Ox and Sheep. From an etching by A. Van de Velde.
purporting to be after drawings by Potter, are studies, not of cattle and sheep or horses, but of wild animals—lions, tigers, and wolves. If these could be taken as fairly representative of Potter’s work, we should have to infer that Potter was far less fortunate in his drawing of wild creatures than of tame. And it would be unlike Potter to have made such studies except from the life. De Bye, however, lost a great deal of the subtlety and life of his original in working from Potter’s sketches. Karel du Jardin is a more independent artist. Born at Amsterdam in 1622, he was trained in Berchem’s studio, but went to Italy still young. There he found De Laer’s pictures in great esteem, and developed a manner and a choice of subject very similar to his. Some time before 1656 he returned to Holland, and remained at the Hague till 1659, when he removed to Amsterdam. There he painted some fine portraits, quite unlike his ordinary pictures in style, being stirred to emulation presumably by the superb Corporation pieces then produced there. In 1675 he started again for Italy, but died three years later in Venice.
The British Museum possesses a red-chalk drawing of Du Jardin by himself. It is an agreeable portrait, but the face does not suggest much power.
Though a pupil of Berchem, Du Jardin in his etchings follows Potter much more than that artist. Dr. Lippmann, in fact, speaks of him as “Schuler Potters,” but the expression must only mean a follower, not a pupil, of Potter.
Twenty-four of Du Jardin’s etchings are dated, the dates being 1652, 1653, 1655, 1656, 1658, 1659, 1660, and 1675. Only one piece belongs to the last year, while the other years have two, three, four, and five pieces each. So that, whenever the undated etchings were produced, the bulk of Du Jardin’s work on copper may safely be assigned to the eight years 1652-1660; that is to say, to the first years after his return to Holland, and possibly to the last year or two of his first stay in Italy. Most of the etchings are from sketches made in Italy. Fig. 27 is an example, and is a good specimen of Du Jardin as an etcher. There is nothing very original about such art, but its agreeable qualities will always give pleasure. Du Jardin, in his drawing and in his painting, has a light and happy touch; yet beyond such craftsman’s merits there is little to be said for him. He seems to have painted and etched what was the fashion with a facile grace and commendable skill, but without any strong inborn love of the subjects he handled.
As an etcher he is of the same order as Potter. A good many of the prints are pastoral landscapes; these are less good than those in which animals are the main subject. To turn from some of these small landscape
Fig. 28.—Pigs. By K. Du Jardin. B. 15.