379. Rubens: **Coronation of the Virgin by God the Father and the Son, the Holy Ghost hovering above in a glory. This altar-piece, for an altar of Our Lady, is a magnificent specimen of the master’s rich and luminous colouring. The crimson robe of the Christ, the blue and lilac harmony on the Madonna, and the faint yellow of the Father’s robe, are admirably contrasted. So are the darkness of the lower clouds and the luminosity of the upper region, recalling Titian’s famous Assumption at Venice. The little boy angels are sweet and characteristic. Here you may begin to appreciate the force, the dash, the lavish wealth of Rubens. (According to Rooses, however, the work of a pupil, touched up by the master.)
Then, unnumbered, Jordaens: *Susannah and the Elders: a very Flemish and matronly Susannah. The nude of Rubens, without the glorious touch of the master: but a good picture.
392. Study by the same for the ceiling in Whitehall.
386. Fine *portrait by Rubens of a fair man (J. C. de Cordes). “Inferior work.” (Fromentin.)
390. Rubens: **Charming little Madonna and Child (called “Our Lady of the Forget-me-not”), in a garden of roses (the landscape by J. Brueghel). One of his best small pictures, in a careful style.
387. Rubens: *Portrait: Wife of the last: in his finest and richest portrait manner, which contrasts in many ways with his larger and freer allegorical style. (Fromentin thinks poorly of it.)
389. In the corner, four Fine *Heads of Negroes, a study for the Magi, by Rubens. Not caricatured, but full of genuine negro character.
Above it, 219. An Adoration of the Magi by Herreyns: Interesting only as showing the persistence of the school into the 18th century.
235. Jordaens: *An Allegory of Abundance. Studies from the nude in the style of the school: meritorious.
Pass the door of the Dutch school. Beyond it, more Still Life, excellently painted.