The Museum of Painting (a small and unimportant gallery) is situated in part of an old Augustinian monastery, which is reached by the Oudeburg and the Rue Ste. Marguerite. (Church by the side, full of Augustinian symbols.) Open daily from 9 to 12, and 2 to 5, free. (I do not advise a visit, unless you have plenty of time to spare.) The Picture Gallery is on the second floor.
The Rooms to the L. contain modern Belgian and French pictures, many of them possessing considerable merit, but not of a sort which enters into the scheme of these Guide-books.
The Rooms to the R. of the staircase contain the early pictures.
1st Room. F. Pourbus: A votive triptych for recovery from sickness. In the centre, Isaiah prophesying to Hezekiah his recovery. On the wings, the Crucifixion, and the donor with his patron St. James. Outside the wings, in grisaille, the Raising of Lazarus (in two panels), giving a symbolical meaning to this votive offering. On the wall beside it, several tolerable pictures of the old Flemish School: a good Ex Voto of a donor, with the Madonna and Child, by an unknown artist; a writhing Calvary, by Van Heemskerk; a Holy Family, by De Vos; and a quaint triptych of St. Anne and her family, with her daughter, the Madonna, and her grand-child, the Saviour, at her feet. Around are grouped Joseph, Mary Cleophas, Zebedee, Alpheus, Joachim, the husband of Anna, and Mary Salome, with her children, James and John. This queer old work, by an unknown artist, is interesting for comparison with the great Quentin Matsys, which you will see at Brussels. St. Joseph holds in his hand the rod that has flowered. (See Legends of the Madonna.)
Beneath this triptych are three interesting portrait groups of husbands and wives, 16th century. On the wings, a “Noli Me Tangere”—Christ and the Magdalen in the garden.
The 2nd Room has Dutch and Flemish works of the 17th century, mostly self-explanatory. The Last Judgment, by R. Coxcie, shows a late stage of a subject which we have already seen at Bruges, now reduced to an opportunity for the display of exaggerated anatomical knowledge. There are also several tolerable works of the School of Rubens, many of which are interesting mainly as showing the superiority of the Master to all his followers. Rombouts, The Five Senses, is, however, an excellent work of its own class. The centre of the further wall is occupied by a worthless picture of Duchastel’s, representing the Inauguration of Charles II. of Spain as Count of Flanders, in 1666, interesting mainly as a view of old Ghent. The action takes place in the Marché du Vendredi, the centre of which is occupied by the statue of Charles V., destroyed at the French Revolution. All round are the original picturesque houses, with their high Flemish gable-ends. On the R. is the Church of St. Jacques, much as at the present day. In front of the Municipal Council Chamber a platform is erected for the inauguration. The picture gives a good idea of the splendour of Ghent, even at the period of the Spanish domination.
Near it, Rubens’s St. Francis receiving the Stigmata, where the conventional elements of the crucified six-winged seraph, the rays proceeding from the five wounds to the saint’s hands, feet, and side, and the astonished brother, Leo, in the distance, are all preserved, though enormously transfigured. The colour is unpleasing. This is almost a replica of the work in the Cologne Museum. Rombouts—tolerable Holy Family. Close by, some of Hondekoeter’s favourite birds, and Zeghers’s flowers. Over the door, a fine De Crayer. In the centre of the room are a series of pictures from the Gospel History, by F. Pourbus, with the Last Supper and donor at the back of one, formerly a triptych.
The 3rd Room has pictures of the School of Rubens, many of them of considerable merit, particularly De Crayer’s Coronation of St. Rosalie and Vision of St. Augustine, in both of which he approaches within a measureable distance of the great master. His Judgment of Solomon is also excellent. Some other pictures in the room, however, exhibit the theatrical tendency of the 17th century in its worst form.