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diff --git a/41541-8.txt b/41541-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 9801af0..0000000 --- a/41541-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1320 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rubens, by Samuel Levy Bensusan - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: Rubens - Masterpieces in Colour Series - -Author: Samuel Levy Bensusan - -Editor: T. Leman Hare - -Release Date: December 3, 2012 [EBook #41541] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RUBENS *** - - - - -Produced by sp1nd and the Online Distributed Proofreading -Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from -images generously made available by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - -MASTERPIECES IN COLOUR - -EDITED BY T. LEMAN HARE - - -RUBENS - - - - -IN THE SAME SERIES - - - ARTIST. AUTHOR. - - VELAZQUEZ. S. L. BENSUSAN. - REYNOLDS. S. L. BENSUSAN. - TURNER. C. LEWIS HIND. - ROMNEY. C. LEWIS HIND. - GREUZE. ALYS EYRE MACKLIN. - BOTTICELLI. HENRY B. BINNS. - ROSSETTI. LUCIEN PISSARRO. - BELLINI. GEORGE HAY. - FRA ANGELICO. JAMES MASON. - REMBRANDT. JOSEF ISRAELS. - LEIGHTON. A. LYS BALDRY. - RAPHAEL. PAUL G. KONODY. - HOLMAN HUNT. MARY E. COLERIDGE. - TITIAN. S. L. BENSUSAN. - MILLAIS. A. LYS BALDRY. - CARLO DOLCI. GEORGE HAY. - GAINSBOROUGH. MAX ROTHSCHILD. - TINTORETTO. S. L. BENSUSAN. - LUINI. JAMES MASON. - FRANZ HALS. EDGCUMBE STALEY. - VAN DYCK. PERCY M. TURNER. - LEONARDO DA VINCI. M. W. BROCKWELL. - RUBENS. S. L. BENSUSAN. - WHISTLER. T. MARTIN WOOD. - - - _In Preparation_ - - VIGÉE LE BRUN. C. HALDANE MACFALL. - BURNE-JONES. A. LYS BALDRY. - HOLBEIN. S. L. BENSUSAN. - J. F. MILLET. PERCY M. TURNER. - MEMLINC. W. H. JAMES WEALE. - ALBERT DÜRER. HERBERT FURST. - FRAGONARD. C. HALDANE MACFALL. - CONSTABLE. C. LEWIS HIND. - RAEBURN. JAMES L. CAW. - CHARDIN. PAUL G. KONODY. - BOUCHER. C. HALDANE MACFALL. - WATTEAU. C. LEWIS HIND. - MURILLO. S. L. BENSUSAN. - - - AND OTHERS. - - - - -[Illustration: PLATE I.--ELIZABETH OF FRANCE, DAUGHTER OF HENRY IV. -Frontispiece (In the Louvre) - -The Princess is seen to great advantage in this fine portrait. The fair -complexion of the sitter is remarkably preserved, the white ruff, the -jewels, and the gold brocade are very cleverly handled. Another portrait -of Princess Elizabeth, painted in Madrid, may now be seen in St. -Petersburg.] - - - - -Rubens - -BY S. L. BENSUSAN - - -ILLUSTRATED WITH EIGHT REPRODUCTIONS IN COLOUR - - -[Illustration] - - -LONDON: T. C. & E. C. JACK - -NEW YORK: FREDERICK A. STOKES CO. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - Page - I. Introduction 11 - - II. The Painter's Life 21 - - III. Second Period 35 - - IV. The Later Years 45 - - V. The Painter's Art 55 - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - - Plate - I. Elizabeth of France, Daughter of Henry IV. Frontispiece - In the Louvre - Page - II. Christ à la Paille 14 - At Antwerp Museum - - III. The Four Philosophers 24 - In the Pitti Palace, Florence - - IV. Isabella Brandt 34 - In the Wallace Collection - - V. Le Chapeau de Paille 40 - In the National Gallery - - VI. The Descent from the Cross 50 - In the Cathedral, Antwerp - - VII. Henry IV. leaving for a Campaign 60 - In the Louvre - - VIII. The Virgin and the Holy Innocents 70 - In the Louvre - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -I - -INTRODUCTION - - -The name of Peter Paul Rubens is written so large in the history of -European art, that all the efforts of detractors have failed to stem the -tide of appreciation that flows towards it. Rubens was a great master -in nearly every pictorial sense of the term; and if at times the -coarseness and lack of restraint of his era were reflected upon his -canvas, we must blame the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries rather -than the man who worked through some of their most interesting years, -and at worst was no more than a realist. There may have been seasons -when he elected to attempt more than any man could hope to achieve. -There were times when he set himself to work deliberately to express -certain scenes, romantic or mythological, in a fashion that must have -startled his contemporaries and gives offence to-day; but to do justice -to the painter, we must consider his work as a whole, we must set the -best against the worst. - -[Illustration: PLATE II.--CHRIST À LA PAILLE (At Antwerp Museum) - -Whatever the Biblical story Rubens chose, he handled it not only with -skill, but with a certain sense of conviction that is the more -remarkable in one who owed no allegiance to the Church. There is fine -feeling and deep reverence in the "Christ à la Paille," in addition to -the dramatic feeling that accompanied all his religious pictures. The -colouring, though very bold, is most effective; in the hands of a less -skilled painter such a display of primary colouring might well have -seemed violent or even vulgar.] - -Consider the vast range of achievements that embraced landscape, -portraiture, and decorative work, giving to every subject such quality -of workmanship and skill in composition, as none save a very few of the -world's great masters have been able to convey to canvas. And let it be -remembered, too, that Rubens was not only a painter, he was a statesman -and a diplomat; and amid cares and anxieties that might well have filled -the life of any smaller man, he found time to paint countless pictures -in every style, and to move steadily forward along the road to mastery, -so that his second period is better than the first, in which he was, if -the expression may be used with propriety, finding himself. The third -period, which saw the painting of the great works that hang in Antwerp's -Cathedral and Museum to-day, and is represented in our own National -Gallery and Wallace Collection, was the best of all. Passing from his -labours as he did at a comparatively early age, for Rubens was but -sixty-three when he died, he did not suffer the slow decline of powers -that has so often accompanied men who reached their greatest -achievements in ripe middle age and shrink to mere shadows of a name. He -did not reach his supreme mastery of colour until he had lived for half -a century or more, and the pictures that have the greatest blots upon -them from the point of view of the twentieth century, were painted -before he reached the summit of his powers. It is perhaps unfortunate -that Rubens painted far too many works to admit of a truly -representative collection in any city or gallery. The best are widely -scattered; some are in the Prado in Madrid, others are in Belgium, some -are in Florence. Holland has a goodly collection, while Antwerp boasts -among many masterpieces "The Passing of Christ," "The Adoration of the -Magi," "The Prodigal Son," and "The Christ à la Paille." Munich, -Brussels, Dresden, Vienna, and other cities have famous examples of both -ripe and early art that must be seen before the master can be judged -fairly and without prejudice. It is impossible to found an opinion not -likely to be shaken, upon the work to be seen in London or in Paris, -where the Louvre holds many of the painter's least attractive works. It -may be said that Peter Paul Rubens is represented in every gallery of -importance throughout Europe, that the number of his acknowledged works -runs into four figures, and that there are very few without some -definite and attractive aspect of treatment and composition that goes -far to atone for the occasional shortcomings of taste. For his -generation Rubens sufficed amply. He was a man of so many gifts that he -would have made his mark had he never set brush to a canvas, although -time has blotted out the recollection of his diplomatic achievements or -relegated them to obscure chronicles and manuscripts that are seldom -disturbed save by scholars. To nine out of ten he is known only as a -painter, and his fame rests upon the work that chances to have given his -critics their first view and most lasting impression of his varied -achievements. It may be said that among those who care least for Rubens, -and are quite satisfied to condemn him for the coarseness with which he -treated certain subjects, there are many who are prompt to declare that -in matters of art the treatment is of the first importance and the -subject is but secondary. However, Rubens is hardly in need of an -apologist. His best work makes him famous in any company, and there is -so much of it that the rest may be disregarded. Moreover, we must not -forget that the types he portrayed from time to time with such amazing -frankness really existed all round him. He took them as he found them, -just as the earlier painters of the Renaissance took their Madonnas from -the peasant girls they found working in the fields, or travelling to the -cities on saint days and at times of high festival. Many a Renaissance -Madonna enshrined on canvas for the adoration of the devout could remove -the least suspicion of sanctity from herself, if she did but raise her -downcast eyes or smile, as doubtless she smiled in the studio wherein -she was immortalised. For the artist sees a vision beyond the sitter, -and under his brush the sanctification or profanation of a type are -matters of simple and rapid accomplishment. If another Rubens were to -arise to-day, he could find sitters in plenty who would respond to the -treatment that his prototype has made familiar. Perhaps to the men and -women with whom he was thrown in contact, these creations were -interesting inasmuch as they afforded a glimpse into an under-world of -which they knew little or nothing. The offence of certain pictures is -increased by the fact that, when Rubens painted them, he had not -attained to the supreme mastership over colour, and inspiration of -composition, that came to him in later life. But in a brief review of -the artist's life and work enough has been told of the aspects upon -which his detractors love to dilate. It is time to turn to his brilliant -and varied career, and note the incidents that have the greatest -interest or the deepest influence upon his art work. - - - - -II - -THE PAINTER'S LIFE - - -Peter Paul Rubens was born in A.D. 1577, at Siegen in Germany, where his -father, Dr. John Rubens, a man of great attainments, was living in -disgrace arising out of an old intrigue with the dissolute wife of -William the Silent. But for the necessity of shielding the reputation of -the House of Orange, there seems no doubt that John Rubens would have -paid the death penalty for his offence. It is curious to reflect that, -had he done so, Peter Paul would have been lost to the world, for the -intrigue would seem to have occurred in the neighbourhood of the year -1570, while Peter Paul was not born until seven years later. When the -child was one year old the Rubens family was allowed to return to -Cologne, where John Rubens had gone on leaving Antwerp in 1568. Here -Peter Paul and his elder brother, Philip, were brought up, in utter -ignorance of the misfortunes that had befallen their father, whose death -was recorded when his famous son was nine or ten years old. After his -decease the boys' mother decided to return to Antwerp, where her husband -in his early days had enjoyed a considerable reputation as a lawyer, and -held civic appointments. Although much of the family money must have -been lost, perhaps on account of the fall in values resulting from the -terrible war with Spain, there would seem to have been enough to enable -the widow and her two sons to live in comfort, if not in luxury. -Peter Paul was sent to a good school, where he made progress and became -very popular, probably because he was strikingly handsome, considerably -gifted, and very quick to learn. - -[Illustration: PLATE III.--THE FOUR PHILOSOPHERS (In the Pitti Palace, -Florence) - -This picture was probably painted in Italy. The man sitting behind the -table with an open book before him is Justus Lipsius the philosopher. To -his left is one of his pupils, and on the right we see Philip Rubens, -pen in hand, and Peter Paul himself standing up against a red curtain.] - -At the age of thirteen school-days came to an end, and the boy became a -page in the service of the widowed Countess of Lalaing, whose husband -had been one of the governors of Antwerp. Here, at a very impressionable -age, Rubens obtained first his acquaintance with and finally his mastery -over all the intricacies of courtly etiquette. In quite a short time he -became a polished gentleman, in the sixteenth-century acceptation of -that term. But the instinct to study art already developed made the -duties of a page seem tiresome and unattractive, and we learn that the -boy importuned his mother to be allowed to study painting. Apparently -he had shown sufficient promise to justify the request, and he was -placed, first under an unknown painter named Verhaecht and then under -Adam van Noort, with whom he remained four years before passing to the -studio of Otto van Veen, a scholar, a gentleman, and a painter of -quality. The life here would seem to have developed in Rubens many of -the qualities that were destined to bring him fame and great rewards. By -the time he was twenty, the Guild of St. Luke in Antwerp received him as -a member, and a year later he received an appointment from the city to -assist his master in some civic decorations. So the glittering years of -his first youth passed, happily, prosperously, and uneventfully, and -when he was no more than twenty-three Peter Paul Rubens turned his steps -towards Italy, then, as Paris is now, the Mecca of the pilgrim of the -Arts. - -If we wish to find some explanation for the splendid colouring that -makes the masterpieces of Rubens the delight of every unprejudiced eye, -we may surely be content to remember that he saw Venice with the -enthusiastic eye of twenty-three in the year 1600. Even to-day when -Venice, vulgarised to the fullest extent that modern ingenuity can -accomplish, has become no more than a remnant most forlorn of what it -was, it is one of the world's wonder cities. When the seventeenth -century was opening its eventful pages, the memory of wonderful -achievements was upon the great city of the Adriatic, it was still a -power to be reckoned with. The season of pageants had not passed, and -the luck that seemed destined to accompany Rubens throughout his career -was in close attendance upon him here. The Duke of Mantua. Vincenzo -Gonzaga, saw some of his work, and was so struck by its quality that he -sent for the young painter. The man seemed worthy of his creations, and -the Duke promptly offered him a position in his suite, an offer too good -to be declined. Thereafter the sojourn in Venice was a short one. -Mantua, Florence, and Genoa were visited in turn, and in Mantua, after -some months travelling to and fro, the Court settled down, and Rubens -was enabled to study the splendid collection of works that the city's -rulers had collected. In the late summer of the following year Rubens -would seem to have visited Rome, where he faced the terrible heat -without any ill effect and devoted himself with untiring energy to a -study of the work that is to be seen there and nowhere else. It would -appear that he was well received by the leading artists of the day, that -he made a friend of Caravaggio, and he was soon commissioned to paint an -altar-piece for the Church of the Holy Cross of Jerusalem. The work, -done in three parts, is now we believe in the possession of the French -Government, and is to be seen in Grasse or one of the neighbouring towns -of the Mediterranean littoral. When Rubens' leave of absence expired--it -must not be forgotten that he was in the service of Mantua's ruler, and -was not his own master--he returned to the north, where the Duke would -seem to have employed him for a time as an art expert. We may imagine -that politics and art were closely connected, and that Rubens soon knew -responsibility in connection with both. The work must have been very -well done in each case, for rather more than a year later, when it -became necessary in the interests of Mantua's political position to send -a message to the King of Spain, Rubens was the chosen envoy. - -Nowadays the journey from Mantua to Madrid may be accomplished without -extraordinary exertion in forty-eight hours, but three hundred years ago -such a journey must have savoured of adventure, more particularly as the -painter-diplomat was in charge of the splendid presents sent to Philip -by the Duke. Nearly a year passed before Rubens returned to Mantua. His -mission executed, he was rewarded with the grant of a regular income, -and after executing some more work at home to the complete satisfaction -of his patron, he returned to Rome, this time in the company of his -brother. - -They lived near the Piazza di Spagna, where the Roman models and -flower-sellers congregate to this day, and tourists are as the sand upon -the sea-shore for multitude. Philip Rubens, smitten by the weakness to -which so many men have succumbed before and since, celebrated his -journey by writing a book. It was printed by the famous Plantin Press, -with one of whose directors Peter Paul had been at school, and was -illustrated by the artist. We may suppose that the work Rubens had done -in Rome on the occasion of his earlier visit had satisfied its -purchasers, for he received another commission for the Chiesa Nuova, but -was recalled before it was completed, and taken to Genoa by the Duke of -Mantua. However, he soon returned to Rome, where he remained until the -close of 1608 and then left for Antwerp, where his mother, who had been -living in that city for some years, was dangerously ill. Rubens does -not seem to have known how ill she was, for he arrived in Antwerp too -late to see her. She was a woman cast in heroic mould, most generous of -wives, most devoted of mothers. - -[Illustration: PLATE IV.--ISABELLA BRANDT (In the Wallace Collection) - -Naturally enough Rubens painted many portraits of his first wife. There -is the delightful work in the Pinacotek at Munich where the painter sits -by her side, there are others in the Uffizi at Florence, and the great -Hermitage Gallery at St. Petersburg.] - -Perhaps the shock of her death awoke Rubens to the disadvantages -attaching to the paid service of any man, perhaps he was beginning to -realise his own quality and to know that he could stand alone. Perhaps -he saw, too, that Italy had taught him as much as his years would allow -him to assimilate, enough to make a man of mark in Antwerp. We have no -certain information on these points, we can do no more than make -surmises, but we do know that Rubens wrote to the Duke of Mantua, -thanking him for all the favours and marks of confidence that he had -received, and acquainting him with his decision to resign from his -service. With the return to Antwerp the era that opened with the -visit to Venice eight years before comes to a close, and we enter upon -the most strenuous period of the artist's life. - - - - -III - -SECOND PERIOD - - -Rubens carried an assured reputation with him to Antwerp. The story of -his success had doubtless been spread through the town by people who -were in touch with the Italian courts, and it is hardly likely that his -elder brother Philip, now secretary to the Antwerp Town Council, and a -man wielding considerable influence, had forgotten to tell the story of -his brother's progress. Antwerp was in the early enjoyment of a period -of peace following disastrous war, and it was quite in keeping with the -spirit of the times that the leading citizens, who had taken a prominent -part in the world of strife, should now turn their thoughts to the world -of art and should endeavour to take their part in the friendly -competition that all prosperous cities waged against one another in -their pursuit of beauty; and this competition led to the enriching of -churches and council-chambers with the finest ripe fruits of -contemporary art. Antwerp had established a circle for the exclusive -benefit of those who had travelled in Italy, because it was recognised -on all sides that the best mental and artistic development was -associated with Italian travel. Rubens was admitted at once to the -charmed circle on the initiative of his friend Jean Breughel, the animal -painter, with whom Rubens collaborated in a picture that may be seen -to-day at the Hague, and is called "The Earthly Paradise," a quaint -medley of two styles that cannot be persuaded to harmonise. - -Peter Paul lived with his beloved brother Philip, to whose influence we -are probably justified in tracing the first two commissions that were -given to the young painter. One was to take part in the work of -re-decorating the Town Hall, the other was to prepare an altar-piece for -the Church of St. Walpurga. For the Town Hall Rubens painted the first -of his long series of "Adorations," and though it is emphatically one of -the works of his first period, and is far from expressing the varied -qualities that have given him enduring fame, it created sufficient -sensation in Antwerp to bring him the position of Court painter, with a -definite salary and a special permission to remain in the city of his -choice. Had he been a lesser man he would have been called away to -attend the Court in Brussels. - -Undoubtedly Rubens was a patriot, a man to whom the fallen fortunes of -his city appealed very strongly. We must never forget that the endless -wars stirred up by Spanish ambition had roused the best instincts of -patriotism the world over, and though Rubens was not a warrior, he was a -statesman and a patriot, who knew that his hands and brain could serve -his city in their own effective fashion, one in no way inferior in its -results to that of the fighting men. Perhaps we may trace to all the -mental disturbance of this era the artist's first great transition, for -the Rubens who painted in Antwerp after his return from Italy and gave -the "Descent from the Cross" to his city, is quite a different man -from the one who painted the earlier pictures. He has matured and -developed, has completed the period of assimilation through which all -creative artists must pass, has gathered from the talents, from the -genius of the men he has studied, the material for founding a style of -his own. He begins to speak with his own voice. - -[Illustration: PLATE V.--LE CHAPEAU DE PAILLE (In the National Gallery) - -This is a portrait of Suzanne Fourment, a sister of the painter's second -wife, painted when the sitter was about twenty-one years old. The -serenity of the girl's mind is admirably expressed in this sparkling -work, and is one of Rubens' successful essays in portraiture. Another -study of Suzanne Fourment may be seen in Vienna.] - -It is well that Rubens' industry was on a par with his talents, for -commissions poured in upon him in the first years of his return from -Italy. They came not singly but in battalions, and very soon we find -Peter Paul Rubens following the fashion of his time and establishing a -studio school. Naturally enough there were plenty of young men who -wished to become his pupils, and plenty of old ones who had just missed -distinction and were anxious for any work that was remunerative. Rubens -realised that if he could but turn their gifts to the best advantage -they would at least be as valuable to him as he could be to them. -Consequently he responded to the suggestions that were made to him on -every side, and gathered the cleverest unattached men of his city to the -studio, giving each one his work to do. Let us place to his credit the -fact that there was no disguise about this procedure, it was open and -unabashed. Rubens would even send pupils to start a work that had been -commissioned, and would not appear on the scene until the first outline -of the picture was on the canvas. Then he would come along and with a -few unerring strokes correct or supplement the composition, to which his -pupils could pay their further attentions. Rubens received high prices -for his work, but would give his name to a picture in return for a -comparatively low fee, if the purchaser would but be content to have his -design and leave the painting to pupils. It may be said that Rubens was -always fortunate in his selection of assistants, just as he was -fortunate in other affairs of life. The great Vandyck was among those -who worked in his studio, Snyders the celebrated animal painter was -another; it is said that Rubens never touched his work. - -Like the Florentine painters of the Renaissance, Rubens was by no means -satisfied to devote himself entirely to paint. He had been greatly -impressed during his sojourn in Italy by the extraordinary beauty of the -palaces of Genoa--a beauty, be it added, that charms us no less to-day -when time has added its priceless gifts to the architects' design. -Rubens published a book on the Genoese palaces, with something between -fifty and one hundred drawings of his own, most carefully made. He found -time to make illustrations for the famous Plantin Press, to which we -have referred already. He superintended the work of engraving his own -pictures, and in short showed himself a man competent to grasp more than -the common burden of interests, and to deal with them all with a rare -intelligence coupled with sound business instinct. Although the -painter's education had not been great, he had acquired scholarship at a -time when classical education was considered of the very highest value, -and no man who lacked it could claim to be regarded as a gentleman. He -maintained correspondence with friends in the great cities of Europe, -and as he had great personal attractions and a perfect charm of manner -with which to support his industry and achievements, there is small need -to wonder at his progress. Success would indeed have been a fickle jade -had she refused to surrender to such wooing. - - - - -IV - -THE LATER YEARS - - -When the painter had passed his fortieth year he received a commission -from the Dowager Queen Maria de Medici to paint certain panels for her -palace in Paris, and in order to see them properly placed and to get a -comprehensive idea of the scheme of decoration, he betook himself with -the first part of his finished work to the French capital. There is no -doubt that Rubens was already regarded in the governing circles of -Antwerp as something more than a painter. His relations with the ruling -house had brought him into touch with diplomatic developments--he had -handled one or two with extreme tact, delicacy, and success. The Infanta -Isabel relied upon him in seasons of emergency, and although the -political value of his first visit to Paris in 1623 cannot be gauged, it -is fairly safe to assume that his second visit to the capital two years -later was far more concerned with politics than paint. To put before the -reader a brief story of the complications of the political situation -between France, Spain, and the Low Countries would make impossible -demands upon strictly limited space, but those who wish to understand -something of the politics of his time may be referred to the works of -Emile Michel and Max Rooses on Peter Paul Rubens and his time. They will -find there far more historical and biographical matter than can be -referred to in this place. Suffice it to say that from 1625 Rubens must -be regarded as a diplomatist quite as much as a painter, but curiously -enough the development of the political side of his life did nothing to -destroy the quality of his painting. In fact he seems to have travelled -along the road of diplomacy to his best and latest manner, to have seen -life more clearly, and the problems of his art more intelligently than -before, to have brought to his work something of the quality that we -call genius. The one gift that the gods denied him was poetic fancy, a -quality that would have kept him from the portrayal of types and -incidents that we are apt to regard, with or without justification, as -ugly, that would have made his classicism pleasing to eyes that read it -at its true value. But Rubens was one of the men who have to fight, not -against failure but against success; and the shrewd practical nature -that made him what he was served as an effective barrier against -acquisition of the qualities that would have lifted him to the region -that always remained just beyond his reach. - -1628 was a very interesting year in the painter's life, for he was sent -on a mission to the Court of Spain, where he met Velazquez, who was -instructed to show him all the art treasures of the capital. What would -we not give to-day for an authentic account of the conversations that -these men must have held together? Rubens was at the zenith of his fame, -if not of his achievement, Velazquez was unknown save in Seville and -Madrid, and was fighting against every class of disadvantage on the road -to belated recognition. Let those who sneer at Rubens and can find no -good about him, remember that he it was who turned Velazquez' -attention to Italy. Rubens found time to paint portraits of several -members of the royal family, and these works are fine likenesses enough, -though they do not pretend to rival Velazquez' achievements in the same -field. The diplomatic business was conducted with so much skill that -Philip entrusted his visitor with a mission to Paris and London. In the -last-named city Rubens was received by Charles I., who conferred a -knighthood upon him, and approved of his commission to decorate the -banqueting-chamber at Whitehall. - -[Illustration: PLATE VI.--THE DESCENT FROM THE CROSS (In the Cathedral, -Antwerp) - -Here we have Rubens in his most realistic mood and in all his strength. -Not only is the composition of a very complicated picture quite masterly -and the colour scheme most happily distributed, but the contrast in the -expression on the faces round the dead Christ is expressed in most -dramatic fashion. The eye and the mind see the tragic drama at the same -moment; although the subject had been treated hundreds of times already, -the painter found it possible to give the theme a fresh and enduring -expression.] - -Back again in Antwerp, Rubens found his talents sorely tried by the -diplomatic developments in which the restless ambition of Maria de -Medici involved all the countries subject directly or indirectly to her -influence. He found himself compelled to go twice to Holland in the -early thirties, but the death of the Infanta Isabel in 1633 removed him -awhile from the heated arena of politics. Rubens prepared Antwerp for -the visit of the Archduke Ferdinand, the Spanish governor, the city -being decorated for this occasion at a cost of 80,000 florins. The work -was so successful that the Archduke paid a special visit of -congratulation to the artist, who was laid up in his room by an attack -of gout. Two or three years later, some warnings that his strength would -not hold out much longer availed to turn Rubens from the life of Courts -and capitals, and he purchased for himself the Château de Stein, a very -beautiful estate that is preserved for us by the delightful picture in -the National Gallery. There he settled down for awhile to fulfil certain -commissions for the King of Spain, and doubtless had he been permitted -to remain in retirement his health would have been the better and his -life the longer. But Antwerp could not dispense with the services of her -painter-diplomat, and many a time when he would have been in his studio -working at his ease, some urgent message from the city would drag him -away. In the winter of 1639 he passed some months in Antwerp, working as -best he could in the intervals of severe attacks of gout. The King of -Spain's commission was still unfinished, and some feeling that he -himself would never be able to complete it led Rubens to engage a larger -number of assistants than usual, and to content himself with directing -their efforts and supplementing them as occasion arose. He seems to have -known that death was near, for he made his will and prepared to meet the -end. It came with May in 1640, when the painter was in the sixty-fourth -year of a brilliant and useful life. - -Rubens was twice married, first to Isabel Brandt, who became his wife -when she was eighteen and he was thirty-two, shortly after his return to -Antwerp from the service of the Duke of Mantua. A portrait of the two -sons this wife bore him may be seen in Vienna. Isabel Brandt did not -live to see her boys, Albert and Nicholas, grow to manhood. She died in -1626, some say from the plague that swept Antwerp in that year. Four -years later the painter married the beautiful Helena Fourment, when he -was fifty-four and she was sixteen, and she survived him. He seems to -have been a good and affectionate husband and father. In fact, it is -hard to find among the biographers of Rubens anybody who speaks ill of -the artist as a man. - - - - -V - -THE PAINTER'S ART - - -Turning from a survey of Rubens' life to a consideration of his art, the -three divisions to which his work groups itself naturally, are very -clearly seen. Up to the time of his marriage with Isabel Brandt his work -may be referred to the first division, and in art it may be said that no -man's earliest pictures are of much consequence save for their promise -of higher things. They do little more than mark his progress, record -impressions he has received from strong personalities, and mark his own -path through the influences of different schools and varied appeals, to -the complete expression of himself. Rubens was never a slavish imitator, -he never assumed the mantles of the men he admired, as so many great -painters have done. Goya, for example, was a man whose range of thought -and capacity for receiving impressions were so great that he has painted -after the manner of half-a-dozen masters, and there are pictures to be -seen in Madrid to-day that are painted with Goya's brush and recall -Fragonard. Such instances may be multiplied, and Rubens is to be admired -for the restraint that marked this side of his early work. - -From the time of his marriage down to the season when he became -recognised on all sides as a diplomatist, let us say roughly from 1610 -to 1626, we get the second period, and to this may be referred the -greater part of the work that has given offence--the presentation of the -coarsest types of men and women in a state of nature--the treatment of -some of the grossest incidents in mythological stories in fashion that -leaves nothing to the imagination. - -We are justified in asking ourselves whether the extraordinary -development of the painter's social and political life did not avail to -arrest in late middle age any tendencies he might otherwise have had to -express still further the coarser side of classical subjects. By the -time he reached the forties, Rubens was the companion and even the -trusted counsellor of princes and rulers. Such refinement as Western -Europe boasted was to be met in the circles he frequented. The greatest -work of the greatest masters was within his reach, and he had travelled -to the point at which a man is able to select as well as to admire, at -which he can distinguish clearly between the points that make for a -picture's strength and those that detract from it. - -Rubens on arriving in Italy in the days when he had first taken service -under the Duke of Mantua, was doubtless unduly impressed by Michel -Angelo and Raphael. On no other grounds can we account for the delight -that his earliest pictures manifest in the portrayal of massive and even -ugly limbs. Doubtless he was influenced too by Titian, though we cannot -agree that it was his admiration for the master that made him copy the -King's Titians in the Prado, for it is more probable that on this -occasion he simply obeyed instructions. Moreover, Rome appealed to him -more than Venice did. The wistful purity of a Bellini Madonna, the -exquisite loveliness of a Bellini child or cherub, left him unmoved, but -a Titian or a Tintoretto at its biggest, if not at its best, pleased -him, and when he came in Rome to the works of Raphael and Michel Angelo -he would seem to have looked no further for inspiration. Doubtless he -heard many interesting theories of art in Rome, where, as we have said, -Caravaggio, who wielded considerable influence in the art world, was -among his friends. But Rubens thought out things for himself, and -learned to quell his own instincts and to subdue his own faults as they -were revealed to him. - -[Illustration: PLATE VII.--HENRY IV. LEAVING FOR A CAMPAIGN -(In the Louvre) - -Here the painter, leaving mythology and allegory for a time, is seen in -one of his most effective historical pictures. Henry IV., who is leaving -for the war in Germany, is seen conferring upon his Queen the charge of -the kingdom.] - -Violence is perhaps the characteristic of Rubens' early work. He has the -grand manner without the grand method, his contrasts of light and shade -and even of colour amuse where they do not offend, and his drawing is by -no means remarkable or inspired. At best it is correct. We feel that we -cannot see the wood because of the trees, that the blending has not been -sufficiently skilful to bring about proportion and harmony, and that the -expression of a giant form with prize-fighter's muscles in the -foreground of a canvas is sufficient to fill the painter with a delight -that enables him happily to ignore the rest. It is the enthusiasm of -clever youth, the youth of a man in whose veins there is enough and to -spare of very healthy blood, in whose mental equipment refinement has -been overlooked. - -The death of his mother, the distressful plight of his favourite city, -the responsibility of his commissions, his marriage and the fruits of -his Italian travel brought about the second period, and started the -traditions that give Antwerp a school and a name in the history of -European art. The violence passes slowly from the canvases, the -straining after effect that is so obvious and often so unpleasing in the -earlier pictures goes with it. The chiaroscuro is more subdued and -consequently more pleasing, only in the handling of colour the painter -is still clumsy and heavy. Rubens, the great colourist, seems to have -been born when the artist was more than forty years old. - -Some of the best work of the second period is in Antwerp and Brussels, -but it is to be found scattered all over Europe, and there are examples -in private collections in this country. Perhaps the dominant impression -that these works leave is one of certain difficulties created to be -overcome. Just as the painter in his first manner revelled in his -strength, so in his second period he rejoices in his skill. It was left -to the later years to weld strength and skill into the service, on -pictures that could stand for both and emphasise neither. Mythology -continued to hold him, indeed we must never forget that Rubens lived in -the age of pseudo-classicism, and is to be counted among its victims. To -his second period belongs such work as the disgusting "Procession of -Silenus" now in Munich, a picture in which the grossness of the theme is -only rivalled by the vulgarity of the treatment. Some of Rubens' -apologists have held that this class of work was painted as a protest -against vice, but such apologies are far-fetched. Rubens needs no -apologist. Consider his work as a whole, and what is good dwarfs what is -bad. Doubtless, had he been able in the later days to re-possess and -destroy some of his more tainted pictures, he would have done so. It -will be remarked by all who know Rubens' work intimately, that -throughout his life he was happier with a Venus than a Madonna, more at -home with some great classical figure, than with the picture of Christ. -He did not respond to Christianity in the sense that the Venetians -responded to it, he could not for all his reputation have painted a -Madonna as Bellini did, and there is no reason to believe that he would -have cared to do so. Then again we may not forget that Rubens the -artist, and Rubens the courtier, and Rubens the special envoy, were -closely associated with Rubens the man of business, who would always -have painted for choice the work likely to find immediate acceptance. -There were times when some legend of Saint or Martyr moved him -strangely, and he turned to it with a measure of inspiration not often -excelled by the greatest of the Renaissance artists; but these occasions -were rare, although Antwerp preserves one of the most effective results -of such inspiration in the "Last Communion of St. Francis." It may be -remarked in this place that to see Rubens at his best, one must not go -to the National Gallery or to the Louvre or to the Prado--Antwerp and -Vienna hold some of the finest examples of his second and third manner. -And we must never forget that Art is concerned with treatment, and that -subject is of secondary interest to artists. - -When he became recognised as a diplomatist whose services were required -by Europe's greatest potentates, Rubens had passed the meridian of life. -He had known prosperity from the very earliest days, he had no occasion -to paint pictures of the sort so admirably summed up by the offensive -word "pot-boiler." Kings and Queens and Emperors were offering him -commissions, he was, if we may say so, on his best behaviour. He rose -to the height of every great occasion. The commission that Maria de -Medici gave him for her palace seems to have brought him to his third -and latest manner, and from that year until death overtook him Rubens -was one of the great masters of European art. If we could eliminate all -the pictures of his first manner and a considerable portion of those -belonging to his middle period, his claims would hardly be denied by the -representatives and supporters of any school. He seems to have received -added inspiration from his child wife, and there are few more delightful -pictures than one to be seen in Munich in which Rubens and Helena -Fourment are walking from their garden to their château. Perhaps even in -the later days woman was nothing more than a thing of beauty for a -man's delight, and man was no more than a godlike animal, but a -well-defined measure of refinement was always beyond their painter's -mental or artistic conceptions. It is sufficient for us that the appeal -of nature came to him with great strength. The Château of Stein in our -National Gallery and the Rainbow Landscape in the Wallace Collection -gives sufficient evidence of this, while such a work as the Garden of -Venus in the Prado suggests the limitations that were with him -throughout his life. It is fair to say that in the later years they were -not expressed so prominently in his work. - -[Illustration: PLATE VIII.--THE VIRGIN AND THE HOLY INNOCENTS -(In the Louvre) - -In this picture Rubens allows his brush to run away with him as though -for sheer joy in its capacity. Perhaps his study of the Virgin is a -little commonplace, a little too suggestive of the exuberance of -Flanders rather than the refinement and spirituality of Nazareth. But -the studies of the Holy Innocents are a delight, and make the canvas -supremely attractive. It will be seen that the grouping of the children -results in every possible difficulty that an artist may have to face, -but that Rubens has encountered them all with sure, hard, and steady -eye, in fashion worthy of Tintoretto himself.] - -Finally we have to consider and acknowledge his triumphs as a colourist. -It may be said that Rubens, for all his gifts, required more than twenty -years of unremitting labour to obtain his mastery over colour, but -when once it was his he retained the gift to the last hour. In the early -days Rubens as a colourist was a person of no importance, the grossness -of his composition and the tameness of his drawing were not redeemed by -the handling of pigment. In the second period the use of paint is far -more skilled, but it does not blend, neither does it glow. In the later -years it acquires both gifts, and the exquisitely luminous quality of -some of his pictures, the marvellous delicacy of flesh tint, that must -have astonished and delighted his patrons, is preserved to us to-day. In -fact it may be said that Rubens has preserved his colour to a larger -extent than many great painters who came after him. He is far more -reliable in this aspect of his art than is our own Sir Joshua, whose -portraits have long ceased to tell the story they must have told to -delighted and flattered sitters. It was no effort of genius that made -Rubens a supreme colourist in the later years. He came to his kingdom by -dint of sheer hard work, but for his painstaking devotion to labours -such results could not have been achieved. - -The spirit of the Renaissance travelled very slowly from Italy to the -Netherlands, and that its influence was felt in the sixteenth century -did not lead to any very marked divergence from the traditions that the -art of the Netherlands was following. Italian form and Italian sentiment -met with little response there, and there is no doubt that the eighty -years of conflict with Spain which led to the recognition of the -Republic, turned men's thoughts away from art. By the time it was -possible to revive a school, the Netherlands were looking to life -rather than to faith, and even the classicism of the period that turned -Rubens towards pictures illustrating mythological incidents could not -help him to create imaginary figures. This is as it should have been, -for it made eighteenth-century art what it was through the influence of -Rubens and Vandyck. He filled his canvas with the types he saw around -him, and while nobody will dispute the virtue of the Netherlands, there -will be few found to assert that it produced the Latin type of -womanhood. The people of the Netherlands do not belong to the Latin -races; that is why they did not respond earlier to the Renaissance, that -is why they look at what seems to be their worst rather than their best -in some of Rubens' most ambitious works. Yet by reason of his long -sojourn and hard study in Italy, Rubens did do something considerable -to bring Italian art and tradition into the Netherlands, and if he could -not establish it there, the cause of failure was that the genius of the -country was opposed to it. Among the painters who worked for Rubens or -were greatly influenced by him the best known are Anthony Vandyck, Frans -Snyders, Abraham Janssens, Jacob Jordaens, and Jan Van Den Hoecke. Then -again, of course, it must not be forgotten that he exercised a very -great influence upon David Teniers, and that he served the interests of -art development far more than he could have done by giving fresh life to -an art form that had served its time and purpose. - -Rubens the landscape painter, the painter of religious and mythological -subjects, has rather obscured Rubens the portrait painter, and this is -not as it should be, for many will be inclined to agree that it is as a -portrait painter that Rubens was often at his best. Visitors to Florence -will not forget the portrait group entitled "The Philosophers," that may -be seen in the Pitti Palace. Our Wallace Collection has a delightful -portrait of Isabel Brandt, and the National Gallery holds the portrait -of Suzanne Fourment, "Le Chapeau de Paille," while Amsterdam and other -cities hold portraits of his second wife, the famous portrait of -Gervatius is to be seen in Antwerp, and there are several delightful -examples of his portraiture in Brussels. It was in these schools of art -that Rubens has succeeded in pleasing many who turn with feelings not -far removed from disgust from his unshrinking studies of the coarse -overblown or overgrown womanhood. He contrived either to confer a -measure of dignity upon his sitters or to conserve one. His portraits -of his two wives, and the portrait group in the Pitti Palace that -introduces his brother, are full of a deep feeling for which we may look -in vain to many of his larger canvases. Just as the pianist or violinist -will turn from playing some wonderful concerto bristling with -difficulties for the soloist and calculated to delight the ears of the -groundlings, and then taking up some simple piece by a great master will -infuse into it all the qualities that the showy concerto hid, so Rubens -turned from the wars and loves of gods and goddesses, from Bacchic -carnivals and groups in which nudity is insisted upon sometimes at the -expense of relevance, and would paint portraits that will be a delight -as long as they remain with us. Rubens painting the portrait of wife or -brother or friend, and Rubens covering vast canvases with glittering -and sometimes meretricious work are two different men. We may admire the -latter, but we come near to intimate appreciation of the former. In the -portraits the man is revealed, in the big pictures we see no more than -artist, and some of us fail to realise how clever he is, how many -problems of composition and tone and light and shade he has grappled -with and overcome in manner well-nigh heroic. - -The secret of his changing moods is of course beyond us, but perhaps one -may hazard an explanation for the difference in the quality of the work -done. As far as we can see from a study of the painter's work and life, -he approached mythology and Christianity from a purely pictorial -standpoint, and did not believe in one or the other. "The Procession to -Calvary," "The Crucifixion," "The Descent from the Cross," "The Flight -into Egypt," "The Adoration of the Magi," "The Draught of Fishes," "The -Raising of the Cross," "The Assumption of the Virgin," "The Last -Supper," "The Circumcision," "The Flagellation," and the rest, were no -more and no less to him as subjects than "The Drunken Hercules" or "The -Battle of the Amazons," "The Garden of Venus" or "The Judgment of -Paris." They were popular subjects for effective treatment, pictures -that would make a sure appeal to those who loved either the sacred or -the profane in art, pictures to be executed with all possible skill at -the greatest possible speed, and with a measure of assistance regulated -by the price that was to be paid for them. But the portraits of his -friends, of the brother he loved, and of the wives to whom he was a -devoted husband, stood on quite a different plane. He felt the human -interest attaching to them, and this human interest brought to his -canvas certain qualities that belong to the heart rather than the head, -and have given them a claim that is not disputed even by the painter's -most severe critics. - - -The plates are printed by BEMROSE & SONS, LTD., Derby and London - -The text at the BALLANTYNE PRESS, Edinburgh - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Rubens, by Samuel Levy Bensusan - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RUBENS *** - -***** This file should be named 41541-8.txt or 41541-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/1/5/4/41541/ - -Produced by sp1nd and the Online Distributed Proofreading -Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from -images generously made available by The Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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