Sir Joshua Reynolds has some interesting remarks on the technique of Janssens. "There is a kind of finishing," he says, "which may safely be condemned, as it seems to counteract its own purpose; that is, when the artist, to avoid that hardness which proceeds from the outline cutting against the ground, softens and blends the colours to excess: this is what the ignorant call high finishing, but which tends to destroy the brilliancy of colour, and the true effect of representation; which consists very much in preserving the same proportion of sharpness and bluntness that is found in natural objects. This extreme softening, instead of producing the effect of softness, gives the appearance of ivory, or some other hard substance, highly polished. The portraits of Cornelius Janssen appear to have this defect, and consequently want that suppleness which is the characteristic of flesh; whereas, in the works of Vandyck, we find that true mixture of softness and hardness perfectly observed" (Eleventh Discourse).
2531. CHURCH OF ST. BAVON, HAARLEM.
Pieter Saenredam (Dutch: 1597-1665). See 1896.
In No. 1451 (by Berck-Heyde) we see the interior of the same church; in the present picture, no public service is going on. In each case a dog is a church-goer; here in front of the pew on the left, where a man kneels down in prayer, a dog kneels up.
2532. A WOMAN DRIVING SHEEP.
2533. A SANDY LANE.
Jan Wynants (Dutch: about 1615-1679). See 883.
2534. RIVER SCENE, WITH HORSEMAN.
Aart van der Neer (Dutch: 1603-1677). See 152.