Still another son of the city of Antwerp, Sir Anthony Van Dyck, was a pupil of the great Rubens, and very early became a master. Visitors to the notable galleries of the world invariably find there at least one example of Van Dyck’s artistry. He painted with special enthusiasm the faces and figures of kings and courtiers, the richly bedecked wives of wealthy burghers, and, also, spirited horses and dogs of high degree. Besides, he gained renown for his sensitively conceived religious pictures. Charles I. of England made Van Dyck his court painter, and the king and his nobles were often pleased to sit for him. But prosperity led to extravagance, and extravagance to impoverishment and a broken spirit. Van Dyck died when still a comparatively young man. He is declared by many critics to have been the most distinguished portraitist of the Flemish School—some say of any school and any century.
Most amusing and characteristic are the pieces descriptive of Flemish life left to us by Jacob Jordaens and by David Teniers the Younger, who painted hundreds of pictures and rivaled the Dutchman, Jan Steen, as a delineator of fairs and homely festivities.
WRITTEN FOR THE MENTOR BY RUTH KEDZIE WOOD
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR. VOL. 8, No. 3, SERIAL No. 199
COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION. INC.
THE MENTOR · DEPARTMENT OF TRAVEL AND HISTORY
SERIAL NUMBER 199
BELGIUM THE BRAVE
By RUTH KEDZIE WOOD, Author and Traveler
MENTOR GRAVURES
THE CLOTH HALL, YPRES
PALACE OF JUSTICE, BRUSSELS