I
THE EARLY DAYS
No painter has remained more consistently in favour with both artists and the public than Van Dyck. His art marks the highest achievement of Flanders of the seventeenth century. In making this statement the claims of Rubens have not been overlooked, although the latter has been, and probably will always be, considered the head of the Flemish school.
It is perhaps not too much to say that Van Dyck possessed in a greater measure than Rubens those qualities which go to make a great artist. We can never overlook the seniority of the latter, and to him will always belong the credit of having evolved the style which revolutionised the art of a nation, and there is no doubt that the pupil owed to him much of the knowledge he so well utilised in after-life.
PLATE II.—CHARLES LOUIS OF BAVARIA AND HIS
BROTHER ROBERT, AFTERWARDS DUKE OF CUMBERLAND
(In the Louvre)
As an example of direct portraiture this picture would be hard to beat. It shows Van Dyck in one of his happiest moods dealing with a subject which peculiarly appealed to him.
