877. HIS OWN PORTRAIT.
Van Dyck (Flemish: 1599-1641). See 49.
That Van Dyck was at a very early age a portrait-painter of rare merit may be seen, from this likeness of himself while still quite young and beardless. In the Wallace Collection there is another early portrait of himself, in the character of Paris. Our picture is the portrait of an artist and a man of refinement. Notice especially the long, tapering fingers—delicate almost to the point of feminineness. They are very characteristic of Van Dyck's work, who, indeed, drew all his hands from one model: the same delicate fingers may be seen in the so-called "portrait of Rubens" (49). In giving this delicacy to all sitters Van Dyck fell no doubt into mannerism; in giving it to great artists such as himself he was entirely right. Palmistry assigns fine, tapering fingers to "artistic temperament," and rightly, for fine fingers are necessary for fine work. "The art of painting, properly so called, consists in laying on the least possible colour that will produce the required result; and this measurement, in all the ultimate—that is to say the principal—operations of colouring, is so delicate that not one human hand in a million has the required lightness" (Two Paths, Appendix iv., where much interesting matter on this subject will be found).
877 A. THE CRUCIFIXION.
877 B. RINALDO AND ARMIDA.
Van Dyck (Flemish: 1599-1641). See 49.
These drawings were bought with the Peel Collection. The former is the study for an altar-piece of the church of St. Michael at Ghent—"a most superb drawing," says Mrs. Jameson. The latter is a drawing prepared for the engraver, Peter de Jode, from the large picture of the subject in the Louvre. It was the sight of that picture that determined King Charles I. to secure the services of Van Dyck.