Among the Early Flemish painters there is nothing finer than the Arnolfini portraits by Jan Van Eyck, the pathetic “Deposition” by Bouts, or the two large panels by Gerard David (dah´-veed). Work of a similar nature is shown by Gerard of Haarlem (Geertgen tot Sint Jans) in his “Madonna and Child.” It is delicate, miniature-like work, and not painting in any Hals or Velasquez sense; but done with tremendous earnestness and sincerity and without a slip or flaw technically. A much later man, Gossart (or Mabuse) tried to elaborate the miniature method of the early men, and apply it to large canvases. The result is here shown in the large “Adoration of Kings,” wherein everything is so realized in surface appearance that you could pick up the tiles or hats or jewelled presents, so deceptively are they portrayed. This is, of course, considered a great feat in art, and ever since the picture was added to the gallery there have been many admirers about it. But art consists of something more than cats and fiddles to be picked up, as Sir Joshua Reynolds remarked many years ago.
CHRIST AT THE COLUMN
By Velasquez (ve-las´-keth)
The Later Flemings, Rubens and Van Dyck, did not despise a surface realism, but they spent no time on petty details. They struck out with a large brush, and sought to give also the body and bulk of things. Rubens, all told, had perhaps the most learned and facile brush of any of the great painters. He was more sure than Hals, more swift than Titian, more learned than Velasquez. He was the master craftsman of them all. His “Drunken Silenus,” “Judgment of Paris” and “Chapeau de Paille” in this gallery will give you an excellent idea of his skill, his color sense, his Flemish point of view. His pupil, Van Dyck, never reached up to him, and was not the greatest portrait painter of the world, though he occasionally did a great portrait. One of them is in this gallery, the “Portrait of Cornelius Van der Geest,” a perfect head, done in Van Dyck’s early period; and done so surely and truly that it will stand comparison with the best works of any period or country.
THE DUTCHMEN
In Dutch art the name of Rembrandt usually leads all the rest, and here in the London gallery are many examples put down to him. The early “Portrait of an Old Lady,” herewith reproduced, is perhaps the most satisfactory of all, not only because of its wonderful rendering of an aged face, but because of the great humanity shown in it. The tremulous line of the lips and chin, the flabby cheeks of old age, the eyes that seem filled with tears, all suggest a life that has known sorrow. That appealed to Rembrandt very strongly. He was always sympathetic with the suffering because, perhaps, he had suffered himself. No painter could put more feeling or meaning into a face, a hand, an arm, a bent form than he. He was the great genius of Netherland art. Hals was a mere tavern-roysterer with a gift for painting, compared with him. The National Gallery, however, has no first-rate example of Hals, though several mediocre canvases are attributed to him. Nor is Steen, or Vermeer of Delft, or De Hooch seen here at his best. By Terborch there is a “Guitar Lesson” showing a young woman in white and yellow satin that is attractive, and a beautifully drawn “Portrait of a Gentleman.” Cuyp (kipe) is shown, in many examples, and better than in any other European gallery. This is also true of the sea-painter Jan van de Cappelle. There is a whole wall devoted to examples by Ruisdael, (rise´-dale) and among the many Hobbemas is one at least of commanding interest—“The Avenue, Middelharnis.” It is slate-grey in color, but its linear perspective and atmosphere have made it very popular.
THE GRACES DECORATING A FIGURE OF HYMEN
By Sir Joshua Reynolds