembled Claude; and, like him, +often placed in the corner of his picture wooded mountains or large +trees, and sometimes even placed them in the very centre to make a +striking contrast to the very light background. + +Naturally rude and savage, Swanevelt contributed some of his character +to his work. He liked bold mountains clothed with dark forests, deep +ravines, solitary places, and torrents bounding from the rocks; and he +understood how to mingle the heroic style with rural beauty. + +Two Italian landscapes, one dated 1650, the other formerly attributed to +Claude Lorraine, hang in the Mauritshuis. + +=J. van Swanenburch.=--Rembrandt spent three years in the studio of J. +van Swanenburch (d. 1638), who had finished his studies at Rome, and +worked in Naples for a long time, returning to Holland in 1617. + +=Bloemaert, Founder of the School of Utrecht.=--Abraham Bloemaert +(1564-1651) constitutes in many respects the link of transition with the +succeeding epoch; for however his frequent mannerisms and gaudy coloring +betray the tasteless period in which he was born, his later pictures +show a power, taste, and broader touch. He painted a great number of +religious and mythological subjects, portraits, landscapes, and animals. +By reason of his talent and his long life (ninety-two years), he +exercised great influence over the School of Utrecht, and may be +regarded as its founder. + +=Some of his Pupils.=--Among his principal pupils may be mentioned: J. +and A. Both, the Honthorsts, J. B. Weenix, Knupfer, Cornelis van +Poelemburg, and the father of Albert Cuijp. Two pictures painted in the +prime of his life are in The Hague Gallery; they deserve attention if +only for their size and the number of figures they contain. The subjects +are: Hippomenes receiving the Prize (signed and dated 1626), and the +Marriage of Peleus (signed and dated 1628). The latter was carried off +by the French, but returned after 1815. + + =Description of the Marriage of Peleus and Thetis.=--"It is composed + of fourteen large figures, half nude, representing the gods of Olympus + celebrating the marriage of Thetis. Seated at table and distinguished + by their divine attributes, the gods appear to be troubled at the + sight of Discord, who descends from above, borne on a cloud, and + throws down among them the golden apple destined for the most + beautiful. In the foreground, with her back turned to the spectator, + is shown the figure of Venus, who displays unveiled her divine + shoulders, her voluptuous neck, and her incomparably beautiful body, + which will carry off the prize, and which has no need of the girdle of + beauty to render the goddess beloved. Elsewhere than in The Hague + Gallery this mythological painting would perhaps not excite more + remark than any other picture, but there, in the midst of a family, + _bourgeoise_, and Protestant school, which avoids the nude and ignores + academic conventions and style, a picture of this kind cannot fail + strongly to attract attention. Abraham Bloemaert, like the famous + Cornelis of Haarlem, has the air of an Italian who has gone astray in + these northern regions. These noble contours and learned lines, this + modelling of the flesh pursued with a certain pedanticism by the + former, and with grace and facility by the latter, and finally these + more or less violent foreshortenings,--those, for instance, offered by + this picture in the figures of Discord and the Loves who scatter + flowers or suspend from trees the curtain that decorates the place of + banqueting,--all this is at variance with the jollity and naturalism + of the Dutch; all this betrays the influence of a foreign style, an + influence that reigned in Holland in the sixteenth century, + disappeared at the arrival of Rembrandt, and did not return till the + appearance of Gerard de Lairesse, more than a century later."[3] + +=Others who painted in the Italian Style.=--Nicholas (or Claes) Berchem +(1620-83), Karel Dujardin (1622-78), and Jan (or Johannes) Both +(1610-52), painted in the Italian style. Berchem was a pupil of his +father, Pieter Claes, and of J. B. Weenix, Moeyaert, Pieter de Grebber, +and probably Jan van Goyen. Karel Dujardin was a pupil of Berchem. All +three travelled in Italy; and all three are represented in The Hague +Gallery. Berchem has an Italian Landscape and Figures; an Italian +Landscape or Pastoral (dated 1648), with life-sized figures. + +=Berchem's Picture of a Boar-Hunt.=--A Wild Boar Hunt, of the year 1659, +shows that he could successfully treat an animated scene. Crowe says: + + "It is a model of precision combined with elegance of execution; + though at the same time that blue dark tone which, to the eye of a + connoisseur, so much detracts from the value of his later works, + already partially appears. This is more seen in a landscape dated 1661 + in the same museum, though otherwise belonging to his more attractive + works. But here also the conventional and monotonous treatment of his + cattle begins to be visible.... But the most striking example of the + master's deterioration is afforded us by one of his latest works, the + Cavalry Engagement, in The Hague Museum, which is a very type of crude + and discordant effect and hardness of detail." + +His fourth picture is An Italian Quay, dated 1661. + +=Pictures by Dujardin, Jan Both, and Others.=--Karel Dujardin, famous +for his animals, portraits, and landscapes, can be well studied in a +fine Italian landscape, called A Cascade in Italy, rich and warm in tone +and dated 1673. + +Johannes Both has two Italian landscapes, one of which glows with +sunshine and is remarkable for breadth and delicacy. + +Other pictures showing this Italian influence are The Ambuscade and an +Italian landscape by Moucheron, with figures by J. Lingelbach; the +Terrestrial Paradise by Jan Brueghel the Elder; and The Torrent, by Adam +Pynacker. + +=Adam Pynacker and Jan Both compared.=--Pynacker, though inferior to Jan +Both in his Italian landscapes, surpasses him in variety. His tone is +cooler than Both's, and he excels in painting early morning scenes. In +addition to pastoral scenes, he loves rocky heights, mountain ranges, +Italian harbors, bold bridges, and waterfalls. + +Pynacker enlivened his landscapes with human figures and cattle, both of +which he was able to draw and paint extremely well. + +=Albert Cuijp's Portrait of Sieur de Roovere.=--The famous Albert Cuijp +(1620-91) belongs to this group, being a pupil of his father, Jacob +Gerritsz Cuijp, who was a pupil of Abraham Bloemaert. + +There is but one Cuijp in the Mauritshuis, Portrait of Sieur de Roovere +directing the salmon fishery near Dordrecht, which need not detain us +long, for we shall find more interesting examples of this master in the +Rijks. Burger calls this A View in the Environs of Dordrecht, and says +it is "a beautiful painting, but perhaps a little brusque." A gentleman +wearing a black hat with red plumes and mounted on a bay horse, is seen +on the left, to whom a fisherman in heavy boots is offering fish. On the +right lies a spaniel. In the middle distance are some fishermen, a black +horse, the other side of a canal, and a house. The two principal figures +are about a foot high. + +=The Beginning of the School of Dutch Landscape.=--Jan Hackaert +(1629-99) forms a connecting link between those painters who represent +Northern and those who represent Southern scenery. He travelled when +young into Germany and Switzerland. The Hague has a good example of an +Italian landscape with figures by Lingelbach; but better examples of his +work are in the Rijks. This brings us to the beginning of the great +school of Dutch landscape, when the painters began to take an interest +in the scenery of their own country. Two great names are Jan van Goyen +(1596-1666) and Jan Wijnants (1600-77), important not only because of +their own productions, but because they were the first painters of Dutch +landscape, and each had followers and pupils who attained great fame. + +Jan van Goyen was a pupil of Esais van de Velde and the master of +Salomon Ruisdael, who produced Jacob Ruisdael, who in turn produced +Hobbema. Another famous pupil was Simon de Vlieger, who was also a +follower of Willem van de Velde. + +=Jan Wijnants and his Followers.=--Around Wijnants cluster Adriaen van +de Velde, Wouwermans, Lingelbach, Barent Gael, Schellinkx, and Helt +Stockade. + +=Characteristics of Van Goyen's Works.=--Jan van Goyen was fortunate in +being the son of an amateur of painting, who encouraged his talent. +After studying with various artists of no special reputation, he +travelled in France and on his return studied with Esais van de Velde. +He is always simple in painting and manner. Ordinarily he selects +tranquil river scenes on which merchant ships or fishing-boats are +quietly sailing. You often see hamlets on piles, and, very frequently, +the steeple of a church, standing out in picturesque contrast to the +horizon line. Sometimes a ruined tower forms the chief motive of his +composition. + +=His Marines and Watery Landscapes.=--One of the principal +characteristics of Van Goyen's marines and landscapes is their +peacefulness, calmness, and slight touch of sadness. It is not the +sadness inspired by Ruisdael's groves, but a gentle melancholy feeling +that touches the imagination and induces dreams. The sun never appears +in Van Goyen's pictures. Humid clouds veil his skies, which in their +light portions have the silvery tones of Teniers. His beach or shore is +generally enveloped in a grayish mist, and in the moving clouds you feel +the breath of wind and fancy you hear it sigh. His long flat surface, so +dull and solitary, is animated only by a fishing-boat or a shallop. +Holland, because of its water-ways, is a silent country and the +impression of silence and peace is marvellously reproduced in Van +Goyen's pictures. He never allows a brilliant tone to disturb the +uniformity and harmony of his watery landscapes; but behind the clouds +that float across the sky you divine the far-away sun, like a light +behind a curtain. The famous View of the City of Dordrecht, by the +latter, signed and dated 1634, is a splendid example of his qualities +and style. + +=His Illustrious Pupils.=--After his marriage, Van Goyen established +himself in Leyden, his native town, where he opened a school, to which +flocked painters who afterward became illustrious. Among them was Jan +Steen, who married Van Goyen's daughter Marguerite. + +Only one of Esais van de Velde's (1590-1630) pictures--A Dinner in the +Open Air, painted in 1614, hangs in this gallery, so that one cannot +learn here how much Jan van Goyen owed to his master. + +Hermann Saftleven (1606-81), a pupil of Jan van Goyen, painted, as a +rule, views of the Rhine and Moselle with small boats and figures. He +was a good portrait-painter and was successful with animals. His +Landscape with Cattle is a charming example of his work. + +To Salomon Ruisdael, who so greatly resembles Jan van Goyen with his +pictures of canals, bordered with houses and trees, river banks, etc., +we shall return when visiting the Rijks; for the Mauritshuis possesses +no picture of this artist. He taught his more famous brother. + + =The Greatest of the Dutch Landscape-Painters.=--"Jacob Ruisdael + (1628-82) is beyond all dispute the greatest of the Dutch + landscape-painters. In the works of no other do we find that feeling + for the poetry of Northern nature and perfection united in the same + degree. With admirable drawing he combined a knowledge of chiaroscuro + in its most multifarious aspects, a coloring powerful and warm, and a + mastery of the brush, which, while never too smooth in surface, ranges + from the tenderest and most minute touch to the broadest, freest, and + most marrowy execution. The prevailing tone of his coloring is a full, + decided green. Unfortunately, however, many of his pictures have, in + the course of years, acquired a heavy brown tone, and thus forfeited + their highest charm. Many also were originally painted in a grayish + but clear tone." + + =His Favorite Subjects.=--"He generally presents us with the flat and + homely scenery of his native country under the conditions of repose; + while the usually heavy clouded sky, which tells either of a shower + just past or one impending, and dark sheets of water overshadowed by + trees, impart a melancholy character to his pictures. Especially does + he delight in representing a wide expanse of land or water. If the + former, the scene is frequently taken from some elevation in the + surrounding country, commanding a view of his native city, Haarlem, + which is seen breaking the line of the horizon with its spires. + + "Taken altogether, his wide expanses of sky, earth, or sea, with + their tender gradations of aerial perspective, diversified here and + there by alternations of sunshine and shadow, may be said to attract + us as much by the deep pathos as well as picturesqueness of their + character. On the other hand, we often find the great master taking + pleasure in the representation of hilly and even mountainous + districts, with foaming waterfalls, in which he has won some of his + greatest triumphs; or he gives us a bare pile of rock, with a dark + lake at its base; but these latter subjects, which embody the feeling + of the most elevated melancholy, occur very rarely. In his drawing of + men and animals he was weak, and occasionally obtained the assistance + of other masters, especially of A. van de Velde and Berchem." + + =Difference between his Earlier and Later Works.=--"As he seldom dated + his pictures, and early attained his full development, we find a + difficulty in determining the order in which they were painted. His + earlier works, however, may be identified by the extraordinary + minuteness with which all objects--trees, plants, and every diversity + in the soil--are represented; by a decision of form bordering on + hardness, and by less freedom of handling and delicacy of aerial + perspective."[4] + +=Reynolds's Estimate of him as a Landscape-Painter.=--Four very fine +examples of Jacob van Ruisdael are owned by the Mauritshuis: a Cascade, +a Strand, View of Haarlem, and View of the Vijver at The Hague. + +After a study of these beautiful works, Sir Joshua Reynolds's estimate +of the painter will not seem excessive: "The landscapes of Ruisdael," he +says, "have not only great force, but have a freshness which is seen in +scarce any other painter." + +=His Character seen in his Paintings.=--Ruisdael is considered by many +critics the greatest of the Dutch landscape-painters. His execution is +always masterly, and his works always express a poetic sentiment. +Ruisdael delights in portraying sombre forests, rushing cascades, trees +bent by the wind, gathering storm-clouds, and all the dark mysteries of +the woodlands. His misfortunes probably had much to do with increasing +his natural melancholy, to the great gain of his artistic development. +As a rule, the paintings of his mature period have greatly blackened +because he loved to paint sombre backgrounds, and always used a very +dark green for his foliage and other verdure. His earlier works have +remained brighter in tint; for at the beginning of his career he painted +the dunes and meadows, woods and roads near Haarlem, bathed in light +from sunny skies half veiled with clouds. + +[Illustration: RUISDAEL +Distant View of Haarlem] + +=His Picture of Haarlem.=--The View of Haarlem, taken from the dunes of +Overveen, shows a bird's-eye view of an immense stretch of country. In +the foreground is shown a level meadow on which strips of white linen +are being bleached; and on the left are the houses of the washerwomen. +Beyond, a vast stretch of country almost destitute of trees or +dwellings, reaches to the horizon line, where the town of Haarlem, with +its bell-tower, is discerned. + +"All these miles of country," exclaims Burger, "are represented on a +little canvas only one foot eight inches high!" + +This picture is regarded as one of the gems of The Hague Gallery. + +The Cascade is noted for its warm lighting and careful execution; and +the beautiful Beach at Scheveningen for its heavy gathering clouds and +dim and broken light upon the water and shipping. + +=Ruisdael's Sea Pieces.=--Ruisdael's sea-pieces are few; and, unlike +Willem van de Velde, he never represents the ocean in repose; his sea is +always stormy and sometimes raging, and the sky is full of heavy, angry +clouds. The waves are always fluid and full of motion. + +=Some of his Notable Works.=--The Mauritshuis has the rare luck to +possess three pictures by Ruisdael, which are splendidly preserved, and +each of which exemplifies a separate style of the master. A fourth one, +bought more recently, is also exceedingly interesting in its way, +because it gives a view of the Vijverberg in The Hague; but the rest of +this picture is of such dubious art, and the color so sunken, that it +cannot hold its own beside the others in the collection. The Strand and +the View of Haarlem belong to the artist's middle period (between 1660 +and 1670) as well as the Cascade. Bredius says: + + "The still, heavy impasto and the clearness of the color make me think + it is one of the first waterfalls that Ruisdael painted. We never, or + hardly ever, find pictures of the painter's earliest period (covering + the years 1646 to 1655) in the Dutch galleries. + + "A fine, strong, cleverly painted little picture of Ruisdael's, + painted in 1653, was sent to the Amsterdam Gallery with the Dupper + Collection. Another very clear, lovely, and beautifully worked study + of the Dunes, with a Grove, similar to the picture in the Louvre, is + owned by Madame van Vollenhoven in Amsterdam. A somewhat dark but + strong and spirited study, the Hut in the Dunes, also of his early + period, was lately acquired by the Haarlem Gallery, which hitherto had + owned nothing of Ruisdael's. These early pictures, of which, for + instance, the Leipzig Exhibition in the Autumn of 1889 was able to + show very important examples (the figures are often supplied by + Berchem), are very highly esteemed by connoisseurs." + + =Love of Nature seen in his Earlier Works.=--"In these works we see + the youthful painter turning exclusively to Nature: a clump of bushes + on a dune; a glimpse of the 'Haarlemer Hout'; a grove of trees on the + shore, he paints exactly as he saw them. But how he saw them! In these + early pictures his color is brighter, his manner of painting thicker + and stronger than in his later works. Instead of the beautiful clouds + for which Ruisdael was so famous, we often see the sky still painted + in a more antique manner, with striped clouds in the style of his + uncle Salomon. + + =His Growth toward Composition.=--"Gradually his subjects become more + 'composed,' but in the best sense of the word. Only occasionally does + he wander away, as, for instance, in the Dresden Jewish Cemetery, + which lay in the neighborhood of Amsterdam, but which he set in a + fanciful landscape unknown to himself. He had quite another intention + in the picture before us: the View of Haarlem from Overveen, with its + bleaching-green in the foreground. Above it a beautifully clouded sky + with the floating clouds casting their shadows here and there over the + broad landscape. Amsterdam owns a similar picture; the Berlin Gallery + another; the Ritter de Steurs in Maestricht, a fourth; and there are + still others in private collections in England and Paris. Each of + these pictures has a new excellence,--Nature glorified through an + artistic eye and immortalized with the practised hand of an artist. + What mastery there is in the representation of the broad, broad + space!" + + =His Carefulness of Detail.=--"Nevertheless Ruisdael does not neglect + the detail of his landscapes. We need only notice in him the + tree-characteristics--how carefully he handles every kind of foliage + in accordance with the forms of its leaves and branches; but with him + the whole is never subordinated to the details. When he paints the + sea--he does not paint it often--he does it better and more + artistically than any other painter. What a mighty effect his great + marine in Berlin produces! The real air from the sea seems to blow + upon us. Views of the seashore by him are even rarer. The Hague + picture shows us a beautiful view of a sea and sky happily illuminated + without the dark, melancholy tone which so often dwells in his works, + and which we would consider as a reflection of his own sad moods. Who + can it be that painted the fine figures in this picture? Perhaps it + was Eglon van der Neer." + +=Vermeer's View of Delft.=--Vermeer of Delft (1632-75) was a pupil of +Karel Fabricius (whom we shall meet in the Rijks), who was a pupil of +Rembrandt. One of the most important and beautiful pictures in The Hague +Gallery is Vermeer's View of Delft. On an appreciative eye and receptive +mood it leaves a tenacious impression which will never be forgotten. +Until about thirty years ago, Vermeer of Delft was hardly thought of, +although in his own day his pictures were highly prized and sought +after, and later his work received great praise from Sir Joshua +Reynolds. It was the French critic Burger (Thore), who rehabilitated +this great artist. + +Bredius exclaims: + + "How this picture shines out from the others around it like a stream + of light out of dark clouds! + + "All the light which the artist saw fall upon his town, he has + succeeded in concentrating at once in this picture, the broad, + masterful, sure painting, the luminous colors, the clear sky which + arches over the town, all excite our highest admiration." + +A drawing said to be a sketch for this picture is in the Stadel +Institute of Frankfort. The picture which brought 200 florins in 1698 +was sold for 2,900 gulden at the Stinstra sale in 1822. (See +Frontispiece.) + +=A Painter of Light and Sun.=--The beautiful picture of Diana and her +Nymphs, which was bought as a Maes in Paris in 1876 for 4,725 gulden, is +now attributed by some people to this master, and by others to Vermeer +of Utrecht. + +Lemke says: + + "Vermeer was a painter of the light and sun school; and this was his + chief study--to catch and hold fast the moment. What Frans Hals did + for physiognomy, grasping the flying moment in an incomparable manner + with winks, smiles, leers, gesticulations, etc., and fixing it in + paint, that Vermeer, as a landscape-painter, delighted to do for the + sunshine. He shows its rays streaming into a room or the play of light + and shadow when the light with the moving air falls through heavy + foliage against a bright house and paints it with rays of light and + shade. Unlike the moment of Rembrandt and Ruisdael, which is fixed for + all eternity, with Vermeer the moment vibrates in the light. The + shadows lose their sharp outlines, and the fine brush-work suggests + the living change and play of the light. Rembrandt paints light in + darkness and lets it glow in the dark, or streaming into it, or in a + broad flood of brilliance; but Vermeer prefers to set darkness or + twilight against the light. For interiors, Vermeer has another palette + and mode of painting than for the outdoor pictures. When he selects + the moment for this, where the scene consists of trees, houses, water, + etc., it would seem that the artist wanted to make us blink, as if we + were looking at the sun." + +=Vermeer's Portrait of a Girl.=--Vermeer did not confine himself to +landscape. In 1903, The Hague Gallery acquired by bequest a remarkable +portrait by this master, the portrait of a girl wearing a buff coat, a +blue and cream turban, and magnificent pearl earrings, on which are +"concentrated," says the enthusiastic Frank Rinder, + + "those dreams of gray, which are Vermeer's. Although in this portrait, + with its liquid spots of light, we at once apprehend the presence of + Vermeer, with his nostalgia for the interpretation of a beauty + visioned inwardly rather than seen with the eye, the picture passed + through the auction rooms at The Hague in 1878, fetching only 230 + florins. It was bequeathed in 1903 to the Mauritshuis by M. des + Tombes." + +"In his laying on of paint he was distinguished," says Frank Rinder, +"even among his technically well-equipped contemporaries; by virtue of +his isolated vision, he is of all the Little Dutchmen the one inimitable +weaver of spells." + +=Jan Wijnants's Love for the Dunes.=--Jan Wijnants (1615-80) has two +pictures in the Mauritshuis, Clearing in the Forest (1659) and Road +through the Dunes (1675). Wijnants, the Haarlemite, loved his dunes, and +when he lived for years in Amsterdam (probably he died there), he +painted them even more frequently,--every little hill, with its sandy +rises and with little stunted trees, and those roads marked with deep +wagon-ruts, almost always bright and illumined with warm sunshine. How +had he observed them? How did he always know how to discover the +paintable spot? Frankly, his fancy sometimes made the hills somewhat +higher than we really find them at Haarlem; indeed, sometimes, he +created landscapes with so poetic a flight, or we might say he sometimes +composed them to such an extent that in truth we might seek them in vain +in Holland; as, for instance, the great pictures in the Munich museum. +We are, therefore, forced to conclude that he had seen Claude Lorraine's +pictures, and wanted to paint somewhat in the same spirit. In Haarlem he +was painted by Wouwermans, and as a fine little cavalier. + +=His Pictures enlivened by other Artists.=--When he settled down in +Amsterdam in 1660, the always ready Adriaen van de Velde often assisted +him by enlivening his landscapes with charming little figures. He had no +idea that at present a Wijnants would be so much more highly valued on +account of his little figures than it would be without them. Lingelbach +undertook this work later, straining after Van de Velde but not +reaching him. In his early pictures, Wijnants is somewhat labored; but +by and by he acquires that sureness of painting which must have become +ever easier to him because he almost always painted the same subjects +and the same style of landscape. In his last pictures he was quite broad +and decorative in style, but less convincing. One picture with fine +little figures by Lingelbach bears the date 1675. In his Clearing in the +Forest (1659) he has depicted his favorite subjects: the old oaks +mutilated by the storm and partly stripped of their bark; the fallen +trunk of a tree and large, handsome plants, whose leaves pour raindrops +over the blades of grass that have pushed their way up between them. Van +de Velde has added to this lovely landscape a distant farm, cattle +walking along the road, and a pond crossed by a rustic bridge. "With +such simple objects," exclaims Blanc, "Wijnants and his pupil have +produced a masterpiece, expressing a poetry that few could perhaps +explain, but which every well-organized man can feel." + +=Neglect of Dutch Scenery by Dutch Artists.=--Wijnants, like Van Goyen, +is not only an excellent painter but chief of a school. Until their time +the artists of the Netherlands hunted for scenery outside of their +country; for instance, Memling and Saftleven chose the borders of the +Rhine; others, like Savery, liked to wander in the Tyrol; others, like +Paul Bril, visited the Alps; others, like Everdingen, went to Norway to +get inspiration from pine forests and foaming cascades; and Asselijn, +Berghem, Jan Both, Moucheron, and Pynacker sought the sunny clime of +classic Italy. Into the "Italian landscapes," which they either brought +home or finished from memory when they returned, they frequently +introduced among the classic ruins and sunlit verdure the cattle and +peasants of their own country. + +=Wijnants the Leader of a new School.=--Wijnants was one of the first to +take pleasure in his own country. In the environs of Haarlem, his native +town, he saw much that would make pictures of charm; so, while other +painters were roaming in foreign lands, he took walks in the +neighboring meadows and followed the paths that led to the dunes, +noticing everything on the way,--the tufts of grass, the shrubs, the +moss-covered stones, the trees, the roads, the hillocks, the flowers, +and taking note of the reflections of light on the bark of the trees, +the lichens growing on the stump of a tree, the common bugloss, burdock, +and thistle, and the swarming insects. Wijnants was the first to show +that poetry was to be found in the lonely walk that led to the sea. + +=His Influence on other Artists.=--Nature seems to have been his chief +master; but he soon became the master of others. Adriaen van de Velde, +for instance, feeling his vocation for landscape, entered his studio in +Haarlem. It is said that one day his wife said to him, "Wijnants, this +child is your pupil to-day, but one day he will be your master." Instead +of being jealous, the painter never ceased to boast of his pupil's +talent, and even allowed him to contribute the figures in many of his +landscapes,--for Wijnants could paint only earth, trees, and sky. A +great number of the figures in Wijnants's pictures, therefore, are the +work of Adriaen van de Velde, who always introduces them modestly and in +such a way that they render the landscape even more attractive. Philips +Wouwermans and Lingelbach also were employed by Wijnants to add figures +to his pictures, and a few times Adriaen van Ostade aided him, also +Gael, Schellinkx (who painted the dunes very well himself), Jan +Wouwermans, Nicholas de Helt Stockade, the painter of battles, and +Wyntranck, the clever painter of farmyard animals. + +=Dutch Landscape-Painters who followed Wijnants.=--Wijnants was, as has +been said, one of the creators of the Dutch landscape, one of the first +to imitate Nature in her humbler expression, finding beauty in common +things. After him came such landscape-artists as Philips Wouwermans, +Adriaen van de Velde, Daniel Schellinkx, Isaac Ostade, Karel Dujardin, +Paul Potter, and in some respects the great Ruisdael. + +=Van de Velde's Favorite Subjects.=--Adriaen van de Velde (1635-72) was +a painter of animals, figures, interiors (rarely religious and +historical subjects). He is worthily represented in The Hague Gallery by +two pictures: a Dutch Roadstead and a Landscape with Cattle. Van de +Velde is also responsible for the figures in the pictures of Van der +Hagen (No. 47), Van der Heyde (No. 53), and Wijnants (No. 212), in this +gallery. Bode says: + + =Impressionism and Naturalism.=--"Adriaen van de Velde is one of the + few artists by whom landscape and figures composed in a masterly + manner are both felt and thought out harmoniously. He stands so close + to our modern impression as does scarcely another of his day, being so + simple in his motives and going so straight to nature, that he knows + how to reveal the intimate connection between the outside world and + our own feeling. A real painter of moods, he excels in awakening in us + dark and gloomy feelings; his shadowy forest-glimpses on summer days, + with herdsmen reclining beside their panting cattle in obvious rest. + His bright mornings with the hunting-parties called together to the + halloo, with the gentlemen and nobles promenading on the walks near + their equipages, ring fresh and gay in the heart of the spectator; in + his homelike evening-feeling with the sound of the returning cattle, + he affects us with the feeling of happy departure and well-earned + rest." + +[Illustration: A. VAN DE VELDE +A Dutch Roadstead] + +=His Helpfulness to other Artists.=--The strong feeling in the figures, +and, particularly, the lifelike color of the landscape, is so individual +that almost all the landscape-painters of his home--Amsterdam--made use +of his assistance in peopling their landscapes,--Wijnants, Ruisdael, +Hobbema, Hackaert, F. R. de Moucheron, Ph. de Koninck, Verboom, and, +above all, Jan van der Heyde, have made excessive use of his services +and ability. Even with these artists, who were so foreign to each other +in style, the figures that he introduced are so fine that the force of +the landscape in both feeling and artistic effect is strengthened in the +highest degree; indeed, many of these pictures have attained a higher +fame solely through these contributions by the hand of Adriaen van de +Velde. + + =His Skill as a Colorist.=--"The paintings of this artist have an + additional attraction in their rich and harmonious coloring, the + fineness of the tone, and the peculiar tender manipulation of the + pigments, which have such a soothing artistic effect. + + "Some pictures painted in his last years have suffered by the sinking + in and change of color (notably the increase of blue in the green + leafage), by which some of their effect has been lost. The Landscape + with Cattle has not sunk in; but it has, nevertheless, lost some of + its original color in the green of the trees. The idyllic landscape + with its joyous, bright sunlight and its peaceful animal life, is a + good specimen of this style of Van de Velde's work. The picture is + signed 'A. V. Velde, 1663.'"[5] + +=His Sea Pieces.=--The second picture of this artist in this gallery, A +Dutch Strand (1665) with numerous figures, is more important. Two +similar views of the seashore by him are at Cassel and in the Six +collection; and all these examples show that great and simple +representation of the sea, in which he is also remarkable for his fine +poetic feeling, equalling that in similar works by his brother Willem. + +=Wouwermans's Delight in painting Horses.=--Philips Wouwermans's +(1619-68) half century of life was industriously spent in producing +about eight hundred pictures. Although his preference for the +representation of the horse is evident in almost all his works, there is +great variety in the treatment. Wouwermans is at the same time a +striking landscape-painter. In many of his pictures the landscape is +astonishingly often foreign and sometimes even Italian in subject, and +the figures are merely lay-figures. The Country Riding-School plainly +exhibits the artist's delight in horses. How beautifully painted are the +grays on the right! He draws a brown horse so often that it must have +been in particular favor. Some of his pictures must certainly have cost +the painter a great deal of time, especially when numerous figures occur +in them; as, for instance, in his horse-fairs and battle pictures. + +=The Fruits of his Great Industry.=--It would appear that Wouwermans was +well paid, for he was able to give his daughter, who married the +flower-painter, De Fromantiou, a handsome dower,--Houbraken says 20,000 +gulden! He was buried with pomp in Haarlem, on May 23, 1668, having +bequeathed to his widow, who was destined not to survive him two years, +a very good estate; and to us such a treasury of his art that we can +enjoy it all over the world, in almost every important public and +private collection. + +=The Variety and Abundance of his Works.=--Whether he shows us the horse +wildly rearing in the battle or quietly watering at the river, or being +trained by an expert hand, or returning home to a well-cared-for stall +after a long ride, we always admire again the rich variety of the +master, who, an eminent horseman of knowledge and enthusiasm, never +wearies us as such. Many of his pictures are a true reproduction of the +farm life, or of the warfare of his day; and, on that account, have, +moreover, a historical value. Dresden alone possesses sixty-two, and St. +Petersburg fifty, of his pictures. The Hague Gallery has to be content +with nine. These are a Battle; the Hunt with Falcon; Arrival and +Departure from an Inn; A Country House; The Hay-Wagon; the Hunters' +Halt, a charming example of his earliest period; A Landscape with +Horses; and a Camp. In all these the horse plays an important part. + +=Description of The Hay-Wagon.=--The Hay-Wagon is a popular work +representing a large canal and a large hay-wagon drawn by two horses, +and a man on horseback with a woman behind him on a pillion; farther +away are seen men loading boats with the hay. In the foreground on the +right are a woman with a little boy, a chariot drawn by a horse which is +led by a peasant. + +[Illustration: P. WOUWERMANS +The Hay Wain] + +=The Arrival at an Inn.=--The beautiful Arrival at an Inn represents an +inn and a barn. On the one side a coach is arriving, and on the left a +mounted lady and cavalier. Others are getting booted and spurred and +saddling mettlesome steeds prefatory for departure. In the left +foreground, a dwarf, a charlatan, and a monkey, eating a simple meal, +regardless of the bustle around them, give a touch of the life of the +travelling mountebank. A handsome castle closes the view on the left. + +[Illustration: P. WOUWERMANS +The Arrival at the Inn] + + =Crowe's Appreciation of Wouwermans.=--"Wouwermans's authentic works + are distinguished by great spirit and animation, and are infinitely + varied and full of incident, though dealing recurrently with cavalry + battle pieces, military encampments, scenes of cavalcades, and hunting + and hawking parties. He is equally excellent in his vivacious + treatment of figures, in his skilful animal painting, and in his + admirable and appropriate introduction of landscape backgrounds. Three + different styles have been observed as characteristic of the various + periods of his art. His earlier works are marked by the prevalence of + a foxy brown coloring, and by a tendency to an angular form in the + draughtsmanship; the productions of his middle period have greater + purity and brilliancy, and his latest and greatest pictures possess + more of force and breadth, and are full of a delicate silvery gray + tone."[6] + +=Reynolds on Wouwermans's Three Different Manners.=--On his visit to the +Royal Collection in 1781, Sir Joshua Reynolds was greatly impressed with +the pictures of this artist, and said: + + "Here are many of the best works of Wouwermans whose pictures are well + worthy the attention and close examination of a painter. One of the + most remarkable of them is known by the name of The Hay-Cart; another, + in which there is a coach and horses, is equally excellent. There are + three pictures hanging close together in his three different manners: + his middle manner is by much the best; the first and last have not + that liquid softness which characterizes his best works. Besides his + great skill in coloring, his horses are correctly drawn, very + spirited, of a beautiful form, and always in unison with their ground. + Upon the whole, he is one of the few painters whose excellence in his + way is such as leaves nothing to be wished for." + +Johannes Lingelbach (1623-74), a native of Frankfort-on-the-Main, +settled in Amsterdam on his return from Italy. He was frequently +employed by Wijnants to insert figures and animals in his landscapes. He +was a successful imitator of Wouwermans. + + =Crowe's Estimate of Lingelbach's Powers.=--"Lingelbach's coloring, as + was almost always the case with Wijnants's, and also with Wouwermans's + in his latest manner, is characterized by a cool and often delicate + silvery tone, which with him sometimes degenerates into coldness and + want of harmony. In his flesh, especially, a cold red tone often + prevails, added to which, neither in clearness nor impasto, does he + equal the above-named masters. He ranks, however, high for skill in + composition, good drawing, careful execution, to which is sometimes + added a happy vein of humor. He may be studied under all his different + aspects in the galleries of the Louvre, The Hague, and Amsterdam. Of + the four pictures by him in the gallery of The Hague, the Italian + Seaport, dated 1670, is remarkable for a power and warmth quite + unusual in this painter."[7] + +=Examples showing the Variety of Lingelbach's Style.=--The variety of +his style is well exhibited in The Hague Gallery by four pictures of +different dates. These are the Italian Seaport, with large figures, +signed and dated 1670; the Departure of Charles II. from Scheveningen +for England in 1660, a very rich, luminous, and fine work; a small +Cavalry March, in which the little figures are beautifully executed and +are thoroughly original; and a Landscape with a Hay-Wagon, much in the +manner of Philips Wouwermans. + +=Weakness of the Mauritshuis in Marines.=--The Mauritshuis is weak in +marines: two by Willem van de Velde; three by Backhuysen, two by Abraham +Storck, a view of the Amstel at Amsterdam by Torenburg (1737-86), a few +Italian Seaports, and a few Beaches at Scheveningen painted by the +landscape artists are all that the gallery owns. + +=Excellence of W. van de Velde's Marines.=--Willem van de Velde +(1633-1707) stands very high in the ranks of the marine painters of the +seventeenth century. In the last years of that century we have artists +like Simon de Vlieger, Jan van de Capelle, Hendrik Dubbels, and Abraham +van Beyerex (in his rare marines); but Van de Velde is a master in his +sphere, especially when he represents the calm sea under bright +sunlight. + +In his View on the Y we obtain enjoyment from the fine aerial +perspective, the correct drawing of the ships, and the numerous little +figures. The accuracy of the detail does not detract from the wonderful +composition, the play of the sunlight on sail and water, and the +beautiful sky, lightly flecked with clouds. Probably, the gaily +decorated ship on the left is the yacht of the Princes of Orange; the +boat which is being rowed away from it is bringing important visitors to +shore, while the trumpeter on the ship loudly announces their departure. + +Although not of the very first rank, this picture belongs to the best +work of the master's middle period. + +The other picture, of exactly the same size, is also identical in +subject and treatment. Both are small. The other picture owned in the +Mauritshuis is the Capture of the Royal Prince (June 18, 1666). + + =His Greatness as a Marine Painter.=--"There is no question that + Willem van de Velde the younger is the greatest marine painter of the + whole Dutch school. His untiring study of nature of which his numerous + sepia drawings are the best evidence, his perfect knowledge of lineal + and aerial perspective and the incomparable technical process which he + inherited from his school,--all these qualifications enabled him to + represent the great element under every form, whether that of the + raging storm, the gentlest crisping wind, or of the profoundest calm, + with the utmost truth of form and color. Nor are his skies, with their + transparent ether and light and airy clouds, less entitled to + admiration than his seas; the surface of which he diversified, with + the purest feeling for the picturesque, by various vessels, near and + distant, which are drawn with a knowledge that extends to every rope. + Finally his various lightnings create the most charming effect of + light and shade. With this combination of qualities, so calculated to + please a seafaring nation, it is no wonder that he should have become + the most popular painter with the Dutch and English."[8] + +=The Fulness of his Knowledge of the Sea and Ships.=--Both England and +Holland, the two greatest sea nations, agree that Willem van de Velde +was the greatest marine painter up to his time. In fact, no one had so +well observed the motion of the waters, their breaking, or their repose; +and no one knew so well the habits of sailors, the rigging of boats, +their behavior and their variety. He knew how to make them picturesque, +whether isolated between the sky and the water in the most beautiful +lines, or in cleverly foreshortening them while they gently rock on the +waves singly, or in picturesque groups. Nobody has better understood the +profound calm of the ocean, or better expressed the emotion produced by +an infinite horizon. + +=The Van de Velde Family.=--The family was talented. Willem the Elder, +born at Leyden in 1611, was a magnificent draughtsman, and taught his +sons, Willem and Adriaen, drawing. Willem, however, became a pupil of +Simon de Vlieger, and the pictures that he sent to his father, then in +the service of the English king, astonished the Court. James II. sent +for the young man and offered him a pension. In England he frequently +colored his father's drawings; and on the Thames from Greenwich to +London he had a great opportunity for the study of shipping. + +=The Simplicity of W. van de Velde's Pictures.=--With very simple +details, Willem van de Velde produces marvellous effects. He paints the +ocean from the shore to the distant horizon; and this straight line is +in beautiful contrast to the rounded clouds, while the severity of the +tall masts is relieved by the curves of the puffing sails. Sometimes a +group of fishermen on the beach or the end of a wharf of piles is seen +in the foreground; but he more frequently begins his picture in the +middle distance and gives the foreground up to waves slightly agitated +or with a buoy tossing in the rising tide, in such a way as to suggest +that the picture was painted not from the shore but from a vessel at +anchor. + +=W. van de Velde compared with other Painters.=--Sir Joshua Reynolds +said: "Another Raphael might be born; but there could never be a second +Willem van de Velde"; and Havard calls him "not only the greatest marine +painter of the Dutch school, but also one of the greatest in the whole +world." Blanc draws the following distinction between Van de Velde and +Backhuysen: "Backhuysen makes us fear the sea, whilst Van de Velde makes +us love it." + +=Backhuysen, a Painter of Ships and Shipping.=--Backhuysen (1631-1708) +probably owed his darker moods to his master Allart van Everdingen, who +was a pupil of Pieter Molijn (1600-54), whose works are now so rare, and +who was also one of the founders of Dutch landscape-painting. Backhuysen +was a painter of ships and shipping, as well as of the sea, and had a +practical knowledge of nautical matters. + +=Examples showing his Style.=--Three pictures in The Hague Gallery +afford good examples for study of his style. One, Entrance to a Dutch +Port, dated 1693, shows an agitated sea, very remarkable for the happy +distribution of sunlight and shadows of clouds upon the water, and broad +yet delicate treatment; another is a View of the Wharf Belonging to the +Dutch East India Company, and is dated 1696; and the third has for its +subject The Landing of William III. of England in the Oranje Polder in +1692. + +=Imitators of Backhuysen.=--Pictures by Jan van de Capelle and Jan +Dubbels often pass for Backhuysen's; and another imitator is Abraham +Storck, who is greatly inferior in elegance of touch. Good examples of +Storck's style--a Marine and a Shore--hang in The Hague Gallery. Storck +was much influenced by Lingelbach. The latter was also quite successful +with his harbors and quays, with their shipping and human figures. + +=Simon de Vlieger as a Painter of the Ocean.=--A greater painter, +however, is Simon de Vlieger (1601-59), who is supposed to have studied +under Jan van Goyen, and painted landscapes in the style of that master; +he is famous for his marines. He frequently painted sea pieces which +included the coast. He was the first to represent the ocean in its +varying moods. His execution is free and soft, and his aerial +perspective very fine. Like the majority of the Dutch painters he loved +to paint Scheveningen. His Beach at Scheveningen, signed and dated 1643, +is a fine example of his work. + + =The Diversity of his Subjects.=--"De Vlieger often paints birds of + the farmyard, which, both in truth and delicacy, are equal to anything + produced either by Hondecoeter or Flamen. His horses, hares, and sheep + may certainly pair with those of Van der Hecke, Jouckeer, or Jean + Leducq; his pigs are observed differently from those of Karel + Dujardin, but perhaps they are more true to nature because he has not + put any malice or irony into his representation of them. The diversity + of his subjects, the talent he displays in grouping figures and + animals in an extensive landscape, or in a boat passing along a canal, + or on the beach of Scheveningen where, in The Hague picture, we see + them huddling together as if the ocean had just cast them ashore with + its shells and fishes; the art of lighting them so as to delight the + eyes without too greatly distracting the mind from the spectacle of + vast nature and the infinite ocean--all that makes Simon de Vlieger + one of the most remarkable Dutch masters."[9] + +De Vlieger was as eminent in interiors, ruins, and processions as in +marines and landscapes. He loved to frame familiar and rustic scenes in +beautiful landscapes; and he had no need to call upon others, such as +Barent Gael, Schellinkx or Van de Velde, for his figures, as so many of +his contemporaries did. + +=Painters of Architectural Pictures: De Vries.=--Pictures in which +architecture forms the chief interest had their beginning with Jan +Vriedeman de Vries, who devoted himself to the study of Vitruvius and +Serlio. His works were very successful, though in the mannered taste of +his time. + +=Hendrik van Steenwyck and his Son.=--A scholar of his, Hendrik van +Steenwyck (1550-1604), who became a master in Antwerp in 1577, painted +chiefly interiors of Gothic churches of fine perspective, both lineal +and aerial, and was the first to represent the light of torches and +tapers on architectural forms. One of the very numerous Francken family +usually added the human figures. His son Hendrik van Steenwyck was his +pupil and follower, though he painted in a cooler tone and was inferior +in all respects. + +=Pieter Neeffs and his Son.=--Pieter Neeffs (1620-75), however, was the +elder Steenwyck's best pupil. He followed him in style but excelled him +in warmth of tone, power, and truthfulness in expressing torchlight +effects. Many of his pictures contain figures by Frans Francken the +younger, Jan Breughel, and David Teniers the elder. In the Mauritshuis +we find a good example of Pieter Neeffs,--The Interior of a Church, with +figures by Frans Francken III. + +His son of the same name was his pupil and follower, but produced +pictures of inferior merit. To this group belongs Bartholomew van +Bassen, who painted interiors of the Renaissance churches and halls. + +=Van der Heyden's Architectural Paintings.=--Jan van der Heyden +(1637-1712) is "the Gerrit Dou of architectural painters." His subjects +chiefly are well-known buildings, palaces, churches, etc., in Holland +and Belgium, canals in Dutch towns with houses on their banks, fine +perspective, the views selected with great taste. The trees are rather +minute in foliage. The figures in many of his works were supplied by A. +van de Velde, and after his death by Eglon van der Neer and Lingelbach. +A View of the Church of the Jesuits at Dusseldorf, signed and dated +1667, is a valuable work. The figures are by A. van de Velde. "The warm, +clear chiaroscuro in which the whole foreground is kept is admirable, +while the sunlight falling on the middle distance has a peculiar +charm."[10] He is also represented in The Hague Gallery by a still life. + +=Other Architectural Painters.=--Other architectural painters are Gerrit +Berckheyde, who painted exteriors of buildings in his own country, and +occasionally interiors of churches; Jacob van der Ulft (1627-90), whose +large picture in the Mauritshuis of troops marching has already been +mentioned; Pieter Saenredam, whose works form a transition from the +earliest architectural painters like Pieter Neeffs to the maturest +expression of this class; Dirck van Deelen, a pupil of Frans Hals, who +has a view of the Binnenhof with the last great Meeting of the States +General; Emanuel de Witte, who, strange to say, was a pupil of Evert van +Aelst, the painter of dead game and still life; Hendrik van Vliet, pupil +of his father, Willem, who has an interior of part of the Old Church at +Delft in the Mauritshuis, of peculiar warmth, brilliancy of effect, and +delicate treatment of reflected lights; and last of all, Gerard +Houckgeest (?-1655), who is represented by the Interior of the New +Church at Delft and Tomb of William I. in the New Church at Delft. + + =The Excellence of Houckgeest's two Paintings.=--"This almost unknown + artist is a new proof of the astonishing efflorescence of excellent + painters in Holland about the middle of the seventeenth century. Two + views of the Interior of the New Church at Delft, in The Hague Museum, + are on a level with the highest development of the school. It would be + difficult to render the brilliancy and transparency of full sunlight + more completely than in the one which contains the monuments of the + Princes of the House of Orange. The other picture also, inscribed with + the master's monogram, and 1631, is in every respect, and especially + in the soft and full treatment, of the utmost excellence."[11] + +=Dou, Founder of the Leyden School.=--The founder of the Leyden school +of painters, Gerrit Dou (1613-75), is represented in the Mauritshuis by +a masterpiece of the first rank, which is considered one of the gems of +the gallery. It is known as The Good Housekeeper, The Household, and The +Young Mother. + +=Description of The Good Housekeeper.=--In a large room that serves as +hall, dining-room, and sitting-room, as well as kitchen, is seated a +lady, handsomely dressed in a morning costume. She has evidently just +returned from market; for there is a plucked fowl in a basket on the +window seat and an unplucked bird on the table, where a cabbage also +lies. A hare hangs on the wall above, and below the table one notes a +fish on a platter, and near a pot a bunch of carrots. A lantern has +fallen on the floor in the foreground. The lady is sewing, with a basket +beside her and a sewing-pillow on her knee; while a little servant +watches the baby in its basket cradle. The pillar that supports the roof +is carved, the brass chandelier is of splendid design, the draperies are +heavy, and a coat-of-arms is painted on the windows. Everything betokens +wealth and comfort. + +The young mother looks at us in a very friendly way with her attractive +little face. Our attention is first attracted to the group in the +foreground; but gradually we admire the complete representation of all +the little things around; the wonderful, finely expressed chiaroscuro, +the beautiful stream of light, and the boldness of the shadowed yet +plainly visible group in the background. The picture belongs to the +artist's middle period and is dated 1658; and although it has darkened, +it is still full of rich color. + +[Illustration: GERRIT DOU +The Good Housekeeper] + +=The Good Housekeeper presented to Charles II.=--When Charles II. left +Holland for his Restoration in England, the directors of the East India +Company could think of no finer present to offer him than a picture by +Gerrit Dou, which they bought for 4,000 florins from M. de Bie. It was +this very picture of The Good Housekeeper, which was afterwards brought +back to Holland by William III. and hung in his castle at Loo. + +=Dou's Style imitated by his Pupils.=--It is by such pictures that we +test the numerous works of his pupils, which are now, and have been from +the end of the seventeenth century, offered for sale as Dou's. Very +early in life Dou made use of magnifying glasses, and with great care he +ground his own colors. Sandart relates that he once went with Pieter de +Laer to pay a visit to Dou, who was painting a broomstick "which was +slightly longer than a finger-nail." When Sandart praised his great +industry, he answered that he "had to work about three days longer on +it." + +=His Devotedness to his Work.=--When the weather was not fine, he +stopped his work. He devoted his whole life to work. His palette, +colors, and brushes he carefully protected from dust, which gave him +much trouble; he put them away with the utmost care, and when he sat +down to paint he would wait a long time until the dust had entirely +settled. His studio was a large one with high lights, facing the north +and looking out on the still waters of the canal. + +=His Fondness for Domestic Subjects.=--He almost always depicts a view +of the interior of a burgher's dwelling. He is the painter of nice, +quiet domesticity, and his people almost invariably look gay and happy. +When he attempts to portray strong emotions, his people do not look as +if they felt them; even his Dropsical Woman in the Louvre is dying +peacefully and with resignation. Dou was an excellent observer of all +surroundings, and the slightest objects in his pictures are represented +with the utmost completeness. Dou could readily please, and form a +school, in a Northern and Protestant country, where people lead an +indoor life, a silent, concentrated family life, where man is attached +to his dwelling, adorns it with care, and closes it in, with the feeling +of a sanctuary. In fact, Dou painted only familiar subjects on canvases +or panels of small size, such as are suited to the small cabinet of a +_curieux_, and he was one of the first to set in honor the most +_recherche_ style of painting in Holland,--that of little pictures +executed in that precious manner which the French of the eighteenth +century called the _beau fini_. + +=Dou and Rembrandt contrasted.=--Dou differed greatly from his master, +Rembrandt. The one had the fire of genius; the other had patience. Even +when Rembrandt highly finished his pictures, he knew when to neglect +some accessory, to sacrifice some detail to the expression of the +essential parts, and thus to give full value to everything in the +picture that could appeal to the heart or interest the mind. Dou, on the +contrary, applying himself to what he considered the last word of +painting, tried to give equal importance to everything that entered into +his composition, without admitting any of those negligences that are +often such happy artifices, and taking as much care in the finish of a +pewter pot as in expressing the feeling in a woman's features, or the +thought in a man's physiognomy. Therefore, Dou's natural tendency, +instead of being modified by Rembrandt, became only more pronounced. As +his master broadened, his manner grew more smooth and polished. + +=The Fruit of Dou's Precautions.=--His care in making his own brushes, +colors, and varnishes, and his precautions to keep his wet canvases free +from dust (he chose a studio overlooking stagnant water) have been +rewarded by the present condition of admirable preservation of his +pictures. His minuteness wearied his sitters and he soon failed as a +portrait-painter. It is related that he made a distinguished Dutch lady, +Madame Spiering, pose five days for her hand alone. + +=He forsakes Portraits for Scenes in Common Life.=--As his sitters left +him one after another, Dou devoted himself entirely to represent the +scenes of common life without giving himself any trouble in selection, +being sure that in them he would find opportunities to display his +veritable genius, that of detail. He was content to take what first +offered as a subject, and the circle of his invention did not go beyond +that. He simply observed life in the neighboring shops: the +pepper-seller, when she is dangling the scales with the tips of her +fingers; the marketwoman verifying the transparence of her eggs by the +light of a candle, and the mysterious interior of the barber-surgeon. If +he sees in the street a servant coming home from market loaded with +vegetables, counting what she has spent and what she is going to steal +from the change, there is a picture already made. In the public square +he stops to study the faces of the simple dupes gathered around a +charlatan vaunting his elixir, teaching the practice of love-philtres, +and drawing teeth painlessly. His artist's eye finds motives readily at +hand; sometimes in the room of the embroiderer, absorbed in her +needlework; sometimes in the juvenile schoolroom, where the martinet +overawes his frolicsome pupils. He also delights in representing the +joys of the domestic hearth, that ever simple and ever charming picture +of the _mater familias_ busy with household cares, while the children +are rolling about on the floor at their grandmother's feet. Finally, he +sometimes goes so far as to be malicious and to complicate the +picturesque accidents of a winding staircase which a woman descends +softly to surprise her husband in the kitchen with the servant. + +The simplicity of trivialities Dou made the subject of the finest and +most precious pictures in the world. The Herring Seller is as finely and +minutely painted as The Philosopher in Meditation. + +=He preferred Interiors to Open-Air Scenes.=--Dou seldom painted +open-air pictures. Interior light suited him better; and moreover he had +learned chiaroscuro from Rembrandt. However, one of his most famous +pictures, The Charlatan (in the Old Pinakothek, Munich), is an +exception. + + "Upon the whole, the single figure of the Woman Holding a Hare, in Mr. + Hope's collection, is worth more than this large picture, in which + perhaps there is ten times the quantity of work."[12] + +=His Foreground in Many Cases bordered by a Window.=--His small pictures +of one or two figures were usually framed by a window. He has often +painted his own portrait thus, sometimes holding a trumpet, and +sometimes playing a violin. Having once found this natural border, the +painter framed all his models with it. To-day we see the girl with +beautiful blond hair blowing soap bubbles and smilingly watching the +prismatic globes rise in the air; to-morrow, the pretty girl who is not +sorry to have on her window-sill more than one pretext for showing +herself,--the canary-cage, hanging outside; a letter to read; a pot of +geraniums to water, and what not. And this fresh face, which has for a +background the transparent shadow of a room wherein a group of people +are conversing, comes forward to be gracefully framed by the vine that +runs along the sash, and with its contours relieves the cold regularity +of the architecture. + +It is certain that this patient imitator of nature must have been very +industrious, if we may judge from the number of his pictures and the +time he devoted to each. His pupil, Karel de Moor, says so. The +pronounced liking of his countrymen for his pictures left him no repose. + +=The Best Example of his Candle-light Scenes.=--He frequently painted by +the aid of a concave mirror, and to obtain exactness, looked at his +subject through a frame crossed with squares of silk thread. The Evening +School, in the Amsterdam Gallery, is the best example of the +candle-light scenes in which he excelled. President van Spiering of The +Hague paid him 1,000 florins a year simply for the right of preemption. + +=Godfried Schalcken, Pupil and Imitator of Dou.=--The other picture +credited to Dou, A Young Woman Holding a Lamp in her Hand, and which was +so greatly admired by Sir Joshua Reynolds, is thought to be by Godfried +Schalcken (1643-1706). Those who are curious on this question may turn +to a picture by Schalcken called a Lady at her Toilette, by +candle-light, an effect which he was so fond of painting. + +=His Device for securing Candle-light Effects.=--Schalcken was a pupil +of Dou, under whom he acquired delicacy of finish and skill in the +treatment of light and shade. He gained a reputation for his small +domestic scenes, chiefly with candle-light effects; and, to treat these +accurately, he is said to have placed the object he intended to paint in +a dark room with a lighted candle and peeping through a small hole +painted by daylight the effects he saw. A pupil of Samuel van +Hoogstraaten and Gerrit Dou (who were pupils of Rembrandt), he became an +imitator of the latter, following him in his depth of tone, extreme +finish, and preference for night scenes. + +=Schalcken's Weakness in Drawing.=--Blanc says he was aware of his +weakness in drawing, particularly the extremities of the human body, and +this was one reason he liked partly to conceal his subjects in shadows +and half-lights. His master, Dou, had made a sensation with his Evening +School (in the Rijks) in which the effect of candle-light is treated +with such skill; but what was a caprice with Dou, Schalcken made a +habit. His pictures are a series of fantastic scenes and illusions. This +painter saw the night only; his pictures whether mythological, +historical, religious, or commonplace scenes, are always nocturnal ones. +Blanc says: "His brush was a permanent candle." + +=His Great Popularity.=--Schalcken, however, attained an enormous vogue, +and many of the wealthy Dutch had their portraits painted by him, +pleased with the mysterious or piquant light he threw upon them. He went +to London, where he painted William III. with a candle in his hand. This +is now in the Rijks. Schalcken found Kneller too strong a rival, and +returned to Holland, having, however, acquired a good deal of money. The +Mauritshuis also contains four others of his pictures: a Portrait of +William III., King of England; _La morale inutile_; A Visit to the +Doctor; and a Venus. + +=The Best Examples of Ostade's Work.=--Among the best recognized +examples of Ostade's work are: The Fiddler and his Audience (1673) and +Peasants in an Inn (1662), in The Hague; The Village School (1662), in +the Louvre; the Tavern Courtyard (1670), at Cassel; and The Sportsman's +Rest (1671), at Amsterdam. + +=Description of The Fiddler.=--One of the gems of The Hague Gallery is +The Fiddler by Adriaen van Ostade (1610-85). The old dilapidated inn +with its broken casement window is picturesque because of the graceful +festoons of vine-leaves that grow above the roof and penthouse. A +wandering fiddler is playing to the innkeeper and his wife, who lean +over the door, while five children and a dog are variously grouped. A +young man with a large tankard in his hand also enjoys the music in his +lazy position. + +[Illustration: A. VAN OSTADE +The Fiddler] + + =Description of Peasants in an Inn.=--"Peasants in an Inn was painted + in 1662; but it exhibits all the qualities of Ostade's best work. The + figures are drawn true to life. Very charming is the poodle gazing + with great interest at the child, who is eating his bread and butter. + By allowing the full daylight to fall from the left through the door + while the background is lighted by a high window, Ostade gives himself + every opportunity to express his chiaroscuro as beautifully as he + desires. The little pot on the tree-trunk and all the other still life + of this picture forcibly remind us that Ostade was an unusually great + master in this field. His small pictures of still life, principally + representing pots and other kitchen stuff, are pearls of the first + water; but they are somewhat rare. The coloring of this picture is + warm, but it melts into cool tones, which we find still more strongly + in The Organ Grinder of the same gallery, which was painted eleven + years later."[13] + +The Demand in Marriage, painted between 1650 and 1655, also hangs in the +Mauritshuis. This picture is owned by Dr. A. Bredius. + +=Ostade's Pictures Generally taken from Low Life.=--The number of +Ostade's pictures as given by Smith is 385; but it is thought that he +painted even more. About 220 pictures have been traced in public and +private collections. + +Adriaen Ostade was the contemporary of David Teniers and Adriaen +Brouwer, and, like them, chiefly devoted himself to painting rustic and +village life, tavern and gambling scenes, brawls and open-air games. +Smokers, drinkers, fish-wives, quacks, strolling musicians, itinerant +players, wood-cutters, children at play, alehouse-keepers and their +wives, all find sympathetic treatment. Like Brouwer, Ostade wandered +about the towns and country, finding his models in the taverns and +cottages. + +=Increase in the Value of his Pictures.=--He painted with equal vigor at +all times; and so highly appreciated is he that pictures worth little in +his day now bring large sums. For instance, in 1876 Earl Dudley paid +L4,120 for a cottage interior. According to Houbraken, Ostade was a +pupil of Frans Hals, while he was also teaching Brouwer. + + =Crowe's Opinion of Ostade's Style.=--"There is less of the style of + Hals in Adriaen Ostade than in Brouwer, but a great likeness to + Brouwer in Ostade's early works. During the first years of his career, + Ostade displayed the same tendency to exaggeration and frolic as his + comrade. He had humor and boisterous spirits, but he is to be + distinguished from his rival by a more general use of the principles + of light and shade, and especially by a greater concentration of light + on a small surface in contrast with a broad expanse of gloom. The key + of his harmonies remains for a time in the scale of grays. But his + treatment is dry and careful, and in this style he shuns no + difficulties of detail, representing cottages inside and out, with the + vine leaves covering the poorness of the outer side, and nothing + inside to deck the patch-work of rafters and thatch, or tumble-down + chimneys and ladder staircases, that make up the sordid interior of + the Dutch rustic of those days. His men and women, attuned to these + needy surroundings, are invariably dressed in the poorest clothes. The + hard life and privations of the race are impressed on their shapes and + faces, their shoes and hats, worn at heel and battered to softness, as + if they had descended from generation to generation, so that the boy + of ten seems to wear the cast-off things of his sire and grandsire. It + was not easy to get poetry out of such materials. But the greatness of + Ostade lies in the fact that he often caught the poetic side of the + life of the peasant class, in spite of its ugliness and stunted form + and misshapen features. He did so by giving their vulgar sports, their + quarrels, even their quieter moods of enjoyment, the magic light of + the sungleam, and by clothing the wreck of cottages with gay + vegetation."[14] + +=Ostade the Greatest Dutch Painter of Peasant Life in his Day.=--Adriaen +van Ostade is rightly regarded as the greatest of the Dutch painters of +the seventeenth century who represented the peasant life of that day. In +song and dance, weddings and _kermesses_, at bowling, love-making, and +drinking, Ostade always was an observer of country folk, although he +himself was a townsman, and held a rather exalted position in the world. +His second wife seems to have raised him into a very high social class +of Amsterdam families, as numerous records of executions of wills, which +the painter must have signed in Amsterdam, inform us. To some extent, +his peasants involuntarily progress parallel with the force of his own +life. In his earliest pictures, when Ostade was still a modest artist, +his peasants are also still quite peasant-like; in his tavern-scenes +things are still very lively. Later, when the painter became closely +related to refined and well-to-do patricians, his peasants also became +more prosperous and polite; in a word, more decorous. Unfortunately, his +painting also became somewhat more polished and smooth, so that the +early pictures, and particularly those of the middle period, more +strongly delight the heart of an artist than the cool, smooth works of +the later period. Ostade is eminent in his coloring, chiaroscuro, and +composition: he knows how to arrange his groups in the most spontaneous +and natural manner; and truly artistic is his method of illumination, +for which, knowingly or unknowingly, he has to thank Rembrandt. In his +earliest pictures, which have a somewhat cold tone grading into gray, +reminding us of his teacher Hals (from 1631 to 1640), there still +remains some local color. The subjects, mostly peasants in poor homes or +in the tavern, are energetically conceived. Bode rightly says: + + "Instead of the pleasant humor and the poetry of the prosperous middle + class which are common to the later pictures, these earlier works + display an effort for characterizing according to life and movement; a + keen humor in the spirit of Hals and Brouwer; and, particularly, a + characteristic inquiry into the separate individualities, such as the + lifelike representation of an expressive scene, the feasting, round + dances, and fighting of his jovial peasant folk." + + =Bredius on the increasing Brightness of his Pictures.=--"He died in + 1685. Before 1640 his chiaroscuro was already finer, and between 1640 + and 1655 (his flowering-time) many of his pictures show no traces of + Rembrandt's influence. The tone of his works was quite different and + approaches a warm brown; the chiaroscuro, as, for instance, in his + well-known Painter's Studio in Amsterdam; and later, very closely + repeated (Dresden, 1663), attains the highest degree of freedom; then + his pictures become somewhat slowly cooler, the tone gets constantly + grayer, but the drawing always remains strikingly correct, the + grouping natural, and the pictures become brighter, smoother, and more + polished. In the meantime Ostade had become a finer, more respectable + gentleman. Well on in years, he could leave this life without worry, + and was buried at Haarlem by his admirers and pupils on May 2, 1685." + +=Ter Borch's Freedom from Grossness.=--Ter Borch (1617-81) is excellent +as a portrait-painter, but still greater as a painter of _genre_ +subjects. He depicts with admirable truth the life of the wealthy and +cultured classes of his time, and his work is free from any touch of the +grossness which finds so large a place in Dutch art. His figures are +well drawn and expressive in attitude; his coloring is clear and rich, +but his best skill lies in his unequalled rendering of textiles in +draperies. + +=The Elegance of his Sitters.=--Ter Borch was not only an excellent +painter of Conversations, he was, indeed, the creator of his _genre_. +With a little less wit and a little less taste, perhaps, than Metsu, he +charms you with his family concerts, his _tete-a-tete_ lovers, his light +afternoon repasts, and in selecting for heroes the most elegant +cavaliers of the world in which he lived. His pretty pages with great +puffed sleeves striped with velvet, and those blond ladies with +transparent complexions, plump hands, and round waists, constitute a +type that no artist has so well represented as Ter Borch. Before +depicting these delightful and familiar scenes, he first learned to +imitate all that could add to the charm of these pictures of private +life,--silken draperies, Turkish rugs, leather, ermine, velvet, and +satin,--more particularly satin, and _white_ satin above all else. The +most striking example we shall see at the Rijks, in the picture called +Paternal Advice, known also as the _Robe de Satin_. + +=Resemblance between his Paintings and those of Metsu.=--There is so +much resemblance between Gerard Ter Borch (or Terburg) and Metsu that at +first it is hard to distinguish them. Their subjects are much the same; +for instead of painting scenes of low life--inns with carousing +peasants, etc.--both turn with sympathy to high life; _sujets de mode_ +is the name given to their works in which satins, velvets, silks, and +lace, rich robes and mantles, elegant hangings, and table-carpets figure +so largely. + +=The Difference between Ter Borch and Metsu.=--The difference between +Ter Borch and Metsu is defined by Blanc, who says it is the difference +between _bonhomie_ and _finesse_; the one is naive and gracious, the +other ingenious and piquant. Both, however, are charming in the way they +introduce us into a house and show us some little comedy that is being +played by the unconscious lovers, family group, or party of friends. +Like Metsu, Ter Borch is particularly fond of making music a motive of +his pictures. A timid love often expresses itself to the notes of a +mandolin or lute; sometimes we surprise a musical party singing and +playing instruments; a lady composing music or trying a new piece for +the first time, while her gallant and richly dressed lover stands by her +side. Sometimes we see a young lady quite alone in jacket of +puce-colored velvet plucking her lute, which rests on her satin skirt. +Sometimes again the conversation takes place in front of a clavecin, +where the lady's hands are painted in correct position, though she +pauses to hear what her lover has to say, while her spaniel sleeps on +the foot-warmer. + +=Ter Borch's Conversations characterized.=--"Pretty little dramas," +Blanc calls these Conversations of Ter Borch, "dramas without action or +noise, which excite the thought only, and whose intrigue consists only +in a clasp of the hand, the lowering of an eyelid, or the exchange of a +glance and a smile." He also calls attention to the type of woman +represented by Ter Borch, Van Mieris, and Metsu, all of whom have high +foreheads on which a few little curls wander, like those made +fashionable at this period by Ninon de Lenclos, and known as "_boucles a +la Ninon_." + +=The Women of Ter Borch's Pictures.=--The women of Ter Borch's pictures +are like Rousseau's pen-portrait of Madame de Warens, who + + "had an air caressing and tender, a very gentle glance, ash-colored + hair of uncommon beauty, which she arranged in a very _neglige_ style + that produced a piquant effect. She was small and a little thick in + the waist; but it would be impossible to find a more beautiful head or + a lovelier bust, hands, and arms." + +Dr. Bredius, who calls attention to Ter Borch's position in the hall of +fame as singular in the fact that he has never been assailed by critics, +nor, on the other hand, sufficiently appreciated, says: + + "Without striking originality, without any commanding dramatic + quality, without humor, and without any startling light effects, Ter + Borch is yet entitled to the name of the first _genre_ painter of + Holland,--indeed, of all schools,--merely by his perfect talent and + fulfilment as an artist. Rightly is Ter Borch called the most eminent + painter of the Dutch school. Not only does he paint high society + almost exclusively, but he does it in a distinguished style. The pose + of his figures, the composition of his picture, the fine color, the + admirable drawing, all breathe an elegance which is not met with + elsewhere in the Dutch school. Thereby, he is the one and only master + of his subject. What he paints is always completed to the highest + degree. We never find in him a trace of effort. What he does must be + so and not otherwise. We look for humor in him in vain; but nobility + we always find, and not least in his likenesses, which, + notwithstanding their small dimensions, are 'the last word of a + portrait.'" + +[Illustration: TER BORCH +The Despatch] + +=Description of The Despatch.=--The Despatch, dated 1655, belongs to his +second period. On a low chair beside a table on which stand a decanter +and beaker, an officer is sitting with his wife or sweetheart. She is +sitting on the floor reclining against his knee. Both are young. He +holds the despatch in his hand and she looks somewhat distressed. In +front of them stands the trumpeter, who, it appears, has brought the +message. The officer is fully dressed, and on the table beside him lie +his weapons. + +=His own Likeness, painted by Himself.=--The other picture of Ter +Borch's in this gallery is his own likeness, painted by himself about +1660. He is dressed entirely in black and stands out strongly against a +gray background. He wears a large wig, the curls of which shade his +rather melancholy face, distinguished by a long nose and grayish +moustache. It was probably painted while Ter Borch was a burgomaster of +Deventer. + +=Caspar Netscher's Family Group.=--Much in the same style as Ter Borch's +Conversations is Netscher's Family Group. Caspar Netscher (1639-84) was +a pupil of Ter Borch, and this is one of the best works of his best +period. The painter, in a red slashed jacket, is accompanying on his +lute his daughter, who is singing, and whose timidity is well expressed. +She wears a dress of white satin and has feathers in her hair. On the +other side of the table covered with a Persian carpet, and in the half +light, sits Netscher's wife. On the back of the arm-chair in which +Netscher is sitting is his signature and the date 1665. Netscher is also +represented by two portraits--Mr. and Mrs. Van Waalwijk. + +=Few Examples of Metsu.=--Metsu, like many other Dutch masters, is +poorly represented in the great public galleries of his own country. +While The Hague Gallery has but three and the Rijks only four, the +Louvre, for example, has eight and Dresden six. + +Those who have seen pictures by Metsu (1630-67), Ter Borch, or Caspar +Netscher, will have a better knowledge of the customs and costumes of +the upper classes at the period of the Stadtholders, their faces, their +polished manners, their interiors, and even their thoughts, than if they +had read many books of travel, whole volumes of geography, description, +and history. + +=The Rich Dutchman as painted by Metsu.=--As he appears in the pictures +of Gabriel Metsu, the rich Dutchman is domesticated, methodical, and +well regulated in his life. His house is the universe for him. In this +cherished and well-arranged abode, he concentrates as many joys as the +ancient kings of Asia assembled in the palaces of Susa or Ecbatana. His +country's and his own ships have "ploughed the sea from end to end, +penetrating to Japan for porcelain and amber, and bringing back from Goa +pepper and ginger." From the ends of the earth have come to him all +things that could charm his family life and distract the melancholy that +the sad nature of the North and its long winters inspire. Asia has sent +to him her muslins, spices, and diamonds; the polar ice has furnished +him with the furs that edge the velvet robes which his wife and his +eldest daughter wear indoors. The birds, insects, shells, and mineral +specimens of the most distant climes fill his cabinet, carefully +arranged under glass. In his gardens flourish rare plants, the choicest +flowers and bulbs cultivated by himself or under his own eyes. His +furniture, of exquisite taste and workmanship, carefully looked after +and incessantly cleaned, does not suffer by the changes of fashion; it +is transmitted from father to son, and lasts for generations. His alcove +bed is supported by ebony columns and closed in with green damask +curtains. Hanging from the ceiling, a candelabrum of gilt bronze spreads +its branches twisted into elegant volutes. The floors are waxed till +they are a pleasure to the eye, the windows are polished, the door-knob +is shining, the furniture gleams like a mirror, and yet the daylight +falling through lightly tinted taffeta curtains sheds over all these +objects only a soft, moderate, and harmonious radiance. + + =How Metsu depicts the Manners of the Dutch.=--"The manners of + Holland, as well as its material physiognomy in civil life, its + interiors, its furniture, the decoration and luxury of its apartments, + are all written down in Metsu's pictures with charming clearness, + which is all the more pleasing since this merit seems to be + involuntary in the painter. After two hundred years, his work may + serve for the complete reconstitution of a well-to-do interior as it + was composed in the seventeenth century by the climate of the country, + the character of its inhabitants, and the historic circumstances in + the midst of which the Dutch merchants, the masters of the commerce of + the world, then lived. + + "By Metsu's favor we are able to penetrate into those interiors which + are so jealously closed to strangers. Most often it is by a window + that serves as a frame for his picture that Metsu gives us access to + the boudoirs of fashionable ladies, and makes us take them by + surprise, sometimes in velvet _deshabille_ writing their secrets; + sometimes finishing their toilette in view of a hoped-for visit; and + sometimes breathing over the keys of their clavecin the sighs of their + hearts and the thoughts they do not express." + + =His Carefulness in selecting Details.=--"Metsu rarely paints an + interior without introducing the pet spaniel of the period, which + often contributes much to our comprehension of the scene by the + character of its attitude. + + "There are some Dutch masters who unintelligently accumulate + innumerable details everywhere. They make a picture of manners the + pretext for a ridiculous display of furniture, crystal, lustres, + _chinoisarie_ and curiosities of every kind; their interiors resemble + bazaars. Metsu puts beside his subjects only those details necessary + to make the intrigue clear, and to explain the conversation. + + =His Treatment of Still Life.=--"However great may have been his + talent for painting still life, he never allowed himself to be carried + away, like so many others, by that vulgar pleasure; but, on the other + hand, what finish! what a precious touch! And then how he loves to + give full value to the beauties of local color, or to shade a Turkey + carpet, or to grade down the lights on gold and silver vases. What + pleasure he takes in the Bohemian glasses and the transparent liquors + that half fill them! The glasses in his pictures have great + importance, for the life of a retired Dutchman is spent in continual + smoking and drinking; but in Metsu we no longer see the + Pantagruelesque glasses of several stages that Van Ostade's peasants + always have in their hands; these are fine and more discrete glasses, + of elegant form, tall and oblong glasses in which the Haarlem beer + froths; glasses cut and fashioned in twenty different ways, octagon + glasses each facet of which ends with a curve and which cut the light + with their sharp edges, or glasses the calyx of which forms a reversed + cone on a heron's claw, or elongates into a swan's neck, and finishes + like a trumpet; lastly, the glasses of the grandparents, sometimes of + an imperishable thickness and solidity, sometimes as delicate, light, + and thin as an onion skin."[15] + +=Favorite Subjects.=--Metsu is fond of representing the patricians of +his day and their womankind either in pleasant entertainment, or, more +frequently, in individual figures engaged in quiet work. A picture of +this class is The Amateur Musicians. The lady on the left is very +quietly playing her instrument with the same sense of repose that is +expressed by the lady who seems to be writing down the notes. Only on +the face of the elegant gentleman standing behind her chair is painted a +merry, almost roguish, smile. + +[Illustration: METSU +The Amateur Musicians] + +=The Elegance of Metsu's Figures.=--The figures are drawn with +certainty; the artistic handling of the subject is remarkable; and a +fine feeling for color is shown in the selection of the tones. In +Metsu's figures we notice an elegance and a nobility which are not found +elsewhere except in Ter Borch. + +=The Influence of other Artists on Metsu.=--It is strange that the +earliest works of Metsu, which are the most broadly painted ones, show +little of Dou's influence, which is always so unmistakable in his +pupils, so that Bode believes he finds in them the working of Hals's +influence; and, in fact, the large pictures of Metsu's early period are +painted with a broad brush in Hals's gray tones. When Metsu removed to +Amsterdam, he fell more under Rembrandt's influence, and the beautiful +chiaroscuro of his later works incontestably proves this. + +=His Miscellaneous Works.=--Metsu's Biblical and allegorial pictures are +the least important of his works. Besides The Amateur Musicians, signed +by Metsu, the Mauritshuis possesses a fine Portrait of a Huntsman dated +1661, and a great academical, constrained allegory of Justice Protecting +the Widow and Orphan, a picture that was found in the vestibule of a +house in Leyden in 1667. It was painted in 1655. + +Crowe, who does not believe that this "rough and frosty composition" is +the work of Metsu, says: + + "What Metsu undertook and carried out from the first with surprising + success was the low life of the market and tavern, contrasted with + wonderful versatility by incidents of high life and the drawing-room. + In each of these spheres he combined humor with expression, a keen + appreciation of nature, with feeling and breadth, with delicacy of + touch, unsurpassed by any of his contemporaries. In no single instance + do the artistic lessons of Rembrandt appear to have been lost on him. + The same principles of light and shade which had marked his school + work in The Woman Taken in Adultery[16] were applied to subjects of + quite a different kind. A group in a drawing-room, a series of groups + in the market-place, a single figure in the gloom of a tavern or + parlor, was treated with the utmost felicity by fit concentration and + gradation of light; a warm flush of tone pervaded every part, and, + with that, the study of texture in stuffs was carried as far as it had + been by Terburg, or Dou, if not with the finish or the _brio_ of De + Hooch. Metsu's pictures are all in such admirable keeping and so warm + and harmonious in his middle, or so cool and harmonious in his closing + time, that they always make a pleasing impression. They are more + subtle in modulation than Dou's, more spirited and forcible in touch + than Terburg's; and, if Terburg may of right claim to have first + painted the true satin robe, he never painted it more softly or with + more judgment as to color than Metsu." + +One of the best pictures of Metsu's middle period is The Market Place of +Amsterdam, in the Louvre. + +=Two Fine Portraits by F. van Mieris.=--Frans van Mieris (1635-81) +reached the highest rung of art in his portraits, of which The Hague +Gallery possesses two fine examples. One is of Florentius Schuyl, +Professor of Medicine and Botany in the University of Leyden, painted in +1666, and a still more important picture of the painter himself and his +wife. He has made a charming _genre_ picture of it, which Sir Joshua +Reynolds admired, not knowing who the characters were. The artist shows +himself standing and pulling the ear of the beautiful little dog which +his wife holds in her lap, while, to protect her pet, she gently wards +off her smiling husband with her right hand. The little dog's mother is +trying to spring into the lady's lap in order to take care of her +offspring. Both the drawing and modelling here are masterly, and endow +the scene with such charm that this work must be pronounced one of the +best by his brush. The tablecloth and the lute lying upon it are +beautifully painted. + +=Description of Soap Bubbles.=--Sir Joshua also noticed the picture of +Soap Bubbles dated 1663, representing a boy at an open and vine-framed +window, blowing bubbles that are exquisitely painted and show beautiful +reflections and prismatic colors. His red hat with white plumes is lying +on the window-sill, near a bottle containing a sprig of heliotrope, and +above hangs a cage. Behind the child in the half-light stands a young +woman with a dog in her arms. On the window-frame is written the date in +Roman numerals. Willem van Mieris often imitated this composition of his +father's, who frequently repeated it himself. + +=Pictures by Van Mieris Full of Refinement.=--Van Mieris takes us into +an elegant world, although he himself was fond of low life, a heavy +drinker and the companion of Jan Steen. He was the son of a goldsmith +and diamond-setter of Leyden, who wanted him to follow his business. He +was naturally influenced by his earliest surroundings, and in his +father's shop became familiar with the dress and manners of people of +distinction. His eye was also fascinated by the sheen of jewelry and +stained glass. Houbraken writes: + + "Seeing his talent for painting his father placed him with Abraham + Torenvliet, a famous glass painter and a good draughtsman. From him he + passed to the school of Gerrit Dou, where in a short time he eclipsed + every one and gained the affection of the master, who loved to call + him 'the prince of his pupils.' At the end of a few years, his father + sent him to the historical painter Abraham van Tempel; but he did not + remain long with him, for his natural taste would allow him to follow + no other manner than that of Gerrit Dou,--a manner extremely finished, + demanding attention and excessive care." + +=His Love of Elegant Accessories.=--Houbraken calls Metsu a painter of +_sujets de mode_. This term applies also to Frans van Mieris; for +certainly with him costumes, materials, and accessories play an +important part. If his people were less attractive one might imagine +that they were only a pretext for showing off the velvet jackets, satin +skirts, and rich furs. Very often Van Mieris shows us a spacious and +magnificently decorated hall, in the background of which a richly +dressed lady and her lover are walking; again he allows us to peep into +a charmingly furnished room where a lady in white satin is playing the +lute to entertain her guest, a handsome cavalier in black velvet; or we +surprise a lady as she is about to drink a glass of wine which a page +offers her on a silver salver. At other times we find a group of ladies +and gentlemen about to enjoy a light repast; or see a table invitingly +spread with luscious fruit in rich silver dishes; or watch a lady feed +her parrot. Sometimes the pet monkey is discerned behind the looped-back +curtains of taffetas. Frans van Mieris seldom chose panels above 12 by +15 inches in size. He never ventured to design life-sized figures. + + =The Kind of Subjects he treated Best.=--"Characteristic of his art in + its minute proportions is a shiny brightness and metallic polish. The + subjects which he treated best are those in which he illustrated the + habits or actions of the wealthier classes; but he sometimes succeeded + in homely incidents and in portraits, and not unfrequently he ventured + on allegory. He repeatedly painted the satin skirt which Terburg + brought into fashion, and he often rivalled him in the faithful + rendering of rich and highly colored woven tissues. But he remained + below Terburg and Metsu, because he had not their delicate perception + of harmony, or their charming mellowness of touch and tint; and he + fell below Gerard Dou, because he was hard and had not his feeling for + effect by concentrated light and shade. In the form of his + composition, which sometimes represents the framework of a window + enlivened with greenery, and adorned with bas-reliefs, within which + figures are seen to the waist, his model is certainly Gerard Dou." + + =His Lack of Humor.=--"It has been said that he possessed some of the + humor of Jan Steen, who was his friend, but the only approach to humor + in any of his works is the quaint attitude and look of a tinker in a + picture at Dresden, who glances knowingly at a worn copper kettle + which a maid asks him to mend.... If there be a difference between his + earlier and later work, it is that the former was clearer and more + delicate in flesh, whilst the latter was often darker and more livid + in the shadows."[17] + +Blanc says: + + "Among so many Dutch painters who copy nature it is very pleasant to + find one who deigns to select his models, and who, preferring grace to + ugliness, would rather paint beautifully women elegantly dressed than + _magots_. Strange, indeed! He loved distinction, yet lived in a + tavern; he loved luxury, and was soon ruined; and, in spite of a life + devoid of dignity, Van Mieris always kept a love of beauty and + elegance, as is shown in his delicate faces, fine complexions, + beautiful hands, grace of attitude, taste in costume and furniture, + and choice of splendid materials." + +=Willem van Mieris.=--The Grocer's Shop, by his son and pupil, Willem +van Mieris (1662-1747), signed and dated 1717, also hangs in The Hague +Gallery. In extreme finish and minuteness of painting, this picture +would not disgrace Mieris the Elder or Gerrit Dou. + +=Its Wealth of Still Life.=--You see only two figures, a young boy who +is buying and a young woman who is selling; but these figures are of no +more importance than the foods of all kinds exposed in the shop, on the +sill of the window, and outside. The lower part of the window is +decorated with a bas-relief, representing Cupids playing with a bird. +This bas-relief is half hidden by a superb piece of tapestry, on which +the painter has placed a basket of dried fruits. Great bags of grain, +peas, and beans, and everything that is sold by the bushel are exposed +on the pavement of the street, with a bucket and some tubs filled with +olives, sardines, and anchovies. On the wall hang a basket and a +bird-cage, and a magnificent damask curtain with large flowers falls in +graceful folds from an outside ring. Among the innumerable details of +the shop you note a little rat gnawing at the grains which have fallen +through a hole in one of the sacks. + +The pendant to this picture hangs in the Louvre, where it is called +_Marchande de Volailles_. + +=W. van Mieris influenced by his Father and by G. de Lairesse.=--Willem +van Mieris was a pupil of his father, and at first had no other ambition +than to imitate his style and produce those charming Conversations in +which rich furniture, shining chandeliers of brass or copper, Japanese +porcelains, silken curtains, Turkish table-carpets, flowers, and +elegantly dressed people make a somewhat restricted, although +delightful, world. Willem, falling under the influence of Gerard de +Lairesse, who was much in vogue in Holland, selected such subjects as a +young lady playing on the clavecin, or making lace, or walking in the +country in a lilac satin robe with large sleeves that reveal through +their slashes a beautiful arm, and a straw hat ornamented with a +sweeping plume. Becoming a shepherdess this attractive lady next sits in +his pictures with bare feet, in the shade of an oak, and beside her +Corydon talks of love. + +=His Success with Mythical and Biblical Subjects.=--Next he turned his +attention to subjects from fable, romance, and mythology; and Diana, +Armida, Cleopatra, Bacchus, Jupiter, Tarquin, the Sabines, etc., fill +his panels or copper plates, which were hardly larger than your hand. +Biblical and religious subjects occupied him for a time and then he +again turned pagan. His success grew greater every day, and his Dutch +patrons who loved scenes of familiar life demanded from Van Mieris +pictures in the style of his famous father--those charming _genre_ +pictures still being produced by Slingelandt, Van Tol, and other +imitators of Gerrit Dou. + +=A Window-frame his Favorite Setting.=--Like Gerrit Dou, Willem van +Mieris selects a window-frame of stone, which he often decorates with +graceful creepers or a bouquet of tulips or jonquils placed on the sill, +or throws over it a bright piece of tapestry. From it a blond lady leans +to flirt with the unseen passer, a child blows bubbles, a portly dame +waters her flowers; or the artist himself sits calmly by. When tired of +this, Willem van Mieris takes us to his favorite shop. + +=Arie de Vois.=--Among the portraits one must not fail to notice the +picture of A Huntsman Holding a Partridge by Arie de Vois (1630-80). +This was originally in the collection of William V. and was bought for +1,210 florins. His pictures are so rare that we are not surprised that +the Mauritshuis contains but one example. The Rijks is more fortunate in +owning four by this delightful painter. + +=Abraham de Pape's Style.=--Abraham de Pape (1625-66), supposed to have +been a pupil of Gerrit Dou, is represented by An Old Woman Plucking a +Cock, with a little boy kneeling beside her. It is a very good example +of this master; and at the Gerrit Muller sale brought no less than 490 +florins. Crowe says: + + "This almost unknown artist is decidedly one of the best _genre_ + painters of this time. He is true and speaking in action, animated in + his heads, harmonious, and even in some of his pictures warm in + coloring, and very careful and soft in execution." + +=A. van der Werff's Biblical and Mythological Pictures.=--Adriaan van +der Werff (1659-1722) occupied a peculiar position among Dutch painters. +While his contemporaries were devoting themselves to the study of +nature and becoming realistic, he adhered to the pursuit of the +ideal and produced pictures inspired by Biblical or mythological +subjects,--pictures noted for their beauty and elegance, and moreover +finished with wonderful smoothness of touch, which he had learned from +his master Eglon van der Neer. His figures as a rule are small, and the +flesh-tints are of an ivory tone. Van der Werff was so popular that it +was impossible for him to execute all the commissions sent him. His +greatest patron was the Elector Palatine John William; the pictures that +Van der Werff painted for him are now in Munich, where this master may +best be studied. + +=Description of The Flight into Egypt.=--He is fairly well represented +in the Rijks; but The Hague has only two of his works,--a Portrait of a +Man, dated 1689, and The Flight into Egypt, dated 1710. This is only one +foot six inches high and one foot two inches wide. The Virgin is in +profile in a Prussian-blue mantle, accompanied by St. Joseph, who is +leading an ass. The road runs by the side of a brook, and the landscape +is diversified with trees, ruins, and a portico. This picture was given +by the artist to his daughter, who sold it to Mr. Schuijlenberg for +4,000 florins. At the Schuijlenberg sale at The Hague in 1765 it brought +6,500 florins. + +=Reynolds on Van der Werff's Manner.=--This picture was much admired by +Sir Joshua Reynolds, who saw it in the King's collection. In describing +Van der Werff's manner he said: + + "He has also the defect which is often found in Rembrandt,--that of + making his light only a single spot. However, to do him justice his + figures and heads are generally well drawn and his drapery is + excellent; perhaps there are in his pictures as perfect examples of + drapery as are to be found in any other painter's work whatever." + +=Philip van Dijk and his pupil, Louis de Moni.=--To this group belongs +Philip van Dijk (1680-1753), a pupil of Arnold Boonen, and an imitator +of Van der Werff. Judith with the Head of Holofernes is a good example +of his historical work; and two good _genre_ pictures, A Lady Playing +the Guitar, and A Lady at her Toilet, show this artist in a happier +mood, where he gives free play to his more delicate touch. His +Bookkeeper also hangs in this gallery. His pupil, Louis de Moni, shows +the decline of the school. An Old Woman and a Boy, in a window, the boy +blowing soap bubbles, is dated 1742. + +=Ochtervelt a follower of Metsu and of Pieter de Hooch.=--Jacob van +Ochtervelt (?-1700), who occupies a first place among the second-rate +painters of his day, was a follower of Metsu and also of Pieter de +Hooch. The Fish Vender, representing a woman in a room where a man is +offering her fish, in conception and careful finish recalls Metsu, while +in lighting and combination of color it reminds one of Pieter de Hooch. +The general tone is warmer than most of Ochtervelt's pictures. + +=Jan Steen's Favorite Subjects.=--One of the greatest of all the Dutch +_genre_ painters is Jan Steen (1626-79), "the jolly landlord of Leyden." +As a draughtsman and colorist he takes high rank, and as a student of +human nature he has been compared to Hogarth and Moliere. His pictures +are studies of life and character, and are full of humor. He paints +feasts and merry-makings, weddings, quacks, tavern-brawls, dentists, +invalids, children at play, family parties, etc., with sympathy and +joyousness. + +=His Character-painting.=--As a character-painter, he is unapproachable. +Nobody so well as he has understood all human passions, all +emotions--hilarious joy, deep-seated satisfaction, fear, grief, and +_Weltschmerz_ with such mastery, and known how to represent them in the +smallest possible space. + +=His Method of showing Background to Advantage.=--With regard to Jan +Steen's interiors it is interesting to note that, like Ostade's, they +are painted from an elevation, so that the figures in the background are +not hidden by those in the foreground. Ordinarily he opens a window in +the background to illuminate the distant figures and thus is formed an +echo of the principal light. The number of utensils is less than with +most painters of this class, for Jan Steen had too much sense to +multiply them uselessly. Like Metsu, he often painted little pictures on +the walls of his interiors, and it is singular that these depict heroic +landscapes, battle scenes, mythological subjects, etc., and never tavern +or _genre_ scenes such as he himself painted. + +=Refinement and Culture in his Pictures.=--Another thing to notice is +that whether in houses of affluence or in common taverns his people do +not drink grossly and from jugs, as in the taverns of Adriaen Brouwer. +Each one takes his place gracefully and naturally at the table or in the +room; and the details of the furniture accord with the politeness of the +people or the players. On the mantelpiece, for instance, stands a bronze +figure of Love; a guitar hangs from one of the panels; and here hangs a +fine landscape in an ebony frame. The collation consists of delicious +fruits that rejoice the eyes; perhaps also open oysters, which glisten +in the light like pearls; ripe grapes and beautiful peaches, whose furry +skins are blushing like the cheeks of a young girl, and finally some +lemons half peeled, the skin falling in a golden spiral. All this shows +the influence of Van Mieris, who was a friend of Steen and who spent +many hours in his tavern at Leyden. + +=Reynolds's Appreciation of Jan Steen.=--Sir Joshua Reynolds, who was so +delighted with the Steens he saw in Holland, wrote the following +appreciative criticism of the artist: + + "Jan Steen has a strong manly style of painting, which might become + even the design of Raffaelle, and he has shown the greatest skill in + composition and management of light and shadow as well as great truth + in the expression and character of his figures." + +=Jan Steen's Fondness for painting his own Family.=--Jan Steen was very +fond of painting his own family; his wives, his aged parents, and his +children provided him with varied models of assorted ages and sizes. He +had six children by his wife Marguerite van Goyen, daughter of the +painter; and when she died, he married a widow, named Mariette +Herkulens, who had two. He has characterized the pleasures of all ages +in his picture called The Family of Jan Steen, bearing the legend "_Soo +de ouden songen pypen de jongen._" (As the old ones sing so will the +young ones pipe.) This is particularly interesting, because the artist +has painted himself between his wife Marguerite van Goyen and Mariette +Herkulens, who was destined to be his second wife. They were both quite +handsome, especially Marguerite. Mariette Herkulens was a meat vender. + +=How he ridiculed the Physicians.=--Physicians were always butt for +Steen's caustic wit. It was a common practice in the seventeenth century +to turn them into ridicule; and as Moliere brought them on the French +stage, Jan Steen painted them with all their charlatanism and gravity +and that severity of costume so studied for effect. + +=Description of The Young Lady who is Ill.=--The Hague Gallery contains +two of these,--one known as The Young Lady who is Ill (sometimes called +The Doctor Feeling the Pulse of a Young Woman). In this picture a doctor +dressed in black, with a pointed hat like that worn by Sagnarelle in the +_Medecin malgre lui_, is seated at the bedside of a young and pretty +girl with round arms and clear, pale complexion, who looks with interest +at the potion that is being prepared according to the doctor's +instructions. The latter pretends to be looking at the medicine which an +elegant woman is bringing, but he is really looking at the beautiful +throat of the blond and well-dressed Dutch lady, who lowers her eyes, +charmed to let him gaze at her brilliant white neck, her little +_retrousse_ nose, and her hair arranged _a la Ninon_, which is half +covered with a sort of black cap. "If it were not for a little touch of +malice and certain inconsistencies in the somewhat careless execution," +Blanc says, "this picture might pass for a Van Mieris or a Metsu." + +=Description of The Doctor's Visit.=--In The Doctor's Visit, a physician +dressed in black, with pointed hat and holding his gloves in one hand, +with the other is feeling the pulse of a young lady who is sitting near +her bed in a _neglige_ costume. With a very knowing and solicitous +manner the doctor seems to interrogate the throbs of the pulse; but +while he seeks for the secret of the illness, the chamber-maid has found +it out, as her glance indicates; and, that you may not be left in doubt, +the painter has placed on the corner of the chimney a little statue of +Love the Conqueror. In some of his pictures of this class Steen adds the +legend "_Wat baet hier medecyn--het is der minne pijn_" (Of what use is +medicine here? Love is the trouble). + +=Other Pictures by Jan Steen, in the Mauritshuis.=--In addition to those +already mentioned, the Mauritshuis owns A Village Feast, a picture of +his first period; the Dentist, who is extracting the tooth of a peasant; +A Menagerie; and an Interior known as The Oyster Feast and Jan Steen's +Tap-room. + +=Description of Jan Steen's Tap-room.=--The latter is not an inn of the +common or rustic type such as is seen in Ostade's or Brouwer's pictures, +for the room is furnished in the best style of the period. In it we see +about twenty figures in several groups. On the left, an old man is +playing with a little child; near him a young girl is kneeling as she +cooks the oysters; and in the centre an old man offers an oyster to a +seated woman. Children are amusing themselves everywhere: here one is +making a cat dance; another is holding a dog; another is carrying a jug +and a basket of fruit. At the table on the right and a little back Jan +Steen sits playing a lute, a young woman is listening to him, a fat +companion with a glass of liquor in his hand is laughing; and in the +background are groups of players and smokers. Above and in the +foreground a large violet curtain is looped and casts its shadow over a +part of the interior. This fine picture is only 2 feet 3 inches by 2 +feet 8 inches. + +=Description of A Menagerie.=--A Menagerie is nearly four feet square, +and represents the courtyard of a country house--that of William III. at +Honsholredijk, which is seen in the distance. Near the stone terrace, +beneath the steps of which is a pool, a peacock sits on a branch of an +old tree; ducks are swimming in the pool, and hens, turkeys, and pigeons +are picking up grains in the courtyard. A little girl in a pale +straw-colored dress and a white apron is sitting on the steps and giving +a lamb milk out of a cup. A man, carrying a basket of eggs and a green +pot, is laughing and talking with her. Another old farm-servant is also +laughing as he regards his young mistress; another person, who carries a +hen under his left arm and her brood of chickens in a basket, is one of +those dumpy and deformed creatures that Jan Steen likes to paint. Burger +considers the head of the man with the basket of eggs is one of the most +wonderful heads that were ever painted by Jan Steen or any of the Dutch +Little Masters. + +=Troost, the Dutch Watteau or Hogarth.=--Cornelis Troost (1697-1750) was +born at the close of the great period of Dutch art. The great painters +were all dead. Dutch painting had lost its originality and native vigor. +Under these circumstances Troost made himself the painter of his period +and of his country. Impelled by a witty and caustic humor, he thought to +bring back in the eighteenth century what Jan Steen had illustrated in +the seventeenth. But, inferior in every way to that master, he saw +contemporary society only on the stage or in books; and, instead of +painting manners, customs, and absurdities of the middle classes by +observing them in nature, he painted them as they were represented on +the stage. Almost all his heroes were characters of the comedy or the +novel. Troost has been called the Dutch Watteau and the Dutch Hogarth. +His pictures may be classified as follows: Conversations, Comic +subjects, Portraits, and Military subjects. The first follow the style +of Watteau; the second, Hogarth; and the last are reminiscent of Frans +Hals. + +=His Excellence in Drawing and Color.=--Excellence of drawing and +richness of color distinguish all his works, which are also valuable for +their accurate portrayal of the manners and customs, costume and +furniture of his day. Troost worked in oil, pastel, and gouache with +equal facility; and produced many excellent mezzotints and etchings. + + =Blanc on Troost's Style.=--"What we admire in him to-day is the + talent of the painter properly so-called, the art of enlightening and + grouping his figures and placing them on the stage, the brush-work, + the selection and quality of the tones,--in other words, order, + chiaroscuro, color, and touch. A man of wit, he shines in composition; + although adroitly calculated, his own humor always appears spontaneous + and natural. Troost never introduces useless personages nor + superfluous ornaments into his pictures. He clearly sets forth what he + wants to show; and, contrary to the habits of the other masters of his + nation who take pleasure in the accumulation of accessories, he only + puts into his interiors necessary furniture and significant utensils; + and in his open-air Conversations the surroundings are not overloaded + with detail, but simple and agreeable, being calculated to achieve the + idea of the picture, so admirably are they connected with the action + of the figures. Troost and Terburg, of all the Dutch masters of + _genre_, are the ones who best understood the concentration of the + interest of a picture, and what is called the repose of the + composition."[18] + + =A Picture Illustrative of the Concentration of its Interest.=--"On + looking over his pictures in the little room devoted to his work in + the Mauritshuis, we find more than one example of this intelligent + sobriety. Take for instance _L'Amour mal assorte_. Here we have an old + man declaring his love to a young widow. He has thrown on the floor + his cane, hat, and gloves; and, in his senile ardor, he clasps the + facilely chaste Susanna. What a pretty interior! A Slingelandt, a + Gerard Dou, or a Mieris would have multiplied here the details of + domestic comfort; here there is not a detail, not a single piece of + furniture too much; but yet there is nothing lacking that should be + there,--neither the clock, the canary in its cage, the portrait of + the deceased husband whose place the guest desires to fill, nor the + flower-vase with its full-blown rose, like the charmer whom the + admirer wants to gather." + + =Pictures of Love and Intrigue.=--"Again we have The Deceived Tutor, a + scene anticipated from 'The Barber of Seville.' Here we see coming + down the street a maiden led prisoner by her tutor, a jealous bear + clothed all in black. While she occupies his attention with a sweet + smile, her little hand receives the kiss of a lover whom chance has + led that way. Other scenes of similar intrigue treated in this light + vein are The Lover in Disguise and The Lover Artist. The scenes are + taken from the comedies and vaudevilles of Langendijk, Lingelbach, + Asselijn, Van der Hoeven, Van Paffenrode, and D. Buysero." + + =The Dispute of the Astronomers.=--"A picture that does not deal with + love and intrigue, but is full of a different kind of humor is The + Dispute of the Astronomers, from a comedy by P. Langendijk, in which + two astronomers in the heat of their discussion on the systems of + Copernicus and Ptolemy make use of the plates and bottles on the + supper table to illustrate the sun and the planets. Another + interesting pastel is one depicting the old Dutch custom of a band of + men and children singing hymns before the doors of the village on + Twelfth Night, carrying a huge paper star, lighted within." + +=Hondecoeter, Painter of Living Birds.=--The great Melchior +d'Hondecoeter (1636-95) began his career with marines; but it was not +long before he acquired celebrity as a painter of birds only, which he +represented not exclusively like Fyt, after a day's shooting, or as +stock in a poulterer's shop, but as living beings with passions of joy +and fear and anger. Though without Fyt's brilliant tone and high finish, +his birds are always full of action. William III. employed him to paint +his menagerie at Loo, and this picture shows that he could overcome the +difficulty of painting India's cattle, elephants, and gazelles. +Hondecoeter's best pictures have remained in Holland, and The Hague and +Amsterdam galleries possess his most interesting canvases. The four at +the Mauritshuis are: Geese and Ducks, Hens and Ducks, The Menagerie of +William III. at Loo, and The Jackdaw Stripped of his Borrowed Feathers. +All these are worthy of study, although Hondecoeter's most celebrated +picture, The Floating Feather, hangs in the Rijks. + +Blanc says: + + "In one of these the artist has amused himself with making his usual + heroes play a scene of human comedy; and, as a professional fabulist + would have imagined it, he has shown a jackdaw stripped of the + borrowed plumes with which he had adorned himself in his vanity. This + is a very fine picture, although it has somewhat blackened in certain + parts. Hondecoeter seems to us to have been happier in another canvas + in which he has grouped various birds. It seems as if on this occasion + he wanted to prove what prodigies he was capable of in the touch of + divers plumages; and the effect he has obtained is, in truth, + astonishing. We could not find the equivalent of this lightness of + touch and of this coloring either in Gryff[19] or in the two Weenixes, + or in any of the masters who have tried to paint birds, with the + possible exception of Giacomo Victor."[20] + + =His Preparation for Bird-painting.=--"It is true that before having + succeeded so well in the representation of the bird, Hondecoeter made + a long study, not only of its external form, but of its habits, + customs, and manner of life. His studio had been turned into a + menagerie, or, rather, a game preserve. He had paid particular + attention to the education of a handsome cock, which seemed to + comprehend every word and gesture of his master; and who, at the + slightest sign, came near the easel and posed, often in very fatiguing + attitudes, for hours." + + =Hondecoeter's Skill in painting Farmyard Scenes.=--"In painting, + Melchior d'Hondecoeter was a very able man without leaving the poultry + yard, and was satisfied with painting on the spot either the bloody + dramas or the peaceful scenes of the farmyard--the hen teaching her + chickens to scratch for grubs, the duck giving her little ones their + first swimming lesson, the superb cock keeping watch over his + seraglio, the peacock spreading his magnificent tail, and those + memorable combats in which for a fine-plumaged Helen, two rivals spur + one another while awaiting the hawk's talons. He painted 'the crested + gentry' and knew how to interest us in them by means of picturesque + truth, rustic grace, color, and spirit. + + "Melchior, after the death of his father, found an excellent guide in + his uncle, J. B. Weenix, and followed his manner till his death in + 1660 without servility."[21] + +Burger says: + + =His Pictures of Bird Families.=--"No one has painted better than he + cocks and hens, ducks and drakes, and particularly little chicks and + ducklings. He has understood such families as the Italians have the + mystical Holy Family; he has expressed the motherhood of the hen as + Raphael has the motherhood of the Madonna. In fact, the subject is + more naturally treated because it has less sublimity. Hondecoeter + gives us here a mother-hen, who could face the Madonna of the Chair. + She bends over with solicitude, with outspread wings, beneath which + peep the excited heads of the little chickens; while on her back is + perched the privileged _bambino_: she does not dare move, the good + mother!" + +A picture of Cock and Hens by his father, Gijsbert d'Hondecoeter +(1604-53), was acquired in 1876. He was the teacher of his more talented +son, who also studied with his uncle, Jan Baptist Weenix (1621-60), no +pictures of whom are owned by the Mauritshuis. + +=Jan Weenix's Tasteful Compositions.=--Two pictures of Jan Weenix +(1640-1719) hang in this gallery and are good examples. One is The Dead +Swan, the other is Game. Though Weenix painted portraits, landscapes, +and even seaports, his chief works represent dead animals, the size of +life. Peacocks, pheasants, partridges, geese, and most frequently swans, +figure in his pictures. Sometimes, too, he introduces a living dog and +paints it in the most spirited manner. Weenix had great taste in +composition and arranged his models (more often dead than living) around +the base of a handsome vase or urn in a beautiful park. + +=Reynolds and Blanc on Jan Weenix's Paintings.=--"What excellence in +coloring and handling is to be found in the dead game of Weenix!" +exclaimed Sir Joshua Reynolds, who declared that he saw no less than +twenty dead swans by this painter during his walks through the Holland +galleries. "In his works of small dimensions," says Blanc, "his +execution is delicate and caressing; but it is broad and accentuated in +his decorative paintings. At his best he was the equal of his father, +which is no small praise." + +=Jan David de Heem, the Greatest of the Group of Fruit and Flower +Painters.=--First in this group comes Jan David de Heem (1606-03 or 04), +the pupil of his father, David de Heem, and not only the first to +develop the art of fruit-painting, but the greatest master of the class +that the school produced. In the beautiful arrangement of his subjects +he has been compared to Giovanni da Udine. He is also a great colorist; +some of his early works approach Rembrandt in their golden tone. + +Although his two most important works are in the galleries of Vienna and +Berlin, and splendid examples hang in the Louvre, Dresden, and Cassel, +the Mauritshuis owns two very fine examples. One is a Table with Fruits, +very tasteful in arrangement and soft in treatment; the other is a +Garland of Flowers and Fruits, enlivened with insects. + +When Sir Joshua Reynolds visited the Prince of Orange's collection, he +saw these pictures and noted: "Fruits by De Heem, done with the utmost +perfection." + +=His Greatness as a Painter of Fruits, Flowers, and Insects.=--De Heem +was one of the greatest painters of still life in Holland; no artist of +his class combined form and color more successfully. His drawing is +correct, and his colors are brilliant and combined harmoniously. He is +familiar with every object of stone and silver, every flower, whether +humble or gorgeous, every fruit of Europe or the tropics, every twig and +leaf and blossom. Burger has said of Heda, but it is true of De Heem, +that "he glorified insects, butterflies, and all the minute beings that +swarm in vegetation, and made the moths drink in cups of chased gold." + +=His Pictures that point a Moral.=--De Heem was also famous for his +pictures that point a moral or illustrate a motto--those canvases known +as Vanitas. Here the snake lies coiled under the grass; there a skull +rests on blooming plants. "Gold and silver tankards or cups suggest the +vanity of earthly possessions; salvation is allegorized in a chalice +amid blossoms; death, as a crucifix inside a wreath." Sometimes De Heem +painted alone, or with men of his school, Madonnas or portraits +surrounded by festoons of fruits and flowers. He was so fond of the +festoon that he sometimes painted it alone. Sometimes, too, a nosegay is +figured alone. + +=Cornelis de Heem's Subjects like those of his Father.=--The Hague +Gallery also owns Fruits by his son Cornelis (1631-95). The latter +painted precisely the same subjects as his father and with scarcely less +success. Still life, flowers, fruits, oysters, and lemons on a plate; +cold hams, boiled lobsters, flowers, knives, forks, glasses, watches, +clocks, etc., are all treated by him with the utmost cleverness. Crowe +says: + + "He is not inferior to his father in drawing and warmth of color, and + with an equally solid impasto, almost surpasses him in melting + softness of touch. He is, however, in rare instances, somewhat + gaudier. Under these circumstances it is easy to understand that his + works are often mistaken for those of his father." + +=Abraham Mignon, Pupil and Imitator of De Heem.=--Another pupil was +Abraham Mignon (1640-79), who is represented in the Mauritshuis by +Flowers and Fruits, and two canvases called Summer Flowers, which show +the influence of his master. Mignon's fruits and flowers have all the +bloom of nature; his butterflies and other insects seem to live and feed +on the leaves, buds, and blossoms; and the dewdrops on the leaves and +petals have all the transparency of real water. He was very popular in +his day and was overwhelmed with commissions. + +=Jacob Walscapelle.=--Jacob Walscapelle is also supposed to have been a +pupil of De Heem, and many of his pictures have been attributed to one +of the De Heems. + +=Maria van Oosterwyck, an Excellent Painter of Flowers.=--Another pupil +was Maria van Oosterwyck (1630-93), who usually painted flowers in vases +or glasses, and occasionally fruits. In 1882 the Mauritshuis acquired a +picture of Flowers, by this artist, who, perhaps, because of the rarity +of her pictures, is not so widely known as she deserves to be. Although +her flowers are not always arranged with taste and the colors are often +gaudy, yet Crowe thinks she represents them with the + + "utmost truth of drawing, and with a depth, brilliancy, and juiciness + of local coloring unattained by any other flower-painter. At the same + time, her execution, in spite of great finish, is broad and free, and + the impasto excellent." + +She was much admired in her day and received commissions from Louis +XIV., William III. of England, Augustus I. of Poland, and the Emperor +Leopold. + + =Jan van Huysum, the Correggio of Flowers and Fruits.=--"If De Heem, + by the harmony of his warm golden color, be called the Titian of + flowers and fruits, Jan van Huysum's bright and sunny treatment + entitles him to the name of the Correggio of the same branch of art. + In masterly drawing and truth of single objects, both masters may be + classed on the same level, only that De Heem's principal subjects were + fruit; Van Huysum's were flowers, in which he entered into greater + detail; for instance, in the gloss of the tulip, the pollen of the + auricula, and the dewdrop on the petal. It is to these merits, fitted + as they are to the capacity of the greater number of admirers of art, + that Van Huysum owed the eager demand for, and high payment of his + pictures by princes and wealthy amateurs, even in his own day, and + also that of all painters of his class he still commands the highest + prices."[22] + +=Van Huysum's Pictures in The Hague.=--Jan van Huysum (1682-1749) is not +so well represented in his own country as in the Louvre (which contains +eleven fine examples), Berlin, St. Petersburg, Munich, Hanover, and +Dresden. The Rijks owns but six, and The Hague only three,--an Italian +Landscape, Fruits, and Flowers. The two latter are such beautiful +examples of Van Huysum's art that they deserve study. In the one are +found that marvellous blush and downy bloom for which he was so famous, +while the other reveals his delicate treatment of petals and his +graceful arrangement. In Fruits, a peach, two plums, a small bunch of +grapes and some gooseberries are beautifully grouped, as to form and +color, on a marble table. Its pendant, Flowers, is an exquisite picture +of a full-blown rose and a rosebud, a pink and a convolvulus, placed on +a marble console. A butterfly of the admiral variety has alighted on the +rosebud. + +=His Earliest Works.=--In his earliest period he painted landscapes +representing views of imaginary lakes and harbors, woods with tall, +lifeless trees, and classic buildings and ruins--finished in a glossy +and smooth style--which are now of little value in comparison with his +fruit and flower pieces. The Italian Landscape, which the Mauritshuis +acquired in 1816, is a very good example of this style. + +=Fruits and Flowers his Forte.=--It is doubtful if any artist ever +surpassed Van Huysum in the representation of fruits and flowers, to +which he finally devoted himself with the greatest success. He set +himself the task of surpassing De Heem and Abraham Mignon; and he +studied the most exquisite fruits and flowers known. His taste in the +arrangement of his groups in elegant vases, of which the ornaments and +bas-reliefs were finished in the most polished and beautiful manner, and +in graceful baskets on marble tables, is generally considered to be +superior to that of any other flower-painter. He also shows great art in +relieving flowers of various colors against each other, and often they +stand out from a light transparent background. His fame rose to the +highest pitch, and the first florists of Holland were ambitious of +supplying him with their choicest flowers for subjects. Naturally, +therefore, we find on his canvases beautiful groups and bunches of +hyacinths, roses, pinks, primroses, and other garden buds and blossoms. + +=His Skill in depicting Dewdrops and Insects.=--With marvellous skill he +frequently introduces dewdrops of incomparable transparency that trickle +down the leaves or sprinkle the fresh delicate petals. Butterflies and +other insects are also depicted with a truthfulness and precision that +give a perfect illusion, and often a bird's nest with eggs is +introduced. + +=His Exquisite Taste.=--Jan van Huysum's pictures are so bright that +they have even been accused of being gaudy; but no critic has yet found +fault with his exquisite taste and faultless velvet-like finish that +seems to rival nature. His fruit pieces are inferior to his flowers, +though they are worthy of great admiration. Those painted on a clear or +yellow background are the most esteemed, and are distinguished from his +early works, which are usually on a dark one, by a superior style of +pencilling and a more harmonious color. + +=Rachel Ruijsch.=--Another charming flower and fruit painter,--noted +especially for her flowers,--Rachel Ruijsch (1664-1750), is represented +in The Hague Gallery by two Bouquets. In 1693 she was married, but she +always signed her maiden name, and in several ways,--Ruijsch, Ruysch, +and Ruisch. She took great pains with her pictures, and the amount of +time spent on them limited their number. She is said to have given seven +years to two pictures, Flowers and Fruits, which she gave to one of her +daughters for a wedding present. + +Blanc has most sympathetically described her qualities. He says: + + =Her Truthfulness to Nature.=--"Whether she is painting the flowers of + the gardens or those of the field, which she groups so beautifully on + marble tables and calls around them fluttering butterflies and droning + bees, or beautiful ripe fruits that refresh the eyes and mind, Rachel + is always truthful, graceful, and clever. A colorist, she frankly + selects the brightest tones and combines them marvellously; a + draughtsman, she reproduces splendidly the most complicated forms, + while preserving to each plant its individual elegance, its aspect, + its way of holding itself, and foreshortening." + + =Her Love of Nature.=--"In all justice, therefore, the Dutch rank + Rachel Ruijsch among their most excellent painters. She retained her + love of nature in all its freshness; it even seems as if she had a + weakness for rustic beauty, and that she found the same pleasure in + wandering about the country that others have in gardens and + greenhouses. Sometimes she even mingles thistles with her field + flowers, which she carelessly throws on a table; sometimes she chooses + an old tree-trunk overgrown with moss, upon which she places her bunch + of spring blossoms, while the insects hum around them, and the wings + of a beetle gleam through the shadow. Sometimes she brings a green + frog from some pool in the neighboring meadow and gives him a place in + her picture. In the infinite little world of great nature Rachel finds + no creature unworthy of her brush--not even the snail that crawls on + the leaf and is hunted away by the gardener, nor the little worm who + moves his variegated rings and spins his thread, destined to clothe + magnificent ladies, as he elevates himself into the air. Those insects + that we deem vile she honors in her paintings: she lets them lie on + her marble tables, crawl on the stem of the glass in which her peonies + and pinks are arranged; and she even allows them to devour the plums + and grapes of her picturesque collations. Nothing, however, is more + charming than her birds' nests, lined with lightest down and tiny + blades of grass, moss, and straw, expressed with the art and industry + of a wren or a tomtit." + +The larger picture in The Hague Gallery is a charming group of roses and +tulips, with butterflies and insects. + +Rachel Ruijsch was a pupil of Willem van Aelst (1626-83?), whose Flowers +(dated 1663) and Still Life (dated 1671) hang in The Hague Gallery. + +=Description of One of Willem van Aelst's Pictures.=--M. de Burtin has +described a picture by Willem van Aelst which gives an idea of all the +works of this master: + + "A table covered with a crimson velvet carpet bordered with golden + fringe, on which stands a drinking-vessel of antique shape half filled + with Rhine wine. The sides of this glass cup reflect several times and + in different views the street with the most magical and astounding + way, and in the very centre you see the reflection of the painter + himself, holding his palette. On one side of the cup are placed, on a + glass dish, four superb peaches and some roasted chestnuts; on the + other side are bunches of red and white grapes. Butterflies and other + insects add to the illusion, and the vine and peach leaves are + artistically used to decorate the beautiful pyramidal group that + stands out from a looped-back curtain of brownish yellow." + +=Resemblance of his Work to that of Van Huysum.=--Although his name is +less celebrated than that of Van Huysum, Willem Aelst is not very far +removed from him in his beautiful productions; and certainly he +surpasses Evert van Aelst (1602-58) who was his uncle and master. +Without carrying finish to excess and preserving a certain freedom of +touch, he knows how to express marvellously the delicate wings of a +butterfly, the down of a peach, the dewdrops on a bunch of grapes, the +feathers of a dead bird, and the wrinkles of a game-pouch. + +=In Favor with Princes and Cardinals.=--Many of his works are in France, +where he spent four years, and in Italy, where he lived seven years +filling orders for princes and cardinals. He was only thirty years old +when he returned to his native town, Delft; but he removed to Amsterdam, +where his works brought high prices. + +=His Favorite Subjects.=--The pictures by him representing dead birds +are, as respects picturesque arrangement, finely balanced harmony of +cool but transparent color, perfect nature in every detail, and +delicate, soft treatment, admirable types of the perfection of the Dutch +School. Specimens of this class are a picture in the Munich Gallery of +two dead partridges and instruments of the chase, and another in the +Berlin Museum signed "W. v. Aelst, 1653," representing a marble table +with two woodcocks and other small birds, and two French partridges +suspended above. His favorite subjects, however, were fruit and other +eatables, herrings, oysters, bread, etc., with glasses and gorgeous +vessels in gold and silver. Although Willem van Aelst owed much to his +uncle Evert van Aelst, so famous for his dead birds and instruments of +the chase, perhaps he owed still more to his other teacher, Otho +Marcellis van Schrieck (1613-73), who acquired celebrity, excelling in a +singular branch of art. He painted the humblest creatures,--frogs, +snails, lizards, worms, serpents, and curious plants. The name of his +master is unknown; but he painted entirely from nature and is said to +have kept a kind of museum of serpents, vipers, insects and other +curiosities. These he studied with great attention, and drew them with +extraordinary fidelity and care, reproducing also their glowing and +metallic hues. + +=Two Pictures by Beijeren, and Two by Seghers.=--Another famous Flowers +is that by Abraham van Beijeren (1620 or 1621-75), which was acquired at +the Van Pappelendam sale in Amsterdam in 1889. A fine Fish and Lobster +by the same painter should also be studied. The visitor will perhaps +notice as he passes two pictures by Daniel Seghers (1590-1661), one a +garland of flowers around a statuette of the Virgin; the other, a +garland of flowers around the bust of William III. The bust was a later +addition. + +=Other Painters belonging to the Same Group.=--An interesting and +curious work is Shells, by Balthasar van der Ast (?-1656). There is also +a still life (1644) by Pieter Claez. To this group should be added +Pieter Roestraeten (1627-1700), famous for his great vases of gold and +silver, bas-reliefs, musical instruments, etc., which he designed with +precision. He spent most of his time in London, where he was injured in +the Great Fire (1666). Belonging to the same group are Pieter de Ring +and Willem Kalf, whom we shall see in the Rijks, and the strange +Christoffel Pierson, whose specialty was still life (particularly the +attributes of the chase) and portraits. His works are very rare; but a +peculiar combination of portraiture and still life hangs in The Hague +Gallery, representing the pastor of the Protestant Church at Hoorn, +Joris Goethals, and noticeable for the number of hunting implements and +objects hanging on the wall. Though sombre and monotonous in tone, his +touch and drawing are masterly. He thoroughly understood composition and +distributed lights and shadows with skill. Pierson was turned aside from +painting historical subjects and portraits by the success of Leemens, a +painter of dead game, guns, etc., and speedily surpassed his model. + +Jan van Os, Georgius Jacobus Johannes van Os, and Marie Margrita van Os +we shall see in the Rijks. + +=Portrait of Rubens's Second Wife.=--Although Holland is not the land +where we can study Rubens (1577-1640) in all his greatness, yet the +Amsterdam Gallery and more particularly The Hague Gallery possess some +splendid pictures by his hand. In the latter hang the portraits of his +two wives. That of his second wife, the buxom Helena, whom he married on +December 6, 1630, and who bore him five children, is a masterpiece of +the first rank; certainly an entirely individual work of the artist's +later period. + +=Much of Rubens's Work done by his Pupils.=--Thus we immediately come to +the question: What has the master himself and what have his pupils done +on it? No master has left behind him a larger amount of painted surface +of canvas and wood; but how unequal is the artistic value of all this +material! We know how that happened. Overwhelmed with pressing orders +and surrounded by a large throng of sometimes very able pupils, he often +only made a sketch, leaving the chief work to his best pupils, and +finally adding a few corrections; perhaps here or there a head or a +figure that particularly interested him. Rubens made no secret of this +fact; he often openly acknowledged what he and what his scholars had +done on a work. + +=Dr. Sperling's Visit to Rubens's Studio.=--An eye-witness, the Danish +physician, Otto Sperling, who visited Rubens's studio in 1621, describes +the master as walking up and down in his vast hall among his many +pupils, making remarks and going over a picture here and there finally +with a few brush-strokes. The Doctor jocularly adds: "It is supposed +that everything is the work of Rubens, by which this man has amassed +enormous wealth, and has been rewarded by kings and princes with great +gifts and many jewels." + +=His Pupils not very often allowed to assist him in Portraits.=--One +should remember that this assistance of his pupils was generally +confined to his greater historical pictures and church pieces; but the +portraits that Rubens painted are not always entirely the work of his +hand. Sometimes an order for a portrait was repeated, and his students +made the replica of a well-known personality. Rubens painted portraits +of small dimensions and then left them to be enlarged by able pupils; +but he himself added the final touches. + + =Dr. Bredius on the Portraits of Rubens's Two Wives.=--"Even in the + case of the portrait of one of his wives, we are not quite sure + whether the work is exclusively his own. There exist such a marvellous + number of these portraits, and, moreover, of such varied artistic + value, that we must at last conclude that the family and friends of + these ladies, who belonged to the best families in Antwerp, all + ordered portraits from Rubens, who painted some of them entirely and + others only in part. + + "While, for example, the present portrait of Rubens's first wife, + Isabella Brandt, whom he married in 1609, betrays the master's own + hand in the head and in part of the costume, the hands look to me to + be so extraordinarily like Van Dijck's work that I ask myself whether + the latter (about 1618) might not have had some part in this portrait. + On the other hand, the portrait of Helena Fourment, whom he married in + 1630 (Isabella Brandt died in 1626) is handled with such a gush, + although very rapidly and with such geniality that hardly anybody + would say that this spirited portrait is not all his own. + + "What flesh! what brilliance! what glow of color! what virtuosity in + the painting of the details and the material! What life streams from + this warm, youthful, proud wife upon her husband!" + +Sir Joshua Reynolds describes these portraits thus: "Two portraits, +Kitcat size, by Rubens, of his two wives, both fine portraits, but +Eleanor Forman is by far the most beautiful and the best colored." + +[Illustration: RUBENS +Helena Fourment] + +=Description of Helena's Portrait.=--This is one of the most beautiful +of all Rubens's portraits of his second wife. Her face and figure are +not only wonderfully modelled and painted, but her red mouth has a +sweet, half-smiling expression, and dimples are ready to break out at +any moment and render the brilliant face even more brilliant. The eyes +are lustrous and handsome, beneath finely arched brows. The light silky +hair is roped with pearls, and a long plume falls gracefully from the +coquettish toque of velvet adjusted at an angle that suits the face +exactly. A pearl necklace and earrings adorn the ears and snowy neck, a +magnificent jewel with three pear-shaped pearls for pendants clasps the +front of the dress, jewels ornament the sleeves, and a great rope of +goldsmith's work passes from shoulder to shoulder. She wears a light +blue satin dress the sleeves of which are slashed with white, and a +black velvet cloak with gold buttons and a fur collar. The sleeves end +with delicate filmy frills at the wrist, and she gracefully holds in her +hand a couple of beautiful pink roses. The background is gray and the +curtain is red. This picture was painted in 1634, four years after +Rubens's marriage to the daughter of Daniel Fourment. + +After Rubens's death the beautiful Helena was married to Jan B. +Broekhoven, Baron of Bergeijck. She died in 1673. + +=Burger's Admiration for the Portrait of the First Wife.=--Not far away +from her portrait hangs that of Isabella Brandt, painted in 1620. Burger +admired it more than that of Helena, and went into ecstasies over the +"beautiful hands" crossed over her girdle. Isabella is dressed in black, +with a square and low-cut bodice and a gauze fichu. Her hair is adorned +with pearls. + +=Portrait of Father Ophovius.=--The Mauritshuis possesses also a famous +portrait by Rubens of quite another character; this is that of a friend +whom he had sufficient influence to have made Bishop of Bois-le-Duc, the +Rev. Father Michael Ophovius, a Dominican monk. He is seen full face in +the costume of his order. He has an energetic head and is in robust +health. It is a broad and vigorous painting, and formerly adorned the +Dominican monastery at Antwerp. + +=Two Pictures painted Partly by Rubens.=--Two other pictures by Rubens +should be studied. Adam and Eve in Paradise, in which, however, only the +figures are by Rubens (Dr. Bredius thinks the horse also); while the +landscape and other animals are by Jan Brueghel, also called Velvet +Brueghel. The latter also painted the landscape in the Naiads Filling +the Horn of Plenty, a picture that was once attributed to Van Bolen, but +now to Rubens. It is interesting to compare the landscape of the +Terrestrial Paradise by Jan Brueghel (Velvet) with the landscapes in the +above-mentioned pictures. + +Copies of six pictures by Rubens are also owned by this gallery. + +=Portraits by Van Dijck in The Hague.=--There are only three portraits +by Van Dijck (1599-1641) in The Hague Gallery: Portrait of Sir ---- +Sheffield, painted in 1627; a Portrait of Anna Wake, his Wife, painted +in 1628; and a Portrait of the painter, Quintijn Simons. Of the latter, +Sir Joshua Reynolds said: + + "A portrait by Van Dyck of Simon the painter. This is one of the very + few pictures that can be seen of Van Dyck which is in perfect + preservation; and on examining it closely it appeared to me a perfect + pattern of portrait-painting: every part is distinctly marked, but + with the lightest hand and without destroying the breadth of light; + the coloring is perfectly true to nature, though it has not the + brilliant effect of sunshine, such as is seen in Rubens's wife; it is + nature seen by common daylight." + +=A Picture by Frans Snijders.=--Anthonie van Dijck is said to have +painted the huntsman in the picture of still life and game by which +Frans Snijders is represented here. Fuller knowledge of Snijders, +however, is to be gained in the Rijks. + +=A Picture by Several Artists.=--One of the most curious and interesting +pictures in the entire gallery is The Interior of a Picture Gallery, +painted by a number of Antwerp artists, but which is catalogued under +the name of Gonzales Coques (1618-84). This artist and his family are +represented in the centre of a picture gallery, and are by the hand of +Coques himself. The pictures on the walls were painted by pupils of +Rubens, Van Dijck, Rembrandt, and others, and represent still life, +landscapes, mythological and allegorical scenes. Many of them possess +great charm. On the left are: the Meeting of Christ and a Centurion, by +Pieter Yykens (1648-95); The Earth, an allegory, by Erasmus Quellinus +(1607-78); an Italian Landscape, by Antoni Goubau (1616-98); The +Metamorphosis of Ascalaphus, by Carel Emanuel Biset (1633-after 1691); A +Boar Hunt, by Peter Boel (1622-89); a Moonlight and Landscape, signed J. +v. K.; a Landscape, by Pieter van Bredael (1629-1719), signed P. v. B.; +a Marine (unknown); The Nymphs Spied On, by Jan de Duyts (1629-76); and +a Marine, by Jan Peeters (1624-77). Above the door in the centre are two +pictures: The Judgment of Paris, by Theodoor Boeyermans (1620-78), and +Leda, by the same artist. On the left: The Triumph of Silenus, by Jan +Cossiers (1600-71); Water, an allegory, by Theodoor Boeyermans; the Four +Seasons, by the same artist; a Landscape (unknown); Still Life +(unknown); The Descent from the Cross and View of a City, both by Johan +van den Hecke (1620-84); Landscape (unknown); a Village Festival, by +Peter Spierinckx (1635-1711); a Landscape, by Johan van den Hecke +(1620-84), and Bathers, by the same artist; Still Life, by Peter Gysels +(1621-90); and a Venus and Adonis, by Casper Jacob van Opstal +(1654-1717). The architecture of the room was painted in 1674 by Willem +van Ehrenberg (1637-about 76). The picture is 5-3/4 feet high by 7 feet +broad, and was offered in 1683 by the Brotherhood of Painters in Antwerp +to Jan van Bavegom, Procureur of the Court of Brussels, as a reward for +the services he had rendered to the Brotherhood in the lawsuit against +the armies of the Six Guilds. It finally became the property of William +V. + +="The Little Van Dijck."=--Gonzales Coques was a pupil of Pieter +Brueghel III. and David Ryckaert, whose daughter he married. He was fond +of painting portraits of his family walking in a park or engaged in +various occupations and pleasures indoors; and very frequently he was +assisted by other artists, as in the case of the picture just described. +Coques was a man of letters, and presided over the Chamber of Rhetoric +in his native city, Antwerp. His elegance, taste, and delicacy have +procured for him the name of "The Little Van Dijck." In his own day he +enjoyed great renown, and was honored with orders for pictures and +presents from many sovereigns, including Charles I. of England, the +Prince of Orange, and the Archdukes of Austria. + +=Francken, Painter of Allegories and Festive Scenes.=--A historical +picture of interest is that of A Ball at the Court of Albert and +Isabella in 1611, by Frans Francken the Younger (1581-1642). He was +famous for his scenes from the Bible, allegories, landscapes, +mythological pictures, and particularly for his balls, masquerades, and +other scenes of festivity in which he introduced figures of small size. +Frequently, too, he painted figures in the pictures of the elder Neeffs, +the younger De Momper, and Bartelmees van Bassen. + +=Description of the Picture of a Historical Ball.=--This ball scene, +which belonged to William V. at Het Loo, was painted between 1611 and +1616. The couple who are dancing in the centre are Philip William of +Nassau, Prince of Orange, and his wife, Eleonore de Bourbon, Princess of +Conde. Albert and his wife, Isabelle Claire Eugenie, and five other +portraits are by the hand of Frans Pourbus the Younger. + +=Pictures by Vinck Boons and Droochsloot.=--Pictures of peasants +enjoying the _kermesse_, by David Vinck Boons (1578-1629), (1622), a +landscape and genre painter, whose figures are often of repulsive +ugliness, and by J. C. Droochsloot (1586-1666), also represented by a +Dutch Village (1652), bring us to a more brilliant painter of such +scenes. + +=David Teniers the Younger a Conspicuous Painter of Still Life.=--David +Teniers the Younger (1610-90) is one of those Flemish painters who were +known and sought after in Holland during their lifetime. This may have +arisen from the fact that he was closely allied with the Dutch school +and with Brouwer, who lived and worked for a long time in Holland and +was very highly prized there. Teniers painted in particular little +cabinet pictures, soldier scenes, alchemists and cooks, and in them +often showed a conspicuous love of still life, so greatly liked in +Holland. Another circumstance which must be taken into consideration is +that his brothers Hendrik and Julius, both painters, lived for some time +in Holland and occupied themselves--the former in Middelburg and the +latter in Amsterdam--with the sale of the pictures of their famous +brother. + +=The Resemblance of his Pictures to those of his Master.=--The younger +Teniers developed himself principally in the school of Adriaen Brouwer. +Some of his early pictures, painted between 1630 and 1640, stand so +closely sometimes beside those of Brouwer that they have been attributed +to the latter. In his first period, Teniers, quite trickily copied +Brouwer's real types, and many of his mannerisms, such as the famous red +cap which he so often put on his figures. The spirited painting, the +clear bright light with the finely expressed chiaroscuro, and the +beautiful harmony of tone he followed in the happiest way. He became +Brouwer's successor; and he is greatest when he is still under the +inspiration of his great prototype. Splendid pictures of this style are +possessed by the Museums of Madrid, the Louvre, Berlin, Dresden, St. +Petersburg, and many of the great private collections. + +=A Gradual Change in the Tone of Teniers's Pictures.=--About 1650 the +warm golden tone of the master falls more and more into a cooler silver +tone. Bright and clear in the highest degree are the treasured works of +this period. At the end of his life, however, he grades more and more +into a brown, dull tone far removed from the vigor and transparency of +his youth. Still in his old age he maintained a careful drawing, a great +completeness in the painting, only the very last pictures show that the +hand of the old man at length had begun to tremble. + +=Description of The Good Kitchen.=--The Hague possesses two fine +examples of this artist. In The Good Kitchen, a splendid work of his +middle period, painted in 1644, he delights us especially with masterly +representation of assembled details. Magnificently painted are the fish +and fowl, pots and kitchen stuff; only, perhaps, is the background keyed +up a little too high. The figures, as unfortunately so frequently +happens with Teniers, are somewhat uninteresting; only the little boy +who is holding the dish for his mother (evidently the portrait of a +child) looks out at us in a lifelike and endearing manner. + +A famous kitchen it is, in fact; and it is evident that a feast of some +consequence is in preparation. Fowl, game, fish, vegetables, fruits, all +are there on the tables and the floor. In the background, before a big +fire, a cook is roasting joints, and a man and woman are very busy close +beside him. In front, in the middle, and in the bright light, is seated +the young mistress of the house, also aiding in the preparations. For +the moment she is peeling a lemon, and the little boy is standing beside +her holding a plate. She wears a blood-colored skirt, and on her +sky-blue bodice expands a broad collar of a whiteness that Metsu would +envy. The whole is very ably and broadly painted with that just and free +touch and those spirited accents which characterize the technique of +Teniers. It is painted at the beginning of his best period when his +silvery period begins: he was then thirty-four years old. + +Burger cleverly says: "Like certain of those fishes that he has painted +so well, Teniers is excellent between the head and tail." The Good +Kitchen is painted on copper and is only two feet and a half broad. A +small picture on wood shows an alchemist with a gray beard seated beside +a table holding a book. His assistant is kneeling beside a furnace. + +Sir Joshua Reynolds said: + + "The works of David Teniers, Jun., are worthy the closest attention of + a painter who desires to excel in the mechanical knowledge of his art. + His manner of touching, or what we call handling, has perhaps never + been equalled: there is in his pictures that exact mixture of softness + and sharpness which is difficult to execute." + +=Tilborgh's Picture of A Dinner.=--We must not neglect now to look at +the one picture by Tilborgh, A Dinner, particularly interesting on +account of the personages represented. + +Tilborgh (1625-78), supposed to have been a pupil of Teniers, certainly +follows him in choice of subject--interiors of taverns, peasants +merry-making, _kermesses_, village feasts, etc. He was popular in his +day,--even more so, it is said, than Teniers himself. The dinner is +taking place in the home of Adriaen van Ostade, who is seated in the +middle, with his wife on his right, beyond whom are a man and a woman. +On the left is Paul Potter, with long hair and a large hat, dressed in a +pearl-gray doublet and red stockings. His general appearance is very +gay, and quite a contrast to the melancholy portrait by B. van der +Helst, which also hangs in this gallery. Near Potter stands his silly +little wife, dressed in light blue,--a not specially graceful figure. +Two other painters are standing on the left, talking together. Burger +thinks they may be Tilborgh himself and Isaak van Ostade. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] This picture, representing Dr. Johan Deyman's lecture in anatomy, +was partly burned in the eighteenth century, and the fragment now hangs +in the Rijks with the other collection of anatomical pictures from the +Surgeons' Guild of Amsterdam. + +[2] The figures in this landscape were painted by Lingelbach. + +[3] Blanc. + +[4] Crowe. + +[5] Bredius. + +[6] Crowe. + +[7] Crowe. + +[8] Crowe. + +[9] Blanc. + +[10] Crowe. + +[11] Crowe. + +[12] Reynolds. + +[13] Dr. Bredius. + +[14] Crowe. + +[15] Blanc. + +[16] In the Louvre. + +[17] Hymans. + +[18] Blanc. + +[19] Greef (Grif, Grifir, or Gryef), Anton, Flemish painter of +landscapes with dogs and dead game, born at Antwerp in 1670; died in +Brussels in 1715. He is supposed to have been a pupil of Frans Synders. +There seem to have been two painters of the same name. + +[20] Victor, Jakob or Giacomo, Dutch painter of the seventeenth century. +Pictures by him are in Dresden, Copenhagen, and Munich; in the latter, +his Barnyard bears the forged signature of Hondecoeter. + +[21] Blanc. + +[22] Crowe. + + + + +THE RIJKS MUSEUM + +THE WAY TO THE RIJKS + + +On taking the tramway at the Dam, the traveller will find the short trip +to the Rijks Museum a very pleasant one. The car glides rapidly through +a busy part of Amsterdam, crossing canal after canal,--the Singel, +Heeren, Keizers, and Prinsen grachts,--bordered with leafy trees and +houses that present a picturesque appearance. Alighting at Willems Park, +on the canal long known as the Buiten Singel, or outer girdle, +separating the old from the new town, we walk a short distance along the +Stadhouders-Kade to the imposing red brick building with granite bands, +arches, tympans, entablatures, etc., in the transition style between the +Gothic and the Dutch Renaissance, which covers nearly three acres of +ground. The principal _facade_, turned toward the Buiten Singel, +presents a somewhat majestic appearance, with its two fine towers and +central gable surmounted by a statue of Victory, by Vermeylen. + +=History of this Collection.=--Before entering, we may note that this +splendid Museum was opened in the name of the King of Holland in 1885. +Perhaps we may pause also to recall the history and development of this +great collection, which was formed of the remnant of the pictures and +curiosities left by the last Stadtholder, William V. + +In 1798 the Government decreed the formation of a National Museum, and +this was installed in the Huis ten Bosch (House in the Wood), near The +Hague, and opened to the public in 1800. From time to time the +collection was increased by purchases, and in 1805 it received the name +of Cabinet National. When the King of Holland removed his residence, +however, from Utrecht to Amsterdam, in 1808, he ordered that a Royal +Museum for the preservation of pictures, drawings, prints, sculpture, +carvings, engraven gems, antiquities, and curiosities of all kinds +should be formed. + +=Opening of the Royal Museum in 1808.=--This Museum was opened in the +Palace on the Dam in December, 1808. Here were gathered ninety-six +pictures from the National Museum of 1798 (one hundred and fifty-four +remaining pictures being sent to The Hague); fifty-seven pictures bought +in 1808 at the sale of G. van der Pot van Groeneveld in Rotterdam; eight +old pictures given by The Hague in 1808; seven old pictures lent by the +city of Amsterdam (among them The Night Watch and Syndics and The +Banquet of the Civil Guard); six pictures and a marble statuette by J. +B. Xavery, given by Baron van Spaen de Biljoen; a few modern pictures +bought at the exposition of 1808; one hundred and thirty-seven pictures +forming the Van Heteren Collection, bought in 1809 for 100,000 florins; +and seven pictures bought in the same year at the Bicker sale; several +casts of antique statues from the Musee Napoleon of Paris; and some +antiquities found chiefly in Drenthe. + +=Removal to the Trippenhuis.=--In 1810 the name was changed from the +"Royal Museum" to the "Dutch Museum," and in 1814 the collections were +transferred to the Trippenhuis, where they remained until 1885. + +=Numerous Additions from 1825 to 1885.=--In 1825 some pictures were +exchanged with the Royal Museum at The Hague (Mauritshuis); and in 1828 +some duplicates were sold for 23,701 florins, with which sum other +pictures were purchased. In 1828 William I. made a present of some +pictures he had acquired at the Brentano and Muller sales to the State +Museum, as it was now called. + +In 1838 many of the modern pictures were transferred to the Paviljoen +Welgelegen, which became, therefore, a gallery of the works of living +painters of the Netherlands; and this collection was gradually enriched +by gifts and purchases. In 1885 the one hundred and eighty-four pictures +of this collection were sent to the Rijks. + +=Bequests.=--The principal bequests have been as follows: Madame la Ve +Balguerie Van Rijswijck, twenty-two family portraits (1823); M. L. +Dupper, Wz., sixty-four superb pictures (1870); Mlle. J. E. Liotard, an +enamel of great value, and fifteen pastels by the Genevese painter, J. +E. Liotard, to which Mme. Liotard sent six other pastels by the same +artist in 1885 (1873); Jhr. Me. J. de Witte van Citters some objects of +art, curios, prints, and thirty-five family portraits (1875); Mme. J. J. +van Winter Bicker, forty-four portraits of the Bicker family (1879); +Jhr. J. S. H. van de Poll, fifty-two pictures of great value (1880); and +a gift of Jhr. J. S. R. van de Poll, comprising thirty-five family +portraits. + +=Two Important Collections added.=--Two important collections have yet +to be mentioned: the famous Van der Hoop Collection and The Collection +of Contemporary Art. The former was gathered by M. Adriaan van der Hoop, +head of the house of Hope & Co., and knight of several orders, who made +a magnificent collection of about two hundred and twenty-four ancient +and modern pictures. These he left to the city of Amsterdam in 1854. It +was lodged in the Academie des Beaux Arts until removed to the Rijks in +1885. In 1880 Mme. Van der Hoop left twenty-four more pictures, which +had adorned her house, to complete the gift. The Collection of +Contemporary Art is the work of an association of Amsterdam art-lovers +founded in 1875. + +=The Staircase and the Rembrandt Room.=--Before ascending the stairs +guarded by two lions couchant, we may stop to notice a picture by Pieter +Cornelisz van Rijck (1568-16--), representing an old Dutch kitchen with +all sorts of eatables, and in the background a feast representing the +parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. This staircase leads to the +Entrance Hall, from which we go to the Grand Gallery, which leads +directly into the famous Rembrandt Room, in which The Night Watch holds +the place of honor. The Grand Gallery is bordered on each side by four +compartments, or cabinets, hung with pictures of the seventeenth +century. + +=A Tour through the Rooms.=--To the left of the Rembrandt Room is the +Carlovingian Room; and from this we pass into International Hall, where +pictures of foreign masters are gathered. In the next room are assembled +the oldest pictures of the Dutch School. The next room contains masters +of the sixteenth century, and next to it comes Dupper Hall, devoted to +the glorious period of Dutch art, the seventeenth century. Here are +sixty-four paintings, many of which are masterpieces. Next comes Van der +Poll Hall with fifty-two pictures, then the Hall of Anatomy Pictures, +and next Portrait Hall. From this we visit the five cabinets, containing +such pictures of the Old Dutch School as from their small dimensions and +minute finish are best seen in small rooms. On the opposite side of the +vestibule are five similar cabinets with similar pictures. Beyond these +is Pavilion Hall, containing portraits, many of which are painters' +portraits of themselves. Then come the Van der Hoop Museum and two +galleries of modern pictures, one of which is called Waterloo Hall, +because of The Battle of Waterloo, by J. W. Pieneman, hanging there. +From this we enter the Old Dutch Governors' Room, representing a typical +room of the seventeenth century with allegorical ceiling, tapestries, +and old furniture. From this we pass into the adjoining Gold Leather +Room, where there is a picture representing a marriage party, and a +collection of drinking vessels of the seventeenth and eighteenth +centuries in one of the cupboards. The Dutch Governors' Room leads into +the Rembrandt Room, which again leads us into the Grand Gallery, our +starting point. + +=Rembrandt's Work in his Middle and Last Periods.=--We have seen in The +Hague the great works of Rembrandt's early period; in the Rijks we find +the full flowering of his genius in his middle and last periods. The +Night Watch was painted in 1642; the Portrait of Elizabeth Bas, about +1645; the fragment of the Anatomy picture, representing Dr. Deyman, in +1656; The Syndics, in 1661; and The Jewish Bride, or Ruth and Boaz, +about 1663. The Rijks owns two other pictures: a mythological +composition and the head of his father, painted in Leyden in 1630. + +=Description of The Night Watch.=--Let us look carefully at The Night +Watch, Rembrandt's most famous picture and also his largest (11 feet by +14). It was painted in 1642, ten years after the Lesson in Anatomy, for +the Kloveniers Doele (Arquebusiers Shooting Company). + +The great Sortie of the Banning Cock Company, which is the more correct +name for The Night Watch, represents twenty-nine life-sized civic guards +issuing from their guardhouse in a great state of bustle and confusion, +while the drums beat and the dog barks. The dominant color is the +citron-yellow uniform of the lieutenant, wearing a blue sash, while a +Titian-like red dress of a musketeer, the black velvet dress of the +captain, and the varied green of the girl and the drummer, all produce a +rich and harmonious effect. The background has become dark and heavy by +accident or neglect, and the scutcheon on which the names are painted is +scarcely to be seen.[23] + +In the middle, in front, marches the captain in a dark brown, almost +black, costume, at his side Lieutenant Willem van Ruitenberg, in a +yellow buffalo jerkin, both figures in the full sunlight, so that the +shadow of the captain's hand is distinctly traceable on the jerkin. On +the right hand of the captain are an arquebusier loading his weapon, and +two children, of whom the one in front, a girl, has a dead cock hanging +from her girdle (perhaps one of the prizes). On a step behind them is +the flag-bearer, Jan Visser Cornelissen. The other side of the picture +is pervaded with similar life and spirit, from the lieutenant to the +drummer, Jan van Kamboort, at the extreme corner, who energetically +beats his drum. In an oval frame on a column in the background are +inscribed the names of the members of the guild. + +=The Night Watch a Misnomer.=--The remarkable chiaroscuro of the whole +picture (seen to greatest advantage in the afternoon) has led to the +belief that Rembrandt intended to depict a nocturnal scene; but the +event represented really takes place in daylight, the lofty vaulted hall +of the guild being lighted only by windows above, to the left, not +visible to the spectator, and being therefore properly obscured in +partial twilight. The peculiar light and the spirited action of the +picture elevate this group of portraits into a most effective dramatic +scene, which ever since its creation has been enthusiastically admired +by all connoisseurs of art. Each guild member represented paid 100 +florins for his portrait, so that, as there were originally sixteen in +the group, the painter received 1,600 florins for his work. The painting +was successfully cleaned by Hopman in 1889. + +The picture is so deeply enveloped in shadow that it is some time before +the spectator can see figures emerge, although they always retain +something of a supernatural quality, derived partly from the +phosphorescent gleams that here and there illuminate faces, figures, +drum, halberds, flag-pole, and lances. + +=The Mutilation of the Picture.=--When The Night Watch was removed from +the Kloveniers Doele to the small military council chamber of the Town +Hall on the Dam, in 1715, portions of it were cut off on the right and +left and at the bottom, which has greatly interfered with its +appearance. A photograph of an old drawing hangs near the picture, which +shows the (supposed) original form of the composition. + +=The Syndics.=--Some critics consider The Syndics Rembrandt's greatest +achievement; and all are agreed that it is one of the finest groups of +portraits ever painted. This work, finished in 1662--twenty years after +The Night Watch--was ordered by the Guild of Clothmakers, who wished to +have a portrait group of their Syndics to hang in their chamber at the +Staalhof (sample hall) in the Staalstraat in Amsterdam. + +=Rembrandt's Special Traits exhibited in this Picture.=--Here +Rembrandt's special traits are exhibited: his wonderful treatment of +light, his grouping of figures, and his study of character. The five +Syndics, all dressed alike in black with flat white collars and +broad-brimmed-high-crowned hats, are grouped around a table verifying +their accounts. The yellow oak wainscot behind them and the scarlet +table-cloth contribute the only color to the sombre group. + +Six canvases of portraits of Syndics formerly hung in the Staalhof, the +oldest of which was painted in 1559. Only two now remain: the one by +Rembrandt, and another, also in the Rijks, by Aert Pietersen, painted in +1599. Upon the frame of the latter is a Dutch inscription, which, +translated, reads: + + "Consider your oath + In what you know. + Live uprightly. + Through favor or hatred + Or self-interest + Don't give an opinion." + +Rembrandt's five Dutch gentlemen look as if they had closely followed +this excellent moral advice. + +=Description of The Jewish Bride.=--The Jewish Bride depicts two +life-size figures, standing and seen to the knees, one a young woman +dressed in a red gown with white sleeves and white cape. Her complexion +is rosy, and she has an abundance of brown hair. She is simply covered +with jewels,--a comb, earrings, collar, large chain, bracelets, rings of +pearls, and sparkling gems. Her face is tranquil and radiant. Her +gallant companion is about to embrace her, his face full of tenderness. +He wears a long wig with curls falling over his shoulders and has no +beard; this was the fashion after 1660. He has a large black cap on his +head, and his pourpoint, mantle, and wide and embroidered sleeves are +yellow. The head of the man is very highly finished, slightly recalling +in manner those in The Syndics; but his clothing is somewhat hastily +done. The picture is unfinished, but in the dark fantastic background +some architecture with foliage and a vase of flowers suggesting a park +may be discerned to the left; also the vague form of a dog. On the +right, there are some shrubs and a wall. Burger thinks this was painted +in 1669, the last year of Rembrandt's life. The canvas is about five +feet long and four feet high. + +=The Celebrated Portrait of Elizabeth Bas.=--The portrait of Elizabeth +Bas, the widow of Lieutenant Admiral Joachim Swartenhout, painted in +1642, is considered one of Rembrandt's most celebrated portraits. Seated +in an easy chair and wearing a rich dress profusely ornamented with +buttons, the stern, commanding face of the old lady looks directly at +the spectator. Her marvellously painted hands are folded over a +handkerchief, and she wears a cap and a fluted ruff. + +Two other portraits by Rembrandt can be seen here: one, of a lady; and +the other, of his father (a copy). + +=Multiplicity of Portraits in the Rijks.=--In the Rijks Gallery +portraits, either single or groups, outnumber all other branches of art. +Some of these have a world-wide reputation, while others are interesting +only to the special student. No less famous than Rembrandt's Elizabeth +Bas is that of another old lady, Maria Voogt, Madame van der Meer, +painted by Frans Hals in 1639, which hangs in the Van der Hoop Room. + + "An old woman is seated in an arm-chair almost full face and of + natural size. She is dressed in black velvet, with a white ruff. Her + right hand holds a book with a silver clasp, the left hand rests on + the arm of the chair. The tone is neutral. A superb portrait of the + first order. You read above the coat-of-arms _AEtatis suae_ 64. _A{o}_ + 1639."[24] + +=Hals's Portrait of Himself and his Wife.=--Hals's portrait of himself +and his wife, Lysbeth Reyniers, represents the couple as life-size and +seated in a rather uncomfortable position on a bank under the trees, in +a garden ornamented with statues and fountains. In the distance a +peacock struts; and the scene is so cheerful that the smiling faces of +Hals and his wife are quite explicable. The latter's ruff is of enormous +size and marvellously painted. + +=Hals's The Jester.=--Hals always loved to render the face in action, to +fix forever a rapid fleeting expression; and one of his most notable +achievements is the famous Jester owned by Baron Rothschild in Paris. As +few art lovers can ever have the chance of seeing this masterpiece, the +admirable copy that hangs in the Rijks, said to have been made by Dirck +Hals, should be carefully examined. The canvas is variously known as The +Jester, The Fool, The Mandolin Player, and The Lute Player; and is said +to be a portrait of the artist's pupil, Adriaen Brouwer; but whoever he +is, he is a rascally, impudent fellow with a mocking, cynical smile, and +belongs to the same class as Touchstone, Dogberry, Launcelot Gobbo, and +other of our prized and disreputable Shakespearian acquaintances. Hals's +Jester is a creation. Look at the vagabond well, first because he will +soon twang the chords of his lute, break out into a song of the day, +then doff his cap and beg for money. Look at the pose of his left hand +and the strong, flexible thumb. He can _play_. Next look at the artist's +work and note the broad sweeps of the brush that so simply but surely +create the features and expression. + +A Jolly Man is another of Hals's pictures that may be classed as +portraits, a splendid piece of work. Go closely up to the picture and +notice how the broad brush strokes are made. + +[Illustration: MOREELSE +The Little Princess] + +=Moreelse's The Little Princess.=--A very charming portrait is that of +The Little Princess by Moreelse. The child looks somewhat demurely at +the spectator, with large brown eyes. Her face is round, her forehead +high, and her light brown hair, brushed severely from her face, is +ornamented with a pink rose held in place by a jewelled band. Her large +earrings are coral and pearl. A necklace and bracelets of three rows of +handsome pearls adorn her neck and wrists, and a brooch containing a +miniature set with jewels fastens the rosette at the point of her +collar. Her dress is of dark green velvet embroidered with gold and +fastened by rich girdles and chains. Marvellously indeed has the artist +executed the lace and transparent lawn of which the "butterfly" ruff and +dainty cuffs are made. The little right hand rests lovingly on the head +of a King Charles spaniel, whose neck is adorned with bells. An old rose +curtain gives a charming note of color to the background. + +=Moreelse's Great Success as a Portrait-painter.=--Paulus Moreelse +(1571-1638), a native of Utrecht and a pupil and follower of Mierevelt +in Delft, became so successful as a portrait-painter that all the great +ladies desired to sit to him. He visited Rome in 1604, and on his return +painted for a time historical and architectural subjects. He was also a +capable engraver and architect. + +=Other Portraits by Moreelse.=--In addition to The Little Princess, we +may see in this gallery a very fine portrait of Maria van Utrecht, wife +of Joan van Oldenbarnevelt, at the age of sixty-three (1615); also a +Portrait of Himself; one of A Woman; another of Frederick V., King of +Bohemia; another of Colonel Wtenhoghe; and The Beautiful Shepherdess, +dated 1630, with flowers and a veil on her head, yellow draperies, and a +rake in her hand. This picture was purchased for 2,150 florins in 1817. +In all probability it is a portrait. + +[Illustration: MIEREVELT +Prince Maurits of Nassau] + +=Mierevelt, a Popular Portrait-painter.=--Michael Mierevelt (1567-1641), +the son of a goldsmith and pupil of Anthony van Montfoort at Utrecht, +attained notoriety by his portraits of some of the princes of the House +of Nassau. From that time he was never without orders; and he is +supposed to have painted a greater number of portraits than any other +artist of his country. Mierevelt spent most of his life in Delft. The +Rijks contains a great number of his works, among which are: portraits +of Jacob Cats; Johan v. Oldenbarnevelt; F. Hendrik; Philips Willem, +Prince of Orange; Prince Maurits; Johannes Uitenbogaert; Frederick V., +Elector of the Palatinate; Lubbert Gerritz; Paulus van Beresteyn; +Volckera Nicolai; Henrick Hooft, and of Aegje Hasselaer, wife of Henrick +Hooft. + +=Portraits by Honthorst.=--The student of history and lover of portraits +will be attracted by the following Honthorsts: Frederick Wilhelm, +Elector of Brandenburg, and his wife, Louise Henriette of Orange; +William II., Prince of Orange; William II. with his wife, Princess Maria +Stuart of England; Frederik Hendrik; Amalia v. Solms; and the Princes of +Orange, William I., Maurits, Frederik Hendrik, William II., and William +III. + +=Portraits by Van der Helst.=--By Van der Helst there are portraits of +Maria Stuart, Princess Royal of England, widow of William II., Prince of +Orange; Portrait of a Warrior; and Portraits of Andries Bicker, +Burgomaster of Amsterdam (1586-1652); and Gerard A. Bicker (1623-66). + +=Rubens's Portrait of Helena Fourment.=--Rubens's portrait of Helena +Fourment shows his second wife, in a different mood and costume from the +one in the Mauritshuis. Here she is represented full face, with hair +curled in tufts, a satin bodice, high fan-shaped ruff spreading behind +the head, throat half bare, with necklace and many jewels. He has also a +portrait of Anna Maria, wife of Louis XIII. of France. + +=Portraits by Van Dijck.=--Van Dijck is represented by a Portrait of +William II., Prince of Orange, and his Betrothed, Mary Stuart, painted +in 1641; a Portrait of a Man; and one of Johannes Baptist Franck, a +young man of twenty-eight, with light hair, pointed beard, and +moustache, and wearing a black cloak draped in graceful folds. This was +once in Lucien Bonaparte's collection. + +=Portraits by T. de Keijser.=--A few examples of Theodor de Keijser, +though of small dimensions, rank among the best specimens of this +painter. + +=Change of Fashion in Portrait-painting exemplified by Maes.=--Maes, +more familiar by his _genre_, has no less than eight portraits here, +besides a large corporation picture representing the Chiefs of the +Corporation of Surgeons of Amsterdam, 1680-81. The great difference in +style and quality between the early and late portraits of this master +has led many to believe that they are the work of more than one master. +The change is attributed to his visit to Antwerp; but it has been +pointed out that the fashion was changing everywhere, including +Amsterdam, where even Rembrandt during the closing years of his life was +despised and neglected by the fashionable public. Maes, on the other +hand, made concessions to the vulgar taste; and, for a quarter of a +century, produced an enormous quantity of secondary or mediocre +portraits, in which all trace of his master's qualities was lost. + +=Artists' Portraits of Themselves.=--Though not so great in the line of +painters' portraits of themselves as the Uffizi, the Rijks possesses a +good number of men who thought they saw themselves as others saw them, +or at any rate, as they wished posterity to know them. Among these are +Jan Steen, Gerrit Dou, Ferdinand Bol, Honthorst, Ter Borch, and L. +Bakhuysen. + +A fine portrait by Bol of the famous sculptor Artus Quellin; a Male +Portrait by Dou; one of Amalia v. Solms by Flinck; and the Portrait of +an Architect with his Wife and Child, by Bernhart Fabritius, deserve +notice. + +=Van der Helst, a Great Portrait-painter.=--Bartholomew van der Helst +(1613-70) was considered the greatest portrait-painter of his time, and +received more money for his portraits than any other Dutch painter; yet, +notwithstanding his industry and the money that he received, he died +poor. He is thought to have been a pupil of Nicholas Eliasz Pickenoy at +Amsterdam, where he fell under the influence of Rembrandt. + +=Description of The Civic Guard Banquet.=--Bartholomew van der Helst's +great work, The Schuttersmaaltijd (Civic Guard Banquet), held June 18, +1648, in the upper hall of the Cross-bow, or St. George Company House, +at the Singel, in celebration of the Peace of Munster, always +fascinates. + +The twenty-five figures are all portraits. At the head of the table +Captain Wits is seated in a chair of black oak with a velvet cushion. He +is dressed in black velvet, his breast covered with a cuirass, and on +his head is a broad-brimmed black hat with white plumes. His left hand, +supported on his knee, holds a magnificent silver drinking-horn +ornamented with a St. George and the Dragon,--which valuable piece of +silver, by the way, is on permanent exhibition with other beakers and +drinking-horns of the old guilds in the Rijks. The good-humored Captain +is cordially grasping the hand of Lieutenant Van Waveren, who wears a +handsome pearl-gray doublet richly brocaded with gold, and lace collar +and cuffs. His feet are crossed, and he wears boots of yellow leather +with large tops and gold spurs. His hat is black, with dark brown +plumes. Behind him, in the centre of the picture, is the +standard-bearer, Jacob Banning, in easy, martial attitude, hat in hand, +his right hand on his chair, his right leg on his left knee. He holds +the flag of blue silk, on which the Virgin is embroidered. The banner +covers his shoulder, and he looks out toward the spectator frankly and +complacently. The man behind him is probably a sergeant. He wears a +cuirass, yellow gloves, gray stockings, and boots with large tops and +kneecaps of cloth. On his knee is a napkin, and in his hands a piece of +ham, a slice of bread, and a knife. The old man behind him is thought to +be William the Drummer. In one hand he holds his hat, and in the other a +gold-footed wineglass filled with the most marvellously painted white +wine. He wears a black satin doublet slashed with yellow silk, and a red +sash. Behind him are two matchlock men seated at the end of a table. +One, with a napkin on his knee, is eating with his knife; the other +holds a long glass of white wine, also a marvel of the painter's skill. +Four musketeers, with differently shaped hats, stand behind; one holds a +glass, the others have their guns on their shoulders. Between the +standard-bearer and the Captain several guests are placed: one is +carving a fowl; another, with his hat off and hand uplifted, is talking +to his neighbor; a third is filling a cup from a silver flagon; and a +fourth holds a silver plate. Behind the Captain are two other figures, +one of whom is peeling an orange. Two others with halberts are standing, +and one holds a plumed hat. Between Banning and the Captain there are +three others, one of whom holds a pewter pot, engraved with the name +Pocock, the landlord of the Hotel Doele. At the back a maidservant is +bringing in a pasty on which rests a turkey. The _facades_ of two houses +are seen through the panes of the window in the background. In the +left-hand corner stands a very handsome wine-cooler. + + =Reynolds's Opinion of this Picture.=--"The best picture in this house + is painted by Van der Helst. It represents a company of trained bands, + about thirty figures, whole-length, among which the Spanish Ambassador + is introduced shaking hands with one of the principal figures. This is + perhaps the first picture of portraits in the world, comprehending + more of those qualities which make a perfect portrait than any other I + have ever seen: they are correctly drawn, both head and figures, and + well colored; and have great variety of action, characters, and + countenances, and those so lively and truly expressing what they are + about, that the spectator has nothing to wish for. Of this picture I + had before heard great commendations; but it far exceeded my + expectations." ... + + =A Portrait Group by Rembrandt, and another by Van der Helst.=--"A + Frieze over one of the doors in chiaroscuro by De Witt, is not only + one of the best deceptions I have seen, but the boys are well drawn; + the ceiling and side of the room are likewise by him, but a poor + performance. The academy of painting is a part of this immense + building: in it are two admirable pictures, composed entirely of + portraits,--one by Rembrandt, and the other by Bartholomew van der + Helst. That of Rembrandt contains six men dressed in black; one of + them, who has a book before him, appears to have been reading a + lecture; the top of the table not seen. The heads are finely painted, + but not superior to those of his neighbor. The subject of Van der + Helst is the Society of Archers bestowing a premium: they appear to be + investing some person with an order. The date on this is 1657; on the + Rembrandt 1661." + +=Van der Helst's Masterpiece.=--Captain Roelof Bicker's Company, painted +in 1639, has been termed Van der Helst's masterpiece. It is the largest +picture of its class in the gallery and contains thirty-two figures. +Captain Bicker and Lieutenant Jan Blaeu have brought their men from +their headquarters, and are welcoming a new ensign before the Brewery de +Haen (the Cock) on the corner of the Lastaadje (Geldersche Kade and +Bloomsloot), in 1639. The picture is remarkable for its wonderful +display of color and the vitality that every figure possesses. + +[Illustration: B. VAN DER HELST +Company of Captain R. Bicker] + +=Regent, Doelen, and Corporation Pictures.=--In every gallery in Holland +the traveller will come across the life-size groups known as "Regent," +"Doelen," and "Corporation" pictures. These are always portraits of +members of shooting, charitable, and medical civic societies and guilds +of merchants, and were painted at the order of these various companies +to hang in their guild halls, shooting galleries (_doelen_), and +hospitals. Rembrandt, Frans Hals, and Bartholomew van der Helst brought +these pictures to their highest expression and made of them artistic +compositions. Hals's great works of this class are in Haarlem; but the +Rijks owns, as we have seen, the celebrated Night Watch and The Syndics, +and B. Van der Helst's masterpieces, Schuttersmaaltijd and Company of +Captain Roelof Bicker. + +=Similar Pictures by Govert Flinck.=--Next in importance are the works +of Govert Flinck (1615-60), a pupil and close imitator of Rembrandt, who +devoted his energies to portraits and historical and religious subjects. +Three "Corporation" or "Doelen" pictures by his hand hang in this +gallery; also Isaac Blessing Jacob, dated 1638; and three portraits, +including one of J. van den Vondel, who thought so highly of Flinck +that he compared him to the Greek Apelles. + +=His Greatest Work.=--His most important "Corporation" picture depicts +the same scene as Van der Helst's. This, called Arquebusiers of +Amsterdam at a Banquet Celebrating the Signing of the Peace of Munster +in 1648, is considered this artist's greatest work; it is particularly +interesting from the fact that it contains a portrait of the painter +himself standing in the doorway. This picture is in two groups: on the +left, nine men are coming from the St. Jorisdoele, led by Captain Jan +Huidecoper van Maarseveen, dressed in black velvet, with a blue sash; +and the other group, consisting of eleven figures, is led by Lieutenant +Frans van Waveren, also dressed in black velvet with a blue sash, who is +congratulating the Captain. + +The two other "Regent" pictures are: Four Chief Masters of the +Arquebusiers' Shooting Company and The Company of Captain Bas and +Lieutenant Conyn. + +=Bol's Pictures of this Class.=--Burger, however, when looking at +Ferdinand Bol's pictures of this class in the Rijks, especially The +Regents of the Leprozenhuis in Amsterdam, and its companion The Lady +Patronesses of the Leprozenhuis, placed the artist second to none but +Rembrandt, and even the superior of B. van der Helst. + +=Description of the First of These.=--The first picture (8 by 6 feet) +represents the Regents of the establishment, among whom are the +Burgomaster Hofdt and the Receiver of Amsterdam, Pieter van +Uitenbogaard, Rembrandt's friend. All are dressed in black, with large +hats, and are seated around a table covered with a Persian carpet. The +_custos_ is bringing before them a little bare-headed leper. The figures +are life-size, and "have the distinction of Van Dijck's personages," +writes Burger, "and the solidity and depth of Rembrandt's." + +=Dujardin's Regents of the House of Correction.=--Karel Dujardin's +Regents of the House of Correction in Amsterdam, painted in 1669, is +another remarkable work and very unusual in style for this artist. The +canvas is no less than 12 feet 8 inches by 7 feet 8 inches, and +represents the five Regents. Of natural size, these are grouped around a +table with a violet velvet cover. (Violet, it may be noted, was Karel +Dujardin's favorite color.) One of the Regents, his body turned to the +left and his head three-quarters, is seated in front, with his right +hand on the table; he holds a paper with a coat-of-arms dated February, +1669, and signed "Medelman"; his left hand rests on his hip. Another +holds out his hand to a servant, who is bringing him a paper. One only +is standing. All are dressed in black, with large black hats and white +neckbands. Some white marble columns in the style of G. de Lairesse are +seen in the background, where a servant with her hands crossed over her +waist is entering the open door and turning her head to listen to a +young man. Heads, hands, faces, and costumes are all remarkably +depicted. + +=Other Pictures of the Same Class.=--Before dismissing the Corporation +pictures we may mention J. van Sandrart's Captain van Swieten's Company +Preparing to Escort Queen Dowager Marie de Medici, painted in 1638, and +considered the artist's chief work; P. Moreelse's Amsterdam +Arquebusiers; N. Elias's Banquet of Captain J. Backer's Company; B. van +der Helst's Presidents of the Voetboog-doelen and Presidents of the +Handboog-doelen. + +One of the earliest pictures of this class is Cornelis Teunissen's +Banquet of the Civic Guards of the Cross-bow Company, painted in +Amsterdam in 1533. Another by the same artist, Guards of the +Cloveniers-doelen, was painted in 1557. A still earlier one, Dirck +Jacobsz's Civic Guards of the Cloveniers-doelen, was painted in 1529. +This artist is also represented by Civic Guards of the Arquebusiers, +which hangs near Dirck Barentsz's Civic Guards and Civic Guards of the +Cross-bow Company. A number of Regent pictures also hang in the Hall of +Anatomy Pictures, including Lessons in Anatomy, by Thomas de Keijser, +Nicolaes Elias, Dr. J. Deyment, and Rembrandt (the latter a fragment). +It is unlikely, however, that the visitor will care to linger in this +lugubrious hall. + +=The Portrait Hall.=--We now pass into the Portrait Hall, which contains +two portrait collections, consisting of portraits bequeathed by the +Bicker family of Amsterdam, and twenty-six pictures purchased in 1895 +from the descendants of the great Admiral de Ruyter. Here we again find +a number of Corporation and Regent pictures, chief among which is +Rembrandt's Syndics of the Guild of Clothmakers, which has been +described. + +=Abundance of Dutch Landscapes in the Rijks.=--The Rijks is rich in +landscapes of every period of Dutch art. Ruisdael is particularly well +represented. His pictures are The Torrent, Chateau de Bentheim, Winter, +The Forest, View of Haarlem, Landscape, Wooded Landscape, Landscape in +Norway, and View of the Rhine near Wijk bij Duurstede. + +=Description of Ruisdael's View of the Rhine near Duurstede.=--Burger +thought that the picture of the banks of the Rhine taken from Wijk near +Duurstede deserved to be placed by the side of the superb Tempest in the +Louvre; for it has "the same original grandeur of execution and the same +depth of sentiment." This is almost a marine. The water occupies almost +all the left foreground, where you note a sail-boat. A large boat, the +masts of which you see only, has taken refuge in the little bay in the +centre. On the right, upon a tongue of land that juts out and is +bordered by piles, stands a windmill; behind this is a house, and on the +horizon a steeple. A little to the left of the mill and far distant is a +castle with turrets. On the road that leads to the mill come three +peasant women in white aprons. One wears a white head-dress; the two +others have yellow ones. You can also distinguish some other tiny +figures by the little bay where the boat lies. The incomparable sky is +gray, and the clouds are of the same hue. + + =Burger on the Same Picture.=--"Earth, water, sky, all are so + beautifully combined in a harmony so strong and dominating, so simple + and magnificent, that you are impressed with that strange--almost + terrible--effect produced, and you can't tell why. Indeed, there is + only a large mill with a round, tower-like base in the ordinary + fashion of the country, and three women who are returning to the + village. There is nothing to excite the imagination. Yet, + notwithstanding, you are filled with an irresistible melancholy. The + character and nature of the people are so strongly marked that you are + taken out of yourself and transported by the force of the artist's + heart and creation." + +Another picture represents a mill with its wheel in the water; and on +the right some wood-cutters at work. This is a strong picture, but a +little sombre. + + =Burger on The Cascade.=--"The Cascade [6 feet long by 4 feet high] + seems to have been composed with various elements of Nature herself. + The water bounds and foams in the foreground and over the entire + canvas. Above this great torrent on the right are tall trees, beneath + which are four little figures; and on the left, a clump of shrubs, in + the shadows of which a flock of sheep is passing by the brook. In the + background, behind the meadows, a belfry is seen on the horizon. It is + very rich, very vigorous, very beautiful." + +=Influence of Everdingen.=--The Norwegian Landscape (about five feet +long) is also a large picture. Here the cascade tumbles over little +rocks, and on the right are rocks, trees, a house, and one tall, +isolated tree. This is cleverly painted, but the composition is not +happy. The true accents of nature are lacking; for it is certain that +Ruisdael never was in Norway, and that he devoted himself to cascades +and rocks on account of his intimacy with Van Everdingen, whose bold +landscapes, so different from Holland, surprised and delighted the +Dutch. Everdingen had suffered shipwreck in Norway, and had been greatly +taken with its bold, savage scenery. His favorite subject was a +waterfall in a glen with sombre fringes of pines mingled with birch, and +log huts at the base of rocks and craggy slopes. The prevalence of +falling water in his pictures, when others could paint only the +monotonous Dutch lowlands, gained for him the name "Inventor of +Cascades." + +Salomon Ruisdael (?-1670) has two fine landscapes, The Halt, dated 1660, +and The Village Inn, dated 1655. + +=Description of Hobbema's Water Mill.=--Hobbema is represented by two +Water Mills and a Landscape. The picture in the Van der Hoop Collection +shows a wooden mill with red-tiled roof in the centre of the picture; +and behind it a background of tall trees. Hollowed-out-tree-trunks +supported by boards carry the water to the mill wheel, over which it +falls. The foreground is occupied with water in which ducks are +swimming. In the shadows of the door of the house, a tiny figure of a +man appears; and a small figure of a woman in bright red bodice, upon +which the sunlight falls, is busy washing clothes in a copper. On the +right, an old peasant in brown is holding by the hand a little boy who +wears a red cap. The Landscape is diversified with trees and thickets. +The sky is full of clouds, between which the rays of sunlight issue to +gild the verdure. Delicate tones of olive and gray distinguish this +beautiful picture. + +[Illustration: HOBBEMA +The Water Mill] + +=Description of Hobbema's Landscape.=--In the Landscape, which by some +is thought superior to the Water Mill, a house and barn are seen on the +right; two small figures are in front of the house, a man in black, +standing, and a woman in red, bending over; and there are a group of +trees, a large elm, and a hedge. All this is beautifully reflected in a +sheet of water in the foreground,--a reflection that seems to tremble. +This picture is only one foot five inches long by one foot high. + +=Hobbema and his most Frequent Scenes.=--Meyndert Hobbema (1638-1709), +supposed to have been a pupil of Jacob Ruisdael, or of Jacob's brother +Salomon, was long neglected, and died in penury. He is now regarded +second to none but Ruisdael and his works are worth their weight in +gold. His most frequent scenes are villages surrounded by trees, such +as are frequently met with in Guelderland, with winding pathways leading +from house to house. A water mill occasionally forms a prominent +feature,--so prominent, indeed, as to give its name to the picture. +Again, he paints a slightly uneven country diversified by trees in +groups or rows, wheat fields, meadows, and small pools; occasionally a +view of a town with gates, or canals with sluices and quays; and more +rarely the ruins of an old castle or a stately residence in the far +distance. + + =Hobbema, a Master of the Still Life of Woods and Waters.=--"It is + doubtful whether any one ever mastered so completely as he did the + still life of woods and hedges, or mills and pools. Nor can we believe + that he obtained this mastery otherwise than by constantly dwelling in + the same neighborhood, say in Guelders or on the Dutch Westphalian + border, where day after day he might study the branching and foliage + of trees and underwood embowering cottages and mills, under every + variety of light, in every shade of transparency, in all changes + produced by the season. Though his landscapes are severely and + moderately toned, generally in an olive key, and often attuned to a + puritanical gray or russet, they surprise us, not only by the variety + of their leafage, but by the finish of their detail as well as the + boldness of their touch. With astonishing subtlety light is shown + penetrating cloud, and illuminating--sometimes transiently, sometimes + steadily--different portions of the ground, shining through leaves + upon other leaves, and multiplying in an endless way the transparency + of the picture. If the chance be given him he mirrors all these things + in the still pool near a cottage, the reaches of a sluggish river, or + the swirl of a stream that feeds a busy mill. The same spot will + furnish him with several pictures. One mill gives him repeated + opportunity of charming our eye. And this wonderful artist, who is + only second to Ruisdael because he had not Ruisdael's versatility and + did not extend his study equally to downs and rocky eminences or + torrents and estuaries,--this is the man who lived penuriously, died + poor, and left no trace in the artistic annals of his country. It has + been said that Hobbema did not paint his own figures, but transferred + that duty to Adriaen van de Velde, Lingelbach, Barent Gael, and + Abraham Storck. As to this, much is conjecture."[25] + +=Hackaert's Pictures.=--Jan Hackaert is perfect when he is simple and +inspired by the character and style of his own country. The Rijks owns +his beautiful Avenue of Ash-trees; a Clearing in the Forest; a Landscape +with Cattle; and a Landscape, which is full of light and delicacy, and +recalls the manner of Wijnants, although the arrangement follows the +pseudo-Italians. + +=Hackaert's Avenue of Ash-trees.=--The Avenue of Ash-trees is a charming +picture, representing a park from which a hunting-party is about to set +forth in the early morning. The light shines on the trunks of the trees +that border the park, to the right of which is a large sheet of water. +Huntsmen accompanied by dogs, one of which is barking at two swans in +the pool, ladies and gentlemen on horseback, servants, and dogs, all +issue forth with good wishes from the master of the _chateau_ at the +gate. All of these elegantly painted little figures are the work of A. +van de Velde. + +[Illustration: JAN HACKAERT +Avenue of Ash-trees] + +=Joos van Winghen.=--Joos van Winghen (1544-1603) travelled to Rome, +where he lived for four years; and, on his return, was appointed Court +Painter to the Prince of Parma. He painted portraits, interiors, and +Biblical subjects. A Banquet and Masquerade at Night is one of his +best-known pictures. + +=Pieter Aertsen.=--This artist has a picture called The Egg Dance, which +claims attention by its life and spirit. + +=Jan Lijs.=--Jan Lijs (d. 1629) was a pupil of Goltzius; and then +visited France and Italy, where he executed large works under +Caravaggio's influence. His Music Party is signed and dated 1625; and +therefore belongs to his last and not his first period, as the catalogue +informs us. + +=Pieter van Rijck.=--Pieter Cornelisz van Rijck (1568-1628) painted +interiors, especially kitchens, and landscape. He was a pupil of H. +Jacobs Grimani, whom he accompanied to Italy; he remained there fifteen +years. The big picture in the Rijks representing a kitchen interior was +described in enthusiastic terms by Van Mander. + +=Willem Duyster.=--Willem Cornelisz Duyster (1599-1635) was a pupil of +Pieter Codde. His picture of Backgammon Players is matched by a similar +subject in St. Petersburg, and another in Dresden. Another picture in +the Rijks, variously attributed to J. v. Bijlert, Jan Lijs, P. Codde, +Jan Miense Molenaer and others, has by recent discoveries been finally +recognized as the work of Duyster. The subject is The Marriage of +Adriaen Ploos van Amstel, Lord of Oudegein and Tienhoven, to Agnes van +Bijler, widow Broekhuysen. A contemporary of whom little is known, +Abraham van der Hecken (fl. 1650), has a Butcher's Shop, painted with +much truth and spirit. + +=Pieter de Bloot.=--Pieter de Bloot (1600-52) was a pupil of Jordaens; +he painted, however, more closely after Teniers, with fine grasp of +chiaroscuro and perspective, with a soft and agreeable coloring. He +copied nature so faithfully as to reproduce his subjects in all their +ignobleness. _Kermesses_ and interiors chiefly occupied his brush. The +Lawyer's Office is signed and dated 1628; it is a fine specimen of the +work of this artist in his prime. + +=Van Gaesbeeck and Van der Kuyl.=--Adriaen van Gaesbeeck (?-1650), of +the same period, was probably one of G. Dou's pupils. He painted _genre_ +pictures of small dimensions. His Young Man in a Study is full of the +feeling found in his master's work. Another painter of _genre_, who is +represented here by two charming pictures, is Gysbert van der Kuyl +(?-1673). He was a pupil of the famous Wouter Crabeth the Younger, and +like his early master, spent many years in France and Italy. Later in +life he modelled himself on Honthorst and Abraham Bloemaert. His Ruse +Surpasses Force and The Music Party are worth more than a passing +glance. + +=Nicolas Moeyaert.=--Nicolas Cornelisz Moeyaert was a forerunner of +Rembrandt in his treatment of light and shade. His powers of portraiture +are exemplified here in a group of Regents; and another side of his art +is charmingly displayed in the Choice of a Lover. + +=Jan van Bijlert.=--Jan van Bijlert (1603-71) was a painter of _genre_, +mythological, and historical subjects. Almost all his known pictures +were ordered by foreign rulers. The Guitar Player is a small example of +his work, for he usually painted his figures life-size. His style so +much resembles that of G. Honthorst that his pictures have frequently +been confounded with those of the latter. + +=Adriaen Brouwer.=--Adriaen Brouwer studied with Adriaen van Ostade and +under Hals; and afterwards adopted the Flemish style when he returned to +Antwerp in 1631. However, he remained true to one ideal,--the striving +after true action and physiognomy, and the feeling for character and +expression. No finer examples of his powers in this field exist than The +Village Orgy and The Peasant Combat. These both belong to the days when +he was under the influence of Hals. + +=Cornelis Saftleven.=--Cornelis Saftleven (1606-81) also took Brouwer as +his model, for his usual types and favorite motives are borrowed from +that master. Like Brouwer, he painted tavern interiors with men sitting +at table before a pot of beer and a game of cards. Sometimes he mixes +with his jovial companions a peasant who seems to have escaped from one +of Teniers's _kermesses_; and sometimes he makes an excursion into the +simple representation of rustic scenes. He is full of spirit, and groups +his little characters with fine art. His compositions are full of life +and movement, but his color is tame and lacks brilliance. His three +pictures here are Peasants at an Inn (1642); Landscape with Peasants and +Cattle (1652); and Peasants Praying: an Approaching Storm. + +=Jan Olis.=--Jan Olis (1610-70) was a painter of _genre_ and landscape. +An interesting picture of a kitchen here is signed and dated 1645. Until +recently, however, this picture was attributed to Sorgh. + +=Van der Oudenrogge.=--Johannes van Oudenrogge (1622-53) also was a +painter of this class. His picture of Peasants in a Weaving Factory is +dated 1652. + +=Egbert van der Poel.=--Egbert van der Poel (1621-64) was a prolific and +versatile painter of the school of Isaac van de Velde and A. van der +Neer. He painted pictures of all kinds,--portraits, still life, figures, +landscapes, perspective, kitchen interiors, moonlit landscapes, and more +particularly devoted his talents to conflagrations at night, in which he +was very successful. Nothing could be more natural and animated than the +large number of tiny figures he shows occupied in extinguishing the +flames. His color is clear and strong. In his Ruins in the Town of Delft +after the Explosion of the Powder Magazine, October 12, 1654, we have a +good example of his style. He has also another picture of the Interior +of a Farm, dated 1646. + +=Pieter J. Quast.=--Pieter Jansz Quast (1606-47) was a follower in the +steps of Adriaen Brouwer. His selection of subjects often verges on +caricature. His characterization is well displayed in The Card Players. +The figure of the young woman in this picture, however, has been +entirely repainted by another hand. + +=Thomas Wijck's Versatility.=--Thomas Wijck (1616-77) was another artist +who visited Italy and painted its landscapes, especially coast scenery, +after having been taught, or at least influenced, by P. de Laer. Besides +marines, he painted interiors, fairs, etc. He had the talent to depict +sea-gates full of movement, figures and merchandise, in the taste of J. +B. Weenix, markets, outlandish charlatans, public squares, hunts, ruins, +tavern scenes, and everything that the Italians call _capricci_. + +=Chemical Laboratories his Forte.=--But the subject that he treated with +the greatest care and taste, and with which he was most happily +successful, was that of chemical laboratories. These he arranges, +illuminates, and paints in a style entirely his own. Without endowing +them with the magic of A. van Ostade, or enveloping them in that +master's full and warm atmosphere, Wijck gave much charm to his +alchemistic interiors, and the objects he multiplied therein are full of +the right kind of feeling. + +=His Picture of The Alchemist.=--Moreover, he has a sound comprehension +of chiaroscuro, as may be seen here in his picture The Alchemist. He +casts a shadow over the skeleton fish and stuffed crocodiles and other +monstrous animals hanging from the ceiling. The principal light usually +falls full upon a medley of phials, retorts, furnaces, bellows, and +alembics--a whole apparatus of strange utensils that in a subject of +this kind could not be regarded as mere accessories, and which are +touched with spirit but also with sobriety. A second window at the end +of the apartment admits a softer light that forms an echo to the +principal one, and faintly illumines other objects that are toned down +by the intervening atmosphere. Placed in the centre of his laboratory, +wearing a red cap, Wijck's alchemist is quite individual in not being +old, bald, bent, or grizzled; on the contrary, here is a man in the +prime of life and full of health, with a bright eye and an open +countenance that has no such melancholy in it as is generally affected +by alchemists. It is therefore reasonable to conclude that Wijck has +represented himself in the person of this seeker after gold. + +The Rustic Interior depicts a woman spinning, with a child and a dog +near her. + +=Karel Slabbaert.=--Karel Slabbaert (1619-54), whose Grace before Meat +is in this gallery, is supposed to have been one of G. Dou's pupils. His +pictures are scarce. This one shows a woman cutting bread, while two +children are saying grace. He paints in warm tones; his composition is +good and full of feeling. + +=Jan Wolfert.=--Jan Baptist Wolfert (1625-87) also travelled in Italy, +and was famous for his classical landscapes with animals and human +figures; he also painted _genre_. He was very learned; and his works +show fine spirit and imagination. The Bagpipe Player is dated 1646, and +is therefore an early work of this artist before he was subjected to +foreign influence. + +=Caspar Netscher.=--Besides three portraits of brilliant quality, +Caspar Netscher has a beautiful little interior called Maternal Care, in +which the influence of his master, Ter Borch, is noticeable. This +picture of a mother arranging her child's hair is generally considered +this artist's masterpiece. There is some story told with each of his +portraits. He marvellously rendered the texture of stuffs; and his +drawing is always full of grace and truth. Inferior to Ter Borch in +harmony and chiaroscuro and to Metsu in touch, and to both in feeling +for color, he equals them in the tasteful composition and the elegance +of his figures, and surpasses them in beauty of form. + +=Esaias Bourse.=--Esaias Bourse (1630-?) was a follower of Rembrandt. He +had a roving career, making many voyages to the East Indies during +sixteen years as an officer, and then working as a painter in Italy. His +color is usually brownish in tone. His pictures have sometimes been +confused with those of another of Rembrandt's pupils--Pieter de Hooch. +An Interior with a Woman Spinning enables us to compare the merits of +the two artists. + +=Daniel Boone.=--Daniel Boone (1631-98) painted mythological subjects +and familiar scenes of peasant life. In the latter, his chief aim was to +provoke laughter by the representation of grotesque situations and +grimaces. In this he was generally successful. Peasants Playing Cards is +painted in this vein. + +[Illustration: N. MAES +The Spinner] + +=Pictures by Maes.=--Nicholas Maes is represented in the Dupper +Collection by The Spinner. The old woman is seated before her wheel in a +simply furnished room, which is dimly lighted from a window on the left. +Through this the fading daylight falls, illuminating the rich red of her +costume and the dull colors of the table-cloth. There is something +inexpressibly still, solemn, and charming about the figure, the room, +and the light. + +Another Spinner, in the Van der Hoop Collection, is seated by her wheel. +She wears a black cap, and the sleeves of her dress are red. She stands +out boldly from the brightly lighted wall. The lights and the figure +are heavily impasted. The forehead of the old woman is in sunlight, the +rest of the face is in shadow. + +A very pleasing picture of his earlier period is The Dreamer, sometimes +called Musing, representing a young woman who is looking out of a +window. From her glance we gather that she has spied her lover, who is +looking up to her casement, so gracefully decorated with apricots and +peaches. + +=L. de Moni, an Imitator of Dou.=--Louis de Moni (1698-1771) was a pupil +of F. van Kessel and K. E. Biset at Breda, and later (1721-25) of Philip +van Dijk at The Hague. Blanc says that this mediocre painter endeavored +to resuscitate the long-extinct style of G. Dou and the elder Mieris, +and to constitute himself their posthumous disciple. In this he only +partially succeeded, but at least he exhibited, along with a certain +delicacy of touch, great care and patience. More than once he borrowed a +subject from Dou--familiar scenes, and small pictures of one or two +figures. He is good in detail but poor in color. The Rijks has a small +and pleasing picture of his called The Gardener. + +=J. Quinckhard.=--Julius Quinckhard (1736-76) was a pupil of his father, +Jan Maurits, but soon abandoned art for commerce. He was an able painter +of portraits and _genre_ nevertheless, as his Amateurs of Music (dated +1755) and Amateurs of Art (1757) attest. The figures in the latter are +portraits of the painter and his friend, M. J. C. Ploos van Amstel. + +=Eight Pictures by Paul Potter in the Rijks.=--Although there is nothing +of Paul Potter's in the Rijks to compare in reputation with The Bull, or +in beauty with _La Vache qui se mire_, there are no less than eight of +his pictures there. Horses in a Meadow (1649) and Cows in a Meadow +(1651), the latter having a dark sky that proclaims approaching rain, +were acquired with the Van der Hoop Collection. The Shepherd's Hut, +painted in 1645, is only ten inches long and six high, but is as +brilliant in color as a Cuijp. The composition is simple: a shepherd +guarding his cows and sheep is seated near his lowly dwelling. A Little +Dog is dated 1653, as is also a Landscape with Cattle. + +=Description of The Bear Hunt.=--An extraordinary picture is The Bear +Hunt, eleven feet square. No one would ever imagine who the painter was +if his signature were not in enormous letters on the trunk of a tree. +This gigantic work was painted two years after The Bull and represents a +gentleman on horseback and one on foot, six dogs, and two bears. The +bloody contest is taking place in the foreground. This work was +repainted during the first half of the nineteenth century, and only two +dogs remain of the original painting. + +=Crowe's Opinion of Orpheus Charming Animals.=--The celebrated Orpheus +Charming Animals, painted in 1650, is much smaller (3 by 2 feet), and is +much admired by critics. Crowe says: + + "For power and fulness of warm tones this is one of his most beautiful + works. The left is occupied with little hills crowned with trees; the + right shows a forest, and a glimpse of the sky. In the foreground is a + meadow, where we see a camel, a boar, a cow, a buffalo, an ass, a ram, + a goat, a sheep, and a hare. In the middle distance, at the foot of a + hill, sits Orpheus playing his lyre; behind him is a dog, and in front + of him a crouching lion, an elephant, a horse, a white unicorn, a + wolf, and various other animals. On the right, at the border of the + forest, emerges a deer." + +=Description of Shepherds and Flocks.=--Shepherds and Flocks, painted in +the next year (1651), is also a masterpiece, remarkable for the +clearness of its light golden tones, especially in the sky. It +represents a hilly landscape with a shepherd playing on the bagpipes, a +shepherdess singing to her child, and flocks of sheep, goats, and oxen +grouped variously. By the side of the shepherd is a black dog. At the +Van der Pot sale, in 1808, this picture brought 10,050 florins! + +=Description of A. van de Velde's The Artist and his Family.=--A very +beautiful work by Adriaen van de Velde is The Artist and his Family in +the Van der Hoop Collection. It is generally considered one of the most +incomparable and precious works in the gallery. This is a landscape +bathed in the light of a lovely Autumn evening. The scene is probably +near Haarlem, where the artist is enjoying the country with his family. +Adriaen himself, about twenty-eight, is standing in the foreground, +dressed very simply but elegantly in brown with a white collar, his hat +under his left arm while his right rests on his huge and fashionable +walking-stick. He has blue eyes, chestnut hair, a small moustache, a +fine mouth, and a charming expression. On his left stands his wife, +whose handsome figure is dressed in a crimson skirt, brown corsage, a +white fichu, and a black cloak. She wears a little cap and long, +ash-colored gloves. Her hands are crossed over her waist. Near this +attractive couple is a little boy of seven dressed just like his father, +leading a little spaniel by a string to a fountain. He has thrown his +hat on the ground. A nurse dressed in a blue skirt, white apron, and +yellow bodice is sitting at a little distance on a tree-trunk, taking +care of the little daughter, who is playing with some flowers. Around +them are some bushes and stumps, a kind of hedge, and an undulating and +sandy ground that leads into a group of trees. On the road, in the +middle distance behind Adriaen, is the carriage that has brought them +here,--an open four-wheeled chariot, with red seats, drawn by two fine +dappled-gray horses, whose harness a servant in gray is examining. On +the right, a shepherd is lying on the grass, near a flock of sheep and a +goat. In the background is a meadow with cattle, a winding stream, a +house half hidden in the woods, and the distant line of the horizon. The +landscape has all the delicacy of a Wijnants, but more breadth and +harmony. + + =Crowe's Opinion of this Picture.=--"This picture, signed and dated + 1667, and of considerable size (4 ft. 8-1/2 in. high by 5 ft. 7 in. + wide), is without question the finest work of the master. The + composition of the whole is picturesque in no common degree; while + the union of a tenderly graduated tone in keeping with the most + delicate carrying out of all the parts shows what a height of + perfection the school had attained at this time." + +This picture was bought in London in 1833 for 15,700 florins. + +=Description of The Chase.=--The Chase (1669) shows a beautiful picture +with a wooded background. On the left, through the gate of a park comes +a huntsman with the hounds. A large chestnut palfrey with a green saddle +embroidered with silver is led by a valet in red livery, and a little +farther away a gray horse with trappings of scarlet velvet is led by +another valet. On the right are seated two men: one in red, the other in +brown, and before them a big fawn and a white dog; another large dog is +sniffing the ground in the foreground on the left. + +=Other Works by A. van de Velde.=--A Landscape with Cattle shows a +somewhat sombre country with clumps of trees; on the left, sheep, goats, +and a little shepherd; in full light two cows, one white standing in +profile, and the other black, seen from behind and foreshortened. It +brought 5,650 florins in 1838. A Landscape with Ferry (1666), The Cabin +(1671), and another Landscape complete the list of A. van de Velde's +works in the Rijks. + +=An Appreciation of A. van de Velde's Pictures.=--His cattle browse in +velvet meadows under a beautiful sky. Animals, meadows, grassy hills, +and trees--he painted them all with affection. He excels in depicting +the various hides and skins of goats, sheep, horses, and asses. Animals +always occupy a prominent place in Van de Velde's canvases. The air +seems to circulate--light, pure air gently moving the trees or slightly +waving the grass. The blue sky is filled with vaporous clouds, which are +often mirrored in tranquil lakes. The chestnut with its thick foliage, +the willow with its flexible branches, the oak, he paints in masses, or +singly, with exquisite skill. + +=General Description of Aelbert Cuijp's Style.=--Aelbert Cuijp +(1620-91), son and pupil of Jacob Cuijp, first followed his father's +style, as is evidenced in the Hilly Landscape in the Rijks. Little by +little he formed his own style and became thoroughly original. He +excelled in depicting the humid atmosphere about Dordrecht, and on the +horizon of all his landscapes generally the clock-tower of his native +city is represented half veiled in golden mist emerging from the lush +meadows, where placid cows repose in the bright sunshine. + +=His Versatility.=--Though Cuijp loves to paint the calm meadows of +Holland under a golden light, his elegant figures of men and animals, +dashing cavaliers, boats driven by the approaching storm, and landscapes +seen under the enchantment of moonlight prove how versatile he was. +Moreover, he was a brilliant painter of still life, as the partridges in +The Return from the Chase (in the Louvre), the Salmons Offered to Mr. de +Roovere Directing the Fisheries in Dordrecht (in The Hague), and the +Dead Game (in the Rotterdam Gallery) show. + +[Illustration: A. CUIJP +Fight between a Turkey and a Cock] + +=His Skill in painting Living Birds.=--As for painting living birds he +is only equalled by Melchior d' Hondecoeter. It is only necessary to +look at his magnificent Fight between a Turkey and a Cock which hangs in +the Rijks. The sky has darkened in sympathy, as it were, with this epic +combat, where two splendid specimens are using their beaks and claws +with the greatest fury, and the brilliant feathers fly in all +directions. Splendid in color, furious of action, and beautiful in its +arrangement of light and shade, it deserves its great reputation. + +The Rijks owns four other pictures: Portrait of a Young Man, Shepherds +with their Flocks, Cattle, and View of Dordrecht. + +[Illustration: A. CUIJP +Shepherds with their Flocks] + +=Description of Shepherds with their Flocks.=--Shepherds with their +Flocks represents an Autumn morning in a meadow, where four grazing cows +and a shepherd on a mule occupy the foreground; on the left, a man on an +ass and a man on foot wearing a red vest; on the right, two large trees; +in the middle distance, some trees, a river, and a tower; and in the +background, mountains. + +=Description of Cattle.=--This painting represents a great red ox with a +white head, standing in profile on the left, occupying half the picture; +a little behind is seen a black ox, full face; both stand out from the +gray wall of a house. In front of the red ox three lovely pigeons are +pecking. On the left, in the middle distance, a brown and a dun-colored +ox are lying down. In the background, on the horizon, are trees and the +spires and towers of Dordrecht. The sky is superb. + +The View of Dordrecht seen from a great expanse of water, marvellously +painted, is also a beautiful picture. + +=Jacob G. Cuijp's Scene Champetre.=--Jacob Gerritsz Cuijp (1594-1651?), +father of Aelbert, is a painter whose pictures are very scarce. His +Portrait of a Woman is dated 1651; and a very fine _Scene Champetre_, +which brought no less than 4,000 florins in 1849, represents, according +to Immergeel, the family of the painter Cornelis Troost, a gay and large +family. The grandmother, father, mother, four boys, and two girls are +walking in a landscape where is also seen a chariot drawn by a handsome +black horse of the Frisian race that Aelbert Cuijp so often paints. + +=The Cuijp Family.=--The founder of this family was Gerrit Gerritsz +Cuijp, originally from Venlo, who settled in Dordrecht, where in 1585 he +entered the Guild of St. Luke as a painter on glass. He sent his +talented son, Jacob, to study with Abraham Bloemaert. Jacob Cuijp became +known as a portrait-painter, and was noted for his fine drawing, +splendid coloring, and force of expression. His pictures were ranked +with those of Th. de Keijser. He was no less skilful in painting animals +and landscapes and family groups in the open air, undisturbed by +browsing cattle. + +=Benjamin G. Cuijp's Style.=--Benjamin Gerritsz Cuijp (1612-52), brother +of Jacob and uncle of Aelbert, a painter who has attracted much +attention of late years, differed entirely in taste and style from them +both. He was particularly fond of historical and mythological subjects, +and belonged to the Italian group of Dutch painters, who tried to +amalgamate the traditions of classic art with the growing realism of the +day. Some of his works show the influence of the young Rembrandt. His +Joseph Interpreting Dreams was acquired by the Rijks in 1883. + +=Jan van Goyen.=--Jan van Goyen has five beautiful landscapes: River +Scene, View on the Meuse and Town of Dordrecht, View of Valkenhof at +Nimeguen, View of Dordrecht, and a Landscape. + +[Illustration: JAN VAN GOYEN +View of Dordrecht] + + =Burger's Explanation of the River Scene.=--"The view of a river in + the Van der Hoop Collection is the last expression of his magnificent + and exalted manner. A better name for this picture would be The + Windmill. In a few words here is the picture: A bit of the Meuse; on + the right a piece of ground covered with trees and houses, and on the + summit a black mill with its sails spread to the winds, extending high + upon the canvas; a stockade, against which the waves of the river + break gently, the water heavy, soft, and admirable; and a little + corner of the almost lost horizon, very attenuated, very firm, very + pale, yet very distinct, on which rises the white sail of a boat, a + flat sail without the slightest wind in the canvas, but having a value + tender and perfectly exquisite. Above, a great sky filled with clouds; + through the rifts and holes the shining blue that they efface, the + clouds all gray and filling the space from the stockade to the top of + the canvas; so that there is no light in any part of this powerful + tonality, composed of dark brown and sombre slate colors. In the + centre of the picture one ray of light glimmers like a smile upon the + clouds. A great square _grave_ picture, of an extreme sonority in the + deepest register, and my notes add _merveilleux dans l'or_." + +=Karel Dujardin (1625-78).=--Of the Portrait of a Gentleman with a Dog +and a Dead Hare (1670), Burger says: + + =A Dead Picture of a Dead Hare.=--"The deadest one in the lot is not + the hare; for if the hare were alive the dog certainly could not run + after him, nor could the gentleman run after his dog. The gentleman is + dressed in tin-plate and is represented to the knees and of natural + size, with the background of a dark sky. The hands have been praised; + but they do not look as if they could move." + +=A Good Portrait of Gerard Reinst.=--A Portrait of Gerard Reinst, a +celebrated art collector of Amsterdam, who died in 1658, and who was a +patron of Dujardin, is painted sympathetically. He is bareheaded, with a +blond wig, and is dressed in a grayish violet with chocolate tones. One +hand rests on his hip; the other is marvellously represented. A +landscape and sky form the background, and two greyhounds are at the +gentleman's side. + +=A Portrait of Himself.=--A portrait of himself is signed and dated +1660. This is only nine inches by six and one-half inches. It is only a +bust showing a shaven face with a thread of a moustache, long black +hair, brilliant eyes, and handsome mouth. He wears a grayish costume +with puffed sleeves, and his right hand somewhat pretentiously holds the +drapery of his cloak on his chest. + +=Dujardin's Other Works.=--A Landscape, dated 1655, and showing a +peasant winnowing corn, is noted for its silvery tone; A Trumpeter on +Horseback shows a cavalier in a blue mantle and on a white horse, +stopping before the door of an inn, and drinking from a glass offered by +the hostess, who is standing at the door. His other works are an Italian +Landscape with Animals and The Muleteers. Another Landscape in the Van +der Hoop Collection was bought at the Duchesse de Berry's sale in 1837 +for 4,000 florins. A copy after Karel Dujardin shows an Italian +Landscape with figures, and a white horse. + +=Adam Pynacker.=--Adam Pynacker has four landscapes: Border of a Lake in +Italy, Italian Landscape, Landscape, and Pilgrimage. + +=Johannes Both's Pictures.=--Johannes Both may be studied in The +Courtyard of a Farm; two Italian Landscapes, one of which is a luminous +picture of a summer morning, with mountains on the horizon on the left, +trees to the right in the foreground, and many small figures on the +road; and in Painters Studying from Nature. Here we see on a canvas +about six feet by seven, a vast landscape of much beauty, having the +Apennines for a background. Beneath a tall oak tree on the right and +among the rocks, Johannes Both himself is seated, with his back turned +to the spectator. He has a sketch book before him and is talking to a +beggar; his brother Andries is facing us; and the fourth person is +talking to some one in the distance. The time is a beautiful Summer +morning. + +=Jan Asselijn.=--Jan Asselijn (1610-60) was a pupil of Esaias van de +Velde, but went when young to Italy, where he was called by the band of +Dutch painters "Krabbetje," on account of a contraction in his fingers. +His pictures are highly valued, representing, as a rule, views of Rome, +enriched with figures and cattle in the style of N. Berchem. He greatly +resembles Jan Both. + +His Italian Landscape in the Rijks is considered a very true and +important landscape, with a background of bluish mountains, and a bridge +on the left. The artist has introduced Italian ruins and some muleteers. +He is also represented by a Cavalry Combat, signed and dated 1646; and +the Allegory on John de Witt. + +=Philips Wouwermans's Hawking Scene.=--Of the thirteen pictures by +Philips Wouwermans we may pause before the well-known Hawking Scene, +noted as a specimen of his delicacy and precision on a small scale. It +is only one foot high by eight inches wide. The exceedingly animated +composition shows about a dozen people on horseback scattered through a +delicate landscape. Other figures of men, women, and children enliven +the scene. This is painted in his last and most prized period. + +=His Horse-pond.=--The Horse-pond is a lovely picture, with a silvery +sky filled with luminous morning clouds, and, far away in the distance, +hills, trees, and women bleaching linen. In the centre of the picture, a +lovely stream in which children are bathing, and a ferry with persons +and animals passing over in little boats. It is the moment when grooms +and peasants are taking their horses and animals to water; and +naturally, therefore, we have some beautiful groups: here a man is +leading two horses, one of which is kicking at a barking dog; other +horses are at the edge of the stream; others have plunged in. Among the +eight horses, there is one splendid white one, and there are about +twenty figures, including washerwomen and children. It is impossible, +even with Wouwermans, who is so _spirituel_ and clever, to find a +richer, more animated, more varied, and more brilliant composition. + +A Landscape with Water belongs to the first period when Wouwermans +followed Wijnants; The Camp shows horsemen and other people; a horseman +turned to the right and mounted on a white and brown horse is very +remarkable. + +=Description of The Kicking White Horse.=--A celebrated canvas is The +Kicking White Horse. Two mounted horses and one lead horse are under a +tree in the foreground. The white horse, after having knocked over an +old woman with a basket of fruit, is kicking the lead horse on the +right, while a dog is snarling at his heels. On the extreme left, a +richly dressed lady and gentleman are watching the affair with interest, +and in the middle distance, on the right, two men are watering their +horses at a ford. There is fine painting of distance in the low +landscape and beautiful aerial perspective in the Summer sky with its +floating clouds. + +Besides landscapes, a camp, and others in his usual style, there are two +pictures of fighting peasants. + +His brother, Pieter Wouwermans (1623-82), is represented by two works: +Assault on the Town of Koevorden, 1672, and The Hunting Party. His works +have frequently been mistaken for Philips's, though, as may be seen in +these pictures, his brush work has less freedom, and his tones are +heavier than his brother's. + +=Jan Wijnants Unsuccessful in peopling his Scenery.=--Jan Wijnants +(1600-79), who is said to have been the master of Philips Wouwermans, +has eight pictures by which his qualities may be compared with those of +that painter. These are Landscape in the Dunes, with Hunters; +Mountainous Country; The Farm; and Flock in a Landscape; and four +landscapes in the Van der Hoop Collection. He was a painter of extreme +care and finish; and in painting nature he ranks among the highest. Like +so many other Dutch landscape-painters, however, he was not successful +with figures; and for peopling his scenery he availed himself of the +assistance of his great pupil, Adriaen van de Velde (as in the case of +the above-mentioned Landscape in the Dunes), Lingelbach, Wouwermans, +Helt Stokade, and others. + +=Jan Wijnants's Love of painting the Dunes.=--Durand Greville says: + + "His dated pictures are of his last period, 1641-79, so that he may + claim the honor of first having introduced into the landscape the + neighboring dunes of Haarlem and of having been the first to love + them. He faithfully translated in their blond harmony the dunes, gray + or golden, with the sun, the trees with their pale foliage, and the + skies with their light vaporous veilings. To his last hour he went + back again and again to that inexhaustible theme in its apparent + monotony. He put into the execution of the dazzle of the sand, + tree-trunks, spaces of moss and clumps of grasses an astonishing + sincerity, perhaps even somewhat too minute from the point of view of + the impression of the whole, but, even by that, quite accessible to + the taste of the majority of people. None the less he remains to-day + one of the most remarkable landscape-painters of Holland." + +=Cornelis van Poelenburg.=--Cornelis van Poelenburg has four +characteristic pictures in his favorite Italian style: The Bathers, +Women Coming from the Bath, Adam and Eve Expelled from Paradise, and The +Bathers Spied Upon. + +=Winter Scenes by A. van der Neer.=--The most noted painter of winter +scenes and of the magic beauty of snow and ice is Aart van der Neer +(1603-77), a friend of A. Cuijp, from whom he doubtless learned much, as +they frequently worked together on the same canvas. His winter pieces +are generally warm in their lighting. Two fine specimens hang in this +gallery, one of which is brightened by numerous figures skating and +playing ball on a frozen canal. The sky is full of dark snow-clouds. He +may also be studied by a Landscape. + +=His Moonlight Scenes.=--He is also famous for his beautiful towns on +the canals, lighted by the moon, and his conflagrations. No other +painter has depicted the broad masses of shadow, and the effects of +light and tranquillity of character peculiar to a moonlight night, with +so much truthfulness as Van der Neer. In his rendering of the warm glow +of sunset he has been compared to his friend Cuijp. + +=Hendrick Averkamp.=--In this connection The Skaters, by Hendrick +Averkamp (1585-after 1663), should be noted. This artist was surnamed +"the Mute of Kampen" because of his taciturnity. He produced many +marines, landscapes, and festivals on the ice, which have, +unfortunately, lost their color. + +=Esais van de Velde's Pictures.=--Winter amusements by Esais van de +Velde will afford pleasure to the student, who may also see this +artist's Dutch Landscape, painted in 1623; The Surrender of Bois-le-Duc +(1629-30), and an original replica of his curious satire on religious +quarrels in 1618-19, Prince Maurice Fastening Bells on a Cat. Many of +the architectural painters have depicted the well-known street scenes +and buildings under the mantle of winter. + +=Three Excellent Pictures by Hendrik Dubbels.=--Hendrik Dubbels +(1620-76?), about whom comparatively little is known, has three pictures +of great excellence: A Marine, a Calm, and a River Scene. Dubbels is +supposed to have taught Ludolf Bakhuysen (1631-1708), who was also a +pupil of Allart van Everdingen. + +=Bakhuysen, Painter of Stormy Seas.=--Bakhuysen loved the ocean in its +angry moods, and used to hire fishermen to take him out in their boats +in the fury of storms. His works are highly valued, and some critics +prefer them to the more placid pictures of Willem van de Velde. The +Rijks owns two views of The Ij (or Y) near Amsterdam; The Port of +Amsterdam, painted in 1673; Agitated Water: Haarlemmer Meer (for which +3,500 florins was paid in 1840); Stormy Sea After the Storm (1672); +Embarkation of Jan de Witt on the Dutch Fleet; and Portrait of the +Painter by himself. + +=Van de Velde, the Elder and the Younger.=--Willem van de Velde the +Elder (1611-93), who was Court Painter to Charles II. and James II. of +England, is represented in the Rijks by eleven marine drawings. We have +already seen fine examples of his more famous son, Willem van de Velde, +at the Mauritshuis, but thirteen splendid examples hang in this gallery. + +=Some Notable Pictures of Naval Warfare.=--The Ij (or Y) at Amsterdam, +dated 1686, which formerly hung in the Schreierstoren in Amsterdam, was +described by Sir Joshua Reynolds as follows: + + "At the office of the Commissary of the Wharfs is one of Vandervelde's + most capital pictures: it is about twelve feet long; a view of the + port of Amsterdam with an infinite quantity of shipping." + +[Illustration: W. VAN DE VELDE +The Ij or Y at Amsterdam] + +The Four Days' Combat is a picture of the moment when the English +flag-ship, the "Prince Royal," is striking her colors in the fight with +the Dutch fleet in 1666; and its companion, The Capture, shows four +English men-of-war brought in as prizes in the same fight. Here the +painter has represented himself in a small boat, for in such a position +he actually witnessed the battle. An Agitated Sea, with various +sailing-vessels, is delightful because of the warm lighting and movement +of the waves; two Calms represent the painter in the mood he best loves +to paint the sea. Other canvases represent the sea under squalls, light +breezes, etc. The Canon Shot, with a large ship in the foreground, was +bought in 1834 for 3,000 florins. + +=A Beautiful Picture of the Dutch Coast.=--View on the Coast of +Scheveningen shows the dunes on the right, above which rises the steeple +of a church; on the left is the calm sea under a lovely afternoon light. +Two fishing-boats are seen in the distance; a boat lies on the beach; a +fisherman walks by with his nets, and in the foreground are three men. +The sea, the dunes, the tiny figures, and the light all combine to make +a beautiful picture. + +=How some Painters helped each Other.=--The great geniuses could do +everything well--portraits, landscapes, marines, figure subjects, +architecture, interiors, and still life. Some, however, excelled in one +particular branch, and, sometimes against their will bowed to the +popular demand for their works in that line, and devoted themselves +entirely to it. This specialization was carried to great lengths; and it +seems strange to us to find one master of landscape calling upon a +famous figure-painter to people his landscapes _a la mode_, and _vice +versa_, as happened in numberless instances. Sometimes even cattle were +supplied; and, more particularly, live and dead game, flowers, fruits, +household stuff, and all kinds of still life. + +=The Effect of this on their Reputation.=--Sometimes a young artist's +facility in a certain field was detrimental to high esteem. Paul Potter, +for example, had to live down the reproach that he was nothing but a +painter of animals,--which he very quickly did. Those who made a +specialty of live animals apart from landscape are very few. With the +exception of the works of Snyders, hunting scenes are rare. Wouwermans's +hunts are confined to the start and the return of the cavalcades. + +=Blanc's Description of Weenix's Style.=--J. B. Weenix must have loved +hunting also, for it forms one of the familiar motives in his landscapes +in the Italian style. However, + + "as he painted above all for the pleasure of painting, his usual + custom was to group in the foreground of his composition the products + of the chase rather than to represent the hunt itself. It is only in + the distance that hounds and huntsmen are seen hunting the hare, while + the poor animal is already dead and hanging by its foot to a branch of + a tree in the foreground. A brilliant gamecock, one or two partridges, + some ribbons and flowers, and a big garden vase will accompany the + hare and form a charming picture for the mere delight of the eyes. + Truth, finesse of local color, delightful light and shade, exquisite + handling, and the whole technique of art are employed to make us + admire this still life. We cannot help noticing the masterly manner in + which the artist has rendered the fur of his dead hare, crimsoned with + blood; and how lovingly he has caressed the plumage of the neck and + crop of his partridges, and reproduced the beautiful lustrous black of + the cock, whose wings are splashed with white; how he has made us feel + the velvet of the skin at the joining of the muscles, and accentuated + the feet and claws. But the final luxury of the palette seems to have + been reserved for a superb hunting-dog with delicate ears, that + watches with an eye full of life over his master's gun and the + glorious trophies of the chase; and distends his nostrils as if to + snuff the odor of the gunpowder, the aroma of the gin, and the strong + scents of the venison." + +=Painters of Still Life.=--Usually the painters of inanimate objects +take the trouble to arrange their inert models, just as a historical +painter would dispose his living figures. The human figures in Snyders's +pictures were painted by Rubens, Jordaens, or Martin de Vos. His pupils +were Jan Fyt, Nicasius Bernarts, and Pieter Boel. The Rijks Gallery has +two splendid pictures by him: one, a dish garnished with fruits and dead +game; and the other, a dead roebuck, a wild boar's head, and vegetables. + +=Snyders's Dead Game and Vegetables.=--Beautiful in composition and +color is his Dead Game and Vegetables. On a shelf are placed choice +specimens of china, glass, earthenware, fruit stands, etc., and these +are balanced on the left by a beautiful glass vase of roses and iris +standing in a niche. A large basket of apples, peaches, melons, pears, +and grapes, a hung deer, a boar's head, a lobster, a few artichokes, and +a bunch of asparagus show the artist's wonderful arrangement of form and +color. + +[Illustration: FRANS SNYDERS +Dead Game and Vegetables] + +=Savery's Landscapes and other Pictures.=--Roelandt Savery (1576-1639) +was famous as a landscape-painter. The landscapes are somewhat +artificial, and really are used as framework for the animal life he +loved to introduce. His execution is sometimes rather heavy but with +strong tones. The landscapes usually consist of grassy swards with +brownish-green trees and shrubs in the foreground, while the background +is bathed in the bluish tints so dear to Brueghel. Animals and birds of +all kinds animate Savery's pictures, as well as human figures, all drawn +with much talent. The Hague has a famous picture, by this artist, of +Orpheus Charming the Animals; and the Rijks owns Elijah Fed by the +Ravens (1634) and A Stag Hunt in a Rocky Landscape (1626). + +=Adriaen van Utrecht and his Still Life.=--Adriaen van Utrecht was ten +years ahead of Jan Fyt in painting those pictures of live or dead +animals, game, fruits, and implements of the chase that we still admire +so much. Although his lights are sometimes somewhat heavy and his brush +work is not so fine as Fyt's, yet he equals the latter in certainty of +touch and especially in his feeling for life and nature. His pictures +are very scarce: Amsterdam possesses only one, called Still Life, signed +and dated 1644. On a canvas eight by ten feet the painter has grouped +pies, hams, a lobster, grapes, peaches, and lemons on a table. On the +left, on the floor, are some musical instruments; on a chair some golden +vases; above, a parrot; on the right a great sculptured basin and a +little white spaniel, and in the centre a monkey playing with some fruit +from an overturned basket. + +=Ten Pictures by M. Hondecoeter.=--Melchior d' Hondecoeter can be +studied to great advantage in the Rijks, which owns several pictures of +the first order: The Floating Feather, The Philosophical Magpie, Animals +and Plants, The Country House, The Duck Pond, The Frightened Hen, The +Menagerie, Dead Game, and two of birds. + +=Hondecoeter's Father and Grandfather.=--The great Hondecoeter was a +pupil of his father, Gijsbert d' Hondecoeter (1604-53), the pupil of his +father Gillis d' Hondecoeter (1583-1638), a painter of portraits and +landscapes in the manner of R. Savery and David Vinck Boons. Gijsbert +followed his father's style of landscapes; but he attained a great +reputation for his birds, and particularly his ducks. Both styles may be +seen in the Rijks: A Landscape with Figures, dated 1652, and Aquatic +Birds, dated 1651. In the duck pond, where ducks and pigeons are +sporting, is also a feather floating on the water, for the artist was +fond of repeating this little touch. + +The Philosophical Magpie regards from a tree-trunk a dead heron, a +goose, and ducks; its pendant shows a living peacock near a large vase +and a dead hare and pheasant. Dead Game, a small picture, exhibits a +dead partridge and a string of four little birds, and the others +represent parrots and other exotic birds, flowers, and plants, and some +monkeys. The Frightened Hen is defending her chickens against the attack +of a pea-hen. The most famous of all, however, is The Floating Feather. + +[Illustration: M. D'HONDECOETER +The Floating Feather] + + =Burger's Criticism of The Floating Feather.=--"To make a pilgrimage + to Amsterdam without admiring The Floating Feather, would be + committing the crime of _lese-peinture_. Hondecoeter has painted this + most carefully and in his happiest vein. In a park luxuriantly + decorated with beautiful trees and springing fountains, he has grouped + strange and rare birds with domestic fowls. On the left in the + foreground may be recognized a pelican, a crane, a flamingo, and a + cassowary; on the right are ducks and geese of various breeds; a + magpie cleaves the air with rapid wings; and, lastly, a light feather + floats on the surface of a quiet pool, and this detail has given the + picture its name." + +Dr. Bredius says: + + "The pelican on the left is particularly remarkable; but the ducks do + no less credit to this artist, who has expressed with such penetration + the life of the feathered world, the movements of these creatures, I + should indeed say their expression; and he has rendered their + physiognomy and character with such profound truth that no other + artist can approach Hondecoeter in this respect." + +The Philosophical Magpie, the Country House, and, better still, the +modest frame in which the artist, putting aside for a moment his usual +style, has brought together lizards, butterflies, and sparrows amid +shrubs and large-leaved plants, are Hondecoeters of the most admirable +quality, whether in frankness of detail, or for the mastery of execution +and accent of color. + +=Asselijn's Allegorical Bird Picture.=--The curious Allegory of the +Vigilance of the Grand Pensionary John de Witt by Jan Asselijn is a bird +picture. Here a great white swan is defending her nest against the +attack of a black dog swimming rapidly toward it. Beneath the swan is +the Dutch legend The Grand Pensionary; on the eggs, Holland; and under +the dog, The Enemy of the State (intended for England). The feather lost +by the bird is beautifully painted, and has challenged comparison with +Hondecoeter's Floating Feather. + +[Illustration: ASSELIJN +The Swan] + +=Eckhout.=--G. van der Eckhout (1621-74) has a Huntsman with Two +Greyhounds, painted about 1670. The huntsman, wearing a red vest, is +seated on the grayish earth. The general tone of the picture is +chocolate or chestnut. + +=Jan Vonck.=--Jan Vonck (1630-?), another painter who devoted himself +principally to still life, especially dead birds, sometimes was +responsible for the birds in Ruisdael's pictures. His brush work is that +of a master; his color is strong and agreeable with a transparent touch. +The Rijks owns one example, Dead Birds. + +=Jan Weenix.=--Jan Weenix (1640-1719) was the pupil of his celebrated +father during the latter's lifetime; and later he studied still life +under his uncle G. Hondecoeter, Elias Vonck (brother of Jan), and +Matthys Bloem. He surpassed his father in his pictures of dead game, one +of which hangs in this gallery. His animals--swans, hares, and various +birds, arranged with flowers and fruits around sumptuous antique +vases--are not so strong in character as those in Hondecoeter's works; +but they are very true to nature and have the great charm of harmony and +picturesqueness. They richly deserve their original popularity which +their wonderful finish and execution have preserved till the present +day. + +=Coninck a Good Animal-painter.=--David de Coninck (1636-87), who had +many affinities with Fyt, also painted landscapes, animals, and birds. +He received the nickname Ramelaer from his fondness for painting rabbits +especially. He was quite at home in hunting scenes, two of which are in +the Rijks,--The Bear Hunt and The Stag Hunt. + +Another painter of this period, Pieter Jan Ruijven (1651-1716), has a +fine picture of a cock and hens. + +=Bosch, an Early Painter of Flowers.=--One of the early Dutch painters +of flowers was L. J. van den Bosch (?-1517), who painted with a +transparent color and a light touch. He treated fruits, flowers, and +insects with sympathy and truth. He often represented flowers in vases; +his insects are so minute that they have to be examined with a +magnifying glass. + +=Delff's Poultry Seller.=--Pictures of this school, however, do not +abound in the Dutch galleries till we come to the artists who lived a +century later. The first of these who appears in the Rijks is Cornelis +Jacobsz Delff (1571-1643), a pupil of Cornelis Cornelisz. Delff was +renowned for his pictures of still life. He is represented in the Rijks +by The Poultry Seller. + +=Other Still-life Painters in this Gallery.=--Other still-life painters +born in the sixteenth century, who are represented in this gallery, are +Ambrosius Bosschaert (1570-?), Pieter Noort (1592-1650), Pieter Symonsz +Potter (1597-1652), Adriaen van Utrecht (1599-1652), and Hans Boulengier +(1600-45). Bosschaert has a picture, Flowers, dated 1619. He had a son +of the same name who also painted flowers. + +Of Pieter Noort little is known beyond the fact that he painted still +life, and especially Fish, as in the two pictures here signed P. van +Noort. + +P. S. Potter painted on glass and was the manager of a gilded leather +establishment at Amsterdam. His model was Hals. Besides portraits and +landscapes, his preference was for still life. The Straw Cutter and +Still Life (signed and dated 1646) are worthy of attention. + +=Two Pictures by Heem of Utrecht.=--Jan Davidsz de Heem (1606-84) of +Utrecht was a son of David de Heem, so famous for his _dejeuners_ +spread with game, oysters, lobsters, fruits, wine, china, glass, and +silver. Jan inherited his father's tastes, and much of his talent, as is +evidenced by two pictures in the Rijks. One shows flowers and fruits of +natural size; and the other represents a table on which are a cup, a +glass, and a vase of wrought silver loaded with fruits. + + =Greville on his Style.=--"At Antwerp, under Seghers, he enriched his + palette and learned the art of composing a delicious harmony by + setting flowers and fruits and glass and silver vases on an Oriental + table-cloth. To the most minute exactitude and almost microscopic + details, he added the most brilliant coloring and an unfailing taste + in the arrangement of his flowers and still life." + +=Pieter de Ring.=--A picture of a table covered with blue velvet and +spread with lobsters, oysters, bread, fruit, etc., is typical of the +work of Pieter de Ring (1615-60), one of De Heem's pupils, a Fleming, +who spent his whole life in Holland, and was noted for his picturesque +arrangement and fine execution. + +Hans Boulengier has a flower piece signed 1625. He painted still life, +_genre_, and sometimes "fantasmagories." Little is known about him. + +=Still-life Painters in the Latter Half of the Seventeenth Century.=--A +generation later this school was in full blossom. Pictures of fruits, +flowers, and dead game, by artists who flourished in the second half of +the seventeenth century, are fairly plentiful. + +Abraham Hendricksz van Beyeren (1620-74) painted with fine composition +and strong color breakfast pictures in the style of David de Heem, and +delighted in portraying fish as in the Rijks example. + +Cornelis Brise (1622-7-) painted portraits; this gallery possesses one +of his pictures of flowers, signed C. Brise, 1665. On the wall beside it +hangs another flower piece by the brush of Elias van Broeck (?-1708). + +=De Snuffelaer.=--Otto Marseus van Schrieck (1619-78) was nicknamed De +Snuffelaer (the ferreter), by the Dutch art colony in Rome, because of +his frequent country walks to discover new plants, insects, and reptiles +as models for his compositions. He painted with wonderful finish, good +drawing, and truth to nature, as may be seen in his Insects, Lizards, +etc., here signed O. M. V. S. + +Jacob Marrel (1614-81) has a flower piece signed and dated 1634. Among +other masters in Utrecht, Frankfort, Brussels, and Antwerp, he studied +with J. D. de Heem. + +=Kalff, a Good Painter and a Brilliant Talker.=--Willem Kalff (1622-93) +was the pupil of Henry Pot, and as soon as he left the master he +abandoned his manner, choosing for his subjects vegetables, fruits, +kitchen utensils, and sometimes handsome vases. Houbraken says he spent +whole days before a lemon, a beautiful orange, and the agate or +mother-of-pearl handle of a dessert-knife; and the vessels of Holland +never brought home a single shell, the strange form and splendid colors +of which he did not copy. + +Unlike many of the Dutch painters of his day, who spent most of their +time in the tavern, Kalff was a man of charming and distinguished manner +and a brilliant talker, and he possessed a witty and cultivated mind. +His friends would spend the entire night listening to his conversation, +and when he died from an accidental fall from the bridge at Bantem, the +poet Willem van der Hoeven wrote a eulogy in which he said that Willem +Kalff "knew how to paint golden vases and silver cups and all the +treasures of opulence, but no treasures could outweigh his merit, for he +had no equal in his line." + +=His Favorite Subjects.=--The kitchen with Kalff became a heroic +subject, and over it he threw the most subtle effects of chiaroscuro, +throwing a gleam of light upon a well, a scoured saucepan, or a bunch of +vegetables. Who is the hero or heroine of the scene? A fine cauldron or +saucepan or kettle shining with a thousand reflected lights that come +through a window of thick glass or yellow paper. An old cask stands by, +interesting us with all its details of decay,--its swollen staves, its +rusted hoops, and the insects that lodge in the rotten wood. A big +nail, an earthen pot, a skimmer, a few onions with their shining skins, +a broom, a jug of water, and a towel lying on a barrel,--with such +simple things he makes a beautiful picture. Perhaps in the background +the cook and her dog are discerned. Kalff never allows figures to become +too prominent, for he wishes his still life to catch and hold the +spectator's interest. + +The picture by this artist in the Rijks has for its subject a silver +vase, of elegant form, and a porcelain dish filled with oranges and +lemons. The objects are tastefully arranged and beautifully painted. + +=Some other Painters of Animals and Fruits.=--Anthonie Leemans (1630-8-) +has also a characteristic picture of still life; he was fond of painting +dead birds. Another picture of dead birds is by Willem G. Fergusson +(1632-9-), a Scotchman, who hired a house at The Hague in 1660, and +another in 1668; he was living in Amsterdam in 1681. The picture is +dated 1662. A Garland of Fruits is signed J. Borman, who flourished in +Leyden in 1657 and 1658; but about him little is known. Another notable +canvas belonging to this school is Animals, Insects, and Fruits, by +Anthony van Borssom (1629-77), who was probably a pupil, and certainly +an admirer of Rembrandt; his tones are somewhat sombre, but his drawing +is vigorous and full of interest. R. van der Burgh (fl. 1680) has a +lifelike painting of Sea Fish; and Karel Batist is a little-known +flower-painter, who worked in Amsterdam in 1659; his canvas is unusually +large for this _genre_, though the student will have noticed that most +of the artists of this period liked to paint their flowers and fruits +natural size. + +Pieter Claes van Haerlem (d. 1660) has a small picture of still life +which bears the false signature, Johan de Heem, 1640; and Jan van Kessel +(1626-79) has a much smaller one of Fruits and Insects. Another picture +by the latter, representing a woman seated at a table with fruits, etc., +on it, is falsely attributed to Anna Maria van Schurman (1607-78), who +was called "the marvel of her century." Her great reputation probably +prompted some dealer to attempt the fraud. None of the principal +galleries of Europe possesses any examples of her pictures, insects, +etc., so celebrated during her lifetime. + +Another picture of Flowers, dated 1667, is by Nicolaes Lachtropius, who +was a famous Dutch painter of coach panels during the second half of the +seventeenth century. A contemporary German painter, Ottomar Elliger +(1633-79), also has a flower piece, dated 1674. + +=Mignon, a First-class Flower-painter.=--Abraham Mignon (1640-79) was a +pupil of J. D. de Heem. He had as pupils in the same style, two +daughters and M. S. Merian. He belongs to the first rank of +flower-painters. Peries says: + + "The qualities which distinguish the works of Mignon are freshness, + delicacy of tone, finish, the splendor of the reflections, and the + perfect imitation of nature. His flowers are selected with taste and + he perfectly well understands the art of giving them their full value. + He equally excels in painting insects, flies, and butterflies, and the + dewdrops trembling on the leaves; the velvety skin of his fruits + invites the touch of the fingers. His only fault is perhaps a dryness + in his draughtsmanship." + +=Some of his Pictures.=--His masterpiece, _Mignon au Chat_, showing a +Persian cat upsetting a vase of flowers on a marble table, is in the +Rijks. Another picture here is Fruits, representing a dish with grapes +and pomegranates, besides oysters and white bread. In composition, +warmth, harmony, and truth to nature this belongs to his best work. +Inferior to this is Flowers, where flowers appear in a vase, and a cat +and a mouse-trap are also represented. Still Life and Fruits shows a +marble table, on which are fruits and flowers, a boiled lobster and an +antique vase, a picture that approaches his master Jan de Heem in +harmony and softness of touch. + +=How Jan van Huysum became a Great Fruit and Flower painter.=--Jan van +Huysum was the son of a flower-painter who had turned his house into a +sort of factory where everything contributing to the decoration of +rooms and gardens could be found. Jan, who was placed at the head of the +enterprise, grew tired of the business side and devoted himself to art, +especially the works of Mignon, Verelst, and David de Heem. He also +closely studied nature, and seeing a whole world unfold itself in the +study of flowers alone, he explored the furthest recesses of his domain; +birds, butterflies, beetles, wasps, bees,--he forgot none of the +satellites of the flowers. Being also surrounded with examples of all +the exterior and interior art decorations of the day, he was able to +copy the marble consoles that served as supports for his baskets, the +earthenware bowls and vases in which he kept his bouquets fresh, and the +bas-reliefs that set off the flowers in those vases, and the mascarons +and chimaeras that formed the handles. It may be said of him as a French +critic said of Baptiste: "His beautiful flowers lacked only the perfume +that they seemed to exhale." Reynolds must also have been thinking of +Huysum's effects when he said that Rubens's pictures were "bouquets of +colors." Huysum's fruits have received some criticism: some critics hold +that he has given them the look of wax and the polish of ivory. In this +branch of his art, he perhaps falls short of David de Heem. His peaches +are too firm, his plums not provocative of thirst, and his grapes leave +a little more ripeness, gold, and sun to be desired. He succeeded better +with red gooseberries and the cleft pomegranates with their pulp and +seeds sparkling like rubies and delightful to the eye. The Rijks Museum +has five pictures by this master in which his qualities as a fruit and +flower painter are fully displayed. + +=His Landscapes.=--A small landscape is also here. Formerly Huysum's +landscapes were as highly prized and as costly as his flower pieces. +However, his works in this field are echoes merely of Guaspre, Glauber, +Poussin, and Claude; he lived in an age when the Dutch again bowed down +before foreign idols. The familiar Dutch pastures were now peopled with +nymphs and demigods. + +=Conrad Roepel.=--Conrad Roepel (1678-1748) was famous for his flowers, +fruits, festoons, garlands, birds, and insects. He painted with much +truth and good color. He studied under C. Netscher; but later he took +Huysum for his model. The Rijks has a picture of Flowers and another of +Fruits by him, both signed and dated 1721. + +=The Van Os Family.=--Jan van Os (1744-1808) was greatly admired in his +day as a painter of marines, landscapes, and more particularly flowers +and fruits. There is one of the latter here. His son and pupil, Georgius +Jacobus Johannes (1782-1861), was equally famous as a painter of flowers +and game. He is represented here by four pictures, one of which is a +landscape, the animals of which are painted by his brother Peter +Gerhardus (1776-1839). The latter painted chiefly military and hunting +scenes, landscapes, and animals. Nine canvases exhibit his qualities in +this gallery. His sister Marie Margrita van Os (1780-1862) was, like her +brothers, a pupil of Jan van Os; she has a Still Life in the Rijks. + +=Eight of Gerrit Dou's Pictures.=--Gerrit Dou is represented by eight +works including the famous Evening School which in 1808 was sold for +17,500 florins. The others are his own Portrait; the Portrait of a Man, +dated 1646; Portraits of a Gentleman and his Wife, in a landscape +painted by Nicholas Berchem; _La Curieuse_, a small oval picture of a +girl with a lamp in her hand; a Hermit in Prayer in a Grotto; a Hermit, +dated 1664; and A Fisherwoman. + +=Description of The Evening School.=--The Evening School is the most +important of all Dou's candle-light pictures. The composition is very +simple. A looped curtain is lifted to reveal a room poorly furnished +with benches and tables. The schoolmaster, who sits at a table with his +arm on a small desk, is hearing a girl spell, and shaking his finger at +a boy who is walking away. This group is lighted by a candle that stands +on the table near an hour-glass. In the background a small group is seen +at a table also lighted by a candle. On the left of the teacher a boy is +making calculations on a slate, while a girl by his side looks on, +holding a lighted candle in her hand. A fourth light--from a large +lantern on the floor--adds another artificial light for the painter to +treat. This great work is painted on a panel 1 foot 8 inches high by 1 +foot 3 inches long. + +=The Fisherman's Wife.=--The Fisherman's Wife, painted in 1653, shows an +old woman in a black gown with yellow sleeves and a man's round hat. She +is holding a reel. + +=Description of The Hermit.=--The Hermit is one of the most marvellously +finished works of the master in his most minute style. You can count the +wrinkles and hairs of the old white-bearded man who holds a crucifix in +his hands. An open book, an hour-glass, a can, and a basket (for bread +and wine or water) and other accessories are painted in miniature; on +the right is seen the trunk of a tree, and in the far distance are some +arcades, probably cloisters. The tiny panel is only ten by eight inches. + +=Schalcken, Imitator of Dou and Rembrandt.=--Godfried Schalcken was the +pupil of Hoogstraten, and of Dou, whom he skilfully imitated. The sight +of some of Rembrandt's pictures next led him to devote himself to the +effects of light, artificial light especially: the majority of his +pictures therefore are illuminated by lamp or candle light. His most +remarkable work is at Amsterdam. It is called Young Girl Lighting a +Lantern. At the Revolution, he accompanied William III. to England, and +painted portraits of that king, one of which, signed with the artist's +name and dated 1699, is in The Hague Gallery. Among his best pictures is +the Boy Eating an Egg, in the Rijks Museum. + +=His Portrait of William III.=--The half-length portrait of William III. +in the same gallery, in which there is a remarkable play of light, shows +that this master who delighted in the composition of small subjects +borrowed from common life, was equally capable of painting pictures of +natural size. + +Schalcken's chief merit consists in the neatness of his finishing and +the perfect intelligence of his chiaroscuro. His touch is mellow, but +too fused, and his color warm and golden. + +=His Other Pictures.=--The other pictures here are A Young Man Smoking; +Difference in Taste, in which two men are talking, while another lights +his pipe; and two Female Portraits, one of an ambassador's daughter, and +the other her companion. + +=Slingelandt, Another Imitator of Dou.=--Pieter Cornelisz van +Slingelandt (1640-91) is another pupil and a close imitator of Dou; and +almost surpasses him in laborious execution. He reached the limits of +what can be done by a painter in oils. All his work seems to have been +done under the impression that imitation is the sole end of art. + +=His Skill in Delicately Minute Painting.=--Naturally he excelled in +still-life painting, in which nothing was too minute for him to endeavor +to reproduce on his canvas. His brush indicates the weft of the most +delicate tissues; the coloring matter, almost microscopically divided, +gives a tone to every stitch in a linen hood or cap, or a knitted +stocking. On a panel of the smallest size you can sometimes distinguish +the shadow, half tone, and high light of each of the pearls in a +necklace; sometimes also a cat's whiskers, and even the hairs on the +skin of a mouse. Sometimes a piece of lace is rendered with such labor +that it took more time to paint than to make. The consequence is that +his pictures are very scarce: not fifty are known. + +=His Favorite Subjects.=--Though as a rule he preferred the luxury and +elegance of high life, with its marbles and richly carved furniture, +upholstery and tapestry, jewels and laces, silks and satins, velvets and +furs, he also sometimes chose models of humble estate. The Rehearsal is +a masterpiece in this class. Here a man is playing a violin while a boy +is singing and a woman preparing dinner. The other example of his art is +quite in contrast with the above. It is called The Rich Man, and on it +Slingelandt has lavished all the resources of his brush. Blanc says: + + "He painted the merchant at his counter and the lacemaker at her + distaff, the housekeeper purchasing partridges or getting dinner + ready, and the woman of the people occupied in sewing beside the + cradle in which her infant is sleeping. From the richly furnished + salon Slingelandt descended to the scullery and took pleasure in + looking at the rows of shining pots and pans, and other kitchen + utensils. He observed the correct tone of the servant's apron as well + as that of the silken skirt he had painted in her mistress's portrait. + He devoted as much attention to imitating the polish of a brass vase + or the rough varnish of an earthenware pot, as to expressing the + transparency of a Bohemian glass. Cats and mice were also honored with + his precious painting, as well as parrots and spaniels. But what he + rendered with most love and with unequalled truth was the musical + instrument. His violins are light, and sonorous; his violoncellos + provoke the virtuoso and enchant the ear almost as much as the eye. + One would say that nothing escaped his observation, nothing of what + constituted private and family life, that which he himself lived in + obscurity, the simplicity and joys of which he painted with so much + application, finish, and patience." + +=Adriaen de Vois.=--Arie (or Adriaen) de Vois (about 1630-80) studied +first under Nicholas Knupfer in Utrecht, next with Abraham van den +Tempel, and lastly with Pieter van Slingelandt, whose highly finished +style he followed with great success. He painted charming scenes of +familiar life, lovely portraits, interiors, and even landscapes, in +which he introduced, in the style of Poelenburg, tiny nude figures. The +Dutch collectors have always prized them for the delicacy of their color +and touch and vivacity. + +[Illustration: A. DE VOIS +Lady and Parrot] + +=Description of The Lady with a Parrot.=--In his Lady with a Parrot, the +lady is rather French in type, and dressed in the most fashionable style +of the period. Her earrings are wonderfully painted and perhaps even +more realistic are the fruits in the basket which she holds on her knee, +and from which she offers her parrot a tempting treat. Every detail of +this picture is perfect in treatment--the dress, the hair, the face, the +jewels, the still life, and the brilliant feathers of the bird. + +=His Other Pictures in the Rijks.=--In addition to this beautiful +picture the Rijks also owns The Fisherman Smoking, a little oval panel; +A Violin Player, who holds a wineglass; and The Fish-Vender, a jolly +old fisherman with a glass of beer in his hand. + +=Seven Pictures by Brekelenkam.=--Quieringh Gerritsz van Brekelenkam +(?-1668) was a pupil of Gerrit Dou; and his own manner was a mixture of +Dou and Rembrandt. He settled in Leyden in 1648. His works, +representing, as a rule, interiors, with figures noted for the natural +expression of their heads, are highly esteemed. His touch is light and +spirited, and he understands the art of chiaroscuro. The Rijks owns +seven pictures: Two Interiors, The Fireside (1664), The Mouse Trap +(1660), Confidences (1661), Reading, and A Mother and Child. The latter +is a little oval panel, in which a woman in a red skirt and black jacket +is giving some porridge to her child. + +One of the Interiors, representing A Tailor's Shop, is one of his best +works. The tailor, with long hair and fur cap, is seated at a work-table +on the right; he is talking to a woman who is carrying a tin bucket. On +the right, near the window, you see the back of a young workman. In the +background hangs a picture, and there are some clothes on a board. The +work is somewhat in the style of Pieter de Hooch. + +=His Poverty of Imagination.=--Brekelenkam has been accused of poverty +of imagination because of the paucity of figures in his compositions; +and yet some of the most beautiful and famous pictures of the Little +Masters consist of single figures, such as a woman sitting spinning. One +critic complains: + + "Notwithstanding his ability (his method is preferable to Dou's; his + painting is more unctuous, warmer, and freer, being finely accented + with lifelike touches on the various utensils or accessories of his + interiors), it seems that this painter was not endowed with a very + fertile imagination. He has a very slight taste for difficult + subjects, and carefully avoids complicated compositions; most often, + indeed, a single personage suffices him for a picture. A smoker + lighting his pipe, an old woman sitting in the chimney corner, a + philosopher turning over the leaves of a folio volume, the interior of + a farm, or a kitchen,--these are Brekelenkam's ordinary motives. But + feeling and intellect give relief to these vulgar themes, and render + the delicate works of this too-little-known painter precious to + art-lovers." + +The student will be able to judge from the pictures in the Rijks whether +or no the artist deserves more or less than this half-hearted praise. + +=Ter Borch's Famous Paternal Advice.=--Ter Borch, as we have seen by The +Message or Despatch in the Mauritshuis, was fond of painting pictures +with some slight dramatic connection. Here we find the very famous +Paternal Advice, also called The Paternal Reproof, but better known as +The Satin Dress (_Robe de Satin_). + +A young lady is standing with her back to the spectator. She wears a +black cape and a white satin dress, and her hair is blond. The +table-cloth, bed curtains, and other hangings are red. On the table at +the left are a silver candlestick, two combs, and a pink string, and a +mirror or perhaps a picture in a frame. On the right is seated a rather +young man with long hair, and richly and somewhat extravagantly dressed +in lilac and gray. In one hand he holds a large hat trimmed with three +immense blue and lemon-colored plumes. His sword is by his side, and +behind him in the shadows stands his greyhound. His left hand is raised +with some gesture, probably of admiration, as his face is smiling. The +old woman at his side is interested solely in her glass, through which +half of her face is seen as she is drinking. + +It was Goethe who bestowed the name Paternal Advice upon this picture, +the story of which is not yet known; but although critics have accepted +fatherly admonition as the theme, the relative ages of the characters do +not justify the theory. + +=Blanc's Critique of the Picture.=--Blanc is one who does not question +this. He exclaims: + + "Truly this dress is perfect: it is so close to the eye and within + reach of the hand that it engrosses the entire attention of the + spectator. One would say that the young girl, so gently reprimanded by + her father, has come there merely for the sake of showing her dress; + and, indeed, the painter has dwelt on this detail with the greatest + affection, and, moreover, has hidden the face of the young girl, and + shown us only the back of her head with its blond coil and the + escaping tresses, in which are mingled some black velvet, which + relieves the ash-colored tone of the hair. What a singular thing! A + frightful sacrifice of a woman's head to a robe of satin, the + unheard-of triumph of an accessory--a charming infraction against all + the principles of art--we might call it a colossal fault--but a + privilege only allowed to great artists. The painter has by this + aroused our curiosity regarding the face of the young girl, who has + turned away her head, and so we have to imagine her blushing cheeks + and her lowered eyelids. As for the father, he is remonstrating with + her so tenderly, with such a gentle gesture and so paternal a manner + that we are not disturbed by it, and can therefore fix our glance on + the magnificent satin dress, the folds of which are so beautifully + broken by the light, and in which all the interest of the picture is + concentrated. But what an inexplicable attitude is that of the mother, + who is slowly drinking a glass of fine wine, while her husband + lectures their daughter." + +=Other Pictures by Ter Borch in the Rijks.=--The Rijks owns a Portrait +of Ter Borch, painted by himself, and one of his wife, Geertruida +Matthyssen; a copy of The Peace of Munster (original in the National +Gallery), and a copy of his Boy and a Dog, also known as The Scholar. + +=Description of The Scholar.=--The latter shows a table covered with an +old gray carpet, on which is a copy-book and an inkstand. The scholar, +who instead of writing his exercise is busy catching fleas on the dog, +which he holds between his knees, wears a violet coat and blue +stockings, and his gray hat lies on a little wooden bench before him. +The whole is of a neutral color, but very clear. + +=Seven Pictures by Adriaen van Ostade.=--Adriaen van Ostade has seven +pictures on these walls: An Artist's Studio, Travellers' Halt (1671), +The Charlatan (1648), The Baker, The Merry Peasant, The Intimate Company +(1642), Confidences (1642). + +=His Artist's Studio.=--An Artist's Studio, of which there is a replica +dated 1666 in the Dresden Gallery, shows a painter sitting at an easel +with his back to the spectator; he wears a violet coat and a red cap. +The other features of the composition are a black dog asleep, an +assistant grinding colors in a corner, and a pupil preparing a palette. +The artist is supposed to be Ostade himself in both instances; but for +some reason his face is half hidden. The play of light and shadow in the +apartment is noticeably Rembrandtesque in character. + +=A Tavern Interior.=--There are two tavern interiors here. In one (dated +1661) five peasants are grouped in the foreground. Before a large +chimney stands a man in a blue vest and gray hat, holding a mug in his +hand; opposite is a man in a blue mantle and a white hat, who is filling +his pipe; in the chimney corner an old man is dreaming; and to his right +an old woman is listening to what a man in a furred cap, with a pipe in +his hand, is saying to the man before the fire. On the extreme right a +little girl, on a wooden stool before a rustic table, is eating her soup +and amusing herself with a little black-and-white dog. In the +background, near the open window, five men are grouped around a table, +smoking, drinking, and talking. The lights on the separate groups from +the back and side windows are ably managed. + +=Ostade's Best Period.=--The Charlatan, dated 1648, belongs to the +master's best period, when he painted such gems as The Barn, The Family, +and The Father of the Family. + +The Intimate Company, signed 1642, is in the Van der Hoop Collection, as +is also a rustic interior, _Societe de campagnards_, signed 1661. The +latter has passed through the Lormier, Choiseul, Du Barry, Tolozon, and +Duchesse de Berry collections. + +=Some of his Pupils.=--Among Adriaen's many pupils may be mentioned +Cornelis Dusart, Cornelis Bega, Michiel van Musscher, R. Brakenburgh, +and Jan de Groot. They all followed his style more or less closely. +When Jan Steen visited Haarlem he also fell under his influence. + +=Isaak van Ostade.=--Isaak van Ostade (1621-49) has two rustic inns, one +signed and dated 1643, that are typical of his style. In his early work +he imitated his brother and teacher with some success, both in subject +and treatment, especially wayside hostelries. His pictures, however, are +browner in tone and harder in execution than Adriaen's. In one picture +here we see two travellers with a white horse halting in front of an +inn. The composition is delightful and full of nature and spirit. + +=C. Dusart, Better in some Respects than his Master.=--Cornelis Dusart +(1660-1704) adopted his master's (Ostade) style without servile +imitation. He was a minute observer of details and had an astonishing +memory that enabled him to use them to the best advantage in his +interiors. His choice and treatment of scenes were rather more +distinguished and less vulgar than some of his master's. His later +pictures are inferior to his early ones: they lack spontaneity of +conception, and that freshness and simplicity of impression that mark so +many of his works. Five striking pictures worthily represent his +abilities,--Wandering Musicians, The Fish Market (1683), The Village +Kermesse, A Village Inn, and Maternal Happiness. + +=Cornelis Bega.=--Cornelis Bega (1620-64), another pupil of Adriaen van +Ostade, copied and improved upon him. A Concert of Peasants is full of +color, light, movement, life, and gayety, with music, singing, and +dancing. It is warmer in color than most of his works. + +The Grace before the Meal (1663) shows a young woman with folded hands +seated at the table, and on the other side an old man. On the +window-sill is a flower-pot; in front, on the floor, a foot-warmer. This +is a good picture, but a little too red in tone, as often happens with +Bega. + +=M. van Musscher's Lack of Originality.=--Michiel van Musscher +(1645-1705) was completely lacking in individuality: he simply mirrored +his successive masters, Martin Zaagmorlen, Abraham van den Tempel, +Gabriel Metsu, and Adriaen van Ostade. Not only that, but he sometimes +painted also in the style of Jan Steen, and even imitated the marvellous +chiaroscuro of Pieter de Hooch. Sometimes also in subject and treatment +his work resembles that of Netscher and Albert Cuijp. He has five +portraits here, but is not represented by an example of his many +interiors, feasts, or scenes of peasant or genteel life. + +=Brakenburgh, a Clever Colorist.=--Richard Brakenburgh (1650-1702), a +pupil of A. van Ostade, Hendrick Mommers, and probably Jan Steen, whom +he imitated, lived in Haarlem. He also studied with B. Schendel, and +became a clever painter and very able in the management of chiaroscuro. +He is fond of merrymakings, drunken assemblies, doctors' visits, and +children's feasts. He sometimes painted the figures in the landscapes of +P. de Koninck and others. In his best works, some competent critics +consider him worthy to rank with Ostade in the brilliance of his color, +although it is always inferior in transparency. In form and modelling +his subjects suffer by comparison with those of his master. The Rijks +owns a jovial tavern scene, and The Feast of St. Nicholas, signed and +dated 1665, which the student will be interested in comparing with Jan +Steen's treatment of the same subject. + +=Several Periods in the Career of D. Teniers the Younger.=--David +Teniers the Younger (1610-90) has seven pictures here that illustrate +his various styles. As with most other artists who reached old age, +critics recognize several periods in the career of Teniers. At first, +his figures, from twelve to eighteen inches high, are broadly painted in +brownish and somewhat heavy tones. Toward 1640 his color becomes clearer +and more luminous and golden. From 1640 to 1660 it assumes silvery tones +of admirable lightness and limpidity; and, at the same time, his +execution grows more careful and precise. The pictures of this last +period are held in highest esteem. After that Teniers returned to a +gamut of golden tones, in which he sometimes displayed great power. At +the close of his life he became heavy and brownish in tone, and his +touch lost some of its clearness. Not many of his pictures are dated. +The earliest known date is 1641, on Our Corps de Garde, a medium-sized +picture of no special interest, in which we note numerous military +attributes. This is far inferior to a similar picture, now in St. +Petersburg, painted two years later. + +=His Relish for Pictures of the Supernatural.=--The Temptation of St. +Anthony is one of many pictures he painted in his relish for the class +of subjects painted two centuries earlier by Jerome Bosch--Dives in +Hell, incantations, witches, phantasmagoria, etc.--for the simple +purpose of assembling the most hideous and grotesque apparitions +imaginable. + +=His Pictures of other Kinds.=--The other pictures here are devoted to +his villagers, drinking, playing bowls, dancing, singing, and fighting. +A Landscape, with a rustic house, shows a gardener standing, spade in +hand, talking to a woman with a child on her lap. On the left, on the +ground, are some vegetables, also pots and other household utensils. + +=Peter Balten.=--Peter Balten (fl. 1540-71) is represented by a large +picture, St. Martin's Fair. His figures are full of spirit, and his +touch is sure. Little is known of him except that he was one of the +greatest wits of his day. He studied under Pierre Brueghel, whom he +resembles in style. + +=B. van Bassen.=--A contemporary of his was Bartholomeus van Bassen (d. +1652), who has a fine Interior with figures supplied by Esais van de +Velde. His specialty was portraits, with studies of perspective, and +church and other interiors. + +=Three Pictures by Hendrick Bloemaert.=--Hendrick Bloemaert (1601-72) +was probably the son of Abraham. The Rijks has three of his pictures, +signed and dated: Winter (1631), Portrait of Johannes Puttkamer (1671), +and The Eggseller (1632). The latter is in the Van der Hoop Room. + +=Three Popular Artists.=--Jan van der Meer the Younger (1656-1705) is +represented by a charming picture, The Sleeping Shepherd, dated 1678. +Frans van Mieris the Elder is represented by The Letter, The Lute +Player, Jacob's Dream, The Lost Bird, and Fragility. His son, Willem van +Mieris, is represented by The Poulterer (1733), A Landscape with +Shepherds and Shepherdesses (1722), and a Lady and a Gentleman. + +[Illustration: F. VAN MIERIS +Grocer's Shop] + +=The Grocer's Shop by F. van Mieris the Younger.=--Willem's son and +pupil, Frans van Mieris the Younger (1689-1763), who carried on the +family traditions in Leyden, although somewhat inferior to his father +and grandfather, is represented by A Hermit (1721), A Chemist's Shop +(1714), and The Grocer's Shop (1715). This latter picture presents an +interesting scene of the day. Note the beautiful painting of the +sculptured bas-relief of the counter, at which stand the purchasers--an +old woman and a child. The shopkeeper holds scales and two baskets, +about the contents of which there seems to be some contention. In the +shop there is a larder, on the shelves of which various articles are +seen; baskets hang on the wall; and tubs, barrels, and casks are also +visible. Over the shop has grown a grape-vine, and its graceful festoons +of leaves make a beautiful effect. + +=Several of Karel Dujardin's Pictures.=--Karel Dujardin may also be +studied by his Portrait of a Man; Portrait of Gerard Reinst, a +celebrated art collector of Amsterdam and also a patron of the painter; +The Muleteers; The Laborer on his Farm (1655), in which a peasant is +seen winnowing corn; A Trumpeter on Horseback; a Portrait of Himself +(1660); an Italian Landscape with Animals; and a Landscape, which was +purchased at the Duchesse de Berry's sale in 1837 for 4,000 florins. + + =Burger on A Woman Reading.=--"Again the sphinx! Here we have an + interior with a woman standing in profile to the left. She is reading + a letter; she wears a light blue jacket and a grayish-blue skirt. + Before her are a table and a chair with a blue back. Behind her is + another blue chair. Decidedly Van der Meer has an affection for the + blue sky. The wall of the background is a pale moonlight blue, and the + woman's figure stands out against a geographical map a little tinted + with _bistre_, which hangs on the wall. + + "The execution of this picture is very delicate, indeed almost + trivial: the paint is laid on very lightly, the color is weak and even + a little dry. It is true that this picture is a little rubbed. On the + contrary, Van de Meer's touch was frank and the _pate grasse_ + abundant, even somewhat exaggerated in the View of Delft at The Hague; + there is an incomparable firmness of design and modelling in The + Milkmaid in the Six Gallery; and in the Facade of a Dutch House in the + same gallery, the color is extremely warm and harmonious. These + differences of practice make us hesitate for a time regarding the + parentage of The Woman Reading in the Van der Hoop Collection. + However, the physiognomy of this woman is of an exquisite delicacy; + her bare arms and the hand that holds the paper are marvellously + drawn.... This pale light and these delicate blues betray Van der + _Meer_. This artist probably had several styles. + + "This picture is signed: an open book on the table bears the word + Meer." + +=Van der Meer's Later Style.=--In later pieces his style is reminiscent +of De Hooch and Metsu, but it is brighter and the tone more enamelled. +In most instances the scene is in a small room lighted by a casement +window. Sometimes the painter himself is seated in a studio; sometimes a +girl and her lover are together; sometimes a woman is seated at the +clavecin. The Milkmaid in the Six Collection is noted for its brilliancy +of tone, harmonious distribution of tints, delicacy of gradations, and +solidity of touch. + +=His Portrait-painting.=--Van der Meer was also a splendid +portrait-painter and excelled in landscapes, in which he sacrificed +figures to trees, cottages, and lanes. There is a charming little +picture of this class in the Six Collection, representing a row of brick +houses with people, in the style of Pieter de Hooch. It is said that he +was killed by the fall of his house at the time when Simon Decker, a +vestryman of the Delft Church, was sitting to him for his portrait. + +=Pieter de Hooch (1635-78).=--This master who was so long neglected and +is now regarded as at least the equal of Ter Borch, Metsu, and Van +Mieris, is well represented in the Rijks, though absent from The Hague +Gallery. His talent is exhibited chiefly in his Conversations. Burger +says he has never seen a single picture by De Hooch that is not of the +first rank. + + =Burger on De Hooch's Choice of Subjects.=--"Sometimes he paints + interiors--people are playing at cards, or having a family concert, or + reading, or drinking, or conversing. Sometimes he paints exteriors; + then the painter introduces us to domestic occupations, and the + innocent recreations of private life, as, for instance, a servant + washing linen in a back yard, or cleaning fish, or plucking a fowl; or + perhaps there are ladies and their cavaliers playing at bowls in a + garden with trim gravelled walks." + + =His Excellent Painting of Interiors.=--"When he paints interiors, + this artist rarely neglects to show, on the right or left, doors + opening on a staircase or revealing a leafy alley, or the trees along + a quay, so that his pictures almost always seem to be the antechamber + of another picture. In this characteristic style of De Hooch, when the + interior of the apartment is moderately lighted, the sun shines + outside, and we feel its heat and brilliance in the vistas gradually + lost to view in the background, so inimitably managed in the artist's + manner.... Pieter de Hooch seems to have been in Rembrandt's secrets, + and knew how to adapt the genius of that great master to familiar + scenes, just as Gonzales Coques had adapted the genius of Rubens." + +[Illustration: P. DE HOOCH +The Country House] + +=Seven Fine Examples of his Work in the Rijks.=--The Rijks Museum owns +seven fine examples of this master's work. The Portrait of a Man is said +to be that of the painter at the age of nineteen; but this is doubtful. +One of the most celebrated interiors shows a woman about to let a child +drink from a jug of beer at the entrance to a cellar. This picture is +very attractive for the simple attitudes, and for the depth of the +equally sustained warm harmony. "The execution," says Crowe, "is a model +of softness and juiciness." The most glowing example, however, of this +warm lighting is a woman cleaning the hair of a child, in the Van der +Hoop Room. The woman wears a skirt of deep blue and a bodice of red, +bordered with white fur, while the child has a skirt of green and a gray +bodice. Behind them is an alcove bed with green curtains, and to the +right, in the foreground, a little chair. An open door on the left +allows you to see into another room with a passage and courtyard beyond. +A little black dog seen from behind lies on the reddish tiles. The +picture is beautiful in its treatment of three successive planes of +light. + +Another picture in the same collection represents apparently a pair of +lovers who seem to be teasing each other. The lady seen in profile is +squeezing a lemon into a glass, and the young man sitting opposite with +his elbow on the table looks at her with a subtle smile. The costumes +are elegant--the lady wears a straw-colored skirt and a rose-colored +jacket. The man has on a garnet-colored doublet, scarlet knee-breeches, +and white stockings. He is bareheaded and wears a wig. If it were not +for the pipe in his hand he would remind you of Moliere's gentlemen. +They are sitting in a kind of courtyard of a house with a red-tiled +roof, and a window with red shutters is also visible. At the door of the +house a woman is standing with a glass in her hand. A servant is busy +with a kettle by the window. On the right there is an opening into a +clump of trees, suggesting a park, and to the left another enclosure. + +One of the most beautiful pictures in the collection, a marvel very +difficult to describe because its superlative value lies in its luminous +effect, is thus described: + + =A Picture Highly valued for its Luminous Effect.=--"We are in a room, + the door of which, in the background on the left, opens onto the quay + of a canal. A girl passes along the path; next we see a tree, a + stretch of the canal, and on the opposite bank another street, flooded + with sunlight, in which two cloaked men have halted in front of a + house. Above the door, which is slightly arched, is a large window + with small panes in four compartments, one of which is open. Under the + light falling from the window, in the corner of the room, a girl in a + blue bodice and white apron is seated, with her head turned toward a + youth who is entering through on the extreme right in the foreground. + In one hand he holds his hat, and presents a letter with the + other."[26] + +=A Pleasing Sunlight Effect.=--Another picture shows a sunlight effect, +in which both De Hooch and Vermeer of Delft delighted. There is a window +on the left, above a table covered with a Turkey-red table-cloth, which +is silhouetted brightly on the lower part of the opposite wall, close to +a chimney piece. A servant is sweeping in front of the latter. Another +woman, almost full-face, is seated, holding a baby in a yellow frock, +with a child's cradle beside her. She wears a blue velvet jacket and red +skirt. Behind her a door opens into a courtyard, and gives us a glimpse +of the town. The rest of the background consists of a gray wall, on +which hangs a picture. There is also a picture over the fireplace. + +=The Sick Lady.=--Very similar to the pictures by Jan Steen and Metsu is +Hooghstraten's The Sick Lady, who, very pale and with drooping head, +sits by a table on which her left elbow rests. On the red cloth, which +is covered with a piece of white linen, stand a pot and a phial. She +wears a white cap, a yellow jacket bordered with ermine, a Persian-blue +skirt, and a white apron. Her hands are clasped at her waist, and her +feet rest on a foot-warmer. Behind the table stands the doctor in his +conventional costume of black. The bed, draped with green curtains, is +seen in the background, where, to the left, a short flight of stairs +leads to a series of rooms opening one into another in the style of +Pieter de Hooch. The figures, about a foot high, are very finely drawn. +Burger says: + + "The general harmony of color is strange, distinguished, and original. + There are tones of straw-color, tones of pearl-color, and silvery + tones, happily brought together, a clever distribution of light, and + lightness in the shadows." + +=Jan Steen's Style patterned after Hals and A. van Ostade.=--Jan Steen +shows the influence of his models, Hals and Adriaen van Ostade, in +several of the seventeen pictures of this artist owned by the Rijks +Museum. His own portrait and those in the Oostwaard picture (dated 1659) +are strong, bright, and clear with the qualities he admired in Hals. The +other pictures are all distinguished by correct drawing, admirable +freedom and spirit of touch, and clear and transparent color. They range +in subject from the stately interiors of grave and opulent burghers to +tavern scenes of jollity and debauch. + +=Some of the Seventeen of his Pictures owned by the Rijks.=--There are +two pictures of the charlatan who puffs his pills, draws teeth, and +sells everything helpful to those sick in body or in mind, from a +love-philtre to the Elixir of Life. Here, also, we see doctors and +patients, card-parties, marriage-feasts, and the festivals of St. +Nicholas and Twelfth Night. His delightful rendering of children is also +fully exemplified here. In detail, the pictures are as follows: A +Portrait of Himself, showing a rather handsome man with oval face, +arched brows, and well-cut mouth; A Charlatan Selling his Wares, in +which the chief figure is standing on a platform beneath the shade of a +tree, while around him are many little figures variously grouped, +forming comic episodes; The Baker Oostwaard with his Wife and a Son of +the Painter (1659). The baker is arranging his wares, and the little boy +is blowing on a horn. The Scullion represents a woman scouring a pewter +pot. She is in a kitchen, and wears a white jacket and a blue skirt. On +the table by which she stands are utensils and a lantern. + +[Illustration: JAN STEEN +The Parrot Cage] + +=Description of The Parrot Cage.=--The Parrot Cage is a domestic scene, +in what appears to be a tavern or a middle-class hall, in which there is +a bed, a chair, and a table, at which two men are playing backgammon, +while a third looks on smoking a pipe. At the big fireplace an old woman +is broiling oysters, which are likely to spoil, as she is taking more +interest in the backgammon than in her own task. A boy seated on a low +stool is feeding a kitten with milk from a spoon, and watching a woman +of graceful figure who is offering a biscuit to a parrot in a cage. + +The Orgy is famous for the dash and abandon with which it is painted. + +=The Village Wedding and Other Pictures.=--The Rijks owns also The +Birthday of the Prince of Orange, The Happy Return, The Rake, The +Dancing Lesson, in which merry children are teaching a cat to dance; The +Village Wedding, a little masterpiece, in which the light is treated as +if by Ostade, and where the bride and groom are seated at a table with +friends, while musicians play for many dancers. + +=Description of The Happy Family.=--In The Happy Family we see a simply +furnished room, in which is a bed, and next it a cupboard, on the top of +which stand a mortar, some platters, and a vase of flowers; a happy +family group is seated at a table. Hanging on the bed curtains is the +legend in Dutch, "As the old ones sing so will the young ones pipe." +This is the keynote of the picture. Every one is singing, piping, and +making merry. Their gaiety is infectious. The father, seated at the end +of the table, has a viola in one hand, while the right holds a glass of +wine. Next him stands a boy playing bagpipes. Then the grandmother, +singing, with a jolly expression on her face; next, the merry mother, +with a merry baby, the image of her; next, a boy with a flute, another +with a pipe; next, a girl about to smoke a pipe, in front two children, +and at the open window a boy with a pipe. A dog stands by the master, +near an empty platter, that shows he too has shared in the feast. There +is a handsome table-carpet on the table, protected by a napkin, and on +it a ham and a loaf of bread. + +[Illustration: JAN STEEN +The Happy Family] + +=A Family Scene on Twelfth Night.=--Nearly all the same persons, only +grown older, appear in A Family Scene on Twelfth Night: Margarita van +Goyen, Steen's wife, seen this time from behind, with her profile +upturned, and wearing a red skirt and a blue jacket trimmed with ermine, +and ten other figures, including the old father and the painter himself, +who are smoking in the background. "Delicious in color and vivacity!" is +Burger's comment. + +=A Doubtful Picture of Steen and his Wife.=--The Couple Drinking is said +to be Steen and his wife. The latter with a white handkerchief on her +head, a dark blue jacket, red skirt, and white apron is drinking from a +tall glass. The man in black behind her and talking to her is about to +drink from a mug. The ages of the couple make it doubtful if the painter +and his wife are represented. + +=The Young Lady who is Ill.=--The Young Lady who is Ill, seated +languidly in a red arm-chair, with her head on a pillow, may be compared +with similar pictures in The Hague Gallery. She wears a yellow silk +skirt, and a jacket of lilac velvet bordered with ermine. The doctor is +one of Steen's best creations of this type. + +=Steen's Most Popular Picture.=--The most popular of all Steen's +pictures, however, is the Eve of St. Nicholas, which shows a room in Jan +Steen's house, and himself, his first wife, and their children. Beside +the chimney sits the mother in lilac skirt and green velvet jacket +bordered with ermine, and on her left is a low table, on which is a +variety of cakes, fruits, and other holiday sweets. In the background +sits the father, who is enjoying the scene. Seven children are present. +The oldest, holding a baby with a rag doll in its arms, is pointing up +the chimney, explaining to the open-mouthed and staring little boy at +his side whence St. Nicholas came. On the extreme left a boy is crying +because all that St. Nicholas has rewarded him with is a birch rod, +which his sister is presenting to him in his wooden shoe, and with +evident pleasure. A little boy, with his father's cane in his hand, is +enjoying his brother's disappointment and probable future punishment. In +the background, the grandmother, drawing the curtains of the bed and +tauntingly beckoning to the crying boy, seems to invite him to spend +his St. Nicholas festival in bed. In the very centre of the picture is +the pet of the family--a little girl, the very image of her mother. She +has a pail full of toys, fruits, and cakes on one arm, and in her tiny +hands she holds the figure of St. Nicholas, whose head is surrounded +with a nimbus. + +[Illustration: JAN STEEN +Eve of St. Nicholas] + +A basket of wafers, cakes, waffles, buns, crullers, etc., stands on the +floor on the left; and leaning against the little table on the right is +an enormous flat loaf of bread or cake iced in lines and decorated with +figures of the cock at the four corners and in the centre that of St. +Nicholas. + +=Early and Later Styles of Jan Miense Molenaer.=--Jan Miense Molenaer +(1610-68) was either a pupil or a very skilful imitator of Jan Steen in +his early works, which are painted in strong, clear color with bold +execution. About 1650, however, he adopted a brown tone with a light and +transparent execution, and concentrated his effects of light after the +manner of Ostade when the latter was under the influence of Rembrandt. + +=A Fine Example of his Powers.=--The Lady at the Clavecin is a splendid +example of the powers of this artist who was almost as fond of making +musical instruments important features of his compositions as +Slingelandt was. It was painted in 1637 as the signature shows, and +therefore is full of the Hals influence. The lady and two children, +whose amiable faces are turned with interested expression toward the +spectator, are evidently portraits, probably of the artist's wife and +children. The other picture, Grace before Meat, is also a fine study +with Hals's technique. It is in the Van der Hoop Collection. + +=Four Pictures by Metsu.=--Four Metsus hang in the Rijks: The Huntsman's +Present, purchased in 1843 for 12,400 florins, The Old Drinker, +purchased in 1827 for 2,960 florins, The Breakfast, acquired in 1809, +and the Old Woman in Meditation, bought in 1880 for 6,170 florins. + +=Description of The Huntsman's Present.=--For taste, depth, warm +harmony, and careful execution, The Huntsman's Present is of the first +order. In a room lighted by a window on the left, a lady is seated by +the side of a table on which is a rich carpet. A large white apron of +exquisite tone covers her lap, and on it lies a little green cushion on +which she has been making lace, which she holds in her left hand. Her +jacket, bordered with ermine, is of that flesh-color that Metsu loved. +With her right hand she caresses a little King Charles spaniel perched +on the table. On her right, an old gentleman is seated. He still wears +his hunting clothes and holds his hat under his arm. Evidently he has +just returned from the chase, for his dog is with him, and on the floor +lie his game bag, gun, and a dead duck. To the lady he is presenting a +partridge. On a handsome _kas_ stands a statuette of Cupid. + +=The Old Drinker.=--The Old Drinker represents a man with gray hair and +short gray beard, with a pipe in one hand and a mug in the other. He has +on a gray coat and a red cap edged with brown fur. He is perfectly +happy, as his joyous expression shows. + +=The Breakfast.=--The Breakfast is a beautifully painted scene. At a +table covered with a Persian carpet over which is thrown a linen cloth, +a woman in a light pink bodice, a violet skirt, green apron, and white +fichu, seated at the right in profile, is pouring wine from a jug into a +tall glass. A man in a puce-colored vest is placing a dish of meat on +the table, which is already set with plates, bread, knives, and a glass. +On the left is a dark green curtain, and in the background a door is +indicated. + +=Johannes Verkolje.=--Johannes Verkolje (1650-93) is represented by The +Family Concert (1673). He was the son of a locksmith in Amsterdam, and +studied with Jan Lievensz, but later imitated the highly finished style +of Gerard Pietersz Zijl (fl. 1655), whose works were in such favor. He +produced portraits, historical subjects, and conversations, delicate and +graceful in sentiment, charming in color, and excellent in drawing. + +=Jan Victors's Pork Butcher.=--The Pork Butcher (1648) and The Dentist +(1654) are by Jan Victors, an artist about whom so little has been +known until recent years that he has been confused with two others of +the same name. The pork butcher is seen in the centre of the picture, +which represents a village street; the butcher is standing before his +freshly butchered quarter of pork, and a boy, in a large hat and jacket, +with yellow sleeves, with knife in hand, is helping his master, to whom +a woman is bringing a drink in a glass. On the right, a little boy +seated on a fence is blowing a bladder, while a little girl looks on and +laughs. Behind, a man is ascending a ladder into a barn. On the right a +little boy is washing a ham in a tub, and a woman is kneeling by him +with a dish. + +=The Dentist.=--The pendant shows a table over which a rose-colored +umbrella is opened, and under it a charlatan is drawing the tooth of a +peasant. A man and a woman witness the operation, and three children on +the left, a peasant, and a woman with some vegetables on her head are +laughing heartily. In the foreground two dogs are quarrelling over a +bone; and in the background small figures and a village clock-tower are +visible. + +=The Religious Pictures.=--The religious pictures need not detain us +long. Two or three in the style of Rembrandt: Isaac Blessing Jacob, by +Govert Flinck; The Woman Taken in Adultery, by G. van der Eckhout, +purchased in London in 1828 for 3,000 florins, and belonging to that +artist's best period; and the picture of Herodias with the Head of John +the Baptist are worth the student's attention. The latter is +particularly interesting, because, although the catalogues give it to +Cornelis Drost (1638-?), a pupil and imitator of Rembrandt, it is really +by the hand of Karel Fabritius (1624?-54), also a pupil of Rembrandt and +so close a follower that many of his pictures have passed for +Rembrandt's. The artist met with a tragic death; for he was killed in +Delft by the explosion of a powder magazine. + +=Aertsen's Altarpieces.=--Of historic value are the altar wings by +Pieter Aertsen (Long Peter), The Presentation at the Temple; on the +reverse, King Balthasar, painted for the Delft church; and the Nativity +of Jesus Christ, a fragment of a picture destroyed in the fire of the +Town Hall in Amsterdam in 1652. On Dr. J. Six's authority, the rest of +this picture is in the New Church in Amsterdam. Aertsen was particularly +famous for his altarpieces, many of which were destroyed by the +Iconoclasts in 1566. + +=Other Painters of Biblical Scenes.=--Of other painters whose +reputations are larger in other fields, but who are represented in this +gallery by one or two Biblical works, we may mention Berchem, with Ruth +and Boaz; Velvet Brueghel, Repose of the Holy Family, Christ Preaching +in a Fisherman's Boat, and the Adoration of the Kings, in a winter +landscape; Frans Francken II., Adoration of Jesus Christ, and The +Prodigal Son; and Maerten van Heemskerck (1498-1574), The Resurrection +of Christ. Benjamin Gerritsz Cuijp may be studied in Joseph Interpreting +the Dreams of the Baker and Butler; Dirck van Hoogstraten (1595-1640), +The Virgin, with Jesus and St. Anne; Eglon Hendrick van der Neer +(1643-1703), Young Tobias with the Angel; and Rubens, Bearing of the +Cross (a sketch for the picture in the Royal Museum in Brussels), and +Ecce Homo and Meeting of Jacob and Esau (copies). + +In addition to several Biblical pictures in the Italian, Flemish, and +German schools, there are, by Francois Joseph Navez (1787-1839), Isaac +and Rebecca and the Resurrection of the Widow's Son; by A. van Dijck, +The Repentant Magdalen; (School of Van Dijck) The Holy Family; one by +Bronzino, Judith with the head of Holofernes; one of the School of Palma +Vecchio, The Holy Family; and Spain is represented by The Annunciation +to the Virgin, by Murillo (1618-82), and The Glorification of the +Virgin, by Antolines (1639-76). Hans Rottenhammer (1564-1623) has a +Virgin with the Infant Jesus (1604); Nicholas Bertin (1667-1736), Joseph +Fleeing from Potiphar's Wife, and Susannah at the Bath; Sebastian +Bourdon (1616-71), the Mystical Marriage of St. Catherine; copy after +Hieronymus van Aeken, surnamed Bosch (1462?-1516), Adoration of the +Magi; Leonard Bramer (1595-1674), a Biblical Subject(?) and King Solomon +Sacrificing to Idols; Mechior Brassauw (1709-57?), The Prodigal Son; +Peter Codde (1599?-1678), Adoration of the Shepherds; Jacob Cornelissen, +Saul and the Witch of Endor; Gasper de Craeyer (1584-1669), The +Adoration of the Shepherds and Descent from the Cross; Geertgen van St. +Jans (fifteenth century), Allegory on the Death of Jesus Christ; Barend +Graat (1628-1709), The Prodigal Son (1661); Nicolaes de Gijselaer +(1590-95-1644?), The Angel Gabriel Appearing to Zacharias in the Temple +(1625); Cornelis van Haerlem (1562-1638), Massacre of the Innocents, and +Adam and Eve in the Terrestrial Paradise; Pieter van Hanselaere, Chaste +Susannah; Frans Haseleer (1804-?), Esther before Ahasuerus; Isaac Isacsz +(1599-1648), Abimelech Giving Sarah to Abraham (1640); Cornelis Kruseman +(1797-1857), The Burial of Christ; J. A. Kruseman (1804-62), Elisha and +the Shunammite; Pieter Pietersz Lastman (1583-1633), The Sacrifice of +Abraham; Willem de Poorter (?-1645?), Solomon Sacrificing to Idols; +Joris van Schooten (1587-1651), The Adoration of the Kings (1646); Jan +van Scorel (1495-1562), St. Madeleine, Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, +and David and Bathsheba; Gerard Seghers (1591-1651), Christ and the +Penitents; Benvenuto Tisi (the Garofalo) (1481-1559), Holy Family, and +Adoration of the Magi; Tiziano Vecelli (1477-1576), Repentant Magdalen +(copy); Jan Victors (1620-82?), Joseph Interpreting Dreams (1648); Jacob +de Wet (1610?-71?), Christ Blessing the Children; Rogier van der Weyden +(1399?-1464), Descent from the Cross; and Joachim A. Wttewael +(1566-1638), David and Abigail (1597). + +=Mythological Pictures combined with Landscape.=--It is noticeable that +in mythological pictures landscape forms a prominent feature. Rubens +was, doubtless, responsible for much of the popularity of this class of +art, and the vogue that the Italian landscape also enjoyed aided the +taste. Nymphs and satyrs and gods and goddesses were more appropriate +figures to introduce into the classic scenes of Italy than Dutch +peasants and cattle. We, therefore, find two classes of mythological +pictures: one in which the landscape is more important than the figures; +and one in which the figures take precedence. + +Born more than half a century after Poelenburg, Gerard de Lairesse +(1641-1711), the most important Flemish painter of historical and +mythological subjects in the generation succeeding Rubens, followed +Poelenburg in his taste for Italian settings for his figures, although +he had never been to Italy. He is represented in the Rijks by Mars, +Venus, and Cupid; another of the same title, Seleucus Abdicating in +Favor of his Son Antiochus; Diana and Endymion; Virtue, an Allegory; and +two in _grisaille_,--The Revolution and Legitimate Power. + +=G. de Lairesse, Portrait-painter.=--Gerard de Lairesse was the son of +an artist of some celebrity, studied under Bertholet Flemalle, and by +the age of sixteen had become known as a portrait-painter. Some +historical works for the Electors of Cologne and Brandenburg established +his reputation, and when he settled in Amsterdam he was regarded as the +greatest historical painter of his time. At the age of fifty he lost his +eyesight. His style is grand and poetical, and his background enriched +with architecture. + +=More Mythological Pictures in the Rijks.=--The other mythological +pictures in this gallery are: Hendrick van Balen (1575-1632), Bacchus's +Homage to Diana; Jan Brueghel le Vieux (Velvet) (1568-1625), Latona in +Caria; Caravaggio (1569-1609), The Death of Orion; Johannes Glauber +(1646-1726), Mercury and Io, and Diana Bathing; Henricus Goltzius +(1558-1616), The Dying Adonis (1603); Hendrick Heerschop (1620 or +21-72?), Erechthonius Found by the Daughters of Cecrops; Jacob Jordaens +(1593-1678), A Satyr; Hendrik van Limborgh (1680-1759), Cupid and +Psyche; W. Ossenbeeck (?-1678), Mercury and Io (1632); Hans Rottenhammer +(1564-1623), Mars and Venus (1604); Adriaan van der Werff (1659-1722), +Cupid Embracing Venus; Pieter van der Werff (1665-after 1721), Cupid +Adorned with Flowers (1713), Young Hercules and Young Bacchus; Thomas +Willeborts (1614-54), Mars Armed by Venus; Flemish School (1610-20), +Dispute of Apollo and Pan; Dutch School (sixteenth century), Adonis +(supposed to be by Jan van Scorel); and Dietz (living in 1830), Hebe. +Here must be mentioned Rembrandt's mythological picture known by the +name of Narcissus. + +=Painters of Exteriors and Painters of Interiors.=--No survey of Dutch +art would be complete without a brief account of the painters of +buildings; and these may be divided again into two classes: those who +painted the exteriors and those who painted the interiors. + +=Murant and his Old Farm-house.=--The first of those who painted +exteriors seems to have been Emanuel Murant (1622-1700), a pupil of +Philips Wouwermans. He chose for his specialty Dutch village houses +which he painted with vigor and warmth, and introduced figures and +cattle into his foregrounds. These he painted himself. His works are +rare, because he spent so much time on each work that he produced few +pictures. He also spent much time in travel. His color is rich and +silvery in tone; his impasto fine, and he gives the details with great +truth and finish. By the aid of a magnifying-glass every stone in his +buildings and every leaf on his trees may be counted. The Rijks +possesses The Old Farm-house, which represents a dilapidated old house, +where a man is feeding the chickens, and there are also pigs and an old +woman at her spinning-wheel. + +=Jan van der Heyden.=--Jan van der Heyden (1637-1712) was "the Gerard +Dou of architectural painters." The Rijks owns View of the Town of +Amersfoort, with delightful figures by A. van der Velde, A Drawbridge, A +Stone Bridge, and A Canal in Holland. He loved to paint canals bordered +with trees. His tone is warm, and his execution soft and free. + +=G. A. Berck-Heyde, Painter of German and Dutch Towns.=--Another skilful +painter of exteriors, Gerrit Adriaensz Berck-Heyde (1638-98), is noted +for his faithful representations of the principal towns of Germany and +Holland. His perspective is extremely fine. The Rijks owns: View of the +Dam at Amsterdam; View of the Heerengracht (1685); The Flower-Market, +Amsterdam; The Ruins of the Castle of Egmont, near Alkmaar; and three +Views of the Town-hall. In some of his works he was assisted by his +brother. + +=J. A. Berck-Heyde.=--Job Adriaensz Berck-Heyde (1630-93) was a pupil of +Frans Hals and Jacob de Wet. He is represented in the Amsterdam Museum +by The Spaarne at Haarlem, Interior of a Church (1674), and Interior of +the Old Bourse at Amsterdam. + +=J. van der Ulft the Versatile.=--The works of Jacob van der Ulft, so +remarkable for his versatility, are rare. The Rijks, however, owns two +pretty cabinet-pictures by him, representing an Italian town and an +Italian port. A very interesting and valuable picture by him, +representing the Town-hall on the Dam, completed in 1667, is in the +present Town-hall. + +=Other Painters of Exteriors.=--Among the other artists and pictures +represented are: Kornelis Beelt (seventeenth century), Dutch Flotilla at +the Herring Fishery and View of the Haarlem Market; Anthonie Beerstraten +(seventeenth century), View of Regulierspoort in Amsterdam in Winter, +and Interior of a Town in Winter; Johannes Bosboom (1817- ), Notre-Dame, +Breda, Great Church, Edam, and Aire in Guelders; F. der Braekeleer, +Ruins of the Citadel of Antwerp (1832); Hendrik Gerrit Ten Cate +(1803-56), The Tower, Jan Rodenpoort in Amsterdam (1829), and the City +in Moonlight; Jan Ten Compe (1713-61), View of the Quay called +Keizersgracht, in Amsterdam; Constantinus Coene (1780-1841), the Porte +de Hal in Brussels (1823); Croos (seventeenth century), View of the +Castle of Egmont, near Alkmaar; Claes Dircksz van der Heck (seventeenth +century), The Castle of Egmont and The Abbey of Egmont (1638); Edward A. +Hilverdink, View of the Singel in Amsterdam; Johannes Janson (1729-84), +The Chateau de Heemstede (1766); Kasparus Karssen (1810-?), Interior of +the Old Bourse at Amsterdam (1837); J. C. K. Klinkenberg (1852- ), The +Market at Nimeguen; Everhardus Kloster (1817- ), Amsterdam; Dirk Jan van +der Laen (1759-1829), View of a Town: A Snow Scene; Francois de Momper +(1603-60), The Valkenhof at Nimeguen; Isaac de Moucheron (1670-1744), +View of Tivoli, near Rome, and View in the Hortus Medicus at Amsterdam; +Isaak Ouwater (1747-93), Unfinished Tower of the New Church at Amsterdam +and Le Poids St. Anthony at Amsterdam; Antoon Sminck Pitloo (1791-1837), +St. Georgis Church, Rome (1820); P. J. Poelman (1801-?), The Town Hall +at Oudenarde (1824); J. H. Prins (1758-1806), View of a City (1793); +Cornelis Springer (1817-91), Town-hall and Vegetable Market at Vere +(1861), and Town-hall, Cologne (1874); Abraham Storck (1630?-1710?), +View of the Dam; Pieter George Westenberg (1791-1873), View of Amsterdam +in Winter (1817); and Jan Wildens (1586-1653), View of Amsterdam (1636). + +=Painters of Interiors--P. H. van Steenwyck.=--Turning now to those +painters who devoted their attention chiefly to interiors, the first to +be noticed is Pieter Hendrik van Steenwyck the Elder (1550-about 1604), +the pupil of Jan Vredeman de Vries, who has never been surpassed in this +particular field. He usually painted the interiors of Gothic churches +and other buildings. He also won distinction with torchlight effects. +The figures were usually supplied by the Franckens and others. Van +Steenwyck lived in Antwerp and also in Frankfort. The Interior of a +Catholic Church, in the Rijks, is a good example of his style. + +=His Pupil, Pieter Neeffs the Elder.=--Among his pupils was Pieter +Neeffs the Elder (1577-between 1657-61), who followed his master +closely, but with a heavy touch. His colors are not so pleasing as +Steenwyck's, but his mechanical skill is great. F. Francken, Teniers, +Velvet Brueghel, and Van Thulden are responsible for the figures in his +pictures. In the Rijks we may study him by his Church of the Dominicans +in Antwerp (1636), A Church: Effect of Candle-light (1636), and Interior +of a Church. + +=P. J. Saenredam, Painter of Church Interiors.=--Next must be mentioned +Pieter Jansz Saenredam (1597-1665), who painted the interior of churches +in a large and luminous manner. His pictures were highly esteemed, but +are now very rare. The Rijks owns: two Interiors of the Church of St. +Bavon, Haarlem; three Interiors of St. Mary's, Utrecht; and View of the +Church in Assendelft. Adriaen van Ostade contributed the figures in the +latter. Pieter Saenredam was a pupil of his father, a celebrated +engraver, and of Frans de Grebber in Haarlem. + +=Emanuel de Witte's Beautiful Work.=--Emanuel de Witte (1617-92), a +pupil of Evert van Aelst, bears the same relation to the representation +of interiors that Ruisdael does to landscape, and Willem van de Velde to +marine painting. Beautiful modelling, fine color, linear and aerial +perspective, masterly treatment of chiaroscuro, and animated figures are +all at his command. The Vestibule in the Prinsenhof in Delft and two +Interiors of a Church are picturesque canvases that exhibit the rich +talents of this painter. + +=H. C. van Vliet.=--Hendrik Cornelisz van Vliet (1608-66?), a pupil of +his father, Willem van Vliet (1584-1642), paints under the influence of +De Witte as is shown in the Interior of Part of the Old Church at Delft, +signed "H. van Vliet, 1654." Here the treatment of sunlight is very +reminiscent of Emanuel de Witte. + +=Egbert van der Poel.=--In this connection may be mentioned Egbert van +der Poel (1621-64), whose specialty was conflagrations. The effects of +lurid light are seen in his Ruins in Delft after the Explosion of a +Powder Magazine (1654) and Interior of a Farm-house (1646). + +=Collections on the Ground-floor and Basement.=--After lunching in the +pleasant little restaurant in the west wing on the ground-floor we take +a rapid view of the collections here. The East and West Courts contain +military, naval, and colonial collections, weapons, uniforms, and models +of ships, which need not detain us long; nor will the department of +Ecclesiastical Architecture and the Hall of the Admirals, where there is +a collection of modern French paintings. In the western half of the +building there are splendid collections of engravings, porcelain, +lacquer, and textiles, two seventeenth century rooms furnished by the +Antiquarian Society, and in the basement a collection of old Dutch +costumes, carriages, and doll houses. On the east side are a number of +correctly furnished Dutch rooms, one a "Chinese Boudoir" from the +Stadtholder's Palace at Leeuwarden (seventeenth century), and a great +collection of civic and industrial domestic art. Silver occupies a +conspicuous place, and one of the cases contains drinking-horns, among +which is the original drinking-horn of the Guild of St. Joris, which +appears in Van der Helst's painting. + +The visitor will seldom see a more wonderful collection of glass of all +shapes and forms, and beautifully engraved, cut, and mounted; and the +display of jewelry, trinkets, and children's toys will also claim +attention. + +=The Garden.=--We now enter the garden at the south side of the +building. This is laid out in the Dutch style of the seventeenth and +eighteenth centuries, with clipped hedges of beech and box, and adorned +with flowers, vases, statues, and busts. There is also a maze, and +fragments of old Dutch buildings, such as the old Bergpoort of Deventer +(1619) and the Heerenpoort of Groningen (1621). Various old gables, +pilasters, columns, walls, tympanums, and gates have been grouped; and +in the eastern part of the garden is the house of the Director of the +Museum. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[23] J. F. White. + +[24] Burger. + +[25] J. A. Crowe. + +[26] Blanc. + + + + +THE STEDELIJK MUSEUM + + +=Ground-floor of the Stedelijk Museum.=--A short walk from the Rijks +down Paulus Potter Straat brings us to the Stedelijk (Municipal) Museum, +built in 1892-95. The ground-floor is devoted to uniforms, weapons, and +pictures of the Schutterij of Amsterdam, and a series of rooms furnished +in the style of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, +including an old Dutch kitchen. + +=Its Pictures of the History of the Netherlands.=--An extraordinary +collection of pictures by Allebe, Israels, Rochussen, and other +well-known painters, treating of the history of the Netherlands, +deserves a passing glance, for there are no less than 250 small +canvases, all of the same dimensions and similar treatment. A more +curiously monotonous effect would be impossible to imagine; but, to use +a Dutch term, they are decidedly _symmetrisch_. + +=The Gallery of Modern Pictures.=--Ascending the stairs we reach the +gallery of modern pictures. The collection consists of about 200 +paintings gathered by a society founded in 1874, and is very rich in +fine examples of the modern Dutch school. + +=Mauve's Sheep on the Dunes.=--One of the gems of the modern landscapes +is Mauve's Sheep on the Dunes. The sheep, all of which have their backs +to the spectator, the rolling dunes with their tall, waving grass, the +shepherd boy and his dog, are all painted with equal skill; and over the +still landscape hovers a poetic feeling that communicates itself +instantly to the spectator. + +Mauve is also represented by A Fold and Woodmen. + +=Anton Mauve.=--Anton Mauve (1838-89) was a native of Zaandam, and the +son of a clergyman. He studied under the cattle-painter, Van Os, who was +not particularly pleased with his pupil. After his apprenticeship was +over, he began to paint little pictures in the neat manner and +conventional style of his master. Mauve lived in Oosterbeck, "the +Barbison of Holland," for a time, and at a later period spent his +winters in Amsterdam and his summers in The Hague, where he could enjoy +Scheveningen and the dunes. + +A Dutch writer, A. C. Loffelt, says: + + =His Style.=--"The poetry of Mauve's art, its tenderness, the + unobtrusive, quiet sadness of the scenery and people which attracted + him most; the homeliness, humor, and domestic happiness which he + interpreted in his interiors and scenes of country and village life, + can only be appreciated by people of the same descent." + +The same critic tells us that Mauve lived for a time in a farm-house, +near Dekkersdinn. + + =His Favorite Themes.=--"Here Mauve found some of his most important + and favorite themes, such as poor cots built in or near the downs, + where slender, poorly nurtured women tended a few sheep or a goat, or + occupied themselves in bleaching linen. His painting had not yet + gained that transparency and brilliancy of tone which the artist + acquired in subsequent years. At this time his work was gray, but not + always pellucid or silvery. Thus it came to pass that critics and + public began to talk of 'The Gray School,' for a few other artists + painted in the same neutral scale of tints. + + "As we walk in the rural lanes, beneath the slender birches wrapped in + their mantle of silver-gray haze, or watch the chequered sunlight + dancing into the secluded nooks of some emerald meadow, when we hear + the echoes of the tinkling sheep-bells on the moors, we think 'There + lives Mauve!'" + +[Illustration: MAUVE +Sheep on the Dunes] + +=His Truthful Painting of Sheep and Cattle.=--Mauve is, perhaps, best +known by his flocks of sheep painted under all conditions and at all +seasons and times of day; but not less true to nature are his cows in +the _Melkbocht_, that paddock or reserved spot in the meadow where the +cows are gathered for milking. His horses ploughing, or at rest, and his +coast scenes, showing Dutch fishing-boats about to be pulled across the +sands by teams of horses, are no less remarkable performances. + +=The Early Training of Josef Israels.=--For a whole generation Josef +Israels has stood at the head of modern Dutch art. Born in 1827, at +Groningen, the son of a money-changer, he carried money-bags in his +early years to the banking-house of Mesdag. He studied under Jan Adam +Kruseman, and at first painted historical pictures; lived in the Ghetto +in Amsterdam, and nearly starved in Paris, where he studied in the +Delaroche school. + +=The Themes of his Paintings.=--It was in Zandvoort, near Haarlem, that +he discovered his true bent, and began to depict the seafaring man and +the peasant in their homely every-day life. His people are all humble, +and most of them are broken by poverty and sorrows. For more than thirty +years his pictures have occupied the place of honor in all the Dutch +exhibitions; and on his seventieth birthday he was made Commander of the +Order of Orange-Nassau, and was the recipient of many gifts and +congratulations. In this gallery hang a number of pictures dating from +various periods. Among them are Fisherman's Children, Rustic Interior, +After the Storm, Passing the Mother's Grave, Margaret of Parma and +William of Orange (one of his earliest efforts), Old Jewish Peddler, and +a Study of a Head. + +[Illustration: ISRAELS +Fisherman's Children] + +=Veth's Appreciation of Israels.=--The artist himself is represented in +a statuette by F. Leenhoff, which stands in one of the rooms, and also +in a portrait by J. Veth, who sympathetically writes: + + "The choicest pictures by this master are painted in a truly + mysterious way, simply by the nervous vigor of an untaught hand with + heavy, sweeping shadows and thick touches of paint, which stand out + in a wonderful mixture of sharp relief and dim, confused distance; + with soft hesitation and touches of crudely decisive certainty; with + broad outlines and incisive emphasis. Ruggedness and tenderness, + corruption and sweetness, whimsicality and decision, are magically + mingled there in dignified depth, with the most refined feeling--the + most ductile language of the brush that is known to me. + + "And yet, notwithstanding, all this exists, as far as possible, in the + clear, simple execution of the old Dutch painters, and there is one + great family resemblance between the nineteenth century master and + those who are the classics among the _petits maitres_." + + =Each of his Pictures a Harmonious Whole.=--"The resemblance--the + revived tradition--is to be seen in the fact that Israels, like the + old Dutch painters, nay, even more than they, always aims at the + sober, general harmony of the whole work. It is wonderful how discreet + the effect is of a picture, for instance, by Pieter de Hooch, with all + its elaborate execution; how splendidly it holds together, how strong + yet delicate the construction is. It is this great quality of + presenting an absolutely organic whole at one impulse which seems to + have passed into Israels from his precursors, who otherwise painted so + utterly differently. Indeed, it is in this concentrated power, in this + self-contained harmony, the outcome of one glance, as it were, and of + one impetus, that we may discern one of the principal features of + Israels's art. There is nothing in his work that asserts itself alone, + nothing detached, nothing that plays any part but that of + strengthening the whole." + + =His Aim to paint the Truth, rather than to produce Studied + Effects.=--"Those who really understand the sincerity of his art know + that he rejects everything approaching to working for + effect--everything that looks like rule of thumb; and that he in fact + never consciously troubles his head about studied effects or beauty. + Beauty to him lies in the silent woe with which the survivors stand in + a house of death; in the attitude of the old wife left alone, who + spreads her hands stiffly out to the fire, as though she might win a + spark of life from the smouldering hearth; in the way in which the + decrepit old man sits with resigned dejection in his gloomy hovel, + staring into his old dog's eyes; in the stupefied wretch who sits on a + broken bench, where, behind him, his dead wife lies stretched on her + bed; in the woful gleam in the eyes of the huckster who sits in front + of his dirty booth, with a motley collection of rags above his head, + watching us so mysteriously; in the sad old woman who, with elbows + wide apart on her table, her hands quietly folded, sits weary and + alone in front of her meal; in the kindly but hard-set woman, who, + through wind and weather, tramps along field and road by her jolting + dog-barrow, in a cruel struggle for existence; in the business of the + fisherman and seafaring folk and their hard and simple labor; in the + dignity of the patriarchal peasant family that gathers round the dish; + he sees beauty in everything which lays bare what lies mysteriously + latent in poverty and privation and suffering, at the very roots of + human life." + +=Roelofs, Painter of A Marshy Landscape.=--Familiar to the Holland +traveller is the Marshy Landscape, so true to nature and so charming in +color. + +[Illustration: ROELOFS +Marshy Landscape] + +If he had painted nothing else, Willem Roelofs (1822-97) would deserve +his reputation because of this work. + +This painter was born in Amsterdam and was a pupil of H. van de Sande +Bakhuijzen for about a year; then he remained for six years in Utrecht; +and settled in Brussels, where he remained forty years, finally +returning to Holland. This painter's chief desire is to express himself +poetically. + + =The Inexhaustible Supply of His Favorite Subjects.=--"His pictures + are truly beautiful: cattle standing up to their knees in rich green + pasture land; luxuriant meadows; secluded pools reflecting the blue + sky and the moving clouds; lakes with floating lilies; rivers, + streams, noble trees, canals, and the thoroughly Dutch windmill. + Roelofs may be called the pioneer in our country of a broader school + of painting, especially that pertaining to landscape. Much of this he + may be said to have taken from the French.... Of late years he has + added more cattle to his pictures; but whether cattle or trees, land + or water, they are painted with the firm belief that they needed no + embellishment, but were good enough to be represented exactly as they + were. For Roelofs will not invent a subject. And why, indeed, should + he do so? Is the supply exhausted? _He_ does not think so, for no + summer passes but he packs up his paint-box and with his little stool, + his easel, and his umbrella, goes off either to Noorden, or Abcoude, + or to Voorschoten, to study nature again and again, as if he did not + know her well already."[27] + +=J. Maris, Skilful in producing Ethereal Effects.=--Of Jacob Maris, +Zilcken writes: + + "No painter has so well expressed the ethereal effects, bathed in air + and light, through floating silvery mist, in which painters delight, + and the characteristic remote horizons blurred by haze; or again the + gray yet luminous weather of Holland, unlike the dead gray rain of + England, or the heavy sky of Paris." + +This artist may be studied in this gallery by A Beach, two Views of a +Town, The Ferry, and The Two Windmills, which latter represents two +windmills standing as sentinels over a rather dreary landscape at the +edge of a river and a canal. + +=His Training and his Aim in Art.=--Jacob Maris (1837-99) was born in +The Hague and was sent to Stroebel's studio, and later studied in the +Antwerp Academy of Drawing. He was also a pupil of Louis Meyer in The +Hague, and in 1865 went to Paris and studied with Hebert. Returning to +The Hague, he devoted himself to landscape. He painted views of streets, +country lanes, small hamlets, windmills, canals, rivers, and, sometimes, +_genre_ pieces. In all his work his aim was to make an impression. One +day he said: "A picture is finished as soon as you can see what it is +intended to represent." + +=Marius on the Beauty of his Work.=--The Dutch critic, G. H. Marius, +writes: + + "If you stand before one of Maris's pictures for a long time you + discover many objects which you had not noticed at first--houses, + bridges, trees, all looming out of the mellow misty light which is + diffused over the entire canvas.... What an endless variety of + windmills he immortalizes! Some of his canvases have but a small + solitary windmill, while others have a crowd of these gigantic, + cumbersome structures. Some pictures have a fringe of them upon the + horizon. + + "However simple the subject, it is ofttimes made almost dramatic by + the rays of the setting sun, or by the brilliancy of a silver-lined + cloud. These effects of light and shade are rapidly passing, and we + gaze with admiration upon the skilful work of a man who can produce + such a faithful picture, which his eye could have seen but + momentarily. Sometimes he paints a canal with a barge pulled by a + weary-looking horse, tramping along the muddy road the ruts of which + are filled with water from recent rain (his horses are generally + white). Or it is a bit of rich agricultural land, the long furrows + stretching into the far distance; against a wonderful sky you see the + profiles of distant houses, trees, mills, etc., all dying away into + the horizon, showing the flatness of our Dutch landscape, where there + is nothing to impede or obstruct the eye for miles." + +=Willem Maris's Relish for painting Cows.=--Willem Maris (1844- ) +studied with his brothers Jacob and Matthys, and all three worked +together. As early as 1868 he sold a picture which found its way to The +Hague Gallery. This, representing cattle in a green meadow, at once +showed his talent for painting warm sunlight. A typical picture of +Cattle hangs in this gallery; for the chief subjects of Willem Maris's +pictures are cows in meadow lands; sometimes they are waiting to be +milked, or are being milked; sometimes they are standing or lying under +the trees; and sometimes they are knee-deep in one of the lakes. + +Mr. Marius says: + + =Willem's Style contrasted with his Brother Jacob's.=--"The two + brothers Maris [Jacob and Willem] treat their skies in exactly + opposite manners. The one depicts clouds, threatening storm, and + changeable weather, whereas the younger brother gives us only sunshine + and a sky of turquoise blue; if, however, clouds are introduced, they + are like small white feathers or like the petals of a white rose. Each + in his own way true to nature, and beautiful to gaze upon, yet + methinks that we must give the preference to the one who gives us that + greatest of all blessings, sunshine. + + "A very favorite aspect of his is a cloudless sky, the brightest of + suns, and part of the canvas thrown into deep shade, producing a + wonderful contrast. + + "Another bewitching feature, so truly Dutch, in Maris's landscapes, is + the rising mist after the heat of the day. It rises from the meadows + at sunset and covers the land like a cloak, especially after a hot day + when the ground has been baked." + +=A Socialistic Artist with Romantic Visions.=--Matthys Maris, the second +of the three, joined his brother Jacob in Paris, and eventually he +settled in London. + + "Thys Maris found rest and isolation in a suburb of London; a few + faithful friends, such as Swan (the animal painter) and Van + Wisselingh, break in occasionally upon his solitude. But his ideas are + still socialistic, not only theoretically, but materially; and, + without looking around, he gives what he receives. On this point he is + likewise very sensitive. To be waited on by another, although that + service is paid for, he considers humiliating; and, in order to avoid + such a possibility, he lives without the comfort of attendance. + + "Many might pass by the works of Maris without even noticing them; + many may consider them impossible and inexplicable, and pass on, + almost out of humor, perhaps even angry with them; the rational + spectator will put questions to which he will receive no satisfactory + replies. + + "Though in his early years he painted still-life pieces, his fame + rests chiefly on his visionary women seen in his romantic dreams, and + portrayed with the clouds and mists of dreamland about them."[28] + +In this gallery The Bride represents him worthily. + +=Two Pictures representing Albert Neuhuys.=--Albert Neuhuys, born in +Utrecht in 1844, studied in the Academy of Drawing in Antwerp, and +settled in Amsterdam, the painter of landscapes and scenes from homely +and humble life. He is represented by The Doll's Dressmaker and By the +Cradle, which represents a mother leaning over the cradle of her baby +lying comfortably on pillows. It is interesting to note how thickly the +artist has spread the paint on the canvas. + +[Illustration: A. NEUHUYS +By the Cradle] + +=A Characteristic Picture by Christoffel Bisschop.=--Christoffel +Bisschop (1828-1904) may be studied by The Lord Gave and the Lord hath +Taken Away, Sunday in Hindeloopen, Sister of the Bride, and Winter in +Friesland, also called Repairing Skates. This is a very characteristic +and typical picture. Friesland is not only the home of a peculiar style +of brightly painted furniture, but also the home of a school of skating +of which there are two schools,--the Dutch and the Frisian. The latter, +which is the older, aims at speed; and the skater wears a peculiar kind +of skate, well shown on the foot of the young girl seated on the right, +who is having the other skate repaired. The carved and colored sledges +are also typical of Friesland. An escort waits at the door. The painter +was himself a native of Friesland, and therefore depicts the costumes, +furniture, houses, and people of this most picturesque corner of Holland +with accuracy, charm, and sympathy. + +[Illustration: BISSCHOP +Winter in Friesland] + +=Christoffel Bisschop.=--Christoffel Bisschop is the Dutch colorist _par +excellence_. He entered the studio of Schmidt in Delft, and worked at +The Hague under Huib van Hove. He also studied in Paris with Le Comte +and Gleyre, and in 1855 established himself in The Hague. A visit to the +quaint town of Hindeloopen charmed his artistic eye, and henceforth the +peasants, with their gay costumes, and the brightly painted furniture +and quaint houses, have furnished themes and settings for his pictures. + +=H. W. Mesdag.=--Born in Groningen in 1831, Hendrick Willem Mesdag was +destined to follow the family business of banking. Art, however, claimed +him; and after painting for several years as an amateur he started work +in Brussels in 1866. Except for the criticisms of Roelofs, Alma-Tadema, +and other artists, Mesdag may be said to be self-taught. In 1869 he +removed to The Hague, so that he could be near Scheveningen, for he had +found his special talent. "I must go and live near the sea," he said, +"gaze upon it daily, not only for weeks, but for months and years; watch +and study its every movement, this ever-changing element, this amazing, +stupendous work of the Almighty!" In 1870 he exhibited at the Paris +Salon, and his Breakers in the North Sea received the gold medal. His +fame was now established. France has decorated Mesdag more than once, +and one of his sea pictures hangs in the Luxembourg. + +=His Style.=--Mesdag is a realist, and with broad, bold strokes of the +brush he portrays what he sees and feels. He depicts the ever-changing +ocean in all its moods, at all times of day and in all seasons; and the +life of the fisherfolk on the shore and in the fishing-boats is also +treated with sympathy. His Calm Sea by Sunset, painted in 1878, and +Fishing-boats at Sea and Beach, the two latter painted in 1895, belong +to this gallery. + + "High up in the scale, and standing somewhat apart, is Henry William + Mesdag, the marine painter. Into a branch of art which had been + treated in so masterly a fashion in former centuries by Willem van de + Velde and Van Capelle, not to speak of Lodewijk Backhuysen and + Bonaventure Peeters, he introduced a thorough reform. In the beginning + of the century he was preceded by men of note, such as Schotel, + Waldorp, Meyer, Greive, Van Heemskerck, Van Beest, Van Deventer; but + their chief aim was to remain true to the tradition of the great + period. They painted pretty little ships sailing on calm seas, their + white sails catching a gentle breeze and reflecting the rays of the + sun; or again they would paint large vessels, driven before a gale + over mountainous waves. But the one was as artificial as the other; + their water was like glass, their ships as if made of tin, their skies + seemed cut out of oilcloth, and not one showed that he felt any love + for the sea. + + "Mesdag was the first to paint the sea as it is, the turbulent, + restless, omnipotent, unlimited sea, that free, majestic, and + mysterious element which cannot be brought within any formula, but can + only be rendered in its tossing and pitching, peopled by its 'children + of the sea' living on its shores or drifting on its billows. He + studied every movement of the waves, every tint of the water, every + change in the ever-changing sky; he bade good-bye to large vessels, + huge castles of the sea, and took to painting small ships and fishing + smacks, the cottages, so to speak, of the ocean. His painting is as + broad and manly as the element wherein he moves and the space it + covers; not as soft and transparent as the works of landscape + painters,--those who give us meadows and downs,--but yet a + revelation."[29] + +[Illustration: MESDAG +Sunrise on the Dutch Coast] + +=Other Works in the Stedelijk by Modern Artists.=--Other works by modern +artists worthy of attention are: Canal in Amsterdam and Sinking Piles +for the Erection of a House, by G. H. Breitner (1857); Te Deum Laudamus, +Groote Kerk at The Hague, Oude Kerk at Amsterdam, Groote Kerk at Edam, +and Barn-floor in Guelderland, by J. Bosboom (1817-91); Mother and +Child, by B. J. Blommers (1845); Arrival of the Water Gueux at Leyden, +by C. Rochussen (1814-94); Episode from the Siege of Leyden, Battle at +Castricum, and Mellis Stoke Presenting his Rhymed Chronicle to Floris +V., Count of Holland, by K. Klinkenberg (1852); River Scene in Winter, +by L. Apol (1850); Scheveningen in Rainy Weather, by S. L. Verveer +(1850); Queen Fredegonda and St. Praetextatus, by Alma-Tadema (1836); +Mary Magdalen at the Foot of the Cross, by Ary Scheffer (1795-1858); A +Landscape, by H. van de Sande Bakhuijzen (1795-1860); Church at +Zandvoort, View in Enkhuizen, Town Hall in Cologne, and Heeren-Gracht at +Amsterdam, by C. Springer (1818-91); and A Prison of the Spanish Period, +and Norwegian Women Bringing their Children to be Christened, by H. A. +van Trigt (1829). + +=A Survey of Modern Dutch Art.=--A brief survey of modern Dutch art, +condensed from the learned pen of Max Rooses, will not be unwelcome, +particularly as we shall meet many more examples of the modern artists. + +=The French Neo-Classical School.=--He tells us that the group of Dutch +and Belgian figure-painters of the beginning of the century were +descendants of the French neo-classical school; and until 1850 the +principles of David, Gros, and Girodet were highly respected. The +best-known representatives were John William Pieneman in Holland, and +Bree, Navez, and Paelinck in Belgium. + +=The Romantic School.=--Thereupon followed the Romantic school, whose +leaders in France were Eugene Delacroix, Horace Vernet, and Descamps; in +Belgium, Wappers and De Keyser; in Holland, Huib van Hove, Herman Ten +Cate, Charles Rochussen, Stroebel, and Van Trigt. This school departed +from the academic tendency of its predecessors, just as romantic +literature declared war against classicism in poetry. + +=The Secret of the Success of the Romanticists.=--Another source helped +to swell the stream of Romanticism in Holland. The artists of the +neo-classical school, with their pompous but severe forms, paid more +attention to line than to color. They took their example from the +Italians of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Their successors set +themselves to study the masters of their own country, and learned to +appreciate the rich coloring, the warm lights, and harmonious tones of +the golden period of their own art. We can see that they were filled +with admiration for the effects of light and color in Rembrandt's works +and in those of De Hooch, Gerrit Dou, and Ter Borch. + +Not only did they find subjects for rich and warm coloring and pleasing +treatment in the history of former days, but also in that of their own +times. They took, in fact, a great step forward in that they observed +the daily life around them, and kept in touch with their +fellow-creatures, their ways and habits. To this group belongs Hubert +van Hove, who was the first to admire the works of the old masters, and +again to carry on the broken tradition; Charles Rochussen, Stroebel, to +whom the effects of light and color were particularly attractive; and +Herman Ten Cate and Van Trigt, the talented painters of romantic scenes +derived from history. + +[Illustration: ISRAELS +Old Jewish Peddler] + +=Josef Israels, a Brilliant Painter in this Group.=--To this group +belongs Josef Israels in his earliest works. During this period of his +brilliant career he was filled with enthusiasm for all that is sweet, +joyous, and charming in the world, all that is fair in youth and nature; +this is the period of his Children of the Sea, his Fishwomen, and his +Knitting Girls. Later his subjects became more serious, and more +serious, too, the claims of his art. Many followed Israels's example. +The group of admirers of the master, those who saw the world as he +did,--though with their own eyes,--may be called the pith and kernel of +the young Dutch school. Blommers, Valkenburg, Neuhuys, and Artz may be +placed at the head. They did not take life quite so sadly, they did not +wish to obscure light and color but allowed the sun to blaze and triumph +over mystery and darkness. + +=A New Party opposed to the Romanticists.=--In opposition to these +"champions of twilight and tenderness" arose those who preferred the +real and substantial: Breitner; Sosselin de Jong, the portrait-painter; +Witkamp; Therese Schwartze, and Van der Waay. + +A similar movement took place in landscape-painting. The most important +landscape-artists in the first half of the nineteenth century were +Kobell, Koekkoek, and Schelfhout. Their great ideal was a careful, +almost painful, working out of detail; they selected subjects rich in +material, masses of big trees against water, producing great effects of +light and shade. They sought to captivate the eye by an abundance of +detail, and to depict woods and meadows with a smoothness which was more +artificial than natural. + +=Bilders, Roelofs, and their Followers.=--What was called the +picturesque in a landscape became unnecessary to the younger men of the +newer school; they painted Nature in its own beauty and in the +simplicity of its charm, as they saw it in their daily lives. Of this +group Bilders is the most important. He admired in the landscape, not a +favorite spot, or a pretty pool, or a gayly colored cow; he saw rather +land and meadow and wood in the mass, as one whole, beautiful by reason +of its grand lines, its rich tones. William Roelofs went a step further; +his first works differ little from those of his predecessors, but by +degrees he tore himself away from the accepted style and became a true +reformer. It was no longer the color or the beautiful contours of a view +that attracted him, but the country itself, the vegetation, the verdure, +the cattle in the meadows, the sky that seems always holiday-making, the +ever-changing clouds, always full of beauty. + +A whole school followed in this new track,--Van de Sande Bakhuijzen, +Mevrouw Bilders van Bosse and Mevrouw Mesdag, Van Borselen, +Storlenbeker, Gabriel, who depicted with extraordinary fidelity both +land and sea; John Vrolijk, whose cows are always grazing in sunny +meadows under a brilliantly blue sky; De Haas, whose cattle are more +heavy and massive; Du Chattel, who prefers the effect of light in Spring +and in Autumn; Apol, who devotes himself almost exclusively to snow +scenes, producing singularly charming effects of the sun shining upon +monotonous whiteness; Mari Ten Kate, De Bock, Wijsmuller, Weissenbruch, +and Tholen. + +=Another Step in the Modern Direction.=--Another step in the modern +direction was taken by artists who gave themselves up entirely to the +impression of the landscape, and painted exactly what they saw; Ter +Meulen, for instance, who loves Nature for the mood which she awakes in +him, and who understands so well how to convey light and tone into his +clever and refined pictures; Anton Mauve, and the brothers William and +Jacob Maris, were also accomplished interpreters of nature, and all that +lives and moves therein. + +[Illustration: J. MARIS +Two Windmills] + +=Modern Dutch Painters pursuing Independent Lines.=--Of other modern +Dutch painters pursuing different lines may be mentioned Bosboom, who +devoted himself chiefly to the interiors of old churches, bringing out +the play of light and shadow among the pillars; Klinkenberg, who paints +Dutch streets and canals and the old buildings upon them in full +sunshine; Jansen, who paints the Amsterdam docks and quays; Alma-Tadema, +painter of classical scenes; Bisschop, the great colorist; David Bles, +"the witty portrayer of morals and manners of years ago"; Henrietta +Ronner-Knip, the famous painter of cats and dogs; Henkes, who depicts in +grayish tones old-fashioned scenes and characters; Bakker Korff, who +paints similar scenes, but in miniature; the brothers Oyens; Elchanon +Verveer, painter of jolly old fishermen; Sadee; Mejuffrouw van de Sande +Bakhuijzen, and Mejuffrouw Roosenboom, painters of flowers and fruit; +Eerelman and Van Essen, the animal painters; Allebe, the colorist, +painter of human figures and animals; and Kaemmerer, who is fond of +painting figures in the costumes of the Directoire. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[27] H. Smissaert. + +[28] G. H. Marius. + +[29] H. Smissaert. + + + + +THE TOWN HALL, HAARLEM + +FROM AMSTERDAM TO HAARLEM + + +It would be well now to make a day's trip to Haarlem. The steam tram +takes us through an interesting country, and in about an hour we reach +the centre of the town,--the Groote Markt,--in which are several old +buildings, the meat market, the Groote Kerk, and the Town Hall. The +latter is the chief object of our visit to Haarlem, for it contains ten +large pictures by Frans Hals, which no admirer of this great master can +afford to neglect. + +The Town Hall, facing the Groote Kerk, was originally a palace of the +counts of Holland. It was begun in the twelfth century, but was +remodelled in 1620 and 1630, when a wing was added. Some of the large +beams in the interior date from the thirteenth century. The walls of the +vestibule are decorated with coats of arms and portraits of the counts +and countesses of Holland. + +=The Room containing Hals's Doelen Pictures.=--We pass at once into the +principal room, where the famous Regent (or _Doelen_) pictures by Hals +are arranged in chronological order. These pictures represent nearly all +the artist's working period. The Banquet of the Officers of the Guild of +the Archers of St. George was painted in 1616, when the artist was +thirty-five; the same subject, with different portraits, in 1627; the +Banquet of the Officers of the Arquebusiers of St. Andrew, in 1622, when +the corps departed for the siege of Hasselt and Mons; Reunion of the +Arquebusiers of St. Andrew, in 1633; and Officers and Sub-Officers of +the Arquebusiers of St. George, in 1639. + +[Illustration: FRANS HALS +Reunion of the Arquebusiers of St. Andrew] + +As the enormous canvases each contain from fourteen to twenty life-size +portraits, we feel as if we were entering a hall full of convivial +officers, laughing, jesting, and making merry over their fine wines and +choice food. They are richly dressed; many of them wear lace cuffs and +ruffs and bright scarfs; flags flutter, spears glitter, spurs and swords +clank and flash in the sunlight; the plumes on the large hats nod; and +loud talk and bursts of laughter seem to issue from the frames. These +convivial men have fought against the hated Spaniards, and are ready to +trail a pike at any moment. The artist was commanded to paint each man +accurately and according to his rank in the company. Every picture is, +therefore, a group of portraits; and Colonel Jan Claasz Loo, in the +picture of 1633, is considered one of Hals's masterpieces of +portraiture. These pictures rank with Rembrandt's and Van der Helst's +works of this class. + +In addition to these are Regents of the Hospital of St. Elizabeth +(1641), Regents of the Old Men's Almshouse, and Lady Regents of the Old +Men's Almshouse, both painted in 1664, when Hals was over eighty. Two +fine portraits of Nicholas van der Meer, Burgomaster of Haarlem, and his +wife, are dated 1631. A copy of a portrait of Frans Hals by himself +hangs in an adjoining room. + + =Crowe on Hals's Earlier and Later Styles.=--"In every form of his art + we can distinguish his earlier style from that of later years. Two + Boys Playing and Singing, in the Gallery of Cassel, and A Banquet of + Officers, in the Museum of Haarlem, exhibit him as a careful + draughtsman, capable of great finish, yet spirited withal. His flesh, + less clear than it afterwards became, is pastose and burnished. + Further on he becomes more effective, displays more freedom of hand + and a greater command of effect. At this period we note the beautiful + full-length of a young lady of the Berensteyn family in the house of + that name in Haarlem, and a splendid full-length of A Patrician + Leaning on a Sword, in the Lichtenstein Collection at Vienna. Both + these pictures are equalled by the Banquets of Officers of 1627, and a + Meeting of the Company of St. George, of 1633, in the Haarlem Museum. + A picture of the same kind in the Town Hall of Amsterdam, with the + date of 1637, suggests some study of the masterpieces of Rembrandt, + and a similar influence is apparent in a picture of 1641 at Haarlem, + representing the Regents of the Company of St. Elizabeth.... + Rembrandt's example did not create a lasting impression on Hals. He + gradually dropped more and more into gray and silvery harmonies of + tone; and two of his canvases, executed in 1664,--the Regents and + Regentesses of the Oudemannenhuis, at Haarlem,--are masterpieces of + color, though in substance they are but monochromes." + + =His Pictures of Various Strata of Society.=--"Hals's pictures + illustrate the various strata of society into which his misfortunes + led him. His banquets or meetings of officers, of sharpshooters and + guildsmen, are the most interesting of his works. But they are not + more characteristic than his low-life pictures of itinerant players + and singers. His portraits of gentlefolk are true and noble, but + hardly so expressive as those of fishwives and tavern heroes. His + first master was Van Mander, the painter and historian, of whom he + possessed some pictures. But he soon left behind him the practice of + the time illustrated by Schoreel and Moro, and, emancipating himself + gradually from tradition, produced pictures remarkable for truth and + dexterity of hand." + + =Hals and Rembrandt compared.=--"We prize in Rembrandt the golden glow + of effects based upon artificial contrasts of low light in + immeasurable gloom. Hals was fond of daylight, of silvery sheen. Both + men were painters of touch, but of touch on different keys. Rembrandt + was the bass, Hals the treble. The latter is, perhaps, more expressive + than the former. He seizes with rare intuition a moment in the life of + his sitters. What nature displays in that moment he reproduces + thoroughly in a very delicate scale of color, and with a perfect + mastery over every form of expression. He becomes so clever at last + that exact tone, light and shade, and modelling are all obtained with + a few marked and fluid strokes of the brush." + +=The Other Corporation Pictures.=--The other Corporation pictures will +not detain us; but while here we can take a hasty glance at A. Brouwer's +Binnenhuis; Jan Steen's Peasants' _Kermesse_; Philips Wouwermans's Stags +and Goats; Molenaer's Rustic Wedding; F. Hals the Younger's Binnenhuis; +Pieter Aertsen's Children in the Fiery Furnace; A. Backer's Semiramis; +Cornelis Bega's Street Musicians; Gerrit Berckheyde's Groote Markt in +Haarlem and Fish Market in Haarlem; Job Berckheyde's Groote Kerk, +Haarlem, and Joseph and his Brothers in Egypt; Bloemaert's Message to +the Shepherds; Pieter Claez's Still Life; Jacques de Claen, Fruits; +Droochsloot's _Kermesse_; A. van Everdingen's Street in Haarlem; H. +Goltzius's Titus; G. W. Heda's Still Life; G. van Honthorst's Singer; +Hendrik Meyer's Groote Markt, Haarlem; P. de Molyn's Pillaged and +Burning Village; Isaac van Nickele's Groote Kerk, Haarlem; Isaac +Ouwater's Groote Markt, Haarlem; Christoffel Pierson's Hunting +Attributes; Isaac Ruisdael's Holland Dunes and Landscape in the Dunes; +Saenredam's Nieuwe Kerk, Haarlem; P. van Santvoort's Winter Landscape; +J. van Scorel's Adam and Eve, St. Cecilia Playing the Organ, and +Christ's Baptism in the Jordan; Jacob van der Ulft's The Forum of Nerva, +Rome; Esais van de Velde's Landscape; Jan Wijnants's Landscape; Thomas +Wyck's Roman Ruins; and many portraits by Maes, Jan Weenix, Jan Victors, +Verkolje, Ter Borch, Ravesteyn, Pot, Netscher, Mierevelt, T. de Keijser, +and other famous Dutch artists. + +=The Teyler Museum.=--We can afford to neglect the Teyler Museum, unless +we are particularly interested in the study of modern Dutch art. In that +case, we can view there some excellent examples of Israels, Mauve, +Mesdag, Ten Cate, J. Koster, Bosboom, Verveer, Eeckhout, Koekkoek, and +others. The Teyler Museum also contains a valuable collection of +engravings and drawings by old masters, including Rembrandt, +Michelangelo, Goltzius, and A. van Ostade. + +=The Paviljoen Welgelegen.=--Taking the tram to Frederiks-Park, we may +glance at the Paviljoen Welgelegen, a _chateau_ built in 1788 by Mr. +Hope, an Amsterdam banker, and which was purchased by Louis Napoleon +when he became King of Holland. It was to this building that the modern +pictures were removed from the Trippenhuis in 1838. This now shelters a +Colonial Museum and a Museum of Industrial Art, both of great interest. + + + + +THE BOIJMANS MUSEUM, ROTTERDAM + +THE MUSEUM'S ORIGIN AND GROWTH + + +The Boijmans (or Boymans) Museum, on the Schiedamsche Dyk, was founded +by a bequest of Mr. F. J. O. Boijmans, who died in 1847. His fine +collection of 360 paintings suffered by fire in 1864, and only 163 of +them were left. These were housed in a new building, completed in 1867. +By means of various bequests and purchases, the collection has been +increased to more than four hundred paintings and two thousand drawings +and engravings. The ground-floor contains the drawings and engravings, +the Library of Rotterdam (30,000 volumes), and the Portrait-room. The +upper floor consists of six galleries, two of which are devoted to +modern pictures. + +=Two Classes of Landscapes in this Museum.=--The Boijmans Museum is rich +in landscapes. These naturally fall into two classes: first, the works +of those men who studied in Italy or at least owed their inspiration to +others who did; and secondly, pictures of purely Dutch scenery with the +peasants, flocks, and herds familiar to the native. The classical +landscapes are framed with mountains, and usually have cascades and +ruins, and often are peopled with nymphs, shepherds, and other figures +classically draped. Many examples of this school have already been noted +in The Hague and Amsterdam museums. + +=Painters of Italian Landscapes.=--Jan Miel (1599-1664) went to Rome and +studied under Andreas Sacchi. His Italian Landscape, alive with +travellers, is similar in feeling and treatment to many others in this +gallery by Jan van de Meer, Jr., Adam Pynacker, J. Lingelbach, Jacob van +Huchtenburgh, Willem de Heusch, Jan Hackaert, J. van Bronckhorst, Pieter +Bout, Jan Both, Adriaen Bloemaert, and Johannes van der Bent. In many of +these classical landscapes the figures are supplied by A. van de Velde +and Lingelbach. + +=Poelenburg's Figure-painting.=--Poelenburg painted the figures in the +pictures of some of his contemporaries,--in the Rocky Landscape by +Willem de Heusch, for instance. In this panel we find the usual road +with women, children, cattle, sheep, goats, trees, cascade, rocks +covered with vegetation, shepherd with flock, travellers with a +pack-mule, and mountainous background. + +=A. Bloemaert's Italian Landscape.=--Adriaen Bloemaert (d. 1668) painted +historical subjects and landscape. His Italian Landscape exhibits goats +on rocks covered with vegetation in the foreground, from which a road +rises to a castle on a mountain. A man and a child are coming down the +road. The background is mountainous. + +=Dirk Maas's Camp.=--Dirk Maas (1656-1717) studied successively under +Mommers, Berchem, and Huchtenburgh, and finally adopted the style of the +latter. His subjects generally are skirmishes, marches, and camps. His +Camp is full of life. The canvas of a tent is fixed to a tree-trunk. +Before the tent sits a cavalier, glass in hand and holding a horse by +the bridle, talking to a woman standing in front of him. Inside the +tent, soldiers are playing cards; on the right, two dogs are fighting. +There are other groups of soldiers, beggars, horses, women, and +children. The background is closed by tents at the foot of an elevation +crowned by a fortress. + +=Jan Maartsen's Cavalry Combat.=--Jan Maartsen (d. 1645) painted battles +and cavalry skirmishes. His Cavalry Combat, dated 1630, shows a fight +between Dutch and Spaniards. Infantry are engaged in the background. + +=Vrancx's Pillage and his Promenade.=--Sebastian Vrancx (or Francken) +has a Pillage, somewhat similar to that of Wouwermans. Soldiers are seen +pursuing fugitives and chasing cattle before them; one soldier takes a +poor peasant from his house as prisoner; and farther away, near a tree, +are a horseman on a rearing horse, and a house in flames; in the middle +distance the village street guarded by the cavalry; and in the +background houses, and a town on the horizon. + +His Promenade shows a gentleman in black, with brown mantle and large +hat ornamented with green, white, and red feathers, offering his hand to +a lady in a white dress, red overskirt, black mantle, and red bonnet. On +the right is a grape-vine; on the left, an inn, in which several persons +are seated; and on the horizon, a town. + +The same subject is again treated, but this time the gentleman wears a +costume of white satin and red velvet, a brown cloak and a brown hat +with a green plume, and high leather boots, while the lady has a blue +dress, a white bodice, a tunic of red satin, a fluted ruff, and a round +hat. Fireworks are seen in the background. + +=Esais van de Velde's Battle Picture.=--Esais van de Velde has a +Nocturnal Combat between Cavalry and Infantry, in which a Dutch troop of +cavalry are attacking Spanish Mousquetaires and Lansquenets, the scene +illuminated by a tent in flames. Far in the distance are the towers and +spires of a town. + +=Johan Huchtenburgh and his Cavalry Combat.=--Johan van Huchtenburgh +(1646-1733) was a pupil of Thomas Wijk. After joining his brother Jacob +in Italy in 1667, and working there for a time, he left for France, and +painted under the direction of the celebrated battle-painter, A. F. van +der Meulen. On his return to Holland in 1670 he grew famous; afterwards +he painted scenes from the wars in which William III., Marlborough, and +Prince Eugene were prominent. His Cavalry Combat shows a fight between +the Imperial troops and the Turks in a mountainous district. It is full +of action. The foreground is in shadow, while the middle distance and +background are fully illuminated. + +=Lingelbach's Country People by a Fountain.=--Country People by a +Fountain is the title of a picture by J. Lingelbach. In the foreground +of an Italian landscape several country people are variously grouped; on +the right, at the foot of a rock, a fountain gushes forth, by which is a +man wrapped in sheepskin; in the centre, a woman riding an ass, is +talking to another woman, who stands by her side; then comes a boy; then +a man is seen drinking from the fountain, his ass beside him. On the +left, another peasant is riding a white horse laden with panniers; and +by his side walks a man with a stick in his hand, and followed by a dog. +On the left is a lake; and mountains form the background. + +=Three Landscapes by Adam Pynacker.=--The Rotterdam Gallery owns three +pictures by Adam Pynacker. In An Italian Landscape a line of high +mountains edges the horizon, from which stretches a plain; and in the +foreground on the right, a river flows from a high mountain through a +rocky gorge. Two men are fishing; and near them are a dog and an ass. On +the left a road leads to a small lake, on the borders of which a +herdsman and his cattle are advancing. In the Mountainous Landscape a +ruined tower stands at the foot of a high rock on the left; and along +the road that is lost behind the hill and rocks in the foreground, +peasants and their cattle are seen. The setting sun throws its warm rays +over the wooded hills and over the river that winds through the vast +landscape and upon the figures, and illuminates a cow and a goat +browsing among the bushes and rocks. On the Border of a Lake shows a +sheet of water illuminated by the sun, and on the left several persons +are embarking. In the distance are rocky peaks partly wooded; and men +are fishing from the shore of the lake. + +=Jacob Huchtenburgh's Mountainous Landscape.=--Jacob van Huchtenburgh +followed his master, Berchem. In the foreground of his Mountainous +Landscape a road crosses a river by a three-arched stone bridge. In the +road are some sheep and peasants; and a shepherd with an ass and two +cows is crossing the bridge. At a ford on the right a man is watering +two horses. Some distance away there is a cloister at the foot of a high +mountain, before which are monks, peasants, and a carriage and horses. +Higher up the mountain are a farm, a castle, and a group of buildings +surrounded by walls. Peasants are dancing in a valley on the left. +Finally, we see a vast mountain landscape through which a river winds. + +=Moucheron's Mountainous Landscape.=--Another Mountainous Landscape is +by Moucheron. In the foreground we observe a woman on a white horse. She +is talking to a man who descends a hill. Some country people are wading +through a ford, and on the other side of the stream stands a ruined +tower. The picture is lighted by the warm rays of the setting sun. +Adriaen van de Velde painted the figures. + +=Two Imitators of Poelenburg's Style.=--Jan van Bronckhorst has an +Italian Landscape in the style of Poelenburg, by which he is most +commonly known. There are ruins partly surrounded by water, two bathers, +a shepherd and goats, a stone bridge, and mountainous background. +Another imitator of Poelenburg was Jacob Esselens (b. 1628), who painted +landscapes, marines, and town views. A Landscape shows a distinguished +company of ladies and gentlemen beside a stream with carriages, horses, +hounds, herons, and falcons. On the river are a yacht and a row-boat; +and, in the distance, a castle among the trees. The scene is full of +color and movement. + +=Jan Beerstraten and his Town Gate.=--Jan Beerstraten (d. 1660) painted +marines and town views; but nothing is known of him except that he +married Magdalena Bronckhorst. His drawing is good, color excellent, and +brush work strong. Some of his marines will bear comparison with those +of Backhuysen. A. van de Velde sometimes painted his figures. A Town +Gate, signed and dated 1654, worthily displays his powers. In a +mountainous country we see a town, with its churches, towers, gates, and +fortifications, situated on both sides of a river; on the water several +boats are sailing and rowing; and, on the banks, people are bathing and +promenading. + +=Jan Hackaert's Mountainous Landscape.=--Jan Hackaert has a fine +Mountainous Landscape with a shepherd playing a clarinet by a stream, +and a couple of peasants dancing, watched by a man with his back to us. +On a hill to the right, under tall trees, are a hunter and his dog; to +the left, a man on horseback followed by a dog. A road runs along the +banks of a lake, at the foot of a high mountain brightly illuminated by +the sun, on which three cavaliers are approaching at a fast trot. The +figures and animals in this canvas belong to J. Lingelbach. + +=Berchem and Two who painted in his Style.=--Johannes van der Bent +(1650-90) was a pupil of Ph. Wouwermans and A. van de Velde; but he also +imitated the style of N. Berchem. He has an Italian Landscape in which a +shepherdess is milking a goat in the foreground, with another woman and +a boy near her; farther on are a white horse and cattle. The mountainous +background has a cascade as usual. Berchem is not strongly represented +here,--only by A Grotto: a woman and two men, one mounted on an ass, are +driving cattle over a ford. On the right, a shepherd is driving a flock +of sheep; there are high mountains in the distance. Dirk van Berghen has +also a Landscape and Animals in this style with mountainous and woody +perspective. + +=J. Both's Italian Landscape: Evening.=--Johannes Both has another of +his pictures here that shows the influence of Claude Lorraine. In the +Italian Landscape: Evening, the left foreground is occupied by tall +trees; a chariot is drawn by two oxen along a road leading to an old +tower; on the horizon is a town on the sea-shore. + +=P. Bout's Italian Seaport.=--Pieter Bout (1658-1702) almost always +worked in collaboration with N. Boudwijns, for whose landscapes he +supplied figures. Works exclusively his own are very rare. He belonged +to the Flemish-Italian school, and has here a busy and lively Italian +Seaport in the style of J. B. Weenix. It is signed and dated 1669, which +hardly agrees with the date given for his birth unless he was very +precocious. + +=Other Painters in the Same Group.=--In this group also we might include +Gerrit Claes Bleecker (d. 1656), whose work recalls Elzheimer and his +followers. His Saul on the Road to Damascus is classical rather than +Biblical in sentiment, and the landscape is Italian. + +=Weenix's Tobias Sleeping under a Vine.=--The same may be said of the +charming Tobias Sleeping under a Vine by J. B. Weenix. In this there is +a house on the right, against the wall of which is a vine under which +Tobias is sleeping. A magpie is flying above his head, and beside him +are various objects such as this artist loved to paint,--vegetables, a +great copper milk pan, a yoke, harness, and other things, including a +basket of grapes and an earthen pitcher. In the background a man is +mounting a ladder. The picture is signed and dated 1662, two years +before the painter's death. + +Hendrick Mommers (1623-97) also has an Italian Landscape. He imitated +the style of Karel Dujardin, another painter of this school. Frederick +de Moucheron has a Mountainous Landscape. His pictures also were peopled +by the indefatigable Van de Velde and Lingelbach. + +=Landscape Setting for The Good Samaritan.=--Joris van der Hagen is +another who makes use of a Biblical episode as an excuse for a +landscape, or for the frame of the subject, as in his Landscape Serving +as a Frame for the Parable of the Good Samaritan. In the foreground on +the left, near two tall trees, the Good Samaritan has dismounted and is +stanching the wounds of the traveller; four dogs are near the ass; not +far away the brigands are descending a path at the foot of a mountain. +On the right is the Levite, and farther back is the Pharisee, going away +in a different direction. In the background is a river crossed by a +three-arched bridge, on the other side of which are high buildings +surrounded with trees. Mountains close the view. + +=Boaz and Ruth in an Italian Setting.=--Gerbrand van den Eeckhout +(1621-74), although a pupil of Rembrandt, painted so-called Biblical +scenes in much the same spirit. Thus his Boaz and Ruth has an Italian +setting. In the foreground Boaz is talking to his servant; Ruth is +standing beside the latter with her apron full of wheat. On the left is +a barn surrounded with trees; in front of it three harvesters are eating +their meal; on the right beside a plough are a straw hat, a game-bag, +and a pitcher. In the background is a field of corn which is being +reaped and sheafed. Mountains close the scene. + +=Balaam, by the Same Artist.=--Again in Balaam, trees and a river, high +mountains and ruins, form the background. The prophet is seated on his +ass, and beating him with a stick to make him advance; but on the left +an angel in white with golden wings stops him, sword in hand. Balaam is +followed by two horsemen in Roman costume, and behind them is a chariot +drawn by two horses. + +=The Flight into Egypt with an Italian Background.=--Pieter Lastman +painted an Italian landscape as a background for the Flight into Egypt. +Here we see the Virgin Mary on an ass with the Infant Jesus in her arms, +and by her side walks Joseph, carrying his carpenter's tools. A tree is +seen on the left; and a cascade, ruins, and rocks in the background on +the right. + +=Van der Weyden's The Apostle John.=--Rogier van der Weyden (1390-1464) +is an early master who painted in this style. In his The Apostle St. +John, the Apostle is seated in the foreground of a landscape, writing on +a sheet of paper which lies on his knees. He wears a red robe, and a +large red mantle lined with green falls from his shoulders and covers +his knees with ample folds. Behind him, a winged demon empties his +inkstand. On the left two gentleman are seen on horseback, and the +background shows a mountainous landscape traversed by a river and +enlivened by a castle and a fortified town. + +=Van der Maes and Van der Werff.=--Evert Crijnsz van der Maes +(1577-1646) has a St. Jerome in a landscape, signed and dated 1609. +Another picture of a hermit is by B. Matton, who lived a little later. +Pieter van der Werff has a Repentant Magdalen, who is kneeling in a +grotto with hands crossed on her breast, while she reads a parchment +scroll covered with Hebraic characters. + +=Jan van Byler's Picture of Rachel and her Father.=--Jan van Byler, born +in Utrecht in the second half of the seventeenth century, and pupil of +his father, is rarely met with in either public or private galleries. +Here, however, we find Laban Reproaching Rachel for having Carried off +his Household Gods. In the foreground, Rachel is seated holding by one +hand a little boy, while with the other she makes a gesture, as if to +ward off the reproaches of Laban, who is standing before her. On the +right is a young man carrying a basket. A brown and white dog lies in +the foreground; and in the distance are seen two men and a camel near a +tent attached to the trunk of a tree. + +=H. Goltzius.=--H. Goltzius is represented by an interesting picture, +Juno Receiving the Eyes of Argus Killed by Mercury. Mercury is seated on +a red cloak; in his right hand he holds one of the eyes of Argus, which +Juno, descending on a cloud, is about to receive in her robe. Before him +are the severed head and corpse of Argus and a naked sword. A rocky +landscape extends to the right, and on the left, in the clouds, the +chariot of Juno, drawn by peacocks. + +=Moreelse's Vertumnus and Pomona.=--An interesting mythological picture +by Moreelse is called Vertumnus and Pomona. The latter is seated under +the trees to the left with her face turned toward the spectator. She +wears a yellow silk dress with a blue tunic; her right hand holds a +pruning-hook and her left a bunch of white grapes. A little behind her +Vertumnus is seen in the guise of an old woman, leaning on a stick and +extending the left hand. + +=De Vos's Allegory, Crowned by Riches.=--Cornelius de Vos (1585-1651), +pupil of David Remens, has an Allegory, Crowned by Riches. On the right, +under a red tent fringed with gold, a young woman in a green dress and +mantle embroidered with gold, a crown of gold in her right hand and a +sceptre in her left, stands majestically. Before her kneels a farmer to +be crowned, and he extends his hand to the fruits and vegetables in the +foreground. On a table to the right, covered with a crimson cloth, are +various objects of gold and silver. Farther back under the tent are two +women, a negro, and Love. In the middle distance is Time with his +scythe. To the left in the background, a landscape, where people are +tilling the soil. + +=An Allegory by De Wit.=--Jacob de Wit also has an Allegory. Minerva, in +a landscape, is seated with her right hand on her harp; in front of her, +four naked children are sporting, and one is playing a harp. + +=A Classical Scene by Van der Ulft.=--Jacob van der Ulft has a picture, +painted in 1674, representing The Betrothed of Allucius Led as Prisoner +Before Scipio. Ruins of temples and city walls and gates are seen to +right and left. In the foreground are Scipio, the betrothed of Allucius, +and other prisoners. Farther back are Roman soldiers with chariots, +elephants, camels, and spoils of war. In the background a town is seen +at the base of the mountains. + +=Achilles Recognized by Ulysses, by Van Limborch.=--Achilles Recognized +by Ulysses, by H. van Limborch, shows Achilles kneeling on the ground in +the dress of a woman with a blue chalmys, having a sword in his right +and the scabbard in his left hand; he is recognized by Ulysses who, with +another person, is standing behind him. On the ground lie a helmet, a +shield, several precious objects, and some jewels which are being +examined and handled by the wives of Lycomedes, King of Scyros. In the +background on the left is the peristyle of a palace; and on the right +are several persons near a statue and a boat. + +=De Vriendt's The Death of Lucrezia.=--The Death of Lucrezia, by Frans +Floris de Vriendt, is painted in a similar vein. Lucrezia is on her +knees, in a despairing pose, and about to stab herself. In the +background several buildings are seen. + +=Painters of Purely Dutch Scenery.=--Turning now to painters of purely +Dutch scenery and outdoor life, the Boijmans contains many pictures by +the followers of Rembrandt, Potter, Ruisdael, and Wouwermans. Some of +these display the open country, and others the life by the wayside, in +the streets, and in the vicinity of towns. There are many charming +pictures of the outdoor life of the gentry, the tradesmen, and the +farmers. We have scenes of hunting, hawking, fishing, promenades, and +cavalcades, with beautiful landscape surroundings, and several pictures +of the farm, pure and simple. + +=Three Pictures by Jacob Ruisdael.=--Jacob Ruisdael has one picture, The +Corn Field, which represents a hilly landscape. In the foreground +brushwood, heath, and moss; on the right two oaks and, on an incline, a +wheat-field partly cut, and mowers who are resting. On the horizon, to +the left, is the sea with a few sails upon it. + +Another picture is called A Sandy Road, and on this, which leads through +brushwood and oak-trees, trudge two persons. On the right is a pool +partly hidden in shadow. + +The third picture by Ruisdael represents The Old Fish-Market at +Amsterdam. On the right is the tower of the old church; in the +foreground are the fish-venders sitting at their stalls and many +promenaders; and in the background is the canal, on which boats are +lying and sails spread out to dry. The figures were painted by Gerard +van Battem. + +=A Wooded Landscape by Izack van Ruisdael.=--Izack van Ruisdael (1628 or +9-1677) is represented by A Wooded Landscape, signed and dated 1665. +Water is seen to the right, as well as in the foreground, and six cows +are standing in it. On the left are several tall trees, beneath which +are cows and sheep; and far in the distance some men are fishing from +the bank. + +=A Wooded Landscape by Hobbema.=--A Wooded Landscape and Landscape by +Hobbema are characteristic examples. The first shows fine treatment of +light. The sun piercing through thick clouds lights the middle distance, +while foreground and background are in shadow. Among the tall trees in +the background a barn is seen; then a boy and a woman fording the +stream; a shepherd and some sheep near a willow tree; then come two +tree-trunks and some brushwood; then a winding road, on which a peasant +and a boy are walking; then a sheet of water bordered by willows. + +=Another Landscape by Hobbema.=--The other Landscape also shows a sheet +of water in the foreground where two persons are fishing; then a +tree-trunk, half of which is in the water; then some trees on a rising +ground. A couple of ducks are swimming in the water. In the background a +peasant's house is seen, before which a man is standing; and on the left +a second clump of trees, where two persons are walking. The background +is brilliantly lighted; but the middle distance and the foreground are +in shadow. + +=Van Kessel's Landscape near Haarlem.=--Jan van Kessel (1648-98), about +whom little is known, and some of whose works follow the style of J. van +Ruisdael, has here a Landscape near Haarlem and a View of Amsterdam. The +first shows a brightly lighted foreground with a road leading to a +village on the right, the ruins of the Castle of Brederode. Huntsmen and +dogs, a shepherd and sheep, and some swans in a moat, by Lingelbach, +enliven the scene. The middle distance is in shadow, and here we have +trees, fields, and dunes. The background shows a brightly lighted +landscape stretching away into the distance. + +=His View of Amsterdam.=--His View of Amsterdam shows a canal where a +man is rowing a boat, a large boat fastened on the right, some swans +floating in the water on the left. The canal, shut by the gates, is +crossed by a stone bridge, on which some people are walking. In the +corner is a quay bordered with trees, and on the horizon a clock-tower. + +=One of Isaak van Ostade's Rare Pictures.=--Isaak van Ostade (1621-49), +a pupil of his brother Adriaen, usually painted inns and village scenes, +now extremely rare. Neither the Mauritshuis nor the Rijks owns an +example. Hence the Inn among the Dunes is of great interest. A chariot, +drawn by a white horse, is arriving before an inn among the trees on the +left. The horse is being fed, and some travellers and children stand in +front of the door. A little boy is leading some pigs across the +foreground; two horsemen are galloping away in the distance, and the +horizon shows the dunes and a clock-tower. + +=A. van der Neer's Moonlit Landscape.=--A Moonlit Landscape by Aert van +der Neer is a striking picture with simple materials. A road, bordered +with trees, is seen in the foreground, with two persons approaching; in +the middle distance are some cows on the banks of a canal, and peasants' +houses under the trees, with a clock-tower in the background. The sky is +stormy, and the moon is rising and throwing its rays on the water. + +=A. van de Velde's Landscape and Blacksmith.=--Adriaen van de Velde has +a Landscape with Animals and A Blacksmith. The first shows a flat +landscape with a light brown ox, and a little farther away a sheep lying +down, and also a cow; in the background a farmhouse is seen beneath the +trees, and a vast meadow dotted with cows stretches away to the right. +The Blacksmith is in the background at the door of his forge, before +which a boy stands with a gray horse. An ass, a cock, and some hens lend +additional animation to the little scene. + +=Two Norwegian Landscapes by Everdingen.=--Albert van Everdingen is +represented by two fine examples of the Norwegian landscape, for which +he is famous. The scenes are lively, with human figures in both. + +=A Hunting Scene by Keirinckx and Poelenburg.=--Alexander Keirinckx (b. +1600) was a painter of landscapes and views of towns. He painted with +much truth to nature, his foliage especially being executed with rare +perfection. Poelenburg, as a rule, painted the figures in his pictures, +as he did in A Forest, signed and dated 1630. This is a hunting scene, +with a gentleman on horseback followed by hounds under tall trees in the +foreground. Other figures are a huntsman sounding a call, two other +hunters, and a stag in the distance among the trees. + +=Verboom's Evening.=--Abraham Hendricksz Verboom (seventeenth century) +is represented by Evening, showing trees in the foreground, huntsmen and +dogs in the middle distance lighted by the setting sun, and behind a +wooden fence a farmhouse. In the background a clock-tower appears on the +right, while a rocky landscape extends to the left. + +=Nymegen's Swiss Landscape.=--Gerard van Nymegen (1735-1808) was the +pupil of his father D. van Nymegen. He visited Germany and Switzerland. +The Boijmans owns a Swiss Landscape, in which a majestic and foaming +cascade plunges down the rocks; while, on the left, in the foreground, +is a large fallen tree. Shepherds and sheep are crossing a bridge. + +=Van der Heyde's Ruined Castle.=--A good example of Jan van der Heyde is +A Ruined Castle. The scene is a courtyard with a large tree, under which +is seated a shepherd playing a flute; a horseman is in a gateway on the +left; and several persons are standing on a stone bridge on the right. A +few clouds are floating across the clear sky. The picture is much +admired for its light and shadow. + +=Donck's Coming Home from Shooting.=--Gerrit Donck has a canvas called +Coming Home from Shooting, with a cottage, two gentlemen, a woman, a +peasant, and a boy. In the centre, some dead game lies on an inverted +tub. One gentleman is seated; he points to the birds and talks to the +woman. The other gentleman holds his gun and listens to what the peasant +has to say. The boy looks on. Through the open door on the right we see +a landscape in the style of J. van Goyen. + +=P. Wouwermans's Gentleman on Horseback.=--A Gentleman on Horseback is +by Philips Wouwermans. Mounted on a gray horse the rider takes his way +through a sandy landscape toward the dunes that are seen on the left. He +wears a gray costume embroidered with gold, a black hat with a white +feather, and high black boots. In the background are trees, and on the +right is a pavilion. + +=An Admired Picture by E. van de Velde.=--Esais van de Velde's Cavalier +has always been greatly admired. Vosmaer says: "This little figure, seen +from behind, sitting so squarely and easily on his horse, seems really a +personage of life size; it is almost an equestrian statue. The horse is +rearing, and the rider, whose back is turned to the spectator, wears a +felt hat, a blue cloak, and high black riding-boots." + +=P. Wouwermans's Pillaging Soldiers.=--Philips Wouwermans once again +displays the pleasure he takes in painting horses in his Pillaging +Soldiers. In a hilly country and on the banks of a river a soldier on a +white horse is aiming at the cheek of a peasant who is begging for mercy +on his knees; one individual lies stretched out on the ground; and on +the right a woman with her child in her arms is being pursued by a +soldier. In the middle distance, a horseman is carrying off his booty, +and on the left two horsemen are pursuing the fugitives. A village in +flames appears in the background. + +=Verschuring's Horse-Shoer.=--Hendrick Verschuring (1627-90) was a +painter of social life, portraits, and figures, and was a pupil of Dirk +Govertsz and Jan Both. He visited Italy. His picture here is called A +Horse-Shoer. Before the steps of the old town hall of Amsterdam +(represented also in Beerstraten's picture in this gallery) a man is +shoeing a white horse. Farther back stands a man in a red cloak; to the +right some beggars with a dog. Among the trees in the background a +horseman is disappearing. + +=A Spirited Forest Scene by Looten.=--Another landscape painter of this +period was Jan Looten, who died in England in 1660. Like so many of his +contemporaries, he employed others, especially Nicolaes Berchem, to +enliven his scenery with figures. His large picture, A Forest, signed +and dated 1658, is a spirited scene of ladies and gentlemen mounted, +with hawks on their fists and followed by falconers. The landscape is +prettily diversified with woods, streams, and hills. + +=The Dunes, by J. Wouwermans.=--Jan Wouwermans (1629-66), pupil of his +brother Philips, has a picture of The Dunes. In the middle of the +picture is a watercourse, which is crossed by a bridge and loses itself +behind a hill over which is seen the roof of a house. + +=A Sunny Picture by Molenaer.=--Nicolaas Molenaer (d. 1676) has a sunny +picture of a Bleaching Ground. In the foreground is a man in a boat on a +stretch of water. To the right is the bleaching ground, in which people +are busy spreading out the linen; and on the left are cottages, with +tall trees behind. + +=P. de Molyn's Farm.=--Pieter de Molyn the Elder (?-1661) has a pretty +picture of a farm, where two peasant men are talking to a peasant woman. +A very large tree stands in the front in full light, and behind the +hedge are a hayrick and the house. + +=Murant's Farm.=--Another farm is the work of Emanuel Murant. A large +tree and a sheet of water occupy the foreground. Near the latter a goat +is lying; then come three pigs before a stable, and three sheep and a +peasant. A pigeon-house on four poles and a hay-wagon are seen in the +background. + +=Three Good Landscape-painters.=--Jan Breughel (1601-78) painted so much +like his father ("Velvet") that it is hard to distinguish the one from +the other. His two village scenes are full of the country and rural +life. Michiel Carree (1666-1747) was another painter of the country. His +Wooded Landscape with Cattle has a mountainous background; it is +animated by a shepherd, an ass, two oxen, two goats, a ram, and several +lambs. Cornelis Decker (d. 1678) was a pupil of Salomon Ruisdael, whom +he greatly resembles in style. His landscape depicts a peasant's cot +half hidden among trees on the bank of a stream. On a plank crossing the +latter a woman is washing clothes; on the right are two persons in a +boat; on the horizon are trees and a clock-tower. + +=Netscher's Family Scene.=--Netscher's Family Scene, painted in 1667, +shows a group in a garden in front of an imposing house. A gentleman in +a long brown wig leans on the base of a pillar; behind him is a statue +of Justice, and beside him a lady in white satin with a child on her +knee. Near her are two young girls; one is in red silk, the other in +blue satin. They are making floral crowns, while three other children +are twining flowers around a statue of Love. On the left, in the +foreground, is a handsome stone vase containing a plant. + +=Two Landscapes.=--Pieter Jansz van As has a typical Dutch landscape +with rustic cottages, goats, shepherds, etc. Jan van Gool (1685-1763) +was a pupil of Terwesten and Van der Does. His Landscape and Animals is +a milking scene in a meadow, wherein are also a dog, goat, sheep, and +lambs. Trees, meadows, and a town close the distance. + +=One of Koninck's Very Scarce Pictures.=--Jacob Koninck (fl. 1640) was a +pupil of A. van de Velde; his pictures are very scarce. Landscape with +Animals shows sheep and cattle browsing and lying down, with a young +shepherd presumably cutting his name on a tree-trunk. Banks of trees and +a farmhouse close the background. + +=A Charming Landscape by P. van der Leeuw.=--Another little-known +landscape-painter, Pieter van der Leeuw (fl. 1670), was a son and pupil +of Sebastiaen van der Leeuw. He has a charming Landscape and Animals; +the animals consist of two oxen drinking at a stream, a ram, two ewes, a +goat, a sheep, and two lambs. A shepherd and shepherdess rest under a +tree. The color and composition are excellent. + +=Michau's Landscape with Cottages.=--Theobald Michau (1676-1765) +modelled himself on D. Teniers the Younger. His Landscape with Peasants' +Cottages is full of the spirit of humble life. A woman sits at her door +with a child on her lap, talking to three neighbors; another is washing +kitchen utensils; a man and a dog are approaching. On the left there are +tall trees, and five cows beside a stream; and farther back are cottages +and a church-tower above trees. + +=A Characteristic Picture by Van der Poel.=--Egbert van der Poel has +here a characteristic picture, Fire at Night in a Village House. The +house in flames occupies the middle of the picture; many persons are +trying to put out the fire, and some are throwing water upon it. Several +neighboring houses and a clock-tower are lighted by the glow of the +flames. + +=Van Straaten's Washerwoman.=--Bruno van Straaten, who was born in +Utrecht in 1786, is represented by The Washerwoman. She is represented +as busy outside the walls of the town; near her are houses, trees, and a +windmill. + +=Van Os's Farrier.=--Pieter Frederik van Os (b. 1808), a pupil of his +father, Pieter Gerardus, has a canvas called The Farrier. In this, two +men are shoeing a white horse in front of an old forge. + +=Cuijp's Stable.=--Aelbert Cuijp's picture The Stable shows two dappled +horses seen from the back in a stable; in the foreground are seen a +stable-boy, a goat, some stable utensils, and a brown dog. + +=An Interesting Kermesse by Droochsloot.=--Joost Cornelisz Droochsloot, +a native of Utrecht, who was born about 1586 and died after 1666, has an +interesting _Kermesse_. The scene is a village street, where a great +number of peasants are drinking, singing, and quarrelling. The houses +are half hidden by trees, and in the background is seen a clock-tower, +on the summit of which a red flag is floating. + +=An Interesting Picture of Low Life.=--An interesting picture by Govert +Camphuysen, who lived in the seventeenth century, called Wagon Full of +Drunken Peasants before an Inn, shows a wagon drawn by a white and a +brown horse standing before an inn. About half a dozen men and women are +seated in it drinking and singing, and there is a fiddler upon the front +seat. The driver is cutting some bread; by the door stands the hostess, +who is pouring beer into a pewter mug; a man with glass in hand is seen +at an open window; a beggar stands by the wagon; and a horseman is +riding along the road. + +=A Dutch Landscape by Van Os.=--Georgius Jacobus Johannes van Os has a +landscape. The scene is in Guelderland. Trees and a wheat field occupy +the background and middle distance; and in the foreground are seen sheep +and cows, painted by his brother, Pieter Gerardus van Os. + +=Maria J. Ommeganck's Landscape with Sheep.=--Maria Jacoba Ommeganck +(1760-1849) is represented in this gallery by a Landscape with Sheep. +The scenery is mountainous. In the foreground two sheep are lying down; +in the middle distance a brown sheep is standing near a portion of a +house; and in the background are a shepherd with his dog and some +browsing sheep. + +=Two Landscapes.=--Jan Hendrik Weissenbruch, born in Amsterdam in 1829, +has a Landscape with Animals, representing cattle in a meadow bright +with sunshine. In the foreground to the right is a watercourse, and in +the middle distance a mill. A Landscape in Guelderland by Anthonie +Jacobus van Wijngaerdt (1808- ) represents a sandy road through a forest +along which a man and a woman trudge bearing fagots. The sky is full of +clouds. + +=A Sunset, by Schipperus.=--Pieter Adriannus Schipperus (b. 1840) has a +Sunset. The red sun disappears behind the trees and is reflected across +a pond surrounded by brushwood that occupies the foreground. + +=A Fine Example of H. van Hove's First Period.=--Hubertus van Hove +(1814-65), the son of Bartholomeus, painted figure subjects, after +having first applied himself to landscape. A fine example of his first +period is the View of the Lakes in the Environs of Rotterdam. + +=An Early Production of W. Roelofs.=--Willem Roelofs is represented here +by one of his early productions, Landscape and Animals. In the middle +distance are trees and a country house, and in the foreground a meadow +with cows standing on the banks of the river. It is interesting to note +that the cows were painted by J. H. L. de Haas. + +[Illustration: MAUVE +Cows in a Shady Nook] + +=Mauve's Cows in a Shady Nook.=--Anton Mauve is represented by Cows in a +Shady Nook. Several black cows spotted with white are lying under the +shade of the big boughs; another stands in the foreground near the +water; in the background there is a ditch bordered with willows and tall +grasses. + +=Other Modern Landscapes.=--Among the other modern landscapes we may +note: Landscape, by Apol; On the Dunes, by Artz; The Water-mill and View +of the Village of Nuenen in Northern Brabant, by Vincent van Gogh; An +Afternoon at Katwijk-on-Sea, by S. L. Verveer; Landscape with a Windmill +near Schiedam, by Weissenbruch; Heath in Guelders in Autumn, by +Theophile de Bock; Street View (The Hague) and March Showers, by J. J. +van de Sande Bakhuijzen; and Summer (a woman and three children playing +on a beach), by Blommers. + +=Jaeger's View of the Town of Alger.=--Gerard de Jaeger (d. after 1663) +was a painter of marines and canals. Nothing is known of him. His View +of the Town of Alger is signed and dated 1665. It is a plan rather than +a picture, having an explanatory placard of the objects of interest +depicted. + +=A Village Picture by Van der Meer.=--Jan van der Meer (1628-91) has a +picture of The Village of Noordwijk Seen from the Dunes, dated 1676. A +hunter is talking to two women in the foreground; cattle and a +bleaching-ground occupy the middle distance, while a church amid trees +is in the extensive stretch of background. + +=Two Town Views of Van Hove.=--B. J. van Hove has a Town View, where +upon a square in front of a Gothic church three men are talking. One of +them is accompanied by a dog. On a stone parapet on the left is seated a +person with a basket on his back. In the background a canal is seen with +two boats on it, and behind the trees on the quays some houses are +visible. Another Town View by the same painter shows a canal with a +bridge, beneath which a boat is passing. In the middle distance on the +right there is an old Dutch house, a part of which, as well as the +church with its clock-tower in the distance, is brilliantly lighted. + +=Two of De Hulst's now Rare Pictures.=--The pictures of Frans de Hulst, +a native of Haarlem, where he died in 1662, are now exceedingly rare. +Two hang here. One is a View of the Old Gate of the East at Hoorn, +showing the moat surrounding the town, and various boats, in one of +which the fishermen are drawing their nets. In the middle distance is +the old fortified gate (built in 1511 and now demolished) and the +drawbridge, and in the horizon a large sheet of water. The View of +Nymegen shows some travellers arriving on the river bank in a chariot +drawn by four horses; the city is seen on the hills bordering the river +on the right, and beyond the walls and gates rises the Valkhof with its +square tower. The river is lost on the left. + +=Town Views, by Vertin.=--Petrus Gerardus Vertin (born 1820) has two +Town Views. One represents some old houses more or less dilapidated, and +persons carrying merchandise and talking; the second, a canal bordered +with very old Dutch houses. On the horizon a clock-tower is seen. + +=Winter Scenes by Leichert.=--Charles Henri Joseph Leichert (1818- ) has +two winter scenes: one represents a frozen canal animated with skaters, +with a frame of houses, a church, and a clock-tower; and the other a +street covered with snow, with houses on either side, and many figures. + +=Van Beest's Market.=--Sybrandt van Beest (d. 1665) painted landscapes, +marines, and _genre_. His pictures are rare. He somewhat resembled Van +Goyen in style. In his Market, we see on the right a richly costumed +gentleman bargaining for a melon with a woman who is seated before a +table loaded with all kinds of fruit. Behind her are a man and two women +in conversation; an ass drawing a cart is passing. To the left are a +heap of vegetables and a woman is picking up a red cabbage. The +background is composed of houses and a wall partly covered with verdure, +and several women in front, also selling vegetables. The panel is signed +and dated 1652. + +=De Witte's Fish Market at Amsterdam.=--Emanuel de Witte's The Fish +Market at Amsterdam is an interesting picture. In the foreground under +an awning near her stall, where lie many kinds of fish, a fishwoman is +standing and disputing with a lady who has a white handkerchief on her +head and a blue satin jacket. On the right a fisherman is taking off his +hat to her. In the background a part of the quay, Buitenkant, and the Y +are seen. + +=Three Pictures of Fish-Sellers.=--Frans van Mieris the Younger has a +picture of a fish-seller standing behind his stall; he holds a whiting +in his right hand and two baskets in his left; on the right are a +tobacco-box, a knife, and a pipe. On the left are some trees, and the +sea extends on the right into the background. Louis de Moni has The +Fishmonger. An old woman stands at a window where dried fish are +hanging; on the left is a spinning-wheel. She is talking to a servant +who is standing before the window and who has a basket full of bread. +Several houses are seen in the background. The Herring Seller, by Pieter +Christoffel Wonder (1780-1852), belongs to this group. A young woman is +seated before the window of her house and at her stall, on which are +apples, cabbages, and onions. She has a pot on her knee and holds it +with her right hand, while in her left she offers a herring for sale. + +=Two of Barent Gael's Good Pictures.=--Barent Gael (d. 1663) was a pupil +of Ph. Wouwermans; and, like his master, painted battles and cavalcades +with rich ordering, careful drawing, and picturesque effect. He +sometimes painted more humble scenes, as in the Woman with Cakes. She is +making these appetizing dainties in front of a village house, watched by +a man and four children. To the left are a hedge and some trees, and in +the background a few little houses. A beggar with his wife and child is +trudging along the road. + +The Village Inn is not less interesting. Here a gentleman, having +alighted before the inn, stands with the bridle in his left hand and a +glass in his right, as he talks to a man and woman seated on a bench. In +the foreground a dog is lying, and in the background are two horsemen +and some trees. + +=A Town View by Beerstraten, with Figures by Lingelbach.=--A. +Beerstraten, about whom little is known except that he lived in +Amsterdam in the seventeenth century, has an interesting picture of The +Old Town Hall of Amsterdam, built in the fifteenth century and destroyed +by fire in 1652. The old building on the Dam and the adjacent houses are +covered with snow. Persons of quality, and also merchants and peasants, +are seen walking through the snowy streets in all directions. These +little figures were painted by Lingelbach. + +=Job Berckheyde's Old Bourse at Amsterdam.=--Another architectural +picture by Job Berckheyde (1630-93) shows The Old Bourse at Amsterdam, +built by De Keyser in 1608-11, and destroyed in 1836. We see only a +portion of the interior of this building under the colonnade, where many +merchants are talking. Some of them are in oriental costume. The picture +is beautifully lighted by the sun, which enters on the right. + +=His Brother Gerard's Cologne.=--His brother Gerard Berckheyde +(1631-98?) has painted The Town of Cologne, showing the quay, the wall, +churches and other buildings, with the Rhine on the left. The foreground +is beautifully lighted. A brown and white horse, wagons, and boats +enliven the scene. + +=Two Town Pictures by Verheijen.=--A fine view of The Geertekerk at +Utrecht by Jan Hendrik Verheijen (1778-1846) shows the church on the +right and the streets enlivened with strollers, playing children, and a +fish-seller. His Town View, where brightly lighted buildings are seen +across the bridge of a canal, should also be noted. + +=St. Mary's Church, Utrecht, by Saenredam.=--Pieter Jansz Saenredam +(1597-65) is represented by St. Mary's Church, Utrecht. This remarkable +church, demolished in 1813 or 1816, was a copy of a church of the +eleventh century in Milan. It dominates the picture, although it stands +on the right. Behind it are some houses, and in front are trees and a +square, on which men and women are promenading, and children playing. + +=A Good Example of H. van Vliet's Style.=--The Interior of a Protestant +Church, by Hendrick van Vliet (1605-71), is a good example of this +painter's style. On the left is the choir; in the centre of the +foreground, an open tomb; on the right, near a pillar, a gentleman whose +back is turned toward us, and who is accompanied by a dog. Between the +pillars the preacher in his pulpit and his hearers are seen. The name +and date, 1666, appear on one of the pillars. + +=A Splendid Church Interior by Neeffs.=--Pieter Neeffs the Elder has a +splendid Interior of a Catholic Church, showing the nave animated with +many figures; chapels and altars are on right and left, and the choir is +in the background. + +=Two Church Interiors by Bosboom.=--Johannes Bosboom (1817-91) has an +Interior of a Protestant Temple, with people walking about in costumes +of the seventeenth century; and also an Interior of the Church of St. +Laurence, Alkmaar, also brightened with figures. + +=A Noted Picture by Klinkenberg, and Others by him.=--John Christian +Charles Klinkenberg (1852- ) is the modern Dutch painter of towns, +cities, and hamlets,--the Dutch Canaletto. He is a pupil of Bisschop and +Louis Meyer. At first he was inclined to historical subjects, but soon +turned his attention to street views. It would be impossible to +enumerate them all,--the old water-gate at Sneek, the town hall at +Zutphen, the town-gate at Hoorn, the market at Nymegen, the chancellory +at Leeuwarden, the old gate at Haarlem, the old streets of Amsterdam, +and the old buildings of The Hague. His noted picture representing a +View of the Vijver at The Hague was presented to the Museum by the +Rotterdam Society for Promoting Art in 1876. The Royal Museum is +represented on the right. + +[Illustration: KLINKENBERG +View of the Vijver at The Hague] + +=The Maas before Dordrecht, by S. van Ruisdael.=--The view of a town +seen across the river has always attracted Dutch artists. Dordrecht and +Rotterdam in particular have been painted by Jan van Goyen, Cuijp, and +others. One of the most noted pictures of river scenes is The Maas +before Dordrecht by Salomon van Ruisdael. In the foreground, to the +right, is a shabby old pier on which some cows are standing, while +others are in the water. Row-boats and sail-boats brighten the river, +and one of them on the left is flying the flag of Dordrecht. The town is +seen on the horizon. + +=Burger's Opinion of this Artist.=--Burger says that this artist formed +his brother, and that he stands between Van Goyen and the glorious +Jacob. The picture just mentioned he considers "as masterly as one of +Jacob's works. The distant horizon and the tiny sails, extremely fine in +color, harmonize with the beautiful silvery sky." + +=A Fine River Scene by Aelbert Cuijp.=--Aelbert Cuijp has a beautiful +View of the River in the Morning. On the right, at the foot of a high +mountain, a tongue of land advances into the water; two shepherds are +visible; some cows are browsing, quenching their thirst, or lying down; +and the river is dotted with row-boats and sail-boats. On the left are +some mountains, and in the background the town lies on the banks of the +river. + +=One of Pompe's Rare Works.=--A View of Rotterdam, by a little-known +painter, Gerrit Pompe (fl. 1700), whose works are very rare, deserves +study. The Maas, animated with ships, occupies the foreground; on the +left, the Admiralty yacht is under full sail, and there is also a +row-boat; in the middle distance is a battleship; in the background are +some other boats; and still farther away extends the town of Rotterdam. +The painter has signed his name on a floating plank. + +=Pompe's Rotterdam and Sonje's.=--It is interesting to compare Pompe's +Rotterdam with the View near Rotterdam by Johannes Sonje. Here we have +the Rotter in the foreground, on which a merchant ship and a row-boat +are seen. The river winds among the trees of the meadows, which are +animated with persons and animals. Under the trees on the left is a +farmhouse. Farther back are two sail-boats, and in the background is the +city. + +=A Beautiful River Scene by Van Goyen.=--J. van Goyen, the father-in-law +of Jan Steen, was particularly famous for his landscapes and river +scenery, a beautiful example of which is called View of a River in +Holland. On the left is a jetty, from which fishermen are loading a boat +with baskets; in the middle distance is a boat with fishermen drawing a +seine; and in the background are a mill and some houses on the bank. +Several other sailing and rowing boats are on the water, and on the +horizon to the left is a village. + +=Avercamp's Famous View of a River.=--Hendrik Avercamp (fl. 1660) was +famous in his day for his Dutch _kermesses_, camp life, landscape, and +still life. His View of a River is full of life and color. In the left +foreground are two fishermen, and on the left a seated fisherman's wife. +The men are dragging a big seine. In the middle distance to the right +people are bathing and swimming; swans are on the stream, also boats +with occupants; and there are houses on the banks. + +=River Scenes by Willaerts, Father and Son.=--Isaac Willaerts (fl. 1650) +has a View of a River. On the left is a village on a dike; on the right, +a river with many sail-boats. He was a pupil of his father, Adam. The +Mouth of the Meuse near Brielle, by Adam Willaerts, also belongs to this +group. In the foreground on the left stands an inn with the sign In de +Witte Zwaan (The White Swan), and before it on a cask sits a wandering +singer, surrounded by fishermen and peasants; a little to the front are +seen a gentleman and his family, to whom an old fisherman offers fish; +on the banks of the river are groups of peasants, sailors, and +fishermen, talking, embracing the women, and offering their arms to them +for a promenade. Boats are arriving and departing, and on the horizon +lies the town. + +=A River Picture and Two Others by Verschuier.=--Lieve Verschuier has +The Maas before Rotterdam. The river is seen on the right; on the left +are the Bompjes (the quay bordered with trees), the Oudehoofdpoort (old +gate), and the Haringvliet (canal). Merchant vessels are riding at +anchor, and all sorts of boats are carrying merchandise and passengers. +In the foreground is a boat with two fishermen. The same artist has here +a Mountainous Landscape, and the old Oostpoort at Rotterdam, built in +1611-13 and demolished in 1836. + +=Jongkind's Impressive Picture of Overschie in Moonlight.=--The +impressive picture, View of Overschie in Moonlight, was purchased in +1893 out of a bequest by Mr. Prainat at Rotterdam. After Jongkind +settled in France he frequently visited Holland, and this picture was +painted in 1872, during one of his visits. He was exceedingly fond of +Rotterdam and its environs. Overschie is a village near Rotterdam, and +the Schie, it may be noted, joins the Maas at Delftshaven; upon it is +situated Delft. It is interesting to compare this picture with Gabriel's +In the Environs of Overschie. + +[Illustration: JONGKIND +View of Overschie in Moonlight] + +=Jan Storck's Picture of the Old Gate at Rotterdam.=--Jan Storck, whose +Castle of Nyenrode is in the Rijks, has here The Oude Hoofdpoort at +Rotterdam seen from the Maas. In addition to the old gate (built in 1598 +and demolished in 1856), several boats are represented, and a yacht is +just leaving port amidst salvos of artillery. The Maas is seen to the +right. + +=Two Pictures Characteristic of A. Storck's Style.=--Abraham Storck has +two characteristic works. An Italian Seaport has a jetty on the right +with a large building and a stone fountain. Several persons are busy +discharging the contents of the boats and galleys. On the left a sloop +is going toward a Dutch boat at anchor. His other picture is A Dutch +Port in Winter. A great hole appears in the ice in the centre; on the +right is a pole on which nets are drying; on the left, a boat stuck fast +in the ice: Farther along are more imprisoned boats, some houses, and a +mill; near the bridge are a lady and gentleman in a sleigh; on the left, +two persons playing hockey; farther along are some skaters and +promenaders. In the background are two ships in the ice; and on the +horizon, some houses and a clock-tower. + +=Two Marines by Backhuysen.=--Ludolf Backhuysen has a large View of the +Dutch Coast in Stormy Weather, dated 1682. Ships of various sizes are +endeavoring to escape an approaching heavy squall. A marine, about +one-third the size of the above, is a calmer but bustling scene of ships +of war exchanging salutes at a place of embarkation. + +=A Marine, by Zeeman.=--Reinier Zeeman (16-- after 1673), whose pictures +greatly resemble those of Jan Both and Claude Lorraine, is represented +by a marine. On the left some vessels are in the roadstead, on the right +other boats are off for the deep, and on the banks sailors and fishermen +are seen. + +=Two Marines by Schotel.=--J. C. Schotel has an Agitated Sea showing a +brig at anchor and a fisherman's boat. A lighthouse is seen on the shore +to the right. Another, called Au Moerdijk, represents a steamboat plying +toward the landing, and in the background boats laden with hay. The +weather is calm. + +=The Port of Texel, by W. van de Velde.=--A characteristic example of +Willem van de Velde is The Port of Texel. On the left is a jetty from +which large merchant ships are preparing to leave, on the right the +Admiralty yacht firing salvos, in the foreground fishermen busy with +their nets, a boat containing several gentlemen, and in the offing many +boats leaving port. + +=A Sea-Strand, by Mans.=--Fredericus Mans (d. 1673) has a panel called A +Sea-Strand. In the foreground are fishermen, peasants, and women. A road +on the right leads to a village in the dunes. On the left, the beach is +animated with many figures and fishing boats. + +=A Marine, by L. G. Man.=--L. G. Man (eighteenth century) has a marine +consisting of several English men-of-war on a sunlit sea. + +=Sunset at Scheveningen and Two Other Pictures, by Schelfhout.=--Andreas +Schelfhout (1787-1870) has A Beach, with the sea in the background, +fishing-boats in the middle distance, and a fisherman on the dunes, with +his dog in the foreground. A Winter Scene represents a frozen stream +where three children are playing with a sled; farther away are some +skaters; and to the right, the village houses beneath wintry trees. +Sunset at Scheveningen shows a beautifully lighted sea; some boats with +fishermen occupy the middle distance; and the beach with promenaders is +shown in the foreground. + +=H. Koekkoek's Stormy Sea.=--Hermanus Koekkoek (1815-82) was a pupil of +his father, and, like him, a marine painter. His Stormy Sea, showing +various vessels struggling with the elements, is full of force and +atmospheric effects. + +=Two Beautiful Marines by Mesdag.=--Two beautiful pictures by the +skilful marine-painter, H. W. Mesdag, should be noted: Breakers on the +North Sea Coast, presented by Mr. C. E. van Stolk in 1885, depicts a +scene that the traveller himself may verify at any moment; and A +Sunrise on the Dutch Coast, presented by the Society for Promoting Art +at Rotterdam in 1876. This was painted in 1875. Beautiful in color and +striking in composition, it appeals equally to the artist and the +amateur. + +A picture by Mrs. Mesdag, Moorland with a Sheepfold in Moonlight, was +presented to this gallery by her in 1904. + +=David de Heem, One of the First Painters of Still Life.=--This gallery +owns many pictures of fruits, flowers, animals, and birds. David de Heem +(1570-1632) was one of the first to devote his talents almost +exclusively to still life. Neither The Hague nor the Rijks gallery +contains an example of his work. He treated with great minuteness +flowers, fruits, glasses, etc. Even during his own lifetime his +paintings were much sought after, and high prices were paid for them. In +his Flowers and Fruits we see a glass of Rhine wine standing in a stone +niche ornamented with carved mouldings. The glass is garlanded with +roses, honeysuckle, pinks, and chrysanthemums; and grouped about it are +white grapes, peaches, apricots, plums, etc. + +=A Large Still-life Picture by Jan de Heem.=--His more famous son, Jan +Davidsz, who inherited his talents and tastes, has here a large picture +of still life. On a table partly covered with a cloth of green velvet +are arranged various fruits,--grapes, peaches, figs, and a lemon partly +peeled. In the foreground is a pewter dish full of crabs, prawns, and +hazelnuts; then come a blue porcelain bowl and a pewter plate with +oranges and strawberries; next we have a basket covered with a blue +velvet cloth, on which is a pewter dish with a cut ham. In the +background is a box with gold and silver fringe, and on it a +wide-mouthed bottle of Rhine wine, with a vine branch, a cooked +crayfish, and some chestnuts. To the left are two wine glasses and a +silver plate of plums, figs, and cherries. Well may Blanc exclaim: + + "There is no eater so cloyed, no gourmet so _blase_, who would not + have his appetite restored by the sight of one of De Heem's pictures; + for here everything is exquisite, both the form and the substance, the + viands and the fruits, as well as the way in which they are served. It + is necessary that the eye should dine, says the proverb; and this is + particularly true of feasts and collations given in painting.... De + Heem has happily expressed the quality of every viand and every fruit, + its rough or smooth surface, dull or shining, and even its stage of + ripeness,--the violet plum with its thin skin, splashed with red and + drab, the light down of the peach with its pale and purple tones, the + plush envelope in which the hazelnut hides, and the green and split + shell inside which we see the kernel. Moreover, this diversity of + substances is not only rendered by local color but also by certain + variations of the brush work by fine shades of touch. On the oak or + marble table is placed an enormous glass vessel cut in facets, a + patriarchal glass, all the ridges of which glitter in the light, and + through the crystal of which we see a golden liquid, fused topaz. + Sometimes it is a _roemer_, a cylindrical vase of Bohemian glass + mounted in silver, a precious utensil transmitted from generation to + generation. This is a picture that transports us to the intimate life + of these domestic Dutchmen, attentive to all the delicacies of + interior comfort." + +Jan's son, Cornelis, has also a piece called Flowers and Fruits in the +same style. + +=Seghers's Flowers.=--The striking picture of Flowers, by David Seghers, +shows a stone cartouche with a little bust of Ceres framed in a garland +of red and white roses, tulips, and many small flowers, around which +hover numerous butterflies. + +=W. C. Heda, an Early Still-life Painter.=--Willem Claes Heda +(1594-1668) was one of the earliest Dutchmen who devoted themselves +exclusively to the painting of still life. Heda was the contemporary and +companion of Dirk Hals, with whom he had in common pictorial touch and +technical execution. But Heda was more careful and finished than Hals, +and showed considerable skill and not a little taste in arranging and +coloring chased cups and beakers and tankards of precious and inferior +metals. Nothing is so appetizing as his Luncheon, with rare comestibles +set out upon rich plate, oysters,--seldom without the cut +lemon,--bread, champagne, olives, and pastry. Even the commoner +Refection is also not without charm, as it comprises a cut ham, bread, +walnuts, and beer. + +=Van Gelder and Gillemans, Famous Painters of Still Life.=--N. van +Gelder (d. 1660) painted birds, animals, and flowers with great finish +and delicacy. His Poultry consists of a dead cock on a black marble +plinth, partly suspended by one of its feet from an iron hook fixed +behind a partly open green curtain. To the left are two shot pigeons, a +green velvet game-bag, and a fowling-piece. + +Jan Paul Gillemans (1618-?) was famous for his still life. This gallery +possesses one of his fruit pieces, in which grapes, oranges, lemons, +plums, and apricots are temptingly displayed. + +=Ykens, Painter of Flowers.=--Franchois Ykens (or Ikens) (1601-93), a +painter of flowers and pupil of his uncle, Osias Beest, has a picture +here that was formerly attributed to Francois Seghers. A stone +cartouche, surrounded with a garland of roses, tulips, pinks, +honeysuckle, clematis, etc., and bearing a representation of the mystic +marriage of St. Catherine, is called simply Flowers. + +=W. van Aelst and his Famous Pupil, Rachel Ruysch.=--Willem van Aelst +delights us with his Flowers. On a brown marble slab in a niche stands +an elegant vase containing roses, poppies, a pink, and other blossoms, +around which a butterfly is fluttering. A snail is crawling in the +niche. On a brown table-cloth with gold fringe, to the right, is an open +gold watch with a green ribbon attached. The picture is signed and dated +1662. Willem's famous pupil, Rachel Ruysch, may be seen here by a +charming flower piece. A tree-trunk surrounded by red and white roses, +poppies, convolvuluses, etc., and upon the stony ground, covered with +moss and mushrooms, innumerable lizards, toads, snails, and various +insects swarm. Butterflies hover over the flowers. Rachel Ruysch painted +this picture in 1685, and gave it as a present to the famous painter, +Ludolf Bakhuysen. + +=Pieter Boel's Dead Game.=--Her contemporary, Pieter Boel, shows the +influence of his master, F. Snyders, in Dead Game. A dead swan hangs by +its foot to a tree. In the foreground, near a pedestal, are arranged two +partridges and some other game, with a gun and a brass hunting-horn. On +the left is a hound; and, in the background to the right, an owl on a +cage with a little dead bird in front of it. + +=Marseus, Painter of Lowly Animal Life.=--Another follower of Snyders +was Otto Marseus van Schrieck. He excelled in the loving rendering of +lowly animal life. His Nest is of natural size, with eggs lying on the +moss near some thistles, wild mulberries, and red mushrooms. Around it +flutter some butterflies; on the right is a lizard, and on the left a +Mayfly. + +=A. Breughel's Still-life Pictures.=--His pupil, Abraham Breughel +(1631-?), went to Rome; but little is known about him except that his +favorite subject was still life. Like so many others, his flowers and +fruits are painted natural size. The principal objects in his picture +are a silver dish with figs, a silver bowl containing roses and +gladioluses at the foot of a column, and black and white grapes, apples, +etc., in the foreground. + +=A. Cuijp, a Painter Catholic in his Tastes.=--Aelbert Cuijp was very +catholic in his tastes. He occupied a country house near Dordrecht, +called Dordwijck, where he painted everything that struck his +fancy,--men, animals, fruits, flowers, and landscape. The poultry yard +is noticed in a Cock and Hen scratching in the straw, with a broom and +some blocks of red stone conspicuously placed. A hare, two pigeons, and +other birds on a stone pillar compose his Dead Game. A painting called +Fruits represents peaches on a blue plate on a table, and, beside the +plate, white grapes, cherries, and green gooseberries. On the left is +also a butterfly. A charming jumble of peaches, black and white grapes, +and various shells make the picture, Fruits and Shells, in which three +butterflies and a housefly are also prominent. + +=One of Jan Weenix's Many Dead Swans.=--No Dutch gallery would be +complete without a Dead Swan by Jan Weenix. Sir Joshua Reynolds admitted +that he had seen no less than twenty during his visit to Holland. The +dead swan is here suspended by the foot from a stone pedestal; on one +side lie a peacock, a partridge, and a thrush; and near them a branch +from a rosebush and a basket of fruit. In the background is seen a park +with a lake, statues, fountains, and large trees. + +=Two of Mignon's Best Pictures.=--Abraham Mignon appears at his best in +two pictures in this gallery called Flowers and Fruits. In the former we +admire a vase on a stone table, filled with red and white roses, tulips, +blue irises, poppies, pinks, convolvuluses, and ears of wheat; on the +left on the table a mouse, snails, butterflies, beetles, and other +insects are painted with rare delicacy and truth. Insects and snails +also occur in the second picture, in which the fruits are placed in a +niche, and consist of a bunch of black grapes, a peach, a melon, an +apricot, and some plums decorated with a vine leaf, wheat, and small +flowers. + +=A Still Life by Van Beyeren.=--Abraham Hendricksz van Beyeren was +especially fond of painting flowers and marine life. His Sea Fish is an +evidence of his excellence in this line. On a table is a basket +containing whiting and a slice of salmon; in front of the basket are a +crab, some soles, some slices of cod, and a knife. + +=Van den Broeck's Flowers.=--Elias van den Broeck (1653-1711), a pupil +of Jan de Heem, delighted to immortalize on canvas the flowers he +cultivated in his beautiful garden. A stone plinth with roses and Indian +cress; and, in front, chrysanthemums and creepers, a lizard, two snails, +and butterflies are the chief features of his Flowers. + +=Van Os, Another Good Flower-painter.=--Georgius Jacobus Johannes van Os +(1782-1861) was a worthy successor of the seventeenth-century masters of +this school. Flowers and Flowers and Fruits are artistically composed +and lovingly painted. The former consists of an Etruscan vase filled +with roses, blue irises, tulips, and anemones, standing on a marble +table. The second picture represents, on a marble plinth in a niche, a +melon, a pear, and a bunch of black grapes with roses, convolvuluses, +poppies, and other flowers. + +=His Pupil, Hendrik Reekers.=--His pupil, Hendrik Reekers (1815-54), has +here Fruits, Vegetables, and Game, arranged on a marble table. A basket +is full of white and black grapes, a cut lemon, and some oranges, plums, +peaches, and an artichoke, mingled with flowers. Above these hang a +partridge and a grouse. + +=Flowers, by Steenbergen.=--Flowers, by Albertus Steenbergen (1814- ), +consists of roses, poppies, lilacs, convolvuluses, nasturtiums, etc., +arranged in a vase that stands on a marble plinth. On the right flutters +a butterfly. + +=Still Life, by Maria Vos.=--Still Life by Maria Vos (b. 1824) consists +of a stone plinth partly covered with a piece of matting on which stand +a white cock and a black hen, an overturned basket of oranges and +lemons, a copper dish, and a porcelain bowl; and on the wall a stone jug +with a pewter top. + +=Flowers, by Margaretha Roosenboom.=--In Flowers, by Margaretha +Roosenboom (1843), we have a silver vase filled with roses, standing on +a table with a green cover. In the background, a green curtain is half +drawn. + +=Two Excellent Hunting Scenes by Hondius.=--Abraham Hondius (1638-91), +who excelled in painting the different breeds of dogs and other animals, +and hunting scenes, with much fire and action, has two pictures here. A +Boar Defending Itself Against Dogs shows the furious beast at bay, with +four dying or dead dogs under him in the foreground. On the left three +more dogs are rushing to the attack. The features of the landscape are +three trees, with a mountainous background. The other picture, of +exactly the same size, depicts a Bear Attacked by Dogs. The bear is +standing on his hind legs with a dog under him, and throwing another +into the air, while he hugs the life out of another. On the right and +left, more dogs are rushing to attack. There is a dying dog in the left +foreground. On the right, in the middle distance, there are two trees +near a rock, and a cascade, and the background is mountainous. Both +pictures are signed and dated 1672. + +=Bird Pictures by the Hondecoeters, Father and Son.=--Gijsbert de +Hondecoeter shows his loving study of the gallinaceous tribe in Cock and +Hens. In the foreground is a black hen with a white comb; and behind her +are a sitting yellow hen and a standing white one; still farther back +are three more hens, one perched on the branch of a tree. To the left +sits a brown hen with a black comb, with a yellow-brown cock behind. The +ground is strewed with oyster shells and straw. Three hens are in the +background. The picture is signed and dated 1652. + +Melchior de Hondecoeter, who surpassed his father as a painter of birds +alive and dead, enriches this collection with his Dead Game. In a grotto +at the foot of some ruins a dead bittern and two partridges are hanging. +In front are two gulls; and on the right are a hunting-horn, tied with a +red tasselled cord, a green velvet bag, a kingfisher, and two finches. +In the middle distance is a fowling-piece with a shoulder belt and net. +The entrance of the grotto is in the background on the left. + +=Four Portrait Groups by the Eversdijcks.=--In common with all other +Dutch galleries, the Boijmans is rich in portraits. Royalties, admirals, +officers, ladies of quality, gentlemen, elderly men and women, and +children are all represented. Three pictures of gatherings of officers +at Goes, by Cornelis Willemsz Eversdijck, who died in his native town of +Goes about 1649, and one by his son Willem, representing the same corps +of archers, are the only important pictures of this class in the +gallery. + +=Two Portraits by Mostert, and One by Queborn.=--Jan Mostert (1474-?), +who was a painter of portraits and altarpieces, has here two +half-lengths of Augusteyn van Teylingen, Anno 1511, and Judoca van +Egmont van der Nieuburch, 1511 (his wife). + +Crispyn van den Queborn (1604-58) was a distinguished portrait-painter +and engraver. His half-length Portrait of Hartogh van Moerkerken was +painted in 1645. + +=Santvoort, a Portrait-painter after the Style of Rembrandt.=--Dirk van +Santvoort (d. 1660) was probably one of Rembrandt's pupils; or, at +least, he adopted that master's manner. Not many of his pictures are +known, and the majority of these are portraits. His two pictures in the +Boijmans Museum, however, belong rather to the classical school of the +Elzheimers and Poelenburgs. A Young Shepherd Playing the Chalumeau, +wearing a brown cap with an ostrich feather, and a bright brown robe +over a white shirt, with a knife and horn at his belt (green +background), is dated 1632. A Young Shepherdess, half-length, turned to +the left, wears a violet dress with red sleeves. A blue hat with a green +branch is on her head and a crook over her right shoulder. The +background is greenish. + +=Two Portraits by F. Bol.=--Ferdinand Bol's Portrait of a Woman +represents a young woman seen in profile half-length, and turned to the +left. She wears a red dress and a violet velvet mantle lined with fur. +Beautiful ornaments of gold and pearls are in her hair and on her neck +and arms. One hand rests on the base of a column, and the other holds a +closed fan. His portrait of Dirk van Walijen represents a young boy with +long curls, dressed in yellow satin, red tunic, and yellow boots. + +=Portrait by Gerrit Dou.=--Among the most striking portraits is that of +An Old Lady by Gerrit Dou. She is dressed in black velvet trimmed with +fur; her bodice is of black silk, and she wears a large turned-down +collar, and round her neck a gold chain with a pendent jewel. She has on +a blue cap with a gold band. The head stands out boldly from the grayish +background, and the expression of the smiling face is singularly +impressive. + +=Jacob Cats and his Cousin, by Mytens.=--Mytens's Portrait of Jacob +Cats, the Dutch poet, and his cousin Cornelia Bars, is also of interest. +It was painted in 1650, and represents Jacob Cats seated at a table +before a tent. He is dressed in crimson, and turns toward his cousin at +his side, who wears brown silk. On the table, with its red carpet, are +an open book and an inkstand. On the left is seen a hilly landscape with +trees; and in the background an angel with a long white robe. + +=Portraits by Opzoomer.=--Simon Opzoomer has a portrait of Rembertus +Frescarode, one called Erasmus in his Study, and one of the Brothers de +Witt in Prison in Gevangenpoort. Cornelis is in bed, and Jacob is seated +by him with a book on his knees. The time is just before their murder by +the populace in 1672. + +=Portraits of Two Notables by Mierevelt.=--Mierevelt has a Portrait of +Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, painted in 1671. His Maurice of Nassau shows +that prince standing by a table and wearing a richly worked cuirass, the +present of the States-General after the victory of Nieuwpoort, and an +orange silk scarf. He holds a commandant's baton in his right hand, and +his helmet with orange plumes is seen on the table. Mierevelt has here +also A Lady of Quality. + +=Finely painted Portraits by Nason.=--Pieter Nason (1612-90), who +painted portraits and still life, and who has a Portrait of Willem +Frederick, Count of Nassau (1662), in The Hague, has here The Portrait +of a Lord, and one of A Woman of Quality. The lady is holding some +yellow flowers. She is dressed in red silk with white undersleeves; a +brown scarf falls over her shoulders; and pearls ornament her hair, +ears, and neck. The jewels, silks, and satins are beautifully painted, +as is also the costume of the lord in the accompanying picture. He is +dressed in yellow silk with a brown mantle, and his lace cravat is held +by a circle of diamonds. Trees form the background. + +=A Woman of Quality, by Pourbus.=--Pieter Pourbus (1510-83) was a +painter, geographer, and architect. His Portrait of a Woman of Quality +shows her costumed in the Valois mode, with Mary Stuart cap, fluted +ruff, and black robe. + +=Two Portraits by Netscher.=--Caspar Netscher has a sombre Portrait of a +Protestant Pastor and a brilliant Lady of Quality, dressed in blue satin +with a graceful brown scarf. She is seated by a fountain. One hand is +placed on her breast; the other is full of roses. + +=Pool's Interesting Portraits of his Wife and her Father.=--Of great +interest is the portrait of Rachel Ruysch, painted by her husband, +Juriaan Pool. This is a bust only. The lady is represented with powdered +hair and dressed in brown satin with lace at the neck and sleeves. Her +right hand is lifted and holds a veil. The background contains a column +and a green curtain. Pool's portrait of her father, Professor Frederik +Ruysch, is also a bust. He wears a large powdered wig and a long robe +with a band; his left hand holds a skull. + +=A Portrait Group by Maes.=--Nicholas Maes is represented by a Portrait +of a Gentleman and a Lady standing in front of a noble house. The lady, +in black with a gray tunic having an embroidered gold border and a large +collar, holds a little child with her left hand. The latter is dressed +in white and wears a cap with a red feather. The gentleman holds his +wife by her other hand. He is dressed in black, with white ruff and +cuffs, and a mantle is thrown over his left shoulder. His right hand +holds a glove. Behind them are a rosebush and flowers, and there are +shrubs and bushes by the wall. + +=Other Portraits by Maes.=--Another by the same artist represents Mr. +Willem Nieupoort, Envoy from the States-General to Oliver Cromwell in +1653. He is standing by a broken column, and is dressed in yellow silk +and brown velvet, a corselet, a lace cravat, and a red scarf. Near the +column are a sword and a helmet with red plumes. His wife, Anna van +Loon, is also painted by Maes, standing by a stone balustrade. She wears +a dress of red velvet with a tunic of yellow silk, a gray veil, and +pearls in her hair. In her left hand she holds some oranges, and her +right clasps that of a little girl in white. Trees occupy the +background. + +=A Portrait of a Priest, by Metsu.=--Gabriel Metsu has a Portrait of a +Priest, seated at a table in his study. One hand rests on his breast, +the other on a death's head. On the table, covered with a green cloth, +are placed an open book, a crucifix, and a sheet of paper. A glove, +books, and a half-drawn curtain occupy the background. + +=A Lawyer in his Study, by A. van Ostade.=--Adriaen van Ostade has A +Lawyer in his Study. This important personage, dressed in black velvet +and a violet robe, is seated by a table covered with a Smyrna rug, on +which are books, papers, documents, and a pewter inkstand. He is reading +a document which he holds in his left hand; his right, resting on the +arm of his chair, holds his spectacles. Behind the table there is a blue +screen. An open door is seen in the background. + +Honthorst has a Portrait of an Old Man, dressed in brown, and having a +long gray beard. + +=Several Portraits by Van der Helst.=--Bartholomeus van der Helst has +one of A Protestant Minister, painted in 1638; one called A Man, and +another A Woman (the two latter painted in 1646); Portrait of Daniel +Bernard; and Portrait of a Lady and Gentleman. The latter, painted in +1654, represents the couple on a bench in the garden. The lady is +beautifully dressed in white satin, with pearls and diamonds, and she is +plucking a rose from a bush near by. She has a huge diamond ring on her +thumb. The gentleman is dressed in black satin: in one hand he holds his +large-brimmed hat; the other supports the right arm of the lady. The +landscape, with its varied trees and playing fountain, was painted by +Aldert van Everdingen (1654). + +=A Portrait by Jan de Vos.=--Jan de Vos, who died about 1651, has here a +Portrait of a Man, dressed in black with white ruff, and standing by a +table. His right hand holds a pen, his left rests on an open copy-book. + +=A Portrait by Stolker.=--Jan Stolker (1724-85), pupil of J. M. +Quinkhard, has a Portrait of the Burgomaster of Rotterdam, Willem +Schefers, seated at a table covered with a red cloth, on which are +several books. He is dressed in black velvet, and wears a powdered wig. + +=Portraits by Simon de Vos.=--Simon de Vos (1608-76), a pupil of +Cornelis de Vos and Rubens, has a Portrait of a Man, dressed in black +with striped sleeves and a large fluted ruff. His right hand rests on a +table, and his left on his hip. He has also another Portrait of a Man, +whose left hand rests on a chair, while his right holds a glove. + +=A Man in Oriental Costume by Van Vliet.=--Jan Joris van Vliet, born in +Delft in 1610, and one of Rembrandt's pupils, can be studied here by An +Old Man in Oriental Costume. This is only a bust; the hair is short, the +moustache gray; and the costume consists of a black turban with gold +ornaments, a crimson coat, black mantle, and a golden chain. His right +hand rests on his chest. + +=A Huntsman by Verkolje.=--Verkolje has a Portrait of a Huntsman seated +beneath a tree. He is young, and wears a large black hat, a gray +costume, and orange scarf. His undersleeves are white, his stockings +brown, and his garters orange. His left hand rests on his hip, and his +right holds a gun. Two hunting-dogs are by his side, and some dead +rabbits. Trees occupy the background. + +=Van der Werff's Portraits of himself and Others.=--Pieter van der Werff +has portraits of W. B. Schefers and his wife, of Johannes Texelius and +of himself. The painter stands with his elbow on a stone balustrade, +dressed in grayish blue embroidered with gold. A brown velvet cloak is +thrown over his shoulder, and he holds his palette and brushes in his +left hand. + +=An Admiral and his Wife, by Van den Tempel.=--A. van den Tempel has An +Admiral and his Wife, in which the former is dressed in gray and silver, +and his wife in black and pink and jewels. She holds an orange in her +hand; and in the distance a negro is seen with a dish of oranges. In the +background a lifted curtain of crimson velvet reveals a warship from +which a gun is being discharged. + +=A Portrait by Zimmerman.=--J. W. G. Zimmerman has a Portrait of Mr. +Joost van Vollenhoven, Burgomaster of Rotterdam in 1864-81, dressed in +the robes of office, his right hand holding a letter and his left +resting on some books on the table. + +=Other Portraits of Interest.=--Other portraits of interest are Adriaen +Backer's Portrait of a Man; Hendrik Berckman's Portrait of Admiral +Adriaen van Trappen; Portrait of Himself, by Gijsbertus Johannes van den +Berg, and Portrait of his Wife with her son on her knee; C. Bisschop's +Portrait of Prince Henry of the Netherlands, in the costume of the Royal +Yacht Club; Ferdinand Bol's Portrait of a Woman (two), and Dirk Van der +Waeijen; Cornelis Cels's Gijsbert Karel, Count of Hogendorp; Cornelius +Janszoon van Ceulen's Portrait of a Gentleman, and Portrait of a Young +Woman; P. van Champaigne's Portraits of two Artists; Jacobus Delff's +Portrait of a Man; Albrecht Durer's Portrait of Erasmus; Anthonie van +Dijck's Portraits of Charles I., King of England, Henrietta Maria, and +Their Two Children; Gerbrand van den Eeckhout's Portrait of a Child; +Robbert van Eysden's Portrait of J. F. Hoffman, Burgomaster of +Rotterdam, 1845-66; Carel Fabritius's Portrait of a Man, dressed in +black with open shirt showing his neck and chest; Govert Flinck's +Portraits of Dirck Graswinckel, and his Sister, under a tree, in a +landscape with ruins in the distance; George Gilles Haanen's Portrait of +a Young Man; Frans Hals's Portrait of an Old Gentleman; Adriaen +Hanneman's Portrait of Johan de Witt; Constantin Netscher's William +III., King of England; Dionys van Nymegen's Willem van der Pot (1733) +and Sara, his Wife (1733); Nicholaes Pieneman's William III., King of +the Netherlands; David van der Plaes's Cornelis Tromp, and A Gentleman; +Crispyn van den Queborn's Hartogh van Moerkerken; Jan van Scorel's A +Young Man, and A Gentleman; Pieter van Slingelandt's Johannes van +Crombrugge; Hendricus Turken's (1791-?) Margarethe Agnes de Vries; +Adriaen Pietersz van de Venne's Prince Frederick Henry on Horseback +with his Suite (_en grisaille_); and Abraham de Vries's A. A. Vroesen +(1639), and An Old Woman (1644). Musscher's Portraits of Three Children, +crowning the statue of a child with flowers, should also be noticed, as +well as Jacob Gerritz Cuijp's Portraits of a General, a Lady of +Distinction, and Three Children. The last, a boy and two little girls, +are beautifully dressed, and are playing under the trees in a charming +landscape, with several buildings, including a mill and a church-tower +in the distance. + +=Good Pictures of Social Life by Palamedesz.=--Anthonie Palamedesz +(1601-73) was a painter of social life, _corps-de-gardes_, portraits, +landscapes, and still life. His art belonged to the school of Frans +Hals. The quality of his work is very unequal, but many of his interiors +are full of life and color. He was such a good painter of figures in +landscapes that his aid was much sought after by brother artists, +notably B. van Bassen and A. de Lorme. In The Hague Gallery he has two +works that show him at his best,--Music after Dinner, and Merry Company; +also a Portrait of Martinus van Stavenisse, Knight of St. Michael. + +=An Interior of High Life, by Palamedesz.=--The Rotterdam Gallery has An +Interior of High Life by this artist. In an apartment hung with gilded +leather several ladies and gentlemen are talking and playing musical +instruments. In the foreground there is a lady dressed in blue with a +light red tunic; next to her is a gentleman holding a guitar. On the +left there is a lady with a sheet of music in her hand. She wears a +white dress and a yellow tunic, and beside her is seated a gentleman. In +the centre of the room there is a table covered with a red carpet, at +which two persons are seated. Farther back in the room several groups of +ladies and gentlemen are seen; and in the background a chimney-piece. + +=A Musical Reunion, by Van Deelen.=--A Musical Reunion by Dirk van +Deelen (1605-71) is a scene in high life. Six gentlemen and four ladies +are in a hall paved with blue and white marble. A gentleman who turns +his back to the spectator is seen in the foreground. He is dressed in +black satin slashed with yellow, a black velvet cloak, yellow stockings, +red-heeled shoes, lace collar, and large black hat. At the right a lady +is leaning on a table with a red cloth. She wears a black-and-yellow +flowered dress with a red tunic and large lace collar and sleeves. Near +the table, on which are a guitar and some books of music, are four +gentlemen, one of whom is without his hat. In the centre a lady dressed +in green silk is playing the guitar, with her foot on a foot-warmer. +Beside her stand a gentleman and two ladies, one of whom wears a black +dress with a yellow satin tunic and holds a book of music. In the +background on the right there is a bed with green curtains and an open +door flanked with columns at each side. On the left are two tall +windows, and on the wall hang two male portraits. + +=An Architectural Painting by Van Deelen.=--The Peristyle of a Building, +by this artist, shows his love for classic architecture. A stone bath +with steps occupies the foreground, and two men enveloped in long cloaks +talk with a woman who is seated on the steps. Near it is a statue of +Hercules on a red marble pedestal. Many people are seen in a distant +gallery through the columns. + +=A Delightful Conversation Piece, by Ochtervelt.=--The Collation, by +Jacob Ochtervelt, is one of those delightful "conversation pieces" so +popular in the seventeenth century. A young woman in a yellow satin +skirt and a red velvet jacket bordered with white fur is seated on a +tabouret of green velvet with her back turned toward the spectator. Her +left hand rests on her hip and her right holds a glass of wine. On her +right is a table with an Oriental carpet upon which stands a flagon of +wine. By its side is an officer in a blue costume and large blond wig, +who is handing some oysters in a silver dish to the young woman. + +=A Ball, by Francois Francken, Junior.=--Francois Vranckz, or Francken, +the Younger (1581-1642), pupil of his father Francois Francken and a +native of Antwerp, has here A Ball. In the foreground a gentleman and +lady are beginning a dance surrounded by spectators; at the entrance of +the hall on the right a servant comes in with wine, and farther down +against the wall and under the windows is a long table served with +refreshments. In the centre farther back two gentlemen are talking to a +lady; on the left a platform with musicians; in the background a large +chimney-piece between two windows. + +=A Fine Interior, by Tilborch.=--Of Egidius, or Gilles, Tilborch +(1625-78), a fine Interior (once attributed to Biset) hangs here. In a +very rich room hung with gilded leather, and from the ceiling of which +is suspended a copper chandelier ornamented with a two-headed eagle, a +lady is seated before the mantelpiece near a table covered with a Smyrna +rug. She is dressed in white, with a red petticoat, and some red bows on +her breast. Around her are six children of different ages, including one +in the arms of a servant. Opposite to her is a gentleman dressed in +black with white sleeves, accompanied by a dog; a little behind is a +servant with an inkstand. On the left an aged woman dressed in black is +seen, and two ladies and a gentleman enter the chamber on the left. Over +the chimney-piece is a beautifully painted landscape, and on the left +against the wall a large _armoire_ or _kas_ of black wood ornamented +with gold, above which hangs a large portrait. + +=A Village Interior, by C. de Man.=--Cornelus de Man (1621-1706) painted +portraits, churches, and social life. In The Hague Gallery he has a +Peasants' Wedding, and here his qualities may be studied in A Village +Interior. A joyous company of peasants, with a sprinkling of the better +class, are gathered in a big barn. In the centre, a couple are +dancing,--the man holding aloft a pewter pot. On the right a group are +playing "hot cockles." In front, there is a dog asleep; on the right, a +little girl with a hoop; and on the left, a peasant asleep on a barrel. +Farther back is a long table covered with food, at which several men +and women are seated. A violinist sits on a barrel, and a guest is +sitting on the table mimicking him with tongs; on the floor in front of +him is an earthen pitcher with a pewter lid. In the background are two +individuals, one with a drum. A black bird is on a perch close to the +ceiling. + +=Two Pictures of Rustic Life by Molenaer.=--Two pictures by Jan Miense +Molenaer are owned by this gallery,--The Clarinet Player and Rustic +Gaiety. The former represents a peasant's house, where a man with his +foot resting on a stool is playing the clarinet; his audience consists +of two peasants, one of whom is sitting and the other standing by the +side of the fire. + +Music is the feature of Rustic Gaiety also. A table with a green cover +is set with pewter plates and bread; seated thereat is a peasant, +dressed in green blouse and wearing a red cap, his face turned toward +the spectator. His left hand rests on his leg and he holds a glass of +wine in his right. Opposite is a woman singing and playing the guitar; a +little farther away another woman, with a glass of wine in one hand and +a jug in the other, is also singing. In the background a peasant, seated +near a barrel, is lighting a pipe, and still farther back a man is +playing a fiddle. + +=A Village Interior, by Sorgh.=--Hendrik Maertinsz Sorgh, who died in +Rotterdam in 1670, and who was a pupil of David Teniers, reflects his +master in A Village Interior. Here we have the interior of a barn where +five peasants are eating and drinking around a table, at which is also +seated an old woman whose hands are resting on a jug. On the left is a +brick oven, and utensils of various kinds hang on the wall. Many +articles are scattered about, including a leather slipper, a wooden +spoon, some mussel shells, a tub of onions, etc. From the ceiling hangs +a wicker bird-cage and in the foreground a cock and hen are strutting +about. + +=The Market in Rotterdam, by Sorgh.=--Another picture represents an +animated scene at The Market in Rotterdam. In the foreground a +vegetable stall is placed against the _facade_ of a house. A woman +carrying a copper pail is selecting some vegetables and disputing with +the vender. Farther back more buyers and sellers are arguing; and the +background is closed with some houses and the entrance to the +Nieuwsteeg. + +=A Village Interior, by Wyck.=--A Village Interior, by Thomas Wyck +(1616-77), shows a room in which a woman is seated; a little boy +kneeling has his head in her lap; by her side is a little girl, and +other little girls are sitting on the floor; under the window on the +left a child is sitting at a table with a red carpet; on the right, in +the foreground, stands a barrel on which is a jug. A wooden stairway is +seen in the background. + +=Two Paintings illustrating the Versatility of Quellinus.=--Erasmus +Quellinus (1607-78) was a pupil of Rubens, and painted history, +architecture, landscape, portraits, and religious subjects, like his +master. He was a strong colorist and his draughtsmanship is excellent. +Two sides of his art are exhibited in The Ascension of the Virgin and A +Woman in a Kitchen. The latter is a fine study of still life in the +rendering of the various utensils. On the right a young woman with bare +arms, a white cap, a red dress, and white tunic is represented down to +the knees; on the left on the table and by its side are all sorts of +pewter, copper, and earthenware utensils. Behind the table stands a +young negress who is offering a bunch of cherries to the woman. + +=A Fine Example of Kalff's Still-life Painting.=--Another study of still +life is shown in The Village Kitchen, by Willem Kalff, a fine example of +this master. In the background a woman is preparing vegetables, a man +stands near a ladder with a basket filled with vegetables, and another +woman is coming through an open door; but these figures are subordinate +in interest to the pots, kettles, and pans of shining copper; the meat +hanging from the ceiling; the bottles, the casks, milk jugs, white +linen, beer, artichokes, onions, cabbages, and other vegetables and +fruits variously arranged. + +=Koninck's Famous Gold Weigher.=--Of single figures perhaps the most +famous is by Salomon Koninck (1609-68?), pupil of N. Moijaert. The Gold +Weigher, an old man with white hair and beard, is seated at a table. He +wears a doublet of green velvet and gray fur, and a crimson velvet cap; +he weighs the gold with the greatest care in a pair of scales which he +holds in his right hand. He holds a piece of gold in his left hand also. +On the table, which is covered with a red cloth, are books, a sheet of +paper, a box of weights, and a bag of gold. The light falls through a +window on the left. + +=Van der Neer's Guitar Player.=--The Guitar Player, by Eglon Hendrik van +der Neer, is probably a portrait. Here we see a young woman dressed in a +red satin skirt and a white satin jacket, seated by a clavecin. She is +tuning a guitar; and not far away is a gentleman who has a glass of wine +in his hand. + +=Pencz's Savant in his Cabinet.=--George Pencz (d. 1550) was a pupil of +Albert Durer, who also went to Rome and studied under Raphael. He +painted therefore much the same class of subjects and in the same style +as Van Orley. His Savant in his Cabinet is an interesting interior. The +savant is seated at a table covered with a green carpet, his head rests +on his right hand, and his left is extended toward a death's head. He is +dressed in red and wears a red cap. Behind the table is a desk on which +are an open book and a copper chandelier with an extinguished candle. +Through an open window in the background a landscape is visible. + +=The Drinker, by D. Ryckaert.=--Another good study is The Drinker, by +David Ryckaert (1612-77), a pupil of his father, Maerten Ryckaert, and +who formed himself on Teniers, Brouwer, and Ostade. The man in a brown +coat with red sleeves and a red cap is seated at a table with a pewter +mug in one hand and a pipe in the other. A pewter plate and an +earthenware jug stand on the table. + +=Pictures containing Human Figures, by Muys.=--Nicholas Muys (1740-1808) +has three scenes in _grisaille_ from plays, A Study in Light, two +Interiors, and a Landscape with Figures. The last shows a monument in +the shadow of an oak, and before it a gentleman, lady, and little child +in the costume of the end of the eighteenth century. A beggar and his +family sue for charity. Near the monument are three other persons. Two +ducks are being pursued by dogs in the foreground, a hut is seen among +the trees in the distance, and a village lies on the horizon. + +One of the Interiors represents an apartment of the eighteenth century, +where a lady dressed in a green robe is showing a little picture to two +gentlemen. The other Interior is a richly carved vestibule, in which +stands a lady in a violet silk dress and a blue hat; by her side on the +floor are a dead heron, a partridge, a hare, and some rabbits, and the +live greyhound that helped to catch them. Through a door in the centre +is seen the kitchen, where the huntsman and his wife are preparing the +vegetables; and there are two other persons, one of whom is hanging a +cage from the ceiling. + +In A Study in Light the painter has grouped a number of objects,--a bust +of Homer on a white marble table, a guitar, music-books, and a chair +with a violin on it,--and lighted them from a candle in a silver +chandelier. In the background a lady is standing before an open clavecin +with a sheet of music in her hand. + +=An Interior, by J. B. Scheffer.=--Johan Baptist Scheffer, who died in +Amsterdam in 1809, has here An Interior, showing a room in which a young +peasant woman is sitting at a table preparing vegetables. Beside her +stands a pedler who has placed his right hand on her shoulder, while his +left dangles a gold chain before her eyes. On the left, a little girl is +amusing herself by scaring a cat with her dog; in the background an open +door gives a view through the next room into the street. + +=Ary Scheffer's Training.=--Scheffer's more famous son, Arie +(1795-1858), inherited talent also from his mother, Cornelia Lamme, a +very distinguished miniature-painter. He received his first instruction +from his father and in Paris studied under Pierre Guerin. Gericault and +Eugene Delacroix joined him in striking into a new path of art. + +=His Two Paintings of Ulrich of Wurtemburg.=--Here Arie Scheffer has two +sketches--Heads of Two Children, and A Shepherd Under a Stormy Sky, and +two large canvases on Uhland's ballad representing Ulrich, son of Count +Eberhard of Wurtemburg. He first represents the young warrior who, +having lost the Battle of Reutlingen, returns to Stuttgart and finds his +father at the table alone. He has a cold welcome; and Count Eberhard +without greeting him takes a knife and cuts the table-cloth in halves. +In Scheffer's picture Ulrich is standing by the table on the right, and +the angry father is cutting the table-cloth. Exasperated by this insult, +Ulrich returned to the army and, throwing himself into the thickest of +the fray at Doffingen, was killed. The old count spent the night weeping +over the body of his only son. The companion picture, called The Weeper, +represents the bereaved father with clasped hands seated by Ulrich's +body, which still is in armor and lying on a bearskin in the tent. + +=Hendrik Scheffer's The First Child.=--Arie's younger brother, Hendrik +Scheffer (1798-1862), also a pupil of Guerin, was a capable painter +whose work, The First Child, hangs in this gallery. A young mother in +bed receives a visit from her husband, who is kissing her hand. On the +right the nurse is seen with the child in her arms. + +=A Similar Picture by Cornelis Troost.=--Another similar picture is by +Cornelis Troost. The lady is lying in bed eating her breakfast. Near her +are a cradle, a nurse with the baby, and a little girl. The wall is hung +with portraits, and a clock and a painted screen are seen. + +=Brakenburg's Malade Imaginaire and Interior.=--Richard Brakenburg +(1650-1702), a pupil of Ostade, has a _Malade Imaginaire_, in which a +young woman in blue rests languidly on her pillow, attended by a +physician, who is feeling her pulse. A little dog plays by her side, and +several persons are variously grouped and laughing. A parrot cage hangs +from the ceiling. This picture is dated 1696. A different phase of life +appears in his Interior, showing a large room full of peasants, +including women and children. They are laughing at an owl on a perch, +because a man dressed in a black satin doublet is giving it a piece of +cake on the point of a knife. A bird-cage hangs from the ceiling. + +=Bollongier's Carnival.=--Hans or Johan Bollongier, who lived in the +middle of the seventeenth century, has a Carnival. A man and woman are +dancing in a street, the former being dressed as a savage and carrying a +club; an individual follows them with a "rommel pot." In the foreground +we see a dog, and a man in a blue toga, holding a sword and an imperial +globe in his hands. Behind these persons a house is visible, the doors +and windows of which are filled with people. The picture is dated 1720. + +=Jan Steen's Feast of St. Nicholas.=--Turning now to humorous pictures, +Jan Steen affords two. The Feast of St. Nicholas differs slightly from +the one in the Rijks, and represents the painter's family. On the right +is seated a young woman in a white satin dress and a blue velvet jacket +trimmed with white fur. She is holding out her hands to a little girl, +whose arms are full of spiced bread and other dainties. On the left a +boy is crying behind the table, on which is a shoe containing a switch, +and near him a servant, a boy, and an elderly man are laughing at his +distress. The last has a glass of wine in his hand. Behind the group is +an old woman, who is showing a piece of silver to the poor little boy to +console him for St. Nicholas's present. + +=Another Humorous Picture by Jan Steen.=--Another picture which shows +Jan Steen in his most humorous vein is The Operator, who is removing the +stones from a man's head. In Holland in the sixteenth and seventeenth +centuries to say that a man had "a stone in his head" was only the +equivalent for saying that he was "cracked"; and "to extract the stone +from one's brain" merely meant to cure him of his folly. The patient is +seated in a surgeon's office, and the surgeon, who is behind him +performing an imaginary operation, ostentatiously places some stones in +a basin that an old woman is holding in the full view of the patient. On +the left stands a boy with a basket full of stones, from which the +surgeon supplies himself. The patient's arms are tightly bound with a +rope of straw; a crow is pecking at his hand, and he is screaming with +all his might. Some spectators at an open window are laughing heartily. + +=A Similar Picture in the Style of Frans Hals.=--This may be compared +with a picture of the school of Frans Hals, called The Quack Doctor. The +doctor pretends to be cutting stones from the head of a man. To his cap +is fastened a piece of parchment with Hebrew letters and three seals, +and he wears spectacles. The patient is crying out; and a boy, dressed +as a negro, stands in front with a basin full of stones. On the right is +a table covered with a red cloth, upon which are scissors and other +instruments, books, gourds, and a water bottle. + +=Cuijp's Eater of Mussels.=--Aelbert Cuijp's Eater of Mussels has a +double interest because the painter has represented himself here. The +scene is laid in a forge, where the master is eating mussels from a +plate that stands beside a glass of beer on a keg. Two little girls and +a boy are watching him with great attention, and through an open window +two gentlemen are peeping in from outside. One has a glass of wine in +his hand, and the other is the artist himself, who is laughing heartily +at the man devouring the mussels. In the foreground are seen a dog, a +large jug, an anvil, some shells, an overturned basket of wood, a cat, +and a hen. In the background are seen a blacksmith and many utensils. + +=Two Bright Pictures by Van Stry.=--Abraham van Stry (1753-1826), a +pupil of his father, the architectural painter, has an amusing Table +Well Served. In a middle-class room a fat man is seated at a table, on +which stand a fine roast and other dishes. He casts an approving glance +upon a dish which a servant is just bringing in. Behind him another +servant is pouring out some wine. This artist's Village Inn represents a +peasant on a white horse. He is taking a glass of beer from the +innkeeper's wife. A servant, a barking dog, a woman, and a boy are the +other figures. The sunlight is very vivid. + +=Some Characteristic Examples of the Early Netherlands School.=--The +early Netherlands school is well represented by a few characteristic +examples. Toost van der Beke, called "The Master of the Death of the +Virgin Mary," may be studied by three pictures,--Saint Jerome in his +Study, the Virgin Mary and the Infant Jesus, and Portrait of Joris van +der Helde (who died in Ghent in 1569). Dierick, or Dirck, Bouts is +represented by The Apostle Saint John, which was formerly attributed to +Rogier van der Weijden. Saint John is seated in a landscape writing the +first verse of his Gospel on a sheet of paper, and a devil is tormenting +him. + +"The Master of the Half-Length Female Figures," a Dutch painter who is +supposed to have worked at Bruges between 1520 and 1540, and who is +known only by his pictures of saints on altarpieces and young women +playing musical instruments, may be studied here in pictures called +Golgotha and Young Woman Playing on a Lute. The latter is dressed in the +costume of 1540, and she is singing from a music-book the words: + + "Si jayme mon amy + Trop, plus que mon mary, + Se n'est pas de mervelles." + +Golgotha represents the Crucifixion. The Cross, bearing the livid figure +of Christ, is in the foreground, and beside it stand the Virgin on the +left and St. John on the right. The landscape is very fine, but is +entirely Flemish in character, although soldiers are supposed to be +returning to the distant Jerusalem. At the foot of the hills Flemish +cottages are noticeable, and the sky is gradually darkened from the sun +on the horizon, until it gets very black just above the Cross. + +This may be compared with The Crucifixion of Christ of the Netherlands +school, an altarpiece of the sixteenth century, formerly attributed to +Bernard van Orley (died in Brussels in 1525). Like the former, it +presents a green landscape with horsemen wending their way to the +distant Jerusalem. The Virgin and St. John are kneeling at the foot of +the Cross, and in the clouds are two female saints, God the Father, and +the dove representing the Holy Ghost. + + + + +THE END + + + + +INDEX + + +[Names will be found indexed under the surname, not under the prefix +thereto; as, Dijck, van, Heem, de.] + + + A + + Aelst, Evert van, 58, 97, 98 + + Aelst, Willem van, 96-98, 250 + + Aertsen, Pieter, 132, 183, 184, 215 + + Alchemist, The (Wijck), 136 + + Allebe, 209 + + Allegory of the Vigilance of the Grand Pensionary (Asselijn), 155 + + Alma-Tadema, 205, 208 + + Amalia of Solms, 4, 122 + + Amateur Musicians (Metsu), 74, 75 + + Amsterdam, Old Bourse at, 241 + + Amsterdam, Town Hall at, 241 + + Anatomy pictures, 11, 115 + + Anatomy Pictures, Hall of, 114, 127 + + Anatomy (Rembrandt), 5, 9, 11-13 + + Antiochus to the Augur, Visit of (Moeyaert), 32 + + Apol, 205, 208, 238 + + Architectural pictures in the Boijmans, 241-243, 262 + + Architectural pictures in the Mauritshuis, 57, 58 + + Architectural pictures in the Rijks, 187-190 + + Arquebusiers of Amsterdam (Flinck), 126 + + Arquebusiers of St. Andrew (Hals), 213 + + Arrival at an Inn, 50, 51 + + Artists' portraits of themselves, 122, 140, 145 + + Artist's Studio (Ostade), 169 + + Artz, 207, 238 + + As, Pieter Jansz van, 235 + + Asselijn, Jan, 46, 146, 155 + + Ast, Balthasar van der, 98 + + Avenue of Ash-trees (Hackaert), 132 + + Avercamp (or Averkamp), H., 149, 244 + + + B + + Backer, Adriaen, 215, 260 + + Backhuysen (or Bakhuysen), L., 52, 55, 122, 149, 150 + + Bakhuijzen, J. J. van de Sande, 199, 205, 208, 209, 238 + + Balen, Hendrick van, 186, 204, 224, 246, 250 + + Balten, Peter, 172 + + Banning Cock Company, Sortie of the, 115, 116 + + Barentsz, Dirck, 127 + + Bas, Elizabeth, Portrait of (Rembrandt), 115, 118 + + Bassen, Bartholomew van, 57, 104, 172, 261 + + Batist, Karel, 159 + + Battle Picture, E. van de Velde, 221 + + Bavegom, Jan van, 103 + + Bear Hunt (Potter), 139 + + Beelt, Kornelis, 188 + + Beerstraten, A., 188, 233, 241 + + Beerstraten, Jan, 223, 224 + + Beest, Osias, 250 + + Beest, Sybrandt van, 240 + + Bega, Cornelis, 169, 170, 215 + + Begeyn, 6 + + Beijeren (or Beyeren), Abraham van, 6, 98, 157, 252 + + Beke, Toost van der, 271 + + Bent, Johannes van der, 220, 224 + + Berchem, N., 32, 35, 36, 40, 46, 146, 162, 184, 222, 224, 234 + + Berckheyde (or Berck-Heyde), Gerard (or Gerrit), 58, 188, 215, 216, + 242 + + Berck-Heyde, J. A., 188 + + Berckheyde, Job, 216, 241 + + Berckman, Hendrik, 260 + + Berg, G. J. van den, 260 + + Berghen, Dirk van, 224 + + Bernarts, Nicasius, 152 + + Bertin, Nicholas, 184 + + Beyerex, Abraham van, 53 + + Biblical pictures in the Mauritshuis, 8, 32 + + Biblical pictures in the Rijks, 183-185 + + Bicker Collection, 113 + + Bicker's Company Captain (B. van der Helst), 125 + + Bijlert, J. van, 133, 134 + + Bilders, 207 + + Binnenhof, The, 3 + + Birds, pictures of, 8, 56, 89, 90, 153-162, 250, 254 + + Biset, C. E., 103, 138 + + Bisschop, Christoffel, 202, 203, 208, 243, 260 + + Blanc, quoted, 20, 21, 26, 27, 55, 56, 73, 75, 78, 87, 88, 89-91, 95, + 96, 138, 151, 164, 165, 167, 168, 176, 177, 248, 249 + + Bleecker, G. C., 225 + + Bles, David, 208 + + Bloem, Matthys, 155 + + Bloemaert, Abraham, 30, 34, 37, 133, 143, 172 + + Bloemaert, Adriaen, 220 + + Bloemaert, Hendrick, 172 + + Blommers, B. J., 205, 207, 238 + + Bloot, Pieter de, 133 + + Bock, Theophile de, 208, 238 + + Bode, quoted, 14, 15, 18, 48 + + Boel, Pieter, 103, 152, 251 + + Boeyermans, Theodoor, 103 + + Bol, Ferdinand, 21-23, 126, 255, 260 + + Bol, Ferdinand, Portrait of, 122 + + Bolen, van, 102 + + Bollongier. _See_ Boulengier, Hans. + + Boone, Daniel, 137 + + Boonen, Arnold, 82 + + Borman, J., 159 + + Borselen, van, 208 + + Borssom, A. van, 159 + + Bosboom, 208 + + Bosboom, Johannes, 188, 205, 242 + + Bosch (Hieronymus van Aeken), 184 + + Bosch, Jerome, 172 + + Bosch, L. J. van den, 156 + + Bosschaert, Ambrosius, 156 + + Bosse, Mevrouw Bilders van, 208 + + Both, Andreas (or Andries), 31, 34, 146 + + Both, Jan (or Johannes), 31, 34-36, 46, 145, 146, 220, 224, 233, 246 + + Boudwijns, N., 225 + + Boulengier (or Bollongier), Hans, 156, 157, 269 + + Bourdon, Sebastian, 184 + + Bourse, Esaias, 137 + + Bout, Pieter, 220, 225 + + Bouts, Dierick (or Dirck), 271 + + Braekeleer, F. der, 188 + + Brakenburgh (or Brakenburg), Richard, 169, 171, 268 + + Bramer, Leonard, 185 + + Brandt, Isabella, 100, 101 + + Brassauw, Mechior, 185 + + Breakfast, The (Metsu), 182 + + Bredael, Pieter van, 103 + + Bredius, quoted, 10, 18, 21, 42-44, 65, 68, 70, 71, 100, 154 + + Breenborch, B., 31 + + Breitner, G. H., 205, 207 + + Brekelenkam, Q. G., 166, 167 + + Breughel, Abraham, 251 + + Breughel, Jan ("Velvet"), 57, 153, 234 + + Breughel, Jan, the Elder, 36, 102, 184, 186, 190, 234 + + Breughel, Pieter, III., 104 + + Bril, Paul, 46 + + Brise, C., 157 + + Broeck, Elias van den, 157,252 + + Bronckhorst, Jan van, 223 + + Brouwer, Adriaen, 66, 68, 83, 85, 105, 119, 134, 135, 215 + + Bull (Paul Potter), 9, 10 + + Burgh, R. van der, 159 + + Burgher, quoted, 10, 14, 25-26, 37, 41, 101, 106, 126, 128, 129, 144, + 154, 173-174, 175, 177, 180, 243 + + Burgomasters Deliberating with Regard to the Visit of Marie de Medici + (T. de Keijser), 19-21 + + Byler, Jan van, 227 + + + C + + Campen, Jacob van, 3 + + Camphuysen, Govert, 237 + + Candlelight Scenes, 63, 64, 163 + + Capelle, Jan van de, 55 + + Carree, M., 235 + + Cascades (Ruisdael), 41, 42, 129 + + Cate, Hendrik Gerrit Ten, 188 + + Cate, Herman Ten, 205, 206 + + Cattle (A. Cuijp), 143 + + Cels, Cornelis, 260 + + Ceulen, C. J. van, 260 + + Champaigne, P. van, 260 + + Chase, The (A. van de Velde), 141 + + Chattel, Du, 208 + + Chemical laboratories, pictures of, 135 + + Chinese Boudoir, 191 + + Civic Guard Banquet (B. van der Helst), 123, 124 + + Claen, Jacques de, 216 + + Claez, Pieter, 98, 216 + + Codde, Pieter, 133, 185 + + Coene, Constantinus, 188 + + Coignet, Gilles, 29, 30 + + Collections in the Rijks, 191 + + Colonial Museum, 216 + + Compe, Jan Ten, 188 + + Conflagrations, pictures of, 149, 190, 236 + + Coninck, David de, 155, 156 + + Conversation pictures, 6, 68, 70, 262 + + Coques, Gonzales, 103, 104, 175 + + Cornelissen, Jacob, 185 + + Cornelisz, Cornelis, 28, 29, 33, 156 + + Corporation pictures, 125-127, 215, 216 + + Cossiers, Jan, 103 + + Cows in a Shady Nook (Mauve), 238 + + Crabeth, Wouter, the Younger, 133 + + Cradle, By the (Neuhuys), 202 + + Craeyer, Gasper de, 185 + + Croos, 188 + + Crowe, quoted, 36, 39, 40, 51-54, 58, 66, 67, 75, 80, 92, 93, 139, + 140, 175, 214, 215 + + Cuijp, Aelbert, 37, 141-143, 148, 149, 171, 236, 243, 251, 270 + + Cuijp, Benjamin G., 143, 144, 184 + + Cuijp, Gerrit Gerritsz, 143 + + Cuijp, Jacob G., 34, 37, 141, 143, 261 + + + D + + Dam, Palace on the, 3, 112, 214 + + Dead Game and Vegetables (Snyders), 152 + + Decker, Cornelis, 235 + + Deelen, Dirck (or Dirk) van, 58, 261, 262 + + Delff, Cornelis J., 156 + + Delff, Jacobus, 260 + + Delft, View of (Vermeer), 43, 44 + + Despatch, The (Ter Borch), 6, 71 + + Dietz, 187 + + Dijck, A. van, 6, 102, 121, 126, 184, 260 + + Dijk, Philip van, 82 + + Dinner, Picture of a (Tilborgh), 107 + + Doctor's Visit, The (Jan Steen), 85 + + _Doelen_ pictures, 125-127 + + Donck, Gerrit, 232, 233 + + Dordrecht, View of (Cuijp), 37, 143 + + Dordrecht (J. van Goyen), 38 + + Dou (or Dow), Gerrit (or Gerard), 6, 59-64, 74, 75, 77, 78, 80, 87, + 138, 162-164, 166, 206, 255 + + Dou, Gerrit, Portrait of, 122 + + "Dou of Architectural Painters," The, 187 + + Dreamer, The (Maes), 138 + + Drinking Horn, Silver, 123, 191 + + Droochsloot, Joost C., 104, 105, 216, 236, 237 + + Drost, Cornelis, 183 + + Dubbels, Jan, 55, 149 + + Dujardin, Karel, 31, 35, 36, 56, 126, 127, 144, 145, 175, 225 + + Dupper Collection, 113 + + Dupper Hall, 114 + + Durer, Albrecht, 260 + + Dusart, C., 170 + + Dutch artists in Rome, colony of, 31 + + Dutch buildings, 191 + + Dutch garden, 191 + + "Dutch Hogarth, The," 86 + + Dutch Kitchen in the Stedelijk Museum, 195 + + Dutch landscapes, 37-44, 55, 128, 146, 229-231, 235, 237 + + "Dutch Watteau, The," 86 + + Duval, Robert, 5 + + Duyster, Willem Cornelisz, 133 + + Duyts, Jan de, 103 + + + E + + Eeckhout (or Eckhout), G. van der (or van den), 23, 155, 183, 226, 260 + + Eerelman, 209 + + Ehrenberg, Willem van, 103 + + Elias, Claes, 11 + + Elias, N., 127 + + Elliger, Ottomar, 160 + + Elsheimer (or Elshaimer, Elzheimer), Adam, 30, 31, 225 + + Esselens, Jacob, 223 + + Essen, van, 209 + + Evening School (Dou), 64, 162, 163 + + Everdingen, A. van, 46, 55, 129, 216, 231 + + Eversdijcks, C. W., 254 + + Eversdijcks, Willem, 254 + + Eysden, Robbert van, 260 + + + F + + Fabricius, Karel, 43, 183, 260 + + Fantasmagories, 157 + + Farm-house, The Old (Murant), 187 + + Fergusson, W. G., 159 + + Fiddler, The (Ostade), 65 + + Fish markets, pictures of, 240 + + Fish, pictures of, 98, 156, 157, 159, 240, 252 + + Fisherman's Children (Israels), 197 + + Flamen, 56 + + Flemalle, Bertholet, 186 + + Flemish pictures in the Rijks, 184, 185 + + Flinck, Govert, 122, 125, 126, 183, 260 + + Floating Feather, The (M. d'Hondecoeter), 89, 154 + + Floris, Frans, 28 + + Flowers, pictures of, 8,91-98, 156-158, 248-253 + + Fourment, Helena, 99-101, 121 + + Francken, Frans, the Younger, 57, 104, 262 + + Francken, Frans, II., 184 + + Francken, Frans, III., 57 + + French pictures in the Mauritshuis, 8 + + French pictures in the Rijks, 191 + + Fromantiou, de, 50 + + Fruit, pictures of, 8, 91-98, 156-161, 248-253 + + Fyt, Jan, 88, 152, 153, 155 + + + G + + Gabriel, 208, 245 + + Gael, Barent, 37, 47, 131, 241 + + Gaesbeeck, Adriaen van, 133 + + Gelder, Aert de, 6 + + Gelder, N. van, 250 + + German pictures in the Mauritshuis, 8 + + German pictures in the Rijks, 184,185 + + Gheyn, de, 28 + + Gijselaer, Nicolaes de, 185 + + Gillemans, J. P., 250 + + Gilpin, quoted, 27 + + Glauber, Johannes, 186 + + Goethe, 167 + + Gogh, Vincent van, 238 + + Goltzius, H., 28, 29, 186, 216, 227 + + Golz, Hubert, 28 + + Gool, Jan van, 235 + + Goubau, Antoni, 103 + + Goyen, Jan van, 6, 35,37, 38, 46, 144, 233, 243, 244 + + Goyen, Jan van, pupils of, 37-39 + + Goyen, Marguerite van, 38, 84, 179, 180 + + Graat, Barend, 185 + + Grebber, Pieter de, 35 + + Greef (or Gryff, Grif, Grifir, Gryef), Anton, 89 + + Greville, quoted, 157 + + Grimani, H. Jacobs, 132 + + Grocer's Shop (F. van Mieris the Younger), 173 + + Grocer's Shop (W. van Mieris), 78, 79 + + Gysels, Peter, 103 + + + H + + Haag, T. P. C., 5 + + Haanen, G. G., 260 + + Haarlem, 213 + + Haarlem Museum, 17 + + Haarlem, View of (Ruisdael), 41, 42 + + Haas, J. H. L. de, 208, 238 + + Hackaert, Jan, 37, 132, 224 + + Haerlem, C. van, 185 + + Haerlem, Pieter Claes van, 159 + + Hagen, Joris van der, 27, 48, 225 + + Hague Gallery, 5, 8 + + Hals, Dirck (or Dirk), 119, 249 + + Hals, Frans, 6, 18, 44, 66, 67, 74, 118, 119, 125, 178,181, 213-215, + 260, 270 + + Hals, Frans, Portrait of Himself and Wife, 119 + + Hanneman, A., 260 + + Hanselaere, P. van, 185 + + Happy Family, The (Jan Steen), 179 + + Haseleer, Frans, 185 + + Hauser, 22 + + Hawking Scene (Wouwermans), 146 + + Hay-wagon, The (Wouwermans), 91, 249, 250 + + Heck, C. D. van der, 188, 189 + + Hecke, J. van den, 103 + + Hecke, van der, 56 + + Hecken, A. van der, 133 + + Heda, G. W., 216 + + Heda, W. C., 91, 249 + + Heem, Cornelis de, 92, 249 + + Heem, David de, 91, 156, 157, 161, 248 + + Heem, Jan Davidsz (or David) de, 6, 91-94, 156, 157, 248, 249 + + Heem, Johan de (false signature), 159 + + Heemskerck, M. van, 184 + + Heerschop, H., 186 + + Helst, B. van der, 10, 17, 20, 107, 121-127, 258 + + Henkes, 208 + + Herkulens, Mariette, 84 + + Hermit, The. _See_ Swanevelt. + + Hermit, The (Dou), 163 + + Heusch, Willem de, 220 + + Heyden (or Heyde), Jan van der, 48, 57, 58, 187, 232 + + Hilverdink, E. A., 189 + + History of the Netherlands, pictures of the, 195 + + Hobbema, Meyndert, 37, 130, 131, 230 + + Homer Reciting His Poems (Rembrandt), 16 + + Hondecoeter, G. d', 90, 153, 155, 254 + + Hondecoeter, Gillis d', 153 + + Hondecoeter, M. d', 6, 56, 88-90, 142, 153, 154, 254 + + Hondius, Abraham, 253, 254 + + Honthorst, 21, 121, 134, 216, 258 + + Honthorst, Portrait of, 122 + + Hooch, Pieter de, 20, 25, 26, 75, 82, 137, 171, 175, 177, 198 + + Hoogstraten, S. van, 26, 64, 177, 184 + + Hoop, van der, Collection, 113, 114 + + Horse-pond, The (Wouwermans), 146 + + Houbraken, 6, 77, 158 + + Houckgeest (or Hoogest), Gerard, 6, 58 + + House in the Wood, The, 4, 111 + + Housekeeper, The Good (Dou), 59, 60 + + Hove, B. T. van, 238, 239 + + Hove, Hubertus van, 206, 238 + + Huchtenburgh, Jacob, 222, 223 + + Huchtenburgh, Johan, 221, 222 + + Hulst, Frans de, 239 + + Huntsman's Present, The (Metsu), 181, 182 + + Huysum, Jan van, 6, 93-95, 97, 160, 161 + + Hymans, quoted, 77-78 + + + I + + Industrial Art, Museum of, 216 + + Insects in art, 96, 98, 156, 158, 159, 250, 251 + + Interiors in the Boijmans, 261-264 + + "Inventor of Cascades," 130 + + Isacsz, Isaac, 185 + + Israels, Josef, 197-199, 206 + + Italian influence on Dutch painters, 27-36 + + Italian Landscapes, 30, 31, 36, 46, 145, 146, 151, 152, 222-227 + + Italian pictures in the Mauritshuis, 7, 8 + + Italian pictures in the Rijks, 184, 185 + + + J + + Jacobsz, Dirck, 127 + + Jaeger, Gerard de, 238 + + Jansen, 208 + + Janson, Johannes, 189 + + Jester (Hals), 119 + + Jewish Bride (Rembrandt), 115, 117, 118 + + Jewish Peddler, Old (Israels), 197 + + Jong, Sosselin de, 207 + + Jongkind, 245 + + Jordaens, J., 186 + + Jordaens, Maes's visit to, 24, 25 + + Jouckeer, 56 + + + K + + Kaemmerer, 209 + + Kalff (or Kalf), Willem, 98, 158, 159, 265 + + Karssen, K., 189 + + Kate, Mari Ten, 208 + + Keijser, Theodor de, 121, 122, 143 + + Keijser, Thomas de, 11, 18-21, 127 + + Keirinckx, Alexander, 232 + + Kessel, Jan van, 159, 230 + + Key, William, 28 + + Kicking White Horse (Wouwermans), 147 + + Kitchen, The Good (Teniers), 6, 106 + + Kitchen utensils, painted by Kalff, 158, 159 + + Kitchen, Village, 265 + + Klinkenberg, J. C. C., 7, 189, 205, 208, 243 + + Kloster, E., 189 + + Kobell, 207 + + Koekkoek, H., 207, 247 + + Koninck, Jacob, 235 + + Koninck, Philip, 26, 27, 171 + + Koninck, Salomon, 23, 24, 32, 266 + + Korff, Bakker, 208 + + "Krabbetje." _See_ Asselijn. + + Kruseman, C., 185 + + Kruseman, J. A., 185 + + Kuyl, G., van der, 133 + + + L + + Lachtropius, N., 160 + + Lady at the Clavecin (Molenaer), 181 + + Lady with a Parrot (A. de Vois), 165 + + Laen, D. J. van der, 189 + + Laer, P. de, 135 + + Lairesse, G. de, 35, 79, 127, 186 + + Lamme, Cornelia, 267 + + Lampson, D., 28 + + Landscapes. _See_ Dutch Landscapes and Italian Landscapes. + + Lastman, Pieter, 33, 185, 226 + + Leducq, Jean, 56 + + Leemans (or Leemens), A., 99, 159 + + Leenhoff, F., statuette of Israels by, 197 + + Leeuw, P. van der, 235 + + Leeuw, S. van der, 235 + + Leichert, C. H. J., 239, 240 + + Lemke, quoted, 44 + + Lievens, Jan, 33 + + Lijs, Jan, 132, 133 + + Limborch, H. van, 228 + + Limborgh, H. van, 186 + + Lingelbach, J., 51, 52, 55, 56, 222 + + Lingelbach, J., figures by, 26, 36, 37, 45-47, 57, 131, 148, 220, 224, + 225, 230, 241 + + "Little Van Dijck, The," 104 + + Loffelt, A. C., quoted, 196 + + Lombard, Lambert, 28 + + "Long Peter." _See_ Aertsen. + + Looten, Jan, 234 + + Lorme, A. de, 261 + + Lorraine, Claude, 33, 34, 45, 224 + + + M + + Maartsen, Jan, 220 + + Maas, Dirk, 220 + + Maes, Evert C. van der, 227 + + Maes, Nicholas, 22, 24-26, 44, 122, 137, 138, 257 + + Man, Cornelus de, 263 + + Man, L. G., 247 + + Mans, Fredericus, 247 + + Marines in the Boijmans, 246-247 + + Marines in the Mauritshuis, 8, 52, 56 + + Marines in the Rijks, 149, 150 + + Marines in the Stedelijk, 203, 204 + + Maris, J., 200, 201, 208 + + Maris, Matthys, 202 + + Maris, Willem, 201, 208 + + Marius, G. H., quoted, 200-202 + + Marrel, Jacob, 158 + + Marseus. _See_ Schrieck. + + Marshy Landscape (Roelofs), 199 + + "Marvel of Her Century, The," 159 + + "Master of the Half-Length Female Figures," 271 + + Maurice (or Maurits) of Nassau, Prince, and portraits of, 3, 121, 256 + + Mauritshuis, The, 3, 112 + + Mauve, Anton, 195-197, 208, 238 + + Meer, Jan van der, the Younger, 173 + + Meer, Van der, 174 + + Meer, Jan van der, 238, 239 + + Meer, Madame van der, Portrait of, 118 + + Memling, 46 + + Menagerie, A (Jan Steen), 86 + + Mesdag, H. W., 203, 204, 247, 248 + + Metsu, Gabriel, 6, 20, 68-75, 77, 78, 82, 83, 85, 181, 182, 258 + + Michau, Theobald, 236 + + Michel, Emile, quoted, 13 + + Mierevelt, Michael, 11, 16, 21, 120, 121, 256 + + Mieris, F. van, 6, 76-78, 173, 240 + + Mieris, Willem van, 76, 78-80, 173 + + Mignon, Abraham, 92, 94, 160, 161, 252 + + _Mignon au Chat_, 160 + + Mirrored Cow (Potter), 9, 10 + + Modern Dutch Art, 205-209, 238 + + Modern pictures in the Stedelijk, 204, 205 + + Moeyaert, Nicolas, 32, 133 + + Molenaer, Jan Miense, 181, 264 + + Molenaer, Nicolaas, 234 + + Molyn (or Molijn), Pieter, 55, 234 + + Mommers, Hendrick, 225 + + Moni, Louis de, 82, 138 + + Moonlight Scenes, 149 + + Moor, K. de, 63 + + Moreelse, Paulus, 119, 120, 127, 227, 228 + + Moreelse's portrait of himself, 6, 21 + + Moro, A., 20, 21 + + Mostert, Jan, 254 + + Moucheron, F. R. de, 36, 46, 48, 223 + + Murant, Emanuel, 187, 234 + + Musscher, M. van, 169, 170 + + "Mute of Kampen, The," 149 + + Muys, N., 266, 267 + + Mytens, 255 + + Mythological pictures in the Mauritshuis, 8, 29-34 + + Mythological pictures in the Rijks, 185-187 + + + N + + Nason, Pieter, 256 + + Neeffs, Pieter, 57 + + Neeffs, Pieter the Elder, 57, 58, 189, 190, 242 + + Neer, A. van der, 148, 149, 231 + + Neer, Eglon van der, 57, 81, 266 + + Neo-Classic School, French, 205 + + Netscher, Caspar, 21, 22, 71, 72, 136, 137, 235, 257 + + Neuhuys, Albert, 202 + + Night Watch, The (Rembrandt), 112, 115, 116 + + Noort, Pieter, 156 + + Nymegen, G. van, 232 + + + O + + Ochtervelt, Jacob van, 82, 262 + + Olis, Jan, 134 + + Ommeganck, Maria J., 237 + + Oosterwyck, Maria van, 93 + + Operator, The (Jan Steen), 269, 270 + + Opzoomer, Simon, 256 + + Orange, Princes of, 4 + + Orley, Bernard van, 272 + + Orpheus (Potter), 139 + + Os, Georgius, J. J. van, 162, 237, 252 + + Os, Jan van, 162 + + Os, Marie M. van, 162 + + Os, Peter G. van, 162, 236, 237 + + Os, Pieter F. van, 236 + + Ostade, Adriaen van, 47, 64-68, 74, 83, 85, 107, 135, 168, 169, 231, + 258 + + Ostade, Isaak van, 170, 231 + + Oudenrogge, Johannes van, 134 + + Overschie in Moonlight (Jongkind), 245 + + + P + + Palamedesz, A., 261 + + Pape, Abraham de, 80 + + Parrot Cage (Jan Steen), 178, 179 + + Paternal Advice (Ter Borch), 167 + + Pavilion Hall, 114 + + Paviljoen Welgelegen, 112, 216 + + Peleus and Thetis, Marriage of, (Bloemaert), 34, 35 + + Pencz, George, 266 + + Physicians, Jan Steen's, 84, 85 + + Picture Gallery, picture of a (Coques), 103, 104 + + Pierson, Christoffel, 98, 99 + + Pinas, Jan, 33 + + Poel, Egbert van der, 135, 190, 236 + + Poelemburg (Poelenburg, or Poelenburgh), Cornelis van, 30, 31, 148, + 220, 223, 232 + + Poll Collection, van der, 113 + + Poll Hall, van der, 114 + + Pompe, Gerrit, 244 + + Pool, Juriaan, 257 + + Pork Butcher, The (Victors), 182, 183 + + Portrait of a Girl (Vermeer), 44, 45 + + Portrait of F. van Mieris and his wife, 6, 76 + + Portrait of Sieur de Roovere (Cuijp), 37 + + Portrait of Ter Borch by himself, 71 + + Portrait Hall in the Rijks, 114, 128 + + Portraits, F. Hals, 214 + + Portraits in the Boijmans, 254-261 + + Portraits in the Mauritshuis, 8, 18, 19, 21, 23, 24, 37, 71, 75, 76, + 80, 99, 100-102 + + Portraits in the Rijks, 118-122, 145 + + Post, Frans, 3 + + Post, Pieter, 3 + + Pot, Hendrik, 17 + + Potter, Paul, 9, 10, 138, 139 + + Potter, Paul, portraits of, 10, 107 + + Potter, Pieter Symonsz, 10, 156 + + Pourbus, Pieter, 256 + + Presentation in the Temple (Rembrandt), 13, 14 + + Princess, The Little (Moreelse), 119, 120 + + Pynacker (or Pijnacker), Adam, 36, 46, 145, 222 + + + Q + + Quack Doctor (of the school of F. Hals), 270 + + Quast, Peter J., 135 + + Queborn, C. van den, 255 + + Quellinus, E., 265 + + Quinckhard, Julius, 138 + + + R + + "Ramelaer." _See_ Coninck, David de. + + Ravesteyn, J. A. van, 16, 17, 21 + + Realistic School, 207 + + Reekers, H., 253 + + Regent pictures, 125-127, 213, 214 + + Reinst, G., 145 + + Rembrandt, 11-16, 27, 28, 125 + + Rembrandt, compared with Dou, 61 + + Rembrandt, compared with Hals, 215 + + Rembrandt, masters of, 33 + + Rembrandt, portraits by, 15, 16 + + Rembrandt, pupils of, 21, 23, 24, 26, 32 + + Reptiles, pictures of, 98, 157, 158 + + Reynolds, Sir Joshua, quoted, 6, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 40, 43, 51, 55, + 62, 81, 83, 91, 100, 102, 107, 124, 150, 161, 252 + + Rijck, Pieter C. van, 132 + + Rijks Museum, 111-113 + + Rinder, Frank, 45 + + Ring, Pieter de, 98, 157 + + River Scenes, 242-245 + + _Robe de Satin_ (Ter Borch), 69, 167 + + Roelofs, Willem, 199, 207, 238 + + Roepel, Conrad, 162 + + Roestraeten, Pieter, 98 + + Romantic School, 205, 206 + + Ronner-Knip, Henrietta, 208 + + Roosenboom, Margaretha, 253 + + Rooses, Max, 205-209 + + Rubens, 99-102, 121, 185 + + Rubens, wives of, 99-101 + + Ruijsch, Rachel, 95, 96, 250 + + Ruijsch, Rachel, Portrait of, 257 + + Ruijven, Pieter Jan, 156 + + Ruisdael, Izack van, 229, 230 + + Ruisdael, Jacob, 37, 39-43, 128, 229 + + Ruisdael, Salomon, 37, 39, 130, 243 + + Ruth and Boaz (Rembrandt), 115, 116 + + Ruyter, Admiral de, Portrait of (Bol), 23 + + Ruyter, Engel de, Portrait of (Bol), 23 + + Ryckaert, D., 266 + + + S + + Saenredam, Pieter, 58, 242 + + Saenredam, Pieter Jansz, 190 + + Saftleven, Cornelis, 134 + + Saftleven, Hermann, 39 + + Saint Nicholas, Eve of (Jan Steen), 180, 181 + + Saint Nicholas, Feast of (Brakenburgh), 171 + + Saint Nicholas, Feast of (Jan Steen), 269 + + Santvoort, Dirk van, 255 + + Saskia van Ulenborgh, 14, 15 + + Satin Dress, The (Ter Borch), 167 + + Savery, Roelandt, 152, 153 + + Schalcken, G., 63, 64, 163, 164 + + Scheffer, Arie (or Ary), 267, 268 + + Scheffer, Hendrik, 268 + + Scheffer, J. B., 267 + + Schelfhout, Andreas, 247 + + Scheveningen, Coast of (A. van de Velde), 150, 151 + + Schipperus, Pieter A., 237, 238 + + School, Early Netherlands, 271, 272 + Gray, 196 + Leyden, 59 + Romantic, 205, 206 + Utrecht, 34 + + Schotel, J. C., 246 + + Schrieck, Otto Marcellis van, 98, 157, 251 + + Schurman, Anna Maria van, 159 + + Schuttersmaaltijd (B. van der Helst), 123 + + Seghers, D., 98, 249 + + Seghers, F., 250 + + Sheep on the Dunes (Mauve), 195 + + Shells, picture of, 98 + + Shepherds and Flocks (Cuijp), 142 + + Shepherds and Flocks (Potter), 139 + + Sick Lady (Hoogstraten), 177 + + Simeon in the Temple (Rembrandt), 13, 14 + + Skates, Repairing (Bisschop), 202 + + Slabbaert, Karel, 136 + + Slingelandt, P. C. van, 164 + + Smissaert, H., quoted, 199, 204 + + Snijders (or Snyders), Frans, 102, 152 + + "Snuffelaer, De." _See_ Schrieck. + + Soap Bubbles (F. van Mieris), 6, 76 + + Sonje, Johannes, 244 + + Sorgh, Hendrik M., 264, 265 + + Spanish pictures in the Mauritshuis, 8 + + Spinner, The (Maes), 137, 138 + + Stedelijk Museum, 195-209 + + Steen, Jan, 38, 76, 82-86, 178-181, 269, 270 + + Steen, Jan, family of, 84 + + Steen, Jan, Portrait of, 122 + + Steenbergen, A., 253 + + Steenwyck, Hendrik van, II., 57 + + Steenwyck, Pieter H. van, 189 + + Still Life in the Boijmans, 248, 265 + + Still Life in the Mauritshuis, 8, 98 + + Still Life in the Rijks, 152, 153, 156-162 + + Stolker, Jan, 258 + + Storck, Abraham, 55, 56, 246 + + Storck, Jan, 246 + + Straaten, Bruno van, 236 + + Stry, Abraham van, 270 + + Sunrise on the Dutch Coast (Mesdag), 248 + + Susanna (Rembrandt), 14, 15 + + Swanevelt, Herman, 33 + + Syndics (Rembrandt), 112, 115, 116, 117, 128 + + + T + + Tap Room (Jan Steen), 85, 86 + + Tavern Interior (Ostade), 169 + + Tedesco. _See_ Elsheimer, Adam. + + Tempel, A. van den, 259 + + Temptation of St. Anthony (Teniers), 172 + + Teniers, David, the Younger, 66, 105-107, 171, 172 + + Ter Borch (or Terburg), 69, 70, 167, 168 + + Ter Borch, portrait of, 122 + + Ter Meulen, 208 + + Teyler Museum, 216 + + Tilborch, Gilles, 107, 263 + + Town Hall, Haarlem, 213-216 + + Toys in the Rijks, 191 + + Trippenhuis, The, 112, 216 + + Troost, Cornelis, 86-88, 143, 268 + + Tulp, Dr. N., 11 + + Turkey and a Cock, Fight between a (Cuijp), 142 + + + U + + Ulft, Jacob van der, 31, 32, 58, 188, 228 + + Utrecht, Adriaen van, 153 + + + V + + _Vache qui se mire_ (Paul Potter), 6, 9, 10 + + Velde, Adriaen van de, 45, 47-49, 139-140, 231 + + Velde, Adriaen van de, figures by, 57, 220, 223, 224 + + Velde, E. van de, 37, 39, 149, 221, 233 + + Velde, Willem van de, 23, 52-55, 150, 247 + + Velde, Willem van de, the Elder, 54, 150 + + Verboom, A. H., 232 + + Verheijen, Jan H., 242 + + Verkolje, Johannes, 182, 259 + + Vermeer of Delft, 43, 44 + + Verschuier, Lieve, 245 + + Verschuring, Hendrick, 233, 234 + + Vertin, P. G., 239 + + Veth, J., 197-199 + + Victors, Jan, 182, 183 + + View on the Y (W. van de Velde), 53 + + Vijver, The, 3, 6, 7 + + Vijver, View of the (Klinkenberg), 243 + + Vinck Boons, D., 104, 105 + + Vlieger, Simon de, 56 + + Vliet, Hendrik van, 52, 242 + + Vliet, H. C. van, 190 + + Vliet, J. J. van, 259 + + Vois, Arie de, 80, 165, 166 + + Vonck, Jan, 155 + + Vos, C., 228 + + Vos, Jan de, 258 + + Vos, Maria, 253 + + Vos, Simon de, 259 + + Vosmaer, 233 + + Vrancx, Sebastian, 221 + + Vriendt, Frans Floris de, 229 + + Vries, Jan Vriedeman de, 57 + + Vrolijk, J., 208 + + + W + + Walscapelle, Jacob, 93 + + Watermills (Hobbema), 130 + + Weenix, Jan, 90, 91, 155, 252 + + Weenix, J. B., 151, 152, 225 + + Weijden (or Weyden), Rogier van, 226, 271 + + Weissenbruch, J. H., 237 + + Werff, A. van der, 81 + + Werff, Pieter van der, 227, 259 + + Wijck (or Wyck), Thomas, 135, 265 + + Wijnants (or Wynants), Jan, 37, 43-47, 147-148 + + Wijngaerdt, A. J. van, 237 + + Wild Boar Hunt (Berchem), 36 + + Willaerts, Adam, 245 + + Willaerts, Isaac, 245 + + William III., portrait of, 163 + + William V. of Orange, 5, 111 + + Windmills, The two (J. Maris), 200 + + Winghen, Joos van, 132 + + Winter in Friesland (Bisschop), 202 + + Wit, Jacob de, 228 + + Witte, Emanuel de, 58, 190, 240 + + Wolfert, J. B., 136 + + Woman Reading (Van der Meer), 173, 174 + + Wonder, Pieter C., 240 + + Wouwermans, Jan, 234 + + Wouwermans, Philips, 47, 49-51, 146, 147, 233 + + Wouwermans, Pieter, 147 + + + Y + + Y at Amsterdam (W. van der Velde), 150 + + Ykens, F., 250 + + Young Lady who is Ill (Jan Steen), 84, 85, 180 + + + Z + + Zeeman, Reinier, 246 + + Zilcken, 200 + + Zimmerman, J. W. G., 260 + + + + + +----------------------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Notes: | + | | + | Obvious punctuation errors repaired. | + | | + | Printer errors corrected. These include: | + | - Page 59, word "foregound" corrected to be "foreground" (in | + | the foreground) | + | - Page 114, word "Musuem" corrected to be "Museum" (Van der | + | Hoop Museum) | + | - Page 117, word "Snydics" corrected to be "Syndics" (The five | + | Syndics) | + | - Page 121, word "Portaits" corrected to be "Portraits" | + | (Portraits by Honthorst) | + | - Page 175, word "juciness" corrected to be "juiciness" | + | (softness and juiciness) | + | - Page 197, word "Zantvoort" corrected to be "Zandvoort" | + | (Zandvoort, near Haarlem) | + | - Page 203, word "Hinloopen" corrected to be "Hindeloopen" | + | (town of Hindeloopen) | + | - Page 256, word "Nienwpoort" corrected to be "Nieuwpoort" | + | (victory of Nieuwpoort) | + | | + | Index entries that do not match their referred text have been | + | corrected (except if the referred text is an obvious typo). | + | These include: | + | - Index entry "Beijren" corrected to be "Beijeren" | + | - Index entry "Binnerhof" corrected to be "Binnenhof" | + | - Index entry "Boreelen" corrected to be "Borselen" | + | - Index entry "Burgomasters ---- Medici" corrected to be | + | "---- Medici" | + | - Index entry "Candlelight" corrected to be "Candle-light" | + | - Index entry "Floating ---- d'Hondecoeter)" corrected to | + | be "---- d'Hondecoeter)" | + | - Index entry "Heda, W. C." corrected to be "Heda, ----" | + | - Index entry "Hove, Huburtus" corrected to be "---- Hubertus" | + | - Index entry "Menagarie" corrected to be "Menagerie" | + | - Index entry "Polemburg (Polenburg, Polenburgh, or | + | Poelenburg)" corrected to be "Poelemburg (Poelenburg, or | + | Poelenburgh)" | + | - Index entry "Portraits ---- Boijmars" corrected to be "---- | + | Boijmans" | + | - Index entry "Reeckers" corrected to be "Reekers" | + | - Index entry "Ruisdael, Isack" corrected to be "---- Izack" | + | - Index entry "Schelthout" corrected to be "Schelfhout" | + | - Index entry "Sonje" corrected to be "Sonje" | + | - Index entry "Sorg" corrected to be "Sorgh" | + | - Index entry "Watermills" should be "Water Mill" | + | - Index entry "Weijden ---- Roger" corrected to be "---- | + | Rogier" | + | - Index entry "Zilchen" corrected to be "Zilcken" | + | | + | The book's variable spelling has been kept. This includes: | + | (Note: Where the variable spelling has been described in the | + | text or Index, it is omitted from the below list.) | + | - Both "bare-headed" and "bareheaded" | + | - Both "chimney-piece" and "chimney piece" | + | - Both "farm-house" and "farmhouse" | + | - Both "fish-wives" and "fishwives" | + | - Both "halberds" and "halberts" | + | - Both "Heeren-Gracht" and "Heerengracht" | + | - Both "merry-making" and "merrymaking" | + | - Both "Oude Hoofdpoort" and "Oudehoofdpoort" | + | - Both "sea-shore" and "seashore" | + | - Both "table-cloth" and "tablecloth" | + | - Both "town-hall" and "town hall" | + | - Both "water-mill" and "water mill" | + | - Both "Aart" and "Aert" van der Neer | + | - Both "Albert" and "Albrecht" Durer | + | - "Albert," "Aldert," and "Allart" van Everdingen | + | - "Bartelmees," "Bartholomew," and "Bartholomeus" van Bassen | + | - Both "Boijmans" and "Boijman's" Museum | + | - Both "Carel Fabritius" and "Karel Fabricius" (or vice versa) | + | - Both Dirk van "der Waeijen" and "Walijen" | + | - "Dr. J. Deyman," "Dr. J. Deyment," and "Prof. Deeman" | + | - Both "Esais" and "Esaias" van de Velde | + | - Both "Eversdijck" and "Eversdijcks" | + | - Frans "Snijders," "Snyders," "Snyder," and "Synders" | + | - Both "Frederik Hendrik" and "Frederick Henry" (or vice versa)| + | - Both "Gabriel" and "Gabriel" (NOT Metsu) | + | - Both "Gerard" and "Gerard" de Lairesse | + | - Both "Helena Fourment" and "Eleanor Forman" | + | - Both "Henricus" and "Hendrik" Goltzius | + | - Both "Hondecoeter" and "Hondekoeter" | + | - Both "Isaac" and "Izack van" Ruisdael | + | - Both Jacob "Gerritz" and "Gerritsz" Cuijp | + | - Both Jan "Vredeman" and "Vriedeman" de Vries | + | - Both "Lievens" and "Lievensz" | + | - Both "Ludolf" and "Lodewijk" Backhuysen/ Bakhuysen | + | - Both "Marguerite" and "Margarita" van Goyen | + | - Both "Matthys" and "Thys" Maris | + | - Both "Michelangelo" and "Michael Angelo" | + | - Both "Moeyaert" and "Moijaert" | + | - Both "Nicholas Eliasz" and "Nicolaes Elias" | + | - Both "Nicholas" and "Nicolaes" Berchem | + | - "Nicholas" and "Nicholaes" de Helt "Stocade," "Stokade," and | + | "Stockade" | + | - Both "Otho Marcellis" and "Otto Marseus" (or vice versa) van | + | Schrieck | + | - Both "Peter Gerhardus" and "Pieter Gerardus" van Os | + | - Both "Quinkhard" and "Quinckhard" | + | - Both "Rottenhamer" or "Rottenhammer" | + | - Both "Ruisdael" and "Ruysdael" | + | - Samuel van "Hoogstraten," "Hoogstraaten," and "Hooghstraten" | + | - Both "Slingelandt" and "Slingerlandt" | + | - Both "Tilborch" and "Tilborgh" | + | - "Van de Velde," "Van der Velde," and "Vandervelde" | + | - "Van der Heyden," "Van der Heyde," and "Venderheyden" | + | - "Vanhuysum," "Van Huysum," and "Huysum" | + | - "Wijck," "Wyck," and "Wijk" | + | - Both "William" and "Willem" de Poorter | + | - Both "William" and "Willem" Roelofs | + | - Both "Wouvermans" and "Wouwermans" | + | | + +----------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Standard Galleries - Holland, by +Esther Singleton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STANDARD GALLERIES - HOLLAND *** + +***** This file should be named 37313.txt or 37313.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/3/1/37313/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Judith Wirawan and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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