A DIFFIDENT ARTIST OF SACRED PICTURES REASSURED (ADRIANO, 1630).
At Cordova, in Spain, Adriano, a lay brother of the barefooted Carmelites, and who died in 1630, excelled in sacred art, and executed a great picture of the Crucifixion in which the Virgin and Mary Magdalene were leading figures; and this work is preserved in the convent there. This artist was so diffident of himself that he used to deface or destroy his pictures as soon as he had executed them. And so uniform was this practice with him that his friends took occasion to intercede with him for the preservation of his many valuable productions in the name of the souls in purgatory, knowing his attachment to the holy offices in their behalf. By this mode of exorcism the destroying spirit, which his self-dissatisfaction and fastidiousness conjured up, was happily kept in check; and the above and other valuable pictures were, thanks to the souls in purgatory, saved and preserved for the consolation of the living.
RUBENS’S GREAT PICTURES (1577-1640).
The cathedral of Notre Dame at Antwerp contains the masterpiece of Rubens, “The Descent from the Cross,” hung in the south transept. The picture is now somewhat misty and has been retouched in some places. The greatest peculiarity is the white sheet on which the body of Jesus lies, and which enhances the colouring. The Christ is said to be one of the finest figures ever invented, and the hanging of the head is exquisitely rendered. Two of the three Marys have more beauty than Rubens usually gives to female figures. The principal light comes from the white sheet. It was said that this picture was given in exchange for a piece of ground on which Rubens built his house; the original agreement was for one picture of St. Christopher, but Rubens gave them five, including that subject. Another picture of Rubens’s in the north transept is “The Elevation of the Cross,” which is full of life and interesting attitudes, and the horses are spirited. A third picture is the “Assumption of the Virgin,” which was painted in sixteen days. A fourth picture is the “Resurrection of the Saviour,” where Christ is represented coming out of the tomb in great splendour, the soldiers terrified and falling over each other in their confusion. In the museum at Antwerp is “The Crucifixion of Christ between the two Thieves,” by Rubens, where the figures are drawn and grouped with consummate art. The Magdalene is a leading character, and the good centurion is also represented. This is one of the first pictures of the world for composition, colouring, and correctness of drawing. Other sacred pictures of Rubens are to be seen in this collection.
THE MONKS GETTING A BARGAIN OF A PICTURE (TRISTAN, 1469).
The monks of La Sislo, near Toledo in Spain, were anxious to have a picture of the Last Supper painted for their refectory, like that painted by Titian for the monastery of Lorenzo, and applied to Dominico to execute the work. Dominico, on the ground of indisposition, declined it, but recommended his pupil Luis Tristan, who was accepted. The picture was finished, and the monks were highly pleased with it, but they thought the artist’s demand of two hundred ducats (£90) exorbitant. In their perplexity they referred to Dominico, who, though ill of the gout, drove to see the picture and assess its value. He looked at it, and then, turning with a threatening and angry countenance to his pupil, told him he had utterly disgraced himself and his profession by asking such a sum as two hundred ducats for such a picture as that. The monks were delighted and triumphant at this deliverance. Dominico, still looking fiercely, told his pupil at once to roll up his picture and take it away to Toledo, for he was certain to get five hundred ducats for it, and he then began to state reasons, and spoke in raptures of it as a masterly performance. At this turn of affairs the monks looked at each other with astonishment and vexation; and after a slight pause said, that upon the whole they thought they would keep to their bargain, and they then and there found the money and paid the sum agreed. Since then the Fathers had good reason to be well pleased; for all the critics of Europe, on seeing it, offered them far more than the price if they would part with it. Tristan died at Toledo in 1469.
VELASQUEZ’S “CRUCIFIXION” (1660)
In 1639 Velasquez produced one of his noblest pictures, “The Crucifixion,” painted for the nunnery of San Placido at Madrid. Unrelieved by the usual dim landscape or lowering clouds, the cross in this picture has no footing upon earth, but is placed on a plain, dark ground, like an ivory carving on a velvet pall. Never was that great agony more powerfully depicted. The head of our Lord droops on His right shoulder, over which falls a mass of dark hair, while drops of blood trickle from His thorn-pierced brows. The anatomy of the body and limbs is executed with as much precision as in Cellini’s marble, and the linen cloth wrapped about the body, and even the firwood of the cross, display his accurate attention to details. Our Lord’s feet are held each by a separate nail; at the foot of the cross are the usual skull and bones, and a serpent twines itself round the accursed tree. The sisterhood of San Placido placed this picture in their sacristy in a badly lighted cell, where it remained until the French came to Madrid and sold it in Paris, whence it was redeemed at a large price, and presented to the Royal Gallery of Spain.
HOW THE MONKS GOT THEIR FINE PICTURES (1671).