Rubens had fairly early in his career instituted an ingenious method for making his works widely known. He employed, under his own direction, a number of engravers whose names have become household words. Technically considered, they were as well equipped as any who have ever lived. The names of Paul Pontius, Lucas Vorsterman, the two Bolswerts, Peter de Jode are held in reverence by every admirer of engraving. Their remarkable fidelity in transcribing the works of Rubens render it frequently unnecessary to see the originals themselves in order thoroughly to study them. I am perhaps not going too far when I say that they understood the art of translating colour effects into black and white in a manner unknown previous to their time and never surpassed afterwards. The tone values of the paintings themselves are preserved. There is no doubt that this excellence was due to the guidance of Rubens. He superintended each plate in process of preparation and rectified with his own hand any errors that might have crept in. In this way Rubens rendered an immense service to art. Quantities of these prints went out to foreign countries and were prized by both artists and collectors, serving to stimulate the former to renewed efforts and to improve the taste of the latter. At the same time, he is to be credited with having brought the engraving art to a pitch which has never been surpassed.
When Rubens saw of what his pupil was now capable, he immediately turned the attention of his engravers to his works, and until Van Dyck practically ceased historical painting, we have as many plates worked after his designs as from those of his master. It was soon after his return to Antwerp that he received the commission to paint the celebrated picture at Malines representing the Crucifixion. Of this remarkable canvas we can but form an inadequate idea to-day. The exceeding negligence with which it has been kept, coupled with the continual covering up of the picture, thus depriving it of light, which every oil-painting requires for its preservation, has contributed to render it a wreck of its former self. The subject, to which we are so accustomed that we are but little moved when we encounter it in the great galleries, is here presented to us in a most terrible and essentially human aspect. The extraordinary expression of physical pain infused into the heads of the two thieves, one on each side of Christ, together with the energy of their efforts to detach themselves from their awful position, will cause a shudder to creep over even the most phlegmatic person. This is foiled by the superb treatment of the head of the Saviour. In the latter is an extraordinary mixture of pain, mental and physical, combined with a sublime look of resignation. Sir Joshua Reynolds regarded it as one of the masterpieces of the world, and there will be not a few who will concur in his judgment.
Van Dyck was not, however, content simply to exercise his powers in this way. An innumerable series of portraits date from this time, notably the well-known series representing the most prominent contemporary artists of Flanders. These productions are well known from the engravings executed after them; the originals are now distributed throughout the world.
It is said that Van Dyck's position in the Netherlands, in spite of the quantity of patronage bestowed upon him, was anything but pleasant. The jealousy of his rivals was particularly irksome to a man of his disposition. In the intrigues with which he was surrounded Rubens had no part; on the contrary, he always sustained the cause of his brilliant pupil with the utmost enthusiasm and fidelity, and it is probable, in view of this fact and the renown which Van Dyck himself had attained, that he would have worn down the opposition and caused the calumnies with which he was beset to fall upon the heads of their originators. But the taste for travel which he had developed in Italy probably impelled him to seek relief outside his own country. Accordingly we find him employed at the Hague—certainly not a great distance from the seat of his recent troubles, but sufficiently far to remove him from their reach. Here he painted the portrait of the Prince of Orange and innumerable personages of his Court, in addition to receiving ample encouragement from the foreign ambassadors.
It was not, however, to be expected that so small a city with its limited scope would long suffice for a man of his ambitions. His eyes were set upon England.
PLATE VI.—PORTRAIT OF ONE OF CHARLES I.'S CHILDREN
(In the Academy of Fine Arts, Rome)
Possibly the best known and one of the most deservedly popular of the master's child portraits. It will bear comparison for charm and delicacy of handling with any of the productions of our great English masters. In fact, it was largely after a study of Van Dyck's wonderful pictures of children that Gainsborough formed his last and greatest manner.