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diff --git a/39380.txt b/39380.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ff9dc03 --- /dev/null +++ b/39380.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10983 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Famous European Artists, by Sarah K. Bolton + +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/license + + +Title: Famous European Artists + +Author: Sarah K. Bolton + +Release Date: April 5, 2012 [EBook #39380] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FAMOUS EUROPEAN ARTISTS *** + + + + +Produced by Darleen Dove, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +FAMOUS EUROPEAN ARTISTS + +BY SARAH K. BOLTON + +AUTHOR OF "POOR BOYS WHO BECAME FAMOUS," "GIRLS WHO BECAME +FAMOUS," "STORIES FROM LIFE," "FAMOUS AMERICAN AUTHORS," +"FAMOUS AMERICAN STATESMEN," "SOCIAL STUDIES IN +ENGLAND," "FROM HEART AND NATURE," +"FAMOUS MEN OF SCIENCE," ETC. + +"Do not act as if you had ten thousand years to throw away. +Death stands at your elbow. Be good for something while you live, +and it is in your power."--MARCUS AURELIUS. + +NEW YORK +THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO. +46 EAST FOURTEENTH STREET + + +COPYRIGHT, 1890, BY +THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO. + +C. J. PETERS & SON, +TYPOGRAPHERS AND ELECTROTYPERS, +146 HIGH STREET, BOSTON. + + +TO MISS ELIZABETH C. BULLARD +WITH THE APPRECIATION AND ESTEEM +OF THE AUTHOR. + + +[Illustration: MICHAEL ANGELO.] + + + + +PREFACE. + + +Hermann Grimm says, "Reverence for what is great is a universal +feeling.... When we look at great men, it is as if we saw a victorious +army, the flower of a people, marching along.... They all speak one +common language, know nothing of castes, of noble or pariah; and he who +now or in times to come thinks or acts like them rises up to them, and +is admitted into their circle." + +Possibly, by reading of these great men some may be led to "think and +act like them," and thus "be admitted into their circle." All of these +possessed untiring industry and a resolute purpose to succeed. Most were +poor in early life. + +S. K. B. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + PAGE. +MICHAEL ANGELO 7 + +LEONARDO DA VINCI 66 + +RAPHAEL OF URBINO 105 + +TITIAN 155 + +MURILLO 203 + +RUBENS 246 + +REMBRANDT 286 + +SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS 318 + +SIR EDWIN LANDSEER 367 + +TURNER 396 + + + + +MICHAEL ANGELO. + + +Who has ever stood in Florence, and been warmed by her sunlight, +refreshed by her fragrant flowers, and ennobled by her divine art, +without saying with the poet Rogers,-- + + + "Of all the fairest cities of the earth, + None is so fair as Florence. 'Tis a gem + Of purest ray; and what a light broke forth + When it emerged from darkness! Search within, + Without, all is enchantment! 'Tis the Past + Contending with the Present; and in turn + Each has the mastery." + + +Pitiful in her struggles for freedom, the very centre of art and +learning in the fifteenth century, she has to-day a charm peculiarly her +own. + +"Other though not many cities have histories as noble, treasures as +vast; but no other city has them living, and ever present in her midst, +familiar as household words, and touched by every baby's hand and +peasant's step, as Florence has. + +"Every line, every road, every gable, every tower, has some story of the +past present in it. Every tocsin that sounds is a chronicle; every +bridge that unites the two banks of the river, unites also the crowds +of the living with the heroism of the dead. + +"The beauty of the past goes with you at every step in Florence. Buy +eggs in the market, and you buy them where Donatello bought those which +fell down in a broken heap before the wonder of the crucifix. Pause in a +narrow by-street in a crowd, and it shall be that Borgo Allegri, which +the people so baptized for love of the old painter and the new-born art. +Stray into a great dark church at evening time, where peasants tell +their beads in the vast marble silence, and you are where the whole city +flocked, weeping, at midnight, to look their last upon the dead face of +their Michael Angelo. Buy a knot of March anemones or April arum lilies, +and you may bear them with you through the same city ward in which the +child Ghirlandaio once played amidst the gold and silver garlands that +his father fashioned for the young heads of the Renaissance. Ask for a +shoemaker, and you shall find the cobbler sitting with his board in the +same old twisting, shadowy street-way where the old man Toscanelli drew +his charts that served a fair-haired sailor of Genoa, called Columbus." + +Florence, Shelley's "Smokeless City," was the ardently loved home of +Michael Angelo. He was born March 6, 1475, or, according to some +authorities, 1474, the Florentines reckoning time from the incarnation +of Christ, instead of his birth. + +Lodovico Buonarotti, the father of Michael Angelo, had been appointed +governor of Caprese and Chiusi, and had moved from Florence to the +Castle of Caprese, where this boy, his second child, was born. The +mother, Francesca, was, like her husband, of noble family, and but +little more than half his age, being nineteen and he thirty-one. + +After two years they returned to Florence, leaving the child at +Settignano, three miles from the city, on an estate of the Buonarottis'. +He was intrusted to the care of a stone-mason's wife, as nurse. Living +among the quarrymen and sculptors of this picturesque region, he began +to draw as soon as he could use his hands. He took delight in the work +of the masons, and they in turn loved the bright, active child. On the +walls of the stone-mason's house he made charcoal sketches, which were +doubtless praised by the foster-parents. + +Lodovico, who was quite too proud for manual labor, designed that his +son should become a dealer in silks and woollens, as probably he would +thus amass wealth. With such a project in mind, he was certainly unwise +to place the child in the exhilarating air of the mountains, where +nature would be almost sure to win him away from the counting-room. + +When the boy was old enough he was sent by his father to a grammar +school in Florence, kept by Francesco of Urbino, a noted grammarian. He +made little progress in his studies, for nearly all of his time was +spent in drawing and in visiting the _ateliers_ of the different artists +of the city. Vasari says he was beaten by his father and other elders; +but the beatings did no good,--indeed, they probably made the quiet, +self-poised lad more indifferent to trade and more devoted to art. + +Fortunately, in these early years, as has so often happened to men of +genius, Michael Angelo found a congenial friend, Francesco Granacci, a +talented youth of good family, lovable in nature, and a student in art. +He was a pupil of one of the best painters in Italy, Domenico +Ghirlandaio. He loaned drawings to Michael Angelo, and made the boy of +fourteen more anxious than ever to be an artist. + +Lodovico at last saw that a lad so absorbed in art would probably be a +failure in silk and wool, and placed him in the studio of Ghirlandaio, +with the promise of his receiving six gold florins the first year, eight +the second, and ten the third. + +Granacci, who was nineteen, and Michael Angelo now worked happily +together. The master had undertaken to paint the choir of the Church of +Santa Maria Novella, and thus the boys were brought into important work. + +One day, when the painters were absent, Michael Angelo drew the +scaffolding, with all who worked on it, so perfectly that Ghirlandaio +exclaimed, when he saw it: "This youth understands more than I do +myself." He also corrected one of the master's drawings, the draped form +of a woman. Sixty years afterwards, when this sketch was shown to +Michael Angelo, he said, "I almost think that I knew more art in my +youth than I do in my old age." + +The young artist now painted his first picture, a plate of Martin +Schoengauer's of Germany, representing St. Anthony tormented by devils. +One pulls his hair, one his garments, one seizes the book hanging from +his girdle, one snatches a stick from his hand, while others pinch, and +tease, and roll over him. Claws, scales, horns, and the like, all help +to make up these monsters. Michael Angelo went to the fish-market, and +carefully studied the eyes and scales of the fish, with their colors, +and painted such a picture that it was mistaken for the original. + +After a year spent with Ghirlandaio, the master seems to have become +envious, and the three-years' contract was mutually broken, through a +fortunate opening for Michael Angelo. Cosmo de' Medici, "Pater Patriae," +had collected ancient and modern sculptures and paintings, and these art +treasures were enriched by his grandson, Lorenzo the Magnificent, who +opened them to students, with prizes for the best work. He founded an +academy and placed it under the charge of Bertoldo, the favorite +disciple of Donatello. + +Lorenzo made himself the idol of the people by his generosity, +consideration, and unquestioned ability to lead. He arranged public +festivities, and wrote verses to be sung by girls as they danced in the +public square, in the month of May. All the young people knew and loved +him. + +On one of these festive occasions, when the triumphal procession of +Paulus AEmilius was being represented, Granacci found an opportunity of +winning Lorenzo's favor, and thereby gained access to the art treasures. +At once he thought of his friend, and Michael Angelo was soon studying +the marbles and pictures of the great Medici. + +The boy of fifteen quickly made friends with the stone-masons, and, +getting from them a piece of marble, began to copy the antique masque of +a faun. However, his work was not like the original, but the mouth was +open so that the teeth were visible. When Lorenzo came among the pupils +he observed the masque and praised it, but said to the boy, "You have +made your faun so old, and yet you have left him all his teeth; you +should have known that at such an advanced age there are generally some +wanting." + +At once Michael Angelo broke out a tooth, filling the gum as though it +had dropped out. When Lorenzo came again he was delighted, and told the +boy to send for his father. Lodovico came reluctantly, for he was not +yet reconciled to the choice of "art and poverty" which his son had +made. + +Lorenzo received him cordially and asked his occupation. "I have never +followed any business," was the reply; "but I live upon the small income +of the possessions left me by my ancestors. These I endeavor to keep in +order, and, so far as I can, to improve them." + +"Well," said Lorenzo, "look around you; and, if I can do anything for +you, only apply to me. Whatever is in my power shall be done." + +Lodovico received a vacant post in the customhouse, and Michael Angelo +was taken into the Medici palace and treated as a son. For three years +he lived in this regal home, meeting all the great and learned men of +Italy: Politian, the poet and philosopher; Ficino, the head of the +Platonic Academy; Pico della Mirandola, the prince and scholar, and many +others. + +Who can estimate such influence over a youth? Who can measure the good +that Lorenzo de' Medici was doing for the world unwittingly? To develop +a grand man from a boy, is more than to carve a statue from the marble. + +Michael Angelo was now of middle height, with dark hair, small gray +eyes, and of delicate appearance, but he became robust as he grew older. + +Politian was the tutor of the two Medici youths, Giovanni and Giulio, +who afterwards became Leo X. and Clement VII. He encouraged Michael +Angelo, when eighteen, to make a marble bas-relief of the battle of +Hercules with the Centaurs. This is still preserved in the Buonarotti +family, as the sculptor would never part with it. The head of the faun +is in the Uffizi gallery. + +Michael Angelo now executed a Madonna in bronze, and copied the +wonderful frescos of Masaccio in the Brancacci Chapel of Santa Maria del +Carmine (usually called the Carmine Chapel), the same which inspired +Fra Angelico, Raphael, and Andrea del Sarto. "The importance of these +frescos arises from the fact that they hold the same place in the +history of art during the fifteenth century as the works of Giotto, in +the Arena Chapel at Padua, hold during the fourteenth. Each series forms +an epoch in painting, from which may be dated one of those great and +sudden onward steps which have in various ages and countries marked the +development of art. The history of Italian painting is divided into +three distinct and well-defined periods, by the Arena and Brancacci +Chapels, and the frescos of Michael Angelo and Raphael in the Vatican." + +While Michael Angelo was copying these paintings of Masaccio, he took no +holidays, and gave the hours of night to his labors. Ambition made work +a delight. He studied anatomy like a devotee. Dead bodies were conveyed +from the hospital to a cell in the convent of Santo Spirito, the artist +rewarding the prior by a crucifix almost as large as life, which he +carved from wood. + +The youth could but know his superiority to others, and was not always +wise enough to conceal his contempt for mediocrity, or for the young men +who played at life. One of his fellow-students, Torrigiani, grew so +angry at him, probably from some slighting remark, that he struck him +with his fist, disfiguring his face for life. Michael Angelo is said to +have merely replied to this brutal assault, "You will be remembered only +as the man who broke my nose." Torrigiani was at once banished, and +died miserably in the Spanish Inquisition. + +In April, 1492, Lorenzo the Magnificent died, in the very prime of his +life. Michael Angelo was so overcome that for a long time he was unable +to collect his thoughts for work. The self-reliant young man, cold +outwardly, had a warm and generous heart. + +He went home to the Buonarotti mansion, opened a studio, purchased a +piece of marble and made a Hercules four feet in height. It stood for +many years in the Strozzi Palace in Florence, was sold to France, and is +now lost. + +Piero de' Medici succeeded to his father Lorenzo, who is said to have +remarked that "he had three sons: the first good, the second clever, the +third a fool. The good one was Giuliano, thirteen years old at the death +of his father; the clever one was Giovanni, seventeen years old, but a +cardinal already by favor of the pope, whose son had married a daughter +of Lorenzo's; and the fool was Piero." + +In January, 1494, an unusual storm occurred in Florence, and the snow +lay from four to six feet deep. Piero, with childish enthusiasm, sent +for Michael Angelo and bade him form a statue of snow in the courtyard +of the palace. The Medici was so pleased with the result that he brought +the artist to sit at his own table, and to live in the same rooms +assigned to him by Lorenzo his father. + +Piero is said, however, to have valued equally with the sculptor a +Spaniard who served in his stables, because he could outrun a horse at +full gallop. + +Piero was proud, without the virtues of his father, and soon alienated +the affections of the Florentines. Savonarola, the Dominican monk of San +Marco, was preaching against the luxuries and vices of the age. So +popular was he, says Burlamacchi, that "the people got up in the middle +of the night to get places for the sermon, and came to the door of the +cathedral, waiting outside till it should be opened, making no account +of any inconvenience, neither of the cold, nor the mud, nor of standing +in winter with their feet on the marble; and among them were young and +old, women and children, of every sort, who came with such jubilee and +rejoicing that it was bewildering to hear them, going to the sermon as +to a wedding. + +"Then the silence was great in the church, each one going to his place; +and he who could read, with a taper in his hand, read the service and +other prayers. And though many thousand people were thus collected +together, no sound was to be heard, not even a 'hush,' until the arrival +of the children who sang hymns with so much sweetness that heaven seemed +to have opened. Thus they waited three or four hours till the _padre_ +entered the pulpit, and the attention of so great a mass of people, all +with eyes and ears intent upon the preacher, was wonderful; they +listened so that when the sermon reached its end it seemed to them that +it had scarcely begun." + +Piero's weakness and Savonarola's power soon bore fruit. Michael Angelo +foresaw the fall of the Medici, and, unwilling to fight for a ruler whom +he could not respect, fled to Venice. But his scanty supply of money was +soon exhausted, and he returned to Bologna, on his way back to Florence. + +At Bologna, the law required that every foreigner entering the gates +should have a seal of red wax on his thumb, showing permission. This +Michael Angelo and his friends neglected to obtain, and were at once +arrested and fined. They would have been imprisoned save that +Aldovrandi, a member of the council, and of a distinguished family, set +them free, and invited the sculptor to his own house, where he remained +for a year. Together they read Dante and Petrarch, and the magistrate +soon became ardently attached to the bright youth of nineteen. + +In the Church of San Petronio are the bones of St. Domenico in a marble +coffin; on the sarcophagus two kneeling figures were to be placed by +Nicolo Pisano, a contemporary of Cimabue. One was unfinished in its +drapery, and the other, a kneeling angel holding a candelabrum, was not +even begun. At Aldovrandi's request Michael Angelo completed this work. +So exasperated were the artists of Bologna at his skill that he felt +obliged to leave their city, and return to Florence. What a pitiful +exhibition of human weakness! + +Meantime Piero had fled from Florence. Charles VIII. of France had made +a triumphal entrance into the city, and Savonarola had become lawgiver. +"Jesus Christ is the King of Florence," was written over the gates of +the Palazzo Vecchio, hymns were sung in the streets instead of ballads, +the sacrament was received daily, and worldly books, even Petrarch and +Virgil, and sensuous works of art, were burned on a huge pile. "Even Fra +Bartolomeo was so carried away by the enthusiasm of the moment as to +bring his life-academy studies to be consumed on this pyre, forgetful +that, in the absence of such studies, he could never have risen above +low mediocrity. Lorenzo di Credi, another and devoted follower of +Savonarola, did the same." + +Michael Angelo, though an ardent admirer of Savonarola, and an attendant +upon his preaching, seems not to have lost his good judgment, or to have +considered the making of a sleeping Cupid a sin. When the beautiful work +was completed, at the suggestion of a friend, it was buried in the +ground for a season, to give it the appearance of an antique, and then +sold to Cardinal San Giorgio for two hundred ducats, though Michael +Angelo received but thirty as his share. Soon after, the cardinal +ascertained how he had been imposed upon, and invited the artist to +Rome, with the hope that the hundred and seventy ducats could be +obtained from the dishonest agent who effected the sale. Vasari states +that many persons believed that the agent, and not Michael Angelo, +buried the statue for gain, which seems probable from all we know of +the artist's upright character. + +Michael Angelo went to the Eternal City in June, 1496. He was still +young, only twenty-one. "The idea," says Hermann Grimm, in his scholarly +life of the artist, "that the young Michael Angelo, full of the bustle +of the fanatically excited Florence, was led by his fate to Rome, and +trod for the first time that soil where the most corrupt doings were, +nevertheless, lost sight of in the calm grandeur of the past, has +something in it that awakens thought. It was the first step in his +actual life. He had before been led hither and thither by men and by his +own indistinct views; now, thrown upon his own resources, he takes a new +start for his future, and what he now produces begins the series of his +masterly works." + +Michael Angelo's first efforts in Rome were for a noble and cultivated +man, Jacopo Galli: a Cupid, now lost, and a Bacchus, nearly as large as +life, which Shelley declared "a revolting misunderstanding of the spirit +and the idea of Bacchus." Perhaps the artist did not put much heart into +the statue of the intoxicated youth. His next work, however, the Pieta, +executed for Cardinal St. Denis, the French ambassador at Rome, who +desired to leave some monument of himself in the great city, made +Michael Angelo famous. Sonnets were written to the Pieta, the Virgin +Mary holding the dead Christ. + +Of this work Grimm says: "The position of the body, resting on the +knees of the woman; the folds of her dress, which is gathered together +by a band across the bosom; the inclination of the head, as she bends +over her son in a manner inconsolable and yet sublime, or his, as it +rests in her arms dead, exhausted, and with mild features,--we feel +every touch was for the first time created by Michael Angelo, and that +that in which he imitated others in this group, was only common +property, which he used because its use was customary.... + +"Our deepest sympathy is awakened by the sight of Christ,--the two legs, +with weary feet, hanging down sideways from the mother's knee; the +falling arm; the failing, sunken body; the head drooping backwards,--the +attitude of the whole human form lying there, as if by death he had +again become a child whom the mother had taken in her arms; at the same +time, in the countenance there is a wonderful blending of the old +customary Byzantine type,--the longish features and parted beard, and +the noblest elements of the national Jewish expression. None before +Michael Angelo would have thought of this; the oftener the work is +contemplated, the more touching does its beauty become,--everywhere the +purest nature, in harmony both in spirit and exterior. + +"Whatever previously to this work had been produced by sculptors in +Italy passes into shadow, and assumes the appearance of attempts in +which there is something lacking, whether in idea or in execution; here, +both are provided for. The artist, the work, and the circumstances of +the time, combine together; and the result is something that deserves to +be called perfect. Michael Angelo numbered four and twenty years when he +had finished his Pieta. He was the first master in Italy, the first in +the world from henceforth, says Condivi; indeed, they go so far as to +maintain, he says further, that Michael Angelo surpassed the ancient +masters." + +How could Michael Angelo have carved this work at twenty-four? His +knowledge of anatomy was surprising. He had become imbued with great and +noble thoughts from Savonarola's preaching, and from his ardent reading +of Dante and Petrarch; he was eager for fame, and he believed in his own +power. And, besides all this, he was in love with art. When a friend +said to him, years afterwards, "'Tis a pity that you have not married, +that you might have left children to inherit the fruit of these +honorable toils," he replied, "I have only too much of a wife in my art, +and she has given me trouble enough. As to my children, they are the +works that I shall leave; and if they are not worth much, they will at +least live for some time. Woe to Lorenzo Ghiberti if he had not made the +gates of San Giovanni; for his children and grandchildren have sold or +squandered all that he left; but the gates are still in their place. +These are so beautiful that they are worthy of being the gates of +Paradise." + +The Pieta is now in St. Peter's. When some person criticised the +youthful appearance of the Virgin, and captiously asked where a mother +could be found, like this one, younger than her son, the painter +answered, "In Paradise." + +"The love and care," says Vasari, "which Michael Angelo had given to +this group were such that he there left his name--a thing he never did +again for any work--on the cincture which girdles the robe of Our Lady; +for it happened one day that Michael Angelo, entering the place where it +was erected, found a large assemblage of strangers from Lombardy there, +who were praising it highly; one of them, asking who had done it, was +told, 'Our Hunchback of Milan;' hearing which, Michael Angelo remained +silent, although surprised that his work should be attributed to +another. But one night he repaired to St. Peter's with a light and his +chisels, to engrave his name on the figure, which seems to breathe a +spirit as perfect as her form and countenance." + +Michael Angelo was now urged by his father and brother to return to +Florence. Lodovico, his father, writes him: "Buonarotto tells me that +you live with great economy, or rather penury. Economy is good, but +penury is bad, because it is a vice displeasing to God and to the people +of this world, and, besides, will do harm both to soul and body." + +However, when his son returned, after four years in Rome, carrying the +money he had saved to establish his brothers in business, the proud +father was not displeased with the "penury." This self-denial the great +artist practised through life for his not always grateful or +appreciative family. He said in his old age, "Rich as I am, I have +always lived like a poor man." + +Matters had greatly changed in Florence. Savonarola and his two +principal followers, excommunicated by Pope Alexander VI., because they +had preached against the corruptions of Rome, calling his court the +Romish Babylon, had been burned at the stake. + +While the mob had assisted at the death of the great and good friar, the +people of Florence were sad at heart. Michael Angelo, who loved him and +deeply loved republican Florence, was sad also, and perhaps thereby +wrought all the more earnestly, never being frivolous either in thought +or work. + +Upon his return to Florence, Cardinal Piccolomini, afterwards Pius III., +made a contract with him for fifteen statues of Carrara marble to +embellish the family chapel in the cathedral of Siena. Three years were +allowed for this work. The artist finished but four statues, Peter, +Paul, Gregory, and Pius, because of other labors which were pressed upon +him. + +The marble Madonna in the Church of Notre Dame at Bruges was carved +about this time. "This," says Grimm, "is one of Michael Angelo's finest +works. It is life-size. She sits there enveloped in the softest drapery; +the child stands between her knees, leaning on the left one, the foot of +which rests on a block of stone, so that it is raised a little higher +than the right. On this stone the child also stands, and seems about to +step down. His mother holds him back with her left hand, while the right +rests on her lap with a book. She is looking straight forward; a +handkerchief is placed across her hair, and falls softly, on both sides, +on her neck and shoulders. In her countenance, in her look, there is a +wonderful majesty, a queenly gravity, as if she felt the thousand pious +glances of the people who look up to her on the altar." + +An opportunity now presented itself for the already famous sculptor to +distinguish himself in his own city. Years before a marble block, +eighteen feet high, had been brought from Carrara to Florence, from +which the wool-weavers' guild intended to have a prophet made for Santa +Maria del Fiore. One sculptor had attempted and failed. Others to whom +it was offered said nothing could be done with the one block, but more +pieces of marble should be added. + +Michael Angelo was willing to undertake the making of a statue. He was +allowed two years in which to complete it, with a monthly salary of six +gold florins. His only preparation for the work was a little wax model +which he moulded, now in the Uffizi. He worked untiringly, so that he +often slept with his clothes on, to be ready for his beloved statue as +soon as the morning dawned. He had shut himself away from the public +gaze by planks and masonry, and worked alone, not intrusting a stroke +to other hands. He felt what Emerson preached years later, that "society +is fatal." The great essayist urged that while we may keep our hands in +society "we must keep our head in solitude." Great thoughts are not born +usually in the whirl of social life. + +Finally, when the statue was finished in January, 1504, and the colossal +David stood unveiled before the people, they said: "It is as great a +miracle as if a dead body had been raised to life." Vasari says Michael +Angelo intended, by this work, to teach the Florentines that as David +"had defended his people and governed justly, so they who were then +ruling that city should defend it with courage and govern it uprightly." + +The statue weighed eighteen thousand pounds, and required forty men four +days to drag it by ropes a quarter of a mile to the place where it was +to stand in the Piazza della Signoria. Notwithstanding that the praise +of the sculptor was on every lip, still there was so much jealousy among +the artists that some of their followers threw stones at the statue +during the nights when it was being carried to the Piazza, and eight +persons were arrested and put in prison. + +Vasari tells a story which, whether true or false, illustrates the +character of those who profess much because they know little. "When the +statue was set up, it chanced that Soderini, whom it greatly pleased, +came to look at it while Michael Angelo was retouching it at certain +points, and told the artist that he thought the nose too short. Michael +Angelo perceived that Soderini was in such a position beneath the figure +that he could not see it conveniently; yet, to satisfy him, he mounted +the scaffold with his chisel and a little powder gathered from the floor +in his hand, when striking lightly with the chisel, but without altering +the nose, he suffered a little of the powder to fall, and then said to +the gonfaloniere, who stood below, 'Look at it now.' + +"'I like it better now,' was the reply; 'you have given it life.' +Michael Angelo then descended, not without compassion for those who +desire to appear good judges of matters whereof they know nothing." But +the artist very wisely made no remarks, and thus retained the friendship +of Soderini. In 1873, after nearly four centuries, this famous statue +was removed to the Academy of Fine Arts in the old Monastery of St. +Mark, lest in the distant future it should be injured by exposure. + +Work now poured in upon Michael Angelo. In three years he received +commissions to carve thirty-seven statues. For the cathedral of Florence +he promised colossal statues of the twelve apostles, but was able to +attempt only one, St. Matthew, now in the Florentine Academy. For Agnolo +Doni he painted a Madonna, now in the Tribune at Florence. The price was +sixty ducats, but the parsimonious Agnolo said he would give but forty, +though he knew it was worth more. Michael Angelo at once sent a +messenger demanding a hundred ducats or the picture, but, not inclined +to lose so valuable a work by a famous artist, Agnolo gladly offered the +sixty which he at first refused to pay. Offended by such penuriousness, +Michael Angelo demanded and received one hundred and forty ducats! + +In 1504, Gonfaloniere Soderini desired to adorn the great Municipal Hall +with the paintings of two masters, Leonardo da Vinci and Michael Angelo. +The latter was only twenty-nine, while Da Vinci was over fifty. He had +recently come from Milan, where he had been painting the "Last Supper," +which, Grimm says, "in moments of admiration, forces from us the +assertion that it is the finest and sublimest composition ever produced +by an Italian master." + +And now with this "first painter in Italy" the first sculptor, Michael +Angelo, was asked to compete, and he dared to accept the offer. + +He chose for his subject an incident of the Pisan war. As the weather +was very warm, the Florentines had laid aside their armor and were +bathing in the Arno. Sir John Hawkwood, the commander of the opposing +forces, seized this moment to make the attack. The bathers rushed to the +shore, and Michael Angelo has depicted them climbing the bank, buckling +on their armor, and with all haste returning the assault. + +"It is not possible," says Grimm, "to describe all the separate figures, +the fore-shortenings, the boldness with which the most difficult +attitude is ever chosen, or the art with which it is depicted. This +cartoon was the school for a whole generation of artists, who made their +first studies from it." + +Da Vinci's painting represented a scene at the battle of Anghiari, where +the Florentines had defeated the Milanese in 1440. "While these cartoons +thus hung opposite to each other," says Benvenuto Cellini, "they formed +the school of the world." Raphael, Andrea del Sarto, and others made +studies from them. Da Vinci's faded, and Michael Angelo's was cut in +pieces by some enemy. + +Before the artist had finished his painting he was summoned to Rome by +Pope Julius II., the great patron of art and literature, who desired a +monument for himself in St. Peter's. The mausoleum was to be three +stories high; with sixteen statues of the captive liberal arts, and ten +statues of Victory treading upon conquered provinces, for the first +story; the sarcophagus of the pope, with his statue and attendant +angels, for the second; and, above all, more cherubs and apostles. + +"It will cost a hundred thousand crowns," said the artist. + +"Let it cost twice that sum," said the pope. + +At once Michael Angelo hastened to the marble quarries of Carrara, in +the most northern part of Tuscany, where he remained for eight months. +His task was a difficult one. He wrote to his father after he had gone +back to Rome, "I should be quite contented here if only my marble would +come. I am unhappy about it; for not for two days only, but as long as I +have been here, we have had good weather. A few days ago, a bark, which +has just arrived, was within a hair's-breadth of perishing. When from +bad weather the blocks were conveyed by land, the river overflowed, and +placed them under water; so that up to this day I have been able to do +nothing. I must endeavor to keep the pope in good humor by empty words, +so that his good temper may not fail. I hope all may soon be in order, +and that I may begin my work. God grant it!" + +When the marble reached Rome, the people were astonished, for there +seemed enough to build a temple, instead of a tomb. The sculptor resided +in a house near the Vatican, a covered way being constructed by the pope +between the _atelier_ and the palace, that he might visit the artist +familiarly and see him at his work. + +Meantime an envious artist was whispering in the ears of Julius that it +was an evil omen to build one's monument in one's lifetime, and that he +would be apt to die early. This was not agreeable news, and when Michael +Angelo returned from a second journey to Carrara the pope refused to +advance any money, and even gave orders that he should not be admitted +to the palace. + +With commendable pride the artist left Rome at once, and hastened to +Florence, leaving a letter in which he said, "Most Holy Father,--If you +require me in the future, you can seek me elsewhere than in Rome." + +The proud Julius at once perceived his mistake, and sent a messenger to +bid him return, on pain of his displeasure. But Michael Angelo paid no +attention to the mandate. Then Julius II. applied to Soderini the +Gonfaloniere, who said to the sculptor, "You have treated the pope in a +manner such as the King of France would not have done! There must be an +end of trifling with him now. We will not for your sake begin a war with +the pope, and risk the safety of the state." + +The Sultan Bajazet II., who had heard of Michael Angelo's fame, now +urged him to come to Turkey and build a bridge between Constantinople +and Pera, across the Golden Horn. Soderini tried to persuade him that he +had better "die siding with the pope, than live passing over to the +Turk," and meantime wrote Julius that he could do nothing with him. The +pope saw that kindness alone would win back the self-reliant and +independent artist, and finally prevailed upon him to return to Rome. + +When he arrived, Julius, half angry, said, "You have waited thus long, +it seems, till we should ourselves come to seek you." + +An ecclesiastic standing near officiously begged his Holiness not to be +too severe with Michael Angelo, as he was a man of no education, and as +artists did not know how to behave except where their own art was +concerned. + +The pope was now fully angry, and exclaimed, "Do you venture to say +things to this man which I would not have said to him myself? You are +yourself a man of no education, a miserable fellow, and this he is not. +Leave our presence." The man was borne out of the hall, nearly fainting. + +Michael Angelo was at once commissioned to make a bronze statue of +Julius, fourteen feet high, to be placed before the Church of St. +Petronio, in Bologna. When the pope wished to know the cost, the artist +told him he thought it would be about three thousand ducats, but was not +sure whether the cast would succeed. + +"You will mould it until it succeeds," said the pope, "and you shall be +paid as much as you require." + +When the clay model was ready for the pope to look at, he was asked if +he would like to be represented holding a book in his left hand. + +"Give me a sword!" he exclaimed; "I am no scholar. And what does the +raised right hand denote? Am I dispensing a curse, or a blessing?" + +"You are advising the people of Bologna to be wise," replied Michael +Angelo. + +The bronze statue was a difficult work. The first cast was unsuccessful. +The sculptor wrote home, "If I had a second time to undertake this +intense work, which gives me no rest night or day, I scarcely think I +should be able to accomplish it. I am convinced that no one else upon +whom this immense task might have been imposed would have persevered. My +belief is that your prayers have kept me sustained and well. For no one +in Bologna, not even after the successful issue of the cast, thought +that I should finish the statue satisfactorily; before that no one +thought that the cast would succeed." + +After the statue was completed, Michael Angelo, at the earnest request +of the helpless Buonarotti family, went back to Florence, and carried +there what he had earned. Grimm naively remarks, "I could almost suppose +that it had been designed by Fate, as may be often observed in similar +cases, to compensate for Michael Angelo's extraordinary gifts by a +corresponding lack of them in the family." The case of Galileo, +struggling through life for helpless relatives, is similar to that of +Michael Angelo. + +He was soon summoned again to Rome, not to complete the monument, as he +had hoped, but to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. He hesitated +to undertake so important a work in painting, and begged that Raphael be +chosen; but the pope would not consent. + +He therefore began to make designs, and sent for some of his boyhood +friends to aid him, Granacci and others. His method was to make the +first draught in red or black chalk on a very small scale. From this he +marked out the full-sized cartoons or working drawings, nailing these to +the wall, and cutting away the paper around the figures. He soon found +that his assistants were a hinderance rather than a help, and, unable to +wound their feelings by telling them, he shut up the chapel and went +away. They understood it, and, if some were hurt or offended, Granacci +was not, but always remained an earnest friend. + +Michael Angelo now worked alone, seeing nobody except his color-grinder +and the pope. His eyes became so injured by holding his head back for +his work that for a long period afterwards he could read only by keeping +the page above his head. After he had painted for some time the walls +began to mould, and, discouraged, he hastened to the pope, saying, "I +told your Holiness, from the first, that painting was not my profession; +all that I have painted is destroyed. If you do not believe it, send and +let some one else see." It was soon found that he had made the plaster +too wet, but that no harm would result. + +He worked now so constantly that he scarcely took time to eat or sleep, +and became ill from overexertion. In the midst of his labors and +illness, he writes his father, "Do not lose courage, and let not a trace +of inward sadness gain ground in you; for, if you have lost your +property, life is not lost, and I will do more for you than all you have +lost. Still, do not rely upon it; it is always a doubtful matter. Use, +rather, all possible precaution; and thank God that, as this +chastisement of heaven was to come, it came at a time when you could +better extricate yourself from it than you would perhaps have been +earlier able to do. Take care of your health, and rather part with all +your possessions than impose privations on yourself. For it is of +greater consequence to me that you should remain alive, although a poor +man, than that you should perish for the sake of all the money in the +world. + +Your MICHAEL ANGELO." + + +He writes also to his younger brother, Giovanni Simone, who appears to +have spent much and earned little: "If you will take care to do well, +and to honor and revere your father, I will aid you like the others and +will soon establish you in a good shop.... I have gone about through all +Italy for twelve years, leading a dog's life; bearing all manner of +insults, enduring all sorts of drudgery, lacerating my body with many +toils, placing my life itself under a thousand perils, solely to aid my +family; and now that I have commenced to raise it up a little, thou +alone wishest to do that which shall confound and ruin in an hour +everything that I have done in so many years and with so many fatigues." + +Meantime the pope, as eager as a child to see the painting which he knew +would help to immortalize himself, urged the artist to work faster, and +continually asked when it would be finished and the scaffolding taken +down. "When I can, holy father," replied the artist. "When I can--when I +can! I'll make thee finish it, and quickly, as thou shalt see!" And he +struck Michael Angelo with the staff which he held in his hand. + +The sculptor at once left the painting and started for Florence. But +Julius sent after him, and gave him five hundred crowns to pacify him. +It certainly would have been a pecuniary saving to the pontiff not to +have given way to his temper and used his staff! + +When half the ceiling was completed, at Julius's request the scaffolding +was removed, and all Rome crowded to see the wonderful work on All +Saints' Day, 1509. + +Kugler says, "The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel contains the most +perfect works done by Michael Angelo in his long and active life. Here +his great spirit appears in its noblest dignity, in its highest purity; +here the attention is not disturbed by that arbitrary display to which +his great power not unfrequently seduced him in other works." + +The paintings represent God the Father separating the light from the +darkness; he creates the sun and moon; surrounded by angels, he commands +the waters to bring forth all kinds of animals which can live in the +sea; he breathes into man the breath of life; he forms Eve; both are +driven from the garden; Abel is sacrificed; the flood comes; Noah and +his family are saved in the ark. + +Grimm thus describes a portion of this marvellous painting: "Adam lies +on a dark mountain summit. His formation is finished; nothing more +remains than that he should rise, and feel for the first time what life +and waking are. It is as if the first emotion of his new condition +thrilled through him; as if, still lying almost in a dream, he divined +what was passing around him. God hovers slowly down over him from above, +softly descending like an evening cloud. Angel forms surround him on +all sides, closely thronging round him as if they were bearing him; and +his mantle, as if swelled out by a full gust of wind, forms a flowing +tent around them all. These angels are children in appearance, with +lovely countenances: some support him from below, others look over his +shoulder. More wonderful still than the mantle which embraces them all +is the garment which covers the form of God himself, violet-gray +drapery, transparent as if woven out of clouds, closely surrounding the +mighty and beautiful form with its small folds, covering him entirely +down to the knees, and yet allowing every muscle to appear through it. I +have never seen the portrait of a human body which equalled the beauty +of this. Cornelius justly said that since Phidias its like has not been +formed.... + +"God commands and Adam obeys. He signs him to rise, and Adam seizes his +hand to raise himself up. Like an electric touch, God sends a spark of +his own spirit, with life-giving power, into Adam's body. Adam lay there +powerless; the spirit moves within him; he raises his head to his +Creator as a flower turns to the sun, impelled by that wonderful power +which is neither will nor obedience.... + +"The next picture is the creation of Eve. Adam lies on his right side +sunk in sleep, and completely turned to the spectator. One arm falls +languidly on his breast, and the back of the fingers rest upon the +ground.... Eve stands behind Adam; we see her completely in profile.... +We feel tempted to say she is the most beautiful picture of a woman +which art has produced.... She is looking straight forward; and we feel +that she breathes for the first time: but it seems as if life had not +yet flowed through her veins, as if the adoring, God-turned position was +not only the first dream-like movement, but as if the Creator himself +had formed her, and called her from her slumber, in this position." + +The pope was anxious to have the scaffolding again erected, and the +figures touched with gold. "It is unnecessary," said Michael Angelo. +"But it looks poor," said Julius, who should have thought of this before +he insisted on its being shown to the public. "They are poor people whom +I have painted there," said the artist; "they did not wear gold on their +garments," and Julius was pacified. + +Raphael was now working near Michael Angelo in the Vatican palace, but +it is probable that they did not become friends, though each admired the +genius of the other, and Raphael "thanked God that he had been born in +the same century as Michael Angelo." But there was rivalry always +between the followers of the two masters. + +Raphael was gentle, affectionate, sympathetic, intense, lovable; Michael +Angelo was tender at heart but austere in manner, doing only great +works, and thinking great thoughts. "Raphael," says Grimm, "had one +excellence, which, perhaps, as long as the world stands, no other +artist has possessed to such an extent,--his works suit more closely the +average human mind. There is no line drawn above or below. Michael +Angelo's ideals belong to a nobler, stronger generation, as if he had +had demigods in his mind, just as Schiller's poetical forms, in another +manner, often outstep the measure of the ordinary mortal.... Leonardo +sought for the fantastic, Michael Angelo for the difficult and the +great; both labored with intense accuracy, both went their own ways, and +impressed the stamp of nature on their works. Raphael proceeded quietly, +often advancing in the completion only to a certain point, at which he +rested, apparently not jealous at being confounded with others. He +paints at first in the fashion of Perugino, and his portraits are in the +delicate manner of Leonardo: a certain grace is almost the only +characteristic of his works. At length he finds himself in Rome, opposed +alone to Michael Angelo; then only does the true source of power burst +out within him; and he produces works which stand so high above all his +former ones that the air of Rome which he breathed seemed to have worked +wonders in him.... Raphael served the court with agreeable +obsequiousness; but under the outward veil of this subservient +friendliness there dwelt a keen and royal mind, which bent before no +power, and went its own way solitarily, like the soul of Michael +Angelo." + +The Sistine Chapel was finished, probably, in 1512, and Michael Angelo +returned with ardor to the Julius monument, which, however, had been +reduced in plan from the original. He worked on the central figure, +Moses, with great joy, believing it would be his masterpiece. "This +statue," says Charles Christopher Black of Trinity College, Cambridge, +"takes rank with the Prometheus of AEschylus, with the highest and +noblest conceptions of Dante and Shakespeare." + +"He sits there," says Grimm, "as if on the point of starting up, his +head proudly raised; his hand, under the arm of which rest the tables of +the law, is thrust in his beard, which falls in heavy, waving locks on +his breast; his nostrils are wide and expanding, and his mouth looks as +if the words were trembling on his lips. Such a man could well subdue a +rebellious people, drawing them after him, like a moving magnet, through +the wilderness and through the sea itself. + +"What need we information, letters, supposititious records, respecting +Michael Angelo, when we possess such a work, every line of which is a +transcript of his mind?" + +Emerson truly said, "Nothing great was ever achieved without +enthusiasm." No work either in literature or art can ever be great, or +live beyond a decade or two, unless the author or artist puts himself +into it,--his own glowing heart and earnest purpose. Mr. Black well +says, "The highest aim of art is not to produce a counterpart of nature, +but to convey by a judicious employment of natural forms, and a wise +deviation where required, the sentiment which it is the artist's object +to inculcate." + +The statues of the two chained youths, or "Fettered Slaves," which were +too large after the monument had been reduced in size, were sent to +France. The "Dying Slave" will be recalled by all who have visited the +Renaissance sculptures of the Louvre. Grimm says, "Perhaps the tender +beauty of this dying youth is more penetrating than the power of +Moses.... When I say that to me it is the most elevated piece of +statuary that I know, I do so remembering the masterpieces of ancient +art. Man is always limited. It is impossible, in the most comprehensive +life, to have had everything before our eyes, and to have contemplated +that which we have seen, in the best and worthiest state of feeling.... +I ask myself what work of sculpture first comes to mind if I am to name +the best, and at once the answer is ready,--the dying youth of Michael +Angelo.... What work of any ancient master do we, however, know or +possess which touches us so nearly as this,--which takes hold of our +soul so completely as this exemplification of the highest and last human +conflict does, in a being just developing? The last moment, between life +and immortality,--the terror at once of departing and arriving,--the +enfeebling of the powerful youthful limbs, which, like an empty and +magnificent coat of mail, are cast off by the soul as she rises, and +which, still losing what they contained, seem nevertheless completely +to veil it! + +"He is chained to the pillar by a band running across the breast, below +the shoulders; his powers are just ebbing; the band sustains him; he +almost hangs in it; one shoulder is forced up, and towards this the head +inclines as it falls backwards. The hand of this arm is placed on his +breast; the other is raised in a bent position behind the head, in such +an attitude as in sleep we make a pillow of an arm, and it is fettered +at the wrist. The knees, drawn closely together, have no more firmness; +no muscle is stretched; all has returned to that repose which indicates +death." + +A year after the Sistine Chapel was finished, Pope Julius died, and was +succeeded by Leo X., at whose side the artist had sat when a boy, in the +palace of Lorenzo the Magnificent. He was a man of taste and culture, +and desired to build a monument to himself in his native Florence. He +therefore commissioned Michael Angelo to build a beautiful, sculptured +facade for the Church of San Lorenzo, erected by Cosmo de' Medici from +designs of Brunelleschi. + +For nearly four years the sculptor remained among the mountains of +Carrara, and the adjacent ones of Serravezza, taking out heavy blocks of +marble, making roads over the steep rocks for their transportation, and +studying architecture with great assiduity. + +Meantime, Michael Angelo writes to his "Dearest father: Take care of +your health, and see whether you are not still able to get your daily +bread; and, with God's help, get through, poor but honest. I do not do +otherwise; I live shabbily, and care not for outward honor; a thousand +cares and works burden me; and thus I have now gone on for fifteen years +without having a happy, quiet hour. And I have done all for the sake of +supporting you, which you have never acknowledged or believed. God +forgive us all! I am ready to go on working as long as I can, and as +long as my powers hold out." + +Later he hears that his father is ill, and writes anxiously to his +brother, "Take care, also, that nothing is lacking in his nursing; for I +have exerted myself for him alone, in order that to the last he might +have a life free of care. Your wife, too, must take care of him, and +attend to his necessities; and all of you, if necessary, must spare no +expenses, even if it should cost us everything." + +Finally the facade of San Lorenzo was abandoned by Leo X., who decided +to erect a new chapel north of the church, for the reception of +monuments to his brother and nephew, Giuliano and Lorenzo. The artist +built the new sacristy, bringing thither three hundred cart-loads of +marble from Carrara. + +Leo died in 1521, and was succeeded by Adrian, who lived only a year, +and then by Clement VII., the cousin of Leo X. He was a warm friend of +Michael Angelo, and so desirous was he of keeping the artist in his +service that he endeavored to have him take holy orders, but the offer +was refused. + +Like the other popes he wished to immortalize his name, and therefore +gave the artist the building of the Laurentian library, adjoining San +Lorenzo. + +Meantime the relatives of Pope Julius were justly angry because his tomb +was not completed, and threatened to imprison the sculptor for not +fulfilling his contract. All art work was soon discontinued through the +sacking of Rome by Charles V. of Germany, in 1527. Upon the inlaid +marble floor of the Vatican the German soldiers lighted their fires, and +with valuable documents made beds for their horses which stood in the +Sistine Chapel. Rome had ninety thousand inhabitants under Leo X. A year +after the conquest, she had scarcely a third of that number. + +The Florentines now expelled the Medici, revived the republic, and +appointed Michael Angelo to superintend the fortifications and defences +of Florence. He had always loved liberty. Now he loaned his funds freely +to the republic, fortified the hill of San Miniato, was sent to Ferrara +by the government to study its fortifications, and also on an embassy to +Venice. He showed himself as skilful in engineering as in architecture +or painting. + +With quick intuition he soon perceived that Malatesta Baglioni, the +captain-general of the republic, was a traitor, and, warned that he +himself was to be assassinated, he fled to Venice. + +Here, in exile, he probably wrote his beautiful sonnets to Dante, whose +works he so ardently admired. + + + "How shall we speak of him? for our blind eyes + Are all unequal to his dazzling rays. + Easier it is to blame his enemies, + Than for the tongue to tell his highest praise. + For us he did explore the realms of woe; + And, at his coming, did high heaven expand + Her lofty gates, to whom his native land + Refused to open hers. Yet shall thou know, + Ungrateful city, in thine own despite, + That thou hast fostered best thy Dante's fame; + For virtue, when oppressed, appears more bright. + And brighter, therefore, shall his glory be, + Suffering of all mankind most wrongfully, + Since in the world there lives no greater name." + + SOUTHEY. + + +Venice offered Michael Angelo all possible inducements to remain, and +Francis I. of France eagerly besought the artist to live at his court; +but his heart was in Florence, and thither he returned, and bravely +helped to defend her to the last. When the Medici were again triumphant, +and freedom was dead, the artist being too great a man to imprison or +kill, he was publicly pardoned by the pope, and went sadly to his work +on the monuments in the Medici Chapel of San Lorenzo. + +Here he labored day and night, eating little and sleeping less, ill in +body and suffering deeply in heart for his beloved Florence; working +into the speaking stone his sorrow and his hopes. In 1534 the Medici +Chapel was completed,--a massive piece of architecture, executed at an +almost fabulous expense. On one side is the tomb of Giuliano de' Medici, +the son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, with his statue in a sitting +posture, holding in his hand the baton of a general. Beneath him, over +the tomb, are the statues Day and Night. Opposite is the tomb of Lorenzo +de' Medici, the grandson of Lorenzo the Magnificent, and the father of +Catherine de' Medici. It is clad in armor, with a helmet overshadowing +the grave features. The Italians call it Il Pensiero ("Thought," or +"Meditation"). + +Hawthorne said of this statue, "No such grandeur and majesty have +elsewhere been put into human shape. It is all a miracle--the deep +repose, and the deep life within it. It is as much a miracle to have +achieved this as to make a statue that would rise up and walk.... This +statue is one of the things which I look at with highest enjoyment, but +also with grief and impatience, because I feel that I do not come at all +to that which it involves, and that by and by I must go away and leave +it forever. How wonderful! To take a block of marble, and convert it +wholly into thought, and to do it through all the obstructions and +impediments of drapery." + +Some authorities believe that the statue usually called Lorenzo was +intended for Giuliano. Michael Angelo himself, when remonstrated with +because the portraits were not correct likenesses, replied that he "did +not suppose people a hundred years later would care much how the dukes +looked!" + +Under this statue are Dawn and Twilight. Ruskin calls these, with Night +and Day, "Four ineffable types, not of darkness nor of day--not of +morning nor evening, but of the departure and the resurrection, the +twilight and the dawn, of the souls of men." + +Day is a gigantic figure of a man; Night, of a woman in a profound +sleep, with her foot resting on a thick bundle of poppy-heads. When this +statue was exhibited for the first time, Giovanni Batista Strozzi wrote +a verse, and attached it to the marble:-- + + + "Carved by an Angel, in this marble white + Sweetly reposing, lo, the Goddess Night! + Calmly she sleeps, and so must living be: + Awake her gently; she will speak to thee." + + +To which Michael Angelo wrote the following reply:-- + + + "Grateful is sleep, whilst wrong and shame survive + More grateful still in senseless stone to live; + Gladly both sight and hearing I forego; + Oh, then, awake me not. Hush--whisper low." + + +Of Day, Mrs. Oliphant says, in her "Makers of Florence," "Bursting +herculean from his strong prison, half heroic, nothing known of him but +the great brow and resolute eyes, and those vast limbs, which were not +yet free from the cohesion of the marble, though alive with such strain +of action." + +Twilight is the strong figure of a man. Dawn, or Morning, Grimm +considers "the most beautiful of all. She is lying outstretched on the +gently sloping side of the lid of the sarcophagus. Not, however, +resting, but as if, still in sleep, she had moved towards us; so that, +while the upper part of the back is still reclining, the lower part is +turned to us. She is lying on her right side; the leg next us, only +feebly bent at the knee is stretching itself out; the other is half +drawn up, and with the knee bent out, as if it was stepping forward and +seeking for sure footing. An entire symphony of Beethoven lies in this +statue." + +In 1534, the same year in which the Medici statues were finished, +Michael Angelo's father died, at the age of ninety. The artist gave him +a costly burial, and wrote a pathetic poem in his memory. The beloved +brother, Buonarotto, had died in Michael Angelo's arms. His young mother +had died years before when he went to Rome, scarcely more than a boy. + + + "Already had I wept and sighed so much, + I thought all grief forever at an end, + Exhaled in sighs, shed forth in bitter tears. + + * * * * * + + For thee, my brother, and for him who was + Of thee and me the parent, love inspires + A grief unspeakable to vex and sting. + + * * * * * + + Full ninety times the sun had bathed his face + In the wet ocean, ending his annual round + Ere thou attainedst to the Peace Divine. + + * * * * * + + There, where (to Him be thanks!) I think thee now, + And hope to see again if my cold heart + Be raised from earthly mire to where thou art. + + * * * * * + + And if 'twixt sire and son the noblest love + Still grows in Heaven, where every virtue grows, + While giving glory to my heavenly Lord, + I shall rejoice with thee in Heaven's bliss." + + +Clement was now dead, and Paul III. was in the papal chair. He, like the +others, desired that Michael Angelo should do some great work to +immortalize his reign. Clement had wished the artist to paint the "Last +Judgment" in the Sistine Chapel, and when Paul urged the carrying-out of +this plan, Michael Angelo excused himself on account of the contract +with the heirs of Julius II. + +"It is now thirty years," cried Paul III., "that I have had this desire; +and, now that I am pope, shall I not be able to effect it? Where is the +contract, that I may tear it?" + +One day he appeared in the studio of the painter, bringing with him +eight cardinals, all of whom wished to see the designs for the "Last +Judgment." + +The artist was still at work on Moses. "This one statue is sufficient to +be a worthy monument to Pope Julius," said the cardinal of Mantua. Paul +III. refused to release Michael Angelo, and he began work on the Sistine +Chapel. + +The painting was not completed until nearly eight years had passed. +There are three hundred figures and heads in this vast fresco. Says M. +F. Sweetser, in his concise and excellent life of Michael Angelo, "About +Christ are many renowned saints,--the Madonna, gazing mildly at the +blessed and redeemed souls; Adam and Eve, curiously regarding the +Judge; and a group of pleading apostles, bearing their emblems. These +are surrounded by a vast throng of saints and martyrs, safe in Heaven, +all of whom exemplify the saying that 'Michael Angelo nowhere admits, +either into heaven or hell, any but the physically powerful.' Below the +Judge are four angels blowing trumpets towards the four quarters of the +universe, and four others holding the books by which the dead are to be +judged. Under these the land and sea are giving up their dead.... As a +work of art, the Last Judgment was one of the grandest productions of +the famous art-century." + +Biagio da Cesena, the pope's master of ceremonies, complained that so +many naked figures made the painting more appropriate for bath-rooms and +stables than for a chapel. What was the surprise of Biagio, when the +painting was thrown open to the public, to find that the infernal judge +Minos, with ass's ears, was his own portrait! He begged the pope to +punish the artist; but Paul replied, "If the painter had placed thee in +purgatory, I should have used every effort to help thee; but since he +has put thee in hell, it is useless to have recourse to me, because _ex +infernis nulla est redemptio_." + +Paul IV. later complained that the figures were shamefully nude, and +desired to have them covered. "Tell his Holiness," said Michael Angelo, +"that this is a mere trifle, and can be easily done; let him mend the +world, paintings are easily mended." Paul finally had the nude figures +draped by Daniele da Volterra, who thereupon bore the nickname of "the +breeches-maker." + +While painting this picture, the artist fell from the scaffold and +injured his leg seriously. He refused to allow anything to be done for +him, but his friend, the surgeon Rontini, forced his way into the house, +and cared for him until he recovered. + +These eight years had been the happiest of Michael Angelo's life. Before +this time he had been cold in manner, often melancholy, and sometimes +overbearing; now he was gentle, cheerful, and affectionate. He had +written home in early life, "I have no friends; I need none, and wish to +have none." Now he had found, what every human being needs, a friend +whose tastes and aspirations were like his own. At sixty, he met and +loved Vittoria Colonna, a woman whose mind was henceforward to be his +inspiration, and whose sweet nature was to be his rest and satisfaction +forever. For such a mind as Michael Angelo's there are few kindred +spirits. Fortunate was he that the blessed gift came, even though late +in life. + +Vittoria was the daughter of Fabrizio Colonna, and the widow of Marchese +di Pescara, the two highest nobles and generals of her time. Tenderly +reared and highly educated, she had married at nineteen, her husband +soon after engaging in the wars of the time. He was wounded at Pavia, +and died before his young wife could reach him. He was buried at Milan, +but the body was afterwards removed to Naples with great magnificence. + +Vittoria, childless, well-nigh heart-broken, turned to literature as her +solace. She desired to enter a convent; but the bishop of Carpentros, +afterwards a cardinal, and an intimate friend of Vittoria, hastened to +Paul III., who forbade the abbess and nuns of San Silvestro, on pain of +excommunication, to permit her to take the veil. Vittoria must not be +lost to the world. + +When her poems were published, says T. Adolphus Trollope, in his life of +this charming woman, "copies were as eagerly sought for as the novel of +the season at a nineteenth-century circulating library. Cardinals, +bishops, poets, wits, diplomatists, passed them from one to another, +made them the subject of their correspondence with each other and with +the fair mourner." + +Hallam says, "The rare virtues and consummate talents of this lady were +the theme of all Italy in that brilliant age of her literature." + +Vittoria Colonna is one of the best illustrations in history of what a +noble and intellectual woman can do for the upbuilding of society. Many +gifted men gave her a sincere affection, and she held that affection +while life lasted. She was well read in history, religious matters, and +classic literature. Her first visit to Rome was a continued ovation. +Even the Emperor Charles V. called upon her. Unselfish, sympathetic, +with a gentle and winsome manner that drew every one into confidence, +she proved herself a companion for the most highly educated, and a +helper for the lowly. + +When she visited Ferrara, Duke Hercules II., who had married Renee of +France, the daughter of Louis XII., received her, says Trollope, "with +every possible distinction on the score of her poetical celebrity, and +deemed his city honored by her presence. He invited, we are told, the +most distinguished poets and men of letters of Venice and Lombardy to +meet her at Ferrara. And so much was her visit prized that when Cardinal +Giberto sent thither his secretary, Francesco della Torre, to persuade +her to visit his episcopal city, Verona, that ambassador wrote to his +friend Bembo, at Venice, that he had like to have been banished by the +Duke, and stoned by the people, for coming there with the intention of +robbing Ferrara of its most precious treasure, for the purpose of +enriching Verona."... The learned and elegant Bembo writes of her that +he considered her poetical judgment as sound and authoritative as that +of the greatest masters of the art of song.... Bernardo Tasso made her +the subject of several of his poems. Giovio dedicated to her his life of +Pescara, and Cardinal Pompeo Colonna his book on "The Praises of Women;" +and Contarini paid her the far more remarkable compliment of dedicating +to her his work "On Free Will." + +"Paul III. was," as Muratori says, "by no means well disposed towards +the Colonna family. Yet Vittoria must have had influence with the +haughty and severe old Farnese. For both Bembo and Fregoso, the Bishop +of Naples, have taken occasion to acknowledge that they owed their +promotion to the purple in great measure to her." + +It is probable that she first met Michael Angelo in the year 1536. He +was then sixty-one, and she forty-six. "A woman," says Grimm, "needs not +extreme youth to captivate the mind of a man who discovers in her the +highest intelligence.... She belonged to that class of women who, +apparently with no will of their own, never seek to extort anything by +force, and yet obtain everything which is placed before them.... How +tenderly she exercised her authority over Michael Angelo, who had never +before been approached; whom she now for the first time inspired with +the happiness of yielding to a woman, and for whom the years which she +passed at that time in Rome she made a period of happiness, which he had +never before known.... Whenever we contemplate the life of great men, +the most beautiful part of their existence is that, when meeting with a +power equal to their own, they find one worthy of measuring the depths +of their mind.... There is no deeper desire than that of meeting such a +mind; no greater happiness than having found it; no greater sorrow than +to resign this happiness, whether it be that it has never been enjoyed, +or that it has been lost." + +Francesco d'Ollanda, a portrait-painter, has described one of the +Sundays which he spent in the company of Michael Angelo and Vittoria, +"the latter of whom he calls beautiful, pure in conduct, and acquainted +with the Latin tongue; in short, she is adorned with every grace which +can redound to a woman's praise." + +When Michael Angelo arrived at her home on that Sunday, Vittoria, "who +could never speak without elevating those with whom she conversed and +even the place where she was, began to lead the conversation with the +greatest art upon all possible things, without, however, touching even +remotely upon painting. She wished to give Michael Angelo assurance." +She said to him, "I cannot but admire the manner in which you withdraw +yourself from the world, from useless conversation, and from all the +offers of princes who desire paintings from your hand,--how you avoid it +all, and how you have disposed the labor of your whole life as one +single, great work." + +"Gracious lady," replied Michael Angelo, "these are undeserved praises; +but, as the conversation has taken this turn, I must here complain of +the public. A thousand silly reproaches are brought against artists of +importance. They say that they are strange people, that they are not to +be approached, that there is no bearing with them. No one, on the +contrary, can be so natural and human as great artists.... How should an +artist, absorbed in his work, take from it time and thought to drive +away other people's ennui?... An artist who, instead of satisfying the +highest demands of his art, tries to suit himself to the great public, +who has nothing strange or peculiar in his personal exterior, or rather +what the world calls so,--will never become an extraordinary mind. It is +true, as regards the ordinary race of artists, we need take no lantern +to look for them; they stand at the corner of every street throughout +the world, ready for all who seek them.... True art is made noble and +religious by the mind producing it. For, for those who feel it, nothing +makes the soul so religious and pure as the endeavor to create something +perfect, for God is perfection, and whoever strives after it is striving +after something divine. True painting is only an image of the perfection +of God, a shadow of the pencil with which he paints,--a melody, a +striving after harmony." + +And then, says d'Ollanda, "Vittoria began a eulogium upon painting; she +spoke of its ennobling influence upon a people,--how it led them to +piety, to glory, to greatness, until the tears came into her eyes from +the emotion within." + +For ten or twelve years, in the midst of long separations and many +sorrows, this affection of Vittoria and Michael Angelo shed its +transcendent light over two great lives. It was impossible not to love a +woman with such tenderness, sympathy, and sincerity. We may admire a +beautiful or a brilliant woman, but if she lacks tenderness and +sincerity the world soon loses its allegiance. When political changes +made it necessary for her to leave Rome and go to the Convent of St. +Catherine at Viterbo, Michael Angelo wrote her daily, while he painted +in the Pauline Chapel, after the "Last Judgment" was finished, the +"Crucifixion of Peter," and the "Conversion of Paul." In 1542 she wrote +him tenderly, "I have not answered your letter before, thinking that if +you and I continue to write according to my obligation and your +courtesy, it will be necessary that I leave St. Catherine's Chapel, +without finding myself with the sisters at the appointed hours, and that +you must abandon the Pauline Chapel, and not keep yourself all the day +long in sweet colloquy with your paintings ... so that I from the brides +of Christ, and you from his vicar, shall fall away." + +However she may chide him for writing too frequently, his words and +works are most precious to her. When he paints for her a picture, she +writes, "I had the greatest faith in God, that he would give you a +supernatural grace to paint this Christ; then I saw it, so wonderful +that it surpassed in every way my expectations. Being emboldened by your +miracles, I desired that which I now see marvellously fulfilled, that +is, that it should stand in every part in the highest perfection, and +that one could not desire more nor reach forward to desire so much. And +I tell you that it gave me joy that the angel on the right hand is so +beautiful; for the Archangel Michael will place you, Michael Angelo, on +the right hand of the Lord at the judgment day. And meanwhile I know not +how to serve you otherwise than to pray to this sweet Christ, whom you +have so well and perfectly painted, and to entreat you to command me as +altogether yours in all and through all." + +What delicate appreciation of the genius of the man she loved! How it +must have stimulated and blessed him! But more than all else she loved +Michael Angelo for the one thing women value most in men, the strength +and constancy of a nature that gives a single and lasting devotion. + +She gave to Michael Angelo a vellum book, containing one hundred and +three of her sonnets, and sent him forty new ones which she composed at +the convent of Viterbo. These he had bound up in the same book which he +received from her; her for whom, he said, "I would have done more than +for any one else whom I could name in the world." He wrote back his +thanks with the sweet self-abnegation of love. + + + "And well I see how false it were to think + That any work, faded and frail, of mine, + Could emulate the perfect grace of thine. + Genius, and art, and daring, backward shrink. + A thousand works from mortals like to me + Can ne'er repay what Heaven has given thee." + + +She inspired him to write poetry. "The productions of our great artist's +pen," says John Edward Taylor, "rank unquestionably in the number of the +most perfect of his own or any subsequent age. Stamped by a flow of +eloquence, a purity of style, an habitual nobleness of sentiment, they +discover a depth of thought rarely equalled, and frequently approaching +to the sublimity of Dante." + +Several of his most beautiful sonnets were to Vittoria:-- + + + "If it be true that any beauteous thing + Raises the pure and just desire of man + From earth to God, the eternal fount of all, + Such I believe my love: for, as in her + So fair, in whom I all besides forget, + I view the gentle work of her Creator; + I have no care for any other thing + Whilst thus I love. Nor is it marvellous, + Since the effect is not of my own power, + If the soul doth by nature, tempted forth, + Enamored through the eyes, + Repose upon the eyes which it resembleth, + And through them riseth to the primal love, + As to its end, and honors in admiring: + For who adores the Maker needs must love his work." + + "If a chaste love, exalted piety, + If equal fortune between two who love, + Whose every joy and sorrow are the same, + One spirit only governing two hearts,-- + If one soul in two bodies made eterne, + Raising them both to Heaven on equal wings,-- + If the same flame, one undivided ray, + Shine forth to each, from inward unity,-- + If mutual love, for neither's self reserved, + Desiring only the return of love,-- + If that which one desires the other swift + Anticipates, impelled by an unconscious power,-- + Are signs of an indissoluble faith, + Shall aught have power to loosen such a bond?" + + JOHN EDWARD TAYLOR. + + +In 1544 the Colonna estates were confiscated by the pope, after a +contest between Paul III. and the powerful Colonnas, in which the +latter were defeated, and Vittoria retired to the Benedictine Convent of +St. Anna. Here her health failed. The celebrated physician and poet +Fracastoro said, "Would that a physician for her mind could be found! +Otherwise, the fairest light in this world will, from causes by no means +clear, be extinguished and taken from our eyes." + +At the beginning of 1547 she became dangerously ill, and was conveyed to +the palace of her relative Giuliano Cesarini, the only one of her +kindred in Rome. She died towards the last of February, 1547, at the age +of fifty-seven. + +She requested to be buried like the sisters with whom she last resided, +and so entirely were her wishes carried out that her place of sepulture +is unknown. + +Michael Angelo staid beside her to the very last. When she was gone he +almost lost his senses. Says his pupil, Condivi, "He bore such a love to +her that I remember to have heard him say that he grieved at nothing so +much as that when he went to see her pass from this life he had not +kissed her brow or her face, as he kissed her hand. After her death he +frequently stood trembling and as if insensible." + +He wrote several sonnets to her memory. + + + "When the prime mover of my many sighs + Heaven took through death from out her earthly place, + Nature, that never made so fair a face, + Remained ashamed, and tears were in all eyes. + O fate, unheeding my impassioned cries! + O hopes fallacious! O thou spirit of grace, + Where art thou now? Earth holds in its embrace + Thy lovely limbs, thy holy thoughts the skies. + Vainly did cruel Death attempt to stay + The rumor of thy virtuous renown, + That Lethe's waters could not wash away! + A thousand leaves, since he hath stricken thee down, + Speak of thee, nor to thee would heaven convey, + Except through death, a refuge and a crown." + + HENRY W. LONGFELLOW. + + +The monument of Julius had at last been completed, and placed in the +Church of San Pietro in Vincola. In 1546, Antonio di San Gallo, the +director of the building of St. Peter's, died, and Michael Angelo was +commissioned to carry forward the work. Fortunately Vittoria lived to +see this honor conferred upon him. + +He was now seventy-one years old. For the remaining eighteen years of +his life, he devoted himself to this great labor, without compensation. +When Paul III., with Cardinal Marcello, summoned Michael Angelo to talk +over some alleged defects, the aged artist boldly replied to the +cardinal, "I am not nor will I consent to be obliged to tell, to your +eminence or any one else, what I ought or wish to do. Your office is to +bring money and guard it from thieves, and the designing of the building +is left to me." Then he said to the pope, "Holy Father, you see what I +gain; if these fatigues which I endure do not benefit my soul, I lose +both time and labor." The pope, who loved him, placed his hands on his +shoulders, saying, "You benefit both soul and body: do not doubt." + +When asked if the new dome would not surpass that of the Duomo of +Florence, by Brunelleschi, he said, "It will be more grand, but not more +beautiful." + +Michael Angelo lived very simply in Rome, though he had amassed a large +property, most of which he left to his nephew Leonardo, to whom and his +family he was tenderly attached. When this nephew was married, the +sculptor wrote him "not to care about a great dowry, but that you should +look to a healthy mind, a healthy body, good blood, and good education, +and what sort of family it is.... Above all, seek the counsel of God, +for it is a great step." + +Michael Angelo was devotedly attached to Urbino, who had been his +servant for twenty-six years, and who loved him so much, says Vasari, +"that he had nursed him in sickness, and slept at night in his clothes +beside him, the better to watch for his comforts." One day the artist +said to him, "When I die, what wilt thou do?"--"Serve some one else," +was the reply. "Thou poor creature, I must save thee from that," said +the sculptor, and immediately gave him two thousand crowns. + +At Urbino's death, when his master was about eighty, Michael Angelo +wrote Vasari, in deep grief, of his "infinite loss." "Nor have I now +left any other hope than that of rejoining him in Paradise. But of this +God has given me a foretaste, in the most blessed death that he has +died; his own departure did not grieve him, as did the leaving me in +this treacherous world, with so many troubles. Truly is the best part of +my being gone with him, nor is anything now left me except an infinite +sorrow." + +The artist was again and again urged to return to Florence, by the +reigning dukes, but he replied, "You must see by my handwriting that I +touch the twenty-fourth hour, and no thought is now born in my mind in +which death is not mixed." + +He was implored on every side to carve statues and paint pictures. He +promised Francis I. of France a work in marble, in bronze, and in +painting. "Should death interrupt this desire," said Michael Angelo, +"then, if it be possible to sculpture or paint in the other world, I +shall not fail to do so, where no one becomes old." + +He furnished plans for several Roman gates which Pius IV., who succeeded +Paul IV., wished to rebuild, and made designs for various other +buildings and public squares. He erected the Church of St. Mary of the +Angels, amid the ruins of the Baths of Diocletian. "Nothing exists in +architecture," says Mr. Heath Wilson, "which exceeds the plan of this +church in beauty and variety of form. The general proportions are so +harmonious, the lines of the plan so gracefully disposed, the form of +the whole so original, that, without looking at the elevations, the eye +is delighted by the evidence on all sides of the imagination, taste, and +skill shown by the venerable architect in this superb work." + +The great sculptor never ceased to work or to study. When old he drew a +picture representing himself as an aged man in a cart, with these words +underneath: _Ancora impara_ (still learning). He painted but two +portraits, one of Vittoria Colonna, and one of young Tommaso dei +Cavalieri, whom he tenderly loved. To this youth, whom Varchi, the +Florentine professor and court scholar, declared to be the most +attractive young man he had ever known, Michael Angelo wrote this +beautiful sonnet:-- + + + "Through thee I catch a gleam of tender glow, + Which with my own eyes I had failed to see; + And walking onward step by step with thee, + The once oppressing burdens lighter grow. + With thee, my grovelling thoughts I heavenward raise, + Borne upward by thy bold, aspiring wing; + I follow where thou wilt,--a helpless thing, + Cold in the sun, and warm in winter days. + My will, my friend, rests only upon thine; + Thy heart must every thought of mine supply; + My mind expression finds in thee alone. + Thus like the moonlight's silver ray I shine: + We only see her beams on the far sky, + When the sun's fiery rays are o'er her thrown." + + +His last work was a group of the Virgin and the dead Christ, which he +intended should be placed on an altar over his own tomb; but it was left +unfinished from a flaw in the marble, and is now in the cathedral in +Florence. Vasari found the aged artist working at it late at night, when +he had arisen from his bed because he could not sleep. A tallow candle +was placed in his pasteboard cap, so as to leave his hands free for +work. Once, as they were looking at the statue, Michael Angelo suffered +the lantern which he held in his hand to fall, and they were left in +darkness. He remarked, "I am so old that Death often pulls me by the +cape, and bids me go with him; some day I shall fall myself, like this +lamp, and the light of life will be extinguished." + +To the last Michael Angelo was always learning. He used often to visit +the Vatican to study the Torso Belvedere, which he declared had been of +the greatest benefit to him. + +In 1563-64 he was elected vice-president of the Florentine Academy of +Fine Arts. That winter his strength failed rapidly, though all was done +for him that love and honor could possibly do, for he had many devoted +friends among all classes, and was constantly aiding artists and others. +He did not fear death, for he said, "If life be a pleasure, since death +also is sent by the hand of the same master, neither should that +displease us." + +Between three and four o'clock in the afternoon of the 18th of February, +1564, the same month in which Vittoria died, the great man passed away, +in the ninetieth year of his age. Daniele da Volterra, Condivi, and +Cavalieri stood by his bedside. His last words to them were, "I give my +soul to God, my body to the earth, and my worldly possessions to my +nearest of kin." + +The pope and the Romans were determined to keep the dead Michael Angelo +in Rome; but his wish had been to lie in Florence. The body, therefore, +was conveyed to the latter city, disguised as a bale of merchandise, and +buried in Santa Croce, on Sunday night, March 12th, the Tuscan artists +following with their lighted torches, accompanied by thousands of +citizens. In the month of July a grand memorial service was held, in the +Church of San Lorenzo, for the illustrious dead, paintings and statuary +surrounding a catafalque fifty-four feet high. + +After thirty years of voluntary exile, the melancholy, solitary, +great-souled man lay in his native Florence. He had loved liberty and +uprightness. He had been ambitious, and devoted to his masterly work, +with the will-power and intensity which belong to genius. He had allowed +no obstacles to stand in his path,--neither lack of money nor jealousy +of artists. He had faith in himself. He spoke sometimes too plainly, but +almost always justly. Cold and unapproachable though he was, children +loved him, and for them he would stop and make sketches on the street. +He had the fearlessness of one who rightly counts manhood above all +titles. He was too noble to be trifling, or petty, or self-indulgent. +Great in sculpture, painting, poetry, architecture, engineering, +character, he has left an imperishable name. Taine says, "There are four +men in the world of art and of literature exalted above all others, and +to such a degree as to seem to belong to another race; namely, Dante, +Shakespeare, Beethoven, and Michael Angelo." + + + + +LEONARDO DA VINCI. + + +"The world perhaps contains no example of a genius so universal, so +creative, so incapable of self-contentment, so athirst for the infinite, +so naturally refined, so far in advance of his own and of subsequent +ages. His countenances express incredible sensibility and mental power; +they overflow with unexpressed ideas and emotions. Michael Angelo's +personages alongside of his are simply heroic athletes; Raphael's +virgins are only placid children, whose sleeping souls have not yet +lived." Thus writes Taine of Da Vinci, in his "Travels in Italy." + +[Illustration: LEONARDO DA VINCI.] + +Mrs. Jameson calls Leonardo da Vinci, in her "Early Italian Painters," +"_The_ miracle of that age of miracles. Ardent and versatile as youth; +patient and persevering as age; a most profound and original thinker; +the greatest mathematician and most ingenious mechanic of his time; +architect, chemist, engineer, musician, poet, painter!" + +Hallam, in his "History of the Literature of Europe," says of the +published extracts from the great volumes of manuscript left by +Leonardo, "These are, according to our common estimate of the age in +which he lived, more like revelations of physical truths vouchsafed to +a single mind, than the superstructure of its reasoning upon any +established basis. The discoveries which made Galileo, Kepler, Castelli, +and other names illustrious--the system of Copernicus--the very theories +of recent geologists, are anticipated by Da Vinci within the compass of +a few pages, not perhaps in the most precise language, or on the most +conclusive reasoning, but so as to strike us with something like the awe +of preternatural knowledge. In an age of so much dogmatism, he first +laid down the grand principle of Bacon, that experiment and observation +must be the guides to just theory in the investigation of nature. + +"If any doubt could be harbored, not as to the right of Leonardo da +Vinci to stand as the first name of the fifteenth century, which is +beyond all doubt, but as to his originality in so many discoveries, +which probably no one man, especially in such circumstances, has ever +made, it must be by an hypothesis, not very untenable, that some parts +of physical science had already attained a height which mere books do +not record." + +This man, whom Vasari thinks "specially endowed by the hand of God +himself," was born in 1452, at Castello da Vinci, a village in the Val +d'Arno, near Florence. His father, Piero Antonio da Vinci, was a notary +of the republic, a man of considerable property and influence. When he +was twenty-five, he married the first of his four wives, Albiera di +Giovanni Amadori, in 1452, and brought home his illegitimate son, +Leonardo, born the same year, whom she tenderly cared for as her own. + +Of Leonardo's mother, Caterina, little is known, save that five years +later she married, presumably in her own circle. Among the twelve other +children who came into the home of the advocate, Leonardo was the +especial pet and pride, probably because he seemed to have been given +all the talents originally intended for the Da Vinci family. + +The handsome boy, whose "beauty of person," says Vasari, "was such that +it has never been sufficiently extolled," and with "a grace beyond +expression," cheerful, eager, enthusiastic, and warmhearted, when sent +to school, learned everything with avidity. "In arithmetic he often +confounded the master who taught him, by his reasonings and by the +difficulty of the problems he proposed." He had that omnivorous appetite +for books which Higginson calls the sure indication of genius. + +He loved nature intensely. He studied every flower and tree about the +country home; made companions of the river Arno, the changing clouds, +and the snow-capped mountains. Passionately fond of music, he not only +learned to play on the guitar and lute, but invented a lyre of his own, +on which he improvised both the song and the air. + +On the margins of his books he sketched such admirable drawings that his +father took them to Andrea Verrochio, a famous Florentine artist, who +was "amazed," and advised that the youth become a painter. Leonardo +entered the studio of Verrochio when he was about eighteen, and at once +became deeply absorbed in his work. He began to make models in clay, +arranging on these soft drapery dipped in plaster, which he drew +carefully in black and white on fine linen; also heads of smiling women +and children out of terra cotta: already he had that divine gift of +painting the "Da Vinci smile," which seems to have been born with him +and to have died with him. He studied perspective, and with his +fellow-students made chemical researches into the improvement of colors. + +Verrochio was engaged in painting a picture of St. John baptizing +Christ, for the monks of Vallombrosa, and requested Leonardo to paint an +angel in the left-hand corner, holding some vestments. When the work was +finished, and Verrochio looked upon Leonardo's angel, "a space of +sunlight in the cold, labored old picture," as W. H. Pater says, in his +"Studies in the History of the Renaissance," Verrochio became so +discouraged "because a mere child could do more than himself," that he +would never touch the brush again. This work is now in the Academy of +Fine Arts in Florence. + +About this time, according to Vasari, Leonardo made his famous shield +_Rotella del Fico_. "Ser Piero da Vinci, being at his country house, was +there visited by one of the peasants on his estate, who, having cut down +a fig-tree on his farm, had made a shield from part of it with his own +hands, and then brought it to Ser Piero, begging that he would be +pleased to cause the same to be painted for him in Florence. This the +latter very willingly promised to do, the countryman having great skill +in taking birds and in fishing, and being often very serviceable to Ser +Piero in such matters. Having taken the shield with him to Florence, +therefore, without saying anything to Leonardo as to whom it was for, he +desired the latter to paint something upon it. + +"Accordingly, he one day took it in hand, but, finding it crooked, +coarse, and badly made, he straightened it at the fire, and, giving it +to a turner, it was brought back to him smooth and delicately rounded, +instead of the rude and shapeless form in which he had received it. He +then covered it with gypsum, and, having prepared it to his liking, he +began to consider what he could paint upon it that might best and most +effectually terrify whomsoever might approach it, producing the same +effect with that formerly attributed to the head of Medusa. For this +purpose, therefore, Leonardo carried to one of his rooms, into which no +one but himself ever entered, a number of lizards, hedgehogs, newts, +serpents, dragon-flies, locusts, bats, glow-worms, and every sort of +strange animal of similar kind on which he could lay his hands; from +this assemblage, variously adapted and joined together, he formed a +hideous and appalling monster, breathing poison and flames, and +surrounded by an atmosphere of fire; this he caused to issue from a +dark and rifted rock, with poison reeking from the cavernous throat, +flames darting from the eyes, and vapors rising from the nostrils in +such sort that the result was indeed a most fearful and monstrous +creature; at this he labored until the odors arising from all those dead +animals filled the room with a mortal fetor, to which the zeal of +Leonardo and the love which he bore to art rendered him insensible or +indifferent. + +"When this work, which neither the countryman nor Ser Piero any longer +inquired for, was completed, Leonardo went to his father and told him +that he might send for the shield at his earliest convenience, since, so +far as he was concerned, the work was finished; Ser Piero went +accordingly one morning to the room for the shield, and, having knocked +at the door, Leonardo opened it to him, telling him nevertheless to wait +a little without, and, having returned into the room, he placed the +shield on the easel, and, shading the window so that the light falling +on the painting was somewhat dimmed, he made Ser Piero step within to +look at it. But the latter, not expecting any such thing, drew back, +startled at the first glance, not supposing that to be the shield, or +believing the monster he beheld to be a painting; he therefore turned to +rush out, but Leonardo withheld him, saying,--'The shield will serve the +purpose for which it has been executed; take it, therefore, and carry it +away, for this is the effect it was designed to produce.' + +"The work seemed something more than wonderful to Ser Piero, and he +highly commended the fanciful idea of Leonardo; but he afterwards +silently bought from a merchant another shield, whereon there was +painted a heart transfixed with an arrow, and this he gave to the +countryman, who considered himself obliged to him for it to the end of +his life. Some time after, Ser Piero secretly sold the shield painted by +Leonardo to certain merchants for one hundred ducats, and it +subsequently fell into the hands of the Duke of Milan, sold to him by +the same merchants for three hundred ducats." + +Leonardo painted also the "Head of Medusa," in the Uffizi Gallery, +twined about with green, hissing serpents. + +For the King of Portugal he painted a cartoon for a tapestry +curtain,--"Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden." Of the flowers and +fruits in this picture, Vasari says, "For careful execution and fidelity +to nature, they are such that there is no genius in the world, however +godlike, which could produce similar results with equal truth." This +cartoon is lost. + +The "Madonna della Caraffa," celebrated for the exquisite beauty of the +flowers with dew upon them, which stood in a vase by the Virgin, and was +highly prized by Clement VII., has also disappeared. The "Adoration of +the Magi" and a "Neptune in his Chariot drawn by Sea-horses" were among +Da Vinci's works at this time. + +He was also studying military engineering, completed a book of designs +for mills and other apparatus working by water, invented machines for +dredging seaports and channels, and urged the making of a canal from +Pisa to Florence, by changing the course of the Arno, a thing +accomplished two hundred years later. + +Still he did not neglect his painting. He went about the streets of +Florence looking for picturesque or beautiful faces, which he +transferred to his sketch-book, always carried at his girdle. He +attended the execution of criminals to catch the expression of faces or +contortion of limbs in agony. Yet so tender-hearted was he, that, Vasari +says, "When he passed places where birds were sold, he would frequently +take them from their cages, and, having paid the price demanded for them +by the sellers, would then let them fly into the air, thus restoring to +them the liberty they had lost." + +He loved art. He said, "In the silence of the night, recall the ideas of +the things which you have studied. Design in your spirit the contours +and outlines of the figures that you have seen during the day. When the +spirit does not work with the hands, there is no artist.... Do not +allege as an excuse your poverty, which does not permit you to study and +become skilful; the study of art serves for nourishment to the body as +well as the soul.... When all seems easy, it is an unerring sign that +the workman has but scant ability and that the task is above his +comprehension." + +Enjoying all athletic exercises; so strong that he could bend a +horseshoe in his hands; exceedingly fond of horses, of which he owned +several,--he still found time to be the life and joy of the brilliant +society of Florence; always leading, always fascinating with his +intelligent conversation and elegant address. And yet the ambitious +Leonardo was not satisfied in Florence. The Medici did not encourage him +as they did Michael Angelo. Possibly they felt that he lacked a steady +and dominant purpose. He finally made up his mind to try his fortune +elsewhere, and wrote the following letter to Lodovico Sforza, Regent of +Milan:-- + +"MY MOST ILLUSTRIOUS LORD,--Having seen and duly considered the +experiments of all those who repute themselves masters and constructors +of warlike instruments, and that the inventions and operations of the +said instruments are not different from those in common use, I will +endeavor, without derogating from any one else, to make known to your +Excellency certain secrets of my own, and, at an opportune time, I shall +hope to put them into execution, if they seem valuable to you. I briefly +note these things below:-- + +"1. I have a method of making very light bridges, fit to be carried most +easily, with which to follow the flight of enemies; and others, strong +and secure against fire and battle; easy and commodious to lift up and +to place in position. I have methods also to burn and destroy those of +the enemy. + +"2. I know, in case of the siege of a place, how to take away the water +from the ditches, and to make an infinite variety of scaling-ladders and +other instruments pertinent to such an expedition. + + * * * * * + +"4. I have also kinds of cannon most commodious and easy to carry, with +which to throw inflammable matters, whose smoke causes great fright to +the enemy, with serious injury and confusion. + +"5. I have means, by excavations and straight and winding subterranean +ways, to come to any given point without noise, even though it be +necessary to pass under moats and rivers. + + * * * * * + +"8. When the operations of artillery are impossible, I shall construct +mangonels, balistae, and other engines of marvellous efficacy, and out of +the common use; and, in short, according to the variety of events, I +shall build various and infinite means of offence. + +"9. And when it shall happen to be upon the sea, I have means of +preparing many instruments most efficient in attack or defence, and +vessels that shall make resistance to the most powerful bombardment; and +powders and smokes. + +"10. In time of peace I believe I can satisfy very well and equal all +others in architecture, in designing public edifices and private houses, +and in conducting water from one place to another. I can carry on works +of sculpture, in marble, bronze, or terra cotta, also in pictures. I can +do what can be done equal to any other, whoever he may be. Also, I +shall undertake the execution of the bronze horse, which will be the +immortal glory and eternal honor of the happy memory of my lord your +father, and of the illustrious honor of Sforza." + +The result of this letter was a summons to the court at Milan, where +Lodovico, though dissolute, was proud to surround himself with the most +brilliant men and women of the age. Leonardo took with him a silver +lyre, made in the shape of a horse's head, designed by himself, on which +he played so skilfully that the duke and his court were enchanted. +"Whatever he did," says Vasari, "bore an impress of harmony, +truthfulness, goodness, sweetness, and grace, wherein no other man could +ever equal him." Such a union of gentleness and sincerity with genius! +Who could withstand its influence! + +At Milan Leonardo remained for nineteen years, and here some of his most +remarkable works were done. + +One of the first pictures painted for the Regent was a portrait of a +favorite, the beautiful Cecilia Gallerani, a gifted woman, skilled in +music and poetry. Leonardo painted for her a picture of the Virgin, for +which she probably was the model. The infant Saviour is represented as +blessing a new-blown Madonna rose, the emblem of St. Cecilia. + +The next portrait--it is now in the Louvre--was that of another beauty, +loved by the duke, Lucrezia Crivelli, formerly called La Belle +Feronniere, who was a favorite of Francis I. "The face," says Mr. +Sweetser, "is at once proud and melancholy, with a warm and brilliant +coloring and soft pure lines, the head full of light, and even the +shadows transparent." In honor of both these portraits Latin poems were +written by the poets of the time. + +Leonardo also painted two fine portraits of the lawful duke, Gian +Galeazzo Sforza, and his wife, Isabella of Aragon, the latter picture +"beyond all description beautiful and charming," now preserved in the +Ambrosian Library. When these persons were married, Leonardo invented +for the entertainment of the guests at the wedding feast a mechanical +device called "The Paradise," a representation of the heavens and the +revolving planets, which opened as the bride and bridegroom approached, +while a person in imitation of the Deity recited complimentary verses. + +Leonardo now began on the great equestrian statue of the warrior +Francesco Sforza. He studied ancient works of art, especially the +equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius in Rome, made almost countless +drawings of horses in repose or on the battle-field, many of which are +still preserved at Windsor Castle, studied every movement of live horses +and every muscle of dead ones, and did not complete his clay model for +ten long years. A genius like Da Vinci spends ten years on the model of +an equestrian statue, and yet some artists of the present day, men and +women, paint and mould horses or human beings after a few weeks or +months of study, and expect to win fame! + +When the clay model was exhibited in public at the royal wedding of the +sister of Gian Galeazzo to the Emperor Maximilian, the enthusiasm was +very great. All Italy talked of it, and poets and critics extolled it as +beyond the works of Greece or Rome. Unfortunately the ensuing wars +depleted the treasury of Milan, and prevented the work from being cast +in bronze. When the French entered Milan in 1499, it became a target for +the archers. Two years later the Duke of Ferrara asked the use of the +model that a bronze horse with a statue of himself might be made; but +the King of France refused, and the model finally disappeared. + +During these years Leonardo founded the Milan Academy. Probably many of +the manuscript volumes which he left were notes of lectures delivered to +the students. He must have spoken to them on botany, optics, mechanics, +astronomy, hydrostatics, anatomy, perspective, proportion, and other +matters. He wrote a book on the anatomy of the horse. "He also," says +Vasari, "filled a book with drawings in red crayons, outlined with the +pen, all copies made with the utmost care from bodies dissected by his +own hand. In this book he set forth the entire structure, arrangement +and disposition of the bones, to which he afterwards added all the +nerves, in their due order, and next supplied the muscles, of which the +first are affixed to the bones, the second give the power of cohesion +or holding firmly, and the third impart the motion." + +Leonardo said in his notes, "The painter who has obtained a perfect +knowledge of the nature of the tendons and muscles, and of those parts +which contain the most of them, will know to a certainty, in giving a +particular motion to any part of the body, which and how many of the +muscles give rise and contribute to it; which of them, by swelling, +occasion their shortening, and which of the cartilages they surround. He +will not imitate those who, in all the different attitudes they adopt or +invent, make use of the same muscles in the arms, back, or chest, or any +other parts.... It is necessary that a painter should be a good +anatomist, that in his attitudes and gestures he may be able to design +the naked parts of the human frame, according to the just rules of the +anatomy of the nerves, bones, and muscles; and that, in his different +positions, he may know what particular nerve or muscle is the cause of +such a particular movement, in order that he may make that only marked +and apparent, and not all the rest, as many artists are in the habit of +doing; who, that they may appear great designers, make the naked limbs +stiff and without grace, so that they have more the appearance of a bag +of nuts than the human superficies, or, rather, more like a bundle of +radishes than naked muscles." + +Leonardo irrigated the dry plains of Lombardy by utilizing the waters of +the Ticino River, visiting many cities and towns throughout Lombardy +for this purpose, and carefully studying the canals of Egypt under the +Ptolemies. He studied ancient architecture also. In his epitaph, +composed in his lifetime, he calls himself, "The admirer of the +ancients, and their grateful disciple. One thing is lacking to me, their +science of proportion. I have done what I could; may posterity pardon +me." + +He designed a palace for Count Giovanni Melzi, at Vaprio, which became a +favorite home for him, especially in the time of war--the residence of +his beloved pupil, Francesco Melzi. + +In 1492, after Leonardo had been eleven years at the Court of Milan, +Lodovico, unscrupulous and immoral, married the gentle and saintly +Beatrice d'Este. Leonardo conducted the grand wedding festivities, and +designed and decorated the bride's apartments in the Castello della +Rocca, making a beautiful bath-room in the garden, adorned with colored +marbles and a statue of Diana. While the regent in no wise discontinued +his profligate habits, he yet desired to please his wife, by gratifying +her taste for religious things. As she had shown an especial fondness +for the Dominican church and convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, +Lodovico ordered them reconstructed and embellished for her. In the +refectory, the artist painted kneeling portraits of Beatrice, her +husband, and their two little children, Maximilian and Francesco; but +they have long since faded. + +About the year 1496, Leonardo began his immortal work in the refectory, +The "Last Supper." Here, where daily the sweet and broken-hearted wife +came to remain for hours in meditation and prayer before the tomb of the +Duchess Bianca, from which she sometimes had to be removed by force, +Leonardo came daily to his masterpiece. Sometimes he would go to his +work at daybreak, and never think of descending from his scaffolding to +eat or drink till night, so completely absorbed was he in his work. "At +other times," says Bandello, "he would remain three or four days without +touching it, only coming for an hour or two, and remaining with crossed +arms contemplating his figures, as if criticising them himself. I have +also seen him at midday, when the sun in the zenith causes all the +streets of Milan to be deserted, set out in all haste from the citadel, +where he was modelling his colossal horse, and, without seeking the +shade, take the shortest road to the convent, where he would add a few +strokes to one of his heads, and then return immediately." + +Leonardo made a cartoon of the whole picture, and separate studies of +each figure. Ten of these are now in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. + +He was long absorbed in his head of Christ. He used to say that his hand +trembled whenever he attempted to paint it. At last, in despair, he +asked counsel of a friend, Bernardo Zenale, who comforted him by saying, +"Oh, Leonardo, the error into which thou hast fallen is one from which +only the Divine Being himself can deliver thee; for it is not in thy +power nor in that of any one else to give greater divinity and beauty to +any figures than thou hast done to these of James the Greater and the +Less; therefore, be of good cheer, and leave the Christ imperfect, for +thou wilt never be able to accomplish the Christ after such apostles." + +Leonardo finished the work in about three years. Beatrice, as might have +been expected from such an ill-assorted union, died of sorrow in five +years after her marriage. Lodovico, as has been often the case before +and since in the world's history, realized too late the wrong he had +done, and now strove to remedy it by causing a hundred masses a day to +be said for her soul, shutting himself up in remorse for two weeks in a +chamber hung with black, only coming forth to do penance at the +sanctuaries where his lovely and neglected wife had worshipped. He now +wished to make her last resting-place, Santa Maria delle Grazie, as +beautiful as possible, and hastened Leonardo at his work on the "Last +Supper" that he might see it completed, meantime raising a magnificent +tomb to the memory of his neglected Beatrice. + +The prior of the convent could not understand why Leonardo should +meditate over his work, and, likewise in haste to have the picture +finished, complained to Lodovico, who courteously entreated the artist +to go on as rapidly as possible. Vasari says, "Leonardo, knowing the +prince to be intelligent and judicious, determined to explain himself +fully on the subject with him, although he had never chosen to do so +with the prior. He therefore discoursed with him at some length +respecting art, and made it perfectly manifest to his comprehension that +men of genius are sometimes producing most when they seem to be laboring +least, their minds being occupied in the elucidation of their ideas, and +in the completion of those conceptions to which they afterwards give +form and expression with the hand. He further informed the duke that +there were still wanting to him two heads, one of which, that of the +Saviour, he could not hope to find on earth.... + +"The second head still wanting was that of Judas, which also caused him +some anxiety, since he did not think it possible to imagine a form of +feature that should properly render the countenance of a man who, after +so many benefits received from his Master, had possessed a heart so +depraved as to be capable of betraying his Lord, and the Creator of the +world; with regard to that second, however, he would make search, and +after all--if he could find no better--he need never be at any great +loss, for there would always be the head of that troublesome and +impertinent prior. This made the duke laugh with all his heart; he +declared Leonardo to be completely in the right: and the poor prior, +utterly confounded, went away to drive on the digging in his garden, and +left Leonardo in peace." + +The "Last Supper" was painted in oils instead of fresco, and soon began +to fade. In 1515, when Francis I. was in Milan, he was so impressed with +the picture that he determined to carry it back to France, and tried to +find architects who could secure it from injury by defences of wood and +iron so that it could be transported, but none could be found able to do +it, and the project was abandoned. The painting was soon damaged by the +refectory lying for some time under water. Later one of the monks made a +doorway through it, cutting off the feet of Christ. In 1726 an artist +named Belotti restored(?) it, leaving nothing untouched but the sky. His +work proved unsatisfactory, and Mazza repainted everything except the +heads of Matthew, Thaddeus, and Simon. The indignant people soon +compelled him to cease, and the prior who had permitted it was banished +from the convent. + +In 1796, when Napoleon entered Italy, the troops used the refectory as a +stable. Three or four years later, it again lay under water for two +weeks. At present, one is able to perceive only the general design as +the work of Leonardo. Excellent copies were made by Da Vinci's pupils, +so that the great picture has found its way into thousands of homes. + +The Saviour and his apostles are seated at a long table, in a stately +hall. On the left is Bartholomew; next, James the Less; then Andrew, +Peter, Judas holding the money-bag, John, with Christ in the centre, +Thomas on his right hand, then James the Greater, Philip, Matthew, +Thaddeus, and Simon. The moment chosen by the painter is that given by +Matthew: "And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one +of you shall betray me. And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began +every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I?" + +Mrs. C. W. Heaton says of this picture, in her valuable life of Da +Vinci, "In his dramatic rendering of the disciples, Leonardo has shown +the boldest and grandest naturalism. They are all of them real, living +men with passions like unto us--passions called for the moment by the +fearful words of the Master, 'One of you shall betray me,' into full and +various play." + +Most who visit Milan to see the lace-work in stone of its exquisite +cathedral, go also to the famous painting which tells alike the story of +a great artist struggling to put immortal thoughts into his faces, and +the story of the remorse of a human being in breaking the heart of a +lovely woman. Had it not been to atone to Beatrice, probably the "Last +Supper" would never have been painted in Santa Maria delle Grazie. Thus +strangely has the bitterness of one soul led to the joy and inspiration +of thousands! + +In 1498, Louis XII. came to the throne of France, and laid claim to the +duchy of Milan, enforcing his claim by arms. Lodovico fled, but was +captured by the French, and kept a prisoner for ten years, until his +death. Leonardo went back to his old home in Florence, taking with him +two persons, his friend Luca Paciolo, who had lived with him three +years at Milan, the author of _De Divina Proportione_, for which book +the artist made sixty drawings; and his beautiful pupil Salai, his son +as he called him, "a youth of singular grace and beauty of person, with +curling and wavy hair, a feature of personal beauty by which Leonardo +was greatly pleased." From this dear disciple the artist painted many of +his angels' heads. + +Florence had changed since he went away, scarcely more than a boy. Now +he was in middle life, forty-eight years old, the famous painter of the +"Last Supper," the polished and renowned scholar. His first work on his +return was an altar-piece for the Annunciata Church,--the Madonna, St. +Anna, and the infant Christ. The cartoon, now in the Royal Academy at +London, caused the greatest delight. "When finished, the chamber wherein +it stood was crowded for two days by men and women, old and young, as if +going to a solemn festival, all hastening to behold this marvel of +Leonardo's, which amazed the whole population." + +He now painted two noble Florentine ladies, Ginevra Benci, a famous +beauty, and the Mona Lisa, the third wife of Francesco del Giocondo, the +latter of whom it is conjectured that Leonardo loved. + +Vasari says, "Whoever shall desire to see how far art can imitate +nature, may do so to perfection in this head, wherein every peculiarity +that could be depicted by the utmost subtlety of the pencil has been +faithfully reproduced. The eyes have the lustrous brightness and +moisture which is seen in life, and around them are those pale, red, and +slightly livid circles, also proper to nature, with the lashes, which +can only be copied as these are with the greatest difficulty; the +eyebrows also are represented with the closest exactitude, where fuller +and where more thinly set, with the separate hairs delineated as they +issue from the skin, every turn being followed and all the pores +exhibited in a manner that could not be more natural than it is; the +nose, with its beautiful and delicately roseate nostrils, might be +easily believed to be alive; the mouth, admirable in its outline, has +the lips uniting the rose-tints of their color with that of the face in +the utmost perfection, and the carnation of the cheek does not appear to +be painted, but truly of flesh and blood; he who looks earnestly at the +pit of the throat cannot but believe that he sees the beating of the +pulses, and it may be truly said that this work is painted in a manner +well calculated to make the boldest master tremble, and astonishes all +who behold it, however well accustomed to the marvels of art. + +"Mona Lisa was exceedingly beautiful; and while Leonardo was painting +her portrait, he took the precaution of keeping some one constantly near +her, to sing or play on instruments, or to jest and otherwise amuse her, +to the end that she might continue cheerful, and so that her face might +not exhibit the melancholy expression often imparted by painters to the +likenesses they take. In this portrait of Leonardo's, on the contrary, +there is so pleasing an expression, and a smile so sweet, that while +looking at it one thinks it rather divine than human, and it has ever +been esteemed a wonderful work, since life itself could exhibit no other +appearance." + +No wonder Grimm says, "He who has seen the Mona Lisa smile is followed +forever by this smile, just as he is followed by Lear's fury, Macbeth's +ambition, Hamlet's melancholy, and Iphigenia's touching purity." + +Pater says of the Mona Lisa, "'La Gioconda' is, in the truest sense, +Leonardo's masterpiece, the revealing instance of his mode of thought +and work. In suggestiveness, only the 'Melancholia' of Duerer is +comparable to it; and no crude symbolism disturbs the effect of its +subdued and graceful mystery. We all know the face and hands of the +figure, set in its marble chair, in that cirque of fantastic webs, as in +some faint light under sea. Perhaps of all ancient pictures time has +chilled it least. + + * * * * * + +"The fancy of a perpetual life, sweeping together ten thousand +experiences, is an old one; and modern thought has conceived the idea of +humanity as wrought upon by, and summing up in itself, all modes of +thought and life. Certainly Lady Lisa might stand as the embodiment of +the old fancy, the symbol of the modern idea." + +One feels with Michelet, when he says, "It fascinates and absorbs me. I +go to it in spite of myself, as the bird is drawn to the serpent." I +have found myself going day after day to the Louvre to linger before two +masterpieces; to grow better through the womanhood of the Venus de Milo, +and to rest in the peaceful, contented smile of the Mona Lisa. Nobody +can forget the perfect hand. One seems to feel the delicacy of the +loving touch which Leonardo gave as he painted through those long yet +short four years, leaving the portrait, as he declared, unfinished, +because of his high ideal of what a painting should be. The husband did +not purchase the picture of the artist--did he not value the beauty? It +was finally sold to Francis I., for four thousand gold crowns, an +enormous sum at that day. + +After Da Vinci had been two years in Florence, Caesar Borgia, the son of +Pope Alexander VI., appointed him architect and general engineer. He +travelled through Central Italy, making ramparts and stairways for the +citadel of Urbino, machinery at Pesaro, designing a house and better +methods of transporting grapes at Cesena, and finer gates at Cesenatico. +At one place he lingered to enjoy the regular cadence of the waves +beating on the shore; at another, his soul filled with music, he was +soothed by the murmur of the fountains. But Caesar was soon obliged to +flee into Spain, and Leonardo could no longer hold the position of +engineer. + +Pietro Soderini, who had been elected gonfaloniere for life, was the +friend of both Leonardo and Michael Angelo. He wished to have these two +greatest artists paint each a wall in the Hall of the Palazzo Vecchio. +Michael Angelo chose for his subject a group of soldiers surprised by +the enemy while bathing in the Arno; Leonardo, a troop of horsemen +fighting round a standard, a scene from the battle of Anghiari, fought +by the Florentines against the North Italians. Vasari says, "Not only +are rage, disdain, and the desire for revenge apparent in the men, but +in the horses also; two of those animals, with their fore-legs +intertwined, are attacking each other with their teeth, no less fiercely +than do the cavaliers who are fighting for the standard." + +Vasari thinks it "scarcely possible adequately to describe ... the +wonderful mastery he exhibits in the forms and movements of the +horses.... The muscular development, the animation of their movements, +and their exquisite beauty, are rendered with the utmost fidelity." + +When the rival cartoons of Michael Angelo and Da Vinci were publicly +exhibited, the excitement was great between the followers of each +artist. When Da Vinci began to paint upon the wall, in oils, as in the +"Last Supper," the colors so sank into it that he abandoned the work. +Soderini accused him of having received money and not rendering an +equivalent, which so wounded the pride, of the artist that his friends +raised the amount which had been advanced to him, and offered it to the +gonfaloniere, who generously refused to accept it. Da Vinci had already +become offended with Soderini's treasurer, who offered him a portion of +his pay in copper money. Leonardo would not take it, saying, "I am no +penny-painter." + +In 1504, Da Vinci's father died, and the artist became involved in +lawsuits with the other twelve children, who seem to have disputed his +share in the property. + +At this time Leonardo made drawings for the raising of the Church of San +Giovanni (the Baptistery), and the placing of steps beneath it. "He +supported his assertions with reasons so persuasive that while he spoke +the undertaking seemed feasible, although every one of his hearers, when +he had departed, could see for himself that such a thing was +impossible." They could not understand that they had a genius in their +midst some centuries in advance of his age. He made three bronze figures +over the portal of the Baptistery, "without doubt the most beautiful +castings that have been seen in these latter days." + +Tired of lawsuits, and his ineffectual efforts toward the raising of the +Baptistery, he gladly went back to Milan, having been invited thither by +Marechal de Chaumont, the French governor, after an absence in Florence +of six years. He seems to have been straitened in circumstances, for he +had but thirty crowns left, and of these he generously gave thirteen to +make up the marriage portion of the sister of his beloved Salai. + +For seven years during this second sojourn in Milan, he was prosperous +and happy. He built large docks and basins, planned many mills, enlarged +and improved the great Martesan canal, two hundred miles long, "which +brings the waters of the Adda through the Valtellina and across the +Chiavenna district, contributing greatly to the fertility of the garden +of Northern Italy," and painted several pictures. "La Monaca," now in +the Pitti Palace, is the half-length figure of a young nun. Taine says, +"The face is colorless excepting the powerful and strange red lips, and +the whole physiognomy is calm, with a slight expression of disquietude. +This is not an abstract being, emanating from the painter's brain, but +an actual woman who has lived, a sister of Mona Lisa, as complex, as +full of inward contrasts, and as inexplicable." + +"Flora," a beautiful woman in blue drapery, holding a flower in her left +hand, believed by many to be a portrait of Diana of Poitiers, is at the +Hague, where the Hollanders call it "Frivolity" or "Vanity." Leda, the +bride of Jupiter, with the twins, Castor and Pollux, "playing among the +shell-chips of their broken egg," is also at the Hague. + +Probably the celebrated _La Vierge aux Rochers_ ("The Virgin among the +Rocks") was painted at this time. Of this Theophile Gautier says, "The +aspect of the Virgin is mysterious and charming. A grotto of basaltic +rocks shelters the divine group, who are sitting on the margin of a +clear spring, in the transparent depths of which we see the pebbles of +its bed. Through the arcade of the grotto, we discover a rocky +landscape, with a few scattered trees, and crossed by a stream, on the +banks of which rises a village. All this is of a color as indefinable as +those mysterious countries one traverses in a dream, and accords +marvellously with the figures. What more adorable type than that of the +Madonna! it is especially Leonardo's, and does not in any way recall the +Virgins of Perugino or Raphael. Her head is spherical in form; the +forehead well developed; the fine oval of her cheeks is gracefully +rounded so as to enclose a chin most delicately curved; the eyes with +lowered eyelids encircled with shadow, and the nose, not in a line with +the forehead, like that of a Grecian statue, but still finely shaped; +with nostrils tenderly cut, and trembling as though her breathing made +them palpitate; the mouth a little large, it is true, but smiling with a +deliciously enigmatic expression that Da Vinci gives to his female +faces, a tiny shade of mischief mingling with the purity and goodness. +The hair is long, loose, and silky, and falls in crisp meshes around the +shadow-softened cheeks, according with the half-tints with incomparable +grace." + +This picture was originally on wood, but has been transferred to canvas. +There are three pictures of this scene; the one in the collection of the +Duke of Suffolk is believed to be the original, while that in the Louvre +is best known. + +Of the Virgin seated on the knees of St. Anne, now in the Louvre, Taine +says, "In the little Jesus of the picture of St. Anne, a shoulder, a +cheek, a temple, alone emerge from the shadowy depth. Leonardo da Vinci +was a great musician. Perhaps he found in that gradation and change of +color, in that vague yet charming magic of chiaroscuro, an effect +resembling the crescendoes and decrescendoes of grand musical works." + +"St. John the Baptist," in the Louvre, is one of the few pictures, among +the many attributed to Leonardo, which critics regard as authentic. "St. +Sebastian," now in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, was purchased by the +Tsar of Russia in 1860, for twelve thousand dollars. + +When the French were driven out of Lombardy, Da Vinci left Milan, in +1514, and, taking his devoted pupils, Salai, Francesco Melzi, and a few +others with him, started for Rome, whither Michael Angelo and Raphael +had already gone. Leo X. was on the papal throne: he cordially welcomed +him, and bade him "work for the glory of God, Italy, Leo X., and +Leonardo da Vinci." However, the pope gave him very little to do. "The +pontiff," says Vasari, "was much inclined to philosophical inquiry, and +was more especially addicted to the study of alchemy. Leonardo, +therefore, having composed a kind of paste from wax, made of this, while +it was still in its half-liquid state, certain figures of animals, +entirely hollow and exceedingly slight in texture, which he then filled +with air. When he blew into these figures he could make them fly +through the air, but when the air within had escaped from them they fell +to the earth. + +"One day the vine-dresser of the Belvedere found a very curious lizard, +and for this creature Leonardo constructed wings made from the skins of +other lizards, flayed for the purpose; into these wings he put +quicksilver, so that when the animal walked the wings moved also, with a +tremulous motion; he then made eyes, horns, and a beard for the +creature, which he tamed and kept in a case; he would then show it to +the friends who came to visit him, and all who saw it ran away +terrified." + +When the pope asked him to paint a picture, Leonardo immediately began +to distil oils and herbs for the varnish, whereupon the pontiff +exclaimed, "Alas! this man will assuredly do nothing at all, since he is +thinking of the end before he has made a beginning to his work." It is +supposed that Leonardo painted for Leo X. the "Holy Family of St. +Petersburg," with the bride of Giuliano de Medici as the St. Catherine. + +Louis XII. of France having died, the brilliant young Francis I. +succeeded him January 1, 1515, and soon after won back Lombardy to +himself in battle. At once Leonardo, who had been painter to King Louis +while in Milan, joined himself to Francis, not wishing to remain in +Rome. He was received by that monarch with the greatest delight, and +given the Chateau of Cloux with its woods, meadows, and fish-ponds, just +outside the walls of the king's castle at Amboise. Here he abode with +his dear pupils, who were content to live in any country so they were +with Da Vinci; and was allowed a pension of seven hundred crowns of gold +and the title of Painter to the King. + +He was sixty-three. He had done many great things, but now, with ease +and every comfort, perchance his genius would be more brilliant than +ever. When about this age, Michael Angelo had completed his wonderful +statues in the Medici chapel, and later even painted his "Last Judgment" +and planned the great dome of St. Peter's. But Leonardo, the versatile, +luxury-loving, "divine Leonardo," no longer urged to duty by necessity, +did nothing further for the world. He mingled in the gayeties of the +court, walked arm in arm in his gardens with the beautiful Salai, his +long white hair falling to his shoulders, and made a unique automaton +for the great festivities of the conquering young king at Pavia, a lion +filled with hidden machinery by means of which it walked up to the +throne, and, opening its breast, showed it filled with a great number of +fleurs-de-lis. He soon fell into a kind of languor that presaged the +sure coming of death. + +In early life he had been so devoted to science that Vasari tells us "by +this means he conceived such heretical ideas that he did not belong to +any religion, but esteemed it better to be a philosopher than a +Christian." Now he turned his thoughts toward the Catholic church, and +made his will, which recommends his soul "to God, the glorious Virgin +Mary, his lordship St. Michael, and all the beautiful angels and saints +of Paradise." He wishes that at his obsequies "there shall be sixty +torches carried by sixty poor persons, who shall be paid for carrying +them according to the discretion of the said Melzi, which torches shall +be shared among the four churches above named." + +To his beloved pupils, ever with him, he gives his property. Nine days +after this, says Vasari, May 2, 1519, at the age of sixty-seven, +Leonardo died in the arms of his devoted King, Francis I.; but later +historians have considered this doubtful. He was buried under the +flag-stones in the Church of St. Florentin at Amboise. + +In the religious wars which followed, the church was demolished, the +gravestones sold, and the lead coffins melted for their metal. Many +persons have tried to find the grave of the great master, and M. Arsene +Houssaye made a last and perhaps successful attempt in 1863. He says, +"More than one Italian had gone to Amboise for the purpose of finding +the tomb of Leonardo da Vinci, and had gazed sadly on the spot where the +church once stood, now covered by thick growing covert. + +"The gardener's daughter had been often questioned, and it was she who +first gave me the idea, some years ago, of seeking for the tomb of the +painter of the 'Last Supper,' but I do not know whether the fact of her +having the painter's name sometimes on her lips arose from the fact of +her hearing him spoken of by her father or by visitors. She it was who +pointed out to me the spot where the great painter of Francis I. might +be found; a white-cherry tree was growing there, whose fruit was so rich +from the fact of its growing above the dead. + +"On Tuesday, the 23d of June, 1863, the first spadeful of earth was +turned up before the mayor and the archbishop of Amboise. I set the men +to work on three different spots, some to reconnoitre the foundations of +the church, others to look for the ossuary, and the rest to search the +tombs. It was necessary to dig down deeply, the soil having risen over +the site of the church to the height of two or three yards.... + +"The 20th of August we lighted on a very old tomb, which had been, at +the demolition of St. Florentin, covered with unequal stones. No doubt +the original tombstone had been broken, and, out of respect for the +dead, replaced by slabs belonging to the church, and bearing still some +rude traces of fresco painting.... It was in the choir of the church, +close to the wall, and toward the top of the plantation, where grew the +white-cherry tree. + +"We uncovered the skeleton with great respect; nothing had occurred to +disturb the repose of death, excepting that towards the head the roots +of the tree had overturned the vase of charcoal. After displacing a few +handfuls of earth, we saw great dignity in the attitude of the majestic +dead.... The head rested on the hand as if in sleep. This is the only +skeleton we discovered in this position, which is never given to the +dead, and appears that of a deep thinker tired with study.... I had +brought with me from Milan a portrait of Leonardo da Vinci ... and the +skull we had taken from its tomb corresponded exactly with the drawing. +Many doctors have seen it, and consider it to be the skull of a +septuagenarian. Eight teeth still remain in the jaws, four above and +four below.... The brow projects over the eyes, and is broad and high; +the occipital arch was ample and purely defined. Intellect had reigned +there, but no especial quality predominated. + +"We collected near the head some fragments of hair or beard, and a few +shreds of brown woollen material. On the feet were found some pieces of +sandals, still keeping the shape of the feet.... + +"The skeleton, which measured five feet eight inches, accords with the +height of Leonardo da Vinci. The skull might have served for the model +of the portrait Leonardo drew of himself in red chalk a few years before +his death. M. Robert Fleury, head master of the Fine Art School of Rome, +has handled the skull with respect, and recognized in it the grand and +simple outline of this human yet divine head, which once held a world +within its limits." + +In 1873 Italy raised a monument to her great genius, at Milan. His +statue stands on a lofty pedestal, which has four bas-reliefs, +representing scenes from his life. At the four corners are placed +statues of his principal scholars,--Cesare da Sesto, Marco d' Oggione, +Beltraffio, and Andrea Solario. + +All Leonardo's precious manuscripts were bequeathed to Francesco Melzi, +and unfortunately became scattered. About the end of the seventeenth +century they were mostly in the Ambrosian Library at Milan; but the +French under Napoleon took fourteen of the principal manuscripts, +leaving only two, which now form the "Codex Atlantico" at Milan. The +latter is a collection of four hundred of Leonardo's drawings and +manuscripts. One volume on mathematics and physics is among the Arundel +Manuscripts, at the British Museum. At Holkham is a manuscript of the +_Libro Originali di Natura_. + +In 1651 Raphael Trichet Dupresne, of Paris, published a selection from +Da Vinci's works on painting, the _Trattato della Pittura_, which has +been reprinted twenty-two times in six different languages, "one of the +best guides and counsellors of the painter." A "Treatise on the Motion +and Power of Water" was published later. In 1883 Jean Paul Richter, +Knight of the Bavarian Order of St. Michael, after years of labor over +the strange handwriting of Da Vinci, from right to left across the page, +published much of the work of the great painter, reproducing his +sketches by photogravure. He had access to the manuscripts in the Royal +Library at Windsor, the Institute of France, the Ambrosian Library at +Milan, the Louvre, the Academy of Venice, the Uffizi, the Royal Library +of Turin, the British and South Kensington Museums, and Christ Church +College, Oxford. + +Richter says, "Da Vinci has been unjustly accused of having squandered +his powers by beginning a variety of studies, and then, having hardly +begun, thrown them aside. The truth is that the labors of three +centuries have hardly sufficed for the elucidation of some of the +problems which occupied his mighty mind." + +Leonardo's astronomical speculations, his remarks on fossils, at that +time believed to be mere freaks of nature, his close study of botany, +his researches in chemistry, color, heat, light, mechanics, anatomy, +music, acoustics, and magnetism, have been an astonishment to every +reader. + +Among his inventions were "a proportional compass, a lathe for turning +ovals, an hygrometer; an ingenious surgical probe, a universal joint, +dredging machines, wheelbarrows, diving-suits, a porphyry color-grinder, +boats moved by paddle-wheels, a roasting-jack worked by hot air, a +three-legged sketching-stool which folded up, a revolving cowl for +chimneys, ribbon-looms, coining presses, saws for stone, silk spindles +and throwers, wire-drawing and file-cutting, and plate-rolling +machines." No wonder he was called the "all-knowing Leonardo." + +All his work as a poet is lost, save one sonnet:-- + + + "Who cannot do as he desires, must do + What lies within his power. Folly it is + To wish what cannot be. The wise man holds + That from such wishing he must free himself. + Our joy and grief consist alike in this: + In knowing what to will and what to do; + But only he whose judgment never strays + Beyond the threshold of the right learns this. + Nor is it always good to have one's wish; + What seemeth sweet full oft to bitter turns. + My tears have flown at having my desire. + Therefore, O reader of these lines, if thou + Wouldest be good, and be to others dear, + Will always to be able to do right." + + +In Richter's works of Leonardo are many fables: "A razor, having come +out of the sheath in which it was usually concealed, and placed itself +in the sunlight, saw how brightly the sun was reflected from its +surface. Mightily pleased thereat, it began to reason with itself after +this fashion: 'Shall I now go back to the shop which I have just +quitted? Certainly it cannot be pleasing to the gods that such dazzling +beauty should be linked to such baseness of spirit. What a madness it +would be that should lead me to shave the soaped beards of country +bumpkins! Is this a form fitted to such base mechanical uses? Assuredly +not. I shall withdraw myself into some secluded spot, and, in calm +repose, pass away my life.' + +"Having therefore concealed itself for some months, on leaving its +sheath one day and returning to the open air, it found itself looking +just like a rusty saw, and totally unable to reflect the glorious sun +from its tarnished surface. It lamented in vain this irreparable loss, +and said to itself, 'How much better had I kept up the lost keenness of +my edge, by practising with my friend the barber. What has become of my +once brilliant surface? This abominable rust has eaten it all up.' If +genius chooses to indulge in sloth, it must not expect to preserve the +keen edge which the rust of ignorance will soon destroy." + +Richter also gives many pages of terse moral sentiments, showing that Da +Vinci, in his more than thirty years of writing,--he began to write when +he was about thirty,--had thought deeply and probably conformed his life +to his thoughts. + +"It is easier to contend with evil at the first than at the last. + +"You can have no dominion greater or less than that over yourself. + +"If the thing loved is base, the lover becomes base. + +"That is not riches which may be lost; virtue is our true good, and the +true reward of its possessor. That cannot be lost, that never deserts +us, but when life leaves us. As to property and external riches, hold +them with trembling; they often leave their possessor in contempt, and +mocked at for having lost them. + +"Learning acquired in youth arrests the evil of old age; and if you +understand that old age has wisdom for its food, you will so conduct +yourself in youth that your old age will not lack for nourishment. + +"The acquisition of any knowledge is always of use to the intellect; +because it may thus drive out useless things, and retain the good. + +"Avoid studies of which the result dies with the worker. + +"Reprove your friend in secret, and praise him openly." + +In the midst of the corruption of that age, we hear no word breathed +against the character of this eager, brilliant, many-sided man. He won +from his pupils the most complete devotion, and he seems to have given +as fond an affection in return. This possibly satisfied the craving of +the human heart for love. Perhaps, after all, life did not appear as +satisfactory as he could have wished, with all his worship of the +beautiful, for he says, "When I thought I was learning to live, I was +but learning to die." He seemed at the zenith of his powers when death +came; but who shall estimate the value of a life by its length? He said, +"As a day well spent gives a joyful sleep, so does life well employed +give a joyful death.... A life well spent is long." + + + + +RAPHAEL OF URBINO. + + +"In the history of Italian art Raphael stands alone, like Shakespeare in +the history of our literature; and he takes the same kind of rank--a +superiority not merely of degree, but of quality.... His works have been +an inexhaustible storehouse of ideas to painters and to poets. +Everywhere in art we find his traces. Everywhere we recognize his forms +and lines, borrowed or stolen, reproduced, varied, imitated,--never +improved. + +[Illustration: RAPHAEL OF URBINO.] + +"Some critic once said, 'Show me any sentiment or feeling in any poet, +ancient or modern, and I will show you the same thing either as well or +better expressed in Shakespeare.' In the same manner one might say, +'Show me in any painter, ancient or modern, any especial beauty of form, +expression, or sentiment, and in some picture, drawing, or painting +after Raphael I will show you the same thing as well or better done, and +that accomplished which others have only sought or attempted.' + +"To complete our idea of this rare union of greatness and versatility as +an artist with all that could grace and dignify the man, we must add +such personal qualities as very seldom meet in the same individual--a +bright, generous, genial, gentle spirit; the most attractive manners, +the most winning modesty." + +Thus writes Mrs. Jameson of the man of whom Vasari said, "When this +noble artist died, well might Painting have departed also, for when he +closed his eyes, she too was left, as it were, blind.... To him of a +truth it is that we owe the possession of invention, coloring, and +execution, brought alike, and altogether, to that point of perfection +for which few could have dared to hope; nor has any man ever aspired to +pass before him." + +Raphael of Urbino was born at Colbordolo, a small town in the Duchy of +Urbino, April 6, 1483. His father, Giovanni Santi, was a painter of +considerable merit, and was possessed also of poetic ability, as he +wrote an epic of two hundred and twenty-four pages, in honor of Federigo +of Montefeltro, then Duke of Urbino. This duke was a valiant soldier, +and a patron of art and literature, who for years kept twenty or thirty +persons copying Greek and Latin manuscripts for his library. + +The mother of Raphael, Magia, the daughter of Battista Ciarla, a +merchant at Urbino, was a woman of unusual sweetness of disposition and +beauty of character. Unfortunately she died when Raphael was eight years +old. Her three other children died young. + +These years must have been happy ones to the gentle, loving child. Their +home was in the midst of the snowy peaks of the Apennines, looking +towards the blue Adriatic. It is not strange that he became a worshipper +of the beautiful. Nature soon grows to be an inspiring companion to +those who love her. She warms the heart with her exquisite pictures of +varied earth and sky; she caresses us with the glow of sunlight and the +fragrance of flowers; she sings us to rest with the melody of the sea +and the murmur of the trees and the brooks. + +Giovanni Santi married for his second wife Bernardina, the daughter of +the goldsmith, Pietro di Parte, a woman of strong character, but lacking +the gentleness of Magia. Two years after this marriage he died, leaving +Raphael doubly orphaned at eleven years of age. What prospect was there +that this boy, without father or mother, without riches or distinguished +family, would work his way to renown? + +The will of Giovanni left the Santi home to Bernardina as long as she +remained a widow, and the child to her care and that of his brother, a +priest, Don Bartolomeo. The latter does not appear to have been a very +saintly minister, for he and Bernardina quarrelled constantly over the +property, quite forgetting the development of the boy left in their +charge. Finally Magia's brother, Simone di Battista Ciarla, came to an +understanding with the disputants, and arranged that the lad, who had +worked somewhat in his father's studio, should be placed under some +eminent painter. + +Pietro Perugino was chosen, an artist who had one of the largest +schools in Italy, and who was noted especially for his coloring and +profound feeling. It is said that when he examined the sketches of the +boy, he exclaimed, "Let him be my pupil: he will soon become my master." + +Perugino had been a follower of Savonarola, but after he had seen that +good man put to death, he gave up his faith in God and man. When he was +on his death-bed, he refused to see a confessor, saying, "I wish to see +how a soul will fare in that Land, which has not been confessed." + +For nine years Raphael worked under Perugino at Perugia, studying +perspective and every department of art, and winning the love of both +master and pupils. When he was seventeen, Passavant, in his life of +Raphael, says, the young artist painted his first works, his master +being in Florence: a banner for the church of the Trinita of Citta di +Castello, and the "Crucifixion." The banner has the "Trinity" on one +sheet of canvas, and the "Creation of Man" on the other. The +"Crucifixion" was bought by Cardinal Fesch at Rome, and at the sale of +his paintings, in 1845, was purchased for about twelve thousand five +hundred dollars. It is now in Earl Dudley's collection. + +About this time the "Coronation of the Virgin" was painted for Madonna +Maddalina degli Oddi, a lady of great influence, who obtained for +Raphael several commissions, concerning which he expresses great joy in +his letters. How many are willing to employ an artist after he is +famous; how few before! A woman had the heart and the good sense to help +him in these early years, and she helped the whole art world thereby. + +This picture was kept in the Franciscan church at Perugia until 1792, +when it was sent to Paris, but was restored to Italy by the treaty of +1815, and is now in the Vatican. + +For a friend of Perugia he painted the beautiful Connestabile Madonna. +"The mother of the Saviour," says Passavant, "a figure of virginal +sweetness, is walking in the country, in early spring, when the trees +are still bare, and the distant mountains are covered with snow. She is +walking along pensively, reading in a little book, in which the child in +her arms also looks attentively. Nothing could be found more exquisite. +Everything in it shows that Raphael must have devoted himself to it with +especial ardor." + +This picture, only six and three-fourths inches square, was sold in 1871 +to the Emperor of Russia for sixty-six thousand dollars. + +Raphael left the studio of Perugino in the beginning of 1504, before he +was twenty-one, and painted for the Franciscans, at Citta di Castello, +the "Marriage of the Virgin," now the chief ornament of the Brera +gallery at Milan, and called the "Sposalizio." "The Virgin is attended +by five women, and St. Joseph by five young men who were once Mary's +suitors. The despair of the lovers is shadowed forth by the reeds they +hold; they will never flower; and the handsomest youth is breaking his +across his knees." + +Grimm says of this picture, "Next to the Sistine Madonna, it may be +considered Raphael's most popular work. In the figures of this +composition we recognize types of all the different ages of man, which +allow every one who stands before it, whether young or old, to feel as +if the artist had been the confidant of all the thoughts and feelings +appropriate to his period of life.... Raphael's elegance obtrudes itself +nowhere, as with other artists is so often the case. Beside this, the +harmony of his colors, which, although hitting against one another +almost sharply, still have the effect of a bed of flowers whose varied +hues combine agreeably. A youthful delight in the brilliancy of color is +apparent, which later yielded to a different taste. Like Duerer, Raphael +might have confessed, in his ripest years, that while young he loved a +certain garishness of coloring, such as he had afterward renounced." + +Raphael now returned to Urbino, where he painted for the reigning duke, +"St. George slaying the Dragon" and "St. Michael attacking Satan." He +made many friends among the noted people of the court, but, full of +ambition, and having heard of the works of Da Vinci and Michael Angelo +at Florence, he was extremely anxious to go to that city. A lady, as +previously, took interest in the boyish artist, and wrote to Pietro +Soderini, the Gonfaloniere of Florence, the following letter of +introduction:-- + + +"_Most magnificent and powerful lord, whom I must ever honor as a +father_,-- + +"He who presents this letter to you is Raphael, a painter of Urbino, +endowed with great talent in art. He has decided to pass some time in +Florence, in order to improve himself in his studies. As the father, who +was dear to me, was full of good qualities, so the son is a modest young +man of distinguished manners; and thus I bear him an affection on every +account, and wish that he should attain perfection. This is why I +recommend him as earnestly as possible to your Highness, with an +entreaty that it may please you, for love of me, to show him help and +protection on every opportunity. I shall regard as rendered to myself, +and as an agreeable proof of friendship to me, all the services and +kindness that he may receive from your Lordship. + +"From her who commends herself to you, and is willing to render any good +offices in return. + +"JOANNA FELTRA DE RUVERE, [_sic._] +"Duchess of Sora, and Prefectissa of Rome." + + +With this cordial letter from the sister of the Duke of Urbino, he +entered the City of Flowers. He was now a youth of twenty-one, slight in +figure, five feet eight inches tall, with dark brown eyes and hair, +perfect teeth, and the kindest of hearts. He was received into the homes +of the patricians, and was asked to paint pictures for them. Meantime +he used every spare moment in study. Especially did the works of +Masaccio and Leonardo da Vinci, says Passavant, "reveal to Raphael his +own wonderful powers, until then almost concealed. Awakened suddenly, +and excited with the inspiration that seemed all at once to flow in on +him from every side, he pushed forward at once towards the perfection he +was so soon to attain." + +He copied the horsemen in Da Vinci's battle of Anghiari; made sketches +from life of the children of the Florentines, in his book of drawings, +now to be seen in the Academy of Venice; stood entranced before the +gates of Ghiberti, and that marvel of beauty, the Campanile of Giotto. + +Raphael now painted for his friend, Lorenzo Nasi, the "Madonna della +Gran Duca," now in the Pitti Palace. Until the end of the last century +this picture was in the possession of a poor widow, who sold it to a +bookseller for twelve scudi. Finally the Grand Duke Ferdinand III. of +Tuscany bought it, and carried it with him through all his journeys, +praying before it night and morning. "The bold, commanding, and luminous +style," says Passavant, "in which the painting stands out from the +background, makes the figure and divine expression of the head still +more impressive. Thanks to all these qualities united, this Madonna +produces the effect of a supernatural apparition. In short, it is one of +the masterpieces of Raphael." + +Another Madonna on wood, thirty-five inches in diameter, owned by the +Terranuova family until 1854, was purchased for the Berlin Museum, for +thirty-four thousand dollars. + +After some other works, Raphael went back to Urbino and Perugia, but, +eager and restless for Florence, he soon returned to that city and was +cordially welcomed. His enthusiasm inspired every artist, and his modest +deference to the opinions of others won him countless friends; "the only +very distinguished man," as Mrs. Jameson says, "of whom we read, who +lived and died without an enemy or a detractor!" Between 1506 and 1508, +besides the Temfi Madonna now of Munich, and the Colonna Madonna at +Berlin, the Ansidei Madonna was painted for the Ansidei family of +Perugia as an altar-piece in the church of S. Fiorenzo. It represents +the Virgin on a throne, with Jesus on her right knee, and an open book +on her left, from which mother and child are reading. The painting was +purchased in 1884 by the National Gallery for the Duke of Marlborough +for the enormous sum of three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. + +On the marriage of his patrician friend, Lorenzo Nasi, he painted for +him the "Madonna with the Goldfinch," called also the "Madonna del +Cardellino," now in the Uffizi. The Virgin is seated holding a book, +while St. John is offering to the infant Saviour a goldfinch, which the +child is about to caress. Another picture, painted for his intimate +friend Taddeo Taddei, a learned Florentine, "The Holy Family under the +Palm Tree," round, and forty-two and three-fourths inches in diameter, +was purchased by the Duke of Bridgewater, for sixty thousand dollars, +and is now in the possession of Lord Ellesmere, in London. + +Again Raphael returned to the court of Urbino, always winning to himself +the most educated and the noblest among the distinguished men and women. +Pietro Bembo, secretary to Leo X. and a cardinal under Paul III., one of +the most celebrated writers of the time, was very fond of Raphael; Count +Baldassare Castiglione, a writer and diplomatist, was one of the +artist's most loved companions; Bernardo Divizio da Bibiena, author of +"La Calandra," the first prose comedy written in Italy, loved him as a +brother; Francesco Francia and Fra Bartolomeo, the noted artists, were +his ardent friends. + +Something beside genius drew all these men and scores of others to +Raphael. Vasari says, "Every vile and base thought departed from the +mind before his influence. There was among his extraordinary gifts one +of such value and importance that I can never sufficiently admire it, +and always think thereof with astonishment. This was the power accorded +to him by Heaven, of bringing all who approached his presence into +harmony; an effect inconceivably surprising in our calling, and contrary +to the nature of our artists, yet all, I do not say of the inferior +grades only, but even those who lay claim to be great personages, became +as of one mind once they began to labor in the society of Raphael, +continuing in such unity and concord, that all harsh feelings and evil +dispositions became subdued and disappeared at the sight of him.... Such +harmony prevailed at no other time than his own. And this happened +because all were surpassed by him in friendly courtesy as well as in +art; all confessed the influence of his sweet and gracious nature, which +was so replete with excellence, and so perfect in all the charities, +that not only was he honored by men, but even by the very animals, who +would constantly follow his steps and always loved him." + +"We find it related that whenever any other painter, whether known to +Raphael or not, requested any design or assistance of whatever kind at +his hands, he would invariably leave his work to do him service; he +continually kept a large number of artists employed, all of whom he +assisted and instructed with an affection which was rather as that of a +father to his children than merely as of an artist to artists. From +these things it followed that he was never seen to go to court, but +surrounded and accompanied, as he left his house, by some fifty +painters, all men of ability and distinction, who attended him thus to +give evidence of the honor in which they held him. He did not, in short, +live the life of a painter, but that of a prince. + +"Wherefore, O art of painting! well mightest thou for thy part, then, +esteem thyself most happy, having, as thou hadst, one artist, among thy +sons, by whose virtues and talents thou wert thyself exalted to heaven. +Thrice blessed indeed mayest thou declare thyself, since thou hast seen +thy disciples, by pursuing the footsteps of a man so exalted, acquire +the knowledge of how life should be employed, and become impressed with +the importance of uniting the practice of virtue to that of art." + +Raphael allowed people to pursue their own course, without attempting to +dominate. He said to Cesare da Sesto, one of Da Vinci's most +distinguished pupils, "How does it happen, dear Cesare, that we live in +such good friendship, but that in the art of painting we show no +deference to each other." Finally, however, Cesare adopted Raphael's +methods from choice. + +Raphael was modest in manner, never monopolizing the time or +conversation of others. He made the best of things, overlooking the +petty matters which some persons allow to wear and imbitter their +dispositions. He worked hard, performing an amount of labor which has +been the astonishment of the world ever since his death; he was somewhat +frail in body; he was not rich in this world's goods; sweet in nature +and refined in spirit, it is to be presumed that he kept his troubles in +his own heart, unspoken to others. He loved ardently, and was as +ardently loved in return. He was appreciative, sympathetic, tender, and +gracious. + +Herrmann Grimm says, "Such men pass through life as a bird flies through +the air. Nothing hinders them. It is all one to the stream whether it +flows through the plain smoothly in one long line, or meanders round +rocks in its winding course. It is no circuitous way for it, thus to be +driven right and left in its broad course; it is sensible of no delay +when its course is completely dammed. Swelling easily, it widens out +into the lake, until at length it forces a path for its waves; and the +power with which it now dashes on is just as natural as the repose with +which it had before changed its course. + +"Raphael, Goethe, and Shakespeare had scarcely outward destinies. They +interfered with no apparent power in the struggles of their people. They +enjoyed life; they worked; they went their way, and compelled no one to +follow them. They obtruded themselves on none; and they asked not the +world to consider them, or to do as they did. But the others all came of +themselves, and drew from their refreshing streams. Can we mention a +violent act of Raphael's, Goethe's, or Shakespeare's? + +"Goethe, who seems so deeply involved in all that concerns us, who is +the author of our mental culture, nowhere opposed events; he turned +wherever he could advance most easily. He was diligent. He had in his +mind the completion of his works. Schiller wished to produce and to gain +influence; Michael Angelo wished to act, and could not bear that lesser +men should stand in the front, over whom he felt himself master. The +course of events moved Michael Angelo, and animated or checked his +ideas. It is not possible to extricate the consideration of his life +from the events going on in the world, while Raphael's life can be +narrated separately like an idyl." + +Raphael, while still under Perugino, had received from Donna Atalanta +Baglioni the order for an "Entombment" for the Church of the +Franciscans. This he painted in 1507. A century later the monks sold it +to Pope Paul V., who had it removed to the Borghese Palace in Rome. + +The body of Christ is being borne to the tomb by two men. The weeping +Magdalen is holding his hand, and the Virgin is fainting in the arms of +three women. + +Grimm says, "The bearers of the body move along, conscious of carrying a +noble burden. And Christ, himself, beauty, serenity, and mercy dwell in +him in fullest measure, as if his spirit still both informed his body +and glorified it. Only Raphael could undertake to paint this. No one +before or after him could so simply and naturally picture the earthly +form, irradiated with heavenly light." + +"St. Catherine of Alexandria," painted at this time, now in the National +Gallery of London, says Passavant, "is one of the works which nothing +can describe; neither words nor a painted copy, nor engravings, for the +fire in it appears living, and is perfectly beyond the reach of +imitation." + +"La Belle Jardiniere," in the Louvre, considered one of the best and +most beautiful of Raphael's works, represents the Virgin in the midst of +rich landscape, the ground covered with grass and flowers, while the +infant Christ looks up to her with great tenderness. It is said that the +model was a lovely flower-girl to whom the painter was much attached. + +While finishing this picture he was called to Rome by the famous Pope +Julius II., and went to the Eternal City with great hope and delight. + +He was now twenty-five, and the most important work of his life lay +before him. Julius II. had refused to take possession of the rooms in +the Vatican which had been used by the depraved Alexander VI. He said, +when it was suggested to remove the mural portraits of that pope, "Even +if the portraits were destroyed, the walls themselves would remind me of +that Simoniac, that Jew!" + +Michael Angelo was already at work upon the great monument for Julius. +Now the pope desired to enlarge and beautify the Vatican, and make that +his monument as well. He received Raphael with the greatest cordiality. +It is said that when Raphael knelt down before him, his chestnut locks +falling upon his shoulders, the pope exclaimed, "He is an innocent +angel. I will give him Cardinal Bembo for a teacher, and he shall fill +my walls with historical pictures." Julius commissioned him to fresco +the hall of the judicial assembly, called "La Segnatura." The first +fresco, done between 1508 and 1509, is called "Theology" or the "Dispute +on the Holy Sacrament" (_La Disputa_). + +"In the upper part appear the three figures of the Holy Trinity, each +surrounded by a glory. Above all is the Almighty Father, in the midst of +the seraphim, cherubim, and a countless host of angels, who sing the +'Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts.' Below the Father, amidst the +saints of the celestial kingdom, the Saviour is enthroned; a little +lower, the Holy Spirit is descending on men. + +"At the right of the Saviour, the Virgin is seated, bending towards him +in adoration; and at her left is St. John the Baptist, who is pointing +towards him. On a large half-circle of clouds, which extends to the +extreme limits of the picture, are seated patriarchs, prophets, and +martyrs, representing the communion of saints. Commencing at the extreme +point to the right of Christ, we see the apostle St. Peter, holding the +Holy Scriptures and the two keys.... At his side, in the expectation of +mercy and pardon, is Adam, the father of the human race. Near Adam is +St. John, the apostle loved by Christ, writing down his divine visions; +afterwards, David, the head of the terrestrial family of our Lord, the +sweet psalmist who sang the praises of God; then St. Stephen, the first +martyr; and lastly, a saint half concealed by the clouds. + +"On the other side, at the right of the spectator, is St. Paul, holding +a sword in remembrance of his martyrdom, and also as a symbol of the +penetrating power of his doctrine. By his side is Abraham, with the +knife to sacrifice Isaac, the first type of the sacrifice of Christ; +then the apostle St. James, the third witness of the transfiguration of +the Saviour, the religious type of hope, as St. Peter is of faith and +St. John of love. Moses follows with the tables of the law. St. Lawrence +corresponds to St. Stephen; and lastly we perceive a warlike figure, +which is believed to be St. George, the patron saint of Liguria; in +honor, no doubt, of Julius II., who was born in that country. + +"The Holy Spirit, under the form of a dove, surrounded by four cherubim, +who hold the four books of the Gospel open, is descending upon the +assembly of believers. + +"This sort of council, expressing theological life, is united in a +half-circle around the altar, on which the Eucharist is exposed on a +monstrance. Nearest to the altar, on both sides, come the four great +fathers of the church, the columns of Roman Catholicism; to the left, +St. Jerome, the type of contemplative life, absorbed in profound +meditation on the Scriptures; near him are two books, one containing his +'Letters,' the other the Vulgate. Opposite is St. Ambrose, active +especially in the militant church: he is raising his eyes and hands +towards heaven, as if delighted with the angelic harmonies. St. +Augustine, whom he converted to Christianity, is beside him, and is +dictating his thoughts to a young man seated at his feet. His book on +the 'City of God' is lying by him. St. Gregory the Great, clothed in the +tiara and pontifical mantle, is opposite St. Augustine. His book on +Job, with the superscription, 'Liber Moralium,' is also on the ground +beside him." + +Besides these, among the fifty or more figures, are other priests and +philosophers, all discussing the great questions pertaining to the +redemption of the world. + +The pope was so overjoyed on the completion of this picture that he is +said to have thrown himself upon the ground, exclaiming, with uplifted +hands, "I thank thee, great God, that thou hast sent me so great a +painter!" + +With _La Disputa_ the romance of Raphael's life begins. While he was +painting this, tradition says that he fell in love with Margherita, the +daughter of a soda-manufacturer, who lived near Santa Cecilia, on the +other side of the Tiber. Passavant says, quoting from Missirini, "A +small house, No. 20, in the street of Santa Dorotea, the windows of +which are decorated with a pretty framework of earthenware, is pointed +out as the house where she was born. + +"The beautiful young girl was very frequently in a little garden +adjoining the house, where, the wall not being very high, it was easy to +see her from outside. So the young men, especially artists,--always +passionate admirers of beauty,--did not fail to come and look at her, by +climbing up above the wall. + +"Raphael is said to have seen her for the first time as she was bathing +her pretty feet in a little fountain in the garden. Struck by her +perfect beauty, he fell deeply in love with her, and, after having made +acquaintance with her, and discovered that her mind was as beautiful as +her body, he became so much attached as to be unable to live without +her." She has been called "_Fornarina_," because she was long supposed +to be the daughter of a baker (_fornajo_). + +On the rough studies made for the _Disputa_, now preserved in Vienna, +London, and elsewhere, three love sonnets have been found in the +artist's handwriting, showing that while he mused over heavenly +subjects, with the faces of Peter and John before him, he had another +face, more dear and beautiful than either, in his mind. Eugene Muntz, +the librarian to the _Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts_, who says of these +sonnets, "So great is his delicacy of feeling, his reserve and +discretion, that we can scarcely analyze his dominant idea," gives the +following translation:-- + +"Love, thou hast bound me with the light of two eyes which torment me, +with a face like snow and roses, with sweet words and tender manners. So +great is my ardor that no river or sea could extinguish my fire. But I +do not complain, for my ardor makes me happy.... How sweet was the +chain, how light the yoke of her white arms around my neck. When those +bonds were loosed, I felt a mortal grief. I will say no more; a great +joy kills, and, though my thoughts turn to thee, I will keep silence." + +"Just as Paul, descended from the skies, was unable to reveal the +secrets of God," so Raphael is unable to reveal the thoughts of his +beating heart. He thanks and praises love, and yet the pain of +separation is intense. He feels like "mariners who have lost their +star." + +To this love he was probably constant through life, the short twelve +years which remained. When he painted the Farnesina, the palace of the +rich banker, Agostino Chigi, years afterward, Vasari says, "Raphael was +so much occupied with the love which he bore to the lady of his choice, +that he could not give sufficient attention to the work. Agostino, +therefore, falling at length into despair of seeing it finished, made so +many efforts by means of friends and by his own care that after much +difficulty he at length prevailed on the lady to take up her abode in +his house, where she was accordingly installed, in apartments near those +which Raphael was painting; in this manner the work was ultimately +brought to a conclusion." + +He painted her portrait, now in the Barberini Palace, it is believed, in +1509. It represents a girl "only half-clothed, seated in a myrtle and +laurel wood. A striped yellow stuff surrounds her head as a turban, and +imparts something distinguished and charming to her features," says +Passavant. " ... With her right hand she holds a light gauze against her +breast. Her right arm, encircled with a golden bracelet, rests on her +knees, which are covered by red drapery. On the bracelet Raphael has +inscribed his name with the greatest care." + +The face did not seem to me beautiful when I saw it in Rome a few years +ago, but certainly does not lack expression, making one feel that the +mind which Raphael discovered "to be as beautiful as the body" was +equally potent with the warmhearted artist. + +Grimm says, "The portrait of the young girl or woman in the Barberini +Palace is a wonderful painting. I call it so because it bears about it +in a high degree the character of mysterious unfathomableness. We like +to contemplate it again and again.... Her hair is brilliantly black, +parted over the brow, and smoothly drawn over the temples, behind the +ear; the head is encircled with a gay handkerchief, like a turban, the +knots of which lie on one side above the ear, pressing it a little with +their weight. + +"She is slightly bent forward. She sits there with her delicate shoulder +a little turned to the left; she seems looking stealthily at her lover, +to watch him as he paints, and yet not to stir from her position, +because he has forbidden it. It seems to him, however, to be a source of +the most intense pleasure to copy her accurately, and in no small matter +to represent her otherwise than as he saw her before him. We fancy her +to feel the jealousy, the vehemence, the joy, the unalterable +good-humor, and the pride springing from the happiness of being loved by +him. He, however, painted it all because he was capable of these +feelings himself in their greatest depth. If his pictures do not betray +this, his poems do." + +Muntz says, "From a technical point of view, the work is a masterpiece. +Never, perhaps, has Raphael given such delicacy and subtlety to his +carnations; never did he create a fuller life; we can see the blood +circulate; we can feel the beating pulse. Thus the picture is a +continual source of envy and despair to modern realists." + +Crowe and Cavalcaselle, in their life of Raphael, speak of the "warm +tone of flesh burnished to a nicety and shaded with exceptional force," +in this picture. "The coal-black eyes have a fascinating look of +intentness, which is all the more effective as they are absolutely open, +under brows of the purest curves.... The forehead has a grand arch, the +cheeks are broad, the chin rounded and small. The contours are all +circular. The flesh has a fulness which characterizes alike the neck, +the drooping shoulders, and the arms and extremities." + +Passavant thus speaks of a portrait in Florence, which belonged to the +Grand Duke of Tuscany. "This portrait in the Pitti Palace bears a strong +resemblance to the Madonna di San Sisto (Dresden Museum), with this +difference, however, that the features of the Virgin are ennobled. The +woman in the portrait is a handsome Roman, but of quite individual +character. Her form is powerful, her costume sumptuous, her beautiful +black eyes flash, her mouth is refined and full of grace. + +"If this portrait, as may well be believed, represents the same person +as that of the Barberini house, we are compelled to admit that the +countenance, always intelligent, of this young girl, had become +wonderfully animated in the time between the execution of the two +portraits. However," he adds, "it would be indeed astonishing if +constant intercourse with the author of so many masterpieces, and one of +the most perfect human organizations that nature ever produced, should +have failed to influence the facile character of a young girl. This +second portrait, to judge by the manner in which it is painted, must +belong to the last years of Raphael's life." + +With this fervent and lasting love for Margherita in his heart, Raphael +painted the other three mural paintings in the Vatican hall: the +"Parnassus," Apollo surrounded by the Nine Muses, Homer singing, Dante +and Virgil conversing, with Pindar, Sappho, Horace, Petrarch, Ovid, and +others; "Jurisprudence," with Emperor Justinian and Gregory IX., the one +founding the laws of the State, the other the laws of the Church; the +"School of Athens," with the masters of ancient philosophy and science +assembled. + +On the left we see the most ancient of the philosophic schools gathered +around Pythagoras. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle are surrounded by +their pupils; Archimedes and Zoroaster are the central figures of the +interested group. Diogenes sits on the central steps of the grand hall +where more than fifty great men are assembled. + +Passavant says, "In the 'School of Athens,' Raphael showed the full +power of his genius, and that he was completely master both of his style +and of his execution. In the part of this picture requiring great +learning, it is possible, and indeed highly probable, that Raphael +consulted the most erudite of his friends, and amongst others the Count +Castiglione, who had just come to settle at Rome. + +"However this may be, to Raphael alone belongs the great honor of having +succeeded in representing, in a single living and distinct image, the +development of Greek philosophy. It was Raphael who conceived the idea +of grouping the personages according to the rank they occupy in history, +and rendered the tendencies of these philosophers apparent, not merely +by ingenious grouping, but also by their actions, their attitudes, and +countenances. + +"This fresco, in which he rose to such dignity and to such a grand +style, is justly considered as the most magnificent work the master ever +produced. It does, indeed, unite the technical experience of drawing, +coloring, and touch--the conquests of the more modern schools--to the +severity bequeathed to them by the more ancient ones.... + +"A great era in arts, as in literature, does not always follow the +appearance of an extraordinary genius. It comes on gradually, and its +progress may be noted. It has its infancy, and with it the simplicity +belonging to that age; then its youth, with the grace and sentiments +natural to youth; afterwards maturity, with its increased power. + +"Raphael was the highest expression of the art of the sixteenth century; +he attained its greatest perfection. He was a continuation of the chain +of artists in his time, and was its last and brightest link." + +Eugene Muntz calls this papal hall, the Stanza della Segnatura, "the +most splendid sanctuary of modern art. The profundity of ideas, the +nobility of the style, and the youthful vitality which prevails in every +detail of the decoration, make up a monumental achievement which is +without parallel in the annals of painting, without equal even among the +other works of Raphael himself." + +During the three years' work in this hall, Raphael painted several other +pictures: the magnificent portrait of Pope Julius II., now in the Pitti +Palace; the "Madonna di Foligno," now in the Vatican, a large +altar-piece for Sigismondo Conti di Foligno, private secretary to the +pope; the Virgin seated on golden clouds surrounded by half-length +angels against a blue sky. "A burning globe, with a rainbow above it, is +falling from the sky. According to tradition this globe is a bomb, and +bears reference to the danger incurred by Sigismondo at the siege of +Foligno, his native town, and the rainbow may be considered symbolical +of the reconciliation of the donor with God." + +The Madonna della Casa d'Alba, round, on wood, only nine and one-half +inches in diameter, was originally in a church at Nocera de Pagani, in +the Neapolitan States, and later was owned by the Duke of Alba, at +Madrid. The Duchess of Alba gave it to her doctor, in her will, for +curing her of a dangerous disease. She died very soon, and the doctor +was arrested on suspicion of poison, but was finally liberated. The +painting came into the possession of the Emperor of Russia, for seventy +thousand dollars, and is in the Hermitage. + +The "Madonna del Pesce," the gem of the Italian Gallery of the Madrid +Museum, which some persons rank equal to the Sistine Madonna, represents +the Virgin holding the Child, who rests his hand on an open book. +Tobias, holding a fish, and led by an angel, implores a cure for his +father's blindness. + +Raphael also executed for the wealthy Agostino Chigi, the _protege_ of +Julius II. and Leo X., the frescos in the Church Santa Maria della Pace. +Cinelli tells this anecdote: "Raphael of Urbino had painted for Agostino +Chigi, at Santa Maria della Pace, some prophets and sibyls, on which he +had received an advance of five hundred scudi. One day he demanded of +Agostino's cashier (Giulio Borghesi) the remainder of the sum at which +he estimated his work. The cashier, being astonished at this demand, and +thinking that the sum already paid was sufficient, did not reply. 'Cause +the work to be estimated by a judge of painting,' replied Raphael, 'and +you will see how moderate my demand is.' + +"Giulio Borghesi thought of Michael Angelo for this valuation, and +begged him to go to the church and estimate the figures of Raphael. +Possibly he imagined that self-love, rivalry, and jealousy would lead +the Florentine to lower the price of the pictures. + +"Michael Angelo went, accompanied by the cashier, to Santa Maria della +Pace, and, as he was contemplating the fresco without uttering a word, +Borghesi questioned him. 'That head,' replied Michael Angelo, pointing +to one of the Sibyls, 'that head is worth a hundred scudi.'... 'And the +others?' asked the cashier. 'The others are not less.' + +"Some who witnessed this scene related it to Chigi. He heard every +particular, and, ordering, in addition to the five hundred scudi for +five heads, a hundred scudi to be paid for each of the others, he said +to his cashier, 'Go and give that to Raphael in payment for his heads, +and behave very politely to him, so that he may be satisfied; for if he +insists on my also paying for the drapery, we should probably be +ruined.'" + +From 1512 to 1514, Raphael frescoed the second Vatican hall, La Stanza +d'Eliodoro. The first mural painting was "The Miraculous Expulsion of +Heliodorus from the Temple at Jerusalem," the angels attacking him as he +is taking the money destined for widows and orphans. + +The second fresco is the "Miracle of Bolsena," where, in the reign of +Urban IV., a priest, who doubted the reality of transubstantiation, saw +the blood flow from the Host while he was celebrating mass. These are +called the most richly colored frescos in the world, exceeding the +celebrated ones of Titian in the Scuola di San Antonio, at Padua. + +The third fresco represents the "Deliverance of St. Peter from Prison," +and the fourth, Attila arrested in his march on Rome in 452, by the +apparition of St. Peter and St. Paul. A frightful hurricane is raging at +the time, and the Huns are filled with terror. Leo X., who had succeeded +Julius II., desired to be immortalized instead of St. Leo, so, with a +touch of human nature not entirely spiritual, caused himself and his +court, driving the French under Louis XII. out of Italy, to be painted +in the picture. Passavant says, "A few very animated groups of soldiers +had to be sacrificed; but on the whole the composition gained by the +alteration, from the contrast of the calm gentleness of the pontiff with +the ferocity of the barbarians. In execution this fresco may be +considered as one of the most perfect by this master." + +While this second room in the Vatican was being painted, Raphael, as +usual, was engaged also in other work. + +In the Chigi palace, or Farnesina, he painted the beautiful fresco, +"Galatea." The subject is taken from the narrative of Philostratus about +the Cyclops. "In the fresco," says Passavant, "Galatea is gently sailing +on the waves. Love guides the shell, which is drawn by dolphins, and +surrounded by tritons and marine centaurs, who bear the nymphs. Little +cupids in the air are shooting arrows at them. All these figures form a +contrast with the beautiful Galatea, whose languid eyes are raised to +heaven, the centre of all noble aspirations. + +"Galatea is an image of beauty of soul united to that of the body. It +is, indeed, a sort of glorified nature; or, rather, a goddess clad in +human form. Raphael's genius defies all comparison, and has attained in +this masterpiece a height which approaches very nearly to perfection." + +This fresco won the most enthusiastic praise. His friend, Count +Castiglione, wrote him in hearty commendation, and Raphael replied,-- + +"As for 'the Galatea,' I should think myself a great master if it +possessed one-half the merits of which you write, but I read in your +words the love you bear to myself. To paint a figure truly beautiful, I +should see many beautiful forms, with the further provision that you +should be present to choose the most beautiful. But, good judges and +beautiful women being rare, I avail myself of certain ideas which come +into my mind. If this idea has any excellence in art I know not, +although I labor heartily to acquire it." + +How modest the spirit of this letter, and how fully it shows that the +young artist lived in an ideal world, filled with exquisite things of +his own creating. Some natures always see roses instead of thorns, +sunshine behind the clouds; believe in goodness and purity rather than +in sin and sorrow; and such natures make the world lovelier by their +uplifting words and hopes. + +The famous artist, now thirty-one, had become wealthy, and had built for +himself a tasteful and elegant home on the Via di Borgo Nuova, not far +from the Vatican. "The ground floor of the facade was of rustic +architecture, with five arched doors, four of which were for the +offices, and the one in the centre for the entrance to the house. The +upper story was of Doric order, with coupled columns, and five windows +surmounted by triangular pediments. The entablature which surmounted the +whole was of a severe style; imitated from the antique. This beautiful +building no longer exists. The angle of the right of the basement, which +now forms a part of the Accoramboni palace, is the only part that +remains." + +Raphael's friends, with that well-meant, but usually injudicious +interference which is so common, were urging him to bring a wife into +his home. His uncle, Simone di Battista di Ciarla, seems to have been +anxious, for the artist writes him in 1514, "As to taking a wife, I will +say, in regard to her whom you destined for me, that I am very glad and +thank God for not having taken either her or another. And in this I have +been wiser than you who wished to give her to me. I am convinced that +you see yourself that I should not have got on as I have done." + +Another person seemed equally anxious for his marriage. Cardinal +Bibiena, who had been Raphael's intimate friend when he lived in +Urbino, had long been desirous that he should marry Maria, the daughter +of Antonio Divizio da Bibiena, his nephew. Evidently Raphael was engaged +to her, for he writes to this uncle, Simone, "I cannot withdraw my word; +we are nearer than ever to the conclusion." As the matter was deferred +year by year--as many writers believe, because Raphael, loving +Margherita, was unwilling to marry another--he was saved from the +seeming necessity of keeping his promise, by Maria's death some time +previous to his own. She is buried in Raphael's chapel in the Pantheon, +not far from his grave. He had met and loved Margherita in 1508, six +years earlier, and possibly after his engagement to Maria. Margherita +was in his house when he died, and to her he left an adequate portion of +his property. + +This year, 1514, Bramante, the architect of St. Peter's, having died, +Raphael was appointed his successor. Perceiving that the four columns +which were to support the cupola had too weak a foundation, the first +work was to strengthen these. He executed a plan of the church, which +some think superior to that which Michael Angelo carried out after +Raphael's death. He studied carefully the architectural works of +Vitruvius, and planned several beautiful structures in Rome. + +Raphael also had the oversight of all the excavations in and around +Rome, so that pieces of antique statuary, which were often found, might +be carefully preserved. "To this end," wrote Leo X., "I command every +one, of whatever condition or rank he may be, noble or not, titled or of +low estate, to make you, as superintendent of this matter, acquainted +with every stone or marble which shall be discovered within the extent +of country designated by me, who desire that every one failing to do so +shall be judged by you, and fined from one hundred to three hundred gold +crowns." + +The third hall of the pope, called the Stanza del Incendio, was painted +from 1514 to 1517. The first fresco is "The Oath of Leo III.," who, +brought before the Emperor Charlemagne for trial, was acquitted through +a supernatural voice proclaiming that no one had the right to judge the +pope. + +The second fresco is "The Coronation of Charlemagne by Leo III.," thus +signifying that the spiritual power is above the temporal power. The two +principal portraits are, however, Leo X. and Francis I., who formed an +alliance in 1515. + +The third and finest picture is "The Conflagration of the Borgo Vecchio +at Rome." The other pictures were executed in part by the pupils of +Raphael. This was by his own hand. In 847 a fire broke out in Rome, +which extended from the Vatican to the Mausoleum of Adrian. The danger +from the high wind was very great, when Pope Leo IV. implored divine +aid, and at once the flames assumed the form of a cross, and the fire +was quenched. "Several of the figures," says Passavant, "are considered +as perfect and inimitable, amongst others the two beautiful and +powerful women who are bringing water in vases, and whose forms are so +admirably delineated under their garments agitated by the wind." + +The last fresco shows the "Victory of Leo IV. over the Saracens at +Ostia." The pope, Leo IV., with the face of Leo X., is on the shore, +engaged in prayer. + +At this time Raphael made sepia sketches for the Loggie leading to the +apartments of the pope; thirteen arcades, each arcade containing four +principal pictures. Forty-eight of these scenes are taken from the Old +Testament, and four from the life of Christ. Taken together, they are +called "Raphael's Bible." Vasari said of the decorations in the Loggie, +"It is impossible to execute or to conceive a more exquisite work." +Catherine II. of Russia had all these Loggie paintings copied on canvas, +and placed in the Hermitage, in a gallery constructed for them, like +that in the Vatican. This gallery cost a million and a half of dollars. + +In these busy years, 1515 to 1516, the famous cartoons for the Sistine +Chapel were made. Sixtus IV. had built the chapel. Michael Angelo, under +Julius II., had painted in it his "History of the Creation," and +"Prophets and Sibyls." And now Raphael was asked to make cartoons for +ten pieces of tapestry, to be hung before the wainscoting on high +festivals. The cartoons are, "The Miraculous Draught of Fishes," +"Christ's Charge to Peter," "The Martyrdom of St. Stephen," "The +Healing of the Lame Man," "The Death of Ananias," "The Conversion of +St. Paul," "Elymas struck with Blindness," "Paul and Barnabas at +Lystra," "St. Paul Preaching at Athens," and "Saint Paul in Prison." The +cartoons were sent to Arras, in Flanders, and wrought in wool, silk, and +gold. Brought to Rome in 1519, they were hung in St. Peter's, on the +feast of St. Stephen. + +The enthusiasm of the Romans was unbounded. Vasari says this work "seems +rather to have been performed by miracle than by the aid of man." These +tapestries, after many changes, are now in the Vatican, much soiled and +faded. Of the cartoons, twelve feet by from fourteen to eighteen feet, +with figures above life-size, seven of them are to be seen in the South +Kensington Museum. They were purchased at Arras by Charles I., on the +recommendation of Rubens. They are yearly studied by thousands of +visitors. Grimm calls the cartoons "Raphael's greatest productions." He +considers the "Death of Ananias" "as the most purely dramatic of all his +compositions." + +"Compared with these," says Hazlitt, "all other pictures look like oil +and varnish; we are stopped and attracted by the coloring, the +pencilling, the finishing, the instrumentalities of art; but _here_ the +painter seems to have flung his mind upon the canvas. His thoughts, his +great ideas alone, prevail; there is nothing between us and the subject; +we look through a frame and see Scripture histories, and are made actual +spectators in miraculous events. + +"Not to speak it profanely, they are a sort of a revelation of the +subjects of which they treat; there is an ease and freedom of manner +about them which brings preternatural characters and situations home to +us with the familiarity of every-day occurrences; and while the figures +fill, raise, and satisfy the mind, they seem to have cost the painter +nothing. Everywhere else we see the means; here we arrive at the end +apparently without any means." + +Raphael was now overwhelmed with orders for pictures. He had shown +worldly wisdom--a thing not always possessed by genius--in having his +works engraved by men under his own supervision, so that they were +everywhere scattered among the people. + +In 1516 he decorated the bath-room of his friend Cardinal Bibiena, who +lived on the third floor of the Vatican. The first sketch represents the +Birth of Venus; then Venus and Cupid, seated on dolphins, journey across +the sea; she is wounded by Cupid's dart; she pulls out the thorn which +has pierced her. The blood, falling on the white rose, gives us, +according to tradition, the rich red rose. These paintings were +certainly of a different nature from the others in the Vatican, and, +while Passavant thinks it strange that a spiritually minded cardinal +should have desired such pictures, they were nevertheless greatly +admired and copied. + +This same year, 1516, one of Raphael's most celebrated Madonnas was +painted, the one oftener copied, probably, than any other picture in +the world, "The Madonna della Sedia," now in the Pitti Palace. The +Virgin, with an uncommonly sweet and beautiful face, is seated in a +chair (_sedia_), with both arms encircling the infant Saviour, his baby +head resting against her own. Grimm says, "Mary has been painted by +Raphael in different degrees of earthly rank; the Madonna della Sedia +approaches the aristocratic, but only in outward show, for the poorest +mother might sit there as she does. Gold and variegated colors have been +used without stint.... The dress of the mother is light blue; the mantle +which she has drawn about her shoulders is green, with red and +willow-green stripes and gold-embroidered border; her sleeves are red +faced with gold at the wrists. A grayish brown veil with reddish brown +stripes is wound about her hair; the little dress of the child is +orange-colored, and the back of the chair red velvet. The golden lines +radiating from the halo around the head of the child form a cross, and +over the mother's and John's float light golden rings. All the tones are +flower-like and clear.... A harmonious glow irradiates it, which, +partaking of a spiritual as well as a material nature, constitutes the +peculiarity of this work, and defies all attempts at reproduction. +Pictorial art has produced few such works which actually in their beauty +exceed nature herself, who does not seem to wish to unite so many +advantages in one person or place.... + +"Raphael's Madonnas have the peculiarity that they are not +distinctively national. They are not Italians whom he paints, but women +raised above what is national. Leonardo's, Correggio's, Titian's, +Murillo's, and Rubens's Madonnas are all in some respects affected by +their masters' nationality; a faint suggestion of Italian or Spanish or +Flemish nature pervades their forms. Raphael alone could give to his +Madonnas that universal human loveliness, and that beauty which is a +possession common to the European nations compared with other races. + +"His Sistine Madonna soars above us as our ideal of womanly beauty; and +yet, strange to say, despite this universality, she gives to each +individual the impression that, owing to some special affinity, he has +the privilege of wholly understanding her. Shakespeare's and Goethe's +feminine creations inspire the same feeling.... + +"All Raphael's works are youthful works. After finishing the Sistine +Madonna, he lived only three years. At thirty-five years of age (and he +did not survive much beyond this), the largest portion of human life is +often still in the future. The events of each day continue to surprise +us, and to seem like adventures. Raphael was full of these fresh hopes +and anticipations when a cruel fate snatched him away. His last works +betray the same youthful exhilaration in labor as his first. His studies +from nature made at this time have a freshness and grace which, regarded +as personal manifestations of his genius, are as valuable as his +paintings. He was still in process of development.... What in our later +years we call illusions still enchanted him. The easy, untrammelled life +at the court of the pope wore for him, to the last, a romantic glamour, +and the admiration of those who only meant to flatter sounded sweet in +his ears, even while he saw through it. Everything continued to serve +him; with the gospel of defeat his soul was still unacquainted." + +The Sistine Madonna, with the Virgin standing on the clouds in the midst +of myriads of cherubs' heads, St. Sixtus kneeling on the left, and St. +Barbara on the right, was painted in 1518 for the Benedictine Monastery +of San Sisto, at Piacenza, from which it was purchased in 1754 by +Augustus III., Elector of Saxony, for forty thousand dollars. It was +received at Dresden with great joy, the throne of Saxony being displaced +in order to give this divine product of genius a fitting home. It is +said that the famous Correggio, standing before this picture, exclaimed +with pride, "I too am an artist!" + +Passavant says, "It was the last Virgin created by the genius of +Raphael; and, as if he had foreseen that this Madonna would be his last, +he made it an apotheosis." + +It is interesting to sit in the Dresden gallery alone, before the +Sistine Madonna, which has the face of the beloved Margherita, and note +the hush that comes upon the people when they pass over the threshold. +They seem to enter into the feelings of the artist. It is said that many +a poor and lonely woman, bent with years, has wept before this +painting. + +The eyes of the Virgin look at you, but they do not see you. The eyes +are thinking--looking back into her past with its mysteries; looking +forward perchance into a veiled but significant future. These eyes, once +seen, are never forgotten, and you go again and again to look at them. + +Raphael's "Christ Bearing the Cross" (_Lo Spasimo_) is considered a +masterpiece, from its drawing and expression. Some think it equal to +"The Transfiguration." The ship which was carrying it to Palermo was +lost with all on board. Nothing was recovered save this picture, which, +uninjured, floated in a box into the harbor of Genoa. It is now in +Madrid. + +Another well-known work of Raphael is "St. Cecilia," listening to the +singing of six angels, her eyes raised to heaven in ecstasy. A musical +instrument is slipping from her hand while she listens, entranced, to +playing so much more wonderful than her own. On her right are St. Paul +and St. John; on her left Mary Magdalene, with St. Augustine. Cecilia +was a rich and noble Roman lady who lived in the reign of Alexander +Severus. She was married at sixteen to Valerian, who, with his brother +Tiburtius, was converted to Christianity by her prayers. Both these men +were beheaded because they refused to sacrifice to idols, and Cecilia +was shortly after condemned to death by Almachius, Prefect of Rome. She +was shut up in her own bath-room, and blazing fires kindled that the +hot vapor might destroy her; but she was kept alive, says the legend, +"for God sent a cooling shower which tempered the heat of the fire." + +The prefect then sent a man to her palace, to behead her, but he left +her only half killed. The Christians found her bathed in her blood, and +during three days she still preached and taught, like a doctor of the +church, with such sweetness and eloquence that four hundred pagans were +converted. On the third day she was visited by Pope Urban I., to whose +care she tenderly committed the poor whom she nourished, and to him she +bequeathed the palace in which she had lived, that it might be +consecrated as a temple to the Saviour. She died in the third century. + +This masterpiece of color was sent to Bologna, having been ordered by a +noble Bolognese lady, Elena Duglioni, for a chapel which she built to +St. Cecilia. Raphael sent the picture to his artist friend Francesco +Francia, asking that he "make any correction he pleased, if he noticed +any defect." It is stated that Francia was so overcome at the sight of +this picture that he died from excessive grief because he felt that he +could never equal it. + +Shelley wrote concerning this work, "Standing before the picture of St. +Cecilia, you forget that it is a picture as you look at it, and yet it +is most unlike any of those things which we call reality. It is of the +inspired and ideal kind, and seems to have been conceived and executed +in a similar state of feeling to that which produced among the ancients +those perfect specimens of poetry and sculpture which are the baffling +models of succeeding generations. There is a unity and a perfection in +it of an incommunicable kind. The central figure, St. Cecilia, seems +wrapt in such inspiration as produced her image in the painter's mind; +her deep, dark, eloquent eyes lifted up, her chestnut hair flung back +from her forehead: she holds an organ in her hands; her countenance, as +it were, calmed by the depth of her passion and rapture, and penetrated +throughout with the warm and radiant light of life. She is listening to +the music of heaven, and, as I imagine, has just ceased to sing, for the +four figures that surround her evidently point, by their attitudes, +towards her, particularly St. John, who, with a tender, yet impassioned +gesture, bends his countenance towards her, languid with the depth of +his emotion. At her feet lie various instruments of music, broken and +unstrung. Of the coloring I do not speak; it eclipses Nature, yet it has +all her truth and softness." + +Raphael was now loaded with honors. Henry VIII. urged him to visit +England and become attached to his court. Francis I. was eager to make +him court painter of France. Often the artist shut himself up in his +palace, and applied himself so closely to his books and pictures that +people said he was melancholy. He was so deeply interested in history +that he thought of writing some historical works. He had planned and +partially completed a book on ancient Rome, which should reproduce to +the world the city in its former grandeur. He left a manuscript on art +and artists, which Vasari found most valuable in his biographies. He +sent artists into all the neighboring countries to collect studies from +the antique. He loved poetry and philosophy. + +Several artists lived in his home, for whom he provided as though they +were his children. Among others in his house lived Fabius of Ravenna, +concerning whom Calcagnini, the pope's secretary, wrote, "He is an old +man of stoical probity, and of whom it would be difficult to say whether +his learning or affability is the greater. Through him Hippocrates +speaks Latin, and has laid aside his ancient defective expressions. This +most holy man has this peculiar and very uncommon quality of despising +money so much as to refuse it when offered to him, unless forced to +accept it by the most urgent necessity. However, he receives from the +pope an annual pension, which he divides amongst his friends and +relations. He himself lives on herbs and lettuces, like the +Pythagoreans, and dwells in a hole which might justly be named the tub +of Diogenes. He would far rather die than not pursue his studies.... + +"He is cared for as a child by the very rich Raphael da Urbino, who is +so much esteemed by the pope; he is a young man of the greatest +kindness and of an admirable mind. He is distinguished by the highest +qualities. Thus he is, perhaps, the first of all painters, as well in +theory as in practice; moreover, he is an architect of such rare talent +that he invents and executes things which men of the greatest genius +deemed impossible. I make an exception only in Vitruvius, whose +principles he does not teach, but whom he defends or attacks with the +surest proofs, and with so much grace that not even the slightest envy +mingles in his criticism. + +"At present he is occupied with a wonderful work, which will be scarcely +credited by posterity (I do not allude to the basilica of the Vatican, +where he directs the works): it is the town of Rome, which he is +restoring in almost its ancient grandeur; for, by removing the highest +accumulations of earth, digging down to the lowest foundations, and +restoring everything according to the descriptions of ancient authors, +he has so carried Pope Leo and the Romans along with him as to induce +every one to look on him as a god sent from heaven to restore to the +ancient city her ancient majesty. + +"With all this he is so far from being proud that he comes as a friend +to every one, and does not shun the words and remarks of any one; he +likes to hear his views discussed in order to obtain instruction and to +instruct others, which he regards as the object of life. He respects and +honors Fabius as a master and a father, speaking to him of everything +and following his counsels." + +A rare man, indeed, this Raphael; not proud, not envious, but +confiding, learning from everybody, sincere and unselfish. + +For the fourth hall in the Vatican, the Sala di Costantino, Raphael made +the cartoon for "The Battle of Constantine." In the centre of the +picture Constantine is dashing across the battle-field on a white horse, +with his spear levelled at Maxentius, who, with his army, is driven back +into the Tiber. The whole picture is remarkable for life and spirit. + +Raphael now undertook the paintings in the Loggie of the Farnesina, for +Agostino Chigi,--the fable of Cupid and Psyche, from Apuleius. "A +certain king had three daughters, of whom Psyche, the youngest, excites +the jealousy of Venus by her beauty. The goddess accordingly directs her +son Cupid to punish the princess by inspiring her with love for an +unworthy individual. Cupid himself becomes enamoured of her, shows her +to the Graces, and carries her off. He visits her by night, warning her +not to indulge in curiosity as to his appearance. Psyche, however, +instigated by her envious sisters, disobeys the injunction. She lights a +lamp, a drop of heated oil from which awakens her sleeping lover. Cupid +upbraids her, and quits her in anger. Psyche wanders about, filled with +despair. Meanwhile Venus has been informed of her son's attachment, +imprisons him, and requests Juno and Ceres to aid her in seeking for +Psyche, which both goddesses decline to do. She then drives in her +dove-chariot to Jupiter, and begs him to grant her the assistance of +Mercury. Her request is complied with, and Mercury flies forth to search +for Psyche. Venus torments her in every conceivable manner, and imposes +impossible tasks on her, which, however, with the aid of friends, she is +enabled to perform. At length she is desired to bring a casket from the +infernal regions, and even this, to the astonishment of Venus, she +succeeds in accomplishing. Cupid, having at length escaped from his +captivity, begs Jupiter to grant him Psyche; Jupiter kisses him, and +commands Mercury to summon the gods to deliberate on the matter. The +messenger of the gods then conducts Psyche to Olympus, she becomes +immortal, and the gods celebrate the nuptial banquet. In this pleasing +fable Psyche obviously represents the human soul purified by passions +and misfortunes, and thus fitted for the enjoyment of celestial +happiness." + +Raphael had time only to make cartoons for the greater part of this +work, while his pupils executed them. The paintings were criticised, and +it was said that the talent of Raphael was declining. + +Hurt by such an unwarrantable opinion, Raphael gladly accepted an order +from Cardinal Giuliano de' Medici for a "Transfiguration" for the +Cathedral of Narbonne. At the same time the cardinal ordered the +"Raising of Lazarus" from Sebastiano del Piombo. Michael Angelo made the +drawings for this picture, it is said, so that this work might equal or +surpass that of Raphael. When the latter was apprised of this, he +replied cheerfully, "Michael Angelo pays me a great honor, since it is +in reality himself that he offers as my rival and not Sebastiano." + +The "Transfiguration," now in the Vatican, is in two sections. In the +upper portion Christ has risen into the air above Mount Tabor, and has +appeared to Peter, James, and John, on the mount. At this moment the +voice is heard saying, "This is my beloved Son: hear him." + +At the foot of the mount, an afflicted father, followed by a crowd of +people, has brought his demoniac boy to the Apostles, to be healed. The +disciples point to the Saviour as the only one who has the power to cast +out evil spirits. + +Vasari says, "In this work the master has of a truth produced figures +and heads of such extraordinary beauty, so new, so varied, and at all +points so admirable, that among the many works executed by his hand +this, by the common consent of all artists, is declared to be the most +worthily renowned, the most excellent, the most divine. Whoever shall +desire to see in what manner Christ transformed into the Godhead should +be represented, let him come and behold it in this picture.... But as if +that sublime genius had gathered all the force of his powers into one +effort, whereby the glory and the majesty of art should be made manifest +in the countenance of Christ: having completed that, as one who had +finished the great work which he had to accomplish, he touched the +pencils no more, being shortly afterwards overtaken by death." + +Before the "Transfiguration" was completed, Raphael was seized with a +violent fever, probably contracted through his researches among the +ruins of Rome. Weak from overwork, he seems to have realized at once +that his labors were finished. He made his will, giving his works of art +to his pupils; his beautiful home to Cardinal Bibiena, though the +cardinal died soon after without ever living in it; a thousand crowns to +purchase a house whose rental should defray the expense of twelve masses +monthly at the altar of his chapel in the Pantheon, which he had long +before made ready for his body; and the rest of his property to his +relatives and Margherita. + +He died on the night of Good Friday, April 6, 1520, at the age of +thirty-seven. All Rome was bent with grief at the death of its idol. He +lay in state in his beautiful home, on a catafalque surrounded by +lighted tapers, the unfinished "Transfiguration" behind it. + +An immense crowd followed the body to the Pantheon; his last beautiful +picture, its colors yet damp, being carried in the procession. + +His friend Cardinal Pietro Bembo wrote his epitaph in Latin: "Dedicated +to Raphael Sanzio, the son of Giovanni of Urbino, the most eminent +painter, who emulated the ancients. In whom the union of Nature and Art +is easily perceived. He increased the glory of the pontiffs Julius II. +and Leo X. by his works of painting and architecture. He lived exactly +thirty-seven years, and died on the anniversary of his birth, April 6, +1520. + + + "Living, great Nature feared he might outvie + Her works, and, dying, fears herself to die." + + +Count Castiglione wrote to his mother, "It seems as if I were not in +Rome, since my poor Raphael is here no longer." The pope, Leo X., could +not be comforted, and, it is said, burst into tears, exclaiming, "_Ora +pro nobis._" The Mantuan Ambassador wrote home the day after Raphael's +death, "Nothing is talked of here but the loss of the man who at the +close of his three-and-thirtieth year [thirty-seventh] has now ended his +first life; his second, that of his posthumous fame, independent of +death and transitory things, through his works, and in what the learned +will write in his praise, must continue forever." + +Three hundred and thirteen years after his death his tomb was opened, in +1833, and the complete skeleton was found. After five weeks, the +precious remains were enclosed in a leaden coffin, and that in a marble +sarcophagus, and reburied at night, the Pantheon being illuminated, and +the chief artists and cultivated people of the city bearing torches in +the reverent procession. + +Dead at thirty-seven, and yet how amazing the amount of work +accomplished. He left two hundred and eighty-seven pictures and five +hundred and seventy-six drawings and studies. Michael Angelo said +Raphael owed more to his wonderful industry than to his genius. When +asked once by his pupils how he accomplished so much, Raphael replied, +"From my earliest childhood I have made it a principle never to neglect +anything." + +Passavant says, "He was the most ideal artist that God has ever +created." His maxim was, "We must not represent things as they are, but +as they should be." + +Says Charles C. Perkins of Boston, "Throughout all his works there is +not an expression of face, or a contour, whether of muscle or drapery, +which is not exactly suited to its end; nor in the thousands of figures +which he drew or painted can we recall an ungraceful or a mannered line +or pose. This was because of all artists since the Greeks, he had the +most perfect feeling for true beauty. The beautiful was his special +field, and hence he is first among his kind. Leonardo had more depth, +Michael Angelo more grandeur, Correggio more sweetness; but none of them +approached Raphael as an exponent of beauty whether in young or old, in +mortals or immortals, in earthly or divine beings. + +"Raphael was in truth the greatest of artists, because the most +comprehensive, blending as he did the opposing tendencies of the mystics +and the naturalists into a perfect whole by reverent study of nature and +of the antique. Bred in a devotional school of art, and transferred to +an atmosphere charged with classical ideas, he retained enough of the +first, while he absorbed enough of the second, to make him a painter of +works Christian in spirit and Greek in elegance and purity of form and +style." + +Raphael will live, not only through his works but through the adoration +we all pay to a lovable character. The perennial fountain of goodness +and sweetness in Raphael's soul, which "won for him the favor of the +great," as Giovio said, while living, has won for him the homage of the +world, now that he is dead. He had by nature a sunny, kindly +disposition: he had what every person living may have, and would do well +to cultivate: a spirit that did not find fault, lips that spoke no +censure of anybody, but praise where praise was possible, and such +self-control that not an enemy was ever made by his temper or his lack +of consideration for others. He was enthusiastic, but he had the +self-poise of a great nature. True, his life was short. As Grimm says, +"Four single statements exhaust the story of his life: he lived, he +loved, he worked, he died young." He helped everybody, and what more is +there in life than this? + + + + +TITIAN. + + +"If I were required," says Mrs. Jameson, "to sum up in two great names +whatever the art of painting had contemplated and achieved of highest +and best, I would invoke Raphael and Titian. The former as the most +perfect example of all that has been accomplished in the expression of +thought through the medium of form; the latter, of all that has been +accomplished in the expression of life through the medium of color. +Hence it is that, while _both_ have given us mind, and _both_ have given +us beauty, _Mind_ is ever the characteristic of Raphael--_Beauty_, that +of Titian. + +[Illustration: TITIAN.] + +"Considered under this point of view, these wonderful men remain to us +as representatives of the two great departments of art. All who went +before them, and all who follow after them, may be ranged under the +banners of one or the other of these great kings and leaders. Under the +banners of Raphael appear the majestic thinkers in art, the Florentine +and Roman painters of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; and Albert +Duerer, in Germany. Ranged on the side of Titian appear the Venetian, the +Lombard, the Spanish, and Flemish masters. When a school of art arose +which aimed at uniting the characteristics of both, what was the result? +A something second-hand and neutral--the school of the Academicians and +the _mannerists_, a crowd of painters who neither felt what they saw, +nor saw what they felt; who trusted neither to the God within them, nor +the nature around them; and who ended by giving us Form without +Soul--Beauty without Life." + +Ruskin says, "When Titian or Tintoret look at a human being, they see at +a glance the whole of its nature, outside and in; all that it has of +form, of color, of passion, or of thought; saintliness and loveliness; +fleshly power and spiritual power; grace, or strength, or softness, or +whatsoever other quality, those men will see to the full, and so paint +that, when narrower people come to look at what they have done, every +one may, if he chooses, find his own special pleasure in the work. The +sensualist will find sensuality in Titian; the thinker will find +thought; the saint, sanctity; the colorist, color; the anatomist, form; +and yet the picture will never be a popular one in the full sense, for +none of these narrower people will find their special taste so alone +consulted as that the qualities which would insure their gratification +shall be sifted or separated from others; they are checked by the +presence of the other qualities, which insure the gratification of other +men.... Only there is a strange undercurrent of everlasting murmur about +the name of Titian, which means the deep consent of all great men that +he is greater than they." + +Strong praise indeed!--"the deep consent of all great men that he is +greater than they;"--strong praise for the tireless worker, of whom +Ludovico Dolce wrote, who knew him personally, that "he was most modest; +that he never spoke reproachfully of other painters; that, in his +discourse, he was ever ready to give honor where honor was due; that he +was, moreover, an eloquent speaker, having an excellent wit and a +perfect judgment in all things; of a most sweet and gentle nature, +affable and most courteous in manner; so that whoever once conversed +with him could not choose but love him thenceforth forever." He was +remarkably calm and self-poised through life, saying that a painter +should never be agitated. And yet he was a man of strong feelings and +tender affections. + +Titian, the lover of the beautiful, was born at Arsenale, in the Valley +of Cadore, in the heart of the Venetian Alps, in the year 1477. His +father, Gregorio Vecelli, was a brave soldier, a member of the Council +of Cadore, inspector of mines, superintendent of the castle, and, though +probably limited in means, was universally esteemed for wisdom and +uprightness. Of the mother, Lucia, little is known, save that she bore +to Gregorio four children, Caterina, Francesco, Orsa, and Titian. + +In this Alpine country, with its waterfalls and its rushing river, +Piave, with its mountain wild-flowers, its jagged rocks and nestling +cottages, the boy Titian grew to be passionately fond of nature; to +idolize beauty of form and face, and to revel in color. The clouds, the +sky, the cliffs, the greensward, were a constant delight. In after years +he put all these changing scenes upon canvas, becoming the most famous +idealist as well as the "greatest landscape-painter of the Venetian +school." + +The story is told, though it has been denied by some authorities, that +before he was ten years of age he had painted, on the walls of his home +at Cadore, with the juice of flowers, a Madonna, the Child standing on +her knee, while an angel kneels at her feet. The father and relatives +were greatly surprised and pleased, and the lad was taken to Venice, +seventy miles from Cadore, and placed with an uncle, so that he might +study under the best artists. + +His first teacher seems to have been Sebastian Zuccato, the leader of +the guild of mosaic-workers. He was soon, however, drawn to the studio +of Gentile Bellini, an artist seventy years old, noted for his knowledge +of perspective and skill in composition. He had travelled much, and had +gathered into his home pictures and mosaics of great value: the head of +Plato, a statue of Venus by Praxiteles, and other renowned works. What +an influence has such a home on a susceptible boy of eleven or twelve +years of age! Gentile was a man of tender heart as well as of refined +taste. Asked to paint portraits of the sultan and sultana, the aged +artist went to Constantinople in 1479 and presented the ruler with a +picture of the decapitation of St. John. The sultan criticised the +work, and, to show the painter the truth of the criticism, had the head +of a slave struck off in his presence, whereupon the artist, sick at +heart, returned at once to Venice. + +The young Cadorine studied carefully the minute drawings of Gentile +Bellini, but, with an originality peculiar to himself, sketched boldly +and rapidly. The master was displeased, and the boy sought the studio of +his brother, Giovanni Bellini, an artist with more brilliant style, and +broader contrasts in light and shade. + +Here he met Giorgione as a fellow-pupil, who soon became his warm +friend. This man studied the works of Leonardo da Vinci, and became +distinguished for boldness of design and richness of color. Titian was +his assistant and devoted admirer. + +Another person who greatly influenced the early life of Titian was Palma +Vecchio of Bergamo, eminent for his portraits of women. Perhaps there +was a special bond between these two men, for it is asserted that Titian +loved Palma's beautiful daughter, Violante. Palma had three daughters, +whom he frequently painted; one picture, now at Dresden, shows Violante +in the centre between her two sisters; another, St. Barbara in the +church of Santa Maria Formosa in Venice, Palma's masterpiece, and still +another, Violante, at Vienna, with a violet in her bosom. + +Titian's earliest works were a fresco of Hercules, on the front of the +Morosini Palace; a Madonna, now in the Vienna Belvedere, which shows +genuine feeling with careful finish; and portraits of his parents, now +lost. His first important work was painted about the year 1500, when he +was twenty-three, "Sacred and Profane Love," now in the Borghese Palace +at Rome. + +Eaton says of this, "Out of Venice there is nothing of Titian's to +compare to his 'Sacred and Profane Love.'... Description can give no +idea of the consummate beauty of this composition. It has all Titian's +matchless warmth of coloring, with a correctness of design no other +painter of the Venetian school ever attained. It is nature, but not +individual nature; it is ideal beauty in all its perfection, and +breathing life in all its truth, that we behold." + +Crowe and Cavalcaselle, who have studied the more than one thousand +pictures to which the name of Titian is attached, say in their life of +the great painter, "The scene is laid in a pleasure ground surrounded by +landscape, swathed in the balmy atmosphere of an autumnal evening. A +warm glow is shed over hill, dale, and shore, and streaks of gray cloud +alternate with bands of light in a sunset sky. To the right, in the +distance, a church on an island, and a clump of cottages on a bend of +land, bathed by the waters of the sea; and two horsemen on a road watch +their hounds coursing a hare. To the left a block of buildings and a +tower half illumined by a ray of sun crown the hillside, where a knight +with his lance rides to meet a knot of villagers. + +"Nearer to the foreground, and at measured intervals, saplings throw +their branches lightly on the sky, which, nearer still, is intercepted +in the centre of the space by a group of rich-leaved trees, rising +fan-like behind the marble trough of an antique fountain. Enchanting +lines of hill and plain, here in shadow, there in light, lead us to the +foreground, where the women sit on a lawn watered by the stream that +issues from the fountain, and rich in weeds that shoot forked leaves and +spikes out of the grass. + +"Artless (Sacred) Love, on one side, leans, half-sitting, on the ledge +of the trough, a crystal dish at her side, symbolizing her thoughts. Her +naked figure, slightly veiled by a length of muslin, is relieved upon a +silken cloth hanging across the arm, and helping to display a form of +faultless shape and complexion. The left hand holds aloft the vase and +emblematic incense of love; the right, resting on the ledge, supports +the frame as the maiden turns, with happy earnestness, to gaze at her +companion. She neither knows nor cares to heed that Cupid is leaning +over the hinder ledge of the fountain and plashing in the water.... Not +without coquetry, or taste for sparkling color, the chestnut hair of the +naked maiden is twisted in a rose-colored veil; the cloth at her loins +is of that golden white which sets off so well the still more golden +whiteness of her skin. The red silk falling from her arm, and partly +waving in the air, is of that crimson tone which takes such wonderful +carminated changes in the modulations of its surface, and brings out by +its breaks the more uniform pearl of the flesh." + +To this figure of Sacred Love, into which the young painter evidently +put his heart, he gave the beautiful and half-pensive face of Violante. +Did he intend thus to immortalize her, while he immortalized himself? +Very likely. + +"Sated (Profane) Love sits to the left, her back resolutely turned +towards Cupid, her face determined, haughty, but serene; her charms +veiled in splendid dress, her very hands concealed in gloves.... A +plucked rose fades unheeded by the sated one's side, and a lute lies +silent under her elbow.... She seems so grand in her lawns and silks; +her bosom is fringed with such delicate cambric; her waist and skirt, so +finely draped in satin of gray reflexes; the red girdle, with its +jewelled clasp, the rich armlets, the bunch of roses in her gloved hand, +all harmonize so perfectly." + +For the next six or seven years, while Venice was engaged in wars with +the French and the Turks, little is known of the young Titian, save that +he must have been growing in fame, as he painted the picture of the +infamous Caesar Borgia, the son of Pope Alexander VI., Jacopo da Pesaro, +Bishop of Paphos, who had charge of the Papal squadron against the +Turks, and other paintings, now lost. The picture of Pesaro was owned by +Charles I. of England. In 1825 William I., King of the Netherlands, +presented it to the city of Antwerp, where it is highly prized. + +In 1507 the State of Venice engaged Giorgione to fresco the new Fondaco +de' Tedeschi, a large public structure for the use of foreign merchants, +which had two halls, eighty rooms, and twenty-six warehouses. A portion +of this work was transferred to Titian. Above the portal in the southern +face of the building, Titian painted a "Judith," the figure of a woman +seated on the edge of a stone plinth, in front of a stately edifice. In +her right hand she waves a sword, while with her left foot she tramples +on a lifeless head. Two other grand frescos were painted by him, all now +despoiled by the northern or "Tramontana" winds. + +Says one writer, "Whilst Giorgione showed a fervid and original spirit, +and opened up a new path, over which he shed a light that was to guide +posterity, Titian exhibited in his creations a grander but more equable +genius, leaning at first, indeed, on Giorgione's example, but expanding, +soon after, with such force and rapidity as to place him in advance of +his rival, on an eminence which no later craftsman was able to climb. +Titian was characterized by this, that he painted flesh in which the +blood appeared to mantle, whilst the art of the painter was merged in +the power of a creator. + +"He imagined forms of grander proportions, of more sunny impast, of more +harmonious hues, than his competitors. With incomparable skill he gave +tenderness to flesh, by transitions of half-tone and broken contrasted +colors. He moderated the fire of Giorgione, whose strength lay in +resolute action, fanciful movement, and a mysterious artifice in +disposing shadows contrasting darkly with hot red lights, blended, +strengthened, or blurred so as to produce the semblance of exuberant +life." + +It is said by some writers that Giorgione never forgave Titian for +excelling him in the frescos of the Fondaco; but, however this may be, +when the noted artist and poet died, soon after, at the age of +thirty-four, Titian completed all his unfinished pictures. Giorgione +loved tenderly a girl who deserted him through the influence of Morto da +Feltri, an intimate friend, who lived under his roof. The latter was +killed in the battle of Zara in 1519, after his friend Giorgione had +died of a broken heart at the loss of his beloved. + +Between 1508 and 1511 Titian painted several Madonnas, one in the +Belvedere at Vienna, one in Florence, one in the Louvre, and the +beautiful "Madonna and St. Bridget" now at Madrid. + +"St. Bridget stands with a basin of flowers in her hand, in front of the +infant Saviour, who bends out of the Virgin's arms to seize the +offering, yet turns his face to his mother, as if inquiring shall he +take it or not. Against the sky and white cloud of the distance, the +form of St. Bridget alone is relieved. The Virgin and the saint in armor +to the left stand out in front of hangings of that gorgeous green which +seems peculiar in its brightness to the Venetians. With ease in action +and movement, a charming expression is combined. The juicy tints and +glossy handling are those of Titian's Palmesque period; and St. Bridget +is the same lovely girl whose features Palma painted with equal fondness +and skill in the panel called Violante, at the Belvedere of Vienna.... +Titian shows much greater fertility of resource in the handling of flesh +than Palma, being much more clever and subtle in harmonizing light with +half-tint by tender and cool transitions of gray crossed with red, and +much more effective in breaking up shadow with contrasting touches of +livid tone, yet fusing and blending all into a polished surface, fresh +as of yesterday, and of almost spotless purity, by the use of the +clearest and finest glazings that it is possible to imagine." + +Titian was now thirty-four, with probably the same love for Violante in +his heart, but still poor, and struggling with untiring industry for the +great renown which he saw before him. + +At this time Titian painted one of his most noted works, thought by some +to be his masterpiece, "The Tribute Money," now in the museum at +Dresden. It was painted at the request of Alfonso d'Este, Duke of +Ferrara. Scanelli, who wrote in 1655, tells this story concerning the +picture. + +"Titian was visited on a certain occasion by a company of German +travellers, who were allowed to look at the pictures which his studio +contained. On being asked what impression these works conveyed, these +gentlemen declared that they only knew of one master capable of +finishing as they thought paintings ought to be finished, and that was +Duerer; their impression being that Venetian compositions invariably fell +below the promise which they had given at their first commencement. + +"To these observations Titian smilingly replied, that if he had thought +extreme finish to be the end and aim of art, he too would have fallen +into the excesses of Duerer. But, though long experience had taught him +to prefer a broad and even track to a narrow and intricate path, yet he +would still take occasion to show that the subtlest detail might be +compassed without sacrifice of breadth; and so produced the Christ of +the Tribute Money." + +Crowe and Cavalcaselle say, "Vasari reflects an opinion which holds to +this day, that the 'head of Christ is stupendous and miraculous.'" It +was considered by all the artists of his time as the most perfect and +best handled of any that Titian ever produced; but for us it has +qualities of a higher merit than those of mere treatment. Single as the +subject is, the thought which it embodies is very subtle. + +"Christ turns towards the questioning Pharisee, and confirms with his +eye the gesture of his hand, which points to the coin. His face is +youthful, its features and short curly beard are finely framed in a +profusion of flowing locks. The Pharisee to the right stands in profile +before Jesus, holds the coin, and asks the question. The contrast is +sublime between the majestic calm and elevation and what Inandt calls +the 'Godlike beauty' of Christ, and the low cunning and coarse air of +the Pharisee; between the delicate chiselling of the features, the soft +grave eye and pure-cut mouth of the Saviour, and the sharp aquiline nose +or the crafty glance of the crop-haired, malignant Hebrew.... + +"The form of Christ was never conceived by any of the Venetians of such +ideal beauty as this. Nor has Titian ever done better; and it is quite +certain that no one, Titian himself included, within the compass of the +North Italian schools, reproduced the human shape with more nature and +truth, and with greater delicacy of modelling. Amidst the profusion of +locks that falls to Christ's shoulders, there are ringlets of which we +may count the hairs, and some of these are so light that they seem to +float in air, as if ready to wave at the spectator's breath. Nothing can +exceed the brightness and sheen or the transparent delicacy of the +colors. The drapery is admirable in shade and fold, and we distinguish +with ease the loose texture of the bright red tunic, and that of the +fine broadcloth which forms the blue mantle. The most perfect easel +picture of which Venice ever witnessed the production, this is also the +most polished work of Titian." + +In 1511 Titian was called to Padua and Vicenza, where he executed some +frescos, principally from the life of St. Anthony, returning to Venice +in 1512. + +He was now famous, and Pope Leo X. naturally desired to draw him to +Rome, where Raphael and Michael Angelo were the admired of all. Cardinal +Bembo, the secretary of the pope, and the friend of Raphael, importuned +Titian; but the Venetian loved his own state and preferred to serve her, +sending, May 31, 1513, the following petition to the Council of Ten. + +"I, Titian of Cadore, having studied painting from childhood upwards, +and desirous of fame rather than profit, wish to serve the Doge and +Signori, rather than his highness the pope and other Signori, who in +past days, and even now, have urgently asked to employ me. I am +therefore anxious, if it should appear feasible, to paint in the Hall of +Council, beginning, if it please their sublimity, with the canvas of the +battle on the side towards the Piazza, which is so difficult that no one +as yet has had the courage to attempt it." + +For this work Titian asked a moderate compensation, and the first vacant +brokership for life, all of which the government granted. He moved into +a studio in the old palace of the Duke of Milan, at San Samuele on the +Grand Canal, where he remained for sixteen years. + +It seemed now as though comfort were guaranteed to the hard-working +artist. But unfortunately rivalries arose. The Bellinis had worked in +this Hall of Council in the Ducal Palace, till they felt the position to +be theirs by right. After long discussions, Titian was successful, +receiving from the Fondaco an annuity of one hundred ducats as a +broker, and the privilege of exemption from certain taxes, while, on the +other hand, he had to paint the Doge's portrait. + +Titian was now painting the following works for Alfonso d'Este, Duke of +Ferrara, who had married the handsome and celebrated Lucretia Borgia:-- + +The "Venus Worship," now in the Museum of Madrid, represents the goddess +standing on a marble pedestal, with two nymphs at her feet, while winged +cupids pluck the apples sacred to Venus, from the branches of great +trees, "climbing boughs like boys, dropping down from them like +thrushes, loading baskets, throwing and catching, tumbling, fighting, +and dancing." + +This picture was a favorite study for artists, and it is said that +Domenichino wept when he heard that it had been carried to Spain. + +"The Three Ages," now in the collection of Lord Ellesmere, has been +frequently copied. A cupid steps on two sleeping children: a beautiful +girl sits near her lover, "the holy feeling of youthful innocence and +affection charmingly expressed in both:" an old man contemplates two +skulls on the ground. "To the children, as to the lovers, the forms +appropriate to their age are given; and the whole subject is treated +with such harmony of means as to create in its way the impression of +absolute perfection." + +The "Virgin's Rest, near Bethlehem," now in the National Gallery, shows +the mother with the infant Christ on her lap, taking a bunch of flowers +from St. John. The "Noli Me Tangere," also in the National Gallery, +represents Christ with Mary Magdalene on her knees before him. "One +cannot look without transport on the mysterious calm of this beautiful +scene, which Titian has painted with such loving care, yet with such +clever freedom. The picture is like a leaf out of Titian's journal, +which tells us how he left his house on the canals, and wandered into +the country beyond the lagoons, and lingered in the fresh sweet +landscape at eventide, and took nature captive on a calm day at summer's +end." + +While painting these pictures, besides various portraits of the poet +Ariosto, Alfonso, and others, Titian was producing what is generally +regarded as his masterpiece, "The Assumption of the Virgin," a colossal +picture, now in the Academy of Arts at Venice. It was painted for Santa +Maria di Frari, and was shown to the public, March 20, 1518, on St. +Bernardino's Day, when all the public offices were closed by order of +the Senate, and a great crowd thronged the church. + +"The gorgeous blue and red of Mary's tunic and mantle stand out +brilliant on the silvery ether, vaulted into a dome, supported by +countless cherubs. The ministry of the angels about her is varied and +eager. One raises the corner of the mantle, some play the tabor, others +hold the pipes, or sing in choir, whilst others again are sunk in +wonderment, or point at the Virgin's majesty; and the rest fade into +the sky behind, as the sound of bells fades sweetly upon the ear of the +passing traveller.... All but the head and arms of the Eternal is lost +in the halo of brightness towards which the Virgin is ascending. He +looks down with serene welcome in his face, an angel on one side ready +with a crown of leaves; an archangel swathed in drapery, on the other, +eagerly asking leave to deposit on the Virgin's brow the golden cincture +in his hands." + +Titian was at once declared to be the foremost painter in Venice, and +was, indeed, the idol of the people. + +He now painted the "Annunciation" for the Cathedral of Treviso, and +executed several frescos. Meantime, the Venetian Government threatened +that unless he went forward with the work in the Ducal Palace it should +be finished by others at his expense. Pressed on every hand for +pictures, he still neglected the Palace, and painted the brilliant +"Bacchanal," now at Madrid, for Duke Alfonso. + +Ariadne reposes on the ground, insensible from wine, while a company of +Menads sport about her as Theseus sails away in the distance. The most +beautiful Menad, with white muslin tunic and ruby-red bodice and skirt, +has the exquisite face and form of Violante, with a violet or pansy on +her breast. The painter was now over forty, and still seemed to bear +Violante on his heart. + +Ariadne, daughter of Minos, King of Crete, according to the legend, +fell in love with Theseus, when he came to Crete to kill the Minotaur, +and gave him a thread by means of which he found his way out of the +labyrinth. In gratitude he offered her his hand. She fled with him, and +he deserted her on the Island of Naxos, where Bacchus found her and +married her. On the "Bacchanal" a couplet shows its motive,-- + + + "Who drinks not over and over again, + Knows not what drinking is." + + +Alfonso d'Este was delighted with this gay picture. Although Lucretia +Borgia, whom he never loved, had been dead but a few months, he had +married a girl in humble station, Laura Dianti, whom he loved tenderly, +and who kept his fickle heart true till his death. She must have been a +person of gentle and lovely nature, for the duke became kinder to +everybody, and more devoted to art, literature, and the refining +influences of life. + +It is believed that the famous picture in the Louvre called "Titian and +his Mistress" represents Laura and Alfonso. "The girl stands behind a +table or slab of stone, dressing her hair, whilst a man in the gloom +behind her holds, with his left hand, a round mirror, the reflection of +which he catches with a square mirror in his right. Into the second of +these the girl gently bends her head to look, eagerly watched by her +lover, as she twists a long skein of wavy golden hair. Over the white +and finely plaited linen that loosely covers her bosom, a short green +bodice is carelessly thrown, and a skirt of the same stuff is gathered +to the waist by a sash of similar color. The left side of the girl's +head is already dressed; she is finishing the right side, and a +delightful archness and simplicity beam in the eyes as they turn to +catch the semblance in the mirror. The coal-black eye and brow contrast +with the ruddy hair; the chiselled nose projects in delicate line from a +face of rounded, yet pure contour; and the lips, of a cherry redness, +which Titian alone makes natural, are cut with surprising fineness. The +light is concentrated with unusual force upon the face and bust of the +girl, whilst the form and features of the man are lost in darkness. We +pass with surprising rapidity from the most delicate silvery gradations +of sunlit flesh and drapery, to the mysterious depths of an almost +unfathomable gloom, and we stand before a modelled balance of light and +shade that recalls Da Vinci, entranced by a chord of tonic harmony, as +sweet and as thrilling as was ever struck by any artist of the Venetian +school." + +Tired with his constant labor, Titian journeyed to Conegliano, at the +foot of the Venetian Alps, and painted, at his leisure, a series of +frescos on the front of the Scuola di Santa Maria Nuova, in return for +which he received the gift of a house, where he rested ever after, when +on his way to Cadore. + +In 1522 the great altar-piece of the "Resurrection" was finished for +Brescia, and placed on the high altar of St. Nazaro e Celso, where it +long remained an object of study by artists. Titian thought the +martyrdom of St. Sebastian, in this picture, the best thing he had ever +done. + +Seven years had now passed since he had received the commission to paint +the Hall of the Great Council. His property was to be taken from him, +and, alarmed at the prospect, he worked vigorously for several weeks on +the "Battle of Cadore" or the other great painting, "The Humiliation of +the Emperor Barbarossa by Pope Alexander III." + +Duke Alfonso was urging the overworked master for a new picture, the +"Bacchus and Ariadne," now in the National Gallery of England: a picture +five feet nine inches by six feet three inches. The scene is taken from +the classic poem of Catullus, when Ariadne, near the shore of Naxos, +flees from the presence of Bacchus, whose chariot is drawn by leopards. +He was the son of Jupiter by Semele, whose death being caused by Juno, +the god of the vintage was reared by nymphs in Thrace. He taught men the +cultivation of the vine and the art of wine-making. + +Concerning this picture, Crowe and Cavalcaselle say, "Centuries have +robbed the canvas of its freshness, and restorers have done their best +to remove its brightest surfaces; yet no one who looks at it even now +can fail to acknowledge the magic of its enchantment. Rich harmony of +drapery tints and soft modelling, depth of shade and warm flesh, all +combine to produce a highly colored glow; yet in the midst of this glow +the form of Ariadne seems incomparably fair. Nature was never reproduced +more kindly or with greater exuberance than it is in every part of this +picture. What subtlety there is in the concentration of light on +Ariadne, which alone gives a focus to the composition. What splendor in +the contrasts of color, what wealth and diversity of scale in air and +vegetation; how infinite is the space, how varied yet mellow the +gradations of light and shade. + +"There is not a single composition by Titian up to this time in which +the scene and the _dramatis personae_ are more completely in unison; and, +looking at these groves and cliffs and seas, or prying into the rich +vegetation of the foreground, we are startled beyond measure to think +that they were worked out piecemeal, that the figures were put in first +and the landscape last. Nor is it without curiosity that we inquire +where Titian got that landscape, where he studied that foreground; and +we are forced to conclude that he forsook the workshop on the Grand +Canal, where there certainly was no vegetation, even in the sixteenth +century, and went to Ferrara, and there reproduced with 'botanical +fidelity' the iris, the wild rose and columbine, which so exquisitely +adorn the very edge of the ground on which the Satyrs tread." This +picture has been copied by Rubens, Poussin, and other noted artists. + +About this time the "Flora" of the Uffizi was painted, a beautiful +woman with the Violante face. "She is not yet dressed, but her hair is +looped up with a silken cord so as to shape the most charming puffs +above the ears, falling in short and plaited waves to the bosom, leaving +bare the whole of the face, the neck, and throat. No one here holds the +mirrors, yet the head is bent and the eyes are turned as if some one +stood by to catch the glance, and stretch a hand for the flowers; for +whilst with her left Flora strives by an intricate and momentary play of +the fingers, to keep fast the muslin that falls from her shoulder and +the damask that slips from her form, with the other she presents a +handful of roses, jessamines, and violets to an unseen lover. The white +dress, though muslin-fine and gathered into minute folds, is beyond +measure graceful in fall, and contrasts in texture as well as harmonizes +in color with the stiffer and more cornered stuff of the rose-tinged +cloth which shows such fine damask reflexes on the left arm." + +At this time, also, Titian painted one of his most exquisite creations, +the "Sleeping Venus," now at Darmstadt, a graceful nude figure asleep on +a red couch strewn with roses, her arm under her head. The face is +delicate, innocent, pensive, and refined--still the face of +Violante,--one of the most beautiful, it seems to me, which an artist +has ever put upon canvas. There are several replicas in England and +elsewhere. The figure is not more perfect, perhaps, than the Venus of +the Uffizi, painted later for the Duke of Urbino, or the Venus of +Madrid; but the face is one which I have always felt an especial +pleasure in possessing. + +Taine says of Titian, "He was endowed with that unique gift of producing +Venuses who are real women, and colossi who are real men, a talent for +imitating objects closely enough to win us with the illusion and of so +profoundly transforming objects as to enkindle reverie. He has at once +shown in the same nude beauty a courtesan, a patrician's mistress, a +listless and voluptuous fisherman's daughter, and a powerful ideal +figure, the masculine force of a sea-goddess, and the undulating forms +of a queen of the empyrean.... + +"The infinite diversities of nature, with all her inequalities, are open +to him; the strongest contrasts are within his range; each of his works +is as rich as it is novel. The spectator finds in him, as in Rubens, a +complete image of the world around him, a history, a psychology, in an +epitomized form." + +The Venus Anadyomene, now in Lord Ellesmere's collection, rising +new-born but full-grown from the sea, wringing her long hair, has the +features of a new model, not Violante, but the same which Titian used in +his famous Magdalen. This represents a woman of about twenty-five, "with +finely rounded limbs and well-modelled figure, handsome face, and +streaming golden hair, and the white splendor of the entire form thrown +into bold relief by a dark and lonely background. The Magdalen is +distinguishable from Venus only by her upturned face and tearful eyes." + +Who was this new model? Could it possibly have been Cecilia, the lady +whom Titian married about this time? In 1525, a son, Pomponio, was born +to him, who became a lifelong sorrow, and before 1530 two other +children, Orazio and Lavinia. The happiness of this married life was of +short duration, for on the fifth of August, 1530, after the birth of +Lavinia, with a mournful heart, he buried Cecilia. One of his friends +wrote to the warder of Mantua, "Our master, Titian, is quite +disconsolate at the loss of his wife, who was buried yesterday. He told +me that in the troubled time of her sickness he was unable to work at +the portrait of the Lady Cornelia, or at the picture of the 'Nude,' +which he is doing for our most illustrious lord." + +Left with three helpless children, Titian sent to Cadore for his sister +Orsa, who came and cared for his household as long as she lived. He had +grown tired of his home on the Grand Canal, and, longing for the open +country, hired a house in the northern suburbs. A little later he took a +piece of land adjoining, which extended to the shore, and which became +famous in after years for its beauty as a garden and for the +distinguished people who gathered there. + +Mrs. Jameson says, "He looked over the wide canal which is the +thoroughfare between the city of Venice and the Island of Murano; in +front, the two smaller islands of San Cristoforo and San Michele; and +beyond them Murano, rising on the right, with all its domes and +campanili like another Venice. Far off extended the level line of the +mainland, and in the distance the towering chain of the Friuli Alps, +sublime, half defined, with jagged snow-peaks soaring against the sky; +and more to the left, the Euganean hills, Petrarch's home, melting like +visions, into golden light. There, in the evening, gondolas filled with +ladies and cavaliers, and resounding with music, were seen skimming over +the crimson waves of the Lagoon, till the purple darkness came on +rapidly--not, as in the north, like a gradual veil, but like a gemmed +and embroidered curtain, suddenly let down over all. This was the view +from the garden of Titian; so unlike any other in the world that it +never would occur to me to compare it with any other. More glorious +combinations of sea, mountain, shore, there may be--I cannot tell; +_like_, it is nothing that I have ever beheld or imagined." + +Who does not recall such beautiful scenes in silent Venice! And yet one +longs, while there, for the sound of the feet of horses, and the zest of +a nineteenth-century city; one feels as though life were going by in a +dream, and is anxious to awake and be a part of the world's eager, +stirring thought. Gondolas and moonlight evenings delight one for a +time, but not for long! + +Titian was now fifty-four. He had painted the "Entombment of Christ," +which was a favorite with Van Dyck, and helped to form his style--a +picture four feet and four inches by seven feet, now in the Louvre; the +Madonna of San Niccolo di Frari, now in the Vatican, which Pordenone is +reported to have said was "not painting, but flesh itself;" the "Madonna +di Casa Pesaro," which latter especially won the heartiest praise. St. +Peter, St. Francis, and St. Anthony of Padua implore the intercession of +the Virgin in favor of the members of the Pesaro family. + +Crowe and Cavalcaselle thus speak of it: "High up on a spray of clouds +that inwreathe the pillars of the temple, two angels playfully sport +with the cross; and, with that wonderful insight which a painter gets +who has studied cloud form flitting over Alpine crags, Titian has not +only thrown a many-toned gradation of shade on the vapor, but shown its +projected shadow on the pillar. The light falls on the clouds, illumines +the sky between the pillars, and sheds a clear glow on the angels, +casting its brightest ray on the Madonna and the body of the infant +Christ.... Decompose the light or the shadow, and you find incredible +varieties of subtlety, which make the master's art unfathomable. Both +are balanced into equal values with a breadth quite admirable, the +utmost darks being very heavy and strong without losing their +transparency; the highest lights dazzling in brightness, yet broken and +full of sparkle. Round the form of the infant Christ the play of white +drapery is magic in effect.... + +"To the various harmonizing elements of hue, of light, and of shade, +that of color superadded brings the picture to perfection; its gorgeous +tinting so subtly wrought, and so wonderfully interweaving with sun and +darkness and varied textures as to resolve itself with the rest into a +vast and incomprehensible whole, which comes to the eye an ideal of +grand and elevated beauty, a sublime unity, that shows the master who +created it to have reached a point in art unsurpassed till now, and +unattainable to those who come after him." + +"The Martyrdom of St. Peter Martyr," completed in 1529, where Titian +"reproduced the human form in its grandest development," has been +studied by generations of artists, from Benvenuto Cellini and Rubens to +Sir Joshua Reynolds. So valued was it by Venice that the Signoria +threatened with death any one who should dare to remove it. +Unfortunately it was destroyed by fire in 1867, together with the chapel +which contained it. + +The "Madonna del Coniglio," at the Louvre, is also much valued. "We ask +ourselves, indeed, when looking at this picture, whether an artist with +only fleeting ties could have created such a masterpiece; and the answer +seems to be that nature here gushes from the innermost recesses of a +man's heart who has begun to know the charms of paternity, who has +watched a young mother and her yearling child, and seized at a glance +those charming but minute passages which seldom or never meet any but a +father's eye." + +In 1533 a most fortunate thing happened to Titian. Charles V. had come +to Bologna, to receive the homage of Italy. The great emperor was an +enthusiastic lover of art, had seen Titian's work, and desired a +portrait from his hand. The artist hastened thither and painted Charles +in armor, bare-headed. He used to say of himself that he was by nature +ugly, but being painted so often uglier than he really was, he +disappointed favorably many persons, who expected something most +unattractive. + +Another portrait of him which Titian painted, now at Madrid, shows him +in splendid gala dress, with red beard, pale skin, blue eyes, and +protruding lower lip. + +The sculptor Lombardi was so anxious to look upon the emperor that he +carried Titian's paintbox at the sittings, and slyly made a relief +portrait of Charles on a tablet in wax, which he slipped into his +sleeve. The emperor detected him, asked to see the work, praised it, and +had Lombardi put it in marble for him. + +Charles was so pleased with the portraits by Titian that he would never +sit to any other artist. He called him the Apelles of his time, and paid +him one thousand scudi in gold for each portrait. He created Titian a +Count of the Lateran Palace, of the Aulic Council, and of the +Consistory; with the title of Count Palatine, and all the advantages +attached to those dignities. His children were thereby raised to the +rank of Nobles of the Empire, with all the honors appertaining to +families with four generations of ancestors. He was also made a Knight +of the Golden Spur, with the right of entrance to Court. + +The Cadorine youth had reached the temple of fame, unaided save by his +skilful hand and inventive brain. He sat daily from morning till night +at his easel, often ill from overwork, yet urged on by that undying +aspiration which we call genius. + +He painted the beautiful portrait of the young Cardinal Ippolito de' +Medici, now in the Pitti Palace, whom Michael Angelo so tenderly loved, +and whose untimely death by poison at the hand of his cup-bearer, at +Itri, caused general sorrow. Ippolito sat to Titian at Bologna "in the +red cap and variegated plumes of a Hungarian chief. His curved sabre +hung from an Oriental sash wound round a red-brown coat with golden +buttons, and he wielded with his right the mace of command. It appeared +as if the burning sun of the Danube valley had bronzed the features of +the chieftain, whose skin seemed to glow with a tropical heat, whilst +its surface was smooth and burnished as that of the Bella Gioconda." +Ippolito urged Titian to come to Rome; Francis I. wished him to visit +France; but Titian loved his Venice gardens and his mountain resort at +Cadore, and could not be induced to leave them. His father, Gregorio +Vecelli, had died in 1527, three years before the death of Cecilia, and +Francesco, the dearly loved artist brother, had gone to care for the +Cadore home, where he often welcomed with enthusiastic admiration his +famous brother, Titian. + +The next paintings from the great artist were the "Rape of Proserpina;" +portraits of the Duke and Duchess of Urbino, Isabella d'Este Gonzaga, +the beautiful Eleonora Gonzaga, the twelve Caesars for Duke Federigo +Gonzaga of Mantua; the "Annunciation," for which he received two +thousand scudi from the Emperor; "La Bella di Titiano," now in the +Pitti, and the "Venus" of the Uffizi. "The face of the 'Bella' was so +winning that it lurked in Titian's memory, and passed as a type into +numerous canvases, in which the painter tried to realize an ideal of +loveliness. The head being seen about two-thirds to the left, whilst the +eyes are turned to the right, the spectator is fascinated by the glance +in whatever direction he looks at the canvas. The eye is grave, serene, +and kindly, the nose delicate and beautifully shaped, the mouth divine. +Abundant hair of a warm auburn waves along the temples, leaving a stray +curl to drop on the forehead. The rest is plaited and twisted into coils +round a head of the most symmetrical shape. A gold chain falls over a +throat of exquisite model, and the low dress, with its braided ornaments +and slashed sleeves alternately tinted in blue and white and purple, is +magnificent. One hand, the left, is at rest; the other holds a tassel +hanging from a girdle. Nothing can exceed the delicacy and subtlety with +which the flesh and dress are painted, the tones being harmonized and +thrown into keeping by a most varied use and application of glazings +and scumblings." + +Of the Uffizi "Venus," Crowe and Cavalcaselle say, "What the painter +achieves, and no other master of the age achieves with equal success, is +the representation of a beauteous living being, whose fair and polished +skin is depicted with enamelled gloss, and yet with every shade of +modulation which a delicate flesh comports: flesh not marbled or cold, +but sweetly toned, and mantling with life's blood, flesh that seems to +heave and rise and fall with every breath. Perfect distribution of +space, a full and ringing harmony of tints, atmosphere both warm and +mellow, are all combined in such wise as to bring us in contact with +something that is real; and we feel, as we look into the canvas, that we +might walk into that apartment and find room to wander in the gray +twilight into which it is thrown by the summer sky that shows through +the coupled windows." + +At the feet of Venus a little dog lies curled up on the couch. In the +Venus of Madrid, she pats the back of a dog, while her lover plays an +organ at the foot of the couch. + +It is interesting to learn how Titian produced such effects by his +brush. Says Palma Giovine, "Titian prepared his pictures with a solid +stratum of pigment, which served as a bed or fundament, upon which to +return frequently. Some of these preparations were made with resolute +strokes of a brush heavily laden with color, the half-tints struck in +with pure red earth, the lights with white, modelled into relief by +touches of the same brush dipped into red, black, and yellow. In this +way he would give the promise of a figure in four strokes. After laying +this foundation, he would turn the picture to the wall, and leave it +there perhaps for months, turning it round again after a time, to look +at it carefully, and scan the parts as he would the face of his greatest +enemy. + +"If at this time any portion of it should appear to him to have been +defective, he would set to work to correct it, applying remedies as a +surgeon might apply them, cutting off excrescences here, super-abundant +flesh there, redressing an arm, adjusting or setting a limb, regardless +of the pain which it might cause. In this way he would reduce the whole +to a certain symmetry, put it aside, and return again a third or more +times, till the first quintessence had been covered over with its +padding of flesh. It was contrary to his habit to finish at one +painting, and he used to say that a poet who improvises cannot hope to +form pure verses. But of 'condiments,' in the shape of last retouches, +he was particularly fond. Now and then he would model the light into +half-tint with a rub of his finger, or with a touch of his thumb he +would dab a spot of dark pigment into some corner to strengthen it; or +throw in a reddish stroke--a tear of blood, so to speak--to break the +parts superficially. In fact, when finishing, he painted much more with +his fingers than with his brush." Titian used to say, "White, red, and +black, these are all the colors that a painter needs, but one must know +how to use them." Titian painted rapidly. One of his best friends said +that "he could execute a portrait as quickly as another could scratch an +ornament on a chest." + +In 1537 the Council of Ten, angered at Titian's delays in frescoing the +ducal palace, gave a portion of the work to the noted artist Pordenone, +took away his brokership, and decreed that he should refund his revenues +from that source for the past twenty years. In dismay, Titian left his +orders from emperors and princes, and went to work in the great halls. +Two years later his broker's patent was restored, and, Pordenone having +died in 1538, the patronage of the Republic came again into his hands. + +Titian now painted the "Angel and Tobit," of San Marciliano at Venice, +and the "Presentation in the Temple," now at the Venice Academy, the +latter "the finest and most complete creation of Venetian art since the +'Peter Martyr,' and the 'Madonna di Casa Pesaro.'" + +This picture is one of the largest of the master's works, being +twenty-five feet long. "Mary, in a dress of celestial blue, ascends the +steps of the temple in a halo of radiance. She pauses on the first +landing-place, and gathers her skirts to ascend to the second. The +flight is in profile before us. At the top of it the high-priest, in +Jewish garments, yellow tunic, blue undercoat and sleeves, and white +robe, looks down at the girl with serene and kindly gravity, a priest in +cardinal's robes at his side, a menial in black behind him, and a young +acolyte in red and yellow holding the book of prayer. At the bottom +there are people looking up, some of them leaning on the edge of the +step, others about to ascend." + +Titian painted several portraits of himself, one now at Berlin, another +at Madrid, still another in Florence, and others. They show a bold, high +forehead, finely cut nose, penetrating eyes, and much dignity of +bearing. + +Duke Alfonso of Ferrara and Duke Federigo Gonzaga of Mantua, his noble +patrons, had both died; but Pope Paul III. now became an ardent admirer +of Titian's work, invited him to Rome, where he spent several months +lodged in the Belvedere Palace, and sat to him for a portrait. It is +said, after the picture of Paul was finished and set to dry on the +terrace of the palace, that the passing crowd doffed their hats, +thinking that it was the living pope. + +While in Rome, Titian painted many portraits in the pontiff's family, +and a "Danae receiving the Golden Rain," now in the museum of Naples, +for Ottavio Farnese, grandson of Paul III., who was married to Margaret, +daughter of Emperor Charles V. Danae was the daughter of Acrisius, king +of Argos. An oracle had predicted that her son would one day kill +Acrisius; therefore, to prevent the fulfilment of the prophecy, Danae +was shut up in a brazen tower. But Jupiter transformed himself into a +shower of gold, and descended through the roof of her tower. She became +the mother of Perseus, and she and her son were put into a chest and +cast into the sea. Jupiter rescued them, and Perseus finally killed his +grandfather. + +Titian was now sixty-eight years of age,--growing old, but never +slacking in energy or industry. He had painted for the Church of San +Spirito "Abraham's Sacrifice of Isaac," "The Murder of Abel," "David's +Victory over Goliath," "The Descent of the Holy Spirit," "The Four +Christian Fathers," and "The Four Evangelists." "His figures are not +cast in the supernatural mould of those of Michael Angelo at the +Sistine, they are not shaped in his sculptural way, or foreshortened in +his preternatural manner. They have not the elegance of Raphael, nor the +conventional grace of Correggio; but they are built up, as it were, of +flesh and blood, and illumined with a magic effect of light and shade +and color which differs from all else that was realized elsewhere by +selection, outline, and chiaroscuro. They form pictures peculiar to +Titian, and pregnant with his, and only his, grand and natural +originality." The "Ecce Homo," twelve feet by eight, in the gallery of +Vienna, was painted for Giovanni d' Anna, a wealthy merchant. When Henry +III. passed through Venice in 1574, he saw this picture, and offered +eight hundred ducats for it. When Sir Henry Wotton was English envoy at +Venice in 1620, he bought the painting for the Duke of Buckingham, who +refused thirty-five thousand dollars offered for it by the Earl of +Arundel. + +In 1546, on the return of the artist from Rome to his home, Casa Grande, +in Venice, he painted the portraits of his lovely daughter Lavinia, now +in the Dresden Museum, and in the Berlin gallery. "From the first to the +last this beautiful piece (in Dresden) is the work of the master, and +there is not an inch of it in which his hand is not to be traced. His is +the brilliant flesh, brought up to a rosy carnation by wondrous kneading +of copious pigment; his the contours formed by texture, and not defined +by outline; his again the mixture of sharp and blurred touches, the +delicate modelling in dazzling light, the soft glazing, cherry lip, and +sparkling eye. Such a charming vision as this was well fitted to twine +itself round a father's heart. + +"Lavinia's hair is yellow, and strewed with pearls, showing a pretty +wave, and irrepressible curls in stray locks on the forehead. Ear-rings, +a necklace of pearls, glitter with gray reflections on a skin +incomparably fair. The gauze on the shoulders is light as air, and +contrasts with the stiff richness of a white damask silk dress and +skirt, the folds of which heave and sink in shallow projections and +depressions, touched in tender scales of yellow or ashen white. The left +hand, with its bracelet of pearls, hangs gracefully as it tucks up the +train of the gown, whilst the right is raised no higher than the waist, +to wave the stiff, plaited leaf of a palmetto fan."... + +Lavinia, at Berlin, "is dressed in yellowish flowered silk, with +slashed sleeves, a chiselled girdle round her waist, and a white veil +hanging from her shoulders. Seen in profile, she raises with both hands, +to the level of her forehead, a silver dish piled with fruit and +flowers. Her head is thrown back, and turned so as to allow +three-quarters of it to be seen, as she looks from the corners of her +eyes at the spectator. Auburn hair is carefully brushed off the temples, +and confined by a jewelled diadem, and the neck is set off with a string +of pearls." + +The Titian home had joys and sorrows in it like other homes. Pomponio, +the eldest child, though a priest, was dissolute and a spendthrift, +constantly incurring debts which his devoted father paid to mitigate the +disgrace. Orazio, a noble son, had become an artist, his father's +assistant and confidant. He had married and brought his young wife to +Casa Grande. Lavinia, a beauty, the only daughter, was about to be +married to Cornelio Sarcinella of Serravalle, receiving from her father +a dowry of fourteen hundred ducats, a regal sum for a painter. + +In January of 1548, Titian, now past seventy, was summoned to Augsburg, +where Charles V. had convened the Diet of the Empire. He painted the +portrait of Charles on the field of Muhlberg "in burnished armor-inlaid +with gold, his arms and legs in chain mail, his hands gauntleted, a +morion with a red plume, but without a visor, on his head. The red +scarf with gold stripes--cognizance of the House of Burgundy--hung +across his shoulders, and he brandished with his right hand a sharp and +pointed spear. The chestnut steed, half hid in striped housings, had a +head-piece of steel topped by a red feather similar to that of its +master." + +Titian also painted, while at Augsburg, King Ferdinand, the brother of +Charles, Queen Mary of Hungary, "Prometheus," "Sisyphus," "Ixion," and +"Tantalus" at her request, besides many other pictures. Charles so +honored Titian that once when the artist dropped his brush the emperor +picked it up and handed it to him, saying that "Titian was worthy of +being served by Caesar." + +On a second visit to Augsburg Titian painted a portrait of Philip II. of +Spain, the son of Charles. This was sent to Queen Mary of England, when +Philip was her suitor, and quite won her heart, presumably more than the +man himself when he afterwards became her husband. When Titian parted +from his patron, Charles gave him a Spanish pension of five hundred +scudi. He returned to Venice "rich as a prince instead of poor as a +painter." + +Philip II. was as much a patron of art as his father, and was constantly +soliciting paintings from Titian. It is best, probably, that most of us +are worked to our utmost capacity, for work rarely kills people; worry +frequently destroys both body and brain. + +For Philip he painted a "St. Margaret," now in the museum at Madrid; a +"Danae," where an old woman sits beside the couch and gathers Jupiter's +golden shower in her apron; a "Perseus and Andromeda," the princess +bound to a rock, and Perseus saving her; and a "Venus and Adonis," now +at Madrid. For the enfeebled Emperor Charles he painted "The Grieving +Virgin," now in the Madrid Museum, which represents the mother lamenting +over the sufferings of the Saviour, and the "Trinity," now at Madrid, +showing the Virgin interceding before the Father and Son for the +imperial family,--a picture upon which the emperor used to gaze with +intense feeling when he had retired to die in the Convent of Yuste. +Thither he carried nine of Titian's paintings for his consolation. He +died in 1558, with his eyes resting lovingly upon a picture of the +emperor painted by Titian, and upon "The Trinity." "Christ appearing to +the Magdalen" was sent to Queen Mary of Hungary. + +Titian was now seventy-nine years of age, honored and loved by many +countries. While his life had been one of almost unceasing labor, he had +found time to receive at Casa Grande, poets and artists, dukes and +kings, at his delightful garden-parties. Henry III. of France came to +see him, and received as a gift any pictures in the studio of which he +asked the price. When Cardinal Granvelle and Pacheco came to dine at +Casa Grande, Titian flung a purse to his steward, and bade him prepare a +feast, since "all the world was dining with him." + +Titian attached to himself a few most devoted friends: Aretino, a +writer, who had many faults, but must have had some virtues to have been +loved by Titian for thirty years; Sansovino, an architect; Speroni, a +philosopher, and a few others who met frequently for cultured +conversation and good-fellowship at Casa Grande. It is said by +historians that at some of these garden parties the still beautiful +Violante was to be seen among the distinguished guests. Had she been +married to another, all these years? or was the old affection renewed in +these latter days? + +In 1556 Aretino died, and Titian deeply lamented the man who had been an +almost inseparable companion; three years later his beloved brother, +Francesco, died at Cadore, and two years after this his beautiful +daughter Lavinia, leaving six little children. + +Still the man past eighty painted on: "The Martyrdom of St. Lawrence," +now in the Jesuits' Church at Venice, and "Christ Crowned with Thorns," +now in the Louvre, where, "with undeniable originality, he almost +attained to a grandeur of composition and bold creativeness equal to +those of Buonarotti, whilst he added to his creations that which was +essentially his own--the magic play of tints and lights and shadows +which mark the true Venetian craftsman." + +At eighty-two he painted for Philip II. "Diana and Calisto," "Diana and +Actaeon," and "The Entombment of Christ." The Dianas are now in the +Bridgewater collection at London, for which they were purchased for +twelve thousand five hundred dollars. + +"Titian," says Crowe, "was never more thoroughly master of the secrets +of the human framework than now that he was aged. Never did he less +require the model. What his mind suggested issued from his hand as +Minerva issued from the brain of Jove. His power was the outcome of +years of experience, which made every stroke of his brush both sure and +telling.... But the field of the earlier time, take it all in all, is +sweeter and of better savor than that of the later period. Rich, +exuberant, and bright the works of the master always were; but there is +something mysterious and unfathomable in the brightness and sweetness of +his prime which far exceeds in charm the cleverness of his old age." + +With loving care he painted Irene of Spilimberg, who died at twenty, and +whose fame in classic learning, in music, painting, and poetry, was +celebrated in sonnets and prose at her death. She was a pupil of Titian, +a fit representative of an age which produced among learned men such +women as Vittoria Colonna and Veronica Gambara. Irene is painted "almost +at full length and large as life, in a portico, from which a view is +seen of a landscape, with a shepherd tending his flock, and a unicorn to +indicate the lady's maiden condition. Her head is turned to the left, +showing auburn hair tied with a string of pearls. Round her throat is a +necklace of the same. Her waist is bound with a chain girdle, and over +her bodice of red stuff a jacket of red damask silk is embroidered with +gold, and fringed at the neck with a high standing muslin collar. A band +hanging from the shoulders and passing beneath one arm is held in the +right hand, whilst the left is made to grasp a laurel crown, and 'Si +fata tulissent' is engraved on the plinth of a pillar." + +The "Epiphany," now in Madrid, was sent to Philip II., in 1560; a +"Magdalen," now in the Hermitage, in 1561; "Christ in the Garden," +"Europa and the Bull," and "Jupiter and Antiope," in 1562. Titian wrote +to Philip, "I had determined to take a rest for those years of my old +age which it may please the majesty of God to grant me; still ... I +shall devote all that is left of my life to doing reverence to your +Catholic Majesty with new pictures." + +"Europa," says Sweetser, "is a lovely and scantily clad maiden sitting +on the back of a flower-garlanded white bull, who is swimming proudly +through the green sea, throwing a line of foaming surge before his +breast. In the air are flying Cupids, and the nymphs on the distant +shore bewail the loss of their companion." + +"Jupiter and Antiope," now in the Louvre, formerly called the "Venus of +Pardo," is very celebrated. "Though injured by fire, travels, cleaning, +and restoring," says Crowe, "the masterpiece still exhibits Titian in +possession of all the energy of his youth, and leads us back +involuntarily to the days when he composed the Bacchanals. The same +beauties of arrangement, form, light, and shade, and some of the earlier +charms of color, are here united to a new scale of effectiveness due to +experience and a magic readiness of hand. Fifty years of practice were +required to bring Titian to this mastery. Distribution, movement, +outline, modelling, atmosphere and distance, are all perfect." + +The following year, 1563, Titian sent to Philip "The Last Supper," with +thirteen life-sized figures, upon which he had worked for six years. +When it was carried to the Escurial, in spite of the protests of the +painter Navarrete, the monks cut off a large piece of the upper part of +the canvas, to make it the size of the wall of the refectory! + +In 1565 he painted "The Transfiguration," in the San Salvadore at +Venice, the "Annunciation" for the same church; "St. James of +Compostella," in the Church of San Leo, and the "Cupid and Venus" of the +Borghese Palace, the Queen of Love and two Graces teaching Cupid his +vocation. + +"Venus is seated in front of a gorgeous red-brown drapery; her head is +crowned with a diadem, and her luxuriant hair falls in heavy locks on +her neck. Her arms are bare, but her tunic is bound with a sash, which +meets in a cross at her bosom and winds away under the arms, whilst a +flap of a blue mantle crosses the knees. With both hands she is binding +the eyes of Eros leaning on her lap, whilst she turns to listen to the +whispering of another Eros resting on her shoulder. A girl with naked +throat and arm carries Cupid's quiver, whilst a second holds his bow. +Behind the group a sky overcast with pearly clouds lowers over a +landscape of hills.... Light plays upon every part," says Crowe, +"creating, as it falls, a due projection of shadow, producing all the +delicacies of broken tone and a clear silvery surface full of sparkle, +recalling those masterpieces of Paolo Veronese, in which the gradations +are all in the cinerine as opposed to the golden key." + +In 1566, the aged artist, now verging on ninety, heretofore exempt from +taxation, was obliged to give a list of his property. He owned several +houses, pieces of land, sawmills, and the like, and has been blamed +because he did not state the full value of his possessions. + +Vasari, who visited him at this time, writes,--"Titian has enjoyed +health and happiness unequalled, and has never received from heaven +anything but favor and felicity. His house has been visited by all the +princes, men of letters, and gentlemen who ever come to Venice. Besides +being excellent in art, he is pleasant company, of fine deportment and +agreeable manners.... Titian, having decorated Venice, and, indeed, +Italy and other parts of the world, with admirable pictures, deserves to +be loved and studied by artists, as one who has done and is still doing +works deserving of praise, which will last as long as the memory of +illustrious men." + +When he was ninety-one he sent to Philip II. a "Venus," the "Martyrdom +of St. Lawrence," a large "Tarquin and Lucretia," and "Philip Presenting +his Son to an Angel," now in the Madrid Museum. He also painted for +himself "Christ Crowned with Thorns," a powerful work, now in Munich, +which Rubens, Rembrandt, and Van Dyck carefully studied as a model. +Tintoretto hung it later in his atelier, to show what a painting ought +to be. + +His "Adam and Eve," now at Madrid, which Rubens greatly admired and +copied, was painted at this time. + +In 1576, when Titian was ninety-nine, he began his last picture, the +"Christ of Pity," for the Franciscans of the Frari, with whom he had +bargained for a grave in their chapel. The Saviour rests in death on the +lap of the Virgin. + +"We may suppose," says Donald G. Mitchell, "that a vision of +Lavinia--long gone out of his household--of Cecilia, still longer +gone--of Violante, a memory of his young days--may have flitted on his +mind as he traced the last womanly face he was to paint." + +"On marble plinths at the sides of the niche are statues of Moses and +the Hellespontic Sibyl, and on a scutcheon at the Sibyl's feet we see +the arms of Titian, a set square sable on a field argent, beneath the +double eagle on a field or. A small tablet leaning against the +scutcheon contains the defaced portraits of Titian and his son Orazio, +kneeling before a diminutive group of the 'Christ of Pity.'... It is +truly surprising," says Crowe, "that a man so far advanced in years +should have had the power to put together a composition so perfect in +line, so elevated in thought, or so tragic in expression.... We see the +traces of a brush manipulated by one whose hand never grew weary, and +never learned to tremble.... In the group of the Virgin and Christ--a +group full of the deepest and truest feeling--there lies a grandeur +comparable in one sense with that which strikes us in the 'Pieta' of +Michael Angelo. For the sublime conventionalism by which Buonarotti +carries us into a preternatural atmosphere, Titian substitutes a depth +of passion almost equally sublime, and the more real as it is enhanced +by color." + +Titian did not live to complete this work, which was done by his pupil, +Palma Giovine, who placed conspicuously upon it this touching +inscription: "That which Titian left unfinished, Palma reverently +completed, and dedicated the work to God." + +Age did not spoil the skill of the master. Aretino said, on looking at a +portrait of a daughter of the rich Strozzio, "If I were a painter, I +should die of despair.... But certain it is that Titian's pencil has +waited on Titian's old age to perform its miracles." + +Tullia said, "I hold Titian to be not a painter--his creations not art, +but his works to be miracles, and I think that his pigments must be +composed of that wonderful herb which made Glaucus a god when he partook +of it; since his portraits make upon me the impression of something +divine, and, as heaven is the paradise of the soul, so God has +transfused into Titian's colors the paradise of our bodies." + +In the summer of this year, 1576, Venice was stricken by a plague which +destroyed fifty thousand people out of one hundred and ninety thousand; +more than a quarter of the whole population. There was a general panic, +the sick were left to die unattended, and a law was passed that no +victims of the scourge should be buried in the churches. + +As the plague swept on it carried off Orazio, the son of Titian, and +then the idol of Venice, Titian himself. He died suddenly August 27, +1576. The law of burial was quickly set aside by the supreme +authorities, and, despite the fear of contagion, the canons of St. Mark +bore his body in solemn procession to his grave in the Church of the +Frari. In 1852, nearly three centuries later, the Emperor of Austria +erected a magnificent mausoleum over his tomb. It is a vast canopy +covering a statue of Titian, seated, with one hand resting on the Book +of Art, while the other lifts the veil of Nature. Surrounding him are +figures representing painting, wood-carving, sculpture, and +architecture, while on the wall behind him are bas-reliefs of three of +his greatest works, the "Assumption," the "Martyrdom of St. Lawrence," +and the "Martyrdom of St. Peter." Two angels bear the simple +inscription,-- + +"Titiano Ferdinandus I. MDCCCLII." + +Wonderful old man! self-made, a poet by nature, a marvel of industry, +working to the very last on his beloved paintings, rich, tender to his +family, true in his friendships. "The greatest master of color whom the +world has known." + + + + +MURILLO. + + +In the picturesque city of Seville, "the glory of the Spanish realms," +the greatest painter of Spain, Bartolome Esteban Murillo, was born, +probably on the last day of the year 1617. He was baptized on New Year's +Day, 1618, in the Church of La Magdalena, destroyed in 1810 by the +French troops under Marshal Soult. + +[Illustration: MURILLO.] + +His father, Gaspar Esteban, was a mechanic, renting a modest house which +belonged to a convent, and keeping it in repair for the use of it. His +mother, Maria Perez, seems to have been well connected, as her brother, +Juan de Costillo, was one of the leaders of art in Seville. It is said +that the family were once wealthy and distinguished, but now they were +very poor. + +The boy, Bartolome, was consecrated to the church, with the fond hope of +his mother that he would become a priest. However, he soon exhibited +such artistic talent that this project was abandoned. One day when the +mother went to Church, leaving the child at home, he amused himself by +taking a sacred picture, "Jesus and the Lamb," and painting his own hat +on the Infant Saviour's head, and changing the lamb into a dog. + +Probably the reverent mother was shocked, but she thereby gained a +knowledge of the genius of her only son. In school, the boy used to make +sketches on the margins of his books and on the walls. + +Before he was eleven years old, both father and mother died, leaving him +to the care of a surgeon, Juan Agustin Lagares, who had married his +aunt, Dona Anna Murillo. Probably from this family name the boy derived +his own. A little sister, Teresa, was also left an orphan. + +He was soon apprenticed to his uncle, Juan del Castillo, who taught him +carefully all the details of his art,--correct drawing, how to prepare +canvas, mix colors, and study patiently. The lad was very industrious, +eager to learn, extremely gentle and amiable, and soon attached himself +to both teacher and pupils. + +From this it is easy to judge that he had had a lovely mother, one who +encouraged, who preserved a sweet nature in her son because sweet +herself. How often have I seen a parent lose the confidence of a child +by too often reproving, by over-criticism, by disparagement! Praise +seldom harms anybody. We usually receive and give too little +commendation all our lives. + +One of my most precious memories is the fact that my widowed mother made +it her life-rule not to find fault with her two children. She loved us +into obedience. She told us her wishes and her hopes for us, and the +smile with which she spoke lingers in my heart like an exquisite +picture. Long ago I learned that no home ever had too much love in it. + +For nine years the Spanish lad worked in his uncle's studio, studying +nature as well as art, as shown in his inimitable "Beggar Boys" and +other dwellers in the streets of Seville. When he was twenty, he painted +two Madonnas, "The Virgin with St. Francis," for the Convent of Regina +Angelorum, and the "Virgin del Rosario with San Domingo," for the Church +of St. Thomas. + +It was natural that the young artist, loving the Catholic faith, should +paint as one of his first pictures the "Story of the Rosary." Mrs. +Jameson, in her "Legends of the Monastic Orders," thus gives the history +of St. Dominick: "His father was of the illustrious family of Guzman. +His mother, Joanna d'Aza, was also of noble birth.... Such was his early +predilection for a life of penance that when he was only six or seven +years old he would get out of his bed to lie on the cold earth. His +parents sent him to study theology in the university of Valencia, and he +assumed the habit of a canon of St. Augustine at a very early age. + +"Many stories are related of his youthful piety, his self-inflicted +austerities, and his charity. One day he met a poor woman weeping +bitterly, and when he inquired the cause she told him that her only +brother, her sole stay and support in the world, had been carried into +captivity by the Moors. Dominick could not ransom her brother; he had +given away all his money, and even sold his books, to relieve the poor; +but he offered all he could,--he offered up himself to be exchanged as a +slave in place of her brother. The woman, astonished at such a proposal, +fell upon her knees before him. She refused his offer, but she spread +the fame of the young priest far and wide.... + +"He united with himself several ecclesiastics, who went about barefoot +in the habit of penitents, exhorting the people to conform to the +Church. The institution of the Order of St. Dominick sprang out of this +association of preachers, but it was not united under an especial rule, +nor confirmed, till some years later, by Pope Honorius, in 1216. + +"It was during his sojourn in Languedoc that St. Dominick instituted the +Rosary. The use of a chaplet of beads, as a memento of the number of +prayers recited, is of Eastern origin, and dates from the time of the +Egyptian Anchorites. Beads were also used by the Benedictines, and are +to this day in use among the Mohammedan devotees. Dominick invented a +novel arrangement of the chaplet, and dedicated it to the honor and +glory of the Blessed Virgin, for whom he entertained a most especial +veneration. A complete rosary consists of fifteen large and one hundred +and fifty small beads; the former representing the number of +_Paternosters_, the latter the number of _Ave Marias_.... The rosary was +received with the utmost enthusiasm, and by this single expedient +Dominick did more to excite the devotion of the lower orders, +especially of the women, and made more converts, than by all his +orthodoxy, learning, arguments, and eloquence. + +"St. Dominick, in the excess of his charity and devotion, was +accustomed, while preaching in Languedoc, to scourge himself three times +a day,--once for his own sins; once for the sins of others; and once for +the benefit of souls in purgatory." He preached in all the principal +cities of Europe, and died at Bologna in 1221. + +In 1640, when Murillo was twenty-two, the Castilli home was broken up, +the uncle Juan going to Cadiz to reside. Without fame and poor, the +youth was thrown upon his own resources. There were many artists in the +city of Seville, and Murillo, shy and retiring, could not expect much +patronage. He decided to go to the _Feria_, a weekly market, held in +front of the Church of All Saints, and there, in the midst of stalls +where eatables, old clothes, and other wares were sold, he set up his +open-air studio, and worked among the gypsies and the muleteers. + +Rough, showy pictures were painted to order and sold to those who +frequented the market-place. For two long years he lived among this +humble class, earning probably but a scanty subsistence. Here, +doubtless, he learned to paint flower-girls and squalid beggars. "There +was no contempt," says Sweetser, "in Murillo's feelings towards these +children of nature; and his sentiments seemed to partake almost of a +fraternal sympathy for them. No small portion of his popularity among +the lower classes arose from the knowledge that he was their poet and +court painter, who understood and did not calumniate them. Velasquez had +chosen to paint superb dukes and cardinals, and found his supporters in +a handful of supercilious grandees; but Murillo illustrated the lives of +the poorest classes on Spanish soil, and was the idol of the masses. +With what splendor of color and mastery of design did he thus illuminate +the annals of the poor! Coming forth from some dim chancel or +palace-hall in which he had been working on a majestic Madonna-picture, +he would sketch in, with the brush still loaded with the colors of +celestial glory, the lineaments of the beggar crouching by the wall or +the gypsy calmly reposing in the black shadow of the archway. Such +versatility had never before been seen west of the Mediterranean, and +commanded the admiration of his countrymen. + +"We do not find in his pictures the beggar of Britain and America, cold, +lowering, gloomy, and formidable; but the laughing child of the +sunlight, full of joy and content, preferring to bask rather than to +work, yet always fed somehow, and abundantly; crop-haired, brown-footed, +clad in incoherent rags, but bright-eyed, given to much joviality, and +with an affluence of white teeth, often shown in merry moods; not so +respectable as the staid burghers of Nuremberg and Antwerp, but far more +picturesque and perhaps quite as happy." + +But for Murillo's life of poverty he could not have had this sympathy +with the poor. Doubtless every experience is given us with a purpose, +that either through the brush or the pen, or by word or deed, we may the +better do our part for the elevation of mankind. + +In 1642, Murillo had a new inspiration. A fellow-pupil in Castillo's +school, Pedro de Moya, after joining the Spanish army and campaigning in +Flanders, had spent six months in London under Van Dyck. Now he came +back to Seville aglow with his delights in travel and the wonders of the +Flemish painters. + +Murillo was fired with ambition. He too would see famous painters and +renowned cities, and become as great as his young friend Moya. But how? +He had no money and no influential friends. He would make the effort. He +might stay forever at the _Feria_, and never be heard of beyond Seville. + +He bought a piece of linen, cut it into pieces of various sizes, and, in +some obscure room, painted upon them saints, flowers, fruit, and +landscapes. Then he sallied forth to find purchasers. One wonders +whether the young man did not sometimes become discouraged in these +years of toil; if he did not sometimes look at the houses of the +grandees and sigh because he was not rich or because he was homeless and +unknown? + +He sold most of his pictures to a ship-owner, by whom they were sent to +the West Indies and other Catholic portions of America. Then he started +on foot over the Sierras,--a long and tedious journey to Madrid. In the +Spanish capital he could find the works of art which he wished to study. + +He had no money nor friends when he arrived in the great city, but he +had courage. He had learned early in life a most valuable lesson,--to +depend on himself. To whom should he go? Velasquez, formerly of Seville, +was at the height of his fame, the favorite of the king, the friend of +the wealthy and the distinguished. Murillo determined to seek the great +artist in his own home; at least he could only be refused admittance. + +Velasquez kindly received the young man, who told him how he had come on +foot over the mountains to study. There was no jealousy in the heart of +the painter, no fear of rivalry. He was pleased with the modesty, +frankness, and aspiration of the youth, and, strange to say, took him +into his own home to reside. What a contrast to painting in the _Feria_, +and living in a garret! + +Murillo at once began to study in the royal galleries where Philip II. +and his father Charles V. had gathered their Titians, their Rubenses, +and their Van Dycks. For three years, through the kindness of Velasquez, +he met the leading Spanish artists and the prominent people of the +court. The king admired his work, and greatly encouraged him. Murillo +was fortunate,--yes; but Fortune did not seek him, he sought her! +Ambition and action made him successful. + +Early in 1645, Murillo returned to Seville. Velasquez offered to give +him letters of introduction to eminent artists in Rome, but he preferred +to go back to his native city. Probably he longed for the old Cathedral, +with La Giralda, the Alcazar, the Moorish palaces, and the Guadalquivir. + +The Alcazar, says Hare, in his "Wanderings in Spain," begun in 1181, was +in great part rebuilt by Pedro the Cruel, 1353-64. "The history of this +strange monarch gives the Alcazar its chief interest. Hither he fled +with his mother as a child from his father, Alonzo XI., and his +mistress, Leonora de Guzman. They were protected by the minister, +Albuquerque, at whose house he met and loved Maria de Padilla, a +Castilian beauty of noble birth, whom he secretly married. Albuquerque +was furious, and, aided by the queen-mother, forced him into a political +marriage with the French princess, Blanche de Bourbon. He met her at +Valladolid; but three days after his nuptials fled from the wife he +disliked to the one he loved, who ever after held royal court at +Seville, while Queen Blanche,--a sort of Spanish Mary Stuart,--after +being cruelly persecuted and imprisoned for years, was finally put to +death at Medina-Sidonia. + +"In this Alcazar, Pedro received the Red King of Granada, with a promise +of safe-conduct, and then murdered him for the sake of his jewels, one +of which--a large ruby--he gave to the Black Prince after Navarete, and +which is 'the fair ruby, great like a rachet-ball,' which Elizabeth +showed to the ambassador of Mary of Scotland, and now adorns the royal +crown of England.... + +"It was in the Alcazar, also, that Pedro murdered his illegitimate +brother, the master of Santiago, who had caused him much trouble by a +rebellion. Maria de Padilla knew his coming fate, but did not dare to +tell him, though from the beautiful _ajimez_ window over the gate she +watched for his arrival, and tried to warn him by her tears. Six years +after, this murder was avenged by Henry of Trastamare, the brother of +the slain, who stabbed Pedro to the heart. But Maria de Padilla was +already dead, and buried with queens in the royal chapel, when Pedro +publicly acknowledged her as his lawful wife, and the marriage received +the sanction of the Spanish Church.... + +"Within the Alcazar all is still fresh and brilliant with light and +color. It is like a scene from the 'Arabian Nights,' or the wonderful +creation of a kaleidoscope.... The Hall of Ambassadors is perfectly +glorious in its delicate lace-like ornaments and the rich color of its +exquisite _azulejos_." + +"The cathedral," says Hare, "stands on a high platform, girdled with +pillars, partly brought from Italica and partly relics of the mosques, +of which two existed on this site. The last, built by the Emir Yusuf in +1184, was pulled down in 1401, when the cathedral was begun, only the +Giralda, the Court of Oranges, and some of the outer walls being +preserved. The chapter, when convened for the building of the cathedral, +determined, like religious Titans, to build 'one of such size and +beauty that coming ages should proclaim them mad for having undertaken +it.'... + +"Far above houses and palaces, far above the huge cathedral itself, +soars the beautiful Giralda, its color a pale pink, incrusted all over +with delicate Moorish ornament, so high that its detail is quite lost as +you gaze upward; so large that you may easily ride on horseback to the +summit, up the broad roadway in the interior.... + +"In the interior everything is vast, down to the Paschal candle, placed +in a candlestick twenty-five feet high, and weighing twenty-five hundred +pounds, of wax, while the expenditure of the chapter may be estimated by +the fact that eighteen thousand seven hundred and fifty litres of wine +are consumed annually in the sacrament. Of the ninety-three stained +windows many are old and splendid. Their light is undimmed by curtains, +for there is an Andalusian proverb that the ray of the sun has no power +to injure within the bounds in which the voice of prayer can be heard. +In the centre of the nave, near the west door, surrounded by sculptured +caravelas, the primitive ships by which the New World was discovered, is +the tomb of Ferdinand Columbus, son of the great navigator (who himself +rests in Havanna), inscribed,-- + + + "'A CASTILLA Y A LEON + MUNDO NUEVO DIO COLON.' + + +At the opposite end of the church is the royal chapel, where St. +Ferdinand, who was canonized in 1627, 'because he carried fagots with +his own hands for the burning of heretics,' rests beneath the altar, in +a silver sarcophagus. Here also are his Queen, Beatrix, his son Alonzo +el Sabio, father of our Queen Eleanor, and Maria de Padilla, the +beautiful Morganatic wife of Pedro the Cruel.... + +"Many of the services in this church reach a degree of splendor which is +only equalled by those of St. Peter's; and the two organs, whose +gigantic pipes have been compared to the columns of Fingal's Cave, peal +forth magnificently. But one ceremony, at least, is far more fantastic +than anything at Rome." + +Frances Elliot, in her "Diary of an Idle Woman in Spain," thus describes +this remarkable ceremony: "To the left, within the bars, I am conscious +of the presence of a band of stringed instruments,--not only violins and +counter-bass, but flutes, flageolets, and hautboys, even a serpent, as +they call a quaint instrument associated with my earliest years, +forthwith all beginning to play in a most ancient and most homely way, +for all the world like a simple village choir, bringing a twang of damp, +mouldy, country churches to my mind, sunny English afternoons, and odors +of lavender and southern-wood. + +"As they play--these skilled musicians--a sound of youthful voices comes +gathering in, fresh, shrill, and childlike, rising and falling to the +rhythm. + +"All at once the music grows strangely passionate, the voices and the +stringed instruments seem to heave and sigh in tender accents, +long-drawn notes and sobs wail out melodious cries for mercy and +invocations for pardon, growing louder and intenser each moment. + +"Then, I know not how, for the great darkness gathers round even to the +gates of the altar, a band of boys, the owners of the voices, appears as +in a vision in the open space between the benches on which the chapter +sits, and, gliding down the altar steps, move in a measure fitting in +softly with the music. + +"How or when they begin to dance, singing as if to the involuntary +movement of their feet, I know not; at first 'high-disposedly,' their +bodies swaying to and fro to the murmur of the band, which never leaves +off playing a single instant, in the most heavenly way. Then, as the +music quickens and castanets click out, the boys grow animated, and move +swifter to and fro, raising their arms in curves and graceful +interlacing rounds. Still faster the music beats, and faster and faster +they move, crossing and recrossing in mazy figures, the stringed +instruments following them with zeal, the castanets, hautboys, and +flutes, their interlacing forms knotting in a kind of ecstasy, yet all +as grave and solemn as in a song of praise, a visible rejoicing of the +soul at Christmas time and the Divine birth. As David danced before the +ark for joy, so do these boys dance now with holy gladness. + +"I made out something of their costume,--broad Spanish hats, turned up +with a _panache_ of blue feathers, the Virgin's color, a flowing mantle +of the same hue over one shoulder, glittering in the light, white satin +vests, and white hose and shoes. + +"The dance is most ancient, _archi-old_, as one may say--of an origin +Phoenician or Arab, sanctified to Christian use. The music, like the +dance, quaint and pathetic, with every now and then a solo so sweet it +seems as if an angel had come down unseen to play it. I have inquired on +all hands what is the origin of this singular rite, which takes place +twice a year, at Advent and Easter, but no one can tell me. About two +centuries ago an Archbishop of Seville objected to the dance as giddy +and mundane, and forbade it in his cathedral, causing a terrible +scandal. The Sevillians were enraged; their fathers had loved the dance, +and their fathers before them, and they were ready to defend it with +swords and staves. + +"As the Archbishop was inexorable, an appeal was made to Rome. The Pope +of that day, a sensible man, replied that he could give no judgment +without seeing the dance himself; so the whole troop--stringed +instruments, castanets, serpent, cavalier hats and cloaks, and the boys +who wore them--were carried off to Rome at the expense of rich citizens. +Then the measure was tried before the Pope in the Vatican, and he +approved. 'Let the citizens of Seville have their dance,' the Pope said; +'I see no harm in it. As long as the clothes last it shall continue.' + +"Need I add that those clothes never wore out, but, like the widow's +curse, renewed themselves miraculously, to the delight of the town, and +that they will continue to last fresh and new as long as the gigantic +walls of the cathedral uprear themselves, and the sun of Andalusia +shines on the flat plains!" + +Murillo loved this old cathedral, and later he painted for it some of +his wonderful pictures, among them "The Guardian Angel," in which "a +glorious seraph with spreading wings leads a little, trustful child by +the hand, and directs him to look beyond earth into the heavenly light," +and "St. Anthony of Padua visited by the infant Saviour." The saint is +kneeling with outstretched arms, looking above to the child, who +descends through a flood of glory filled with cherubs, drawn down by the +prayers of the saint. On the table beside him is a vase of white lilies, +which many persons averred were so natural that the birds flew down the +cathedral aisles to peck at the flowers. For this picture the cathedral +clergy paid ten thousand reals. Mrs. Jameson declares this the finest +work ever executed in honor of St. Anthony, a subject chosen by Titian +and scores of other artists. + +When the nephew of Murillo's first master, Castillo, looked upon this +work, he exclaimed, "It is all over with Castillo! Is it possible that +Murillo, that servile imitator of my uncle, can be the author of all +this grace and beauty of coloring?" + +The canons told M. Viardot that the Duke of Wellington offered to pay +for this picture as many gold pieces as would cover its surface of +fifteen feet square, about two hundred and forty thousand dollars. In +1874 the figure of St. Anthony was cut out, stolen, and sold to a Mr. +Schaus, a picture-dealer of New York, for two hundred and fifty dollars. +He turned his purchase over to the Spanish consul, who restored it to +the cathedral. + +St. Anthony was a Portuguese by birth, and taught divinity in the +universities of Bologna, Toulouse, Paris, and Padua. Finally he became +an eloquent preacher among the people. It is said that when they refused +to listen he preached to the dwellers in the sea, "and an infinite +number of fishes, great and little, lifted their heads above water, and +listened attentively to the sermon of the saint!" + +Very many miracles are attributed to him. He restored to life by his +prayers Carilla, a young maiden who was drowned; also a young child who +was scalded to death; renewed the foot of a young man who had cut it off +because the saint rebuked him for having kicked his brother; caused the +body of a murdered youth to speak, and acquit an old man who had been +accused of his death; made a glass cup remain whole when thrown against +a marble slab, while the marble was shivered. + +"The legend of the mule," says Mrs. Jameson, "is one of the most popular +of the miracles of St. Anthony, and is generally found in the Franciscan +churches. A certain heretic called Bovidilla entertained doubts of the +real presence in the sacrament, and, after a long argument with the +saint, required a miracle in proof of this favorite dogma of the Roman +Catholic Church. St. Anthony, who was about to carry the host in +procession, encountered the mule of Bovidilla, which fell down on its +knees at the command of the saint, and, although its heretic master +endeavored to tempt it aside by a sieve full of oats, remained kneeling +till the host had passed." + +After Murillo's return from the house of Velasquez to Seville, he worked +incessantly for nearly three years upon eleven paintings for the convent +of the Franciscans near Casa del Ayuntamiento. The cloisters contained +three hundred marble columns. For the decoration of a minor cloister the +priests offered so small an amount that no leading artist in Seville +would attempt it. But Murillo, still poor, and not well known, gladly +accepted the work. It was a laborious undertaking, with perhaps scarcely +enough compensation to provide for his daily needs; but it made him +famous. Henceforward there was neither poverty nor obscurity for the +great Spanish master. + +The first picture for the Franciscans represented "St. Francis, on an +iron bed, listening to an angel who is playing on a violin." The second +portrayed "St. Diego blessing a pot of broth," which he is about to give +to a group of beggars at the gate of his convent. Another picture, +called, "The Angel Kitchen," now in the Louvre, represents a monk who +fell in a state of ecstasy whilst cooking for the convent, and angels +are doing his work. Still another represents a Franciscan praying over +the dead body of a friar, as if to restore it to life. This is now owned +by Mr. Richard Ford, of Devonshire, England. + +The finest picture of the series represents "The Death of St. Clara of +Assisi." She was the daughter of a noble knight of great wealth, and +much sought in marriage. Desiring to devote herself to a religious life, +she repaired to St. Francis for counsel, who advised her to enter a +convent. She fled from her home to where St. Francis dwelt, and he with +his own hands cut off her luxuriant golden tresses, and threw over her +his own penitential habit of gray wool. Her family sought to force her +away, but later her sister Agnes and mother Ortolana joined her in the +convent. + +On the death of her father, St. Clara gave all her wealth to the poor. +She went, like the others of her order, barefoot or sandalled, slept on +the hard earth, and lived in silence. The most notable event of her life +was the dispersion of the Saracens. Emperor Frederic ravaged the shores +of the Adriatic. In his army were a band of infidel Saracens, who +attacked the Convent of San Damiano. The frightened nuns rushed to the +side of "Mother Clara," who had long been unable to rise from her bed. +At once she arose, took from the altar the pyx of ivory and silver which +contained the Host, placed it on the threshold, knelt, and began to +sing. The barbarians were overcome with fear, and tumbled headlong down +their scaling-ladders. + +Mrs. Jameson says, "The most beautiful picture of St. Clara I have ever +seen represents the death of the saint, or, rather, the vision which +preceded her death, painted by Murillo.... St. Clara lies on her couch, +her heavenly face lighted up with an ecstatic expression. Weeping nuns +and friars stand around; she sees them not, her eyes are fixed on the +glorious procession which approaches her bed: first, our Saviour, +leading his Virgin-mother; they are followed by a company of +virgin-martyrs, headed by St. Catharine, all wearing their crowns and +bearing their palms, as though they had come to summon her to their +paradise of bliss. Nothing can be imagined more beautiful, bright, and +elysian than these figures, nor more divine with faith and transport +than the head of St. Clara." + +These paintings of Murillo were the one topic of conversation in +Seville. Orders for pictures came from every side; artists crowded to +the convent to study works so unlike their own; the chief families of +the city made the hitherto unknown young man a welcome guest at their +palaces; fame and position had come when he was only thirty years old. + +For one hundred and seventy years these pictures were the pride of the +convent, when they were taken by Marshal Soult under Napoleon, and +eventually scattered through Northern Europe. The convent was destroyed +by fire soon afterwards. + +The old adage that "blessings never come singly" was realized in the +case of Murillo, for at this time he married a wealthy lady from a +family of high renown, Dona Beatriz de Cobrera y Sotomayor, who dwelt at +Pilas, about five leagues from Seville. It is said that he first saw her +when painting an altar-piece in the Church of San Geronimo at Pilas, and +portrayed her as an angel in his picture while he was winning her love. + +Their married life seems to have been an eminently happy one. Their home +became a centre for artists and the best social circles of the city. +Three children were born to them: Gabriel, who went to the West Indies; +Francisca, who became a nun; and Gaspar, afterwards a canon of Seville +Cathedral. + +Murillo's manner of painting changed now from what the Spanish call +_frio_, or his cold style, to _calido_, or his warm style, where the +outlines were less pronounced, the figures rounder, and the coloring +more luminous and tender. "The works of the new manner," says Sweetser, +"are notable for graceful and well-arrayed drapery, skilfully disposed +lights, harmonious tints, soft contours, and a portrait-like naturalness +in the faces, lacking in idealism, but usually pure and pleasing. His +flesh-tints were almost uniformly heightened by dark gray backgrounds, +and were so amazingly true that one of his critics has said that they +seemed to have been painted with blood and milk (_con sangre y leche_)." + +Many of the Madonnas which Murillo painted were evidently from the same +sweet, pure-faced model, and it is believed that they are the likeness +of his wife. His boys were his models for the infants Jesus and John. + +His first work in the so-called warm manner was "Our Lady of the +Conception," a colossal picture for the Brotherhood of the True Cross. +The monks were at first displeased, thinking that the finishing was not +sufficiently delicate; but when Murillo caused it to be hung in the +dome, for the high position for which it was intended, they were greatly +delighted. Murillo, however, made them pay double the original price for +their fault-finding. + +"Saints Leander and Isidore," two archbishops of Seville, in the sixth +and seventh centuries, who fought the Arian heresy, was his next +picture, followed by the "Nativity of the Virgin,"--a much admired +work,--a group of women and angels dressing the new-born Mary. + +In 1656, for one of the canons of Santa Maria la Blanca, Murillo painted +four large semicircular pictures, the "Immaculate Conception," where the +Virgin is adored by several saints, "Faith," and two pictures, "The +Dream" and "The Fulfilment," to illustrate Our Lady of the Snow, the two +latter now in the Academy of San Fernando at Madrid. + +According to a fourth-century legend, the Virgin appeared by night to a +wealthy Roman senator and his wife, commanding them to build a church in +her honor on a certain spot on the Esquiline Hill, which they would find +covered with August snow. They went to Pope Liberius, and, after +obtaining his blessing, accompanied by a great concourse of priests and +people, sought the hill, found the miraculous snow in summer, and gave +all their possessions to build the church. + +One picture of Murillo represents the senator in a black velvet costume, +asleep in his chair, while his wife reposes on the floor, the Madonna +and Holy Child above them; the other picture shows them telling their +dream to the Pope. Viardot calls these paintings the "miracles of +Murillo." These were painted in the last of the three manners of +Murillo, the method usually adopted in his Madonnas,--the "vapory" +style, "with soft and tender outlines, velvety coloring, and shadows +which are only softened lights." + +In 1660, Murillo founded an academy of art in Seville, of which he was +president for two years. The students were required to abstain from +swearing and ill behavior, and to give assent to the following: "Praised +be the most Holy Sacrament and the pure conception of our Lady." + +Murillo was a most gentle and encouraging teacher. His colored slave, +Sebastian Gomez, who had listened to the teaching which he gave to +others, finished the head of the Virgin which his master had left on the +easel. Murillo exclaimed on seeing it, "I am indeed fortunate, +Sebastian; for I have created not only pictures, but a painter!" Many of +the works of Gomez, whom Murillo made free, are still preserved and +prized in Seville. + +During the next ten years, Murillo did much work for the cathedral +clergy; eight oval, half-length pictures of saints, Justa, Rufina, +Hermengild, Sidon, Leander, Archbishops Laureano and Pius, and King +Ferdinand; the "Repose in Egypt;" the infants Christ and John for the +Antigua Chapel, and other works. + +Saints Justa and Rufina were daughters of a potter, whom they assisted. +Some women who worshipped Venus came to the shop to buy vessels for +idolatrous sacrifice. The sisters declared that they had nothing to sell +for such purposes, as all things should be used in the service of God. +The Pagan women were so incensed that they broke all the earthenware in +the place. The sisters then broke the image of Venus, and flung it into +a kennel. For this act the populace seized them, and took them before +the Prefect. Justa expired on the rack, and Rufina was strangled. These +two saints have always guarded the beautiful tower Giralda. They are +said to have preserved it from destruction in 1504, in a terrific +thunder-storm. When Espartero bombarded Seville in 1843, the people +believed that Giralda was encompassed by angels led by these sisters, +who turned aside the bombs. + +Murillo was now fifty-two years old, in the prime of life, famous and +honored. He was named by his admiring contemporaries "a better Titian," +and it was asserted that even Apelles would have been proud to be called +"the Grecian Murillo." He lived in a large and handsome house, still +carefully preserved, near the Church of Santa Cruz, not far from the +Moorish wall of the city. "The courtyard contains a marble fountain, +amidst flowering shrubs, and is surrounded on three sides by an arcade +upheld by marble pillars. At the rear is a pretty garden, shaded by +cypress and citron trees, and terminated by a wall whereon are the +remains of ancient frescos which have been attributed to the master +himself. The studio is on the upper floor, and overlooks the Moorish +battlements, commanding a beautiful view to the eastward, over +orange-groves and rich corn-lands, out to the gray highlands about +Alcala." + +Murillo's only sister, Teresa, had married a noble of Burgos, a knight +of Santiago, judge of the royal colonial court, a man of great +cultivation, and later chief secretary of state at Madrid. The artist +was also urged by King Charles II. to enter the royal service at Madrid, +especially since a picture of the Immaculate Conception, exhibited +during a festival of Corpus Christi, had awakened the greatest +enthusiasm among the people. But he loved Seville, and would not leave +it. And the Sevillians equally loved the man so generous that he gave +all he earned to the poor; so diligent at his work that he had no time +for evil speaking; with so much tact and sweetness and vital piety that +he left no shadow upon his name. + +In 1670, Murillo began his great works for La Caridad, or the Hospital +of St. George. The Brotherhood of Holy Charity built a church about +1450, but it had fallen into ruin. In 1661, Don Miguel Manura Vicentelo +de Leca determined to restore and beautify the church and its adjacent +buildings, and secured over half a million ducats for this purpose. His +history was a strange one. + +Frances Elliot says of this dissolute man, "Returning at midnight from a +revel given by some gallants, in the now ancient quarter of the +Macarena, Don Miguel falls in with a funeral procession with torches and +banners. Some grandee of high degree, doubtless, there are so many +muffled figures, mutes carrying silver horns, the insignia of knighthood +borne upon shields, a saddled horse led by a shadowy page, and the dim +forms of priests and monks chanting death dirges. + +"Don Miguel can recall no death at court or among the nobles, and this +is plainly a corpse of quality. Nor can he explain the midnight burial, +a thing unknown except in warfare or in time of plague; so, advancing +from the dark gateway where he had stood to let the procession pass, he +addresses himself to one of the muffled figures, and asks, 'Whose body +are they carrying to the Osario at this time of night?' + +"'Don Miguel de Manara,' is the answer; 'a great noble. Will you follow +us and pray for his sinful soul?' + +"As these words are spoken, the funeral procession seems to pause, and +one advances who flings back the wreaths and flowers which shroud the +face, and lo! Don Miguel gazes on his own visage. + +"Spellbound, he seems to join the ghostly throng which wends its slow +way into the Church of Santa Inez, where spectral priests appear to meet +it, and carry the bier into the nave, where, next morning, Don Miguel is +found, by the nuns coming to matins, insensible upon the stones." + +He at once reformed his vicious life, erected a great cloistered +hospital, with one of the most beautiful churches in Seville, and +endowed it, so that a large company of priests, sisters of charity, +physicians, and domestics could be provided for. Don Miguel caused this +inscription to be cut on the facade of the hospital: "This house shall +stand as long as God shall be feared in it, and Jesus Christ be served +in the persons of His poor. Whoever enters here must leave at the door +both avarice and pride." + +The noble was buried at the church door, so that all who passed in might +trample upon his grave. The monumental slab bears the perhaps not +inappropriate words, dictated by himself: "To the memory of the greatest +sinner that ever lived, Don Miguel de Manara." + +Murillo painted for the new Church of St. George eight pictures for the +side walls, and three for the altars, for which he received over +seventy-eight thousand reals. The "Annunciation," the "Infant Saviour," +and the "Infant St. John" were destined for the side altars; the +remaining eight, "Moses striking the Rock," the "Prodigal's Return," +"Abraham receiving the Three Angels," the "Charity of San Juan de +Dios," the "Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes," "Our Lord healing the +Paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda," "St. Peter released from Prison by +the Angel," and "St. Elizabeth of Hungary tending the Sick," were +intended for the walls. Only three of these eight are left at La +Caridad,--"Moses," the "Loaves and Fishes," and "San Juan,"--the rest +having been carried to France by Marshal Soult. + +Of these three, "San Juan" is considered the "most spirited and +powerful." This saint was the founder of the Hospitallers or Brothers of +Charity. Born of very poor parents, at nine years of age he ran away +from home with a priest, who deserted him on the road to Madrid, at a +little village near Oropesa, in Castile. He hired himself to a shepherd; +later he entered the wars between Charles V. and Francis I., and became +a brave but profligate soldier. He was about to be hanged for allowing +some booty to be carried off, over which he had been placed as sentinel. +The rope was already around his neck, when an officer, touched with +pity, interfered to save his life, on condition that he should quit the +camp. + +After various wanderings, he returned to his native town, only to find +that both his father and mother had died of grief in consequence of his +flight. He nearly lost his reason through remorse, became converted, and +began to devote his life to the poor and the sick. To the deserted shed +which served for his home, he brought the starving and wretched whom he +found in the streets, and worked for them and begged for them. He +finally obtained a large building, where, in the winter, he kept a great +fire to warm homeless travellers. + +"Thus passed ten years of his life," says Mrs. Jameson, "without a +thought of himself; and when he died, exhausted in body, but still +fervent and energetic in mind, he, unconsciously as it seemed, +bequeathed to Christendom one of the noblest of all its religious +institutions. + +"Under how many different names and forms has the little hospital of +Juan de Dios been reproduced throughout Christian Europe, Catholic and +Protestant! Our houses of refuge, our asylums for the destitute; the +brotherhood of the 'Caridad,' in Spain; that of the 'Misericordia,' in +Italy; the 'Maisons de Charite,' in France; the 'Barmherzigen Brueder,' +in Germany,--all these sprang out of the little hospital of this poor, +low-born, unlearned, half-crazed Juan de Dios! I wonder if those who go +to visit the glories of the Alhambra, and dream of the grandeur of the +Moors, ever think of _him_. + +"The only representation of this good saint which can rank high as a +work of art is a famous picture by Murillo, painted for the Church of +the Caridad, at Seville. In a dark, stormy night, Juan is seen +staggering--almost sinking--under the weight of a poor dying wretch, +whom he is carrying to his hospital. An angel sustains him on his way. +The dark form of the burden and the sober gray frock of the bearer are +dimly seen in the darkness, through which the glorious countenance of +the seraph, and his rich yellow drapery, tell like a burst of sunshine." + +Of the five pictures removed by Marshal Soult, the "St. Elizabeth of +Hungary," called "El Tinoso," now in the Madrid Academy, is considered +one of Murillo's finest works. It represents her dressed in her royal +robes, washing the head of a leprous boy, while around her are beggars +and the ladies of her court. + +"The St. Elizabeth," says John Hay, in his "Castilian Days," "is a +triumph of genius over a most terribly repulsive subject. The wounds and +sores of the beggars are painted with unshrinking fidelity, but every +vulgar detail is redeemed by the beauty and majesty of the whole. I +think in these pictures of Murillo (his Madonnas and others) the last +word of Spanish art was reached. There was no further progress possible +in life, even for him. 'Other heights in other lives, God willing.'" + +Of Murillo's "Marys of the Conception, that fill the room with light and +majesty," Colonel Hay beautifully says: "They hang side by side, so +alike and yet so distinct in character. One is a woman in knowledge and +a goddess in purity; the other, absolute innocence, startled by the +stupendous revelation, and exalted by the vaguely comprehended glory of +the future. It is before this picture that the visitor always lingers +longest. The face is the purest expression of girlish loveliness +possible to art. (Supposed to be the face of his daughter, Francesca.) +The Virgin floats, up-borne by rosy clouds; flocks of pink cherubs +flutter at her feet, waving palm branches. The golden air is thick with +suggestions of dim, celestial faces, but nothing mars the imposing +solitude of the Queen of Heaven, shrined alone, throned in the luminous +azure. Surely no man ever understood or interpreted, like this grand +Andalusian, the power that the worship of woman exerts on the religions +of the world. All the passionate love that has been poured out in all +the ages at the feet of Ashtaroth and Artemis and Aphrodite and Freya +found visible form and color at last on that immortal canvas, where, +with his fervor of religion, and the full strength of his virile +devotion to beauty, he created, for the adoration of those who should +follow him, this type of the perfect feminine,-- + + + "'Thee! standing loveliest in the open heaven! + Ave Maria! only heaven and Thee!'" + + +The story of St. Elizabeth is both touching and beautiful. The daughter +of Andreas II., King of Hungary, born in 1207, she was betrothed, in her +childhood, to Duke Louis of Thuringia. She early developed the most +generous and spiritual character, giving to the poor, praying much, even +at midnight, on the bare, cold earth, winning for herself the hatred of +a fashionable court and the adoration of her subjects. Various legends +are told of her. + +"When Elizabeth was ministering to her poor at Eisenach," says Mrs. +Jameson, "she found a sick child cast out from among the others because +he was a leper, and so loathsome in his misery that none would touch him +or even go nigh him; but Elizabeth, moved with compassion, took him in +her arms, carried him up the steep ascent to the castle, and, while her +attendants fled at the spectacle, and her mother-in-law, Sophia, loaded +her with reproaches, she laid the sufferer in her own bed. Her husband +was then absent, but shortly afterwards his horn was heard to sound at +the gate. Then his mother, Sophia, ran out to meet him, saying, 'My son, +come hither! See with whom thy wife shares her bed!' And she led him up +to the chamber, telling him what had happened. This time, Louis was +filled with impatience and disgust; he rushed to the bed and snatched +away the coverlid; but behold! instead of the leper, there lay a radiant +infant, with the features of the New-born in Bethlehem; and while they +stood amazed, the vision smiled, and vanished from their sight. + +"Elizabeth, in the absence of her husband, daily visited the poor, who +dwelt in the suburbs of Eisenach and in the huts of the neighboring +valleys. One day, during a severe winter, she left her castle with a +single attendant, carrying in the skirts of her robe a supply of bread, +meat, and eggs for a certain poor family; and, as she was descending the +frozen and slippery path, her husband, returning from the chase, met +her, bending under the weight of her charitable burden. 'What dost thou +here, my Elizabeth?' he said. 'Let us see what thou art carrying away?' +and she, confused and blushing to be so discovered, pressed her mantle +to her bosom; but he insisted, and, opening her robe, he beheld only red +and white roses, more beautiful and fragrant than any that grow on this +earth, even at summer-tide; and it was now the depth of winter! + +"Then he was about to embrace his wife, but, looking in her face, he was +overawed by a supernatural glory, which seemed to emanate from every +feature, and he dared not touch her; he bade her go on her way and +fulfil her mission; but, taking from her lap one of the roses of +Paradise, he put it in his bosom, and continued to ascend the mountain +slowly, with his head declined, and pondering these things in his heart. + +"In 1226, a terrible famine afflicted all Germany; but the country of +Thuringia suffered more than any other. Elizabeth distributed to the +poor all the corn in the royal granaries. Every day a certain quantity +of bread was baked, and she herself served it out to the people, who +thronged around the gates of the castle, sometimes to the number of nine +hundred. Uniting prudence with charity, she so arranged that each person +had his just share, and so husbanded her resources that they lasted +through the summer; and when harvest-time came round again, she sent +them into the fields, provided with scythes and sickles, and to every +man she gave a shirt and a pair of new shoes. But, as was usual, the +famine had been succeeded by a great plague and mortality, and the +indefatigable and inexhaustible charity of Elizabeth was again at hand. + +"In the city of Eisenach, at the foot of the Wartburg, she founded an +hospital of twenty beds, for poor women only; and another, called the +Hospital of St. Anne, in which all the sick and poor who presented +themselves were received; and Elizabeth herself went from one to the +other, ministering to the wretched inmates with a cheerful countenance, +although the sights of misery and disease were often so painful and so +disgusting that the ladies who attended upon her turned away their +heads, and murmured and complained of the task assigned to them. + +"She also founded a hospital especially for poor children. It is related +by an eye-witness that whenever she appeared among them they gathered +round her, crying 'Mutter! Mutter!' clinging to her robe and kissing her +hands. She, mother-like, spoke to them tenderly, washed and dressed +their ulcerated limbs, and even brought them little toys to amuse them. +In these charities, she not only exhausted the treasury, but she sold +her own robes and jewels, and pledged the jewels of the state. When the +landgrave (her husband) returned, the officers and councillors went out +to meet him, and, fearing his displeasure, they began to complain of +the manner in which Elizabeth, in their despite, had lavished the public +treasures. But Louis would not listen to them; he cut them short, +repeating, 'How is my dear wife? how are my children? are they well? Let +her give what she will, so long as she leaves me my castles of Eisenach, +Wartburg, and Naumburg!' Then he hurried to the gates, and Elizabeth met +him with her children, and threw herself into his arms, and kissed him a +thousand times, and said to him tenderly, 'See! I have given to the Lord +what is his, and he has preserved to us what is thine and mine!'" + +Louis was soon after killed in the Crusades, and she and her children +were driven out of Thuringia by his brothers, Henry and Conrad. Later, +some of her possessions were restored to her. She spun wool to earn more +money to give away, and wore ragged clothes that she might help the +destitute. She died at twenty-four, singing hymns, her sweet voice +murmuring, "Silence!" at the last. + +"No sooner had Elizabeth breathed her last breath than the people +surrounded her couch, tore away her robe, cut off her hair, even +mutilated her remains for relics. She was buried amid miracles and +lamentations, and four years after her death she was canonized by +Gregory IX." + +Murillo's "Abraham receiving the Angels" and "The Prodigal's Return" +were purchased of Marshal Soult by the Duke of Sutherland, and are now +in Stafford House. "The Healing of the Paralytic" was purchased of +Marshal Soult for thirty-two thousand dollars, and is now in the +possession of Mr. Tomline of London. The head of the Christ is thought +to be Murillo's best representation of our Lord. "The soft violet hue, +so dear to Valencian art, of the Saviour's robe, is skilfully opposed to +the deep brown of St. Peter's mantle, a rich tint then and still made by +Andalusian painters from beef-bones." "The Release of St. Peter" is at +the Hermitage, in St. Petersburg. + +Before the paintings for La Caridad were finished, Murillo was asked to +decorate the new Capuchin church. For three years he worked here, not +leaving the convent, it is said, for a single day. Such diligence is +most suggestive to those persons who expect to win success without +unremitting labor! Of the more than twenty pictures painted here by +Murillo, nine formed the _retablo_ of the high altar, and eight were on +the side altars. Seventeen of these are now in the Seville Museum. + +The immense altar-piece, "The Virgin granting to St. Francis the Jubilee +of the Porciuncula," is now in the National Museum of Madrid. This was a +feast in honor of the Cavern of St. Francis of Assisi, in which he +received a visit from the Virgin and Child. Thirty-three beautiful +cherubs are showering the kneeling St. Francis with red and white roses, +blossoms from the briers with which he scourged himself. Over the high +altar were pictures of "Saints Justa and Rufina," "St. Anthony of +Padua," "St. John in the Desert," "St. Joseph," "St. Felix of +Cantalicio," the "Veronica," "Saints Leander and Bonaventura," and a gem +called "The Madonna of the Napkin." + +Murillo had so endeared himself to one of the lay brethren of the +convent, a cook, that he begged some token of remembrance from the hand +of the great artist. As he had no canvas, Murillo took the napkin which +the cook had brought with his food, and, before nightfall, made a most +beautiful Virgin, and a Child so natural that it seems, says E. G. +Minor, in her life of Murillo, "as if it would spring from its mother's +arms. The coloring of this picture, of which innumerable copies and +engravings have been made, was never surpassed even by Murillo himself." + +St. Veronica was a noble-hearted woman, who, seeing the Saviour pass her +door, on his way to Calvary, wiped the perspiration from his brow with +her handkerchief or veil. To her surprise and delight, she found an +image of the Lord's face upon it. She suffered martyrdom under Nero. + +The great pictures on the side altars of the church illustrated "St. +Thomas of Villanueva," which the artist himself esteemed the best of all +his works; "St. Francis of Assisi, embracing the Crucified Redeemer," +"St. Anthony of Padua and the Infant Christ"; the "Vision of St. Felix," +the "Annunciation," the "Immaculate Conception," the "Nativity," and the +"Virgin with the Head of the Saviour on her Knee." + +St. Thomas is represented as at the door of his cathedral, giving alms +to beggars. "In the year 1544," says Mrs. Jameson, "Charles V. showed +his respect for him by nominating him Archbishop of Valencia. He +accepted the dignity with the greatest reluctance. He arrived in +Valencia in an old black cassock, and a hat which he had worn for +twenty-one years; and as he had never in his life kept anything for +himself beyond what was necessary for his daily wants, he was so poor +that the canons of his cathedral thought proper to present him with four +thousand crowns for his outfit; he thanked them gratefully, and +immediately ordered the sum to be carried to the hospital for the sick +and poor; and from this time forth we find his life one series of +beneficent actions. He began by devoting two-thirds of the revenues of +his diocese to purposes of charity. + +"He divided those who had a claim on him into six classes: first, the +bashful poor who had seen better days, and who were ashamed to beg; +secondly, the poor girls whose indigence and misery exposed them to +danger and temptation; in the third class were the poor debtors; in the +fourth, the poor orphans and foundlings; in the fifth, the sick, the +lame, and the infirm; lastly, for the poor strangers and travellers who +arrived in the city or passed through it, without knowledge where to lay +their heads, he had a great kitchen open at all hours of the day and +night, where every one who came was supplied with food, a night's rest, +and a small gratuity to assist him on his journey. 'There were few +churches or convents on the sunny side of the Sierra Morena without some +memorial picture of this holy man,' but the finest beyond all comparison +are those of Murillo." + +The "St. Francis" represents Christ appearing to the saint in his grotto +on Mount Alvernus when he received the stigmata, wounds similar to those +of the Saviour in the Crucifixion. + +In 1678, Murillo painted for the Hospital de los Venerables, at Seville, +an asylum for aged priests, "St. Peter Weeping," the "Virgin and Child +enthroned on Clouds," the portrait of his friend Don Justino Neve y +Yevenes, and the "Immaculate Conception," now in the Louvre, for which +the French government paid, in 1852, at the sale of Marshal Soult's +collection, over one hundred and twenty-three thousand dollars. The +beautiful Virgin, in her mantle of exquisite blue, over her white robe, +floats upward toward the sky, attended by angels, her feet treading upon +the crescent, showing her triumph over the other religions of the world. +It is a marvel of color and pure saintly expression. + +Viardot says: "Murillo comes up, in every respect, to what our +imagination could hope or conceive. His earthly daylight is perfectly +natural and true; his heavenly day is full of radiance. We find in the +attitude of the saints, and the expression of their features, all that +the most ardent piety, all that the most passionate exaltation, can +feel or express in extreme surprise, delight, and adoration. As for the +visions, they appear with all the pomp of a celestial train, in which +are marvellously grouped the different spirits of the immortal +hierarchy, from the archangel with outspread wings to the bodiless heads +of the cherubim. It is in these scenes of supernatural poetry that the +pencil of Murillo, like the wand of an enchanter, produces marvels. If +in scenes taken from human life, he equals the greatest colorists, he is +alone in the imaginary scenes of eternal life. It might be said of the +two great Spanish masters, that Velasquez is the painter of the earth, +and Murillo of heaven." + +His next work was for the Augustinian convent church, the "Madonna +appearing to St. Augustine," and "St. Augustine and the little Child on +the Seashore," who is trying to fill a hole in the sand with water +carried from the ocean in a shell. + +About this time, he painted the exquisite "St. John with the Lamb," now +in the National Gallery, for which the government paid ten thousand +dollars; "Los Ninos de la Concha," the "Children of the Shell," where +the Child Jesus holds the shell, filled with water, to the lips of St. +John, now in the Prado Museum at Madrid; and "St. Ildefonso receiving +the Chasuble from the Virgin," also at Madrid. This saint defended the +doctrine of the Immaculate Conception at a time when it had many +opponents. In token of her appreciation, the Virgin came to his +cathedral, seated herself upon his ivory pulpit, and, with the angels +about her, chanted a service from the Psalter. He bowed to the ground, +and the Virgin said, "Come hither, most faithful servant of God, and +receive this robe, which I have brought thee from the treasury of my +Son." He knelt before her, and she threw over him a cassock of heavenly +tissue. The ivory chair remained thereafter unoccupied, till the +presumptuous Archbishop Sisiberto sat in it, and died a miserable death +in consequence. + +Besides all this work, Murillo's various "Beggar Boys" are known +wherever art is loved; one is in the Louvre, "El Piojoso"; several, in +the Pinakothek at Munich; the "Flower-Girl" and a "Boy with a Basket and +Dog," at the Hermitage; and others, in London and Madrid. The "Education +of the Virgin," Mary kneeling by the side of St. Anna, her mother, the +faces portraits, it is believed, of his wife and daughter, is in the +Royal Gallery at Madrid. Five large paintings from the life of Jacob, +"Isaac blessing Jacob," "Jacob's Dream," "Jacob and Laban's Sheep," +"Laban searching for his Gods in the Tent of Rachel," and one other, are +in various galleries. + +Murillo was now growing old. All the time which he could possibly spare +from his work he passed in devotion. He often visited the Church of +Santa Cruz, where he spent hours before the altar-piece, "The Descent +from the Cross," by Pedro Campana. When lingering late one night, he +was asked by the sacristan why he thus tarried. He replied: "I am +waiting till those men have brought the body of our blessed Lord down +the ladder." + +His last picture, the "Marriage of St. Catharine," was begun in 1680, in +the Capuchin Church at Cadiz, when he was sixty-two years of age. He had +finished the centre group of the Madonna and Child and St. Catharine, +when he fell from the scaffold on which he was climbing to his work, and +fatally injured himself. Whether this accident occurred in the chapel at +Cadiz, or in his own studio, is not positively known, but he died soon +afterward, at Seville, April 3, 1682, in the arms of his friend Canon +Neve and his pupil Pedro Nunez de Villavicencio. His wife was dead, and +his daughter had become a nun six years previous, but his second son, +Gaspar, stood beside the bed of death. + +He was buried with distinguished honors, the bier being carried by two +marquises and four knights, and followed by a great concourse of people. +At his own request, he was buried beneath his favorite picture, the +"Descent from the Cross." His grave was covered with a stone slab on +which were carved his name, a skeleton, and the words, "Vive moriturus," +"Live as one who is about to die." + +During the French occupation, the Church of Santa Cruz was destroyed, +and its site is now occupied by the Plaza Santa Cruz. A tablet was +placed in the adjacent wall in 1858, stating that Murillo was buried +there. A bronze statue of the painter has been erected by the city of +Seville, near the Provincial Museum. + +More than five hundred of the works of Murillo are scattered through +Europe. Self-made, he left a name honored alike for great genius and +great beauty of character. Says Emelyn W. Washburn, in "Spanish +Masters," "We shall not err when we say that Murillo is the sweetest and +richest painter of his day.... He has a glowing fancy, an eye for all +beauty of nature and life, and a lofty mind and moral purpose. His magic +pencil writes the heart of his saints on the face; none better than he +can draw the pure brow of childhood; and, above all, his conceptions +suggest a mystery hidden beneath the outward coloring. + +"His name recalls Spanish art in the noon of its glory. There is in that +series of great and small artists not one who has so won the heart of +all time; none depicts so much of that personal beauty which gives life +to the past. We approach Zurbaran with somewhat of awe; Velasquez is the +grand historical painter. But in Murillo we see the mingling of the two, +with a milder grace. In him, we see the sweet singer with the golden +harp strung always before him, the man with all the chords of his fine +nature touched by the Holy Ghost. + +"There is, perhaps, no point where Murillo appears in more winning +beauty than in his relations with other painters. He shows the most +generous soul, the rarest gentleness, a heart where the struggles of +youth have only brought forth the richest fruits. We see the picture of +a man too great for little hates. His is a character shaped by the mild +spirit of Christ's religion.... + +"Murillo stands forth as a mind which most faithfully represents Spanish +genius, art, religion; who lived a Spaniard of the Spaniards in that +brilliant world; who wore the same long cloak and grave dignity as is +now met with in the narrow, dirty lanes of Seville; nay, more, who had a +living human heart, and who pondered as we now ponder the problems of +art and life; who taught a nation and an age." + + + + +RUBENS. + + +Taine says, in his "Philosophy of Art in the Netherlands": "Rubens is to +Titian what Titian was to Raphael, and Raphael was to Phidias. Never did +artistic sympathy clasp nature in such an open and universal embrace. +Ancient boundaries, already often extended, seem removed purposely to +expose an infinite career. He shows no respect for historic proprieties: +he groups together allegoric with real figures, and cardinals with a +naked Mercury. + +[Illustration: RUBENS.] + +"There is no deference to the moral order; he fills the ideal heaven of +mythology and of the Gospel with coarse or mischievous characters; a +Magdalen resembling a nurse, and a Ceres whispering some pleasant gossip +in her neighbor's ear. There is no dread of exciting physical +sensibility; he pushes the horrible to extremes, ... all the animal +instincts of human nature appear; those which had been excluded as gross +he reproduces as true, and in him, as in nature, they encounter the +others. Nothing is wanting but the pure and the noble; the whole of +human nature is in his grasp, save the loftiest heights. Hence it is +that this creativeness is the vastest we have seen, comprehending as it +does all types, Italian cardinals, Roman emperors, contemporary +citizens, peasants and cowherds, along with the innumerable diversities +stamped on humanity by the play of natural forces, and which more than +fifteen hundred pictures did not suffice to exhaust. + +"For the same reason, in the representation of the body, he comprehended +more profoundly than any one the essential characteristic of organic +life; he surpasses in this the Venetians as they surpass the +Florentines; he feels still better than they that flesh is a changeable +substance in a constant state of renewal; and such, more than any other, +is the Flemish body, lymphatic, sanguine, and voracious; more fluid, +more rapidly tending to accretion and waste than those whose dry fibre +and radical temperance preserve permanent tissues. + +"Hence it is that nobody has depicted its contrasts in stronger relief, +nor as visibly shown the decay and bloom of life; at one time the dull, +flabby corpse, a genuine clinical mass, empty of blood and substance; +livid, blue, and mottled through suffering, a clot of blood on the +mouth, the eye glassy, and the feet and hands clayish, swollen, and +deformed because death seized them first; at another, the freshness of +living carnations, the handsome, blooming, and smiling athlete, the +mellow suppleness of a yielding torso in the form of a well-fed youth, +the soft rosy cheeks and placid candor of a girl whose blood was never +quickened or eyes bedimmed by thought, flocks of dimpled cherubs and +merry cupids, the delicacy, the folds, the exquisite melting rosiness of +infantile skin, seemingly the petal of a flower moistened with dew and +impregnated with morning light. + +"His personages speak; their repose itself is suspended on the verge of +action; we feel what they have just accomplished, and what they are +about to do. The present with them is impregnated with the past and big +with the future; not only the whole face, but the entire attitude +conspires to manifest the flowing stream of their thought, feeling, and +complete being; we hear the inward utterance of their emotion; we might +repeat the words to which they give expression. The most fleeting and +most subtle shades of sentiment belong to Rubens; in this respect he is +a treasure for novelist and psychologist; he took note of the passing +refinements of moral expression as well as of the soft volume of +sanguine flesh; no one has gone beyond him in knowledge of the living +organism and of the animal man.... + +"There is only one Rubens in Flanders, as there is only one Shakespeare +in England. Great as the others are, they are deficient in some one +element of his genius." + +This great painter, Peter Paul Rubens, whom Sir Joshua Reynolds called +"the best workman with his tools that ever managed a pencil," was born +at Siegen, June 29, 1577, on the day commemorating the martyrdom of +these saints at Rome, hence the names given to the child. Antwerp and +Cologne have claimed his birth, but subsequent historical investigation +has shown Siegen as his birthplace. Jans Rubens, the father of Peter, +was a distinguished councilman and alderman of Antwerp, having taken his +degree of Doctor of Laws at Rome when he was thirty-one. When he was +about that age he married Marie Pypelincx, a woman of good family, +unusual force of character, and the idol of her son Peter as long as she +lived. + +Antwerp was now the scene of a desolating war. Charles V., Emperor of +Germany and King of Spain, had abdicated, leaving the Netherlands to his +son Philip II. Religious dissensions, the presence of Spanish soldiers, +and other matters, led to revolts, which the Duke of Alva, with twenty +thousand soldiers, was sent to suppress in 1576. Seven thousand of the +people of Antwerp were slain, and five hundred houses burned. + +Jans Rubens had been accused of Calvinistic tendencies, and thought it +prudent to retire to Cologne before the arrival at Antwerp of the Roman +Catholic Duke of Alva, placing himself on the side of Prince William of +Orange, the Silent, who had married Annie of Saxony. She had quarrelled +with her husband, had come to Cologne, and had employed Jans Rubens as +one of her counsellors in obtaining her property, which Philip II. had +confiscated. Forgetting his high position and his family, Jans Rubens +sacrificed his good name and character by his immorality, was arrested +and thrown into prison by Count John of Nassau, the brother of Prince +William, and Annie was divorced by her husband. By German law Rubens was +under the penalty of death. He wrote to his wife, confessing his guilt +and imploring her pardon. She determined at once to save his life, if +possible. The noble-hearted woman wrote him tenderly--only great souls +know how to forgive,-- + +"How could I push severity to the point of paining you when you are in +such affliction that I would give my life to relieve you from it? Even +had this misfortune not been preceded by a long affection, ought I to +show so much hatred as not to be able to pardon a fault against me?... +Be, then, assured that I have entirely forgiven you, and would to Heaven +that your deliverance depended on this, for then we should soon be happy +again. + +"Alas! it is not what your letter announces that affects me. I could +scarcely read it. I thought my heart would break. I am so distressed, I +hardly know what I write. This sad news so overwhelms me it is with +difficulty I can bear it. If there is no more pity in this world, to +whom shall I apply? I will implore Heaven with tears and groans, and +hope that God will grant my prayer by touching the hearts of these +gentlemen, so that they may spare us, may have compassion on us; +otherwise, they will kill me as well as you, my soul is so linked to +yours that you cannot suffer a pain without my suffering as much as +you. I believe that if these good lords saw my tears they would have +pity on me, even if they were of stone; and, when all other means fail, +I will go to them, although you write me not to do so." + +Marie could not reach William the Silent, for he was away in the +country, consolidating the Dutch Republic; but she visited in person his +mother, and his brother, Count John. All her entreaties availed nothing. +It was publicly stated that Jans Rubens had been imprisoned for +political treason to Prince William, and must suffer death. Marie was +forbidden access to any of William's family, and for two years was not +allowed to enter the dungeon where her husband was confined. + +At length she declared that the whole truth should be told, and Annie of +Saxony be forever disgraced. This threat moved the proud Orange family, +and procured the release of Jans Rubens, under bonds of six thousand +thalers, that he would never go outside the little town of Siegen. Here +he lived for some years, broken in health by his prison life, and under +the strict surveillance of Count John. Finally, Marie obtained +permission for them to reside in Cologne, where he died in 1587, when +his boy Peter was ten years of age. + +The next year Marie Rubens returned to their old home at Antwerp, and by +her good sense and persistence recovered the estates of her husband, +which had been confiscated during the wars, thus placing her family in +very comfortable circumstances. Peter entered a Jesuits' college, where +he showed great aptitude for languages. In childhood he had been taught +Latin by his father, and French by a tutor. Later, he learned Italian, +Spanish, German, and English, besides, of course, speaking his native +Flemish. His mother had destined him for the law, but it was distasteful +to him. + +At the age of thirteen, as was often the custom, the frank and handsome +boy was made a page in the household of his godmother, the Countess +Lalaing, but he took no pleasure in mere fashionable surroundings, and +begged his mother that he might become an artist. + +This choice did not attract the mother, whose ambitions and hopes +centred largely in her enthusiastic Peter, but she had the wisdom to +lead rather than to dictate. Parents who break the wills of their +children usually have spoiled children as the result. + +She placed her boy with Tobias Verhaeght, a landscape painter, from whom +the lad learned that close study of nature which made him thereafter a +reader of her secrets. Conrad Busken Huet says, in his "Land of Rubens": +"Man and nature as the Creator made them were quite sufficient for +Rubens's inspiration, no matter where he found them, far from home or +close to it. What attracted him most in nature was the unchangeable, the +imperishable, and the grand. He knew how to find these everywhere. +Artists less gifted and born by the seashore have before now felt the +want of sniffing the mountain breeze. Did their cradle stand among the +meadows, they longed for running streams and rivers. Rubens's pictures +prove that such contrasts had no value for him. + +"Within the narrow limits of his native soil, he found every condition +necessary to the practice of his art. His imagination had no need of +anything more stirring than that presented to him by the recollection of +human vicissitudes amidst glebe and glade. The twinkling of the eye +sufficed to transform them into battlefields in his productions.... + +"When the sun shines, he shines everywhere. Such is Rubens's motto. He +knows but one moon, but one starry vault, but one gloaming, but one +morning dew. Every raindrop on which there falls a ray of light reminds +him of a diamond. Each stubble-field whence uprises the lark supplies +music to his ears. Each swan to which he flings bread-crumbs on his +arrival at 'Steen' (his country home) teaches him to keep the most +sublime song of his art for the end." + +"It is curious to note that Rubens," says Charles W. Kett, in his "Life +of Rubens," "who began with scenes of country life, returned in his last +days to his first love, so that when he could no longer cover his huge +canvases with heroic figures, he would retire to his chateau at Steen, +and paint landscapes, even though the gout almost incapacitated him from +holding his brushes." + +After about ten years spent with Verhaeght, young Rubens, thinking that +he would devote himself to historical subjects, became a pupil of Adam +van Noort, a teacher skilled in drawing, and in the use of brilliant +color, with study of light and shade. He is said to have been +intemperate and quick-tempered, but for four years Rubens found him a +useful teacher. + +"It is related," says George H. Calvert, "that one day, when the master +was absent, the pupil took a fresh canvas to try what he could do by +himself towards representing a weeping Madonna. He worked for hours, and +so intently that he did not hear the returning footsteps of the master, +who from behind gazed in admiration and wonder at his performance." + +The young painter was restless, not an unnatural condition for an +ardent, ambitious boy or girl. Such a life, fruitful for good or evil, +must be filled with the best activities. + +When Rubens was nineteen, he entered the studio of Otto Venius, a kind +and learned man, of courtly manners, a free-master of the Guild of St. +Luke, and court painter to Archduke Albert of Austria and the Infanta +Isabella of Spain. She was the daughter of Philip II., to whom he had +ceded the "Spanish Netherlands." They were distinguished patrons of art, +and did everything to restore the war-worn country to peace and +prosperity. Venius became deeply attached to his pupil, made him +acquainted with the Regents Albert and Isabella, and inspired him to go +to Italy to study art, the country in which he had studied for seven +years. + +Rubens had already painted some admirable works: the "Adoration of the +Three Kings," a "Holy Trinity," a "Dead Christ in the Arms of the +Father," and a portrait of Marie Pypelincx, "the true-hearted wife," +says Mr. Kett, "of the faithless Jans, the mother of the artist, the +upholder of the family after the death of the father, the educator of +his children, and the restorer of the fallen greatness of the name of +Rubens. Calmly and beautifully does the pale face still look forth from +the canvas as of old. She must have smiled with satisfaction on the +rising fame of her youngest surviving son, now going forth into the +world to have those talents acknowledged which her maternal heart was +assured were in his keeping. Carefully attired, like a matron of good +family, in velvet dress, mourning coif, and muslin cuffs, denoting her +widowed state, she carries in her face the traits of a shrewd woman of +the world, who has battled bravely with the times, and now sees victory +crowning her endeavors. + +"Her very chair, somewhat similar to the one still preserved in the +Academy at Antwerp as the gift of her son, speaks of a home of comfort; +her book, held in her still handsome hand, a forefinger marking the page +she has not finished reading, tells of a certain amount of learned +leisure; and her whole surroundings recall a home whence an artist, a +man of culture, and a courteous gentleman might derive those early +impressions and first inspirations which would develop, when he came in +contact with a larger world, into masterpieces of art." + +On May 8, 1600, Rubens, at twenty-three years of age, having said +good-by to his fond mother, started for Italy. His first visit was to +Venice, where he studied the wonderful colorists, Titian, Paul Veronese, +and Tintoretto. He is said to have copied twenty portraits by Titian, so +earnest was he in obtaining the secret of these marvellous tints. + +While here he became the friend of a Mantuan, an officer at the court of +Vincenzo de Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua. This duke was thirty-seven years +old, rich, handsome, somewhat of a poet, the patron of artists and +authors, a brilliant and extravagant ruler. Through this friend, and +also by letters of introduction from Archduke Albert, Rubens met +Gonzaga, who was surprised at the learning of the attractive and +distinguished-appearing young artist. Hearing him repeat a passage from +Virgil, Gonzaga addressed him in Latin, and was answered in the same +language, fluently and correctly. The duke had made a fine collection of +paintings and antiques, and these Rubens was glad to study. A most +fortunate thing resulted from this acquaintance; Rubens was appointed +painter to the court and a member of the ducal household. + +This was not the result merely of fortuitous circumstances. Rubens had +been a student. He was called later by scholars, "the antiquary and +Apelles of our time." He was also a most industrious worker. Philip +Rubens, his nephew, says in his life of his uncle, "He never gave +himself the pastime of going to parties where there was drinking and +card-playing, having always had a dislike for such." So fond was he of +reading the best books, that in after years, when he painted, Seneca and +Plutarch were often read to him. He had studied the technique of +painting since he was thirteen years old. He was especially charming in +manner, being free from harshness or censoriousness, and, withal, a +person of much tact and consideration. He had prepared himself for a +great work, and was ready to embrace his opportunity when it came. + +Besides painting several originals for the Duke of Mantua, Rubens was +sent to Rome to make copies of some of the masterpieces. He took letters +of introduction to Cardinal Alessandro Montalto, the nephew of Sixtus +V., very rich, and a great patron of art. + +Besides this work for Gonzaga, Rubens painted for the chapel of St. +Helena, in the Church of the Holy Cross of Jerusalem, at Rome, at the +request of Archduke Albert, formerly its cardinal, three pictures: "St. +Helena embracing the Cross," "Christ crowned with Thorns," and a +"Crucifixion." + +On his return to Mantua, he copied the "Triumph of Julius Caesar," by +Andrea Mantegna; in one of the series, in place of a sheep walking by +the side of an elephant, he painted a lion. Dr. Waagen says in his +"Life of Rubens": "His love of the fantastic and pompous led him to +choose that with the elephant carrying the candelabra, but his ardent +imagination, ever directed to the dramatic, could not be content with +this; instead of a harmless sheep, which in Mantegna is walking by the +side of the foremost elephant, Rubens has introduced a lion and lioness, +which growl angrily at the elephant. The latter, on his part, is not +idle, but, looking furiously round, is on the point of striking the lion +a blow with his trunk. The severe pattern he had before him in Mantegna +has moderated Rubens in his taste for very full forms, so that they are +here more noble and slender than is usual with him. The coloring, as in +his earliest pictures, is more subdued than in the later, and yet more +powerful. Rubens himself seems to have set a high value upon this study, +for it was among his effects at his death." + +In 1603, Rubens was sent by the Duke of Mantua on a pleasant mission to +Spain, with costly presents to Philip III., the indolent son of Philip +II., and his powerful favorite, the Duke of Lerma. For the king there +was a "gorgeous coach and seven beautiful horses, twelve arquebuses, six +of whalebone and six variegated, and a vase of rock crystal filled with +perfumes." For the Duke of Lerma, "a number of pictures, a silver vase +of large dimensions inwrought with colors, and two vases of gold. For +the Countess of Lerma, a cross and two candelabra of rich crystal. For +the secretary, Pedro Franqueza, two vases of rock crystal, and a +complete set of damask hangings, the edges of gold tissue." + +After a long journey, with continuous rain for twenty-five days, Rubens +and his gifts reached Valladolid. When the paintings were unpacked, they +were nearly ruined, from the colors having peeled off. At the request of +Iberti, resident at the Court of Madrid from Mantua, Rubens undertook +the work of restoration, and, better still, painted two originals for +the Duke of Lerma, a "Democritus," and a "Heraclitus," both life-size, +now in the gallery of Madrid. He also painted an equestrian likeness of +the duke himself, several ladies of the court, for the gallery of +beauties possessed by Gonzaga, and probably many other pictures on this +first visit, as more than one hundred and twenty of Rubens's paintings +are known to have existed in Spain. On his return to Italy he was loaded +with gifts from the King of Spain and grandees, so much were his works +esteemed and so greatly was the young Fleming admired. Once more in +Italy, Rubens painted an altar-piece for the Church of the Holy Trinity +at Mantua, in which the mother of the duke was buried; three pictures, +the "Baptism of our Saviour," the "Mystery of the Transfiguration," and +a central picture, the "Mystery of the Trinity," which latter contained +portraits of Duke Vincenzo, his Duchess Leonora, his parents, and his +children. When the French took Mantua in 1797, this church was used as +a storehouse for food for the horses. A French commissary cut this +picture in pieces, the better to carry it, and, when about to send it to +France, was prevented by the Academy of Mantua. Some of the pieces have +disappeared. + +Rubens also painted, for the Church of Santa Maria in Valicella, Rome, +an altar-piece, representing the "Madonna and Child," with side pictures +of the pope and several saints. In co-operation with his brother Philip, +he published, in 1608, a book on Roman antiquities, with six +copper-plate illustrations. The pope was so pleased with Rubens that he +desired to keep him in Rome permanently. + +For the Grand Duke Ferdinand I. of Florence, Rubens painted several +pictures, among them a "Hercules between Venus and Minerva." In Spain he +executed a series called "The Labors of Hercules," besides three +separate ones, representing the slaying of the dragon, the struggle with +Antaeus, and the combat with a lion. He also copied the celebrated +cartoon of Leonardo da Vinci, called "The Battle of the Standard," and +made a valuable portrait of himself for the Grand Ducal collection of +self-painted heads of artists. At Genoa he made drawings of her +remarkable palaces and churches, which he published later in a volume +with one hundred and thirty-nine illustrations. + +After an absence of eight years in Italy, Rubens was recalled to Antwerp +by the illness of his mother. He started homeward October 28, 1608, +with a heavy heart. On his way he learned that she had died nine days +before he began his long journey. + +On reaching Antwerp, he shut himself up for four months in the Abbey of +St. Michael's, where she had been buried. He had given her no ordinary +affection, and his was no ordinary loss. He met this loss in the silence +of his own thoughts in the abbey, and when he had gained the +self-control necessary for his work, he came out into the world. Most of +us learn to bear our sorrows in our own hearts, without laying our +burdens upon others, finding, sooner or later, that the world has enough +of its own. + +He talked of returning to Italy, but Archduke Albert and Isabella, proud +of his genius and his attainments, invited him to court, sat for their +portraits, and made him their official painter. One of his first works +for them was a "Holy Family," which was so much admired that the Society +of St. Ildefonso of Brussels, Archduke Albert being its head, ordered an +altar-piece for the Chapel of the order of St. James. "This picture," +says Dr. Waagen, "which is at present in the Imperial gallery at Vienna, +represents the Virgin Mary enthroned, and putting the cloak of the order +on the shoulders of St. Ildefonso. She is surrounded by four female +saints. On the interior of the wings are the portraits of Albert and +Isabella, with their patron saints. This work, one of the most +admirable ever painted by Rubens, displays in a remarkable degree the +qualities praised in the one painted for the Archduke." + +The association were so pleased that they offered the artist a purse of +gold, which, having been made a member, he would not receive, saying +that his only desire was to be useful to his brother members. + +Lonely from the death of his mother, a new affection came into his heart +to sustain and console him. Philip, his brother, now secretary of +Antwerp, had taken as his wife Maria de Moy, whose sister, Clara, much +older, had married a former secretary of Antwerp, Jan Brandt. Their +daughter, Isabella Brandt, was a young woman of attractive face and +sweet disposition. Peter naturally met the niece of his brother Philip's +wife, loved her, and married her October 13, 1609, in the Abbey Church +of St. Michael, when he was thirty-two. + +He soon built a house, costing sixty thousand florins, in the Italian +style of architecture, with a spacious studio, and a separate building +or rotunda, like the Pantheon at Rome, lighted from the top, where he +arranged the pictures, marbles, vases, and gems which he had collected +in Italy. Adjoining this he laid out a large garden, planted with +flowers and choice trees. + +"The celebrated picture of Rubens and his first wife," says Mr. Kett, +"now in the Pinakothek at Munich, must have been painted within the +first few years of their married life, and is a striking example of the +painter's manner at this period. His calm serenity and thoughtful +expression, combined with beauty and force of character, are well +balanced by the placid contentment and happy dignity of his wife, as the +pair sit under their own vine and fig-tree, prepared to receive their +visitors. There is no affected demonstration of feeling, no bashful +restraint. A couple well-to-do and able to enjoy themselves are happy to +share their pleasure with others." + +In 1611, Rubens met with a severe loss in the death of his greatly +beloved brother, Philip. All the seven children of Jans Rubens and Maria +Pypelincx were now dead save Peter Paul. + +In 1614, Rubens's heart was made glad by the birth of a son, to whom +Archduke Albert became godfather, and gave him his own name. Four years +later his only other child by Isabella Brandt was born, both of whom +survived their father. A beautiful painting of these two children is now +in the Liechtenstein Gallery, in Vienna. + +The rich and famous painter was now happy, surrounded by his loved ones, +busy constantly with his work, which poured in upon him. In summer he +rose at four o'clock, heard mass, and went to work early. Says Dr. +Waagen, "This was the time when he generally received his visitors, with +whom he entered willingly into conversation on a variety of topics, in +the most animated and agreeable manner. An hour before dinner he always +devoted to recreation, which consisted either in allowing his thoughts +to dwell as they listed on subjects connected with science or politics, +which latter interested him deeply, or in contemplating his treasures of +art. From anxiety not to impair the brilliant play of his fancy, he +indulged but sparingly in the pleasures of the table, and drank but +little wine. After working again till the evening, he usually, if not +prevented by business, mounted a spirited Andalusian horse, and rode for +an hour or two. + +"This was his favorite exercise; he was extremely fond of horses, and +his stables generally contained some of remarkable beauty. On his return +home, it was his custom to receive a few friends, principally men of +learning or artists, with whom he shared his frugal meal, and afterwards +passed the evening in instructive and cheerful conversation. This active +and regular mode of life could alone have enabled Rubens to satisfy all +the demands that were made upon him as an artist, and the astonishing +number of works that he completed, the genuineness of which is beyond +all doubt, can only be accounted for by this union of extraordinary +diligence with his unusually fertile powers of production." + +In building his home, Rubens encroached a little on land owned by the +Company of Arquebusiers of Antwerp. A lawsuit was threatened, but +finally a compromise was effected whereby Rubens agreed to paint a +triptych, that is, a picture in three parts, of their patron St. +Christopher, to be hung in the cathedral. In fulfilment of this +contract, he painted the renowned "Descent from the Cross," now in the +south end of the transept of the cathedral, with St. Simon on one wing +of the triptych, and "The Visitation" on the other, with St. Christopher +in person. + +Says Huet: "Playing upon the name of a patron saint, he has represented +a threefold 'bearing of Christ'; Christ borne from the Cross in the +centre; Christ borne by old Simon on the right; Christ borne ''neath his +mother's heart' on the left wing.... There is no need to insist as to +how Rubens acquitted himself of his task in the centre piece. Da Vinci's +'Last Supper' and Rubens's 'Descent from the Cross' are the two most +popular altarpieces of Christianity, admired alike by Protestant and +Catholic. For the history of Flemish art this 'Descent' possesses as +much value as does Goethe's 'Faust' for the history of German +literature. No one has succeeded in painting subsequent to Rubens a +'Descent from the Cross' without paying toll to the master.... It is the +triumph of human sympathy expressed in accordance with the theory of +line and color. The painter had no other aim than to limn a perfect +group of loving people, occupied in taking down the body of Christ. He +does not portray your sorrow, but theirs. What he tenders us is +sentiment, not sentimentality; emotion, not intellect. The allusion to +St. Christopher must be disinterred from encyclopaedias; the +recollection of John in his red cloak, carrying his burden, of the +fair-haired Mary Magdalen, of the disciple with the winding-sheet +betwixt his teeth, has become immortal. + +"The lovely mother-virgin of the left-hand side leaf deserves particular +attention.... I know of no more fascinating female figure from Rubens's +brush; none which in its Flemish guise is so original, so wholly his. +The 'Descent from the Cross' itself one might still believe to be the +work of one of the great Italians. No such mistake is possible with the +side leaf. What excites our wonder in Goethe is his succeeding in +raising a Leipzig girl of the lower classes to the rank of a tragic +heroine, the very mention of whose name suffices to remind us of an +imperishable type. Rubens's pregnant Mary is an honorable Gretchen. He +created her out of the most hidden depths of human nature, where blood +and soul, mind and matter, melt into one. When Jordaens wishes to paint +fertility, he resorts to the allegory of the schools. To Rubens life +itself is the best of all allegories. Mary's clinging for support to the +railing of the staircase, as she ascends it, is a hymn in honor of +maternity. In the course of ages pictorial art has produced many +beautiful works, none more beautiful than that scene." + +About this time Rubens painted some of his greatest works. "Our Saviour +giving the Keys to St. Peter" was originally placed in the Cathedral of +St. Gudule; it was sold in 1824 to the Prince of Orange, for one +hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. An "Elevation of the Cross," +an immense picture, executed for the Church of St. Walburg, at Antwerp, +is now in the north transept of the cathedral. He painted an "Adoration +of the Magi" for the choir of the Abbey Church of St. Michael, dear to +him from the burial of his mother and his own marriage, and a similar +picture for the Church of St. John at Malines. + +Of an "Adoration of the Magi" in the Museum at Antwerp, Eugene Fromentin +says: "It is truly a _tour de force_, especially if one recalls the +rapidity of this work of improvisation. Not a gap, not a strain; a vast, +clear half-tint and lights without excess envelop all the figures, +supporting one the other; all the colors are visible and multiply values +the most rare, the least sought and yet the most fit, the most subtle +and yet the most distinct. By the side of types that are very ugly swarm +superior types. With his square face, his thick lips, his reddish skin, +big eyes strongly lighted up, and his stout body girt in green pelisse +with sleeves of peacock blue, this African among the Magi is a figure +entirely new, before which, assuredly, Tintoretto, Titian, Veronese +would have clapped their hands. + +"On the left stand in dignified solemnity two colossal cavaliers of a +singular Anglo-Flemish style, the most extraordinary piece of color in +the picture, with its dull harmony of black, greenish blue, of brown and +white. Add the profile of the Nubian camel-drivers, the +supernumeraries, men in helmets, negroes, the whole in the most ample, +the most transparent, the most natural of atmospheres. Spider-webs float +in the framework, and quite low down the head of the ox,--a sketch +achieved by a few strokes of the brush in bitumen,--without more +importance and not otherwise executed than would be a hasty signature. +The Child is delicious; to be cited as one of the most beautiful among +the purely picturesque compositions of Rubens, the last word of his +knowledge as to color, of his skill as to technique, when his sight was +clear and instantaneous, his hand rapid and careful, and when he was not +too exacting, the triumph of rapture and science--in a word, of +self-confidence." + +Rubens had courage. He used to say: "Every one according to his gift; my +talent is such that never yet has an undertaking, however extraordinary +in size or diversity of subjects, daunted my courage." + +The "Assumption of the Virgin" in the Antwerp Cathedral, Dr. Waagen +says, "may be said to produce the same effect as a symphony, in which +the united sounds of all the instruments blend together joyously, +divinely, mightily. No other painter has ever known how to produce such +a full and satisfactory tone of light, such a deep chiaro-oscuro united +with such general brilliancy." + +"St. Theresa pleading for the Souls in Purgatory," "St. Anne instructing +the Virgin," and the "Dead Saviour laid on a Stone," are now at +Antwerp. Five of the above pictures and three others, "Christ on the +Cross," "The Resurrection of our Saviour," and "The Adoration of the +Shepherds," were painted in eighteen days, Rubens receiving as +compensation fifty dollars per day, his usual price. + +For a magnificent church built by the Jesuits, Rubens painted two works +for the high altar, pictures for two other altars, and thirty-nine +ceilings with Bible scenes, including the "Assumption" and "Coronation +of the Virgin," the "Translation of Elijah," and the "Archangel Michael +triumphing over the Serpent." These works with the church were all +destroyed by fire, caused by lightning, in 1718. + +With all this prosperity it was not strange that envy and jealousy +should now and then confront Rubens. One of his rivals invited him to +paint a picture on some chosen subject, and allow umpires to decide +which was the better work. Rubens replied to the challenge: "My attempts +have been subjected to the scrutiny of _connoisseurs_ in Italy and +Spain. They are to be found in public collections and private galleries +in those countries; gentlemen are at liberty to place their works beside +them, in order that the comparison be made." + +The great artist used to say, "Do well, and people will be jealous of +you; do better, and you confound them." + +He employed several pupils to help him constantly. He would make +sketches and superintend the work, adding the finishing touches. Having +been asked to paint for the Cathedral of Malines a "Last Supper," Rubens +made the drawing and sent it to one of his pupils, Juste van Egmont, to +lay on the ground color. The canon of the cathedral said to Van Egmont, +"Why did your master not come himself?" "Don't be uneasy," was the +reply. "He will, as is his custom, finish the picture." + +Egmont went on with the work, when finally the canon, in a rage, ordered +him to stop, while he wrote to Rubens: "'Twas a picture by your own hand +I ordered, not an attempt by an apprentice. Come, then, and handle the +brush yourself: or recall your Juste van Egmont, and tell him to take +with him his sketch; my intention being not to accept it, you can keep +it for yourself." + +Rubens wrote back: "I proceed always in this way; after having made the +drawing, I let my pupils begin the picture, finish even, according to my +principles; then I retouch it, and give it my stamp. I shall go to +Malines in a few days; your dissatisfaction will cease." Rubens came, +and the canon was satisfied. + +Mr. Kett says: "Rubens's method of painting was his own. Some of his +fellow-countrymen, who were jealous of him, said he did not use paints, +but colored varnishes, and that his pictures would not last; of the +latter point we are the better judges. He used light grounds, almost, if +not quite white; his outlines were drawn with a brush in color (often +red for the flesh), and very transparent glazes were laid over all the +shadows, the lights being sometimes, not always, painted thicker. He +exposed his pictures to the sun for short spaces of time, between the +paintings, to dry out the oil. They received several coats of color, and +then, finally, he put in the stronger touches himself, the light ones +now thick. All his works, however, do not seem to have been done in this +way, but many have solid painting from the first." + +Rubens had become both rich and famous. When an alchemist visited him, +urging that he furnish a laboratory and apparatus for the process of +transmutation of metals, and share the profits, the painter replied: +"You have come twenty years too late; I found out the secret long ago;" +and then, pointing to his palette and brushes, he added, "Everything I +touch with these turns to gold." + +A new honor was now conferred upon Rubens. Marie de' Medici, the sister +of the Duchess Leonora of Mantua, wished to adorn her palace of the +Luxembourg, in Paris, with great magnificence. Henry, Baron Vicq, the +ambassador of the Archduke Albert and Isabella, spoke to Queen Marie of +Rubens. She must have known of his work, also, when he was the court +painter of Mantua. He was summoned to Paris, and took the order for +twenty-two immense pictures, illustrative of her life. These are now in +the Louvre, full of vigor, brilliant in imagery, and rich in color. + +In the first picture the three Fates spin the fortunes of Marie de' +Medici; the second represents her birth at Florence, in 1575, Lucina, +the goddess of births, being present with her torch, while Florentia, +the goddess of the city, holds the new-born infant; the third, her +education, conducted by Minerva, Apollo, and Mercury; fourth, Love shows +the princess the portrait of Henry IV., whom she married in 1600, after +he had been divorced from Margaret of Valois, in the preceding year; +above are Jupiter and Juno; beside the king appears Gallia; fifth shows +the nuptials; the Grand Duke Ferdinand of Tuscany acts as proxy for his +niece's husband; sixth, the queen lands at Marseilles; seventh, the +wedding festival, at Lyons, with Henry IV. as Jupiter, and Marie as +Juno; eighth, the birth of Louis XIII., in 1601, with Fortuna behind the +queen; ninth, Henry IV. starting on his campaign against Germany, in +1610, when he makes the queen regent; tenth, coronation of the queen at +St. Denis; eleventh, apotheosis of Henry IV., who was stabbed by +Ravaillac, it is said, not against the queen's wishes, who, +nevertheless, in the picture is enthroned in mourning robes between +Minerva and Wisdom; twelfth, regency of the queen under the protection +of Olympus; Mars, Apollo, and Minerva drive away the hostile powers, +while Juno and Jupiter cause the chariot of France to be drawn by gentle +doves; thirteenth, the queen in the field during the civil war in +France; fourteenth, treaty between France and Spain; fifteenth, +prosperity during the regency, the queen bearing the scales of justice +with Minerva, Fortuna, and Abundantia on the right, Gallia and Time on +the left, while below are Envy, Hatred, and Stupidity; sixteenth, the +queen commits the rudder of the Ship of State, rowed by the Virtues, to +Louis XIII., who certainly must have deserted these virtues early in his +career; seventeenth, flight of the queen, in 1619, to Blois, where the +wily Cardinal Richelieu joined her as a pretended friend; eighteenth, +Mercury presents himself to the queen as a messenger of peace; +nineteenth, the queen is conducted into the temple of peace; twentieth, +Marie and Louis XIII. on Olympus, with the dragon of rebellion below +them; twenty-first, the king giving his mother a chaplet of peace; +twenty-second, portrait of Marie; followed by portraits of her parents, +Grand Duke Francis and Johanna, Grand Duchess of Tuscany. + +Fortunately, Rubens could not paint the sad future of Marie de' Medici. +She died in a poor apartment at Cologne, deserted by her family. The +queen was delighted with Rubens's pictures, taking lessons of him in +drawing, and often conversing with him while he made the sketches, the +painting being done by himself and his pupils in his studio at Antwerp, +in about two years and a half. + +The queen had intended to adorn another gallery at the Luxembourg with +the life of Henry IV., but the project was abandoned in consequence of +the quarrel between Marie and Cardinal Richelieu. + +Rubens painted other pictures while at work on the Medici allegory: +"Susannah and the Elders," "Lot's Daughters," a beautiful "Virgin and +Child" for Baron de Vicq, who had recommended him to Marie de' Medici, +and several other works. + +In his "Kermess" now in the Louvre, a peasant festival in Flanders, "in +front of a village inn about fourscore persons of both sexes are +depicted, intermingled in varieties of groups, in the full swing of +boisterous enjoyment after a better meal than peasants are used to, +singing, dancing, talking, shouting, gambolling, love-making. A large, +serious dog tries to get his share by prying into a pail half filled +with empty platters. An abounding scene of rustic revelry, in the groups +and individuals a character and expression which only warm genius +animating rich intellectual resources could give." + +Rubens delighted in painting animals. "It is related," says Calvert, +"that he caused to be brought to his house a very fine and powerful lion +that he might study him in his various attitudes. But what he had still +greater delight in painting than animals was children. Here, too, as +with animals, and in a higher form, he had what a healthy, juicy mind +like his revelled in, nature unsophisticated. It may have been in front +of one of his canvases glowing with the luminous rosiness of half a +dozen of these happy soul-buds that Guido exclaimed, 'Does Rubens mix +blood with his paint?' The mobility of children, their naturalness, +their unveiled life and innocence, humanity in its heavenly promise, +laughing incarnations of hope, all appealed to his liveliest +sympathies, as to his artistic preferences." + +He was skilled, also, in portraits. Mr. Kett says the picture of his +mother, in the Dulwich Gallery, the "Spanish Hat," in the National +Gallery, and the portrait called "General Velasquez" "are three that +could scarcely be excelled by any master of any time." + +Dr. Waagen says of "_Le Chapeau de Poil_" ("The Spanish Hat"), "No +picture justifies more than this the appellation which Rubens has +obtained of 'The Painter of Light.' No one who has not beheld this +masterpiece of painting can form any conception of the transparency and +brilliancy with which the local coloring in the features and complexion, +though under the shadow of a broad-brimmed Spanish beaver hat, are +brought out and made to tell, while the different parts are rounded and +relieved with the finest knowledge and use of reflected lights. The +expression of those youthful features, beaming with cheerfulness, is so +full of life, and has such a perfect charm, that one is inclined to +believe the tradition that Rubens fell in love with the original (a +young girl of the Lunden family, at Antwerp) whilst she was sitting to +him." + +Mrs. Jameson says, "The picture as a picture is miraculous, all but life +itself.... Rubens, during his life, would never part with this +picture.... After the death of his widow, it passed into the possession +of the Lunden family, whose heir, M. Van Havre, sold it in 1817, for +sixty thousand francs, to another descendant of the family, M. Stier +d'Artselaer. At his death, in 1822, it was sold by auction and purchased +by M. Niewenhuys for seventy-five thousand francs, and brought to +England, where, after being offered in vain to George IV., it was bought +by Sir Robert Peel for three thousand five hundred guineas.... + +"To venture to judge Rubens, we ought to have seen many of his pictures. +His defects may be acknowledged once for all. They are in all senses +gross, open, palpable; his florid color, dazzling and garish in its +indiscriminate excess; his exaggerated, redundant forms; his coarse +allegories; his historical improprieties; his vulgar and prosaic +versions of the loftiest and most delicate creations of poetry; let all +these be granted, but this man painted that sublime history (a series of +six pictures), almost faultless in conception and in costume, the +'Decius' in the Liechtenstein Gallery. This man, who has been called +unpoetical, and who was a born poet, if ever there was one, conceived +that magnificent epic, the 'Battle of the Amazons;' that divine lyric, +the 'Virgin Mary' trampling sin and the dragon, in the Munich Gallery, +which might be styled a Pindaric Ode in honor of the Virgin, only +painted instead of sung; and those tenderest moral poems, the 'St. +Theresa' pleading for the souls in Purgatory, and the little sketch of +'War,' where a woman sits desolate on the black, wide heath, with dead +bodies and implements of war heaped in shadowy masses around her, +while, just seen against the lurid streak of light left by the setting +sun, the battle rages in the far distance.... + +"Though thus dramatic in the strongest sense, yet he is so without +approaching the verge of what we call theatrical. With all his flaunting +luxuriance of color, and occasional exaggeration in form, we cannot +apply that word to him. Le Bran is theatrical; Rubens, never. His sins +are those of excess of daring and power; but he is ever the reverse of +the flimsy, the artificial, or the superficial. His gay magnificence and +sumptuous fancy are always accompanied by a certain impress and +assurance of power and grandeur, which often reaches the sublime, even +when it stops short of the ideal." + +A few months after the paintings were finished for Marie de' Medici, a +great sorrow came to the Rubens mansion. Isabella Brandt, his wife, died +in the middle of the year 1626, leaving two sons, Albert and Nicholas, +twelve and eight years of age. She was buried with much display in the +Abbey Church of St. Michael, where she had been married,--in the same +tomb with his mother and his brother Philip, and her husband dedicated a +beautiful "Virgin and Child" to her memory. He wrote to a friend, sadly, +in regard to her whom he had lost, as one "not having any of the vices +of her sex. She was without bad temper or feminine frivolity, but was in +every way good and honorable--in life loved on account of her virtues, +and since her death universally bewailed by all. Such a loss seems to me +worthy of sympathy, and because the true remedy for all evils is +forgetfulness, the daughter of time, one must without doubt hope for +relief; but I find the separation of grief for the departed from the +memory of a person whom I ought to revere and honor whilst I live, to be +very difficult." + +Partly to distract his mind from his grief, and partly to assist his own +country, to which he was devotedly attached, to keep peace with the +powers at war, which made Belgium their battle-ground, at the request of +the Infanta Isabella he visited Holland on a diplomatic mission, and, a +little later, Spain and England. The King of Spain had already ennobled +Rubens. "Regard being had to the great renown which he has merited and +acquired by excellence in the art of painting, and rare experience in +the same, as also by the knowledge which he has of histories and +languages, and other fine qualities and parts which he possesses, and +which render him worthy of our royal favor, we have granted and do grant +to the said Peter Paul Rubens and his children and posterity, male and +female, the said title and degree of nobility." In consequence of this, +Isabella had made him "gentleman of her household." + +In this his second visit to Spain, he is said to have painted forty +pictures in nine months. Rubens and Velasquez became intimate friends, +although the former was fifty-one, and the latter twenty-eight. + +A little later he was sent by Philip IV. of Spain, who had appointed +Rubens secretary to his privy council, on a mission to England. Here he +was discovered by a courtier, one morning, busy at his painting. "Ho!" +said the courtier, "does his Most Catholic Majesty's representative +amuse himself with painting?" + +"No," answered Rubens, "the artist sometimes amuses himself with +diplomacy." + +Rubens painted for King Charles I., "Diana and her Nymphs surprised by +Satyrs," and "Peace and Plenty," which latter, after remaining in Italy +for a century, was finally bought by the Marquis of Stafford, for +fifteen thousand dollars, and by him presented to the National Gallery. +Rubens also made nine sketches for pictures ordered by the king to +decorate the ceiling of the throne-room of Whitehall, illustrating the +deeds of James I. These cost fifteen thousand dollars. + +King Charles knighted the famous painter, and after the ceremony +presented him with the sword, a handsome service of plate, a diamond +ring, and a rich chain to which was attached a miniature of the king; +this he ever afterwards wore round his neck. + +At Cambridge University he was received by Lord Holland, the Chancellor, +and admitted to the honorary degree of Master of Arts. + +As a diplomatist, M. Villoamil says, "Rubens had great tact, was +prudent, active, forbearing, and patient to the last degree, and, above +all, throwing aside all personality, how exclusively careful he was +neither to exceed nor fall short of the line laid down to him from +Spain, softening, when it seemed harsh, what the Count Duke (Olivarezs) +had charged him to communicate, and even taking on himself faults and +errors which he had not committed, when by such assumption he could +advance his objects and gain the ends he had in view in the service of +Spain." + +How few in this world learn the beauty and the power of being "patient +to the last degree!" How few learn early in life to avoid gossip, to +speak well of others, and to make peace! + +In 1630, four years after the death of Isabella Brandt, Rubens married +her sister's daughter, Helena Fourment, a wealthy girl of sixteen, while +the painter was fifty-three. He seems to have thought her beautiful, as +she appears in nearly all his subsequent paintings. At Blenheim are two +portraits of the fair Helena: one, representing himself and his wife in +a flower garden with their little child, Dr. Waagen regards as one of +the most perfect family pictures in the world. + +In the Belvidere, Vienna, is a magnificent portrait of Helena Fourment. +She bore to Rubens five children in the ten remaining years of his life. + +He soon bought a lovely country home, the Chateau de Steen at Elewyt, +which was sold at his death for forty thousand dollars. "It was," says +Huet, "a feudal castle, surrounded on all sides with water. Rubens, +though nothing need have prevented him from demolishing the castle and +erecting an Italian villa on its site, respected its mediaeval +architecture. One may take it that the mediaeval turrets and the mediaeval +moat made up, according to him, an agreeable whole with the sylvan +surroundings. An imagination like his felt at home everywhere. The +principal charm of 'Steen' lay in its being but a day's journey from +Antwerp,--that there wife and children could breathe the beneficent +country air in unstinted draughts, and the artist himself could indulge +his leisure and find new subjects. It is all but certain that the idyl +of 'The Rainbow' and the bacchanalia of 'The Village Fair' were painted +nowhere else but at Steen.... + +"Though the two centuries and a half that have elapsed since then have +altered the means of locomotion and communication so thoroughly as to +make them difficult of recognition, it needs no great effort of the +imagination to follow the Rubens family from stage to stage on its +flitting to the summer quarters. We can fancy him sitting one of those +splendid horses he so magnificently bestrode. A team of four or six less +costly, but well-fed, well-groomed, and well-equipped cattle drags +through the loose sand or heavy clay the still heavier coach, where, +between children and nursemaids, thrones the mistress of the house, not +very securely; for she, like the rest, is considerably jolted. She +wears the large hat with feathers, beneath which the charming face meets +the spectators, as in the picture in the Louvre. A solid train with +provisions for the long journey brings up the rear of the procession. +Proud of his young wife, anxious as to her every want, the great artist, +whose hair and beard are plentifully besprinkled with gray, does not +leave the carriage door by her side." + +During the last years of his life Rubens suffered much from gout, but, +with the help of his pupils, he accomplished a great amount of work. +Many of his scholars became famous: Van Dyck, Jordaens, Snyders, +Teniers, and others. + +Van Dyck was twenty-two years younger than Rubens, and entered his +studio when he was seventeen. In four years his works began to be almost +as much esteemed as those of his master. It is said that one day, during +the absence of Rubens from his studio, the pupils, crowding around a +freshly painted picture, pushed against it, thus effacing the arm and +chin of a Virgin. They were greatly distressed over the matter, when Van +Hoeck cried out: "Van Dyck is the handiest; he must repair the +mischief." The restoration was so deftly made that Rubens did not +observe the accident. + +Later, when Van Dyck came back from Italy, after five years of study +there, he found little sale for his pictures, and was depressed. Rubens +went to his studio, comforted him, and bought all his paintings which +were finished. He did the same thing with a rival who had maligned him +because he was not as successful as the great painter. When Rubens died, +he owned in his gallery over three hundred pictures, many by Titian, +Paul Veronese, Tintoretto, and Van Dyck, and ninety by his own hand. + +In 1635, when Philip IV. of Spain had appointed as governor of the +Netherlands his own brother, the Cardinal Infanta Ferdinand, Sir Peter +Paul Rubens was deputed to design the triumphal arches and ornamental +temples for his solemn entry into Antwerp. These beautiful designs were +afterwards engraved and published, with a learned Latin description by +his friend Gevaerts, though they were not ready for the press till the +year after Rubens's death. On the day when Ferdinand entered Antwerp, +Rubens was ill at his house, but the new governor showed his +appreciation of his talent and learning by calling upon him in his own +home, as Queen Marie de' Medici, the Infanta Isabella, and other famous +persons had done. + +His last piece of work was the "Crucifixion of St. Peter," for St. +Peter's Church at Cologne. He asked for a year and a half to complete +the picture, but death came before it was finished. It represents the +apostle nailed to the cross with his head downwards, surrounded by six +executioners. "He has proved," says Gustave Planche, "over and over +again that he knew all the secrets of the human form, but never has he +proved it so clearly as in the Crucifixion of Peter." + +May 30, 1640, Antwerp was in mourning for her world-renowned painter. He +was buried at night, as was the custom, a great concourse of citizens, +all the artistic and literary societies, and sixty orphan children with +torches, following his body to the grave. It was temporarily placed in +the vault of the Fourment family, and March 4, 1642, was removed to a +special chapel built by his wife in the Church of St. James in Antwerp. +At his own request, made three days before his death, a "Holy Family," +one of his best works, was hung above his resting-place. In the picture, +St. George is a portrait of himself, St. Jerome of his father, an angel +of his youngest son, and Martha and Mary of Isabella and Helena, his two +wives. "A group of tiny angels, floating in the air, crown the Holy +Child with a wreath of flowers." + +The learned nephew of Rubens, Gevaerts, wrote the following epitaph, in +Latin, now inscribed on his monument:-- + +"Here lies Peter Paul Rubens, knight, and Lord of Steen, son of John +Rubens, a senator of this city. Gifted with marvellous talents, versed +in ancient history, a master of all the liberal arts and of the +elegancies of life, he deserved to be called the Apelles of his age and +of all ages. He won for himself the good will of monarchs and of +princely men. Philip IV., King of Spain and the Indies, appointed him +secretary of his Privy Council, and sent him on an embassy to the King +of England in 1629, when he happily laid the foundation of the peace +that was soon concluded between those two sovereigns. He died in the +year of salvation 1640, on the 30th of May, aged sixty-three years." + +The wife of Rubens afterwards married John Baptist Broechoven, Baron van +Bergeyck, an ambassador in England in the reign of Charles II. + +Rubens left his large collection of sketches to whichever of his sons +might become an artist, or whichever of his daughters might marry an +artist, but not one fulfilled the conditions. + +Two hundred years after Rubens's death, in 1870, a monument was erected +to his memory in one of the public squares of Antwerp, and in 1877 a +memorial festival was held in his honor in the same city. + + + + +REMBRANDT. + + +Edmondo De Amicis, that wonderful word-painter, says in his "Holland and +its People:" "However one may be profane in art, and have made a vow +never more to offend in too much enthusiasm, when one is in the presence +of Rembrandt van Rhijn, one can but raise a little, as the Spaniards +say, the key of one's style. Rembrandt exercised a particular prestige. +Fra Angelico is a saint, Michael Angelo a giant, Raphael an angel, +Titian a prince; Rembrandt is a supernatural being. How otherwise shall +we name that son of a miller? Born in a windmill, rising unheralded, +without master, without examples, without any derivation from schools, +he became a universal painter, embraced all the aspects of life, painted +figures, landscapes, marine views, animals, saints in paradise, +patriarchs, heroes, monks, wealth and misery, deformity and decrepitude, +the ghetto, the tavern, the hospital, death; made, in short, a review of +heaven and earth, and rendered all things visible by a light from the +arcana of his own imagination. + +[Illustration: REMBRANDT.] + +"It was said that the contrast of light and shadow corresponded in him +to diverse movements of thought. Schiller, before beginning a work, +heard within himself a harmony of indistinct sounds, which were like a +prelude to inspiration; in like manner, Rembrandt, when in the act of +conceiving a picture, had a vision of rays and shadows, which spoke to +his soul before he animated them with his personages. There is in his +pictures a life, and what may almost be called a dramatic action, quite +apart from the human figures. Vivid rays of light break into the +darkness like cries of joy; the darkness flies in terror, leaving here +and there fragments of shadow full of melancholy, tremulous reflections +that seem like lamentations; profound obscurity full of dim +threatenings; spurts of light, sparkles, ambiguous shadows, doubtful +transparencies, questionings, sighs, words of a supernatural language, +heard like music, and not understood, and remaining in the memory like +the vague relics of a dream. + +"And in this atmosphere he plants his figures, of which some are clothed +in the dazzling light of a theatrical apotheosis, others veiled like +phantoms, others revealed by one stroke of light upon the face; dressed +in habits of luxury or misery, but all with something strange and +fantastic; without distinctness of outline, but loaded with powerful +colors, sculptural reliefs, and bold touches of the brush; and +everywhere a warmth of expression, a fury of violent inspiration, the +superb, capricious, and profound imprint of a free and fearless genius." + +This strange, great painter, Rembrandt, was born, not in a windmill, as +Amicis says, but in Leyden, Holland, July 15, 1607. His father, Gerrit +Harmen van Rhijn, a miller, was then forty years old, in easy +circumstances, married to the daughter of the baker Willems van +Snydtbrouck, then thirty-five, a vigorous, strong-charactered woman, +whom the boy, in after years, loved to paint, over and over again. + +Of their six children, Adriaen, who became a miller, Gerrit, Machteld, +Cornelis, Willem, who became a baker, and Rembrandt, the latter was +destined for the law. He was early taught Latin, as a preparation for +the Leyden Academy, but before he was twelve he showed such decided +taste for painting and designing that his parents removed the lad from +school, and placed him with a relative, who was an artist, Jacob van +Swanenburg. He had returned from study in Italy in 1617, and Rembrandt +entered his studio, probably in 1620, the year in which our forefathers +left Holland. + +For three years the boy bent himself closely to the work he loved. He +made such remarkable progress that, at the end of this time, he was sent +to the well-known painter, Pieter Lastman of Amsterdam. He remained +there but six months, and then returned to his home in Leyden. + +From the age of seventeen to twenty, while in his Leyden home, we know +little of the youth, save that he studied nature with loving fidelity, +wandered over the low, picturesque country with its canal and +windmills, and observed people and skies and landscapes. + +The first work attributed to Rembrandt was painted in 1627, when he was +twenty years old, "St. Paul in Prison," showing care in detail and +richness in color. During the next two years, he made etchings of +himself and of his mother, who appears to have been his ideal. + +His first oil paintings were done in 1630; one, now lost, showing a +philosopher in a grotto; and the "Bust of an Old Man," which, says Prof. +John W. Mollett of France, in his Life of Rembrandt, "is the most +interesting of all the Rembrandts in the Cassel Gallery, from the fact +that it first displayed his knowledge of the great secret, which he +subsequently so wonderfully developed, of concentrating light upon the +heads of his portraits. He painted other old men's heads at the same +date, and all are remarkable for indefatigable elaboration and care. In +this same year, Rembrandt produced more than thirty etchings." + +After several years passed at Leyden, Rembrandt removed his studio to +Amsterdam, a rich and flourishing city of one hundred thousand people at +that time, whither his fame had preceded him. He hired apartments over a +shop on the Bloemgracht, a quay in the western part of the city, where +numerous pupils soon came to him, and commissions from the wealthy. One +of his first principal works was "The Presentation in the Temple," now +in the museum at the Hague. "The picture," says Mr. Sweetser, "presents +a great temple interior, with groups of citizens and prelates, and, in +the centre, massed under a bright light, the Holy Family, with the +richly robed Simeon adoring the child Jesus. It is full of the strong +shades and contrasting brightness of the new school of art, replete with +poetic power and fresh personality, warm in golden lights, and in +certain parts showing a rare minuteness of finish in detail. This +subject was always a favorite with Rembrandt, and several other +paintings thereof are preserved, together with numerous sketches and +engravings, showing the venerable Simeon in the Temple at Jerusalem. + +"The 'Susannah' was executed during the same year, and is now at the +Hague. The shrinking, naked figure of the fair bather, though lacking in +statuesque beauty and symmetry, is thoroughly natural and tender, +palpitating with life, and lighted with a warm and harmonious glow. +This, also, was a favorite theme with Rembrandt, and conveniently +replaced the Diana and Actaeon of the classical painters with a subject +not less alluring, and perhaps more permissible." + +Rembrandt also painted "St. Jerome," now at Aix-la-Chapelle, the lost +pictures of "Lot and his Daughters," and the "Baptism of the Eunuch;" +"The Young Man," now at Windsor; the "Prophetess Anna," in the +Oldenbourg Gallery; the "Portrait of a Man," in the Brunswick Museum; +and about forty etchings, among them two portraits of his mother, +several of himself; the "Bath of Diana," and the Meeting of "Danae and +Jupiter." + +In 1632, Rembrandt painted his famous "School of Anatomy," now at the +Hague, for which the Dutch government, two centuries later, gave +thirty-two thousand florins. + +"This picture represents the celebrated anatomist, Nicolaus Tulp, a +friend and patron of Rembrandt, in a vaulted saloon, engaged in +explaining the anatomy of the arm of a corpse. He wears a black cloak +with a lace collar, and a broad-brimmed soft hat. With his half-raised +left hand, he makes a gesture of explanation, while with his right he is +dissecting a sinew of the arm of his subject. The corpse lies on a table +before him. To the right of Tulp is a group of five figures; and two +other men are sitting at the table in front. These listeners are not +students, but members of the guild of surgeons of Amsterdam, as shown by +a paper held by one of them. They are attending to the lecture with very +various expressions. + +"They are all bare-headed, dressed in black, and with turned-over +collars except one, who still wears the old-fashioned upright ruff. +There are, perhaps, other persons present in the hall, as Tulp appears +to be looking beyond the picture, as if about to address an audience not +visible to the spectator; and it is here worthy of remark that +Rembrandt's compositions are never imprisoned in their frames, but +convey an idea of a wide space beyond them. It is somewhat singular +that the spectator seems hardly to notice the corpse lying before him at +full length, the feet of which he can almost touch, although it is +strongly lighted in contrast to the surrounding black garments, and most +faithfully presents the peculiar hue of a dead body, leaving no doubt +that it was painted from nature, as well as the living heads. The +admirable art of the composition consists in its power of riveting the +attention to the living in the presence of death." + +Amicis says: "It is difficult to express the effect produced by this +picture. The first feeling is that of horror and repulsion from the +corpse. The forehead is in shadow, the eyes open with the pupils turned +upwards, the mouth half open as if in astonishment, the chest sunken, +the legs and feet stiff, the flesh livid, and looking as if, should you +touch it with your hand, it would feel cold. With this rigid body a +powerful contrast is produced by the vivacious attitudes, the youthful +faces, the bright, attentive eyes, full of thought, of the disciples, +revealing in different degrees the avidity for knowledge, the joy of +learning, curiosity, wonder, the strength of intelligence, the suspense +of the mind. The master has the tranquil face, the serene eye, and the +almost smiling lip of one who feels the complacency of knowledge. There +is in the complexion of the group an air of mystery, gravity, and +scientific solemnity, which inspires reverence and silence. + +"The contrast between the light and shadow is as marvellous as that +between life and death. It is all done with extraordinary finish; one +can count the folds of the ruffs, the lines of the face, the hairs of +the beards. It is said that the foreshortening of the corpse is wrong, +and that in some points the finish runs into dryness, but universal +judgment places the 'Lesson in Anatomy' among the greatest triumphs of +human genius. + +"Rembrandt was only twenty-six years old when he painted this picture, +which, therefore, belongs to his first manner, in which there are not +yet apparent that fire and audacity, that sovereign security in his own +genius, which shine in the works of his maturer years: but there is +already that luminous potency, that marvellous _chiaroscuro_, that magic +of contrasts, which form the most original trait of his genius." + +I remember, in standing before this picture, to have had the same +"repulsion" of which Amicis speaks. How differently one feels before +that other marvel of the Hague, Paul Potter's "Bull," so at one with +nature, so tender, so restful! What wonder that it once hung in the +Louvre, beside the "Transfiguration" of Raphael, the "St. Peter Martyr," +of Titian, and the "Communion of St. Jerome" by Domenichino? + +During this year, 1632, Rembrandt executed several portraits of men; the +"Rape of Proserpine," in the Berlin Gallery; "Moses saved from the +Nile;" "Christ and Nicodemus;" the "Oriental Standing," in the gallery +of the King of Holland; the "Betrothed Jewess;" the "Rape of Europa;" +and portraits of six women. His etchings this year were, "Man on +Horseback," "Cottage with White Palings" his first landscape, "Seller of +Rat's Poison," "Jesus being carried to the Tomb," and the "Resurrection +of Lazarus." + +In the following year he painted "Susannah Surprised by the Elders," +which is now in Russia; "The Boat of St. Peter," a powerful conception, +showing dark storm-shadows surrounding the sea-tossed bark, with a high +light thrown on the nearer mountain-like waves and on the men at the +sails; "The Elevation of the Cross," and "The Descent from the Cross," +bought by Prince Frederick Henry of Holland, and now in Munich; "The +Good Samaritan," now in Sir Richard Wallace's collection; "The +Philosophers in Meditation," two delicate pictures, now in the Louvre; +"The Master Shipbuilder and his Pipe," now at Buckingham Palace, sold +for sixteen thousand five hundred francs, in 1810; portraits of Madame +Grotius, a youth at Dresden, another in the Pourtales Collection, sold +for seven thousand dollars in 1865; and no less than sixteen others, +besides many etchings. One of these portraits, that of a young boy, was +bought by J. de Rothschild, in 1865, for five thousand dollars; and a +portrait of Saskia, now at Cassel, for ten thousand dollars. + +Of the picture of Saskia in the Dresden Museum, painted this year, +Professor Mollett says: "The head in this portrait is slightly +inclined, the long chestnut curls are covered by a cherry-colored bonnet +ornamented with white feathers. The light falling on the figure from +above illuminates the rim of the bonnet and the lower part of the face, +while the forehead is covered by the shadow thrown by the hat." + +Of the large portrait in the Cassel Gallery, painted the same year, he +says: "In this picture Saskia is very richly dressed, and covered with a +profusion of pearls and precious stones. The face, a delicate profile of +a bright, fresh color, drawn against a dark brown background, is +entirely in the light, almost without shadows." + +The portrait of her in the late Fesch Gallery, says Sweetser, "displays +the maiden's snowy complexion, great deep eyes, rosy lips, and rich +auburn hair, adorned with white and green plumes, and wearing pearls on +her neck, and a chain of gold on her green silk mantilla." + +Who was Saskia? The lovely and beautiful woman whose life was to +Rembrandt like the transcendent light he threw into his pictures; whose +death left him forever in the shadow of shadows, which he, of all +painters, knew best how to paint. + +Saskia van Ulenburgh was the orphan daughter of Rombertus Ulenburgh, a +Frisian lawyer of high standing, envoy from Friesland to the court of +William of Orange. She was wealthy, of lovely character, and attractive +in face and in manner. Her brother-in-law, the painter Nijbrand de +Geest, was a man of influence, and her cousin, Hendrik Ulenburgh, was +the publisher of Rembrandt's engravings. They therefore naturally met +each other. She was young and of distinguished family; the young artist, +who fell in love with her, had his genius alone to offer her. + +The devoted love of Rembrandt won the happy-hearted, refined Saskia. +They were married June 5, 1634, when she was twenty-one and Rembrandt +twenty-seven, and went to live in his pleasant home in Amsterdam. + +The next eight years were given to arduous work, blessed by the +well-nigh omnipotent influence of a seemingly perfect love. In his +marriage year he painted "Queen Artemisia," now in Madrid; "The +Incredulity of St. Thomas," now at the Hermitage; "Repentance of Peter," +"Judas and the Blood Money;" a larger "Descent from the Cross," now at +St. Petersburg; "Rev. Mr. Ellison and Wife of the English Church at +Amsterdam," sold in London, in 1860, for about nine thousand dollars; +several portraits of himself and several of Saskia. In the large "Jewish +Wife," in "Bathsheba receiving David's Message," in the long lost +"Vertumnus and Pomona," Saskia, the beloved Saskia, is always the model. + +At the same time were made five sketches and sixteen engravings, the +most notable being "The Annunciation to the Shepherds." "This," says +Professor Mollett, "is a night effect, with a mass of trees on the +right hand, and a distance in which a city is seen, with its factories +and bridges in a nest of foliage, and fires reflected in water. In the +foreground the shepherds and their flocks are alarmed by the sudden +appearance of the celestial glory, in the luminous circles of which +thousands of cherubim are flying; an angel is advancing, and, with the +right hand raised, is announcing the news to the shepherds. The whole +composition is wonderful for the energy it displays, and appears as if +it had been thrown on the copper with swift, nervous, inspired touches, +but always accurate and infallible." + +In 1635 a son was born to Rembrandt and Saskia, named Rombertus, after +her father, but the child soon died, the first shadow in the famous +artist's home. This year he painted "Samson menacing his Father-in-law," +now in the Berlin Museum; the "Rape of Ganymede," now at Dresden; +"Christ driving out the Money-changers;" "The Martyrdom of St. Stephen;" +in all, eight portraits, seven other paintings, nine designs, and +twenty-three etchings. One of the most attractive of the pictures about +this time is Rembrandt at home, with Saskia, life-size, and full of +happiness, seated upon his knee. + +Three scenes from the history of Tobias follow. The first, the blind +father awaiting his son's return, is in the Berlin Museum; the second +contains Tobias and his wife seated in a chamber; the third illustrates +Tobias restoring sight to his father. + +In 1636 he painted "The Entombment," "The Resurrection," and "The +Ascension," companion pictures to the "Crucifixion" painted for Prince +Frederick Henry four years previously; "The Repose in Egypt," now at +Aix-la-Chapelle; "The Ascension," in the Munich Pinakothek; "Samson +blinded by the Philistines, with Delilah in Flight;" and "St. Paul," in +the Vienna Belvidere, besides three portraits and ten etchings. + +The finest etching of this period was "Ecce Homo," a marvellous +composition, consisting of an immense number of figures admirably +disposed. Our Lord is seen in front standing, surrounded by guards. His +eyes are raised to heaven, his hands are manacled and clasped together, +and on his head is the crown of thorns. "It is," says Mollett, "one of +the painter's grandest works." + +"The 'Ecce Homo,'" says Wilmot Buxton, "to say nothing of the splendor, +the light and shade and richness of execution, has never been surpassed +for dramatic expression; and we forgive the commonness of form and type, +in the expression of touching pathos in the figure of the Saviour; nor +would it be possible to express with greater intensity the terrible +raging of the crowd, the ignobly servile and cruel supplications of the +priests, or the anxious desire to please on the part of Pilate." + +The following year, "The Lord of the Vineyard," now in the Hermitage, +was painted, representing the master in a chamber flooded with light, +listening to the complaints of the laborers; "Abraham sending away +Hagar and Ishmael;" and several portraits of himself and Saskia. Now she +is seated at a table face to face with her husband, her blue eyes +looking pleased and happy into his; now they walk hand in hand in a +beautiful landscape. + +In July, 1638, a second child gladdened the Rembrandt household, this +time a daughter, named Cornelia after the artist's mother. In less than +four weeks she passed out of Saskia's arms, leaving them again +childless. Rembrandt's father had died six years before, and of his +brothers and sisters, Gerrit, Machteld, and Cornelis were dead also. +Still the painter worked on bravely, for did he not have the one +inspiration that gave almost superhuman power to overcome obstacles, and +made work a pleasure,--the love of his blue-eyed Saskia? + +During this year some lawsuits occurred in the family over her property, +and Rembrandt sued some of her relatives for slander, because they had +insinuated that Saskia "has squandered her heritage in ornaments and +ostentation." How little the Friesland people knew of the poetry of the +painter's heart, which, for the love he bore Saskia, decked, with his +rich imagination, every picture of her with more than royal necklaces, +and covered her robes with priceless gems, because she was his idol! + +This year, 1638, he painted the great picture "The Feast of Ahasuerus," +or "The Wedding of Samson," now at Dresden, where at the middle of the +table sits the joyous queen, Esther or Delilah, robed in white silk, and +richly jewelled, of course with Saskia's face; "Christ as a Gardener," +long owned by the Prince of Hesse-Cassel, presented to Josephine at +Malmaison, and bought by George IV. for Buckingham Palace, where it +still remains; "Joseph telling his Dream;" "The Little Jewish Bride," +representing St. Catherine and her wheel of martyrdom (the hair, the +pearls, the face are all Saskia's), and other works. + +The next year among his many superb portraits are three of his mother: +one in Vienna, painted a year before her death, in a furred cloak, +resting her folded hands on a staff; another with a red shawl on her +head; and still another seated, with her hands joined;--both the latter +in the Hermitage. He also finished "The Entombment" and "The +Resurrection," begun three years before. He said, "These two pieces are +now finished with much of study and of zeal, ... because it is in these +that I have taken care to express the utmost of naturalness and action; +and this is the principal reason why I have been occupied so long on +them." He urged that they be hung in a strong light, for he said, "A +picture is not made to be smelt of. The odor of the colors is +unhealthy." + +He etched "The Death of the Virgin," "The Presentation," "Youth +surprised by Death," and others. + +The next year, 1640, a baby's voice was again heard in the handsome +Rembrandt home, a little daughter named, for the second time, Cornelia, +but in a few short months the household was again stricken by death. + +Rembrandt's activity was now marvellous. In the next two years he +painted "Le Doreur," a portrait of his artist friend Domer, which was +sold in 1865 for over thirty thousand dollars; it is also called "The +Gilder," and is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; the +portrait of an aged woman, purchased in 1868 for the Narishkine +Collection, for eleven thousand dollars; "Woman with the Fan," of +Buckingham Palace; the mysterious "Witch of Endor," Schoenborn Gallery in +1867, for five thousand dollars; "The Carpenter's Household," now in the +Louvre, representing Joseph at work, with the tender mother nursing her +child; "The Salutation," in the Grosvenor Gallery; "Susannah at the +Bath;" "The Offering of Manoah," at the Dresden Museum, showing Manoah +and his wife prostrate before the altar, from which an angel crowned +with flowers is ascending; a magnificent portrait of himself at thirty, +in the National Gallery, in a black cap and fur robe, his arms crossed +on a window-sill; sixteen fine etchings, among them three lion-hunts, +the preacher Anslo and his wife seated at a book-laden table; several +exquisite portraits of ladies, and two of the beloved Saskia: one is +full of life and health, with the sweetest expression, and carefully +finished; the other, in 1642, is richly dressed, but the face is +delicate and dreamy, like that of one who may have received a message +from the unseen world. + +Professor Mollett says of these, "The first represents Saskia in all the +freshness of her beauty, seen through the prism of love and art; in her +rich dress, fresh color, and bright smile, bearing a strong resemblance +to the Saskia on her husband's knee. It is difficult to imagine a more +charming and amiable face, or a portrait more happy in color and +expression. The work is very carefully finished without being minute, +the tone profound, the touch broad and melting. No greater contrast can +be conceived to this picture bathed in light, radiant with happiness and +health, than the 'Saskia' of Antwerp. This portrait has an indefinable +charm. The very soul of the painter seems to have entered into the +picture, to which a melancholy interest is attached. It bears the same +date as the year of Saskia's death, 1642. The face no longer shows the +serene beauty of youth and strength, but its etherealized and delicate +features have a thoughtful and dreamy expression. It was probably +painted from memory, after Saskia's death." + +In September, 1641, a son was born to Saskia, Titus, named for her +sister Titia van Ulenburgh. The latter died the same year. On the 19th +of the next June, Saskia was buried from the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam, +leaving her son, not a year old, and her husband, to whom her loss was +irreparable. + +This year he had completed his greatest work, "The Night Watch," now in +the Amsterdam Museum, and stood at the very zenith of his fame. From +this time, while he did much remarkable work, he seems like a man on a +mountain top, looking on one side to sweet meadows filled with flowers +and sunlight, and on the other to a desolate landscape over which a +clouded sun is setting. With Saskia died the best of Rembrandt. Before +her death he had painted various pictures of himself, all joyous, even +fantastic, sometimes as a warrior, sometimes with jewelled robes and +courtly attire. Now for five years he made no portrait of himself, and +then one simple and stern, like a man who lives and does his work +because he must. + +"The Night Watch," or the "Sortie of the Banning Cock Company," +represents Captain Frans Banning Cock's company of arquebusiers emerging +from their guild-house on the Singel. Amicis says of it, "It is more +than a picture; it is a spectacle, and an amazing one. All the French +critics, to express the effect which it produces, make use of the +phrase, '_C'est ecrasant!_' ('It is overpowering!') A great crowd of +human figures, a great light, a great darkness--at the first glance this +is what strikes you, and for a moment you know not where to fix your +eyes in order to comprehend that grand and splendid confusion. + +"There are officers, halberdiers, boys running, arquebusiers loading and +firing, youths beating drums, people bowing, talking, calling out, +gesticulating--all dressed in different costumes, with round hats, +pointed hats, plumes, casques, morions, iron gorgets, linen collars, +doublets embroidered with gold, great boots, stockings of all colors, +arms of every form; and all this tumultuous and glittering throng start +out from the dark background of the picture and advance towards the +spectator. + +"The two first personages are Frans Banning Cock, Lord of Furmerland and +Ilpendam, captain of the company, and his lieutenant, Willem van +Ruijtenberg, Lord of Vlaardingen, the two marching side by side. The +only figures that are in full light are this lieutenant, dressed in a +doublet of buffalo-hide, with gold ornaments, scarf, gorget, and white +plume, with high boots; and a girl who comes behind, with blond hair +ornamented with pearls, and a yellow satin dress; all the other figures +are in deep shadow, excepting the heads, which are illuminated. By what +light? Here is the enigma. Is it the light of the sun? or of the moon? +or of the torches? + +"There are gleams of gold and silver, moonlight, colored reflections, +fiery lights; personages which, like the girl with blond tresses, seem +to shine by a light of their own; faces that seem lighted by the fire of +a conflagration; dazzling scintillations, shadows, twilight, and deep +darkness, all are there, harmonized and contrasted with marvellous +boldness and insuperable art.... In spite of censure, defects, +conflicting judgments, it has been there for two centuries triumphant +and glorious; and the more you look at it, the more it is alive and +glowing; and, even seen only at a glance, it remains forever in the +memory, with all its mystery and splendor, like a stupendous vision." + +Charles Blanc says of the picture: "To tell the truth, this is only a +dream of night, and no one can decide what the light is that falls on +the groups of figures. It is neither the light of the sun nor of the +moon, nor does it come from torches; it is rather the light from the +genius of Rembrandt." + +The home of the artist at that time, of brick and cut stone, four +stories high, on one of the quays of the river Amstel, must have been +most attractive and happy until the death of Saskia. + +Says Mr. Sweetser: "The house still stands, and, by the aid of an +existing legal inventory (dated 1656), we can even refurnish it as it +was in the days of Rembrandt. Entering the vestibule, we find the +flagstone paving covered with fir-wood, with black-cushioned Spanish +chairs for those who wait, and to amuse their leisure several busts and +twenty-four paintings--four each by Brouwer and Lievens, the rest mostly +by Rembrandt. + +"The ante-chamber, or saloon, was a large room furnished with seven +Spanish chairs upholstered in green velvet, a great walnut table covered +with Tournay cloth, an ebony-framed mirror, and a marble wine-cooler. +The walls were covered with thirty-nine pictures, many of which were in +massive and elegant frames. There were religious scenes, landscapes, +architectural sketches, works of Pinas, Brouwer, Lucas van Leyden, and +other Dutch masters; sixteen pictures by Rembrandt; and costly paintings +by Palma Vecchio, Bassano, and Raphael. + +"The next room was a perfect little museum of art, containing a +profusion of the master's pictures, with rare works of Van Leyden, Van +Dyck, Aartgen, Parsellis, Seghers, and copies from Annibale Caracci. The +oaken press and other furnishings indicated that the marvellous etchings +of our artist were engraved and printed here. + +"The next saloon was the gem of the establishment, and was equipped with +a great mirror, an oaken table with an embroidered cloth, six chairs +with blue coverings, a bed with blue hangings, a cedar-wood wardrobe, +and a chest of the same wood. The walls even here showed the profound +artistic taste of the occupant, for they were overlaid with twenty-three +pictures by Aartgen, Lievens, Seghers, and other northern painters; The +'Concordi,' 'Resurrection,' and 'Ecce Homo' of Rembrandt; a Madonna by +Raphael; and Giorgione's great picture of 'The Samaritan.' + +"On the next floor the master had his studio and museum. The great +art-chamber contained materials for weeks of study; the walls were +covered with rich and costly _bric-a-brac_--statuettes in marble, +porcelain, and plaster; the Roman emperors; busts of Homer, Aristotle, +and Socrates: Chinese and Japanese porcelains and drawings; Venetian +glass; casts from nature; curious weapons and armor, with a shield +attributed to Quentin Matsys; minerals, plants, stuffed birds, and +shells; rare fans, globes, and books. Another feature was a noble +collection of designs, studies, and engravings, filling sixty leather +portfolios, and including specimens of the best works of the chief +Italian, German, and Dutch artists and engravers." + +To gain this beautiful collection of works of art, Rembrandt spared no +money, paying eighty-six dollars for a single engraving of Lucas van +Leyden's, and fourteen hundred florins for fourteen proofs from the same +painter. + +After Saskia died, the tide of fortune seemed to turn. Several artists +who had studied in Italy returned to Holland, and popularized the +Italian style, so that the works of Rembrandt seemed to fade somewhat +from the public gaze. With pride and sorrow he went on painting, but he +must have been deeply wounded. + +In 1643 and '44, he painted "Bathsheba at the Bath." "The nude figure of +Bathsheba," says Professor Mollett, "stands out in a dazzling effect of +light from a background of warm, confused shadows. The figure is not +beautiful to a sculptor's eye, nor in the Italian style; but in +animation, in the flesh color, and in the modelling it is superb. The +harmony of the tints and of the general tone is very beautiful; tints of +bronze and gold combine with shades of violet, brown, green, and yellow +ochre into a warm, poetic, and mysterious gamut. 'This picture should be +hung in a strong light, that the eye may penetrate into the shadows,' +said Rembrandt." + +The other works of this time were the "Diana and Endymion" of the +Liechtenstein Gallery at Vienna; "Philemon and Baucis;" the "Old Woman +Weighing Gold," now in the Dresden Museum; "The Woman taken in +Adultery," which brought thirty thousand dollars at public sale, and is +now in the English National Gallery; a portrait of Jan Cornelis Sylvius, +which was sold in 1872 for nearly eight thousand dollars, and the +"Burgomaster Six" for six thousand dollars. The latter was the portrait +of Jan Six, a young patrician, an enthusiastic student and poet, married +to Margaret the daughter of the famous surgeon Dr. Tulp. + +Other pictures in the next few years were "The Tribute Money;" the +"Burgomaster Pancras giving a Collar of Pearls to his Wife," now owned +by Queen Victoria; "Abraham receiving the Three Angels;" two paintings +of the "Adoration of the Shepherds," one now in Munich and one in the +National Gallery; "The Good Samaritan," and "The Pilgrims of Emmaus," +now in the Louvre; and "The Peace of the Land," celebrating the peace of +Westphalia, now in the Boymans Museum at Rotterdam. "It represents the +enclosure of a fortress, the walls of which are visible in the +right-hand background, where cannons are blazing and a group of soldiers +fighting; the right-hand foreground is entirely occupied by a group of +horsemen, of remarkable vigor and truth; on the left are two thrones, +on one of which leans a figure of Justice, clasping her hands as if in +supplication. The centre, which is in the light, is occupied by a +couchant lion growling, his one paw on a bundle of arrows, the symbol of +the United Provinces. The lion is bound by two chains, the one attached +to the thrones, the other fastened to an elevation, bearing on a shield +the arms of Amsterdam, surrounded by the words, 'Soli Deo Gloria.'" + +"Samuel taught by his Mother," "Christ appearing to Mary," "The +Prophetess Anna," "Jesus blessing Little Children," purchased for the +National Gallery for thirty-five thousand dollars;--"The Bather," in the +National Gallery, of which Landseer says: "It is the most artful thing +ever done in painting, and the most unsophisticated;" a likeness of +Rembrandt's son Titus, now twelve years old, were his next works. +Fifty-seven etchings were made between 1649 and 1655, the most +celebrated being the "Hundred-Guilder Print," or "Jesus healing the +Sick." + +"The subject of this etching is taken from the words, 'And Jesus went +about all Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all +manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.' The +serene and calm figure of Jesus stands out from the shadow of the +background, preaching to the people around him. By a superb antithesis, +the Pharisees and Sadducees, the priests and the curious and +unbelieving, are standing on Christ's right hand, bathed in light, +while from the shadows that envelop the left side of the picture are +coming the sick, the possessed, and unfortunates of all kinds. The +composition is full of feeling, drawn and executed with a rare genius, +the details revealing a world of expression and character: the lights +and shadows, disposed in large masses, are of wonderful softness. The +etching, commenced with aqua-fortis, is finished with the dry point, the +silvery neutral tints of Christ's robe and the soft shadows being +produced in this manner." + +Frederick Wedmore says in his "Masters of Genre-Painting," "I should be +thankful for the 'Hundred-Guilder Print,' were it only because of the +half-dozen lines in which Rembrandt has etched one figure, to me the +central one, a tall man, old and spare, and a little bent, with drooped +arms, and hands clasped together in gesture of mild awe and gently felt +surprise, as of one from whose slackened vitality the power of _great_ +surprise or of _very_ keen interest has forever gone. On his face there +is the record of much pain, of sufferings not only his own, not only of +the body, but of saddening experiences which have left him quelled and +forever grave." + +The name arose from the fact that a Roman merchant gave Rembrandt for +one engraving seven Marc Antonio engravings, which were valued at a +hundred guilders, and the artist would never sell any of these pictures +below this price. Only eight impressions of the first plate are in +existence; two are in the British Museum, one is in Paris, one in +Amsterdam, one in Vienna, one in the collection of the Duke of +Buccleuch, one in Mr. Holford's, and one owned by M. Eugene Dutuit of +Rouen, sold in 1867 for about six thousand dollars. + +When Saskia died, she left her property--she had brought Rembrandt forty +thousand florins--to her infant son Titus, with the condition that her +husband should have the use of the money until his death or his second +marriage. If the boy died, Rembrandt was to receive the whole estate, +save in case of a second marriage, when half should go to her sister. + +Already Saskia's friends saw the money passing away from the artist, and +they brought suits for Titus's sake, to recover it. Finally, in 1656, he +transferred his house and land to Titus, with the privilege of remaining +there during the pleasure of Saskia's relatives. + +Matters did not improve, and the following year all the rich collection +of art works and household goods were sold by auction to meet the +demands of creditors. The next year his engravings and designs were sold +in the same way, and the year following the house was disposed of, +Rembrandt being allowed to remove two stoves only and some screens. +These must have been bitter days for the once happy artist. It was +fortunate that Saskia did not live to see such a direful change. + +During all the struggle and disgrace Rembrandt kept on working. In 1656 +and '57 he painted for the Surgeons' Guild, a large picture, "Lesson on +Anatomy of Joan Deyman," containing the portraits of nine celebrated +doctors; "St. John the Baptist Preaching," a canvas with over one +hundred small figures; "The Adoration of the Magi," now in Buckingham +Palace and greatly admired; "Joseph accused by Potiphar's Wife," and +"Jacob blessing Ephraim and Manasseh." + +Professor Mollett says that the "Jacob" "belongs as much to all times +and all nations as the masterpieces of Greek sculpture. This touching +scene, which is simply rendered with all the power of Rembrandt's art, +represents the aged patriarch extending his hands, which Joseph is +guiding, towards the boys, who are kneeling before him. Behind the bed +stands their mother, Asenath, with clasped hands. The light falling from +behind Jacob, on the left, leaves his face in the shade. His head is +covered by a yellowish cap, bordered with clear-colored fur; the sleeve +of the right arm is of a beautiful gray; the hand painted with large, +broad touches. The bed is covered with a sheet and a counterpane of pale +red and fawn color. + +"Joseph wears a turban, and his wife a high cap, long veil, and robe of +gray and fawn-colored brown. The fair child has a yellow vest; and his +head, bright with reflected lights, is very fine in tone, and of extreme +delicacy. We see the colors here employed are gray and fawn-colored +brown, which, in the highest notes, only reach subdued red or yellow. +The whole bears a mysterious air; in a fine and luminous light, filled +with tones and half-tones that are indefinable. The touch is of such +surpassing boldness and ease, that, when viewed in detail, the picture +might be called a sketch, if the harmony and completeness of the whole +did not indicate the maturity and profundity of the work." + +After Rembrandt's home was sold, he hired a house on the Rosengracht, a +retired but respectable part of the city, two blocks away from the +Bloemgracht, where he began life with his beloved Saskia. Here, as +elsewhere, he gathered admiring pupils about him, and kept diligently at +his work. It is probable that he was married at this time, or later, for +in 1663 he painted a picture known as "Rembrandt and his Family," now in +the Brunswick Museum, where a rosy and smiling lady is seated with a +child on her lap, while two little girls of perhaps five and seven stand +by her. The man with brown hair stands on the left, giving a flower to +one of the girls. + +Rembrandt's chief works now were "Moses descending from Sinai, and +breaking the Tables of the Law," "Jacob wrestling with the Angels," a +striking picture of "Ziska and his Adherents swearing to avenge the +Death of Huss," and "The Syndics of the Guild of Clothmakers," now in +the Amsterdam Museum. + +Professor Springer writes concerning the latter picture, the "School of +Anatomy," and "The Night Watch:" "Art has never again created a greater +wealth of stirring imagery or poetry of color so entrancing as these +three pictures reveal to us. Unconsciously our thoughts return to +Shakspeare's familiar creations, and we recognize in these two mighty +art champions of the north kindred natures and a corresponding bent of +fancy." + +In 1668, Titus, now twenty-seven years old,--he studied painting, but +became a merchant,--was married to his cousin Magdalena van Loo, one of +the Frisian families, and died in September of the same year. The next +March, his widow bore a daughter who received the name of Titia, for her +dead father. Magdalena died in the same year in which her child was +born. Thus frequently did sorrow shadow the path of the great master of +shadows. + +This year, Rembrandt painted several portraits of himself. "In that of +the Pitti Palace, we see him wrapped in fur, a medal is hung about his +neck, and he is wearing a close-fitting cap, from which his ample white +hair escapes. His face is furrowed with age, but the brightness of the +eye is not diminished.... + +"In the splendid portrait in the Double Collection at Rouen, he again +stands before us, with bending attitude and slightly inclined head, in +theatrical costume, with his maulstick in his hand, laughing heartily. +And this is Rembrandt's farewell! His face is wrinkled across and across +by time and care, but it is no gloomy misanthrope crushed by evil +fortune whom we see, but the man who opposed to all fortunes the +talisman of Labor, and thus paints the secret of his life in his final +portrait of himself, in the midst of his work, scorning destiny." + +A year after Titus died, death came to Rembrandt, at sixty-two. He was +buried simply in the West Church, so simply that the registered expense +of his burial is fifteen florins! + +His power of work was marvellous. He painted over six hundred and twenty +pictures, executed three hundred and sixty-five etchings, besides two +hundred and thirty-seven variations of these, with hundreds of drawings +and sketches scattered over Europe. Among the best known etchings are +"Rembrandt's Portrait with the Sword," "Lazarus rising from the Dead," +the "Hundred-Florin Plate," "Annunciation," "Ecce Homo," "The Good +Samaritan," "The Great Descent from the Cross," the landscape with the +mill, and that with the three trees. + +That he was a man of great depth of feeling is shown by his love of his +mother, his worship of Saskia, and his tenderness to his brothers and +sisters after they had lost their fortunes. He was also passionately +fond of nature and of animals. Sweetser tells this incident: "One day he +was making a portrait group of a notable family, when he was informed +that his favorite monkey had died. The grieving artist caused the body +to be brought to the studio, and made its portrait on the same canvas on +which he was engaged. The family, aforesaid, was naturally incensed at +such an interpolation, and demanded that it should be effaced; but +Rembrandt preferred to keep the whole work himself, and let his patrons +seek a more accommodating artist." + +Taine pays Rembrandt this glowing tribute in his "Art in the +Netherlands:" "Rembrandt, constantly collecting his materials, living in +solitude and borne along by the growth of an extraordinary faculty, +lived, like our Balzac, a magician and a visionary in a world fashioned +by his own hand, and of which he alone possessed the key. Superior to +all painters in the native delicacy and keenness of his optical +perceptions, he comprehended this truth and adhered to it in all its +consequence,--that, to the eye, the essence of a visible object consists +of the spot (_tache_), that the simplest color is infinitely complex, +that every visual sensation is the product of its elements coupled with +its surroundings, that each object on the field of sight is but a single +spot modified by others, and that in this wise the principal feature of +a picture is the ever-present, tremulous, colored atmosphere into which +figures are plunged like fishes in the sea.... + +"Free of all trammels and guided by the keen sensibility of his organs, +he has succeeded in portraying in man not merely the general structure +and the abstract type which answers for classic art, but again that +which is peculiar and profound in the individual, the infinite and +indefinable complications of the moral being, the whole of that +changeable imprint which concentrates instantaneously on a face the +entire history of a soul, and which Shakespeare alone saw with an +equally prodigious lucidity. + +"In this respect he is the most original of modern artists, and forges +one end of the chain of which the Greeks forged the other; the rest of +the masters, Florentine, Venetian, and Flemish, stand between them; and +when, nowadays, our over-excited sensibility, our extravagant curiosity +in the pursuit of subtleties, our unsparing search of the true, our +divination of the remote and the obscure in human nature, seeks for +predecessors and masters, it is in him and in Shakespeare that Balzac +and Delacroix are able to find them." + + + + +SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. + + +In Plympton, Devonshire, July 16, 1723, the great English painter, Sir +Joshua Reynolds, was born. His father, Samuel, and his grandfather, +John, were both ministers, while his mother and grandmother were both +daughters of clergymen. + +[Illustration: SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS.] + +Samuel Reynolds was a gentle, kindly man, master of the grammar school +at Plympton, supporting his eleven children on the meagre income of +seven hundred and fifty dollars a year. He had married Theophila Potter, +when she was twenty-three, the lovely daughter of a lovely young mother, +Theophila Baker, who, marrying against the consent of her father, was +disinherited by him, and at the early death of her devoted husband wept +herself blind, and died broken-hearted. + +Joshua, the seventh child of Samuel and Theophila, was a thoughtful, +aspiring boy, who cared more for drawing than for Ovid, and spent his +early years in copying the illustrations from "Plutarch's Lives" and +Jacob Cats's "Book of Emblems," which his grandmother, on his father's +side, had brought with her from Holland. His sisters were also fond of +drawing, and as pencils and paper could not be afforded in the +minister's family, they drew on the whitewashed walls of a long passage, +with burnt sticks. The boy's sketches were the poorest, and he was +therefore nicknamed "the clown." + +On the back of a Latin exercise, the lad drew a wall with a window in +it. Under it, the not highly delighted father, who wished his boy to be +a learned doctor, wrote: "This is drawn by Joshua in school, out of pure +idleness." But when in his eighth year the boy made a fine sketch of the +grammar school with its cloister, having studied carefully the Jesuit's +"Treatise on Perspective," the astonished father said, "Now, this +exemplifies what the author of the 'Perspective' says in his preface, +'that, by observing the rules laid down in this book, a man may do +wonders;' for this is wonderful." + +Joshua was fond of literary composition, and early composed some rules +of conduct for himself, which influenced him through life. He said, "The +great principle of being happy in this world is not to mind or be +affected with small things," a maxim which he carried out in his +peaceful, self-poised, and remarkably happy life. + +"If you take too much care of yourself, nature will cease to take care +of you," he said, and thus without excessive self-consciousness he did +his great work and reaped his great reward. + +A book did for Joshua what a book has often done before, became an +inspiration, and therefore led to grand results. He read Richardson's +"Theory of Painting," wherein was expressed the hope and belief that +there was a future for England in art. "No nation under heaven so nearly +resembles the ancient _Greeks_ and _Romans_ as we. There is a haughty +courage, an elevation of thought, a greatness of taste, a love of +liberty, a simplicity and honesty amongst us which we inherit from our +ancestors, and which belong to us as _Englishmen_; and 'tis in these +this resemblance consists.... A time may come when future writers may be +able to add the name of an _English_ painter.... I am no prophet, nor +the son of a prophet, but, considering the necessary connection of +causes and effects, and upon seeing some links of that fatal chain, I +will venture to pronounce (as exceedingly probable) that if ever the +ancient, great, and beautiful taste in painting revives, it will be in +_England_; but not till _English_ painters, conscious of the dignity of +their country and of their profession, resolve to do honor to both by +Piety, Virtue, Magnanimity, Benevolence, and a contempt of everything +that is really unworthy of them. + +"And now I cannot forbear wishing that some younger painter than myself, +and one who has had greater and more early advantages, would practise +the magnanimity I have recommended, in this single instance of +attempting and hoping only to equal the greatest masters of whatsoever +age or nation. What were they which we are not or may not be? What +helps had any of them which we have not?" + +The boy Joshua was electrified by these words. Perhaps he could become +"equal to the greatest masters." He told a friend, Edmond Malone, that +this book so delighted and inflamed his mind "that Raphael appeared to +him superior to the most illustrious names of ancient or modern time." + +Young Reynolds painted his first oil painting, now in the possession of +Deble Boger, Esq., of Anthony, near Plymouth, when he was twelve years +old. It was a portrait of Rev. Thomas Smart, a tutor in the family of +Lord Edgcumbe. In church, while Smart was preaching, Joshua made a +sketch on his thumb-nail of the minister. He enlarged this sketch in a +boat-house, using part of the sail for his canvas. + +Good Samuel Reynolds began to wonder whether a boy who could paint at +twelve would make a successful apothecary, and, not being able to decide +the question alone, he consulted Mr. Craunch. This gentleman, of small +fortune, resided at Plympton, and was the father of pretty Betsy +Craunch, a sweetheart of Peter Pindar (Dr. Wolcot). The lad himself +said, "he would rather be an apothecary than an _ordinary_ painter; but +if he could be bound to an eminent master, he should choose the latter." + +Mr. Craunch advised the study of art, and through his influence and that +of his friend, a lawyer, Mr. Cutcliffe of Bideford, the lad was sent to +Thomas Hudson, the principal portrait painter in England, living in +Great Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn, London. He was the pupil of +Richardson, married his daughter, and thus Reynolds was brought again +under a kindred influence to that which had inspired him in the "Theory +of Painting." + +Hudson was to receive six hundred dollars for care of his pupil, half of +which was loaned by a married sister till he should be able to repay +her. The boy made drawings from ancient statuary and from Guercino, and +was delighted with his work, writing home to his father, "While I am +doing this I am the happiest creature alive." + +One morning, while purchasing some pictures for Hudson at an auction +room, he was overjoyed to see a great poet, Alexander Pope, enter the +place, and bow to the crowd, who opened a passage for him. Among others, +Pope shook hands with the ardent young artist. He described the poet as +"about four feet six inches high; very hump-backed and deformed. He wore +a black coat, and, according to the fashion of that time, had on a +little sword. He had a large and very fine eye, and a long, handsome +nose; his mouth had those peculiar marks which are always found in the +mouths of crooked persons, and the muscles which run across the cheek +were so strongly marked that they seemed like small cords." + +Though bound to Hudson for four years, at the end of two years Joshua +was dismissed, ostensibly for neglect to carry a picture at the time +ordered, but in reality, it is believed, because the master was jealous +that he had painted so admirably the portrait of an elderly +serving-woman in the house. He returned to Devonshire, and settled at +Plymouth, where he soon painted about thirty portraits of the magnates +of the neighborhood, at fifteen dollars apiece. + +He worked earnestly, saying, "Those who are determined to excel must go +to their work whether willing or unwilling, morning, noon, and night, +and they will find it to be no play, but, on the contrary, very hard +labor." + +Young Reynolds made a portrait in 1746 of Captain Hamilton, father of +the Marquis of Abercorn, which was the first of his pictures which +brought the artist into notice. He also painted Hamilton in a picture +with Lord and Lady Eliot. The latter married Hamilton after her +husband's death. + +"This Captain Hamilton," we find in Prior's Life of Malone, "was a very +uncommon character; very obstinate, very whimsical, very pious, a rigid +disciplinarian, yet very kind to his men. He lost his life as he was +proceeding from his ship to land at Plymouth. The wind and sea were +extremely high; and his officers remonstrated against the imprudence of +venturing in a boat where the danger seemed imminent. But he was +impatient to see his wife, and would not be persuaded. In a few minutes +after he left the ship, the boat was upset and turned keel upwards. + +"The captain, being a good swimmer, trusted to his skill, and would not +accept a place on the keel, in order to make room for others, and then +clung to the edge of the boat. Unluckily, he had kept on his great-coat. +At length, seeming exhausted, those on the keel exhorted him to take a +place beside them, and he attempted to throw off the coat; but, finding +his strength fail, told the men he must yield to his fate, and soon +afterwards sank, while _singing a psalm_." + +This year, young Reynolds, now twenty-three, painted his own portrait. +Says Tom Taylor, in his "Life and Times of Sir Joshua Reynolds," begun +by Charles Robert Leslie, the royal academician, and finished by Taylor, +"It is masterly in handling, and powerful, almost Rembrandtesque, in +_chiaro-oscuro_. The hair flows, without powder, in long ringlets over +the shoulders. The white collar and ruffled front of the shirt are +thrown open. A dark cloak is flung over the shoulders." + +This year, 1746, Samuel Reynolds died, and the young painter took his +two unmarried sisters to Plymouth to provide for them in his new home. +Reynolds learned much at this time from William Gandy, whose father had +been a successful pupil of Van Dyck. One of this painter's maxims, which +Joshua never forgot, was that "a picture ought to have a richness in its +texture, as if the colors had been composed of cream or cheese, and the +reverse of a hard and husky or dry manner." + +Three years later, an unlooked-for pleasure came to Reynolds. He had +always longed to visit Rome for study, but his father was too poor to +provide the means, and artists, as a rule, do not grow rich early in +their career, if at all. The famous Admiral Keppel, then a commodore +only twenty-four years old, appointed to a command in the Mediterranean, +put into Plymouth for repairs to his ship. Here, at the house of Lord +Edgcumbe, he met the young painter, and was so pleased with his +courteous manner and frank kindly nature that he offered him passage on +his vessel. The offer was gladly accepted, and they sailed for Lisbon, +May 11, 1749. From here they went to Cadiz, Gibraltar, Tetuan, Algiers, +the Island of Minorca, where Reynolds painted nearly all the officers of +the garrison, then to Genoa, Leghorn, Florence, and, finally, Rome. +"Now," he said, "I am at the height of my wishes, in the midst of the +greatest works of art that the world has produced." + +He remained at Rome two years, his married sisters, Mrs. Palmer and Mrs. +Johnson, advancing the money for his expenses. He studied and copied +many of the works of Raphael, Michael Angelo, Titian, Rubens, Rembrandt, +and others, and filled several journals with his art notes. Two of these +books are now carefully preserved in the British Museum, two in the +Sloane Museum, and several in the Lenox Gallery in New York. + +At first, Reynolds was disappointed in the works of Raphael, but, said +he, "I did not for a moment conceive or suppose that the name of +Raphael, and those admirable paintings in particular, owed their +reputation to the ignorance and the prejudice of mankind; on the +contrary, my not relishing them as I was conscious I ought to have done +was one of the most humiliating things that ever happened to me. I found +myself in the midst of works executed upon principles with which I was +unacquainted. + +"I felt my ignorance, and stood abashed. All the indigested notions of +painting which I had brought with me from England, where the art was at +the lowest ebb,--it could not, indeed, be lower,--were to be totally +done away with and eradicated from my mind. It was necessary, as it is +expressed on a very solemn occasion, that I should become as _a little +child_. Notwithstanding my disappointment, I proceeded to copy some of +those excellent works. I viewed them again and again; I even affected to +feel their merits, and to admire them more than I really did. In a short +time a new taste and new perceptions began to dawn upon me, and I was +convinced that I had originally formed a false opinion of the perfection +of art, and that this great painter was entitled to the high rank which +he holds in the estimation of the world.... + +"Having since that period frequently revolved the subject in my mind, I +am now clearly of opinion that a relish for the higher excellences of +the art is an acquired taste, which no man ever possessed without long +cultivation and great labor and attention.... It is the florid style +which strikes at once, and captivates the eye, for a time, without ever +satisfying the judgment. Nor does painting in this respect differ from +other arts. A just and poetical taste and the acquisition of a nice +discriminative musical ear are equally the work of time." + +In making the studies from Raphael in the Vatican, Reynolds caught so +severe a cold as to produce deafness, from which he never recovered, and +was obliged to use an ear-trumpet all his life. He could not help +observe the superficiality of the average tourist. He said, "Some +Englishmen, while I was in the Vatican, came there, and spent above six +hours in writing down whatever the antiquary dictated to them. They +scarcely ever looked at the paintings the whole time. Instead of +examining the beauties of the works of fame, and why they were esteemed, +they only inquire the subject of the picture and the name of the +painter, the history of a statue and where it is found, and write that +down." + +Later, Reynolds journeyed to Bologna, Modena, Parma, and Venice, +studying the methods of the Venetian painters. He says, "When I observed +an extraordinary effect of light and shade in any picture, I took a leaf +out of my pocketbook, and darkened every part of it in the same +gradation of light and shade as the picture, leaving the white paper +untouched to represent the light, and this without any attention to the +subject, or to the drawing of the figures. A few trials of this kind +will be sufficient to give their conduct in the management of their +lights. After a few experiments, I found the paper blotted nearly alike. +Their general practice appeared to be, to allow not above a quarter of +the picture for the light, including in this portion both the principal +and secondary lights; another quarter to be kept as dark as possible; +and the remaining half kept in mezzotint or half-shadow. Rubens appears +to have admitted rather more light than a quarter, and Rembrandt much +less, scarcely an eighth: by this conduct, Rembrandt's light is +extremely brilliant, but it costs too much; the rest of the picture is +sacrificed to this one object." + +Reynolds longed to be at home again. So great was his love for England +that when, at Venice, he heard at the opera a ballad that had been +popular in London, it brought tears to his eyes. + +Reynolds settled in London on his return from the Continent, after +spending three months in Devonshire. He took a suite of handsome +apartments in St. Martin's Lane, his sister Frances, six years younger +than himself, being his housekeeper. She failed to make her brother +happy, through her peculiar temperament. She was, says Madame d'Arblay, +"a woman of worth and understanding, but of a singular character; who, +unfortunately for herself, made, throughout life, the great mistake of +nourishing a singularity which was her bane, as if it had been her +greatest blessing.... It was that of living in an habitual perplexity +of mind and irresolution of conduct, which to herself was restlessly +tormenting, and to all around her was teasingly wearisome. + +"Whatever she suggested or planned one day was reversed the next; though +resorted to on the third, as if merely to be again rejected on the +fourth; and so on almost endlessly; for she rang not the changes on her +opinions and designs, in order to bring them into harmony and practice, +but wavering, to stir up new combinations and difficulties, till she +found herself in the midst of such chaotic obstructions as could chime +in with no given purpose, but must needs be left to ring their own peal, +and to begin again just where they began at first." + +Frances copied her brother's pictures, which copies, Reynolds said, +"make other people laugh, and me cry." Dr. Samuel Johnson said she was +"very near to purity itself;" and of her "Essay on Taste," "There are in +these few pages or remarks such a depth of penetration, such nicety of +observation, as Locke or Pascal might be proud of." + +Reynolds now painted the portraits of Sir James Colebrooke, the Duchess +of Hamilton, the Countess of Coventry, and the Dukes of Devonshire and +Grafton. The two ladies were two beautiful Irish sisters. Horace Walpole +tells us "how even the noble mob in the drawing-room clambered upon +chairs and tables to look at them; how their doors were mobbed by crowds +eager to see them get into their chairs, and places taken early at the +theatres when they were expected; how seven hundred people sat up all +night, in and about a Yorkshire inn, to see the Duchess of Hamilton get +into her post-chaise in the morning; while a Worcester shoemaker made +money by showing the shoe he was making for the Countess of Coventry." + +The latter, the elder and lovelier, died seven years after her marriage, +from consumption. The Duchess of Hamilton, Reynolds painted again five +years later, and a third time in a red dress and hat, on horseback, the +Duke standing near her. + +"The evident desire which Reynolds had," writes Northcote, his pupil and +biographer, "to render his pictures perfect to the utmost of his +ability, and in each succeeding instance to surpass the former, +occasioned his frequently making them inferior to what they had been in +the course of the process; and when it was observed to him that probably +he had never sent out to the world any one of his paintings in as +perfect a state as it had been, he answered 'that he believed the remark +was very just; but that, notwithstanding, he certainly gained ground by +it on the whole, and improved himself by the experiment;' adding, 'if +you are not bold enough to run the risk of losing, you can never hope to +gain.' + +"With the same wish of advancing himself in the art, I have heard him +say that whenever a new sitter came to him for a portrait, he always +began it with a full determination to make it the best picture he had +ever painted; neither would he allow it to be an excuse for his failure +to say 'the subject was a bad one for a picture;' there was always +nature, he would observe, which, if well treated, was fully sufficient +for the purpose." + +The portrait of his friend Admiral Keppel, standing on a sandy beach, +and back of him a tempestuous sea, did much to establish the reputation +of Reynolds. He painted eight other pictures of this brave man, who +entered the navy at ten and at eighteen had been round the world. + +"Keppel was the first of many heroes painted by Reynolds," writes +Leslie, "who was never excelled, even by Velasquez, in the expression of +heroism. So anxious was he to do all possible justice to his gallant +friend, and so difficult did he find it to please himself, that after +several sittings he effaced all he had done, and began the picture +again.... + +"From an early period Reynolds adopted what he strongly recommended in +his Discourses, the practice of drawing with the hair pencil instead of +the port-crayon; and this constant use of the brush gave him a command +of the instrument, if ever equalled, certainly never exceeded, for there +are marvels of delicacy and of finish in his execution, combined with a +facility and a spirit unlike anything upon the canvases of any other +painter. I am far from meaning that in the works of other great masters +there are not many excellences which Reynolds did not possess; but what +I would note is that, though he was all his life studying the works of +other artists, he could not, and it was fortunate that he could not, +escape from his own manner into theirs." + +Reynolds once said to Northcote, "There is not a man on earth who has +the least notion of coloring; we all of us have it equally to seek for +and find out, as at present it is totally lost to the art.... I had not +an opportunity of being early initiated in the principles of coloring; +no man, indeed, could teach me. If I have never been settled with +respect to coloring, let it at the same time be remembered that my +unsteadiness in this respect proceeded from an inordinate desire to +possess every kind of excellence that I saw in the works of others, +without considering that there are in coloring, as in style, excellences +which are incompatible with each other; however, this pursuit, or, +indeed, any similar pursuit, prevents the artist from being tired of his +art.... I tried every effect of color; and, leaving out every color in +its turn, showed every color that I could do without it. As I +alternately left out every color, I tried every new color, and often, it +is well known, failed.... + +"I considered myself as playing a great game; and, instead of beginning +to save money, I laid it out faster than I got it, in purchasing the +best examples of art that could be produced, for I even borrowed money +for this purpose. The possession of pictures by Titian, Vandyck, +Rembrandt, etc., I considered as the best kind of wealth." He said, in +order to obtain one of Titian's best works he "would be content to ruin +himself." + +Reynolds was probably never surpassed in the drawing of the face, but +was not always correct in the human form, because of insufficient +knowledge of anatomy. + +During Reynolds's second year in London, he had one hundred and twenty +sitters, dukes and duchesses, members of Parliament, and reigning +beauties. That of Mrs. Bonfoy, daughter of the first Lord Eliot, is, +says Leslie, "one of his most beautiful female portraits, and in perfect +preservation. The lady is painted as a half-length, in a green dress, +with one hand on her hip, and the head turned, with that inimitable +grace of which Reynolds was master beyond all the painters who ever +painted women." + +Already Reynolds had become the friend of the great-hearted, +great-minded Dr. Samuel Johnson, who came and went at all hours to the +artist's home, and who, when about to be arrested for trivial debts, was +again and again befriended by the artist's purse. In 1756, Reynolds +painted for himself a half-length of Johnson, with a pen in his hand, +sitting at a table. This picture is used in Boswell's Life. + +For Johnson's "Idler" Reynolds wrote three papers, sitting up one whole +night to complete them, and by so doing was made ill for a time. + +He also painted a young lad, the son of Dr. Mudge, who was very anxious +to visit his father on his sixteenth birthday, but was prevented +through illness. "Never mind, _I_ will send you to your father," said +Reynolds, and he sent a speaking likeness, which was of course a gift. +He seldom, however, made presents of his pictures, for he said they were +usually not valued unless paid for. + +About this time, Sir William Lowther, a young millionnaire, died, +leaving twenty-five thousand dollars to each of thirteen companions. +Each companion very properly commissioned Reynolds to paint for him the +portrait of so considerate and generous a friend. + +In 1758 and 1759, the artist was overwhelmed with work. In one year +there were one hundred and fifty sitters, among them the Prince of +Wales, afterwards George III.; Lady Mary Coke, afterwards believed to +have been secretly married to the Duke of York, brother of George III.; +and the fair and frail Kitty Fisher, very agreeable and vivacious, +speaking French with great fluency, who died five years after her +marriage, "a victim of cosmetics," it is said. Sir Joshua painted seven +beautiful portraits of her. The most interesting represents her holding +a dove in her lap, while its mate is about to descend to it from a sofa +on which she is reclining. There are three of these, one being in the +Lenox collection in New York. + +Reynolds also painted the famous Garrick this year, and thirteen years +later Garrick and his wife. Leslie writes: "Reynolds had to light the +eyes with that meteoric sensibility, and to kindle the features with +that fire of life which would deepen into the passion of Lear, sparkle +in the vivacity of Mercutio, or tremble in the fatuousness of Abel +Drugger. He had to paint the man who, of all men that ever lived, +presents the most perfect type of the actor; quick in sympathy, vivid in +observation, with a body and mind so plastic that they could take every +mould, and give back the very form and pressure of every passion, +fashion, action; delighted to give delight, and spurred to ever higher +effort by the reflection of the effect produced on others, no matter +whether his audience were the crowd of an applauding theatre, a table +full of noblemen and wits, a nursery group of children, or a solitary +black boy in an area; of inordinate vanity, at once the most courteous, +genial, sore, and sensitive of men; full of kindliness, yet always +quarrelling; scheming for applause even in the society of his most +intimate friends; a clever writer, a wit and the friend of wits. + +"Mrs. Garrick, though always the delight and charm of Garrick's house, +was now no longer the lovely, light-limbed, laughing Eva Maria Violette, +for love of whom Garrick, twenty-five years before, had dressed in +woman's clothes that he might slip a letter into her chair, without +compromising her, or offending her watchful protectress, Lady +Burlington, and who had witched the world as a dancer, while she won +friends among the titled and the great by her grace, good-humor, and +modest sweetness of disposition. In Lord Normanton's gallery is a most +fascinating sketch of her, which must have been painted in the first +years of Sir Joshua's acquaintance with her. Slight as it is, those who +have seen will not easily forget it. In the picture of her sitting with +her husband, painted this year, she appears of matronly character, with +a handsome, sensitive, kindly face; the dress is painted with singular +force and freedom." + +In 1759, Reynolds painted his first Venus, reclining in a wooded +landscape, while Cupid looks in through the boughs. Mason, the poet, +writes: "When he was painting his first Venus, I was frequently near his +easel; and although before I came to town his picture was in some +forwardness, and the attitude entirely decided, yet I happened to visit +him when he was finishing the head from a beautiful girl of sixteen, +who, as he told me, was his man Ralph's daughter, and whose flaxen hair, +in fine natural curls, flowed behind her neck very gracefully. + +"But a second casual visit presented me with a very different object; he +was then painting the body, and in his sitting chair a very squalid +beggar-woman was placed, with a child, not above a year old, quite +naked, upon her lap. As may be imagined, I could not help testifying my +surprise at seeing him paint the carnation of the goddess of beauty from +that of a little child, which seemed to have been nourished rather with +gin than with milk, and saying that 'I wondered he had not taken some +more healthy-looking model;' but he answered, with his usual _naivete_, +that, 'whatever I might think, the child's flesh assisted him in giving +a certain _morbidezza_ to his own coloring, which he thought he should +hardly arrive at had he not such an object, when it was extreme (as it +certainly was), before his eyes." + +Among the many famous portraits of this year and the next was that of +the Countess Waldegrave, Horace Walpole's beautiful niece Maria, +afterwards Duchess of Gloucester. The earl was the most trusted friend +of George II., and, for a short time, prime minister. Walpole mentions +the countess being mobbed in the park one Sunday when in company with +Lady Coventry, so that several sergeants of the guards marched before +and behind them to keep off the admiring crowd. Also that of the +beautiful Elizabeth Gunning, afterward Duchess of Argyle, and the sister +of Admiral Keppel, afterwards Marchioness of Tavistock. "This is one of +the painter's loveliest and best preserved female portraits. The dress +is white, with a rose in the bosom, and the expression inimitably +maidenly and gentle." + +This year, Reynolds removed to a fine home in Leicester Square, where he +remained as long as he lived, having a suburban home at Richmond Villa. +His own painting-room was octagonal, "about twenty feet long and sixteen +in breadth. The window which gave the light to the room was square, and +not much larger than one-half the size of a common window in a private +house; whilst the lower part of this window was nine feet four inches +from the floor. The chair for his sitters was raised eighteen inches +from the floor, and turned on casters. His palettes were those which are +held by a handle, not those held on the thumb. The stocks of his pencils +were long, measuring about nineteen inches. He painted in that part of +the room nearest to the window, and never sat down when he worked." + +He had now raised his prices to twenty-five, fifty, and one hundred +guineas for the three classes of portraits,--head, half-length, and +full-length, and his income from his work was thirty thousand dollars a +year. He purchased, says Northcote, "a chariot on the panels of which +were curiously painted the four seasons of the year in allegorical +figures. The wheels were ornamented with carved foliage and gilding; the +liveries also of his servants were laced with silver. But, having no +spare time himself to make a display of this splendor, he insisted on it +that his sister Frances should go out with it as much as possible, and +let it be seen in the public streets to make a show, which she was much +averse to, being a person of great shyness of disposition, as it always +attracted the gaze of the populace, and made her quite ashamed to be +seen in it. This anecdote, which I heard from this very sister's own +mouth, serves to show that Sir Joshua Reynolds knew the use of quackery +in the world. He knew that it would be inquired whose grand chariot +this was, and that, when it was told, it would give a strong indication +of his great success, and, by that means, tend to increase it." + +The next year, Reynolds painted, among others, the Rev. Laurence Sterne, +"at this moment the lion of the town, engaged fourteen deep to dinner, +'his head topsy-turvy with his success and fame,' consequent on the +appearance of the first instalment of his 'Tristram Shandy.'" The +picture is now in the gallery of the Marquis of Lansdowne, by whom it +was purchased on the death of Lord Holland. + +"Sterne's wig," writes Leslie, "was subject to odd chances from the +humor that was uppermost in its wearer. When by mistake he had thrown a +fair sheet of manuscript into the fire instead of the foul one, he tells +us that he snatched off his wig, 'and threw it perpendicularly, with all +imaginable violence, up to the top of the room.' While he was sitting to +Reynolds, this same wig had contrived to get itself a little on one +side; and the painter, with that readiness in taking advantage of +accident, to which we owe so many of the delightful novelties in his +works, painted it so, for he must have known that a mitre would not sit +long bishop-fashion on the head before him, and it is surprising what a +Shandean air this venial impropriety of the wig gives to its owner.... + +"In 1768, Sterne lay dying at the 'Silk bag shop in Old Bond Street,' +without a friend to close his eyes. No one but a hired nurse was in the +room, when a footman, sent from a dinner table where was gathered a gay +and brilliant party--the Dukes of Roxburgh and Grafton, the Earls of +March and Ossory, David Garrick and David Hume--to inquire how Dr. +Sterne did, was bid to go upstairs by the woman of the shop. He found +Sterne just a-dying. In ten minutes, 'Now it is come,' he said, put up +his hand as if to stop a blow, and died in a minute. + +"His laurels--such as they were--were still green. The town was ringing +with the success of the 'Sentimental Journey,' just published.... +Sterne's funeral was as friendless as his death-bed. Becket, his +publisher, was the only one who followed the body to its undistinguished +grave, in the parish burial-ground of Marylebone, near Tyburn +gallows-stand.... His grave was marked down by the body-snatchers, the +corpse dug up, and sold to the professor of anatomy at Cambridge. A +student present at the dissection recognized under the scalpel the face +of the brilliant wit and London lion of a few seasons before." + +In 1761, the year of the marriage and coronation of George III., +Reynolds painted three of the most beautiful of the ten +bridesmaids,--Lady Elizabeth Keppel; Lady Caroline Russell, "in +half-length, sitting on a garden-seat, in a blue ermine-embroidered robe +over a close white-satin vest. She is lovely, with a frank, joyous, +innocent expression, and has a pet Blenheim spaniel in her lap--a +love-gift, I presume, from the Duke of Marlborough, whom she married +next year;" and Lady Sarah Lenox, whom George III. had loved, and would +have married had not his council prevented. She married, six years +later, Sir Joshua's friend, Sir Charles Bunbury, was divorced, married +General Napier, and became the mother of two illustrious sons, Sir +William and Sir Charles. Four years later, Reynolds painted another +exquisite picture of her "kneeling at a footstool before a flaming +tripod, over which the triad of the Graces look down upon her as she +makes a libation in their honor.... Lady Sarah was still in the full +glow of that singular loveliness which, it was whispered, had four years +ago won the heart of the king, and all but placed an English queen upon +the throne. Though the coloring has lost much of its richness, the lakes +having faded from Lady Sarah's robes, and left what was once warm +rose-color a cold, faint purple, the picture takes a high place among +the works of its class--the full-length allegorical." + +Five years after this, Lord Tavistock, a young man of rare promise, who +had married Lady Keppel, was killed by falling from his horse. His +beautiful wife never recovered from this bereavement, and died in a few +months at Lisbon, of a broken heart. + +All these years were extremely busy ones for the distinguished artist. +He disliked idle visitors, saying: "These persons do not consider that +my time is worth, to me, five guineas an hour." He belonged to several +literary and social clubs, and was a lifelong and devoted friend to such +men as Edmund Burke, Johnson, and Goldsmith. + +When he was ill, Johnson wrote him: "If the amusement of my company can +exhilarate the languor of a slow recovery, I will not delay a day to +come to you, for I know not how I can so effectually promote my own +pleasure as by pleasing you, in whom, if I should lose you, I should +lose almost the only man whom I call a friend." + +Reynolds had now raised his prices to thirty guineas for a head, seventy +for a half-length, and one hundred and fifty for a full-length, one half +to be paid at the first sitting. + +In 1766, when he was forty-three, a frequent visitor to the studio was +Angelica Kauffman, the pretty Swiss artist, whom he usually enters in +his notebooks as "Miss Angel," and whom it is believed he loved and +wished to marry. She was, at this time, twenty-five years old, very +attractive, and admired by everybody for her genius and loveliness. + +Mrs. Ellet, in her "Women Artists," says: "At the age of nine, this +child of genius was much noticed on account of her wonderful pastel +pictures. When her father left Morbegno, in Lombardy, in 1752, to reside +in Como, she found greater scope for her ingenious talent, and better +instruction in that city; and, in addition to her practice with the +brush and pencil, she devoted herself to studies in general literature +and in music. Her proficiency in the latter was so rapid, and the talent +evinced so decided, besides the possession of a voice unusually fine, +that her friends, a few years afterward, urged that her life should be +devoted to music. She was herself undecided for some time to which +vocation she should consecrate her powers." + +In the native city of her father, Schwarzenberg, Angelica painted in +fresco the figures of the Twelve Apostles after copper engravings from +Piazetta, an unusual work for a woman. After some years in Milan and +Florence, Angelica went to Rome in 1763, where she painted the portrait +of Winkelmann, then sixty years old, and other famous people, and was +taken to London by the accomplished Lady Wentworth, wife of the British +resident. + +Here, says Mrs. Ellet, "she found open to her a career of brilliant +success, productive of much pecuniary gain. Her talents and winning +manners raised her up patrons and friends among the aristocracy. Persons +attached to the court engaged her professional services, and the most +renowned painter in England, Sir Joshua Reynolds, was of the circle of +her friends.... She was numbered among the painters of the Royal +Society, and received the rare honor, for a woman, of an appointment to +a professorship in the Academy of Arts in London, being, meanwhile, +universally acknowledged to occupy a brilliant position in the best +circles of fashionable society." + +Reynolds painted her portrait twice, and she painted his for his +friend, Mr. Parker of Saltram. She was declared by some persons to be "a +great coquette." Once she professed to be enamoured of Nathaniel Dance; +to the next visitor she would disclose the great secret, "that she was +dying for Sir Joshua Reynolds." + +When at the height of her fame, either because she had refused a +prominent lord, who sought to be revenged, or through the jealousy of +another artist, a fearful deception was practised upon her. + +"A low-born adventurer," says Mrs. Ellet, "who assumed the name of a +gentleman of rank and character--that of his master, Count Frederic de +Horn--played a conspicuous part at that time in London society, and was +skilful enough to deceive those with whom he associated. He approached +our artist, who was then about twenty-six, and in the bloom of her +existence. He paid his respects as one who rendered the deepest homage +to her genius; then he passed into the character of an unassuming and +sympathizing friend. Finally, he appealed to her romantic generosity, by +representing himself as threatened with a terrible misfortune, from +which she only could save him by accepting him as her husband. A sudden +and secret marriage, he averred, was necessary. + +"Poor Angelica, who had shunned love on the banks of Como and under the +glowing skies of Italy, and since her coming to London had rejected many +offers of the most advantageous alliance, that she might remain free to +devote herself to her art, was caught in the fine-spun snare, and +yielded to chivalrous pity for one she believed worthy of her heart's +affection. The marriage was celebrated by a Catholic priest, without the +formality of writings and without witnesses. + +"Angelica had received commissions to paint several members of the royal +family and eminent personages of the court, and her talents had procured +her the favorable notice of the Queen of England. One day, while she was +painting at Buckingham Palace, her Majesty entered into conversation +with her, and Angelica communicated to her royal friend the fact of her +marriage. The queen congratulated her, and sent an invitation to the +Count de Horn to present himself at court. The impostor, however, dared +not appear so openly, and he kept himself very close at home, for he +well knew that it could not be long before the deception would be +discovered. + +"At length, the suspicions of Angelica's father, to whom her marriage +had been made known, led him to inquiries, which were aided by friends +of influence. About this time, some say, the real count returned, and +was surprised at being frequently congratulated on his marriage. Then +came the mortifying discovery that the pretended count was a low +impostor. The queen informed Angelica, and assured her of her sympathy. + +"The fellow had been induced to seek the poor girl's hand from motives +of cupidity alone, desiring to possess himself of the property she had +acquired by her labors. He now wished to compel her to a hasty flight +from London. Believing herself irrevocably bound to him, Angelica +resolved to submit to her fate; but her firmness and strength of nature +enabled her to evade compliance with his requisition that she should +leave England, till the truth was made known to her--that he who called +himself her husband was already married to another woman, still living. +This discovery made it dangerous for the impostor to remain in London, +and he was compelled to fly alone, after submitting unwillingly to the +necessity of restoring some three hundred pounds obtained from his +victim, to which he had no right. + +"The false marriage was, of course, immediately declared null and void. +These unhappy circumstances in no way diminished the interest and +respect manifested for the lady who, in plucking the rose of life, had +been so severely wounded by its thorns; on the contrary, she was treated +with more attention than ever, and received several unexceptionable +offers of marriage. But all were declined; she chose to live only for +her profession.... + +"After fifteen years' residence in England, when the physician who +attended her suffering father advised return to Italy, and the invalid +expressed his fear of dying and leaving her unprotected, Angelica +yielded to her parent's entreaties, and bestowed her hand upon the +painter Antonio Zucchi." + +He was then fifty-three, and she forty. He lived fourteen years after +this, and the marriage seems to have been a happy one. Much of the time +was spent in Rome, where Angelica became the friend of Goethe, Herder, +and others. Goethe said of her: "The good Angelica has a most +remarkable, and, for a woman, really unheard-of talent; one must see and +value what she does, and not what she leaves undone. There is much to +learn from her, particularly as to work, for what she effects is really +marvellous.... The light and pleasing in form and color, in design and +execution, distinguish the numerous works of our artist. No living +painter excels her in dignity, or in the delicate taste with which she +handles the pencil." + +Her "Allegra" and "Penserosa," "Venus and Adonis," "The Death of +Heloise," "Sappho Inspired by Love," "Leonardo da Vinci dying in the +arms of Francis I.," "The Return of Arminius," painted for Joseph II., +and the "Vestal Virgin," are among her best known works. She died seven +years after her husband, and, as at the funeral of Raphael, her latest +pictures were borne after her bier. She was buried in St. Andrea della +Fratte, and her bust was preserved in the Pantheon. Such is the sad +history of the woman whom it is believed Reynolds loved, and wished to +marry. + +In 1768 the Royal Academy was founded, chiefly by the exertions of West, +the painter, and Sir William Chambers. Reynolds was unanimously chosen +its first president, and was immediately knighted by the king. He left a +sitter to go to St. James's and receive the honor, and then returned to +his sitter. When the president delivered his first discourse, probably +on account of his deafness, he did not speak loud enough to be heard. A +nobleman said to him, "Sir Joshua, you read your discourse in a tone so +low that I scarce heard a word you said." + +"That was to my advantage," said Sir Joshua, with a smile. + +Reynolds suggested the addition of a few distinguished honorary members +to the Academy: Dr. Johnson, as professor of Ancient Literature; +Goldsmith, professor of Ancient History, and others. Goldsmith wrote his +brother, says Allan Cunningham, in his Life of Reynolds: "I took it +rather as a compliment to the institution than any benefit to myself. +Honors to one in my situation are something like ruffles to a man who +wants a shirt." + +Goldsmith was very fond of Reynolds, and dedicated to him his "Deserted +Village," in these words: "I can have no expectations, in an address of +this kind, either to add to your reputation or to establish my own. You +can gain nothing from my admiration, as I am ignorant of the art in +which you are said to excel, and I may lose much by the severity of your +judgment, as few have a juster taste in poetry than you. Setting +interest, therefore, aside, to which I never paid much attention, I must +be indulged at present in following my affections. The only dedication I +ever made was to my brother, because I loved him better than most other +men. He is since dead. Permit me to inscribe this poem to you." + +At the first exhibition of the Academy, among the pictures which +attracted the most notice were Sir Joshua's Miss Morris as Hope nursing +Love,--the lady was the daughter of a governor of one of the West-India +Islands, and, going upon the stage as Juliet, was so overpowered by +timidity that she fainted and died soon afterwards,--the Duchess of +Manchester and her son, as Diana disarming Cupid; and pretty Mrs. Crewe, +the daughter of Fulke Greville, whom he had painted at sixteen as +Psyche, and at nineteen as St. Genevieve reading in the midst of her +flock. + +Tom Taylor says: "The Mrs. Crewe should class as one of his loveliest +pictures--most touching and pathetic in the expression given by the +attitude rather than the face; for the eyes are cast down on the book, +and the features are nearly hidden by the hand which supports the head. +The landscape is beautiful in color, and powerfully relieves the figure, +clothed in a simple white dress, the light of which is distributed +through the picture by the sheep feeding or resting about their pretty +shepherdess. Walpole notes the harmony and simplicity of the picture, +and calls it, not unjustly, 'one of his best.'" + +Each year, Reynolds's discourses were eagerly listened to at the +Academy. "A great part of every man's life," he said, "must be spent in +collecting materials for the exercise of genius. Invention is little +but new combination. Nothing can come of nothing. Hence the necessity +for acquaintance with the works of your predecessors. But of these, who +are to be models--the guides?" The answer is, "Those great masters who +have travelled with success the same road.... Try to imagine how a +Michael Angelo or a Raphael would have conducted themselves, and work +yourself into a belief that your picture is to be seen and observed by +them. Even enter into a kind of competition with these great masters; +paint a subject like theirs; a companion to any work you think a model. +Test your own work with the model.... Let your port-crayon be never out +of your hands. Draw till you draw as mechanically as you write. But, on +every opportunity, _paint_ your studies instead of _drawing_ them. +Painting comprises both drawing and coloring. The Venetians knew this, +and have left few sketches on paper.... Have no dependence on your own +genius; if you have great talents, industry will improve them; if you +have but moderate abilities, industry will supply their deficiency. +Nothing is denied to well-directed labor--nothing is to be obtained +without it.... Without the love of fame you can never do anything +excellent; but by an excessive and undistinguishing thirst after it you +will come to have vulgar views; you will degrade your style, and your +taste will be entirely corrupted.... I mention this because our +exhibitions, while they produce such admirable effects by nourishing +emulation and calling out genius, have also a mischievous tendency by +seducing the painter to an ambition of pleasing indiscriminately the +mixed multitude of people who resort to them." + +To Barry, the artist, who was in Rome, he wrote: "Whoever is resolved to +excel in painting, or indeed in any other art, must bring all his mind +to bear upon that one object, from the moment he rises till he goes to +bed. The effect of every object that meets the painter's eye may give a +lesson, provided his mind is calm, unembarrassed with other objects, and +open to instruction. This general attention, with other studies +connected with the art, which must employ the artist in his closet, will +be found sufficient to fill up life, if it were much longer than it +is.... Whoever has great views, I would recommend to him, whilst at +Rome, rather to live on bread and water than lose those advantages which +he can never hope to enjoy a second time, and which he will find only in +the Vatican.... The Capella Sistina is the production of the greatest +genius that was ever employed in the arts.... If you neglect visiting +the Vatican often, and particularly the Capella Sistina, you will +neglect receiving that peculiar advantage which Rome can give above all +other cities in the world. In other places you will find casts from the +antique, and capital pictures of the great masters, but it is _there_ +only that you can form an idea of the dignity of the art, as it is there +only that you can see the works of Michael Angelo and Raphael. If you +should not relish them at first, which may probably be the case, as they +have none of those qualities which are captivating at first sight, never +cease looking till you feel something like inspiration come over you, +till you think every other painter insipid in comparison, and to be +admired only for petty excellences." + +In 1770, Sir Joshua painted a picture called "The Babes in the Woods," +which is now in the collection of Viscount Palmerston. Reynolds loved to +find picturesque beggar children on the street, and would send them to +his studio to be painted. Northcote says he would often hear the voice +of a little waif, worn with sitting, say plaintively, "Sir,--sir,--I'm +tired!" + +"It happened once," says Leslie, "as it probably often did, that one of +these little sitters fell asleep, and in so beautiful an attitude that +Sir Joshua instantly put away the picture he was at work on, and took up +a fresh canvas. After sketching the little model as it lay, a change +took place in its position; he moved his canvas to make the change +greater, and, to suit the purpose he had conceived, sketched the child +again. The result was the picture of the 'Babes in the Wood.'" + +This year, Sir Joshua brought the thirteen-year-old daughter, Theophila, +of his widowed sister, Mrs. Palmer, to live with him in London, and +three years later her elder sister, Mary, who afterward became the +Marchioness of Thomond. He painted Theophila, called Offy, as "A Girl +Reading," at which the young miss was offended, saying, "I think they +might have put 'A Young Lady.'" + +Sir Joshua offered to take to his home the sons of his other sister, +Mrs. Johnson--he had not forgotten how these two sisters had loaned him +money when he was poor--but Mrs. Johnson declined his offer, fearing the +temptations of London, and being greatly opposed to her brother's habit +of painting on Sundays. One son went into the church and died young; +another went to India, and Reynolds took great interest in his welfare. +Later, two of Mrs. Johnson's daughters lived with Sir Joshua. + +In 1773, he painted and exhibited "The Strawberry Girl," which +represents Offy Palmer, creeping timidly along, and looking anxiously +around with her great black eyes. Sir Joshua always maintained that this +was one of the "half-dozen original things" which he said no man ever +exceeded in his life's work. Later the picture was purchased by the +Marquis of Hertford for ten thousand five hundred dollars. + +F. S. Pulling, of Exeter College, Oxford, says, in his Life of Sir +Joshua: "What a love Reynolds had for children, childless though he was +himself! What a marvellous knowledge of their ways, and, even of their +thoughts! With the peer's son or the beggar's child it was the same. The +most fastidious critic finds it impossible to discover faults in these +child portraits; the whole soul of the painter has gone into them, and +he is as much at home with the gypsy child as with little Lord Morpeth. +As Mr. Stephens well observes, 'Reynolds, of all artists, painted +children best ... knew most of childhood, depicted its appearances in +the truest and happiest spirit of comedy, entered into its changeful +soul with the tenderest, heartiest sympathy, played with the playful, +sighed with the sorrowful, and mastered all the craft of infancy.... His +'Child Angels' was not painted till 1786. It consists of simply five +different representations of the same face, that of Frances Gordon. The +perfect loveliness of this picture is beyond dispute.... These are human +faces, it is true, but can you imagine any purer, more innocent, more +gentle faces?... I, for one, am perfectly content to accept these faces +as those of the most lovely beings God ever created." + +A picture of a nymph with a young Bacchus, really the portrait of the +beautiful young actress, Mrs. Hartley, "whose lovely face and lithe, +tall, delicate figure had rapidly won for her the leading place at +Covent Garden," is now in the possession of Mr. Bentley, who refused an +offer of ten thousand dollars for it. + +Sir Joshua was now elected mayor of Plympton, his native town, an honor +which he greatly prized; and received the degree of D. C. L. from Oxford +University. Oliver Goldsmith had died, and on the day of his death Sir +Joshua did not touch a pencil, "a circumstance the most extraordinary +for him," says Northcote, "who passed no day without a line." He acted +as executor for his dead friend, and found, to his amazement, that his +debts were ten thousand dollars. + +Reynolds was as ever the centre of a charming circle. Miss Burney, the +author of "Evelina," liked his countenance and manners; the former she +pronounced "expressive, soft, and sensible; the latter, gentle, +unassuming, and engaging." Hannah More, too, was greatly pleased with +the distinguished painter. + +"Foremost among the beauties of this brilliant time," says Leslie, "was +Sir Joshua's pet in childhood, now the irresistible young queen of +_ton_, Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. She effaced all her rivals, +Walpole tells us, without being a beauty. 'Her youth, figure, glowing +good-nature, sense, lively modesty, and modest familiarity make her a +phenomenon.' The young duchess was now sitting to him in the full flush +of her triumph as arbitress of fashion, the most brilliant of the gay +throng who danced and played the nights away at the Ladies' Club, +masqueraded at the Pantheon, and promenaded at Ranelagh. Marie +Antoinette herself had scarcely a gayer, more devoted, and more +obsequious court. It was this beautiful young duchess who set the +fashion of the feather headdresses, now a mark for all the witlings of +the time. Sir Joshua has painted her in her new-fashioned plumes, in the +full-length now at Spencer House.... + +"Another beautiful sitter of this year was Eliza, the youthful wife of +Richard Brinsley Sheridan. The young couple were now emerging from the +first difficulties of their married life. Her exquisite and delicate +loveliness, all the more fascinating for the tender sadness which +seemed, as a contemporary describes it, to project over her the shadow +of early death; her sweet voice, and the pathetic expression of her +singing; the timid and touching grace of her air and deportment, had won +universal admiration for Eliza Ann Linley. From the days when, a girl of +nine, she stood with her little basket at the pump-room door, timidly +offering the tickets for her father's benefit concerts, to those when in +her teens she was the belle of the Bath assemblies, none could resist +her beseeching grace. Lovers and wooers flocked about her; Richard +Walter Long, the Wiltshire miser, laid his thousands at her feet.... + +"Nor had she resisted only the temptation of money; coronets, it was +whispered, had been laid at her feet as well as purses. When she +appeared at the Oxford oratorios, grave dons and young gentlemen +commoners were alike subdued. In London, where she sang at Covent Garden +in the Lent of 1773, the king himself was said to have been fascinated +as much by her eyes and voice as by the music of his favorite Haendel. +From all this homage Miss Linley had withdrawn to share love in a +cottage with Sheridan at East Burnham, after a runaway match in March, +1772, and after her husband had fought two duels in her cause with a +Captain Matthews. When she began to sit to Sir Joshua, Richard Brinsley +Sheridan was only known as a witty, vivacious, easy-tempered, and +agreeable young man of three and twenty, with nothing but his wits to +depend on; but, before the picture was finished, he was famous as the +author of 'The Rivals.'" + +Sir Joshua painted Mrs. Sheridan as St. Cecilia. "She had a way of +gathering little children about her, and singing their childish songs, +with 'such a playfulness of manner, and such a sweetness of look and +voice,' says one, in describing her so engaged, 'as was quite +enchanting.'... Mrs. Sheridan was gentleness personified, and sang +without pressing; but her husband, proud of her as he was, would never +allow her to sing in public after their marriage, and was even chary of +permitting her to delight their friends with her sweet voice in private. +She was the lovely model for the Virgin in Reynolds's 'Nativity,' for +which the young Duke of Rutland paid him six thousand dollars, an +unexampled price for an English picture at that time. It was burnt at +Belvoir Castle. She died a few years later, living long enough to +witness her husband's great success, and not long enough to see him +overwhelmed with debts, partly the result of drink." + +In 1780, Sir Joshua painted the ladies Maria, Laura, and Horatia +Waldgrave, grand-nieces of Horace Walpole. "He never had more beautiful +sitters," says Leslie; "and in none of his pictures has he done more +justice to beauty. Their bright faces are made to tell with wonderful +force, by the white dresses and powdered _tetes_ worn by all three. They +are sitting round a work-table. Lady Laura, in the centre, winds silk on +a card from a skein held by Lady Horatia; while Lady Maria, on the +right, bends over her tambouring frame. The action admits of a natural +arrangement of the heads, in full-face, three-quarters, and profile; and +it is impossible to conceive an easier, prettier way of grouping three +graceful, high-bred young ladies." At this time, all three of these +young ladies were in sorrow. The young Duke of Ancaster, to whom Horatia +was betrothed, had just died suddenly, and two prominent lords to whom +the other sisters were engaged had broken their promises. Lady Maria +married, four years later, the Earl of Euston; Laura, her cousin, Lord +Chewton; and Horatia, Lord Hugh Seymour. + +Sir Joshua painted two years later the beautiful but unhappy Mrs. +Musters, whose son John married Mary Chaworth, Byron's first love. "The +fine full-length of her as Hebe, with the eagle, still hangs at Colwich +Hall. Another full-length, with a spaniel at her feet, painted in 1777, +the year of her marriage, is at Petworth. It is interesting to compare +the two, and note the wear and tear of five years in the reign of a +queen of fashion." The eagle was a pet of Sir Joshua, kept in a yard +outside the studio. + +In 1783, when Mrs. Siddons was the leading actress of the time, she sat +to Reynolds. Taking her hand, he led her up to his platform with the +words, "Ascend your undisputed throne: bestow on me some idea of the +Tragic Muse." "On which," she said, "I walked up the steps, and +instantly seated myself in the attitude in which the Tragic Muse now +appears." He inscribed his name on the border of her drapery, saying, "I +could not lose the honor this opportunity afforded me of going down to +posterity on the hem of your garment." Sir Thomas Lawrence called this +the finest portrait in the world of a woman, and Mrs. Jameson says, "It +was painted for the universe and posterity." This picture was purchased, +in 1822, by the first Marquis of Westminster, for nearly nine thousand +dollars. Reynolds also painted Miss Kemble, her sister, "a very sweet +and gentle woman." + +This year, 1784, a friendship of thirty years was severed by the death +of Dr. Johnson. On his death-bed, he made three requests of Sir Joshua: +never to use his pencil on Sundays; to read the Bible whenever possible, +and always on Sundays; and to forgive him a debt of thirty pounds, which +he had borrowed of him, as he wished to leave the money to a poor +family. Reynolds was present at the funeral, when his friend was laid +beside Garrick, in the south transept of Westminster Abbey. + +Reynolds said of his friend: "His pride had no meanness in it; there was +nothing little or mean about him. + +"Truth, whether in great or little matters, he held sacred. From the +violation of truth, he said, in great things your character or your +interest was affected, in lesser things your pleasure is equally +destroyed. I remember, on his relating some incident, I added something +to his relation, which I supposed might likewise have happened: 'It +would have been a better story,' says he, 'if it had been so; but it was +not.' Our friend, Dr. Goldsmith, was not so scrupulous; but he said he +only indulged himself in white lies, light as feathers, which he threw +up in the air, and, on whomever they fell, nobody was hurt. 'I wish,' +says Dr. Johnson, 'you would take the trouble of moulting your +feathers.' + +"As in his writings not a line can be found which a saint would wish to +blot, so in his life he would never suffer the least immorality or +indecency of conversation, or anything contrary to virtue or piety, to +proceed without a severe check, which no elevation of rank exempted them +from. + +"The Christian religion was with him such a certain and established +truth that he considered it as a kind of profanation to hold any +argument about its truth." + +At sixty-three years of age, Reynolds was as busy as ever. Miss Palmer +wrote to her cousin in Calcutta: "My uncle seems more bewitched than +ever with his palette and pencils. He is painting from morning till +night, and the truth is that every picture he does seems better than the +former. He is just going to begin a picture for the Empress of Russia, +who has sent to desire he will paint her an historical one. The subject +is left to his own choice, and at present he is undetermined what to +choose." + +He chose "The Infant Hercules strangling the Serpents." Rogers says: +"Reynolds, who was always thinking of his art, was one day walking with +Dr. Lawrence, near Beaconsfield, when they met a fine rosy little +peasant boy--a son of Burke's bailiff. Reynolds patted him on the head, +and, after looking earnestly in his face, said: 'I must give more color +to my Infant Hercules.'" He took such great pains with this work that he +used to say of the picture: "There are ten under it, some better, some +worse." The Empress sent him as pay for this a gold box, with her cipher +in diamonds, and seven thousand five hundred dollars. + +In his "Gleaners," painted in 1788, the centre figure, with a sheaf of +corn on her head, was the portrait of a beautiful girl, Miss Potts, who +afterwards became the mother of Sir Edwin Landseer. + +In 1789, he lost the sight of his left eye, through overwork, but he +still preserved the sweet serenity of his nature, and was not depressed. +He amused himself with his canary bird, which was so tame that it would +sit upon his hand; but one morning it flew out of the window, and never +returned. + +On December 10, 1790, Reynolds gave his fifteenth and last Discourse to +the Academy. In closing, he said to the crowded audience: "I reflect, +not without vanity, that these Discourses bear testimony of my +admiration of that truly divine man; and I should desire that the last +words I should pronounce in this Academy and from this place might be +the name of MICHAEL ANGELO." + +As Reynolds descended from the chair, Edmund Burke stepped forward, and, +taking his hand, addressed him in the words of Milton,-- + + + "The angel ended, and in Adam's ear + So charming left his voice, that he awhile + Thought him still speaking, still stood fixed to hear." + + +This year, he allowed Sheridan to buy the picture of his wife, "St. +Cecilia," at half-price. Reynolds said it was "the best picture he ever +painted," and added, in the letter to Sheridan: "However, there is now +an end of the pursuit; the race is over, whether it is won or lost." + +The next year, in May, 1791, Sir Joshua sat for his picture for the last +time to the Swedish artist, Beda, at the request of the Royal Academy of +Sweden. He had sent his picture to Florence, on being elected an +honorary member of that famous Academy. In October of this year he +became almost totally blind. + +Burke wrote to his son Richard in January, 1792: "Our poor friend, Sir +Joshua, declines daily. For some time past he has kept his bed.... At +times he has pain; but for the most part is tolerably easy. Nothing can +equal the tranquillity with which he views his end. He congratulates +himself on it as a happy conclusion of a happy life. He spoke of you in +a style that was affecting. I don't believe there are any persons he +values more sincerely than you and your mother." + +Reynolds died tranquilly between eight and nine on Thursday evening, +February 23, 1792. He was buried in St. Paul's, on Saturday, March 3, +ninety-one carriages following the body to the grave. There were ten +pall-bearers, the Duke of Dorset, Duke of Leeds, Duke of Portland, +Marquis Townshend, Marquis of Abercorn, Earl of Carlisle, Earl of +Inchiquin, Earl of Upper Ossory, Lord Viscount Palmerston, and Lord +Eliot. + +By will he left to his niece Offy, who had married, in 1781, a wealthy +Cornish gentleman, Mr. Gwatkin, fifty thousand dollars; to his sister +Frances the use, for life, of twelve thousand five hundred dollars; to +Burke, ten thousand dollars, and cancelled a bond for the same amount of +money borrowed; a thousand dollars to each of his executors; five +thousand dollars to a servant who had lived with him more than thirty +years; all the remainder of his property, about five hundred thousand +dollars, to his niece, Miss Palmer. Such an amount of money earned by an +artist, making his own way in life from poverty, was indeed wonderful. +The number of his pictures is estimated at three thousand. + +Burke wrote of him, the pages blurred with his tears: "Sir Joshua +Reynolds was, on very many accounts, one of the most memorable men of +his time. He was the first Englishman who added the praise of the +elegant arts to the other glories of his country. In taste, in grace, in +facility, in happy invention, and in the richness and harmony of +coloring, he was equal to the great masters of the renowned ages. In +portrait he went beyond them; for he communicated to that description of +the art, in which English artists are the most engaged, a variety, a +fancy, and a dignity derived from the higher branches, which even those +who professed them in a superior manner did not always preserve when +they delineated individual nature. His portraits remind the spectator of +the invention of history and the amenity of landscape. He possessed the +theory as perfectly as the practice of his art. To be such a painter, he +was a profound and penetrating philosopher. + +"In full affluence of foreign and domestic fame, admired by the expert +in art and by the learned in science, courted by the great, caressed by +sovereign powers, and celebrated by distinguished poets, his native +humility, modesty, and candor never forsook him, even on surprise or +provocation; nor was the least degree of arrogance or assumption visible +to the most scrutinizing eye in any part of his conduct or discourse. + +"His talents of every kind, powerful from nature, and not meanly +cultivated by letters, his social virtues in all the relations and all +the habitudes of life, rendered him the centre of a very great and +unparalleled variety of agreeable societies, which will be dissipated by +his death. He had too much merit not to excite some jealousy, too much +innocence to provoke any enmity. The loss of no man of his time can be +felt with more sincere, general, and unmixed sorrow." + +Mrs. Jameson says: "The pictures of Reynolds are, to the eye, what +delicious melodies are to the ear,--Italian music set to English words; +for the color, with its luxurious, melting harmony, is Venetian, and the +faces and the associations are English.... More and more we learn to +sympathize with that which is his highest characteristic, and which +alone has enabled him to compete with the old masters of Italy; the +amount of mind, of sensibility, he threw into every production of his +pencil, the genial, living soul he infused into forms, giving to them a +deathless vitality." + +One secret of Reynolds's popularity, outside his genius, was the fact +that he never spoke ill of the work of other painters. Northcote says he +once asked Sir Joshua what he thought of two pictures by Madame Le Brun, +who at that time was the most popular artist in France in portraiture. + +"'They are very fine,' he answered. + +"'How fine?' I said. + +"'As fine as those of any painter.' + +"'Do you mean living or dead?' + +"'Either living or dead,' he answered briskly. + +"'As fine as Van Dyke?' + +"He answered tartly, 'Yes, and finer.' + +"I said no more, perceiving he was displeased at my questioning him." + +Leslie says of him: "He felt deeply and almost impatiently the gulf +between the technical merits of his pictures and those of the great +Venetians or Rembrandt, whom at different epochs he worshipped with +equal reverence. I have no doubt his inferiority to these men in power, +in mastery of materials, and in certainty of method was just as apparent +to Sir Joshua as it is to any unbiassed judge who now compares his +pictures with those of Titian, Rembrandt, or Velasquez.... + +"Estimating Reynolds at his best, he stands high among the great +portrait painters of the world, and has achieved as distinct a place for +himself in their ranks as Titian or Tintoret, Velasquez or Rembrandt." + + + + +SIR EDWIN LANDSEER. + + +Sir Edwin Landseer, born in 1802, in London, on or about March 7, was +the fifth child in a family of seven children. The father, John +Landseer, a most skilful engraver, was the author of some books on the +art of engraving and archaeology. He once gave a course of lectures +before the Royal Institution. The mother, whose maiden name was Miss +Potts, was a gifted and beautiful woman, whose portrait was painted by +Sir Joshua Reynolds. + +[Illustration: SIR EDWIN LANDSEER.] + +The boy Edwin began to draw very early in life. Miss Meteyard quotes +these words from John Landseer: "These two fields were Edwin's first +studio. Many a time have I lifted him over this very stile. I then lived +in Foley Street, and nearly all the way between Marylebone and Hampstead +was open fields. It was a favorite walk with my boys; and one day when I +had accompanied them, Edwin stopped by this stile to admire some sheep +and cows which were quietly grazing. At his request I lifted him over, +and, finding a scrap of paper and a pencil in my pocket, I made him +sketch a cow. He was very young indeed then--not more than six or seven +years old. + +"After this we came on several occasions, and as he grew older this was +one of his favorite spots for sketching. He would start off alone, or +with John (Thomas?) or Charles, and remain till I fetched him in the +afternoon. I would then criticise his work, and make him correct defects +before we left the spot. Sometimes he would sketch in one field, +sometimes in the other, but generally in the one beyond the old oak we +see there, as it was more pleasant and sunny." + +While still very young, the lad learned the process of etching from his +father and elder brother Thomas, the latter one of the most eminent of +engravers. At seven, he drew and etched the heads of a lion and a tiger, +"in which," says Frederick G. Stephens, "the differing characters of the +beasts are given with marvellous craft, that would honor a much older +artist than the producer. The drawing of the tiger's whiskers--always +difficult things to manage--is admirable in its rendering of +foreshortened curves." + +At thirteen he drew a magnificent St. Bernard dog. Edwin saw him in the +streets of London, in charge of a man servant. He followed the dog to +the residence of his owner, and obtained permission to make a sketch of +him. The animal was six feet four inches long, and, at the middle of his +back, stood two feet seven inches in height. These creatures are capable +of carrying one hundredweight of provisions from a neighboring town to +the monks at the Monastery of St. Bernard, eighteen miles. + +Stephens says: "It is really one of the finest drawings of a dog that +have ever been produced. We do not think that even the artist at any +time surpassed its noble workmanship. The head, though expansive and +domical in its shape, is small in proportion to that of a Newfoundland +dog; the brow is broad and round; the eyes, according to the standard +commonly assumed for large dogs, are far from being large, and are very +steadfast in their look, without fierceness; the ears are pendulous, +placed near to the head, and fleshy in substance." A live dog, admitted +into the room with this picture, became greatly excited. + +When Edwin was thirteen, in 1815, he exhibited some pictures at the +Royal Academy; a mule, and a dog with a puppy. The following year he +became a student at the Royal Academy. He was a bright, manly boy, with +light, curly hair, gentle and graceful in manner, and diligent in his +work. Fuseli, the keeper of the Academy, was much pleased with him, and, +looking around the room upon the students, would say, "Where is my +little dog boy?" This was in allusion to the picture of Edwin's favorite +dog, Brutus, lying at full length of his chain, near a red earthenware +dish. The picture, though very small, was sold in 1861 for seventy +guineas. + +In 1818, "Fighting Dogs Getting Wind" was exhibited at Spring Gardens, +and caused a great sensation. The _Examiner_ said, in a review of the +works of the Society of Painters in Oil and Water-Colors, "Landseer's +may be called the great style of animal painting, as far as it relates +to the execution and color, and the natural, as far as it concerns their +portraiture. Did we see only the dog's collar, we should know that it +was produced by no common hand, so good is it, and palpably true. But +the gasping and cavernous and redly stained mouths, the flaming eyes, +the prostrate dog, and his antagonist standing exultingly over him; the +inveterate rage that superior strength inflames but cannot subdue, with +the broad and bright relief of the objects, give a wonder-producing +vitality to the canvas." + +Landseer also exhibited this year the "White Horse in a Stable." It +disappeared from the studio, and twenty-four years later, in 1842, it +was discovered in a hayloft, where it had been hidden by a dishonest +servant. It was sent to Honorable H. Pierrepont, for whom it was +painted, with a letter from Landseer, saying that he had not retouched +the picture, "thinking it better when my early style was unmingled with +that of my old age." + +In 1819, "The Cat Disturbed" was exhibited, afterwards engraved with the +title of "The Intruder." It represents a cat chased to the upper part of +a stable by a dog, into whose place she had ventured. Dr. Waagen said, +"This picture exhibits a power of coloring and a solidity of execution +recalling such masters as Snyders and Fyt." + +About this time a lion in the Exeter Change Menagerie died, and the +young artist succeeded in getting the body and dissecting it, acting +upon Haydon's advice, of years before, to "dissect animals, the only +mode of acquiring a knowledge of their construction." + +The result was the painting of two large pictures, six feet by eight, +and six feet by seven feet six inches respectively: "A Lion Disturbed at +his Repast," and "A Lion Enjoying his Repast," followed by a third, "A +Prowling Lion." + +In 1821, the chief pictures exhibited were "The Rat-Catchers," where +four dogs are catching rats in an old barn; and "Pointers, To-ho," a +hunting-scene, which sold in 1872 for over ten thousand dollars. The +following year, Landseer received from the directors of the British +Institution seven hundred and fifty dollars as a prize for "The Larder +Invaded." Eighteen other pictures came from Landseer's studio this year. + +The most famous of Sir Edwin's early works was "The Cat's-Paw," sold for +five hundred dollars, and now owned by the Earl of Essex. Its present +value is over fifteen thousand dollars. + +"The scene," says Stephens, "is a laundry or ironing-room, probably in +some great house, to which a monkey of most crafty and resolute +disposition has access. The place is too neat and well maintained to be +part of a poor man's house. The ironing-woman has left her work, the +stove is in full combustion, and the hand of some one who appreciated +the good things of life has deposited on its level top, together with a +flatiron, half a dozen ripe, sound chestnuts. To the aromatic, +appetizing odor of the fruit was probably due the entrance of the +monkey, a muscular, healthy beast, who came dragging his chain and +making his bell rattle. He smelt the fruit and coveted them; tried to +steal them off the cooking-place with his own long, lean digits, and +burnt his fingers. + +"He looked about for a more effective means, and, heedless of the +motherhood of a fine cat, who with her kittens was ensconced in a +clothes-basket, where she blandly enjoyed the coverings and the heat, +pounced upon puss, entangled as she was in the wrappings of her ease. +Puss resisted at first with offended dignity and wrath at being thus +treated before the faces of her offspring. She resisted as a cat only +can, with lithe and strenuous limbs; the muscular, light, and vigorous +frame of the creature quivered with the stress of her energy; she +twisted, doubled her body, buckled herself, so to say, in convulsions of +passion and fear, but still, surely, without a notion of the object of +her captor. + +"Yet he had by far the best of the struggle, for her tiger-like claws +were enveloped in the covering which erst served her so comfortably; +and, kicking, struggling, squalling, and squealing as strength departed +from her, she flounced about the room, upset the coal-scuttle on the +floor, and hurled her mistress's favorite flower-pot in hideous +confusion on the 'ironing-blanket.' It was to no purpose, for the +quadruped, with muffled claws, was no match for her four-handed foe. He +dragged her towards the stove, and dreadful notions of a fate in its +fiery bowels must have arisen in her heart as nearer and still more near +the master of the situation brought his victim. + +"Stern, resolute, with no more mercy than the cat had when some unhappy +mouse felt her claws--claws now to be deftly yet painfully employed, Pug +grasped her in three of his powerful hands, and, as reckless of +struggles as of yells, squeals, and squalls, with the fourth stretched +out her soft, sensitive, velvety forepaw--the very mouse-slayer +itself--to the burning stove and its spoils. What cared he for the bared +backs or the spiteful mewlings of her miserable offspring, little cats +as they were? He made their mother a true 'cat's-paw.'" + +Soon after the exhibition of this picture, Sir Walter Scott came to +London and took the young painter to Abbotsford. The novelist greatly +admired Landseer's work, saying, "His dogs are the most magnificent +things I ever saw, leaping and bounding and grinning all over the +canvas." After this, Landseer visited Scotland nearly every year, +charmed by its scenery and enjoying the hospitality of the nobles. + +In his thirty-second year, it seemed necessary that the painter should +have a home removed from the soot and noisy traffic of London. A small +house and garden, with a barn suitable for a studio, were purchased at +No. 1 St. John's Wood, a suburban region, which derives its name from +having been owned by the priors of the Hospital of the Knights of St. +John of Jerusalem. A premium of a hundred pounds being demanded for the +house, Landseer was about to break off negotiations, when a friend said: +"If that is the only obstacle, I will remove it. Go to the lawyers, and +tell them to make out the lease, and that as soon as it is ready for +signatures, you will pay the sum required; and I will lend you the +money, which you can repay when it suits you, without interest." + +The painter returned the money loaned, in instalments of twenty pounds +each. Here he lived for nearly fifty years, his sister, Mrs. Mackenzie, +being his housekeeper. Here he received more famous people than any +other English painter save Joshua Reynolds. Here, as he grew wealthy, he +brought his dogs and other pets; here the father, John Landseer, to whom +the son was ever devotedly attached, died. + +A writer in _Cornhill_ says: "There were few studios formerly more +charming to visit than Landseer's. Besides the genial artist and his +beautiful pictures, the _habitues_ of his workshop (as he called it) +belonged to the _elite_ of London society, especially the men of wit and +distinguished talents--none more often there than D'Orsay, with his +good-humored face, his ready wit and delicate flattery. 'Landseer,' he +would call out at his entrance, 'keep de dogs off me' (the painted +ones). 'I want to come in, and some of dem will bite me--and dat fellow +in de corner is growling furiously.'" + +In 1826, when Landseer was twenty-four years old, "Chevy Chase" was +painted, now at Woburn Abbey, the property of the Duke of Bedford. It is +an illustration of the old ballad:-- + + + "To drive the deer with hound and horne + Erle Percy took his way, + The chiefest harts in Chevy Chase + To kill and bear away." + + +This year, he was made an associate of the Royal Academy, an honor +seldom given to so young a man. He was made a full member at thirty. His +first important picture exhibited after this, in 1827, was "The Chief's +Return from Deer-stalking." "It is," says Stephens, "one of the best of +his compositions, the subject giving scope to all his powers in dealing +with dogs, deer, and horses. Across the backs of a white and a black +pony two magnificent antlered deer are bound. A young chief and his old +companion, a mountaineer,--with traces of the wear and tear of a hard +life on his cheeks and in his gaunt eyes,--step by the head of one of +the horses. They go slowly and heedfully down the hill. Two dogs pace +with them; one of these turns to a deer's skull which lies in the +herbage." + +"The Monkey who had seen the World" appeared at the same time as "The +Chief's Return," and was engraved by Gibbon as "The Travelled Monkey." +The monkey, who has returned from his travels and meets his friends, is +dressed in a cocked hat and laced coat, with a wide cravat, breeches, +buckled shoes, and a pendent eyeglass. The latter, especially, +astonishes his friends. Thomas Baring gave fifteen hundred guineas for +this painting, and bequeathed it to Lord Northbrook. + +Another picture of this time, engraved by John Pye, was thus described +in the Catalogue: "William Smith, being possessed of combativeness, and +animated by a love of glory, enlisted in the 101st Regiment of Foot. At +the Battle of Waterloo, on the 18th of July following, a cannon-ball +carried off one of his legs; thus commenced and terminated William's +military career. As he lay wounded on the field of battle, the dog here +represented, blind with one eye, and having also a leg shattered +apparently by a musket-ball, came and sat beside him, as 'twere for +sympathy. + +"The dog became William's prisoner, and, when a grateful country +rewarded William's services by a pension and a wooden leg, he stumped +about accompanied by the dog, his friend and companion. On the 15th of +December, 1834, William died. His name never having been recorded in an +extraordinary Gazette, this public monument, representing the dog at a +moment when he was ill, and reclining against the mattress on which his +master died, is erected to his memory by Edwin Landseer and John Pye." + +In this year, 1827, there was also exhibited the well-known "Scene at +Abbotsford," with the celebrated Maida, Sir Walter Scott's favorite dog, +in the foreground. Six weeks after the picture was painted, the dog +died. "High Life" and "Low Life," exhibited in 1831, noteworthy on +account of their size, being eighteen inches by thirteen and a half, +were bequeathed by Robert Vernon to the nation, and are now in the +National Gallery. "High Life" represents a gentle and slender stag-hound +in a handsome home; "Low Life," a brawny bulldog, in a rude stone +doorway. + +Hamerton says: "Everything that can be said about Landseer's knowledge +of animals, and especially of dogs, has already been said. There was +never very much to say, for there was no variety of opinion and nothing +to discuss. Critics may write volumes of controversy about Turner and +Delacroix, but Landseer's merits were so obvious to every one that he +stood in no need of critical explanations. The best commentators on +Landseer, the best defenders of his genius, are the dogs themselves; and +so long as there exist terriers, deer-hounds, bloodhounds, his fame will +need little assistance from writers upon art." + +In 1832, "Spaniels of King Charles's Breed" was exhibited; now in the +National Gallery, as a gift from Mr. Vernon. Both these spaniels, pets +of Mr. Vernon, came to a violent end. The white Blenheim spaniel fell +from a table and was killed; the true "King Charles" fell through the +railings of a staircase, and was picked up dead at the bottom. The +picture was painted in two days, illustrating Landseer's wonderful +rapidity of execution. Yet this power, as Stephens well says, "followed +more than twenty years' hard study." + +Stephens records an amazing instance of Landseer's power. "A large party +was assembled one evening at the house of a gentleman in the upper ranks +of London society; crowds of ladies and gentlemen of distinction were +present, including Landseer, who was, as usual, a lion; a large group +gathered about the sofa where he was lounging. The subject turned on +dexterity and facility in feats of skill with the hand. No doubt, the +talk was ingeniously led in this direction by some who knew that Sir +Edwin could do wonders of dexterous draughtsmanship, and were not +unwilling to see him draw, but they did not expect what followed. + +"A lady, lolling back on a settee, and rather tired of the subject, as +ladies are apt to become when conversation does not appeal to their +feelings or their interests, exclaimed, after many instances of manual +dexterity had been cited: 'Well, there's one thing nobody has ever done, +and that is to draw two things at once.' She had signalized herself by +quashing a subject of conversation, and was about to return to her most +becoming attitude, when Landseer said: 'Oh, I can do that; lend me two +pencils, and I will show you.' + +"The pencils were got, a piece of paper was laid on the table, and Sir +Edwin, a pencil in each hand, drew simultaneously, and without +hesitation, with the one hand the profile of a stag's head, and all its +antlers complete, and with the other hand the perfect profile of a +horse's head. Both drawings were full of energy and spirit, and, +although, as the occasion compelled, not finished, they were, together +and individually, quite as good as the master was accustomed to produce +with his right hand alone; the drawing by the left hand was not inferior +to that by the right." + +In 1834, "Suspense," a bloodhound watching at a closed door for his +wounded master, "A Highland Shepherd Dog rescuing Sheep from a +Snowdrift," and "A Scene of the Old Time at Bolton Abbey" were +exhibited. For the last, Landseer was paid two thousand dollars. It is +now owned by the Duke of Devonshire, and is valued at more than fifteen +thousand dollars. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert made etchings from +this and from several others of Landseer's works. + +In 1835, "A Sleeping Bloodhound" (Countess) was exhibited. It was +bequeathed by Mr. Jacob Bell to the National Gallery. "The hound was, +one dark night (at Wandsworth), anxiously watching her master's return +from London. She heard the wheels of his gig and his voice, but, in +leaping from the balcony where she watched, she missed her footing, and +fell all but dead at her master's feet. Mr. Bell (the owner of the dog) +placed the hound in his gig and returned to London, called Sir Edwin +Landseer from his bed, and had a sketch made then and there of the dying +animal." + +In 1837 came "The Highland Shepherd's Chief Mourner," representing the +interior of a plain Highland home, the coffin of the shepherd in the +centre, covered by his maud for a pall, his only mourner the dog who +rests his head upon the coffin. A well-worn Bible is on a stool in +front, with a pair of spectacles. + +Ruskin calls this picture "one of the most perfect poems or pictures (I +use the words as synonymous) which modern times have seen. Here the +exquisite execution of the crisp and glossy hair of the dog, the bright, +sharp touching of the green bough beside it, the clear painting of the +wood of the coffin and the folds of the blanket, are language,--language +clear and expressive in the highest degree. But the close pressure of +the dog's breast against the wood; the convulsive clinging of the paws, +which has dragged the blanket off the trestle; the total powerlessness +of the head, laid close and motionless upon its folds; the fixed and +tearful fall of the eye in its utter hopelessness; the rigidity of +repose, which marks that there has been no motion nor change in the +trance of agony since the last blow was struck upon the coffin-lid; the +spectacles marking the place where the Bible was last closed, indicating +how lonely has been the life, how unwatched the departure, of him who +is now laid solitary in his sleep,--these are all thoughts; thoughts by +which the picture is separated at once from hundreds of equal merit as +far as the mere painting goes,--by which it ranks as a work of high +merit, and stamps its author, not as the neat imitator of the texture of +a skin or the fold of a drapery, but as a Man of Mind." + +"The Portrait of the Marquis of Stafford and the Lady Evelyn Gower," in +1838, is considered Landseer's best portrait-picture. "A Distinguished +Member of the Humane Society," exhibited in 1838, is the picture of a +large Newfoundland dog named Paul Pry. "He lies in the broad sunlight, +and the shadow of his enormous head is cast sideways on his flank as +white as snow. He looks seaward with a watchful eye, and his quickness +of attention is hinted at by the gentle lifting of his ears. The +painting of the hide, here rigid and there soft; here shining with +reflected light, there like down; the masses of the hair, as the dog's +habitual motions caused them to grow; the foreshortening of his paws as +they hang over the edge of the quay, and the fine sense of +_chiaro-oscuro_ displayed in the whole, induce us to rank it," says +Stephens, "with the painter's masterpieces." + +Landseer was now thirty-six years old, famous and honored, a welcome +guest at the palaces of royalty. In 1835 he had painted Dash, the +favorite spaniel of the Duchess of Kent, the pet of whom Leslie speaks +in his autobiography: "The Queen [Victoria], I am told, had studied her +part very diligently, and she went through it extremely well. I don't +know why, but the first sight of her in her robes brought tears into my +eyes, and it had this effect upon many people; she looked almost like a +child. She is very fond of dogs, and has one very favorite little +spaniel, who is always on the lookout for her return when she has been +from home. She had of course been separated from him on that day longer +than usual, and when the state coach drove up to the steps of the +palace, she heard him barking with joy in the hall, and exclaimed, +'There's Dash!' and was in a hurry to lay aside the sceptre and ball she +carried in her hands, and take off the crown and robes, to go and wash +little Dash." + +In 1839 Landseer painted a picture of the Queen, which she gave to +Prince Albert; the next year, the Queen and the Duke of Wellington +reviewing a body of troops; in 1842, "The Queen and Children;" the +Princess Royal with her pony and dog; the Queen and the Princess Royal; +"Windsor Castle in the Present Time;" Islay, the Queen's pet terrier; +Sharp, her favorite; Princess Alice in a cradle, with the dog Dandie +Dinmont; Alice with the greyhound Eos, belonging to Prince Albert, and +later "Her Majesty the Queen in the Highlands," "Prince Albert at +Balmoral," which was engraved for the Queen's book, "Leaves from a Diary +in the Highlands;" Princess Beatrice on horseback, the Queen at +Osborne, and the Queen on a white horse. + +Landseer was always a favorite with the royal family. In the last +painful years of his life, when he suffered from overtaxed nerves, they +were his devoted friends. He writes to his sister from Balmoral, June, +1867: "The Queen kindly commands me to get well here. She has to-day +been twice to my room to show additions recently added to her already +rich collection of photographs. Why, I know not, but since I have been +in the Highlands I have for the first time felt wretchedly weak, without +appetite. The easterly winds, and now again the unceasing cold rain, may +possibly account for my condition, but I can't get out. Drawing tires +me; however, I have done a little better to-day. The doctor residing in +the castle has taken me in hand, and gives me leave to dine to-day with +the Queen and the rest of the royal family.... Flogging would be mild +compared to my sufferings. No sleep, fearful cramp at night, accompanied +by a feeling of faintness and distressful feebleness." + +When Landseer was in good health, he was the most genial of companions. +He was the intimate friend of Dickens, Thackeray, Browning, and other +noted men. Leslie tells the following incident at a dinner party at the +house of Sir Francis Chantrey, the sculptor. "Edwin Landseer, the best +of mimics, gave a capital specimen of Chantrey's manner, and at +Chantrey's own table. Dining at his house with a large party, after the +cloth was removed from the beautifully polished table,--Chantrey's +furniture was all beautiful,--Landseer's attention was called by him to +the reflections, in the table, of the company, furniture, lamps, etc. +'Come and sit in my place and study perspective,' said our host, and +went himself to the fire. As soon as Landseer was seated in Chantrey's +chair, he turned round, and, imitating his voice and manner, said to +him: 'Come, young man, you think yourself ornamental; now make yourself +useful, and ring the bell.' Chantrey did as he was desired; the butler +appeared, and was perfectly bewildered at hearing his master's voice, +from the head of the table, order some claret, while he saw him standing +before the fire." + +Some one urged Sydney Smith to sit to Landseer for his portrait. He is +said to have replied in the words of the Syrian messenger to the prophet +Elisha: "Is thy servant a _dog_, that he should do this great thing?" + +At another time Landseer was talking to Sydney Smith about the drama, +and said: "With your love of humor, it must be an act of great +self-denial to abstain from going to the theatres." The witty clergyman +replied, "The managers are very polite; they send me free admissions +which I can't use, and, in return, I send them free admissions to St. +Paul's." + +Bewick, the artist, said: "Sir Edwin has a fine hand, a correct eye, +refined perceptions, and can do almost anything but dance on the slack +wire. He is a fine billiard-player, plays at chess, sings when with his +intimate friends, and has considerable humor. + +"Landseer is sensitive, delicate, with a fine hand for manipulation,--up +to all the _finesse_ of the art; has brushes of all peculiarities for +all difficulties; turns his picture into all manner of situation and +light; looks at it from between his legs,--and all with the strictly +critical view of discovering hidden defects, falsities of drawing, or +imperfections. See to what perfection he carries his perception of +surface, hair, silk, wool, rock, grass, foliage, distance, fog, mist, +smoke! how he paints the glazed or watery eye!" + +A writer in the _London Daily News_ says: "Sir Edwin's method of +composition was remarkably like Scott's, except in the point of the +early rising of the latter. Landseer went late to bed, and rose very +late, coming down to breakfast at noon; but he had been composing +perhaps for hours. Scott declared that the most fertile moments for +resources, in invention especially, were those between sleeping and +waking, or rather before opening the eyes from sleep, while the brain +was wide awake. This, much prolonged, was Landseer's time for composing +his pictures. His conception once complete, nothing could exceed the +rapidity of his execution." + +In 1840, at the country house of Mr. William Wells, Landseer had his +first violent illness associated with severe depression, to which +attacks he was subject all the rest of his life. He went abroad for a +time, travelling in France, Switzerland, and Austria, but he was +constantly longing for his studio, where, he said, "his works were +starving for him." + +"Coming events cast their shadows before them," sometimes called "The +Challenge," a vigorous stag bellowing his defiance to hunters or other +animals of his kind; "Shoeing," which has been engraved many times, the +mare, Old Betty, belonging to his friend Mr. Jacob Bell; and "The Otter +Speared," a huntsman surrounded by yelping dogs, while he uplifts a poor +otter on his spear, were all exhibited in 1844, and won great praise. + +From Sir Edwin's sporting-scenes many persons gained the impression that +he was a keen sportsman, which was not the case. Ewen Cameron, an old +forest keeper of Glencoe, who for more than twenty-four years +accompanied Landseer with the sketch-book and gun, tells how the +highland gillies were annoyed when a magnificent stag came bounding +toward them, and Sir Edwin hastily thrust his gun into their hands, +saying, "Here! take! take this!" while he pulled out his book and began +to sketch. They murmured greatly in Gaelic, but, says Cameron, "Sir +Edwin must have had some Gaelic in him, for he was _that angry_ for the +rest of the day, it made them very careful of speaking Gaelic in his +hearing after." + +The companion pictures "Peace" and "War," painted in 1846--the former a +beautiful scene on a cliff overlooking Dover harbor, the latter a ruined +cottage with a dying horse and dead rider near the door--were sold to +Mr. Vernon for seventy-five hundred dollars. The publishers of the +engravings from these pictures paid Landseer fifteen thousand dollars +for them. "The Stag at Bay," belonging to the Marquis of Breadalbane, +one of Landseer's strongest pictures, appeared the same year. + +In 1848, "A Random Shot," one of the artist's most pathetic pictures, +was painted. Stephens thus describes it: "It is a snow piece, the scene +high on the mountain, whose most distant ridges rise above the mist. The +snow lies smooth; and for miles, so far as the eye can penetrate the +vapor, there is nothing but snow, which covers, but does not hide, the +shapes of the hilltops. A few footprints show that a doe has come +hither, attracted, doubtless, by her knowledge of a pool of unfrozen +water which would assuage her thirst. Some careless shooter, firing into +a herd of deer, had hit the doe, whose fawn was with her, and, mortally +wounded, she came to die; the poor fawn had followed. There the victim +fell; there the innocent one strove, long after the mothers form was +cold, to obtain milk where an unfailing source had been. The mother has +fallen on her side; the long limbs, that once went so swiftly, are +useless, and the last breath of her nostrils has melted the snow, so +that, stained with her blood, the water trickled downwards until it +froze again." + +Monkhouse says, in his "Landseer Studies": "He painted dogs and deer as +no man ever painted them before; he inspired one with a humor and both +with a poetry beyond all parallel in art; he added to this a feeling for +the grandeur and sublimity of nature, which gave to his pictures a charm +and a sentiment which all can feel; he never painted anything false or +ignoble, vulgar or unmanly; he won as an artist purely the affection and +admiration of a whole people as scarcely any man, _not_ a poet, or a +soldier, or a statesman, or a philosopher, has ever won them before.... + +"Landseer may be said to have mastered other animals, but the deer +mastered him. He raised dogs almost to the scale of humanity, but deer +raised him to a level of higher being. His love for the deer may not +have been so deep, but it was more elevating, less self-regarding, and +it ended at last in stimulating his imagination to produce pictures +deeper in thought and more awful in sentiment than any attempted by an +animal painter before." + +A writer in _Cornhill_ says: "Landseer's perceptions of character were +remarkably acute. Not only did he know what was passing in the hearts of +dogs, but he could read pretty closely into those of men and women also. +The love of truth was an instinct with him; his common phrase about +those he estimated highly was that 'they had the true ring.' This was +most applicable to himself; there was no alloy in his metal; he was true +to himself and to others. This was proved in many passages of his life, +when nearly submerged by those disappointments and troubles which are +more especially felt by sensitive organizations such as that which it +was his fortune--or misfortune--to possess. + +"It was a pity that Landseer, who might have done so much for the good +of the animal kind, never wrote on the subject of their treatment. He +had a strong feeling against the way some dogs are tied up, only allowed +their freedom now and then. He used to say a man would fare better tied +up than a dog, because the former can take his coat off, but a dog lives +in his forever. He declared a tied-up dog, without daily exercise, goes +mad, or dies, in three years. + +"His wonderful power over dogs is well known. An illustrious lady asked +him how it was that he gained his knowledge. 'By peeping into their +hearts, ma'am,' was his answer. I remember once being wonderfully struck +with the mesmeric attraction he possessed with them. A large party of +his friends were with him at his house in St. John's Wood; his servant +opened the door; three or four dogs rushed in, one a very fierce-looking +mastiff. The ladies recoiled, but there was no fear; the creature +bounded up to Landseer, treated him like an old friend, with most +expansive demonstrations of delight. Some one remarking 'how fond the +dog seemed of him,' he said, 'I never saw it before in my life.' + +"Would that horse-trainers could have learned from him how horses could +be broken in or trained more easily by kindness than by cruelty. Once +when visiting him he came in from his meadow looking somewhat +dishevelled and tired. 'What have you been doing?' we asked him. 'Only +teaching some horses tricks for Astley's, and here is my whip,' he said, +showing us a piece of sugar in his hand. He said that breaking in horses +meant more often breaking their hearts, and robbing them of all their +spirit...." + +In 1850, the "Dialogue of Waterloo" was produced, with the Duke of +Wellington and his daughter-in-law, the Marchioness Douro, on the +battlefield. It is said that eighteen thousand dollars were paid for the +copyright of this painting. + +This year, Landseer was made a knight, at the age of forty-eight. The +next year, 1851, he painted the well-known "Monarch of the Glen." "The +Midsummer Night's Dream" of the same year, painted for the great +engineer, Isambard K. Brunel, who ordered a series of Shakespearian +subjects from different artists, at four hundred guineas each, was +afterwards sold to Earl Brownlow for fourteen thousand dollars. + +In 1857, in "Scene in Brae-mar--Highland Deer," we have, says Stephens, +"the grandest stag which came from his hands. This was sold in 1868 for +four thousand guineas." "The Maid and the Magpie," painted for Jacob +Bell, and by him presented to the nation, appeared in 1858. The pretty +girl is about to milk a cow, but turns to listen to her lover, when a +magpie steals a silver spoon from one of the wooden shoes at her side. +In connection with this picture, M. F. Sweetser tells this incident: + +"Sir Edwin once painted a picture for Jacob Bell for one hundred +guineas, which the latter soon afterwards sold for two thousand guineas. +Placing the latter amount in Landseer's bank, Mr. Bell narrated the +circumstance, suppressing both his own name and that of the purchaser, +and adding that the seller would not keep the money, but wanted another +picture painted for it. The master was so charmed with this generous act +that he said, 'Well, he shall have a good one.' And afterwards, pressing +Bell to tell him who his benefactor was, the latter exclaimed, in the +words of Nathan, the Israelite: 'I am the man.' The picture which +resulted was 'The Maid and the Magpie.'" + +In 1860, "Flood in the Highlands," called by Stephens "probably the +strongest of all his pictures," was painted. He was now fifty-eight. "I +remember him," says Stephens, "during the painting of this picture, on +the Tuesday before it was sent to the Academy,--putting a few touches on +the canvas. He looked as if about to become old, although his age by no +means justified the notion; it was not that he had lost activity or +energy, or that his form had shrunk, for he moved as firmly and swiftly +as ever,--indeed he was rather demonstrative, stepping on and off the +platform in his studio with needless display,--and his form was stout +and well filled. + +"Nevertheless, without seeming to be overworked, he did not look robust, +and he had a nervous way remarkable in so distinguished a man, one who +was usually by no means unconscious of himself, and yet, to those he +liked, full of kindness. The wide green shade which he wore above his +eyes projected straight from his forehead, and cast a large shadow on +his plump, somewhat livid features, and, in the shadow, one saw that his +eyes had suffered. The gray 'Tweed' suit, and its sober trim, a little +emphatically 'quiet,' marked the man; so did his stout, not fat nor +robust, figure; rapid movements, and utterances that glistened with +prompt remarks, sharp, concise, with quiet humor, but not seeking +occasions for wit, and imbued throughout with a perfect frankness, +distinguished the man." + +In 1864, "Man proposes, God disposes," was painted, an Arctic incident +suggested by the finding of the relics of Sir John Franklin. The +purchaser of this picture, Sweetser says, paid Landseer twenty-five +hundred pounds for it. + +In 1865, "The Connoisseurs" was painted, and presented by Sir Edwin to +the Prince of Wales. It represents two dogs looking over the shoulders +of the artist, while he makes a drawing. Monkhouse says: "The man +behind his work was seen through it,--sensitive, variously gifted, +manly, genial, tender-hearted, simple, and unaffected, a lover of +animals and children and humanity; and if any one wishes to see at a +glance nearly all we have written, let him look at his own portrait, +painted by himself, with a canine connoisseur on either side." + +"Lady Godiva's Prayer," painted in 1866, was sold in 1874 for L3360, or +nearly seventeen thousand dollars. This year, Sir Edwin first appeared +as a sculptor, in a vigorous model of a "Stag at Bay." In 1867 his +bronze Lions were placed at the base of the Nelson monument in Trafalgar +Square, thus associating two great names. The government had +commissioned him to execute this work eight years before, in 1859, but +sickness and other matters had prevented. That this commission was a +care to him, is shown by a letter to a friend: "I have got trouble +enough; ten or twelve pictures about which I am tortured, and a large +national monument to complete.... If I am bothered about anything and +everything, no matter what, I know my head will not stand it much +longer." + +Again he writes: "My health (or rather condition) is a mystery beyond +human intelligence. I sleep well seven hours, and awake tired and jaded, +and do not rally till after luncheon. J. L. came down yesterday and did +her best to cheer me.... I return to my own home in spite of a kind +invitation from Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone to meet Princess Louise at +breakfast." + +"The Swannery invaded by Sea-Eagles" was one of Landseer's most notable +later works. "The Sick Monkey," painted in 1870, was purchased by Thomas +Baring for three thousand guineas, and bequeathed to Lord Northbrook, +the Viceroy of India. + +When Sir Charles Eastlake died, the presidency of the Royal Academy was +urged upon Landseer, but he declined. He had become wealthy through his +painting, his property amounting to about one million two hundred and +fifty thousand dollars, which he left mostly to his brothers and +sisters. + +Sir Edwin's life was now drawing to its close. Miss Mackey says, in +_Cornhill_, concerning his last long illness: "Was ever any one more +tenderly nursed and cared for? Those who had loved him in his bright +wealth of life now watched the long days one by one telling away its +treasure. He was very weak in body latterly, but sometimes he used to go +into the garden and walk round the paths, leaning on his sister's arm. +One beautiful spring morning, he looked up and said: 'I shall never see +the green leaves again;' but he did see them, Mrs. Mackenzie, his +sister, said. He lived through another spring. He used to lie in his +studio, where he would have liked to die. To the very end he did not +give up his work; but he used to go on, painting a little at a time, +faithful to his task. + +"When he was almost at his worst, so some one told me, they gave him +his easel and his canvas, and left him alone in the studio, in the hope +that he might take up his work and forget his suffering. When they came +back, they found that he had painted the picture of a little lamb lying +beside a lion. This and 'The Font' were the last pictures ever painted +by that faithful hand. + +"'The Font' is an allegory of all creeds and all created things coming +together into the light of truth. The Queen is the owner of 'The Font.' +She wrote to her old friend and expressed her admiration for it, and +asked to become the possessor. Her help and sympathy brightened the +sadness of those last days for him. It is well known that he appealed to +her once, when haunted by some painful apprehensions, and that her wise +and judicious kindness came to the help of his nurses. She sent him back +a message, bade him not be afraid, and to trust to those who were doing +their best for him, and in whom she herself had every confidence.... + +"He wished to die in his studio, his dear studio, for which he used to +long when he was away, and where he lay so long expecting the end; but +it was in his own room that he slept away. His brother was with him. His +old friend came into the room. He knew him and pressed his hand." + +Landseer died on the morning of October 1, 1873, and was buried October +11, with distinguished honors, in St. Paul's Cathedral. + + + + +TURNER. + + +"Turner was unquestionably, in his best time, the greatest master of +water color who had ever lived. He may have been excelled since then in +some special departments of the art, in some craft of execution, or in +the knowledge of some particular thing in nature; but no one has ever +deserved such generally high rank as Turner in the art of water-color +painting. His superiority even goes so far that the art, in his hands, +is like another art, a fresh discovery of his own. + +[Illustration: TURNER.] + +"The color, in his most delicate work, hardly seems to be laid on the +paper by any means known to us, but suggests the idea of a vaporous +deposit, and besides the indescribable excellence of those parts of +Turner's water-colors which do not look as if they were painted at all, +there is excellence of another kind in those parts which exhibit +dexterities of execution. Nor is the strange perfection of his painting +in water color limited to landscape; his studies of still life, birds +and their plumage, bits of interiors at Petworth, etc., are evidence +enough that, had he chosen to paint objects rather than effects, he +might have been as wonderful an object painter as William Hunt was, +though in a different and more elevated manner." Thus writes Philip +Gilbert Hamerton. + +Turner was born April 23, 1775, in Maiden Lane, London, over a barber +shop, in which his father, William Turner, lived and worked. The latter +was an economical, good-natured, uneducated man, who taught his boy to +be honest and saving. + +The mother, Mary Turner, belonged to a family of Marshalls or Mallords +near Nottingham, superior in position to the family of William Turner. +She had an ungovernable temper, and is said to have led the barber "a +sad life." Later, she became insane, and was sent to an asylum. + +The boy William very early began to show his skill in drawing. In his +first school at New Brentford, when he was ten years old, his birds, +flowers, and trees on the walls of the room attracted attention, so that +his schoolmates often did his work in mathematics for him while he made +sketches. His father had intended him to be a barber, but, perceiving +the lad's talent, encouraged him, hung his drawings in his shop windows, +and sold them for a few pence or shillings each. + +At twelve years of age, William was sent to "Mr. Palice, a floral +drawing-master" in Soho; at thirteen, to a Mr. Coleman at Margate, where +he loved and studied the sea; and at fourteen, to the Royal Academy. +Meanwhile, he earned money by coloring prints, making backgrounds and +skies for architects' plans, and copying pictures for Dr. Munro, who +lived in one of the palaces on the Strand. This physician owned many +Rembrandts and Gainsboroughs, with sketches by Claude, Titian, +Vandevelde, and others. + +This house proved a valuable place for study to the barber's son, who +considered himself fortunate to receive half a crown and a supper for +each evening's work. + +When pitied by some one in later life, because of the hard work of his +boyhood, he said, "Well! And what could be better practice?" + +In 1792, when he was seventeen, he received a commission from Mr. J. +Walker, an engraver, to make drawings for his _Copperplate Magazine_, +and soon after from Mr. Harrison for his _Pocket Magazine_. To make +these sketches, the youth travelled through Wales, on a pony lent him by +a friend, and on foot, with his baggage in his handkerchief tied to the +end of a stick, through Nottingham, Cambridge, Lincoln, Peterborough, +Windsor, Ely, the Isle of Wight, and elsewhere. + +"The result of these tours," says W. Cosmo Monkhouse, "may be said to +have been the perfection of his technical skill, the partial +displacement of traditional notions of composition, and the storing of +his memory with infinite effects of nature." + +His first water color at the Royal Academy Exhibition was a picture of +Lambeth Palace, when he was fifteen, and his first oil painting at the +exhibition, according to Redgrave, the "Rising Squall, Hot Wells," when +he was eighteen. Hamerton thinks "Moonlight," a study in Milbank, was +his first exhibited work in oil. "The picture," he says, "shows not the +least trace of genius, yet it has always been rather a favorite with me +for its truth to nature in one thing. All the ordinary manufacturers of +moonlights--and moonlights have been manufactured in deplorably large +quantities for the market--represent the light of our satellite as a +blue and cold light; whereas in nature, especially in the southern +summer, it is often pleasantly rich and warm. Turner did not follow the +usual receipt, but had the courage to make his moonlight warm, though he +had not as yet the skill to express the ineffably mellow softness of the +real warm moonlights in nature." + +At twenty-one, Turner hired a house in Hand Court, and began to teach +drawing in London and elsewhere at ten shillings a lesson. But he soon +grew impatient of his fashionable pupils, and the teaching was +abandoned. + +At twenty-two, he journeyed into the counties of Yorkshire and Kent, and +soon produced "Morning on the Coniston Fells," in 1798; "Cattle in +Water; Buttermere Lake," 1798; and "Norham Castle on the Tweed." Twenty +years afterward, as he was passing Norham Castle, with Cadell, an +Edinburgh publisher, he took off his hat to the castle. Cadell expressed +surprise. "Oh," said Turner, "I made a drawing or painting of Norham +several years ago. It took; and from that day to this I have had as much +to do as my hands could execute." + +In Yorkshire, the rising young artist, natural and genial in manner, +though small and somewhat plain in person, made many warm friends. He +was often a guest at Farnley Hall, owned by Mr. Hawkesworth Fawkes, who +afterward adorned his home with fifty thousand dollars' worth of +Turner's pictures. + +Mr. Fawkes's son speaks of "the fun, frolic, and shooting we enjoyed +together, and which, whatever may be said by others of his temper and +disposition, have proved to me that he was, in his hours of distraction +from his professional labors, as kindly-hearted a man, and as capable of +enjoyment and fun of all kinds, as any I ever knew." + +Mrs. Wheeler, a friend in these early years, says: "Of all the +light-hearted, merry creatures I ever knew, Turner was the most so; and +the laughter and fun that abounded when he was an inmate of our cottage +was inconceivable, particularly with the juvenile members of the +family." + +Somewhere between the ages of nineteen and twenty-three, a sorrow came +which seemed completely to change Turner's nature. While at the Margate +school, he had fallen in love with the sister of a schoolmate; the love +had been reciprocated, and an engagement followed a few years later. +During a long absence in his art work, their letters were intercepted +by the young lady's stepmother, who finally prevailed upon her to become +engaged to another. A week before the wedding, Turner arrived at +Margate, and besought her to marry him; but his betrothed considered +herself in honor bound to the new lover. The marriage proved a most +unhappy one, and Turner remained a disappointed and solitary man through +life. + +His art now became his one absorbing thought; he worked early and late, +often rising for work at four o'clock in the morning, saying sadly that +there were "no holidays for him." + +In 1799, when he was twenty-four, he was made an associate of the Royal +Academy, and a full academician in 1802. Hamerton says: "His election is +the more remarkable, that he had done nothing whatever to bring it +about, except his fair hard work in his profession. He was absolutely +incapable of social courtiership in any of its disguises. He gave no +dinners, he paid no calls, he did nothing to make the academicians +believe that he would be a credit to their order in any social sense. +Even after his election, he would not go to thank his electors, in +obedience to the established usage. 'If they had not been satisfied with +my pictures,' he said to Stothard, 'they would not have elected me. Why, +then, should I thank them? Why thank a man for performing a simple +duty?' His views on the subject were clearly wrong, for the rules of +good manners very frequently require us to thank people for performing +simple duties, and the academicians were not under any obligation to +elect the young painter so soon; but how completely Turner's conduct in +this matter proves that he can only have been elected on his merits!... + +"His elevation to the full membership was of immense value to him in his +career, and he knew this so well that he remained deeply attached to the +Academy all his life. He was associate or member of it for a full +half-century, and during fifty years was only three times absent from +its exhibitions." + +This year, 1802, he removed to 64 Harley Street, taking his plain old +father home to live with him. He took his first tour on the Continent, +this year, making studies of Mont Blanc, the Swiss lakes and mountain +passes. The exhibitions of 1803 to 1806 contained, among other pictures, +"The Vintage at Macon," the celebrated "Calais Pier" in a gale; "The +Source of the Arveiron," "Narcissus and Echo," "Edinburgh from Calton +Hill;" his famous "Shipwreck," now in the National Gallery; and the +magnificent "Goddess of Discord choosing the Apple of Contention in the +Garden of Hesperides," also in the National Gallery. + +In 1807, Turner began, at the suggestion of his friend, Mr. W. F. Wells, +the _Liber Studiorum_, issued in dark blue covers, each containing five +plates, the whole series of one hundred plates to be divided into +historical, landscape, pastoral, mountainous, marine, and +architectural. The work was intended as a rival to Claude Lorraine's +_Liber Veritatis_. + +After seventy plates had been published, the project came to an end in +1816, because of disagreement with engravers, and lack of patronage. The +principal pictures were "AEsacus and Hesperia," "Jason," "Procris and +Cephalus," the "Fifth and Tenth Plagues of Egypt," "Christ and the Woman +of Samaria," "Rizpah," "Raglan Castle," the "River Wye," "Solway Moss," +"Inverary," the "Yorkshire Coast," "Mer de Glace," the "Lake of Thun," +"St. Gothard Pass," the "Alps from Grenoble," "Dunstanborough Castle," +and others. + +"So hopeless and worthless did the enterprise seem, at one time," says +M. F. Sweetser, "that Charles Turner, the engraver, used the proofs and +trials of effect as kindling paper. Many years later, Colnaghi, the +great print-dealer, caused him to hunt up the remaining proofs in his +possession, and gave him fifteen hundred pounds for them. 'Good God!' +cried the old engraver, 'I have been burning bank-notes all my life.'... +In later days three thousand pounds had been paid for a single copy of +the _Liber_." + +"The most obvious intention of the work," says Monkhouse, "was to show +Turner's own power, and there never was, and perhaps never will be +again, such an exhibition of genius in the same direction. No rhetoric +can say for it as much as it says for itself in those ninety plates, +twenty of which were never published. If he did not exhaust art or +nature, he may be fairly said to have exhausted all that was then known +of landscape art, and to have gone further than any one else in the +interpretation of nature.... + +"Amongst his more obvious claims to the first place among landscape +artists are his power of rendering atmospherical effects, and the +structure and growth of things. He not only knew how a tree looked, but +he showed how it grew. Others may have drawn foliage with more habitual +fidelity, but none ever drew trunks and branches with such knowledge of +their inner life.... Others have drawn the appearance of clouds, but +Turner knew how they formed. Others have drawn rocks, but he could give +their structure, consistency, and quality of surface, with a few deft +lines and a wash; others could hide things in a mist, but he could +reveal things through mist. Others could make something like a rainbow, +but he, almost alone, and without color, could show it standing out, a +bow of light arrested by vapor in mid-air, not flat upon a mountain, or +printed on a cloud.... If we seek the books from which his imagination +took fire, we have the Bible and Ovid; the first of small, the latter of +great and almost solitary power. Jason, daring the huge glittering +serpent; Syrinx, fleeing from Pan; Cephalus and Procris; AEsacus and +Hesperia; Glaucus and Scylla; Narcissus and Echo. If we want to know the +artists he most admired and imitated, or the places to which he had +been, we shall find easily nearly all the former, and sufficient of the +latter to show the wide range of his travel. In a word, one who has +carefully studied the _Liber_ has indeed little to learn of the range +and power of Turner's art and mind, except his color and his fatalism." + +In 1808, Turner was appointed professor of perspective in the Royal +Academy, which position he held for thirty years, though he rarely gave +lectures to students, owing to his confused manner and obscurity in the +use of language. Ruskin says: "The zealous care with which Turner +endeavored to do his duty is proved by a large existing series of +drawings, exquisitely tinted, and often completely colored, all by his +own hand, of the most difficult perspective subjects; illustrating not +only directions of line, but effects of light, with a care and +completion which would put the work of any ordinary teacher to utter +shame. In teaching generally, he would neither waste time nor spare it; +he would look over a student's drawing at the Academy, point to a +defective part, make a scratch on the paper at the side, say nothing. If +the student saw what was wanted, and did it, Turner was delighted; but +if the student could not follow, Turner left him." + +Turner this year moved to the Upper Mall, Hammersmith, where his garden +extended to the Thames. In this he had a summer-house, where some of his +best work was done. He still retained the Harley-Street house, and +lived in it much the life of a recluse. Mr. Thornbury tells the +following incident:-- + +"Two ladies called upon Turner while he lived in Harley Street. On +sending in their names, after having ascertained that he was at home, +they were politely requested to walk in, and were shown into a large +sitting-room without a fire. This was in the depth of winter; and lying +about in various places were several cats without tails. In a short time +our talented friend made his appearance, asking the ladies if they felt +cold. The youngest replied in the negative; her companion, more curious, +wished she had stated otherwise, as she hoped they might have been shown +into his sanctum or studio. After a little conversation he offered them +wine and biscuits, which they partook of for the novelty, such an event +being almost unprecedented in his house. One of the ladies bestowing +some notice upon the cats, he was induced to remark that he had seven, +and that they came from the Isle of Man." + +Turner was fond of his pet cats, and would let no harm come to them. +After he had moved, in 1812, to 47 Queen-Anne Street, one of his +favorite pictures, "Bligh Shore" was used as a covering for a window. A +cat desiring to enter the window scratched the picture severely, and was +about to be punished for the offence, by Mrs. Danby, the housekeeper, +when Turner said, "Never mind," and saved the cat from the whipping. + +At his house in Twickenham, which he bought and rebuilt in 1813 or +1814, calling it Solus Lodge on account of his desire to be alone, and +afterwards Sandycomb Lodge, the boys named him "Blackbirdy," because he +protected the blackbirds in the adjacent trees, not allowing their nests +to be robbed. Turner sold this place after having owned it about twelve +years, because his aged father, whom he always called "Dad," was always +working in the garden and catching cold. + +The eccentric artist must have been at this time quite rich, as well as +famous. He had painted "The Sun rising in Mist," in 1807; the well-known +"Wreck of the Minotaur," in 1810; "Apollo killing the Python," in 1811; +"Hannibal and his Army crossing the Alps in a Snowstorm," in 1812; and +"Crossing the Brook," and "Dido building Carthage," in 1815. "The first +('Crossing the Brook')," says Monkhouse, "is the purest and most +beautiful of all his oil pictures of the loveliness of English scenery, +the most simple in its motive, the most tranquil in its sentiment, the +perfect expression of his enjoyment of the exquisite scenery in the +neighborhood of Plymouth. The latter ('Dido building Carthage'), with +all its faults, was the finest of the kind he ever painted, and his +greatest effect in the way of color before his visit to Italy." + +It is said that "Crossing the Brook" was painted for a gentleman who +ordered it with the promise of paying twenty-five hundred dollars for +it, but was disappointed in it when finished, and refused to take it. +Turner was afterwards offered eight thousand dollars for it, but would +not sell it. + +In 1815, the artist, now forty years old, was again disappointed in +love. He wrote to one of his best friends, Rev. H. Scott Trimmer, vicar +of Heston, concerning his sister, Miss Trimmer: "If she would but waive +her bashfulness, or, in other words, make an offer instead of expecting +one, the same (Sandycomb Lodge) might change occupiers." But Miss +Trimmer had, at this time, another suitor, whom she married, and Turner +never again attempted to win a wife. + +In 1817, "The Decline of the Carthaginian Empire" was exhibited, a +companion piece to the Building of Carthage. Years later, Sir Robert +Peel, Lord Hardinge, and others, offered twenty-five thousand dollars to +Turner for the two pictures, intending to present them to the National +Gallery. "It's a noble offer," said the painter, "but I have willed +them." He had already made his will, privately, giving these and other +pictures to the nation. + +The artist is said to have once remarked to his friend Chantrey, the +sculptor: "Will you promise to see me rolled up in the 'Carthage' at my +burial?" + +"Yes," was the reply; "and I promise you also that, as soon as you are +buried, I will see that you are taken up and unrolled." + +In 1819, Turner made his first visit to Italy, after which his works +became remarkable for their color. In 1823, says Monkhouse, "he +astonished the world with the first of those magnificent dreams of +landscape loveliness with which his name will always be specially +associated: 'The Bay of Baiae, with Apollo and the Sibyl.'" + +The "Rivers of England" was published in 1826, with sixteen engravings +after Turner's designs. Monkhouse says: "For perfect balance of power, +for the mirroring of nature as it appears to ninety-nine out of every +hundred, for fidelity of color to both sky and earth, and form +(especially of trees), for carefulness and accuracy of drawing, for work +that neither startles you by its eccentricity nor puzzles you as to its +meaning, which satisfies without cloying, and leaves no doubt as to the +truth of its illusion, there is none to compare with these drawings of +his of England after his first visit to Italy." + +During this year, 1826, among other pictures, Turner exhibited his +"Cologne--the Arrival of a Packet-boat--Evening." "There were," says +Hamerton, "such unity and serenity in the work, and such a glow of light +and color, that it seemed like a window opened upon the land of the +ideal, where the harmonies of things are more perfect than they have +ever been in the common world." The picture was hung between two of Sir +Thomas Lawrence's portraits, the golden color of the "Cologne" dulling +their effect. Turner at once covered his picture with lampblack, thereby +spoiling it for the public view. When reproached by the critics, he +said: "Poor Lawrence was so unhappy. It will all wash off after the +Exhibition." "Was there ever," says Hamerton, "a more exquisitely +beautiful instance of self-sacrifice?" The "Cologne" was sold, in 1854, +to Mr. John Naylor, for two thousand guineas. + +Turner made designs for twenty illustrations in Rogers's poem of +"Italy," for which, it is asserted, he would accept but five guineas +each, as the execution of the work pleased him so well; thirteen +illustrations for "The Provincial Antiquities of Scotland," for which +Sir Walter Scott wrote the letter-press; and twenty-six pictures for +Finden's "Illustrations of the Bible." Turner generally received from +twenty to one hundred guineas for each drawing used, which was returned +to him that he might sell it, if he so desired. + +In 1827 the first part of his largest series of prints was published: +"England and Wales." The work was discontinued twelve years later, +because it was not a pecuniary success. + +Bohn offered twenty-eight hundred pounds for the copper plates and +stock, but Turner himself bid them in, at the auction, for three +thousand pounds, saying to Bohn: "So, sir, you were going to buy my +'England and Wales' to sell cheap, I suppose--make umbrella prints of +them, eh? But I have taken care of that." + +He disliked steel engravings, or any plan to cheapen or popularize art. +He once told Sir Thomas Lawrence that he "didn't choose to be a basket +engraver." Being asked what he meant, he replied: "When I got off the +coach t'other day at Hastings, a woman came up with a basketful of your +'Mrs. Peel,' and wanted to sell me one for a sixpence." + +The painter's hard-working life, with little comfort save what fame +brings to a man who eagerly seeks it, received its greatest shock in the +death of the aged father, in 1830. Turner said, "The loss was like that +of an only child." His friends the Trimmers said, "He never appeared the +same man after his father's death." + +The plain barber had lived with his son for thirty years, and had seen +him gain wealth and renown. He could do little save to encourage with +his affection and be proud and grateful for the painter's success. And +this was enough. He was buried in St. Paul's, Covent Garden, the artist +writing this inscription for his monument:-- + + + IN THE VAULT + BENEATH AND NEAR THIS PLACE + ARE DEPOSITED THE REMAINS OF + WILLIAM TURNER, + MANY YEARS AN INHABITANT OF THIS PARISH, + WHO DIED + SEPTEMBER 21ST, 1830. + TO HIS MEMORY AND OF HIS WIFE, + MARY ANN, + THEIR SON J. M. W. TURNER, R. A., + HAS PLACED THIS TABLET, + AUGUST, 1832. + + +In 1832, Turner exhibited his memorable "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage; +Italy," in which he seemed to combine the mountains, the trees, the +cities, and the skies he had loved in that beautiful country. From 1833 +to 1835 he produced his exquisite series, "The Rivers of France." Ruskin +says: "Of all foreign countries, Turner has most entirely entered into +the spirit of France; partly because here he found more fellowship of +scene with his own England; partly because an amount of thought which +will miss of Italy or Switzerland will fathom France; partly because +there is in the French foliage and forms of ground much that is +especially congenial with his own peculiar choice of form.... He still +remains the only, but in himself the sufficient, painter of French +landscape." + +In 1833 Turner exhibited the first of his eleven remarkable Venetian +pictures, one of the finest being, "The Sun of Venice going to Sea." +"The characteristics which they have in common," says Hamerton, "are +splendor of color and carelessness of form; the color being, in most +instances, really founded upon the true Venetian color, but worked up to +the utmost brilliance which the palette would allow, the forms simply +sketched, exactly on the principles of the artist's own free sketching +in water colors.... It is believed, and with probability, that he +blocked out the picture almost entirely in pure white, with only some +very pale tinting, just to mark the position of the objects, and that +this white preparation was thick and loaded from the beginning. On this +he afterwards painted thinly in oil or water-color, or both, so that the +brilliance of the white shone through the color, and gave it that very +luminous quality which it possesses. This is simply a return to the +early Flemish practice of painting thinly on a light ground, with the +difference, however, that Turner made a fresh ground of his own between +the canvas and his bright colors, and that the modelling of the impasto +with the brush was done in this thick white. The result was to unite the +brilliance of water-color to the varied and rich surface of massive +oil-painting." + +These pictures called forth much adverse criticism, but they soon had a +Herculean defender in the "Oxford Undergraduate" of 1836, the Ruskin of +"Modern Painters." In 1839, Turner exhibited "The fighting _Temeraire_ +tugged to her last berth to be broken up, 1838." Thornbury tells how the +subject was suggested to Turner. + +"In 1838, Turner was with Stanfield and a party of brother artists on +one of those holiday excursions, in which he so delighted, probably to +end with whitebait and champagne at Greenwich. It was at these times +that Turner talked and joked his best, snatching, now and then, a moment +to print on his quick brain some tone of sky, some gleam of water, some +sprinkling light of oar, some glancing sunshine cross-barring a sail. +Suddenly there moved down upon the artist's boat the grand old vessel +that had been taken prisoner at the Nile and that led the van at +Trafalgar. She loomed pale and ghostly, and was being towed to her last +moorings at Deptford by a little fiery, puny steam-tug. + +"'There's a fine subject, Turner,' said Stanfield," and the suggestion +was gladly acted upon. + +Hamerton says: "The picture is, both in sentiment and execution, one of +the finest of the later works. The sky and water are both magnificent, +and the shipping, though not treated with severe positive truth, is made +to harmonize well with the rest, and not stuck _upon_ the canvas, as +often happens in the works of bad marine painters. The sun sets in red, +and the red, by the artist's craft, is made at the same time both +decided in hue and luminous, always a great technical difficulty. Golden +sunsets are easy in comparison, as every painter knows. This picture has +more than once been associated by critics with the magnificent 'Ulysses +deriding Polyphemus,' which was painted ten years earlier. Both are +splendid in sky and water, and both are florid in color. Mr. Ruskin's +opinion is that the period of Turner's central power, 'entirely +developed and entirely unabated, begins with the Ulysses, and closes +with the _Temeraire_.' + +"This decade had been a time of immense industry for Turner. In that +space he had made more than four hundred drawings for the engraver, had +exhibited more than fifty pictures in the Royal Academy, and had +executed, besides, some thousands of sketches, and probably many +private commissions which cannot easily be ascertained." + +One reason of his aversion to society was his desire to save time for +this great amount of work. The _Temeraire_, though sought by several +persons, the artist refused to sell at any price, and bequeathed it to +the nation. + +From 1840 to 1845, Turner painted a few pictures of great power. The +"Slave Ship, slavers throwing overboard the dead and dying, typhoon +coming on," was exhibited in 1840. It became the property of Mr. Ruskin, +who sold it, and it is now in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. It +represents a sunset on the Atlantic after a storm. It is gorgeous in +color, and is regarded by many as the grandest sea which Turner ever +painted. The "Snowstorm," in 1842, was harshly criticised, and called +"soapsuds and whitewash." The picture represents a steamer off a harbor +in a storm, making signals. + +Ruskin says: "Turner was passing the evening at my father's house, on +the day this criticism came out; and after dinner, sitting in his +armchair, I heard him muttering low to himself at intervals, 'Soapsuds +and whitewash!' again, and again, and again. At last I went to him, +asking 'why he minded what they said.' Then he burst out: 'Soapsuds and +whitewash! what would they have? I wonder what they think the sea's +like? I wish they'd been in it!'" + +Turner had been in the storm, and knew that he had painted truthfully. +One night, when the Ariel left Harwich, he "got the sailors to lash him +to the mast, to observe the storm," and remained there four hours, not +expecting to survive it. + +"Peace--Burial at Sea," now in the National Gallery, was exhibited also +in 1842. It was painted to commemorate the funeral of Sir David Wilkie, +the Scottish artist, which had taken place in June, 1841, off Gibraltar, +some distance from shore. Whilst the picture was on the easel, Stanfield +entered Turner's studio and said, "You're painting the sails very +black," to which the artist made answer, "If I could find anything +blacker than black, I'd use it." + +The deaths of Chantrey, in 1841, and of Callcott, in 1844, deeply +affected Turner. "In the death-chamber of the former," says George +Jones, "he wrung my hands, tears streaming from his eyes, and then +rushed from the house without uttering a word." When William Frederick +Wells, the artist, died a few years previously, Turner went to the +house, sobbing like a child, and saying to the daughter, "O Clara, +Clara! these are iron tears. I have lost the best friend I ever had in +my life." + +In 1843, he took his last journey to the Continent, making many sketches +about Lake Lucerne, which was very dear to him. From 1847 to 1849, he +paid several visits to the photographic artist Mayall, calling himself a +master in chancery, as he did not wish to be recognized. He was deeply +interested in the progress of photography. When Mayall was in pecuniary +trouble in consequence of a lawsuit about patent rights, Turner, +unasked, brought him fifteen hundred dollars, telling him to repay it +sometime if he could. He gladly accepted the loan and paid it. After +nearly two years, Turner found that his personality had become known, +and could never be induced to visit the place again. + +In 1850, he sent his last pictures to the Academy: "AEneas relating his +Story to Dido," "Mercury sent to admonish AEneas," "The Departure of the +Trojan Fleet," and "The Visit to the Tomb." + +He was now seventy-five years old. In 1851, he exhibited no pictures, +and ceased to attend the Academy meetings, which had always given him so +much pleasure. David Roberts, the artist, wrote him, and begged to be +allowed to see him. Two weeks later, Turner called at the studio. "I +tried to cheer him up," says Roberts, "but he laid his hand upon his +heart and replied, 'No, no; there is something here which is all wrong.' +As he stood by the table in my painting-room, I could not help looking +attentively at him, peering in his face, for the small eye (blue) was +brilliant as that of a child, and unlike the glazed and 'lack-lustre +eye' of age. This was my last look." + +For several months, the aged artist was absent from his home in +Queen-Anne Street. Finally, Hannah Danby, who had been his housekeeper +for fifty years, and was said to have been his mistress, found a letter +in the pocket of an old coat, which led her to believe he was in +Chelsea. She and a relative sought him, and found him, December 18, +1851, very ill, in a small plain cottage on the banks of the Thames, +owned by Sophia Caroline Booth. He was called "Admiral Booth" by her +neighbors, who thought him an admiral in reduced circumstances. He died +the day after his friends found him. An hour before his death, he was +wheeled to the window to look out upon the Thames, and bathe in the +sunshine which he so dearly loved. + +"So died," says Monkhouse, "the great solitary genius, Turner, the first +of all men to endeavor to paint the full power of the sun, the greatest +imagination that ever sought expression in landscape, the greatest +pictorial interpreter of the elemental forces of nature that ever +lived.... Sunlight was his discovery; he had found its presence in +shadow; he had studied its complicated reflections before he commenced +to work in color. From monochrome he had adopted the low scale of the +old masters, but into it he carried his light; the brown clouds, and +shadows and mists, had the sun behind them, as it were, in veiled +splendor. Then it came out and flooded his drawings and his canvases +with a glory unseen before in art. But he must go on, refine upon this; +having eclipsed all others, he must now eclipse himself. His gold must +turn to yellow, and yellow almost into white, before his genius could be +satisfied with its efforts to express pure sunlight." + +Turner was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral, between the tombs of Sir +Joshua Reynolds and James Barry, the service being read by Dean Milman. +By his will, he left all his pictures and drawings to the nation, to be +preserved in a "Turner Gallery," specifying that "The Sun Rising in +Mist" and "Dido building Carthage" should be hung between the two +pictures painted by Claude, the "Seaport" and "Mill." During his life he +is said to have refused two offers of five hundred thousand dollars for +the pictures in his Queen-Anne Street house. He left one hundred +thousand dollars to the Royal Academy, five thousand dollars for a +monument to himself in St. Paul's, a few small bequests for relatives, +money for a medal to be given for the best landscape exhibited at the +Academy every two or three years, and the remainder of a large fortune +for the maintenance of "poor and decayed male artists being born in +England and of English parents only, and lawful issue;" the latter gift +to be known as "Turner's Gift." + +The will was contested by relatives, and, after four years of +litigation, the testator's intention to provide for aged artists was +disregarded, and the property given to the "nearest of kin." Such +instances are teaching our great men to carry out their benevolent +wishes in _their lifetime_. Though Turner had great faults,--it is +stated that he drank to excess in later years,--he had great virtues. +Though parsimonious with himself, he was generous to others. Ruskin +tells these incidents: + +"There was a painter of the name of Bird, and when Bird first sent a +picture to the Academy for exhibition, Turner was on the hanging +committee. Bird's picture had great merit; but no place for it could be +found. Turner pleaded hard for it. No, the thing was impossible. Turner +sat down and looked at Bird's picture a long time; then insisted that a +place must be found for it. He was still met by the assertion of +impracticability. He said no more, but took down one of his own +pictures, sent it to the Academy, and hung Bird's in its place.... At +the death of a poor drawing-master, Mr. Wells, whom Turner had long +known, he was deeply affected, and lent money to the widow until a large +sum had accumulated. She was both honest and grateful, and, after a long +period, was happy enough to be able to return to her benefactor the +whole sum she had received from him. She waited on him with it; but +Turner kept his hands in his pocket. 'Keep it,' he said, 'and send your +children to school and to church.' He said this in bitterness; he had +himself been sent to neither." + +Once, after sending an importunate beggar from his house, he relented, +ran after her, and gave her a five-pound note. + +Says Thornbury: "An early patron of Turner, when he was a mere +industrious barber's son, working at three-shilling drawings in his +murky bedroom, had seen some of them in a window in the Haymarket, and +had bought them. From that time he had gone on buying and being kind to +the rising artist, and Turner could not forget it. Years after, he heard +that his old benefactor had become involved, and that his steward had +received directions to cut down some valued trees. Instantly Turner's +generous impulses were roused; his usual parsimony (all directed to one +great object) was cast behind him. He at once wrote to the steward, +concealing his name, and sent him the full amount; many, many +thousands--as much as twenty thousand pounds, I believe. + +"The gentleman never knew who was his benefactor; but, in time, his +affairs rallied, and he was enabled to pay the whole sum back. Years +again rolled on, and now the son of Turner's benefactor became involved. +Again the birds of the air brought the news to the guardian angel of the +family; again he sent the necessary thousands anonymously; again the son +stopped the leak, righted himself, and returned the whole sum with +thanks." + +Ruskin says: "He had a heart as intensely kind and as nobly true as God +ever gave to one of his creatures.... Having known Turner for ten years, +and that during the period of his life when the highest qualities of his +mind were in many respects diminished, and when he was suffering most +from the evil speaking of the world, I never heard him say one +depreciating word of living man or man's work. I never saw him look an +unkind or blameful look. I never saw him let pass, without some +sorrowful remonstrance or endeavor at mitigation, a blameful word spoken +by another. Of no man but Turner whom I have ever known could I say +this; and of this kindness and truth came, I repeat, all his highest +power; and all his failure and error, deep and strange, came of his +_faithlessness_." Probably Mr. Ruskin means lack of religious faith, as +Mr. Thornbury says Turner feared that he would be annihilated. + +Turner was a most pains-taking worker. "Every quarter of an inch of +Turner's drawings," says Ruskin, "will bear magnifying; and much of the +finer work in them can hardly be traced, except by the keenest sight, +until it is magnified. In his painting of 'Ivy Bridge,' the veins are +drawn on the wing of a butterfly not three lines in diameter; and I have +one of his smaller drawings of 'Scarborough' in my own possession, in +which the muscle shells on the beach are rounded, and some shown as +shut, some as open, though none are as large as the letters of this +type: and yet this is the man who was thought to belong to the 'dashing' +school, literally because most people had not patience or delicacy of +sight enough to trace his endless details." + +He loved poetry, and sometimes attempted to write it. He was seldom true +to nature in his work. Hamerton says: "With an immense and unwearied +industry, Turner accumulated thousands and thousands of memoranda to +increase his knowledge of what interested him, especially in the +mountains, rivers, and cities of the Continent, and the coasts of his +native island. Amidst all this wealth of gathered treasure, his +imagination reigned and revelled with a poet's freedom. With a knowledge +of landscape vaster than any mortal ever possessed before him, his whole +existence was a succession of dreams. Even the hardest realities of the +external world itself, granite and glacier, could not awaken him; but he +would sit down before them and sketch another dream, there, in the very +presence of the reality itself. Notwithstanding all the knowledge and +all the observation which they prove, the interest of Turner's twenty +thousand sketches is neither topographic nor scientific, but entirely +psychological. It is the soul of Turner that fascinates the student, and +not the material earth." + +With little education from the schools, without distinguished ancestry, +in the midst of many disappointments and much censure, Turner came to +great renown. He had talent, but he had also untiring industry and +unlimited perseverance. + + + + +NEW BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. + + +1 JED. A Boy's Adventures in the Army of '61-'65. + +A story of battle and prison, of peril and escape. By WARREN LEE GOSS, +author of "The Soldier's Story of his Captivity at Andersonville and +other Prisons," "The Recollections of a Private" (in the Century War +Series). Fully illustrated. 12mo. Cloth. $1.50. + +In this story the author has aimed to furnish true pictures of scenes in +the great Civil War, and not to produce sensational effects. The +incidents of the book are real ones, drawn in part from the writer's +personal experiences and observations as a soldier of the Union, during +that war. 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