SET miXACECOULECJIlON ■■lU€»Ml^€>m: W. HENRY C. ^ SHELLEY ' iilillfiiiiii CORNELL UNIVERSITY • LEGE OF ARCHJ^^ECTURE LIBRARY Cornell University Library N 1160.S54 The art of the Wallace Collection, includ 3 1924 020 492 801 XEbe Htt of tbe mHallace Collectton sssssssssssss^ Ubc Hrt Galleries of £urope Smeh 9H* v0lumMt large lamo, eloih deeoraiivt priitlti 9H a^sptciiU ^eather-vttigh^ paftrt frO' ftutly iUuttrattd vttth /vtt^ag* flaitt m duo- grmvurt, fj.fs XTbe Btt of tbe Vatican BV MARY KNIGHT POTTER V\ac Btt ot tbe pittf palace BY JULIA DE W. ADDISON tCbe Btt of tbe Xouvre BY MARY KNIGHT POTTER fUbe Btt of tbe Venice Bcabems BY MARY KN'GHT POTTER fCbe Btt of tbe national ealletiz BY JULIA DE W. ADDISON tTbe Btt of tbe Bteeben (Balletie BY JULIA DE W. ADDISON fTbe Btt of tbe ptabo BY CHARLES S. RICKETTS tCbe Btt of tbe fletbetland Oalietiea BY DAVID C. PREYER TTbe Btt of tbe JSelaian (Balletiea BY ESTHER SINGLETON Qlbe Btt of tbe Aunicb (Salletiee ^ BY FLORENCE JEAN ANSELL and i^^ FRANK ROY FRAPRIE y^ ^be Btt of tbe Vienna Oalleties %i BY DAVID C. PREYER WVT tCbe Btt of tbe asetlin (Balleties Q? BY DAVID C. PREYER Kt, a;bc Btt Of tbe Tlltnsi Palace and oq tbe Jlotencc Bcaeemfi £\1 H HY CHARLES C. HEYL f^ tCbe Btt 01 tbe iKitaaace aoUection ^ BY HENRY C SHELLEY ^ L. C. PAGE & COMPANY Publishers, Boston, Mass. The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924020492801 W. R. SYMONDS. — SIR RICHARD WALLACE. J)e i^rt of ^ '^ tfje WeAlatt ^ Including an Account of its Founders, a De- scription of the Pictures, and a Survey of the Chief Exhibits in the Galleries devoted to Objects of Art and Arms and Armour. By Henry C. Shelley Author of " The British Museum : Its History and Treasures,'' " Inns and Taverns of Old London," " Old Paris," etc. I llustrated ji i ■ Boston" • .' . ; . L. C. Page & Company Publishers Copyright, IQ13 By L. C. Page & Compant (incorporatbd) All rights reserved Made in U. S. A. New Edition, February, 1927 Bttctrotyfed and Printed ty THE COLONIAL PRESS C. H. Sivumds &• Co., Boston, U.S.A. preface Among the art galleries of London there is no one — -not excepting that which has the pre-emi- nence of being called " National " — which is held in higher esteem, alike by the " man in the street " and the connoisseur, than the Wallace Collection. This is a remarkable fact when it is realized that Hertford House has been open to the public less than thirteen years. To explain such a rapid con- quest of popular and expert favour is not difficult. For some years prior to the death of Sir Richard Wallace the fame of the pictures and other art treas- ures bequeathed to him by the fourth Marquis of Hertford was known far and wide, and those who had been allowed to roam through the salons of Hertford House were esteemed highly privileged persons. That mystery and romance had played a large part in the lives of the owners of that man- sion was another factor in arousing keen interest in the collection. Again, when the pictures and art treasures became national property through the splendid generosity of Lady Wallace, the resolve vi preface to retain them in the mansion which had been their home effectually safeguarded the collection from being displayed in that mechanical manner which makes the average museum so depressing. And, finally, the fact that the pictures include so few examples by the Italian primitives and so many by the masters of the liveliest period of French paint- ing gives the collection a unique distinction among the art galleries of the British capital. To forewarn the reader against a possible shock or two, perhaps it may be well to premise that the writer of the ensuing pages has claimed the right of private judgment. Painters have not been eulo- gized becausfe many trumpets have resounded their fame; an attempt has been made to appraise the work of each artist by the effect that work has pro- duced on the writer. " If," says Max Nordau, " a man feels definitely as regards certain pictures that they are valueless and unmeaning, he has a right to express it as strongly and honestly as he feels it, even if millions declare that thiey discover all kinds of loveliness and depth of meaning in them." Naturally, in view of the brief history of Hert- ford House as a public gallery, the literature of the Wallace Collection is exceedingly scanty, but indebtedness is hereby gratefully acknowledged to M. H. Spielmann's brochure on " The Wallace Collection in Hertford House," to the anonymous |>cefacc vii ofF.cial handbooks of the pictures and objects of art, and to Guy Francis Laking's admirable cata- logue of the European arms and armour. For the use of the illustrations of the paintings and of the arms and armour the author desires to express his sincere thanks to the Trustees of the Wallace Collection ; for the remaining illustrations he is indebted to the kindness of the Controller of H. M. Stationery Office. He would also gratefully acknowledge the unfailing courtesy of the Keeper, D. S. MacCoU, and the Assistant Keeper, S. J. Camp, of the Wallace Collection in replying to numerous inquiries. H. c. s. Contents ♦ — CHAPTER FACE Preface v I. The Foukders of the Collection . . i II. Galleries One and Three ... 34 III. .Galleries Nine to Twelve • • • SS IV, Dutch and Flemish Cabinet Pictures . 77 V. French and British Nineteenth - cen- tury Art 103 VI. The Masterpieces of the Collection . 131 VII. Galleries Seventeen and Eighteen . 172 VIII. Galleries Nineteen to Twenty - two . 198 IX. Furniture 215 X. Bronzes, Marbles, Porcelain, etc. . 239 XI. Illuminations and Miniatures . . 261 XII. Arms 283 XIII. Armour 301 Index 323 Xi8t of miustratlons -• — rAGE W. R. Symonds. — Sir Richard Wallace {see page 57) Frontispiece Lebourg. — Lady Waxlace 23 Gainsborough. — Portrait of Mrs. Robinson (" Perdita ") 28 Pieter Pourbus. ^ — An Allegorical Love Feast 48 FoppA. — The Youthful Gian Galeazzo Sforza reading Cicero 50 OuDRY. — Dogs and Still - Life ... 70 Canaletto. — The Grand Canal with S. Simeone Piccolo 75 Potter. — Cattle in Stormy Weather . . 85 Teniers, the Younger. — Boors Carousing . 87 Brouwer. — A Boor Asleep 89 Metsu. — The Letter - Writer Surprised . 90 Netscher. — The Lace Maker .... 93 Rembrandt. — A Young Negro Archer . 94 Jan Steen. — The Harpsichord Lesson 100 Prud'hon and Constance Mayer. — The Sleep of Venus and Cupid 108 Corot. — Macbeth and the Witches . . .114 Decamps. — The Villa Doria - Panfili at Rome 123 Bonington. — Henry IV and the Spanish Ambas- sador 130 zi xii atst Of iruustrations PAOI CniA DA CONEGLIANO. — St. CATHERINE OF ALEX- ANDRIA 132 LuiNi. — The Virgin and Child 134 Andrea del Sakto. — The Virgin and Child, WITH St. John the Baptist .... 136 Titian. — Perseus and Andromeda . . . 138 Velasquez. — Don Baltasar Carlos in Infancy 141 MuRiLLO. — The Charity of St. Thomas of Vil- lanueva 146 Rubens. — The " Rainbow Landscape " . 152 Van Dyck. — Philippe le Roy, Seigneur de Ravels 154 Hals. — The Laughing Cavalier . . . .156 HoBBEMA. — Landscape with a Watermill . 159 De Hooch. — Interior with Woman and Boy . 161 Rembrandt. — The Centurion Cornelius . .164 Romney. — Portrait of Mrs. Robinson (" Per- DITA ") 166 Reynolds. — Portrait of Nelly O'Brien . . 168 Largilliere. — Louis XIV with the Grand Dauphin 181 Watteau. — FAte in a Park 186 Pater. — Conversation Galante .... 190 Boucher. — Portrait of the Marquise de Pom- padour 194 Greuze. — The Listening Girl .... 196 Fragonard. — The Fountain of Love . .198 Nattier. — The Bath (Mlle. de Clermont) . 2cx) Boucher. — The Setting of the Sun . . 204 ViGiE Le Brun. — Portrait of a Boy in Red 210 OuDRY. — Large Sofa OF Beauvais Tapestry . 222 RiESENER. — Upright Secretaire .... 233 CoYSEVOX. — Bronze Bust of Louis XIV . . 243 Xist of HUustrations xiii PAGE HoTJDON. — Makble Bust of Madame de Serilly 248 Maestro Giorgio. — Circular Dish of Gubbio Majolica 253 Isabey. — Madame Dugazo: August, Prince of Prussia 280 A Corner in Gallery Six 318 W^t art of f^t Wallace Collection CHAPTER I THE FOUNDERS OF THE COLLECTION On a July afternoon of the year 1774 the fash- ionables of London who drove along Piccadilly on their way to an airing in Hyde Park saw the wit of the day, George Selwyn, seated upon the steps of my Lord March's house, fondling a little girl. Few who knew him would be surprised at the spec- tacle; wit though he was, and politician, and gam- bler, and man of the world, George Selwyn was notorious for his passion for children. And there were special reasons why he was particularly at- tached to that four-year-old girl whom he held on his knee on that July afternoon, for the child was none other than the " Mie Mie " who makes so frequent an appearance in his gossipy letters. 1^ 2 Zbc Hrt of tbe TRIlallace (Tollectfon " Mie Mie " was the daughter of the Marchion- ess Fagniani, who, despite the fact that the Marquis Fagniani was still alive, seems to have been most liberal of her favours. In due course she bore a daughter, to whom, for convention's sake, the name of Maria Fagniani was given, but whose parentage was to their dying day a subject of friendly rivalry between Selwyn and my Lord March, although Lord March so far abrogated his parental rights as to raise no objection to Selwyn's adoption of the child. Her future became henceforth the chief object of Selwyn's anxiety. If she ailed, he immediately removed to the country; the best tutors were se- cured for her education; in every respect he deter- mined to " recompense her for the ill fortune of the first part of her life." His one thought was to lose no opportunity of being " useful " to his dear little girl. Indeed from the time when he obtained posses- sion of her, " Mie Mie " dominated Selwyn's life. If she wanted to sit up late to see " an sembelly," as she called it, her wish was granted ; if her adopt- ive father was tempted to remain late at parties that he might meet distinguished people, he remem- bered " Mie Mie " and hurried home ; if she had the slightest sickness his head was " full of the nieasles." When she was about five years old he "ttbc ifottnbcrs of tbe Collectton 3 had her portrait painted by Gainsborough, and two years later, on the eve of a visit to her mother, he took her for sittings to Sir Joshua Reynolds. Only that pnce were the two separated. As soon as the Marchioness Fagniani was willing to part with " Mie Mie " once more, Selwyn hurried to the Continent to fetch her home. " God knows," he said, " how much further I would go to conduct her safely." And when he had her securely in London his one dread was lest she should be taken from him again. He would be happy, he declared, if he had the assurance that " Mie Mie " was totally abandoned to his care. That really happened; al- though the Marchioness Fagniani at spasmodic intervals made a pretence of desiring the custody of the child, she remained with Selwyn to the day of his death. And when he had passed away and his will came to be read, it was seen how thoroughly he had kept his resolve to compensate her for the " ill fortune of the first part of her life." He had, in fact, left her the whole of his wealth, amounting to thirty- three thousand pounds. Nor was Lord March less generous. Many- years before " Mie Mie " was sought in marriage he had become the Duke of Queensberry and the owner of vast estates and wealth. When, then, " Mie Mie " became the bride of the Earl of Yar- 4 Zbc Hrt ot tbe Mallace dollection mouth in 1798, the Duke of Queensberry, other- wise the " Old Q." of the Regency days, signalized the event by a gift which was to give him an un- expected immortality in the pages of English lit- erature. Reluctant, apparently, to draw upon his ready cash for " Mie Mie's " dowry, he is credited with adopting the expedient of felling an enormous amount of timber in Drumlanrig woods and the grounds around Niedpath Castle, thereby arousing the wrath of Wordsworth and impelling him to pen his indignant sonnet beginning, " Degenerate Douglas ! oh, unworthy Lord ! " The poetic an- thology in the Duke of Queensberry's dispraise is sometimes made to include a stinging satire said to have been written by Burns, but as the" Scottish poet died some two years before the havoc of Drumlanrig he cannot be credited with the author- ship of the lines in question. " Old Q." was not satisfied with providing " Mie Mie" a liberal dowry; whatever his faults, he seems to have held views of parental responsibility which would have done honour to the most moral father who had no shadow of a doubt as to his parenthood. For when he died in 1810, full of years and still an " evergreen votary of Venus," it was found that " Mie Mie," now the Countess c^f Yarmouth, had been left a legacy of a hundred thousand pounds besides much valuable real estate. TTbe iTounbers of tbe Collection 5 Nor was that all. Her husband was the residuary legatee of the estate, and altogether it is estimated that " Mie Mie " was the means of increasing the wealth of the Seymour family to the extent of three hundred thousand pounds, leaving out of ac- count the value of the houses and land which formed part of the bequest of " Old Q." Now as, in course of time, " Mie Mie's " husband be- came Marquis of Hertford, the third of his race, her connection with the Wallace Collection be- comes obvious. In other words, she was the means of that augmentation of the Hertford wealth which made the Wallace Collection possible. An earlier contributor to that wealth remains to be mentioned. This was that daughter of the Viscount Irvine who became the wife of the sec- ond Marquis of Hertford and was the mother of " Mie Mie's " husband. She was a woman of con- siderable personal charms and a great heiress to boot. Her husband, Francis Seymbuf, was a close personal friend of the Prince of Wales, famous in history as the Regent and afterwards George IV, and that friendship does not appear to have been disturbed by the fact that the Marchioness of Hert- ford was counted among that prince's special fa- vourites. " We have no news," wrote a chronicler of 1806, "except that the :Prince has taken it into his feead that he is in love with Lady Hertford, 6 Zbc Hct of tbe Mallace CoUectton and that she has taken it into her head that it would be right to run away to Ireland as the best pro- tection of her modesty." Evidently the marchion- ess soon grew reconciled to royal attentions, for half a dozen years later Moore often coupled her name with that of the future king. Being such a bosom friend of the family, it is not surprising that the Earl of Yarmouth, the heir of the house, became one of the boon companions of the heir to the throne. Moore made many allu- sions to that intimacy, and also incidentally hinted at some of the earl's (characteristics. Thus we learn from his poems that Yarmouth had red whis- kers and hair, that he was accomplished in the slang of the gaming-table, that he shone in the " fast set," and that he was more addicted to French than English manners. He was an expert in " the last Paris cut with his true Gallic scissors." All of which had some bearing on the history of the Wallace Collection. As thus. When Napoleon was stirred to vin- dictive anger by the rupture of the peace of Amiens he, it will be remembered, issued an order for the arrest of all English people who happened to be travelling in France. The edict included all be- tween the ages of eighteen and sixty, and embraced every person without distinction of rank or whether travelling for business or pleasure. Now, it so Ubc f oun&ers ot tbc CoUcctton 7 happened that the Earl and Countess of Yarmouth ■were in France at the time, and they, with hun- dreds of their fellow English, were promptly sent to the garrison town of Verdun and placed under guard. Such was the price thp Earl had to pay for his French preferences. Many of the detenus did not recover their free- dom until eleven years later, but the Earl and " Mie Mie " were more fortunate, thanks to their friendship with the Prince of Wales. How long their captivity lasted is uncertain, perhaps two or three years, but in 1806 it came to a sudden end. Owing to various circumstances Fox got into a friendly correspondence with Talleyrand, and, at the bidding of the Prince of Wales, he made a suc- cessful appeal for the liberation of the Earl and his wife. The latter removed to Paris; the former hurried to London and persuaded Fox that if he were officially appointed for the purpose he could render valuable service in promoting peace between England and France. The earl was taken at his own valuation, and was commissioned to return to Paris in the capacity of an ambassador. He did not shine in that role. Not only did he soon ex- ceed his instructions, but it was speedily discovered that he was using his special information to enable him to speculate on the Bourse in Paris and the Stock Exchange of London. And "Mie Mie" 8 Zbc Hrt of tbe Mallace dollectfon herself appears to have been implicated in those shady transactions. The only redeeming feature of the sorry business is that the ambassador's gam- bling in the public funds helped to swell the family wealth and create a larger purchasing-power for the gathering of the Wallace Collection. When the Prince of Wales became Regent, and later when he succeeded to the throne as George IV, he did not neglect his friends of the Hertford family. Some of his gifts were characteristic of his curious tastes. A London letter-writer of 1812 told how he had met in the streets " a beautiful but delicate East Indian cow, a present from the Prince Regent to Lord Hertford." But six years later he sent him a much more notable gift in the form of Gainsborough's inimitable " Perdita," the chief glory of the Wallace Collection. Nor were the marquis and his son overlooked when honours were distributed, for they both in turn possessed the coveted K. G., and the latter was appointed to many offices of distinction. " Mie Mie's " husband succeeded to the marquisate in 1822, and during the remaining twenty years of his life fully sus- tained that reputation for profligacy which won him his fame in the gallery of English fiction. For Francis Charles Seymour-Conway, third Marquis of Hertford, was undoubtedly the orig- inal of Thackeray's Marquis of Steyne in " Vanity tCbe ipounbcrs of tbe Collection 9 Fair." One proof of that identity has hitherto been overlooked. The novelist, it will be remem- bered, illustrated his own story, and it cannot have been a coincidence that his sketches of the Marquis of Steyne correspond so exactly with the portrait of Hertford. In fact, if the drawing of the latter from the painting by Sir Thomas Lawrence is compared with Thackeray's illustrations in " Van- ity Fair," the conclusion is inevitable that he must have taken the Lawrence portrait for his model. There are the same plump features, the same short side whiskers, the same short nose and sensual lips, the same bushy eyebrows, the same approach- ing baldness, while the full necktie and the roll of the coat supply other clues to identification. And when reference is made to Thackeray's word-por- trait of the old roue we learn, in confirmation of Moore's poetic description, that the Marquis of Steyne had the red whiskers which distinguished the Marquis of Hertford. Seeing that " Vanity Fair " was written but a few years after the death of the third Marquis of Hertford, and remembering that Thackeray had an intimate knowledge of the social history of the Regency period, it is beyond question that " Mie Mie's " husband was the veritable model for the Marquis of Steyne. And that Thackeray was ac- quainted with the mystery of the connection of lo Ube Htt of tbe Wallace Collection Sir Richard Wallace with the Hertford family must be obvious to all who have carefully pondered his dark allusions to the " secret reasons " why the haughty Marchioness of Steyne was so submissive to her husband. Although no biography has yet been written or is likely to be written of the third Marquis of Hertford, the scattered references to him which are to be found in the memoirs of his day are ample justification for Thackeray's portrait. That he was a gambler, a gormand, and a debaucher is beyond question; he was, in fact, just the type of man that Steyne represents, a man devoted to sensual pleasure. But he had one redeeming trait. Even Thack- eray refers to the splendid picture gallery of Lord Steyne's mansion, and by many little touches here and there suggests how richly the house was equipped with works of art. And in justice to the wits and dandies of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century it should be remembered that with all their faults they were not lacking in taste. " Old Q." himself adorned his houses with costly pictures and statues; George Selwyn in his letters gives many proofs of his appreciation of the best in art; and Horace Walpole was a connoisseur of rare discernment and critical- judgment. No Eng- lish artists are to-day held in higher repute than TEbe jfounbers of tbe Collection n Reynolds and Gainsborough, and yet they were the artists most honoured by an age which is some- times held up to scorn for its shallowness. To what extent the third Marquis of Hertford contributed to the treasures now included in the Wallace Collection is a question on which little accurate information is available, but it is agreed that he was responsible for gathering together the nucleus, while his " Frenchified " taste was evi- dently an important factor in the training of his elder son. And, in any event, it should not be for- gotten that it was his marriage with " Mie Mie " which was ultimately to make the Wallace Collec- tion possible. Two sons were born of that marriage — Richard Se)miour-Conway, who became the fourth marquis, and Lord Henry Seymour, who was to attain dis- tinction as one of the founders of the Jockey Club in Paris. The latter was born in the French cap- ital, and was more attached to that city than to the English capital. He became, indeed, a prominent member of the Parisian " smart set " and was notorious for many eccentricities. One turious feature of his will was that it provided a large sum for the care of his four favourite horses, which were never to be ridden again; the balance of his wealth he left to the hospitals of Paris. Eccentricity was also a marked trait of the char- X2 Tlbe Htt of tbe TlSlallace (Tollectfon acter of Richard Seymour-Conway. Born in 1800, he was attached to the embassy at Paris when in his seventeenth year, was a member of Parliament for five years, held various commissions in the army from 18 18 to 1823, was an attache of the embassy at Constantinople in 1829, and succeeded to the marquisate in 1842. From the latter date he resided chiefly in France, and his preference for Gallic manners and customs was duly rewarded in 1855 when he was made a Commander of the Legion of Honour. Apart from that predilection for life in Paris which he inherited from his father, it seems highly probable that the distaste which the fourth Mar- quis of Hertford developed for his native land and for London in particular was accounted for to some extent by his experience of the rigid conservatism of the parish authorities of St. James's. About the middle of the last century he built a handsome new mansion on Piccadilly, not being enamoured, ap- parently, by either the situation or appearance of the family home on Manchester Square. Thack- eray, indeed, remarked that " the present Lord Steyne lives at Naples, preferring the view of the Bay and Capri and Vesuvius, to the dreary aspect of the wall in Gaunt Square." Whatever the cause, however, the fact remains that Lord Hertford went to considerable expense in building a new home. Ubc 3foun&crs ot tbe Collection 13 but simply because the parish authorities would not give him permission to carry out his own ideas in paving the street in front of that mansion he never took up his abode within its walls. But he had for a time another residence in Lon- don, where he was allowed to do as he pleased. This was the St. Dunstan's Villa in Regent's Park, which was the forerunner of that home in a wood that he afterwards acquired in the Bois de Bou- logne. That house still stands, and in its pleasant garden majr still be seen that old clbck and au- tomaton hour-strikers which once adorned St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet Street. That curious timepiece was for many generations one of the sights of London, and many are the allusions to it made in the literature of the eighteenth century. Strype described it thus : " On the side of the church, in a handsome frame of architecture, are placed in a standing posture two savages, or Her- cules, with clubs erect; which quarterly strike on two bells hanging there." And Cowper made a similitude of the two savages in his " Table Talk " : " When labour and when dulness, club in hand, Like the two figures at St. Dunstan's stand, Beating alternately, in measur'd time. The clockwork tintinnabulum of rhyme." Country visitors to the metropolis would have deemed their sight-seeing incomplete if it had not 14 Zbc art of tbe Mallacc Collection included an inspection of the famous St. Dunstan's clock, and it appears that London nurse-maids used the curiosity as an incentive to the good behaviour of their charges. Thus the story goes that the nurse of the young heir to the marquisate of Hert- ford used to promise to take him to see " the giants " if he were a good boy, and it is added that the child was so delighted with the automatons that he declared that he would buy them when he became a man. And buy them he did. When he had attained about his thirtieth year it happened that the old church of St. Dunstan was pulled down, and the clock and " the giants " found their way to the auction-room. Thus the Hertford heir was able to carry out his childhood vow, and to set up the clock and its figures in his villa at Regent's Park. Not until he succeeded to the marquisate and the immense wealth to which " Mie Mie " had made so large a contribution did Richard Seymour- Conway enter upon that career as a collector of pictures and objects of art which has given him so distinguished a position in the annals of con- noisseurship. And as his tastes were more French than English it is not surprising that he should have established himself in Paris and contented himself with brief and occasional visits to his native land. At first he occupied a suite of apartments near the tCbc founders of tbe CoUectton is Rue Lafitte, and there he began to gather around him many of the pictures and the costly furniture and other works of art which now have a perma- nent home in the Wallace Collection. He had but few friends, entertained little, was of simple habits, and consequently had all the more money to devote to his hobby. Later he acquired the famous cha- teau known as Bagatelle, a picturesque mansion in its own park on the Bois de Boulogne. It owed its name to its origin. The Comte d'Artois in 1777 made a wager with Marie Antoinette that he would have a house built in a month, and " Folie-Baga- telle " was the result. Bagatelle gave the Marquis of Hertford not only the quiet which he preferred but also more ample space for the display of his constantly growing treasures. As his health was none of the strongest he avoided the excitement and vitiated atmosphere of auction-rooms, entrust- ing his commissions to his close companion, " Mon- sieur Richard," and being represented elsewhere by a reliable agent. Of course picture dealers were frequent callers at Bagatelle, and many notable purchases were made in a private manner, but some of the most valuable objects in the Wallace Collec- tion were only acquired after a stern fight in the sale-room. It is said, indeed, that Lord Hertford's chief jby in life was to learn that he had " defeated one or other of the great collectors, royal or other- i6 Ube Htt of tbe Mallace Collection wise, in keen contest for some coveted treas- ure." On some occasions Lord Hertford's conviction of what he wanted did not keep pace with his mem- ory of what he possessed. In confirmation of that fact the following story told by Lady Dorothy Nevill is to the point. " Lord Hertford was in the habit of employing certain agents to buy for him, and on one occasion, it is said, sending for one of the most able of these men, bade him spare no expense or trouble in the effort to secure a certain picture, the details of which he minutely described. The collector ac- cordingly set out, telling his lordship that his wishes should certainly be fulfilled; but in spite of the most strenuous exertions the much-sought-for pic- ture could not be discovered, and Lord Hertford eventually received a letter from the man saying that, much to his regret, he was abandoning the search, feeling convinced that it was useless. A year or two later, however, this very collector, whilst travelling on the Continent, chanced to come across a shrewd dealer whom he had not yet ques- tioned about this picture. He accordingly asked the man whether he knew anything about it, to which the latter replied : ' Know anything about it? Of course I do; but you need not trouble any further abouf it, for it has gone into a collection Zbc jfounOers of tbe dollcctfon 17 from which no money will cause it to emerge. Lord Hertford bought it of me three or four years ago, and, as you know, he never parts with any- thing.' The collector at once informed Lord Hert- ford of what he had been told, and on a search being made the picture was duly discovered, propped up behind several others with its face to the wall." In keeping with this absent-mindedness, it is in- teresting to note that one of the most valuable pic- tures in the chief gallery, a Titian canvas of great fame, was actually lost to sight for many years and was finally unearthed in a bath-room by Claude Phillips, the first keeper of the collection. By the time of his death in 1870 the Marquis of Hertford had gathered together a collection of pictures and works of art which is generally con- ceded to be the most valuable ever acquired by a private individual. To whom was he to leave it? As he was unmarried there was no son or daugh- ter to become heir to those rare treasures. Would he leave them en bloc to the Louvre? An idea prevailed in Paris that that was the ultimate des- tination of the Hertford collection. The owner was a lover of Paris, a liberal patron of French art, and it may have been that his election as a Com- mander of the Legion of Honour was intended as a grateful recognition of past favours and an i8 JLbc Hrt of tbe Wallace Collection anticipation of favours to come. That Lord Hert- ford would bequeath his treasures to his own nation seemed improbable; he had been described as an absentee and when he died it was remarked that patriotism was the last virtue which such men as he were entitled to claim. All speculation was set at rest when the terms of his will became known. That document revealed the fact that all his personal wealth and property, everything, in fact, which he held independent of his title, and the whole of his inimitable collection, had been left to " Monsieur Richard," to reward him, the marquis explained, " as much as I can for all his care and attention to my dear mother, and likewise for his devotion to me." Who was " Monsieur Richard " ? No final an- swer is possible; but two theories have been ad- vanced. One makes him the natural child of the fourth Marquis of Hertford ; but, since that noble- man was only a little more than eighteen years old when " Monsieur Richard " was born, such an ex- planation seems improbable. The other theory credits him with having been a late-bom son of " Mie Mie," herself, by an unidentified father, and all the probabilities are in favour of that explana- tion. It has already been noted that Thackeray alluded to " secret reasons " why the Marchioness of Steyne was so submissive to her husband, and Jibe f ounoets of tbe Collection 19 it is known that " Monsieur Richard," who in his early days was known as Richard Jackson, was brought up under the care of Lady Hertford. Whatever the exact relationship between " Mon- sieur Richard" and the fourth Marquis of Hert- ford, they were lifelong and inseparable friends. And that they had many tastes in common is proved by the fact that Richard Wallace, to give him the name which he finally adopted, was a collector from his early manhood. Before he had reached his fortieth year he had gathered together a valuable collection of ivories, bronzes, miniatures, etc., which, however, he sold in 1857 at prices far. in advance of those he had paid for them. Thence- forward his excellent taste and skill in bargaining were placed at the disposal of Lord Hertford, whose agent he became in countless artistic missions. When the Marquis of Hertford died late in the August of 1870, the Franco-German war had begun, and a month later Paris was invested by the Grcrman army. Richard Wallace, however, was not among those who deserted the city; in- stead he devoted no less than two and a half million francs of his newly inherited wealth to the equip- ment of ambulances, the founding of hospitals, and the feeding of the poor. But the aftermath of that war loosened his ties to the French capital. The excesses of the Commune, which gave the Hotel 20 XLbc Hrt of tbe Mallace Collection de Ville to the flames and proved so fatal to many of the historic treasures of Paris, convinced Wal- lace of the wisdom of removing his priceless col- lection to a place of greater safety. Hence his resolve to transfer the Hertford treasures to the old mansion of the family, that is, Hertford House in Manchester Square, London. And about the same time Queen Victoria created him a baronet in recognition of his humanitarian labours during the siege of Paris. Before the collection could be arranged in Hert- ford House that mansion had to be considerably altered and reconstructed, and during the interval Sir Richard Wallace loaned his treasures to the Bethnal Green Museum, where they remained for nearly three years. In 1875 they were removed to Hertford House and added to from- time to time. For Sir Richard Wallace continued to collect until the last two or three years of his life, the priceless old European arms and armour being his special contribution to the treasures of Hertford House. But he did not keep all his purchases for himself. There is the case of Terborch's masterpiece, " The Peace of Munster," the interesting history of -which is told by M. H. Spielmann. When that canvas was put up for auction Sir William Boxall bid up to six thousand pounds on behalf of the Nationah Gallery, the limit of his commission, but the picture went to Ubc 3poun6crs of tbc Collection 21 another purchaser, who exceeded Sir William's of- fer by more than a thousand pounds. Mr. Spiel- mann tells the sequel thus : " Three years later, an unknown gentleman, not too smartly dressed, was announced at the National Gallery, and Sir Will- iam Boxall, after repeated refusals, gave way to the stranger's persistence for a moment's interview. The visitor carried with him a small picture-case, and when he began to open it in order to show the picture within, Boxall peremptorily ordered him to do no such thing — ' he was too busy ' — 'it was against the regulations ' — ' the thing might be left and he would look at it when he had time,' and so forth — or, really, if the stranger would be so persistent, he had better take it away at once and altogether. ' But you had better just have a glance — I ask no more,' said the stranger, and he unfastened one strap; but as he began to un- buckle the second. Sir William, by this time really annoyed, proceeded to buckle up the first. At last the stranger insisted and threw open the case, and Boxall, struck dumb ^ at the sight of the picture it had been his dream to add to the national collection, raised his eyes to those of his visitor. ' My name is Wallace,' said the stranger quietly, ' Sir Richard Wallace; and I came to offer this picture to the National Gallery.' ' I nearly fainted,' said Boxall to a friend of mine who recounted the story to me 22 Ube Hrt ot tbe limallace Collection as I now tell it ; 'I had nearly refused " The Peace of Munster," one of the wonders of the Avorld!'" That anecdote is interesting not only because it is a pertinent illustration of British obstinacy and official obtuseness, but also for the light it throws on the character of Sir Richard Wallace. He was the soul of generosity, and it is much to be re- gretted that no attempt has been made to tell the story of his unselfish life. In his latter years he was much exercised as to the future destination of his unrivalled collection. Up to some three years before his death he had an heir, an only son, the offspring of his marriage with Julie Amelie Char- lotte Castelnau, the daughter of a French officer, but that son, who also became an officer in the French army, died in 1887. It was after the death of his son that Sir Richard Wallace, according to Mr. Spielmann, made over- tures to the British government with reference to his collection. His idea was to present it to the nation as it stood in Hertford House, but, Mr. Spielmann adds, " it is understood that he was met with the characteristically stupid objection that inasmuch as his house had but a definite term to run, he had better amend and improve his offer in that direction." Perhaps Sir Richard Wallace was not surprised at that reply; his previous experience LEBOURG. — LADY WALLACE. xcDe younoers ot toe collection 23 of British official senselessness must have prepared him for such a childish objection. Although, however, he broke off his negotia- tions with the government, he did not abandon his generous resolve. It was generally understood among his few intimate friends that the Wallace Collection would eventually become the property of the nation. But unfortunately Sii^ Richard him- self was prevented from making the bequest in a formal manner. Some twelve years before his death he made what he called his " temporary will," a document which left the whole of his property at the disposal of his wife, and from the time he was seized with his fatal illness in 1890 he was unable to give his attention to business mat- ters. Thus it came to pass that when he passed away in July, 1890, it was found that his original resolve to leave everything to Lady Wallace had been literally carried into effect. Once more, then, the ultimate fate of the Wallace Collection hung in the balance. Lady Wallace was of French birth, and it might have been expected that she would leave the collection to the Louvre or some other museum in Paris. That she did not do so was owing almost entirely to the diplomacy of one who had held a responsible posi- tion in the Wallace household for many years. When the fourth Marquis of Hertford declined 24 Zbc Htt of tbe Mallace collection in health in 1870 he went to Boulogne, and was there attended by a Scottish doctor. Dr. John Scott, who was in practice in that town. Dr. Scott could not save his patient's life, but that patient took a great liking to his new medical adviser, while his companion, " Monsieur Richard," found himself equally attracted to that doctor's son, John Murray Scott, a young man of twenty-three who had had an excellent education and possessed tact and pleasant manners. The upshot of the chance ac- quaintance was that John Murray Scott became private secretary to Wallace, and soon proved his usefulness when the death of Lord Hertford gave Wallace the command of an enormous fortune. The relationship thus established was never broken ; Mr. Scott continued to act as Sir Richard Wallace's confidential secretary for the remainder of his life; and after the death of Sir Richard he was continued in the same position by Lady Wallace. The latter fact explains how the Wallace Collection at length became the property of the British nation. Murray Scott, it has been said on good authority, was believed to find Lady Wallace sometimes difficult to please ; but " his wonderful tact and patience stood him in good stead, and he maintained to the end, by proving to her that his advice was sound, the same influence which he had exercised on her husband. The result was that the Wallace Collection was Ubc j'oun&ers of tbc Collection 25 neither ordered to be sold nor was it left to Paris. It was left en bloc to the British nation." All that, however, was a secret during the life- time of Lady Wallace. The question was eagerly debated as to what she intended doing with the priceless treasures in Hertford House, but no authoritative answer was forthcoming. Lady Wal- lace survived her husband nearly seven years, and some six weeks after her death, which took place in February, 1897, the proving of her will set at rest for ever all speculations as to the destiny of the treasures on which had been spent so many thou- sands of pounds of the Hertford wealth. Numerous money bequests to individuals and charities, many of which were for large sums, appeared in the will of Lady Wallace, but its most important section was that which follows : " I bequeath to the British nation my pictures, porcelain, bronzes, artistic furniture, armour, miniatures, snufif-boxes, and works of art, which are placed on the ground and first floors and in the galleries at Hertford House, on the express con- dition that the Government for the time being shall agree to give a site in a central part of London, and shall build thereon a special museum to contain the said collection, which shall always be kept together unmixed with other objects of art, and shall be styled ' The Wallace Collection ' ; but this 26 ubc art or tee Maiiace collection bequest shall not include personal and modern jewellery, trinkets, and effects, nor ordinary modern furniture or chattels, but shall include the Louis XIV balustrade, and the said Louis XIV balustrade shall be used in the new museum to be erected for the said collection." Two other conditions were attached to the be- quest ; one to the effect that the faithful John Murray Scott should be appointed one of the trustees of the collection ; the other in the following terms : " Whereas by my said will I have be- queathed to the British nation a collection of pictures and works of art as described therein, now I hereby declare that the said bequest is made subject to the express condition that the British Treasury shall within one year of my decease remit or repay to my estate the amount of probate, estate, or any other duty leviable in respect of such collection, and shall indemnify my estate against , any claim which rtiay be made thereon in respect of such collection." The latter proviso had, of course, been added to the will in view of the iniquitous death duties which came into force in 1894. What the value of the collection was at the time of the death of Lady Wallace cannot be decided. It appears that when Sir Richard Wallace died it was valued for probate at over a million pounds; when his widow passed away her estate was valued vtujf ^uunoccs gi loe ViOllectiOtt 27 at threC'-quarters of a million exclusive of the col- lection. No record has survived of all the sums paid for the different objects in the collection, and even had such a record been available it would not be of much service in estimating the present value of the collection. Prices have risen enor- mously during the fifteen years which have elapsed since the death of Lady Wallace. Besides, it must be remembered that many more years have passed since a great number of the purchases were made by the Marquis of Hertford, and that the prices be paid were, judging by present standards, absurdly small. Take, as one example, the Velas- quez " Portrait of a Spanish Lady." This was acquired by Lord Hertford in 1843, long before the Spanish master had become the subject of critical adulation and the ambition of wealthy col- lectors. Consequently Lord Hertford was able to secure the picture for five hundred and twenty-five pounds, whereas if it were put up for sale to-day it would doubtless realize thirty times that amount. Another pertinent example of enormously enhanced value is afforded by Gainsborough's exquisite " Portrait of Mrs. Robinson." This glorious pic- ture came into the possession of the Hertford fam- ily as a gift, and as it has not changed owners since 18 18 it has never figured in the contests of the sale- room. iWhen it was exhibited in a loan collection 28 XLbc Hrt ot tbe Mallace Collectton some years ago many fabulous offers were made to its owner, and it is no exaggeration to say that if it came into the market the bids would establish a new record in art sales. It is obvious, then, that it is impossible to give a hard and fast estimate of the value of the Wallace Collection as a whole; that it would realize four million pounds, as is some- times affirmed, is probably an under rather than an over statement. One of the conditions of Lady Wallace's will caused the government some perplexity. It seemed to many authorities that no receptacle for the col- lection would be so suitable or appropriate as Hert- ford House itself, yet the will expressly declared that the government was to give a site and erect a special building for its housing. The opinion in favour of Hertford House was no doubt influenced by the understanding that such an arrangement had been favoured by Sir Richard Wallace himself, while there was the further consideration that the treasures of a wealthy gentleman would be most fittingly displayed in the mansion which had been their home. How was the difficulty to be solved? The problem was submitted to the legal advisers of the government, who decided that if the con- sent of the residuary legatee could be obtained there was no insuperable objection to Hertford House being used as the permanent home of the NSON (" PERDITA ")• vtD6 irounoers oi loe viollectioit 29 collection. As that residuary legatee, John Mur- ray Scott, had played so large a part in securing the collection for the nation, he at once agreed to the suggestion of the law officers of the Crown, and thus it came to pass that the treasures of Sir Richard Wallace were duly arranged as the natural adornments of the mansion of their owner. So far as its exterior is concerned, Hertford House is not one of the most beautiful buildings of London. In fact, Thackeray was fully justified in christening it " Gaunt House." If there is now no " vast wall in front," the building still " occu- pies nearly a side of the Square," while its curtain- less windows and general air of " the family is out of town " contribute not a little to its " gaunt " aspect. But that its interior makes an ideal setting for the Wallace treasures few will deny. No doubt some of the galleries are rather overcrowded, and a few of the pictures hung too high or in a con- flicting cross-light, but the total effect is admirable and in the best taste. It is an enormous advantage to be able to inspect the priceless treasures of a refined and wealthy gentleman amid the environ- ments for which they were intended, and that fact alone gives the Wallace Collection a distinction enjoyed by no other art collection in London. Of course some reconstruction of Hertford House had to be effected. Built in 1776 by the 30 Ubc Hrt of tbe Wallace Collection Duke of Manchester, whose name it originally bore, and purchased in 1788 for the residence of the Spanish ambassador, of which a reminiscence sur- vives in the " Spanish Place " which adjoins one side of the mansion, the future home of the Wal- lace Collection seems to have been acquired by the second Marquis of Hertford late in the eighteenth or early in the nineteenth century. It was the scene of many fashionable gatherings during the Re- gency, and Thackeray hints how its inconspicuous back-door had been darkened by Florizel and Per- dita and by the Duke of York and Mrs. Clarke. It was within its walls, too, that he laid the scene of that brilliant gathering at which Becky Sharp completed her conquest of my Lord Steyne. As has been stated, many changes were made in the building by Sir Richard Wallace when he trans- ferred his collection from Paris to London, but other alterations were necessary ere it was suitable for a public museum. The chief structural changes included the building, on the site of the stables, of those handsome galleries now devoted to the arms and armour, with the erection of the top- lighted gallery above; but in addition many minor alterations had to be made ere art-lovers could enter into the full enjoyment of Lady Wallace's bequest. Consequently it was hardly surprising that it was more than three years after the death of Lady Ube Joun&crs of tbe Collection 31 Wallace ere the collection was thrown open to the public. The inaugural ceremony took place on a June afternoon of 1900, when all the rank and fashion of London assembled to support the Prince of Wales, afterwards Edward VII, for the mem- orable occasion. The hall and grand staircase, that Louis XIV balustrade of which Lady Wallace thought so highly, were embowered in lovely flow- ers and hothouse plants, -while the chief gallery on the first floor had been specially prepared for the speech-making. As representing the trustees. Lord Roseberry welcomed the Prince of Wales and made due recog- nition of the nation's indebtedness to the generosity of Lady Wallace, who had, he said, enriched the nation by the greatest gift which had ever been bestowed by a single individual. The Prince, who remarked that of all the many public ceremonies he had to perform that year none would give him greater gratification and pleasure, also paid his tribute to the memory of the donor of the collec- tion. The only other speaker was John Murray Soott, now Sir John, who was much moved by the eulogies of his late mistress. " Whatever my humble services may have been in connection with this collection," he said, " on this occasion they should shrink into insignificance, and a full measure of gratitude should be meted 32 Ube mt of tbe Timallace dollection out to the memory of her who has conferred such a rich gift and such an inestimable benefit upon this nation. The paintings and various works of art have now been arranged in their old home, and the collection will stand out as a monument of the combined taste of the two Lords Hertford and Sir Richard Wallace." Many pens have since described in glowing terms the worth and distinction of the Wallace Collection, but the appreciation which appeared in the Times when the bequest was first announced is still the best brief summary of the qualities which constitute its unique value. " By the common con- sent of connoisseurs it is, take it altogether, the finest private collection in the world. The Bor- ghese, the Lichtenstein, the EUesmere, and perhaps one or two of the collections of the Rothschild fam- ily may equal or surpass it in pictures alone ; three or four houses in Europe may have as much old furniture of the highest class ; possibly in Germany or Austria some one might be found with as good armour. But it is the combination of all these things, and of many other departments, that makes the Wallace Collection unapproachable." And it is such a collection as hardly time or money could bring together again. That a certain mystery and romance hangs over the lives of those who were responsible for its crea- uDe younoers oi toe collection 33 tion adds another element of interest. It will surely stir the most lethargic imagination to recall that it was the wealth of one love-child, Selwyn's much-petted " Mie Mie," which contributed so largely to the power to acquire these treasures, and that it was the generosity of another love- child. Sir Richard Wallace, which consecrated them to the enjoyment of all classes of the com- munity. CHAPTER II GALLERIES ONE AND THREE So diverse are the treasures of the Wallace Col- lection, and so bewilderingly attractive, that the visitor needs to be warned against succumbing to the temptation to divide his attention. Concentra- tion is the only safety. It is the only safeguard, too, against mental exhaustion and the carrying away of a kaleidoscopic impression. The wisest plan, the only plan, is for the visitor to select his quarry and pursue it ; he must steel himself against any and every allurement to forsake the trail. No doubt the majority will elect to examine the pictures first, and as these constitute the chief glory of the collection and are upwards of seven hundred and fifty in number, it is obvious that they will provide occupation for many hours. Having made that selection, the next question to be decided is the order in which to take them. Several plans are possible: they may be studied in schools, or by numbers, or by galleries. On the whole, the latter has the most to commend it, both for those who are able to visit the collection and for those 34 (Ballertes ®ne an& Ubree 35 who must confine their knowledge to the printed page. To study the pictures in the various schools to which they belong, Italian, German, Flemish, Dutch, Spanish, French, and British, would involve a wearisome traversing and retraversing of the rooms; to follow the numerical order, save in the chief gallery, would entail a constant doubling of one's track. Altogether, then; and notwithstand- ing the overlapping of the schools which it must entail, the wisest plan is to adopt the arrangement of the collection and take the pictures in their gal- lery order. Two large canvases are hung in the entrance hall on either side of the grand staircase, one being Sassoferrato's " The Mystic Marriage of St. Cath- erine " and the other William Hilton's " Venus appearing to Diana and her Nymphs." They are both typical examples, but the former is specially noteworthy as an important work of the Italian artist. The Hilton picture is the only example of that British artist in the collection, and is the fruition of that study of disrobing nymphs and hunting dogs which hangs in the Tate Gallery. The son of a portrait-painter, Hilton resisted his father's desire to apprentice him to a trade, and so far justified his preference as to win for him- self an important place among the minor old mas- ters of the English school. After coquetting for 36 Zbc Hrt ot tbe Mallace Collection a time with sacred subjects, he found his true field in historical themes, with a special leaning towards those of a mythological character. Although he was greatly appreciated by his fellow artists, he never commanded popular favour in his lifetime. The monetary history of " Venus a|ppearing to Diana and her Nymphs " illustrates that fact, for whereas the artist received but two hundred pounds for the picture the Marquis of Hertford paid more than three times that sum for it. As with all Hil- ton's work, the drawing is in excellent taste, while the colouring is exceedingly harmonious. The work, too, is much better preserved than most of this artist's pictures, many of which are quickly deteriorating, owing to his overgenerous use of bitumen. Careful draughtsmanship also characterizes Sas- soferrato's " The Mystic Marriage of St. Cath- erine," while it is at the same time an excellent example of that smoothness which distinguished his work. There are not a few touches which are typical of the almost domestic air which he gave to sacred themes. Two otlier works by the same artist are in the collection, one being in Gallery One, which opens off the right of the entrance hall This is a " Virgin and Child," which, un- fortunately, is hung somewhat high and is difficult to study, owing to the cross-lights of two windows. ©allcrics ©ne an5 Ubrec 37 The flesh tints are somewhat dull but they har- monize well with the subdued crimson and purple of the robes. As in his numerous studies of the Madonna and Child, who were his constant sub- jects through lif€, the Virgin has a mild maternal look, while the Infant Christ is depicted in the re- pose of sleep. The picture breathes that air of sweetness of expression which in Sassoferrato's works is so often perilously near to the weakest kind of sentimentality. It must be added, too, that it is a pertinent example of that "passionless dili- gence " with which the artist has been credited, and illustrates, especially when taken in conjunction with his repetitions of the same subject, his lack of invention. With a fine appreciation of similitudes, the only example of Carlo Dolci or his school, acquired by Lord Hertford, is also hung in the same gallery. Typically enough, its subject is " A Saint Read- ing," for, as has been pointed out more than once, Dolci was particularly fond of depicting his models engaged in literary occupations. These two Italian masters are often coupled together, largely because they agree in a delicate and graceful treatment of the saints and finished their pictures in such a highly wrought style. This example of Dolci, which may be one of the numerous copies of his works that owe their existence to the diligence of 38 • XCbe art of tbe TRaallace Collcctton his daughter Agnese, is characteristic of the veneer of spirituality which he imparted to his subjects, for notwithstanding that devoutness of his own nature which led him to paint the Saviour in the passion week of every year, he does not seem to have penetrated very deeply into religious experi- ence. The colour scheme, however, is most pleasing and represents not unfaithfully that transparent quality which distinguished Dolci's best work. Excluding a small water-colour by the French artist Gericault, and a typical example of Professor von Angeli's royal portraiture, the other pictures in the first gallery are by British artists of the old school. Notwithstanding its diminutive size, the " Equestrian Portrait of the Prince Regent " is a good example of the style of the artist who headed the revolt against the classicism of David. Re- membering his predilection for painting horses, it is probable that Gericault took more interest in his equine than his human model, and the sketch justi- fies such a supposition. It was painted prior to that London visit of 1820 when Gericault achieved so much fame by the exhibition of his famous "The Raft of Medusa," for the Regent became king early in that year. As a portrait it is not important, but the horse is not unworthy of the artist who devoted so much study to royal and military chargers. The solitary example of the (Balleries ©ne an^ Ubtee 39 work of the Austro-Hungarian painter, a " Portrait of Her Imperial Majesty the Empress Frederick," has neither more nor less distinction than those nu- merous transcripts of royalty which Professor von Angeli has purveyed with such diligence for the courts of Europe. That it is refined in conception and smooth in technique may be admitted, but the pose is stiff and there is little character-revelation. The brown tones are well handled and harmonized. Another royal portrait of greater merit, though not of the highest class, is the replica of Thomas Sully's " Queen Victoria in her Robes of State," the original of which he executed, it will be remem- bered, for the St. George's Society of Philadelphia. It has become familiar throughout the world and is a popular picture owing, no doubt, to the success with which it represents the youthfulness of the queen and the gracefulness of the pose. In view, too, of the fuller knowledge now available as to the character of the young queen, it is of value as suggesting that lack of tenderness which was then a prominent trait of her nature. The colouring is good. Five British artists are represented by the other contents of the gallery, and of these three became painters to the king, and two attained the honour of election to the presidency of the Royal Academy. Little distinction fell to the lot of one of the band. 40 Ube Hrt of tbe umallace Collectfon however, namely, Richard Westall, save that his last occupation was to give lessons in drawing to the Princess Victoria just before she succeeded to the throne. That he was an industrious artist is proved by the frequency with which his illustra- tions are found in editions of the poets published in the early years of the nineteenth century, but his popularity among publishers may help to ac- count for his lack of success as a painter, for the frequency with which he had to undertake similar subjects led him into a fatal mannerism and monot- ony. The " Venus and Sporting Cupids," how- ever, is a pleasing little study and specially notable for its happy blend of warm colours and light. The Venus is not of a sensual type, while the cupids are neither more nor less than the chubby infants affected by the art fashion of the period. John Hoppner's solitary contribution to the col- lection, " Portrait of George, Prince of Wales," recalls the fact that he was appointed portrait- painter to that prince in 1789, a position which made him a great favourite with the " set " of the future king. The present example represents the prince as a " buck " of the age, and pays meticulous attention to the florid face and light hair of its subject. That it was, however, satisfactory to its model is the only possible inference from the fact that he purchased it from Hoppner's widow and Galleries ne and TTbree 51 wholly enjoyable. The modelling is sure, the col- ouring full-bodied, while the care with which the accessories — notably the beautiful figuring of the bodice — are painted, gives the composition the richness of pure decoration. An artist of an earlier period. Carlo Crivelli, is represented by a small tempera study entitled " St. Roch." It is low in tone, with brown, blue and crimson as the predominant colours. Although Crivelli is said to have come under the influence of the Umbrian school, this panel of the patron saint of the plague-stricken has nothing of the Um- brian tenderness about it. On the contrary, the pose is severe and the saint wears an almost fero- cious aspect. Equally hard is the drawing of Ben- venuto di Giovanni's " St. Jerome Chastising Him- self," a gaunt figure which is in a wonderful state of preservation. To turn from these austere works to the two examples of Bernardino Luini is an infinite relief. The pictures in question, " A Child-genius gath- ering Grapes " and " Head of a Girl," are admira- ble examples of fresco painting, especially the former. The drawing of the second is somewhat hard, but that defect is considerably softened by the subdued reddish tones and the winning expres- sion of the girl's face. The " Child-genius " is hung over-high, but the figure is bold enough to 52 Zbc Hrt of tbe TPnallace (ToUection show with what spirit it has been drawn, and the tender beauty of the work is much enhanced by the grape-vine canopy which holds the scheme together. Another of the figures in Vasari's crowded gal- lery, Domenico Beccafumi, is represented by a single painting, " Judith with the Head of Holo- fernes." Of peasant birth, it was while he was tending sheep that he was observed to occupy his idle moments by drawing with a stick in the sand beside the river near which he watched his flock. The influence of that self-tuition seems to have remained with him through life, for though, through the kindness of his employer, he took lessons of several artists, he never thoroughly mas- tered the art of drawing. The example in this gallery illustrates that defect, for the body of Judith is out of all proportion to her head. De- picting the heroine of the stirring romance of the Apocrypha as a tall, massively built woman, Becca- fumi ha,s seized the moment when the triumphant widow is leaving the camp of the Assyrians with the head of their general. The colouring of the pic- ture has probably been flattened by time, but the death-hue of Holofernes's head is still sufficiently realistic. A fine appreciation of form is perhaps the most outstanding characteristic of " The Assumption of the Magdalen" by Lo Spagna, one of the most ©allerles ®nc an^ Ubree 53 distinguished of Perugino's pupils and a fellow student of Raphael. The figure of the Magdalen is perhaps somewhat severe, but the grace of the compostion is beyond question and the blue and reddish colour scheme is well handled. Among the other old Italian masters represented in the gallery- are Christoforo de Predis and Antonio Pollaiuolo, a contribution by the latter, however, " Lamenta- tion over a Dead Hero or Martyred Saint," being merely a pen and bistre study in which, as the offi- cial description states, " the pen outline of the fig- ures have apparently been traced, or retraced, by an inferior hand, not that of the master, with the result that the beauty and firmness of the drawing is greatly impaired. The attribution to this great Florentine master himself," the note concludes, " cannot, indeed, be maintained though the concep- tion and composition are entirely in his manner, and the invention is assuredly his." The example of'Christoforo de Predis's is a fully detailed illumi- nation on vellum, having for its subject, " Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke . of Milan, Praying for Vic- tory." It is interesting to compare the face of the suppliant duke with that of the youthful Gian, for the chubby features of the lad are an evident replica of those of his father. The illumination is a most elaborate composition, even the glimpse of the tented field above the duke's head being closely 54 Ube Hct of tbe Mallace Collection crowded with warriors and horses. It is not sur- prising, then, that the artist's chief occupation was that of a miniature painter. Other schools are but scantily represented, though great interest attaches to Jean Clouet's " Portrait of the Emperor Charles V, King of Spain," and to the " Queen Mary Stuart " and " Francis I " of the Clouet school, the former being a good replica of the famous white mourning por- trait of the Scottish queen. Additional copies in- clude a reduced version of Titian's " Danae and the Golden Rain," an admirable piece of work though somewhat less robust in colour than such imitations usually are. CHAPTER III GALLERIES NINE TO TWELVE To follow the sequence of the rooms devoted to paintings, the visitor who has completed his ex- amination of the third gallery must retrace his steps to the entrance hall, where, on the left, he will find Gallery Nine, the intervening galleries being devoted to other objects. From this point onward the apartments set aside for pictures run in an unbroken numerical order. In the four galleries which are grouped together in this chapter the French school predominates, notably in the ninth and tenth. In the first of these, however, there are five works of the British school, one being the second example of the art of Richard Westall, the " Cymon and Iphigenia " which he copied on a greatly reduced scale from the famous painting of that name by Sir Joshua Reynolds. The latter is the picture which, when exhibited in 1789, Horace Walpole characterized as " glaring," though that adjective can hardly be applied to Westall's replica. The original is in Buckingham Palace, it having been presented to George IV, 6S s6 Ube art of tbe Mallace Collection who, however, was so little pleased with its appear- ance that he at once called in a picture restorer and instructed him to take it away and " clean " it. Happily the expert was able to convince the king that such a process was unnecessary and might ruin the canvas. Allowing for the much smaller scale, Westall's version is an excellent rendering of the crimson and brown and flesh tint of the original. The modelling, too, of the voluptuous sleeping woman is well handled. Considering the decorative quality of George norland's work it is surprising that it did not appeal to the Marquis of Hertford; the one ex- ample in the collection, " The Visit to the Boarding School," owes its presence here to Sir Richard Wallace. To those who are familiar only with the average trend of Morland's work, work which is so characteristic of his delight in the companion- ship of " 'ostlers, potboys, horse jockeys, money- lenders, pawnbrokers, punks, and pugilists," this refined little genre study will come as a surprise. There is nothing here to which the most fastidious could take objection, for it is a wholly charming interior with seven graceful figures. One of the two seated ladies is evidently the mother of the bashful girl who is being led forward by the mis- tress of the school, the other being a friend who has accompanied her on her visit. Two of the Galleries IRtne to twelve 57 pupil's young companions are peeping through the doorway, curious, as girls are, to see what the mother of their friend is like. That the mother remains seated while her child approaches is sug- gestive of the restraint of family affection in the late eighteenth century, but the eagerness of the girl's younger brother, who has run forward to greet her, is also a reminder that even then nature was more powerful than convention. The rosy colouring of the picture is not less alluring than its graceful drawing and elegant composition. No one, then, will dispute the verdict of Richard Muther, that, genuine as is the fame Morland enjoys as an animal painter, it is these littje social scenes which show his finest side. Well was it for posterity that Morland's father set him the task as a lad to copy pictures by the Dutch and Flemish masters. An admirable example of the architectural work of David Roberts, " The Chapel of Ferdinand and Isabella at Granada," a portrait in coloured chalks, " Miss Nellie Power," by Sir Edwin Landseer, and W. R. Symonds's presentation " Portrait of the late Sir Richard Wallace," exhaust the other con- tributions! 'of the British school to this gallery. The Roberts picture is distinguished for its finished draughtsmanship and harmonious colouring, while ■the portrait of Sir Richard Wallace, without having 58 Ube Hrt ot tbe Wallace Collection any pretensions to great portraiture, gives the im- pression of being a faithful likeness. Sir Richard had a strange objection to sitting to artists, but this portrait, taken in conjunction with the posthumous marble bust on the grand staircase, will give pos- terity a good idea of his refined and handsome features. Two other non-French artists are represented by single pictures, Alexandre Galame by " A Waterfall in Switzerland," and Andreas Schelfhout by " Win- ter in Holland." Both are typical examples, the latter of the winter scenes so much affected by the Dutch artist, and the former of the kind of coloured topographical souvenir which the Swiss painter produced in such prodigious numbers. They are alike, too, in their meticulous but uninspired cor- rectness. Far more attractive because anecdotal and piquant is " The Cardinal " of Ferdinand Heil- buth, the painter of German birth who became Parisian by adoption. Jt is a pleihair picture of early autumn, the scene being laid on a picturesque terrace of a chateau, where a Cardinal has paused in his stately walk to extend his hand for the rev- erent kiss of a youthful acolyte. Truth to tell, however, while the older priests betray keen con- sciousness of his Eminence's graciousness, the boy so highly favoured does not seem to be g^reatly impressed with the Cardinal's condescension, for he ©aiicrtcB "fline to TCwelvc S9 is performing his homage in a somewhat stolid manner. But it is a gracious picture, carefully composed and painted, the colour scheme being warmly bound together by the Cardinal's crimson robe. It justifies the artist's Roman title of " the painter of Cardinals," and is a well-chosen example of Heilbuth's skill in portraying almost idealized landscape. No fewer than eight French artists of the nine- teenth century are represented by the balance of the pictures in this gallery, though the one most in evidence is Horace Vernet, who claims seven pic- tures as his share. All told, there are no fewer than thirty oil and water-colour paintings by Vernet in the Wallace Collection, and in view of such a dis- proportionate number it may not be amiss to recall the salient incidents of his career as offering a probable explanation of the favour with which his work was evidently regarded by the Marquis of Hertford. With the possible exception of the British artist Landseer, no painter of the nineteenth century was so much a spoiled darling of fortune as Horace Vernet. Exhibiting his first picture in his twen- tieth year, he thenceforward, until his death at the age of seventy-four, was the idol of all classes from the king to the pauper, and of all parties from the different camps of royalists to the most pronounced 6o Ubc Hrt of tbe Mallace Collection republicans. He was awarded the Cross of the Legion of Honour in his twenty-fifth year, elected a Member of the Institute when thirty-seven, was successively director of the French Academy at Rome and diplomatic representative in that city, and was dispatched on royal painting expeditions too numerous to mention. His popularity was im- mense; he was inundated with commissions. Painting ran in his blood. He was the fourth of his family to follow the vocation of an artist. When still a youth he accompanied his father one night to the Cafe Foy, and on a champagne-cork getting out of hand and making a disfiguring mark on the ceiling he promptly called for a ladder and paint and brushes and transformed the stain into a flying swallow. That was typical of the man — typical of his swiftness and resource. Mendelssohn met him in later years and wrote : " He produces with incredible freshness and facility." Something of this he owed to his tenacious memory; for the rest, when he was praised for his facility he pro- tested that few were aware of the sleepless nights he spent thinking out the pictures he was going to paint. His preferences were for military subjects, and four of the pictures in this gallery are of that type, two of them having Napoleon for their theme, the others being " Soldiers Playing at Cards " and ©allecies fline to XCwclve 6i " The Veteran at Home." In view of the predom- inance he gave to such subjects it is not surprising that the soldiers called him " Colonel." Yet not- withstanding the unfaltering zest with which Ver- net devoted his brush to military themes, there is no denying the impeachment that he is a superficial painter of war. Professor Muther's verdict is severe, but it is difficult to question its justice. " Vernet treated battles like performances at the circus. His pictures have movement without pas- sion, and magnitude without greatness. If it had been required of him, he would have daubed all the boulevards; his picture of Smala is certainly not so long, but there would have been no serious difficulty in lengthening it by half a mile." This would have been rank heresy in the Paris of the first half of the last century, and it would seem as though Lord Hertford was in this instance influ- enced by popular verdict. Most of the Vernets in this gallery, then, have little to justify their inclusion in such a collection; they are common- place in subject and mechanical in treatment; even " The Brigand Betrayed," one of the fruits of Ver- net's sojourn in Italy, is painfully melodramatic. The girl who is luring her brigand lover from out of the shelter of his rocks to a point where he can be " covered " by the other lover and shot down like a dog is compact of stage tragedy of the cheap- 62 Ube Hrt of tbe TRnaliace Collection est kind. " I loathe that man," said Baudelaire of Vernet, and such a picture goes far to explain why. Turning to the painters who are represented by a single canvas in this gallery there is an average example of Papety's work in " An Italian Conta- dina," which, if not distinguished, is enjoyable for its colour. H., F. Schopin is illustrated by his " The Divorce of the Empress Josephine," a some- what theatrical rendering of a time-worn subject, redeemed, however, by the restrained pose of Napo- leon and the excellence of the grouping. Simon Saint-Jean has a still-life study of much merit, while Theodore Gudin is in evidence by a " Coast Scene in Stormy Weather " which is typical of his scenic manner of painting. On the other hand, the " Ships on the Seashore " of Eugene Isabey hardly shows that painter at his best, for his gfrace- ful style was more at home in the social circle than by the sad sea waves. There are two examples by Joseph Bellange, " Crossing the Ford " and " The Imperial Tent," and as many by Camille Roque- plan, whose romantic treatment of landscape they worthily represent. In the corridor leading to the next gallery hangs the Landseer portrait mentioned above. Out of the thirty-three pictures hung in Gallery Ten, all save four belong to the French school of the last century, the exceptions being " The Ebb- Galleries IRine to Uwelvc 63 Tide " by Andreas Achenbach, " Portrait Study of a Young Lady " by James Sant, " Portrait of a Lady " by Gilbert S. Newton, and " Sheep and Cows " by Eugene Verboeckhoven. The first of these is too obviously deliberate in its purpose, but the technique is beyond praise and the picture is historically interesting as illustrating the work of a reformer. Mr. Sant's portrait study is not, as might have been expected, swamped by the higher colours by which it is surrounded; on the contrary, its harmony of auburn, brown, black, and yellow gives the study marked individuality. The Newton portrait is of interest both because it is the work of a pupil and nephew of the American artist Gil- bert Stuart, and it is a good example of the affec- tation of early nineteenth-century portraiture. Ver- boeckhoven's animal study is also representative, for these sheep and cows have evidently experienced that atavism by which all animals were transformed in their progress from nature to Verboeckhoven's canvas. It is evident, both from this example and his avoidance of Morland's realistic stable interiors, that Lord Hertford had a preference for the highly polished type of animal study. Nine additional examples of the work of Horace Vernet are in this gallery, two of them, " The Dead Trumpeter " and " The Duke of Nemours Enter- ing Constantine," being specially typical of his art. 64 Ube Hrt of tbc TMallace Collection The latter, which recalls the soldierly qualities of Louis Philippe's son during the Algerian expedi- tion of 1837, is a good example of the style in which Vernet celebrated the glories of the French army; the former is equally representative of the senti- mental and literal manner in which he painted mili- tary anecdote. Not contented with the terror of the horse which bends over the trumpeter's pros- trate body, nor with the affection of the dog who is licking his forehead, the artist must needs assure us that the young soldier is really dead by painting a realistic bullet-wound in his forehead. And to convince everybody of the rank of the dead man a trumpet is a conspicuous accessory of the picture. If he painted a " Wounded Zouave " he bared his leg and depicted the flowing blood; if he showed a couple of soldiers foraging at a barn-door by scattering corn to attract the fowls within, he must put an obvious padlock on the door to explain why they resorted to such strategy. He painted, in fact, for the understanding of the most elementary men- tality; he built a prison for the imagination and shackled it within the four sides of his picture. That assured popularity; it could not fail to be fatal to art. • Another shock is in store for the visitor to this gallery in the form of a trilogy by Leopold Robert, who on visiting Italy in 18 18 became enamoured of ©aiiertes iFline to Uwelve 65 the picturesqueness of the Italian people. It so happened that a band of brigands had been cap- tured, and he was thus afforded an opportunity to study them at close quarters without any personal danger. Hence the pictures of brigand life by which he won a temporary fame. They became ,the fad of the hour; fashionable guests came to his 'Studio with the request, " Dear M. Robert, could you paint a little brigand, if it is not asking too much ? " As Dr. Muther remarks, " Robbers with sentimental qualms were particularly prized; for instance, at the moment when they were fondling their wives, or praying remorsefully to God, or watching over the bed of a sick child." Here, then, are three typical examples : " The Brigand on the Watch," " The Brigand Asleep," and " The Death of the Brigand." They constitute a perfect- melo- drama in three acts. In act one the brigand peers out to the mountains while his wife lies asleep at his feet; in act two the wife, after the style of the old weather-indicators in which the man and the woman took it in turns to hide indoors, has mounted guard while her lawless spouse takes his rest ; in act three the bolt has fallen and the brigand lies low in death with his wife in agony over his corpse. There is the true brigand colouring as well as the accepted brigand posing, but it is all too reminiscent of the " penny plain and twopence col- 66 TLliC Hrt Of tbe TIQlallace Collection oured " sheets which used to be purveyed for the construction of juvenile theatres. To make some amends, the same gallery contains in " An Evening Landscape " a thoroughly enjoy- able example of Camille Roqueplan's romantic style. This subdued study is pitched in a mellow key, the yellow sky tinging the foliage in a poetic manner and forming an admirable harmony with the mist of the distant hills and the sheen of the water. On the other hand, one of the two addi- tional works by Dominique Papety, " The Tempta- tion of St. Hilarion," is somewhat marred by its ' theatrical air. The mortification of the founder of monasticism in Palestine is well suggested by the ghostly pallor of his face, to say nothing of the simple water-bottle and bunch of carrots which he has provided for his sustenance; but the effect is weakened by the obvious " property " table and " property " banquet of fruit and wine which the sirens have prepared to hasten his undoing. As St. Hilarion was a disciple of St. Anthony it was presumably excusable for the artist to make Hila- rion's temptation similar in kind to that of his master. Fai^ more human and sincere is the solitary ex- ample of Charles Louis Miiller, " An Eastern Woman at her Toilette," in which the warm tones of the flowers and the rosy health of the servant ©allerics "Wine to twelve 67 who IS holding the mirror make a pleasant har- mony. There are also in this gallery two typical pictures by Saint-Jean and Bellange, the former being an excellent flower and fruit piece and the latter a spirited little canvas entitled " The Des- patch." Here also are hung Hughes Merle's " Reading the Bible," a picture of genuine relig- ious emotion, and Adrien Pils's " The Surprise," a military study which is somewhat lacking in spon- taneity and heavy in its colouring. Ary Scheffer, Alexandre Desportes, and Paul Delaroche are also represented in this gallery, the first by " The Sister of Mercy," the second by a still-life study, and the last by " Joan of Arc in Prison " and " The Saviour on the Steps of the Temple." The last named is sketchy in nature; the Joan of Arc picture is a small replica of the canvas which won Delaroche so much popularity in 1824 and helped to confirm him in his preference for historical anecdote. Passing into Gallery Eleven, it requires no more than a casual glance round the walls to perceive that the pictures hung here have been selected al- most entirely for their decorative qualities. Even in cases where the subject is not of the decorative type, the treatment is such that the same effect is secured. Take, as an example, the " Venus with Cupids " of Francesco Albani. It is an excellent example of the elegance which characterizes the 68 Zbc Hrt of tbe Mallacc Collection ■work of that Bolognese artist, and thoroughly typr ical of his fondness for cheerful themes. He spe- cialized so much in painting the goddess of love that Lord Hertford showed great discrimination in securing this example; but for all its charm the picture is nothing more than decoration. That is to say, its interpretation is of the surface only. Much the same quality distinguishes the " Tarquin- ius and Lucretia " which is assigned to Guido Cagnacci, another artist of the Bolognese school. The picture is described as a reduced copy of the artist's picture at Rome. Decoration again, though of a harder quality, is represented in Johann G. Platzer's " The Rape of Helen," while Claes Ber- chem's " Italian Landscape with Figures " and Frans van Mieris's " Venus with Cupid and two Amorini " fit in admirably with the sensuous char- acter of the companion pictures. If there is a; slightly jarring note it is furnished by Jean Geri- cault's " A Cavalry Skirmish," a better example of his art than the portrait in the first gallery. Perhaps, too, a slight departure from the general scheme of the gallery may be observed in the sam- ple of Francesco Guardi's work, " A Courtyard in Venice," which by its mellowness and command of light and shade gives an enjoyable foretaste of the pleasure in store in another gallery; and also in the portraits and portrait studies by John Down- Galleries laine to XTwelve 69 man and Madame de Mirbel and the copies by David Teniers the Younger. The examples by Mme. de Mirbel, portraits of J. Fenimore Cooper and Sir Walter Scott, are in the miniature style for which that artist was distinguished; the Down- man examples are equally representative of the paint-heightened crayon sketches by which he is most pleasantly remembered. It was a wise decision which placed in this gal- lery, away from his original works, the four copies of the works of other artists which illustrate the facility of David Teniers in catching the manner of different masters. These four, " The Ascen- sion," "The Virgin of the Cherries," "The Woman Taken in Adultery," and " The Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine," are so admirable in their various styles that one ceases to wonder that many of Teniers's imitations, have deceived the elect and been accepted as originals. When all is said, however, the personality which dominates the gallery is that of Jean Oudry, the favourite painter of Louis XV, who had so large a share in the control of the tapestry works of Beauvais and Gobelins. In his official capacity in connection with those works he took a generous share in supplying the necessary designs, and be- cause he had a marked preference for the incidents of the chase and for still-life he was christened the 70 XCbe art of tbe Mallace Collection " La Fontaine of Painting." All the eight exam- ples of his work of that type which were collected by the Marquis of Hertford are gathered together in this gallery and give it that decorative effect already mentioned. Varying his scheme now and then by the introduction of living dogs, or by the attack of a hawk on pdrtridges, or by the exploits of a fox in a farmyard, Ouflry yet concentrated his chief force on the half-cut melons, the downy peaches, the lustrous grapes, the rich colours of wine, the graceful sprays of foliage, which were his principal models. He holds, indeed, a high posi- tion among those artists who have brought down their quarry with a shot-gun and made the dead produce of the chase their models. Reinforced as these studies are by the " Classic Ruins with Flow- ers and Dead Game " by Alexandre Desportes, who was specially commissioned to portray the hunting- dogs of Louis XIV and did it in the grand style of the time, they provide an admirable opportunity for a decision of that knotty problem — is the pleasure taken by so many in paintings of this class aesthetic or gustatory ? They were evidently greatly to the taste of Lord Hertford, and yet he is de- scribed as the reverse of a gormand. In his case, then, the pleasure of contemplation may have been aesthetic; but in the majority the other motive probably prevails, a delight of reminiscence or ©alleries mine to Uwelve 71 anticipation. No doubt the proper place for such pictures is the dining-room, and that was why Madame de Pompadour requisitioned the services of Oudry for the decoration of that apartment in her Chateau of Bellevue. As there are no more pictures on the ground floor of Hertford House the visitor must now make his way upstairs to Gallery Twelve, a long and somewhat badly-lit apartment. This is given over entirely to three masters of the Venetian school, namely, Antonio Canale (better known as " Cana- letto"), and his two pupils, Francesco Guardi and Bernardo Bellotto, the latter being Canaletto's nephew. With two exceptions the pictures in this gallery, twenty-eight in number, derive their in- spiration and subjects from the canals and build- ings of Venice, and the general effect of the room harmonizes with that produced by the famous de- scription in the lines of Samuel Rogers : " There is a glorious City in the Sea, The Sea is in the broad, the narrow streets, Ebbing and flowing; and the salt sea- weed Clings to the marble of her palaces. No track of men, no footsteps to and fro, Lead to her gates. The path lies o'er the Sea, Invisible; and from the land we went, As to a floating City — steering in, And gliding up her streets as in a dream, 72 Ubc Hct of tbe xmallace Collection So smoothly, silently — by many a dome Mosque-like, and many a stately portico, The statues ranged along an azure sky; By many a pile in more than Eastern splendour, Of old the residence of merchant-kings; The fronts of some, though Time had shatter'd them, Still glowing with the richest hues of art, As though the wealth -within them had run o'er." To pass from one to another of these six and twenty examples of the three artists who painted the " death-mask of the Queen of the Adriatic " is to realize how perfectly they accomplished their task. Such an examination, too, will recall that prose poem in which Ruskin described his memory of that old approach to Venice over the sea. " And at last, when its walls were reached, and the out- most of its untrodden streets was entered, not through towered gate or guarded rampart, but as a deep inlet between two rocks of coral in the In- idian Sea; when first upon the traveller's sight opened the long ranges of columned palaces, — each with its black boat moored at the portal, — each with its image cast down, beneath its feet, upon that green pavement which every breeze broke into new fantasies of rich tessellation; when first, at the extremity of the bright vista, the shadowy Rialto threw its colossal curve slowly forth from behind the palace of the Camerlenghi ; that strange (Balledes IFline to 'twelve 73 curve, so delicate, so adamantine, strong as a moun- tain cavern, graceful as a bow just bent; when first, before its moonlike circumference was all risen, the gondolier's cry, ' Ah ! Stall,' struck sharp upon the ear, and the prow turned aside under the mighty cornices that half met over the narrow canal where the plash of the water followed close and loud, ringing along the marble by the boat's side ; and when at last that boat darted forth upon the breadth of silver sea, across which the front of the Ducal Palace, flushed with its sanguine veins, looks to the snowy palace of Our Lady of Salva- tion, it was no marvel that the mind should be so deeply entranced by the visionary charrn of a scene so beautiful and so strange, as to forget the darker truths of its history and its being. Well might it seem that such a city had owed her existence rather to the rod of the enchanter, than the fear of the fugitive; that the waters which encircled her had been chosen for the mirror of her state, rather than the shelter of her nakedness; and that all which in nature was wild or merciless, — Time and De- cay, as well as the waves and tempests, — had been won to adorn her instead of to destroy, and might well spare, for ages to come, that beauty which seemed to have fixed for its throne the sands of the hour-glass as well as of the sea." Whatever the fate of Venice may be in the gen- 74 XTbe Brt of tbe Mallace Collection erations to come, its peculiar beauty will have an undying memorial so long as the work of Canaletto endures. A native of that city of the sea, where he was born in 1697, he first learned to wield a brush as the assistant of his scene-painter father, whose profession, however, he abandoned in his early manhood when he went to Rome to paint from nature and the ruins of antiquity. He is sometimes carelessly stated to have been the first artist to make " practical use of the camera lucida," whereas that instrument was not invented until 1807; what he did employ in painting his views of his native city was the camera obscura which was well known long before Canaletto was bom. That he owed much to that instrument is obvious from the perfection of his perspective, and it is equally plain that his two pupils relied to a great extent upon the same instrument. In his transcripts of the scenes of Venice, ,as the examples in this gallery show, Canaletto sometimes confined himself to literalism and sometimes be- came an architect on his own account, rearranging, in compositions of the latter type, the buildings in his views to his own artistic satisfaction. But whether literal or inventive, his pictures soon be- came ex:ceedingly popular with English visitors. There were no picture postals in the eighteenth century, or cheap photographs; Canaletto's paint-^ ©allerfes Bine to XTwelve 75 ings supplied the deficiency and provided unique souvenirs of the famous city. So popular did they become, indeed, that the English consul effected a " corner " in them by engaging their producer to work for him for a long term of years, paying him, however, prices far below those he demanded from his fellow countrymen. Save for a brief visit to London about 1746, which has its memorial in this collection in the view of " Old Northumberland House," Canaletto, after his return from Rome, remained faithful to his native city and to the portrayal of its various vistas. Naturally, then, there is a great similarity in the sixteen pictures which are attributed to him or his school, and it must be added that many of them have a somewhat sombre effect. " The Giu- decca with S. Giorgio Maggiore," for example, has an overcast and even flat appearance, while even the famous " Grand Canal with S. Siraeone Pic- colo " is more gloomy than is warranted by the indication that it was painted on a sunny day. There is more warmth in " A Fete on the Grand Canal," which has all the detail of a sharply-fo- cussed photograph ; but the most sparkling picture in the series is Guardi's " The Rialto," which is also surcharged with animation and a feeling of humanity. It is true that Canaletto imparted a more monumental quality to his pictures than 76 Zbc Hrt of tbe TRnallace Collection Guardi, but the paintings of the latter, with their grace and movement, are much better to live with. Guardi, it has been well said, had for his mission the depicting of the "glowing light that spreads over the lagoons." In his pictures " gondolas, adorned with wreaths, glide fairylike, as in the days of Carpaccio, over the green canals, and the columns and balconies, the arches and loggias of marble palaces are reflected in the waves." It was a difference of temperament : Canaletto was largely the disciple of realism; Guardi saw his native city through the vision of romance. CHAPTER lY DUTCH AND FLEMISH CABINET PICTURES Of the three narrow galleries which run along the eastern side of the upper floor of Hertford House, two, numbered thirteen and fourteen re- spectively, are devoted entirely to Dutch and Flem- ish pictures of the seventeenth century. The larger canvases of the artists of those schools are rightly reserved for the chief gallery, an arrangement which provides another example of the admirable manner in which the collection was handled by the hanging committee. These two galleries contain upwards of a hundred pictures, illustrating the work of some sixty artists. Consequently they oflfer the student of art adequate material on which to base a judgment of the Dutch and Flemish schools, the latter being represented by its exponents from Rubens to Coques, and the former by a more numerous company ranging from Mierevelt to Strij. Opinion as to the merits and demerits of these two schools is sharply divided into hearty praise 77 78 XTbe art ot tbe Mallacc Collection and as hearty censure; there is no camp of neu- trals. When the products of those schools, as in the examples in these two galleries, take the form of cabinet pictures, they come under the ban of Ruskin's censure. " Portable art," he said, " is for the most part ignoble art. Your little Dutch land- scape, which you put over your sideboard to-day, and between the windows to-morrow, is a far more contemptible piece of work than the extents of field and forest with which Benozzo has made green and beautiful the once melancholy arcade of the Campo Santo at Pisa." It is true Ruskin qualified this hard judgment by adding that it is possible a portable picture may be " first-rate of its kind," but it is to be feared he did not include the Dutch cabinet picture in that grudging eulogy. He derided the " sensational subtlety of the Dutch school," waxed wroth against " Dutch trickeries of base resem- blance," and rebuked the world for taking delight in the " petty skill that was bred in the fumes of the taverns of the North." Nor was that the sum of his indictment. The Flemish and Dutch masters, he added, were always languid unless they were profane. What most offended Ruskin, who was so zealous a champion of the Italian school, was the absence of " religious feeling or reverence " from even the religious pic- tures of Netherlands art. 2)tttcb anb S'lemisb Cabinet pictures 79 Somewhat similar was the judgment of Sir Joshua Reynolds. To him Dutch pictures had the appearance of " nature as it is seen in a camera obscura." He did assert that artists ought to study the Dutch school to learn the art of painting, but added that they " must go to Italy to learn the higher branches of knowledge." On the other hand, as might have been expected, Goethe was cap- tivated by the Dutch paintings he found at Dresden but was unmoved by those by the Italian mas- ters. Surely the right, the sane, judgment lies midway between these extremists. George Eliot called her- self a " meliorist " in a philosophical sense, invent- ing the word as a compromise between optimist and pessimist, and she proved how balanced her mind was by enjoying all schools of art in that very Dresden gallery where Goethe found himself so partial to the Dutch pictures. To George Eliot the beauty of Raphael's Sistine Madonna was over- whelming, but she also declared that the Venus of Titian was " fit for its purity and sacred loveliness to hang in a temple with Madonnas," and added: " I did not half satisfy my appetite for the rich collection of Flemish and- Dutch pictures here — for Teniers, Rychart, Gerard Dou, Terborch, Mieris and the rest." In other words, the famous novelist was dowered with the grace of artistic charity, a 8o TEbe Hrt of tbe mallacc Collection far more enviable possession than the partial pref- erences of Ruskin and Reynolds and Goethe. After all, too, Netherlands art was the develop- ment of one phase of Italian art, particularly Vene- tian art. It has been pointed out that of the Flem- ish and Dutch painters who studied in Italy the majority took up their residence at Venice and hence came under the influence of that school which glorified " the enjoyment of life and of its splen- dour." Lecky has explained why the sensual note prevails in the works of the Venetian painters. " Never perhaps was any other city so plainly formed to be the home at once of passion and art. Sleeping like Venus of old upon her parent wave, Venice, at least in the period of her glory, com- prised within herself all the influences that could raise to the highest point the jesthetic sentiment and all that could lull the moral sentiment to repose. Wherever the eye was turned, it was met by forms of strange and varied and entrancing beauty, while every sound that broke upon the ear was mellowed by the waters that were below. ... At every period of their history, but never more so than in the great period of their art, the Venetians had been distinguished for their intense appreciation of beauty and for their universal, unbridled, and un- disguised licentiousness. In the midst of such a society it was very natural that a great school of Dutcb and jflemisb Cabinet pictures 8i sensual art should arise." And it was in that school that many of the Flemish and Dutch painters re- ceived part of their training. But what they chiefly learned at Venice was nat- uralism — a method of art rather than subjects. Hence Netherlands art is sensuous but not predom- inantly sensual. As in all schools of art, environment accounted for the peculiar type of picture affected by Flemish and Dutch painters. Denied the influence of the ancient sculptures which played so large a part in the development of Italian art, and possessing a national character the direct opposite of that viva- cious and imaginative spirit which ruled the Italian, what was more natural for the Netherlands artist than that he should apply his lesson of realism to his own surroundings? Thus Flanders and Hol- land, the Flanders and Holland of the seventeenth century, have an enduring memorial in Netherlands art. How faithfully the artists pictured their envi- ronment is convincingly demonstrated by the de- scriptions of travellers who visited Holland in the seventeenth century. One characterized the people as " neither much devout, nor much wicked ; given to all drink, and eminently to no other vice; hard in bargaining but just; surly and respectless, as in all democracies; thrifty, industrious, and 82 Ubc Hrt of tbe TRl^aUace CoIIectfon cleanly." Just the kind of people, in short, who live on the canvases of Metsu, De Hooch, Netscher, and Jan Steen. That " English Gentleman " who, in the end of the seventeenth century, wrote an account of his " late voyage to Holland " and made some observa- tions on the " manners and customs, nature and comical humours of the people," incidentally de- scribed the themes afifected by the Netherlands art- ists. " The land that they have," he wrote, " they keep as neatly as a courtier does his beard " ; their houses, as " smug as a lady that hath newly locked up her colours and laid by her irons," were either " embraced by vines " or stood in " a plump of wil- lows and alders." The first thing the visitor en- countered when he entered those houses was a looking-glass, " a true emblem of politic hospital- ity," and next in order were " the vessels of the house, marshalled about the room like watchmen " ; and for the rest " the lining of their houses is more rich than the outside, not in hangings, but pictures, which even the poorest of the boors are there fur- nished with." Their beds were " no other than land-cabins, high enough to need a ladder or stairs " ; their women " would have good faces, if they did not mar them with making " or show but " half a face " ; their vessels and furfliture shone in brightness and cleanness by " continual pains of 2)utcb an& Jflemfsb Cabinet pictures 83 rubbing and scouring." In short, the " English Gentleman" might have been compiling an inven- tory of the objects displayed in a gallery of Dutch and Flemish pictures. Such a gallery, for example, as that hung in the thirteenth and fourteenth rooms of Hertford House. These hundred and more cabinet pictures enable us to follow the boor from his cradle to his grave. We see the quiet, " fat " landscapes in which his home was planted, with their placid riv-^ ers and plump cattle and gaunt windmills; we watch him asleep or awake, drinking or gambling; we gaze upon his women folk at their toilette, or about their household work, or bending over a lace- pillow or touching the keys of a harpsichord. It is all here, " the daily round, the common task," limned with unfailing zest and meticulous attention to the smallest detail. Although most of the Hobbema landscapes, with their idyllic peace, are rightly placed in the chief gallery, there is one in the thirteenth gallery, " The Outskirts of a Wood," which is a typical example of the pensive style in which that artist depicted the landscape of the Netherlands. The " Hilly Land- scape," too, of Jan Wynants is fully representative of the sandy dunes and gnarled trees so much affected by that painter. These are of the summer time, but the drear season of the year finds its 84 Ubc Hrt of tbe Mallace Collection record in the " Winter Scene " of Aert van der Neer, who inclined more to the sombre moods of nature, the hours of twilight and the short days of winter. It would almost seem as though his pictures were the reflection of his own life, for his work was little appreciated while he lived and he died poor. There is more animation in the can- vases of Aelbert Cuyp, notably in his " Halting at an Inn," " Boy holding a Horse," and " Horsemen in a Landscape," even though they depend to a large extent upon his mastery of atmosphere. As Dr. Muther has pointed out, " whether he paints grazing cattle or camp scenes, the principal theme is not the landscape, but the mighty dome of heaven forming the crimson, gleaming vault above it." At least two of the artists represented in this gallery help us to realize the maritime life of the Netherlands in the seventeenth century, namely, William van de Velde the Younger and Philip Wouwerman. The former followed his father to England and was given an annual pension of one hundred pounds to make coloured copies of the " draughts of sea-fights " sketched by his parent. His " Coast Scene with Shipping " is a happy ex- ample of his placid manner of painting the sea from what may be called the commercial point of view. He was not attracted to the ocean for the sake of tossing waves and raging winds and titanic con- POTTER. — CATTLE IN STORMY WEATHER. Dtttcb an& jflemisb Cabinet pictures 85 flicts between man and nature. Calms appealed to him more than storms because the Netherlands merchants were more intent upon successful tra- ding than hazardous voyages; and for the same reason he was a skilled draughtsman of ships. Much the same spirit breathes from Wouwerman's " Coast Scene with Figures " with its quiet cloud efifect. Another landscape artist who aids us in repic- turing life in the Netherlands is Paul Potter, even though with him the landscape is more or less of an accessory. His preference for the plump cattle of his native land nearly proved fatal to his matri- monial ambitions, for when he wooed the daughter of an architect her father haughtily declared that " a painter of beasts " was no fit match for a child of his. Love and diplomacy triumphed, however, and Potter remained a " painter of beasts " to the end of his life, and as such won the favour of the Prince of Orange. Two characteristic examples from his brush are in this gallery, " The Milk- maid " and " Cattle in Stormy Weather," each of them remarkable for that soft colouring and accu- rate drawing of which he had such an easy com- mand. The two pictures are also interesting as providing illustrations of Potter's skill in depicting either a peaceful sunny day or the gathering gloom of storm. 86 Ube Hrt of tbe Mallace dollectlon But the gem of this gallery, even though it is more poetical than actual, is the " Ideal Land- scape " of Rembrandt. The locality of the scene would be hard to determine ; it is placed somewhere in that " land of dreams " whence Rembrandt so often derived his themes. As Emile Michel has well said, the " conflict between light and shadow, the mysterious poetry of which the master so often rendered, is again the principal theme. In certain portions the warm brownish ground, which barely covers the panel, has been left, and gives the pre- vailing tone of colour, by which means an effect of perfect unity has been won. At a first glance the composition seems very simple; but on closer examination the transparent depths of shadow re- veal a mass of details unnoticed before. The per- spective stretches away into infinity; the planes develop before the spectator's eye. Streams of water pursue their various courses, intersecting each other here and there; and in the landscape the eye gradually discovers a great diversity of character and cultivation ; fields with corn in sheaf ; a town ; a fortified castle, with moat and drawbridge; a village; a few' scattered houses; clumps of trees; roads with passing carriages; and a man in a red cap, leaning on a stick, his servant beside him hold- ing a couple of hounds in leash." All this may seem a formidable, even a fanciful, inventory of Btttcb an^ yiemisb Cabinet pictures 87 so small a canvas, but it does not exceed the truth. And it does less than justice to the warm beauty of the brownish tones in which the scheme is car- ried out. With its idealized touch, the picture is an admirable supplement to those other more real- istic transcripts of Netherlands landscape. Turning now to the genre pictures the attention is arrested by " The Village Alchemist " of Jan Steen, though in this case the canvas does not throw much light on Dutch domestic life. The name of the picture, in fact, is a mere title, and it cannot escape notice that the alchemist betrays nothing of the brooding anxiety of his kind. The study, how- ever, holds well together and pleases by its mellow tone. There are two examples of the work of the younger David Teniers in this gallery, " The De- liverance of St. Peter " and " Boors Carousing," the former in its scriptural theme being somewhat reminiscent of that facility in copying Italian pic- tures which won him the nickname of " the; Ape of painting." Yet it is eminently Dutch in its at- mosphere, for the soldiers in the foreground who are so intent upon their game of dice are obviously fellow-countrymen of the artist. The picture is Dutch too in its rationalistic interpretation of St. Peter's deliverance, for there is nothing of the light that " shined in the prison " or the other miracu- lous incidents of St. Peter's escape. Indeed it 88 XTbe Hrt of tbe TRnallace Collection would almost seem as though Teniers anticipated the higher criticism which seeks a naturalistic ex- planation of the gospel stories. His other example, albeit the carousal of the boors is of a mild type, is a charming genre study, handled in a masterly manner and particularly attractive for its bright colouring. The composition is exceedingly happy and the spacing admirable. It was a daring thing to make two of the figures, one on either side, mov- ing out of the picture, but the straying eye is well stopped on the left by the high light of the shirt of the man who is facing right, while on the right it is called back to the main group by the stick which points in its direction. They are a happy trio, those three in the centre, for the least hilarious of the group is evidently a quietly droll fellow. Another sample of what Ruskin called the " tav- ern fumes of the North " is furnished in Adriaen Brouwer's " A Boor Asleep," for the implication of this study in a tavern interior is that the " fumes " have overcome the reposing model. This is the only example of Brouwer's art in the Wallace Collection, and it is fortunate that it should be so representative of the man and his work. Of the man because he was much given to wandering from tavern to tavern and to spending his days in the company of hard-drinkers. Yet he could retain a certain modicum of sobriety in all his carousing, BROUWER. — A BOOR ASLEEP. 2)utcb an6 jplemfsb Cabinet IMctures 89 for the story goes that when he could not pay his reckoning he would dash off a sketch and send it to a dealer for as much ready cash as it would fetch. And it is characteristic of his art because he found his favourite themes among the tavern scenes which gave him most personal pleasure. This example is painted in low brownish tones and shows how perfect was Brouwer's mastery of his art. Although carefully finished, it has all the charm of a rapid sketch. More domestic are the two pictures by Nicholas Maes, " The Listening Housewife " and " A House- wife at Work." The first-named, of which several replicas are in existence, is an admirable illustration of his command of a glowing colour scheme and is a wholly delightful harmony in brown and crim- son. The second exemplifies the artist's fondness for subjects with women engaged in housewifely duties. Each picture, too, provides evidence that Maes still retained that mastery of colour which he learned as the pupil of Rembrandt. The life of the home in the Netherlands is further illustrated by two of the four pictures by Gabriel Metsu in this gallery, namely the " Old Woman Asleep " and " The Letter Writer Surprised." It is evident that the chief model for the first-named picture was also utilized in another picture, " An Old Woman Sell- ing Fish," for the two canvases are but outdoor 90 Ubc art of tbe XPHallace Collection and indoor repetitions, the varient in the interior study being provided by the woman who is pre- paring the fish for cooking while the saleswoman of the exterior study is enjoying a well-earned repose. Another touch of difference is that the old woman is supposed to have fallen asleep over her Bible. In this picture, too, there is a disturbir^ note in the shape of a cat who is maintaining a pose of absolute calmness notwithstanding the fact that her nose is in close proximity with a dish of fish ! A more comfortable and better- furnished in- terior is shown in " The Letter Wf iter Surprised," which depicts a woman — disclosing only that " half a face " which so annoyed the " English Gentleman " quoted above — caught by her hus- band in the act of writing what is presumably a love letter. She has dropped her sewing for the more pleasant occupation, and is wholly ignorant that in the meantime her husband has crept in and, by leaning over the back of her chair, is reading her epistle with an expression which foi-eshadows a stormy scene. These three pictures, supplemented by " The Sleeping Sportsman," for which Lord Hertford paid three thousand pounds, are thor- oughly t3rpical of the ease with which Metsu varied his theme from the lowly life of the poor to the ease and comfort of the rich. They are of interest, too, a:s illustrations of the artist's power over the '-,ir% ..'■■■■ ^- ^^l^^^lHHIll^j^j^, ■1^1::. :»«». ■ ; r'VH^:- /^^^^^^H|'' - "■ '^^^BBI"' 1^ ■■ ^fc"''. Jj^Wi' ,'^(^'' n^pii^M y'^WL^^^ ■■■;■. **'^**<>t' ' -V ■- ' , ^ ' -J^J^^d . v^BBBM^BHIffll^BBpiliifaj.... METSU. — THE LETTER - WRITER SURPRISED. 2)utcb an& jf lemtsb (Eabtnet pictures 91 gradation of light, his skill in the rendering of texture, and the consummate manner in which he suffused his pictures with a warm tone. Home-life, again, is the dominant theme of such pictures as Gonzales Coques's " A Family Group " and L. Boursse's " Interior : Woman Cooking." The former is rather disjointed in its composition, but is pleasing for its colour scheme; the latter, which is stated to be the only known work of its author, is arresting if only for the skilful handling of the high lights of the woman's cap and the tum- bled bed-clothes in the background. In this scene we have for once a picture which belies the Dutch reputation for tidiness, for the room is in consid- erable disorder apart from the unmade bed. No doubt its mistress could plead as an excuse the small infant lying asleep in the cradle, and the necessity to provide a breakfast for the master of the house. In the two examples by Gerard Terborch, however, we are back again to those spick-and-span interiors so characteristic of the Dutch cabinet pictures. Although these pictures, " A Lady at Her Toilet " and " A Lady Reading a Letter," are the only works of Terborch in the collection, they worthily represent the best style of a painter who handled more aristocratic subjects than most of the Dutch masters. It was his good fortune to secure the patronage of the wealthy and powerful classes early 92 tibe Hrt of tbe imiallace Collection in his career, and that no doubt influenced his art to some extent. The interiors, then, in yvhich these two ladies are depicted are homes of the better class, for there is an unmistakable richness about the fur- nishing of the rooms, especially that of the letter- reading lady. Perhaps, too, it is not fanciful to trace in the subdued colour schemes that attempt to imitate the colours of Velasquez to which Ter- borch is supposed to have been inclined after his study of the Spanish master. Lowly life is again in evidence in the " Old Woman Selling Fish " of Willem van Mieris, a composition which well illustrates the somewhat affected style of that painter, and in " The Smithy " of Karel du Jardin, a carefully-observed scene of peasant life in its more active phase and a good example of the painter's sympathetic manner. Three pictures by Caspar Netscher lend distinction to the gallery, a " Portrait of a Child," " A Lady Playing the Lute " and " The Lace Maker." Al- though of German birth, Netscher successfully caught the style of the Dutch genre painters, as these examples clearly demonstrate. For a time he had inclinations toward the Italian school, but his faith as a Protestant was partially responsible for his settling in Holland, where he soon became dom- inated by the methods and themes of Netherlands art. The finest of his pictures in the Wallace Col- NETSCHER. — THE LACE MAKER. j»uicD ano yiemtsb Cabinet pictures 93 lection is " The Lace Maker," in which it is difficult to decide whether the vigorous manner or the su- perb spacing is more worthy of praise. The pose of this buxom woman is a miracle of naturalism and the modelling of the face, neck and hand is wonderfully plastic. As religion, the religion of the Reformed faith, played so important a part in the life of the Nether- lands during the seventeenth century, it is eminently fitting that the gallery should introduce us to the ecclesiastical architecture of the period, and this is accomplished by Emanuel de Witte's " Interior of a Protestant Church " and Jan van der Heyden's two church exteriors. The latter artist generally affected the quaint streets of Amsterdam, with their warm red-brick houses, or the quays and canals of that city, and he was doubtless attracted to the " Wester Kerk at Amsterdam " because its walls enabled him to exercise his skill on red-brick delineation. That he lavished all his powers on this task is obvious from the photographic detail of the building. De Witte, however, painted with a broader brush, as became an artist who specialized in the somewhat gloomy interiors of the temples of the Protestant faith. This one example of his work shows, nevertheless, with what skill he relieved his bare interiors by shafts of light streaming through the high windows of the Reformed tabernacles. 94 XTbe Hrt of tbe Mallace Collection Although it has no relation to the domestic, or religious life of the Netherlands, there is one more picture in the thirteenth gallery which must not be overlooked. This is the study by Rembrandt en- titled " A' Young Negro Archer," but which is; sometimes referred to as " Study of a Young Negro." The addition of " archer " to this desig- nation is thoroughly justified by a careful exam- ination of the canvas, for even the most careless observer can hardly fail to notice the bow in the negro's right hand and the quiver of arrows slung at the back of his left shoulder. At the same time it may be admitted that these details need looking for. That, . however, applies to the picture as a whole. At a first glance the whole thing seems a mere nothing, a smear, in fact, of black paint in which there are only degrees of opacity. But a closer examination, plus the finding of the right point of view, effects a miracle. Slowly the sombre countenance of the negro separates itself from the black background, until in a moment or two the whole figure acquires the relief of a stereoscopic photograph. This is not so much an example of the well-known Rembrandt light and shade as a unique illustration of how the artist while working in one tone could produce an effect usually requir- ing two or three for its accomplishment. As the Dutch and Flemish cabinet pictures are ■ ,'■ , 1 : /;■';■; .-■ W^' v:: /^ ^^^1 f^ '/'• ' ' f is i i^P^ ^^mk '^^■^i^Q^mS , .;; ■ . *-4i-«ff^^:, :_'■■■ > '■■ ' ■i'vi* - ■■>,. ■' REMBRANDT. — A YOUNG NEGRO ARCHER. S>utcb and jflemtsb Cabinet pictures 95 continued in Gallery Fourteen they naturally in- clude many works by the artists who are repre- sented in the thirteenth gallery. Here, then, are two more examples of Jan Wynants' work, a " Landscape with a Bare Tree " and a " Landscape with Cattle." The former is a tree study of a t3rpical kind; the latter is somewhat out of this master's usual manner inasmuch as it is one of those pictures which need to be first studied from a distance and then examined at close quarters. Aert van der Neer's penchant for wintry scenes and moonlight effects is once more illustrated in " A Canal Scene by Moonlight," " A River Scene by Moonlight," and " A Skating Scene." They are all characterized by that warm golden light which the artist affected in even his twilight studies. Two more Aelbert Cuyp's are here also, " Cattle " and " River Scene with Horsemen," which illustrate his command of atmosphere. Three additional examples of Willem van de Velde the younger increase our knowledge of the careful draughtsmanship he displayed in painting ships and the sea, one, " The Embarkation of Will- iam, Prince of Orange," being also interesting for its record of an historic scene. The seascape work of Philip Wouwerman is further exemplified by " A Coast Scene with Figures " which is notable for its minute finish, while " A Camp Scene " by 96 Zbc art of tbe Mallace Collection the same artist shows much vivacity in its dancing woman, despite the fact that it is carried out in a low key. The " painter of beasts," Paul Potter, is represented by another admirable " Herdsmen with their Cattle," while Jan Baptist Weenix has a stately " Coast Scene with Buildings " to his credit. The other landscape painters who were not repre- sented in the previous gallery include Jacob Isaacksz. van Ruisdael, of whose beautifully designed work there are three excellent examples, " Landscape with a Blasted Tree," " Landscape with a Village," and " Landscape with a Farm." They are a justi- fication of the official note which says that Ruisdael in his " sad and solemn treatment of nature, from a poetic and yet a homely and realistic standpoint, is one of the precursors of the most expressive modern landscape." The solitary example of Jacob van Strij's work, " Cattle," is remarkable for its full body of colour, while of the three additional examples of Claes P. Berchem — " Landscape with Figures," " Landscape with Cattle," and " Italian Landscape with Figures " — the first is almost French in its effect and the last a semi-romantic study unusual in the Netherlands schools. An- other unexpected efifect, too, is provided by Jo- hannes Storck's " Castle on a River in Holland," but that artist was more concerned with decoration than topographical realism. Dutcb an& fflemisb Cabinet pictures 97 Only two examples of the work of Gerard Dou are in the collection, and despite the fact that they are similar in theme — "A Hermit " and " A Her- mit at Prayer " — they are eminently representative of that " soulless, smooth, and over-detailed " art which so excites the ire of some critics. Although Dou was for three years the pupil of Rembrandt, whose distinctive style has left its impress in the light and shade of " A Hermit," he eventually de- veloped a manner of his own, in which elaborate attention to the smallest detail was a prominent trait. For a time he cultivated portraiture, but his infinite pains with his models were too great a tax on human patience and endurance. A story is told, for example, of his spending five hours in painting the hand of one of his lady sitters, which in itself is sufficient to explain why the number of those anxious to visit his studio gradually grew less and less. Addressing himself, then, to subjects which did not call for such a tremendous strain on human patience he found full scope for his minute labour in those genre studies for which he is famous. Such models as he used he was wont to study in a con- cave mirror on the front of which he placed a screen divided by threads into square compartments to aid him in the proportion of his reductions. So minute were his touches that he had to manufacture all his own brushes, and he also ground his own col- 98 Ube Htt of tbe Mallace Collection ours and was most careful to protect them all from the slightest speck of dust. Few were allowed to penetrate into his studio, but one friend who was accorded that privilege has recorded that when he admired a broom in one of Dou's pictures the artist said he intended spending three more days in per- fecting that humble article. All this inexhaustible patience is well illustrated by " A Hermit at Prayer," in which the book, and skull, and hour- glass and other accessories are painted with micro- scopic detail. There is, however, a reminiscence of Rembrandt in the effective lighting of the face and book, while the fine pose and devotional atmosphere redeem the picture from that dryness which might have been expected from the method employed. Two other artists are also represented by a couple of examples, namely, Jan van Huysum, whose " Flowers in a Vase " and " Fruit and Flowers " are distinguished by a finish as microscopic as that of Dou ; and Adriaen van der Werff, whose " Shep- herd and Shepherdess " and " Venus and Cupid " are excellent illustrations of how even the Dutch painter could on occasion dally with mythological themes. The latter is a yellowish harmony sketched in classical correctness, but the coldness of the effect robs Venus of her usual voluptuous appearance; in the former picture the flesh note of the woman's back is admirably forced by the darker hue of the Dtttcb an& fflemisb dabinet pictures 99 man's hand. These two pictures are a reminder that even in the Netherlands of the late seventeenth century there were aristocratic patrons of art whose preferences had to be studied. That Willem van Mieris could also compete with Van der Werflf for courtly patronage is illustrated by his " Venus and Cupid " and " Venus Repo- sing," although it must be admitted that there is nothing sensual in either picture. Other works by the same artist in this gallery are " The Lute Player," "Joseph and Potiphar's Wife," "Boy with a Drum," and "Nymph and Sa|:yr." The first of these, in spite of its low tone, might have strayed from the French school, so voluptuous is the woman ; on the other hand, however, the study of the much-tried Joseph is quite a Dutch version of that episode of wasted opportunity, for what splendours there are belong to the Netherlands and not to the gorgeous East. Of Jan van Mieris there is but a solitary exglmple, " Lady and Cavalier," but .it is a little gem. The browns and delicate blues and high flesh tints make an exquisite har- mony. Three pictures of Jan Steen enable one to revert once more to the more lowly life of the Netherlands "by easy stages. " The Harpsichord Lesson," for example, depicts quite a comfortable interior, the home, in fact, of a prosperous burgher, where the loo XLbe Htt of tbe Wallace Collection furniture is solid and good and the mural decora- tions bespeak a well-lined purse. Even those ad- vantages, however, have not enabled the burgher's daughter to overcome her inbred inaptitude as a musical pupil. Her air of perplexity, not to say stupidity, as she sits with her hands on the keys of the harpsichord is some excuse for the harsh manner in which her instructor seems to be con- ducting the lesson, though even that trial of pa- tience does not quite excuse him for keeping on his hat. It is to be feared the music master is a somewhat bibulous person, a customer, probably, of the tavern which Jan Steen is said to have kept in Leyden; but the yellow and black and brown scheme of the picture is so harmonious that his gruffness and indifference to temperance principles may be willingly forgiven. A nearer approach to the Bohemian life which Jan Steen affected is made in " The Lute Player," the male figure of which is supposed to be a portrait of the artist, and the wheel comes full circle in the " Merrymaking in a Tavern," which exhales those " fumes " to which Ruskin objected so strongly. That tavern scene, however, will delight all who do not share the fastidiousness of the author of " Modern Painters," for it depicts a gathering of great animation and variety of interest. Each of the twenty-one figures is carefully painted, nor Jias 2>utcb an& jflemisb Cabinet pictures loi the artist forgotten to lavish equal skill upon the cat and dog. The canvas is at once a work of art and an excellent example of the humourous anec- dote. Tavern life, too, is represented among the addi- tional examples by David Teniers the younger, for one of the pictures in this gallery is " A Riverside Inn " and another is " A Gambling Scene at an Inn." Quite different in theme is " The Entry of a Prince or Governor into a Flemish City," a crowded composition in which, however, the wealth of incident fails somehow to produce a sense of movement. Two illustrations of Caspar Netscher's skill in fashionable portraiture are provided in " Portrait of a Lady " and " A Dutch Lady," the former of •which might easily pass for a Nell Gwynne. Both have far more grace of pose than the " Family Group " of Coques, which is too reminiscent of the set attitude with which modern families face the photographic camera. Far more alluring is the single example of Hendrick G. Pot's work, " Ladies arid Cavaliers at Cards," a sparkling little picture in which the crimson table-cloth and blues and d^rk purples of the dresses make an enjoyable colour scheme. Two more canvases by Adriaen van Ostade — " Interior with Peasants " and " Buying Fish " — the second of which is notable for its 102 Ubc Hrt of tbe Mallace Collection warm colour, and three additional Rembrandts — " Portrait of the Artist," " Portrait of a Boy," and " The Good Samaritan " — practically exhaust all the other notable pictures in the fourteenth gallery. The first-named Rembrandt is a tiny example; the second has less shadow and is more sparkling and more carefully finished than is usual in the work of that great painter. CHAPTER V FRENCH AND BRITISH NINETEENTH - CENTURY ART Many sins are laid at the door of the wealthy connoisseur, such as that he creates a spurious value in pictures, degrades art to a mere monetary value, allows living painters to starve while he rears sumptuous mausoleums over the dead, and so forth. It is said that a rich collector. Lord Northwick, on meeting Constable in a sale-room, remarked, " I shall be glad, Mr. Constable, to take advantage of your judgment here." Constable, however, re- joined : " I am afraid, my lord, the judgment of a painter is of very little value in such a place as this, for we only know good pictures from bad ones. We know nothing of their pedigrees, of their market value, or how far certain masters are in fashion." But the charge most frequently brought against the collector is that he is not a patriot. Such an indictment, as already noted, was brought against the fourth Marquis of Hertford ; patriotism, it was said, was the last virtue he was entitled to claim. What his impeacher had in view, however, was his 103 I04 Ube art of tbe Mallace Collection absenteeism ; the accusation had no reference to the preferences he showed in his purchases of pictures and the like. That being the case the indictment was weakened in its force ; had it been based upon those preferences it would have been unanswerable. For certainly Lord Hertford was not a patriot in the sale-room. More than two hundred artists are represented in the Wallace Collection, but only twenty-seven of them belong to the British school. On the other hand, no fewer than seventy-four painters of the French school were favoured by Lord Hertford's patronage. This disproportion is cogently illus- trated in Gallery Fifteen, where the proportion of pictures is nineteen British to a hundred and one French, all of them belonging to the nineteenth century, for the eighteenth century work of the French school is grouped in another gallery. Even so, however, it must not be forgotten that the collection of paintings in this gallery is not thoroughly representative of nineteenth-century French art. Catholic as his taste was in many respects, it is obvious that Lord Hertford had no sympathy with certain types of art. He drew the line, for example, at the bombastic style of the Louis Qliatorze period save as it was represented by the still-life of Desportes. On the other hand, he had a pronounced liking for the Louis Quinze manner, jprcncb an& JSritisb art 105 and hence the Wallace Collection is unusually rich in the masters of the eighteenth century. That fact explains the limitations of the pictures in the fifteenth gallery; in the main they appear to have been acquired because they were near akin to the I^uis XV style. All this accounts for the non-representation of the masterful Louis David and for the presence of seven examples of the work of Pierre Prud'hon, whom David scornfully described as " the Boucher of his time." Doubtless it was David's connection with the French Revolution which made him a persona non gratia with Lord Hertford, while his severe drawing and devotion to classical ideals removed him still further from his aesthetic sym- pathy. Any typical examples of David's work would have been sadly out of place in a collection in which the romantic note is so predominant; his high-pitched mood and preference for the costume of the tragic would have introduced an intolerable discord. It is true one of the most faithful of his pupils is here in the person of Baron Gros, but his solitary picture is not in an aggressive mood. More surprising, however, are the other gaps in French nineteenth-century art. There are, for ex- ample, few illustrations of the work of those land- scape painters who developed under the influence of io6 Ube art of tbe Mallace Collection Constable. One picture each for Rousseau and Corot and Dupre seems a small showing for those masters, while of Daubigny and Millet there is not a single example. The latter omission is a striking proof of Max Nordau's assertion that the " rich connoisseur passed him (Millet) by." What is still more strange, even though he belongs to an earlier period, is that, despite the strong preference of Lord Hertford for the domestic pieces of the Dutch and Flemish schools, there is no example of Jean Baptiste Chardin's tender transcripts of home life. So far as chronology goes, the artists repre- sented in the fifteenth gallery lived and worked in the most stirring periods of French history. Be- tween the earliest picture by Prud'hon and the death of Charles Landelle had transpired the overthrow of the monarchy, the French Revolution, the rise and fall of Napoleon, the Restoration, the reign of Louis Philippe, the second Republic, the Second Empire, and the founding of the third Republic. And in the domain of art several dynasties had come and gone, for that period had seen the rise of the classical school, its overthrow by the ro- mantics, and the advent of the realists. In its total effect, however, this collection of pictures neither reflects the storm and stress of the clash of democ- racy and royalism nor the conflicts of the studios; yrencD ano JBrtttsD Hrt 107 if its testimony stood alone the student of art would imagine that the spirit of romanticism in one or other of its phases was always in the ascendency For on a broad view it is colour rather than draw- ing, and the near unfamiliar rather than the dis- tant antique which is the characteristic note. If, however, the pictures do not reflect the trag- edy of history, many of them are reminders of the tragedy of the lives of those to whom they owe their existence. The one example, of the work of Antoine Gros, " General Bonaparte reviewing Troops," a small study of little importance, re- calls the fact that he had his hour of favour, but also revives the recollection of the fact that when, after playing truant from the David fold, he re- turned to his early manner and produced a canvas in the old style, he was assailed with such an out- burst of ridicule that he committed suicide. Even more tragic is the life story suggested by the seven works by Prud'hon. The son of a poor mason, wedded too early to a wife for whom he soon lost all aflfection, he pursued the artistic ideal despite poverty and discouragement. Happiness did come to him, it is true, in the companionship and love of his favourite pupil and mistress, Constance Mayer, but she committed suicide and thenceforth he rarely left his studio save to visit her grave. Eminently appropriate is it that three of Prud'- io8 Zbc Hrt of tbe Xdallace Collection I hon's pictures, "The Zephyr," "Venus and Adonis," and " The Sleep of Venus and Cupid," are examples of the poetry and wistfulness with which he touched the old legend of Eros. The appeal of that legend to Prud'hon was irresistible. " His art was the pure expression of his spiritual life. His life was swayed by women, and some- thing feminine breathes through all his pictures. In them there speaks a man full of soul, originally of a joyous nature, who has gone thfough experi- ences which prevented him ever being joyous again. He has inherited from the rococo style its graces and little cupids, but has also tasted of all the mel- ancholy of the new age. With his smiles there is mingled a secret sadness." Something of that pathetic spirit is reflected in the very technique of the artist. His " hatred of colour " has been ob- jected against his art. Perhaps that is too strong a term ; at any rate, he does depart from that " strict black and white style " which is sometimes said to have been his unvarying method. No doubt the " Venus and Adonis " may be described as a study in flesh tints, but the dark green background gives them a welcome warmth. In the magnificent "The Sleep of Venus and Cupid," too, the dull crimson and brown and blue produce a kindred effect. Prud'hon was certainly not a colourist as most of the romantics were, but given his pensive Hi WBM ^^^^ Hm ^s9HPMuiite:^Pi^^l ^^^^^B^^^^^H'n ^ ■ ^Ki ri ^^^■'J ^E yafcfej'^MPl IIm^.^Jm HV F^H IBs^ ,7 ^i^^H K^S^^Hf ^■fr nMjkT jHJ ^-^-T-^B^M^^ ^^^Wi-\^ WrW^'mW' .«<■.. 1 "f ;o.^^jMi|M^K^ f^ * <(3Jr^^ ijk IKjfe^ iI^hK ji ^H^^ i^A MJ 99 HH^ HI ^^H , ifrencb an5 Brftisb Htt 109 point of view plus his pleasure in Greek m)rth, his method of interpretation is its own justification. Although he was influenced by the subjective man- ner of Correggio, of whom he was a close student, he bettered his master in the modelling of his forms. This power is strikingly shown in " Maternity," a little gem in which an exquisite effect is obtained by the play of light on the mother's half-naked bust. Naturally it is less in evidence in " The Assumption of the Virgin," for that is only a sketch for the picture now in the Louvre ; while in the " Portrait of Josephine Beauharnais " the artist was more concerned to portray the languid weariness of his Creole model. When David stigmatized him as " the Boucher of his time," he was thinking prob- ably of his fondness of the female nude ; what that hide-bound classicist could not appreciate and could not divine was the poetry with which Prud'hon illumined " the glory that was Greece." Leon Cogniet's solitary work in this gallery — there are two of his water-colours elsewhere — " Rebecca and Sir Brian de Bois Guilbert," is of interest only because it heralds the dawn of ro- manticism in its theme. That a French artist should have taken a subject from Scott's " Ivan- hoe " within eight years of its publication is sig- nificant in the light of after events. Not much importance, too, attaches to the four pictures by no Zbc Hrt of tbe Mallace Collectfon Ary Scheffer save as they illustrate the old moral about trying to serve two masters. There is cer- tainly much charm in the " Portrait of a Child," but in that he had the assistance of Isabey's more lively brush ; the others, " Gretchen at the Foun- tain," " Paolo and Francesca," and " The Return of the Prodigal," are at once illustrative of' his fondness for fastening on the gloomy or tragic pages of the books he essayed to interpret. " When he had recourse to the Bible as a source of inspira- tion," noted Dr. Muther, " he selected tender epi- sodes, the sadness of which he transmuted into tear- fulness." The same melancholy note characterizes his pictures based on Goethe's " Faust," as the " Gretchen at the Fountain " demonstrates. Heine could not appreciate that once-popular picture: " You are," he said, " no doubt Goethe's Gretchen, but you have read all Friedrich Schiller." To-day even that partial identity will be questioned. As she stands at the fountain, heedless that her water- jar is overflowing, this Gretchen looks too mature to have attracted Faust and at the same time wears the burdened look of one already acquainted with sorrow. The drawing in this and the other pic- tures is meritorious, but the colouring is earthy and the sentiment vapid. In fact, the bulk of Scheffer's work answers to the title of one of his unfinished pictures, the " Sorrows of the Earth," and it is ffrencb anb JBrttisb Hrt m hardly surprising that his reputation has steadily declined. Yet it should always be remembered to the hon- our of Scheffer that it was he who encouraged Theodore Rousseau to be true to his own artistic impulses and follow his own ideals despite the dictums of studios and schools and masters. He little foresaw what would come of that advice, but he lived long enough to see many of those pictures which won for Rousseau the proud title of "the Father of Modern French Landscape." Like his famous literary namesake, Theodore Rousseau devoted his life to the gospel of the return to nature. Although born in Paris, his heart ■was in the country; from the window of his city attic he created landscapes out of brick walls and chimney-pots. Soon he took to wandering afield on the outskirts of Paris, arid in a happy hour dis- covered the forest of Fontainebleau and the quiet village of Barbizon. The result is written at large in the art history of France, and it was a happy choice which led Lord Hertford to acquire so rep- resentative an illustration of that result as the " Glade in the Forest of Fontainebleau " in this gallery. If Rousseau's life work had to be cham- pioned by a single picture, none would be more equal to the task than this noble, poetical canvas. The plan of the composition is one which he often 112 XEbe art of tbl Wflallace Collection repeated, that is, a boxed-in framework of trees, so that the effect is that of a picture within a pic- ture. Through the glade shines the surface of a placid pool round which cattle are grazing; over- head and on either side the attention is kept within the picture by the lush foliage of majestic trees; in the distance a mellow sky broods over the scene. In the presence of such a poem as this one realizes how apt was the homely metaphor by which one of the Barbizon artists characterized the method of the school : " we saturate ourselves with nature," he said, " and on returning to the studio we squeeze the sponge." Jules Dupre was the artist who used that meta- phor, and he is represented in the gallery by a single small picture entitled " Crossing the Bridge," which, unfortunately, belongs to a period prior to his full discipleship in the school. The picture does show, however, an inclination towards an emotional treatment of nature. Of another member of the Barbizon band, Narcisse Diaz, there are three ex- amples, " Venus disarming Cupid," " The Educa- tion of Cupid," and " A Fountain at Constantino- ple," all of them, as the titles indicate, alien to his landscape work. Within their small area, however, they illustrate the power of Diaz over brilliant col- our effects, and they afford another indication of the romantic principle which guided Lord Hertford f rcncb an& Brftisb art 113 in making his collection. On the other hand, the two pictures by Constant Troyon, " Watering Cat- tle " and " Cattle in Stormy Weather," are thor- oughly characteristic. It is more than a coincidence that the second of these bears the same title as one of Paul Potter's animal studies, for it was after a visit to Holland and a close examination of the work of the Dutch " painter of beasts " that Troyon resolved to devote himself to animal painting. As already noted, the best-known painter of the Barbizon band, Camille Corot, is represented by but a single canvas, " Macbeth and the Witches," but it is happily one which belongs to his maturity and is wholly characteristic of the style by which he is best known and admired^ Like many of his colleagues, he won his way to fame against tre- mendous odds. The son of a modiste, as a youth he was a draper's assistant, and painted his first picture " amid the tittering of the little dressmaker's apprentices, who looked on with curiosity from the window." After eight years of this divided alle- giance, his father promised him a yearly allowance of twelve hundred francs to do as he pleased. His early career with the brush did not give the promise of what he was to achieve, but when he came under the influence of Rousseau he soon found himself and began those idealized interpretations of nature for which his name now stands. Corot has the 114 tTbe art of tbe Mallace Collection distinction of being the artist most appreciated by the " art " photographers, largely because his style of composition lends itself to imitation by the cam- era and also because his softness of outline makes a kind of out-of-focus efifect. " Macbeth and the Witches " is perhaps lower in tone than is usual with Corot, but his theme demanded such a treat- ment for support of the dramatic motive of the picture. The masses of heavy tree foliage and light and shade are handled with wonderful power and breadth, creating a thrilling effect of mystery and awe. The moment chosen is that of the meet- ing of Macbeth and Banquo with the three witches, who are vividly portrayed against the glowing sky. And the picture is also notable because it is a rare example of unity between the figures and the land- scape. It has been truly said that in many of Corot's works the men and women are merely ac- cessories, without any essential relation to the land- scape ; but in this case the landscape is possessed by Macbeth and Banquo and the witches. Two of the most characteristic members of the romantic school, Eugene Delacroix and Paul Dela- roche, are unequally represented, the latter having eight pictures in the gallery to two of the former, the subjects of these being " The Execution of the Doge Marino Faliero " and " Faust and Mephis- topheles." The first of these, which is a tragic O O o fvcncb and JSrlttsb Hrt 115 rendering of the fatal climax of Faliero's conspir- acy, is over-elaborate as a composition ; it is a rest- less picture, wearying the eye in its effort to find a point of repose; but in its emphasis of colour it is a notable example of what Delacroix accom- plished as the " first romanticist." The Faust, too, is supplementary of that impression, and at the same time is a reminder that the artist was a lit- erary painter. His pictures would betray him, as Max Nordau remarks, even if his letters did not. " He read much more in books than in nature, and he supplied paintings that gave evidence of educa- tion and much reading, in which the art-hating, blind-souled Philistines of education delight roy- ally. It may be that the confusion of his portrayal and the loudness of his palette was felt by his con- temporaries as a deliverance from the coldness and precision of David's school. I suspect, however, his earliest admirers valued him chiefly because he fed on the same books, plays, and newspapers as themselves." Such a verdict overlooks the fact that Delacroix had to face much opposition in his lifetime, and that when Louis Philippe gave an order for one of his pictures he stipulated that it was to be as little a Delacroix as possible. Just as Delacroix went to the pages of literature for so many of his subjects, so Delaroche sought his themes mostly in the pages of history. These ii6 Zbc Hrt of tbe Mallace Collection eight examples of his work show how his prefer- ences inclined. Two are the offspring of his happy domestic life: " A Mother and Children " and " A Child Learning to Read " ; the other six are di- vided between sacred and secular history. But in the main his sacred subjects belong to the latter part of his life, " The Virgin and Child " being the result of the visit he made to Rome in 1844. That was not his first visit to the Sacred City; he had journeyed thither nine years earlier to equip himself for that commission for the decoration of the Madeleine which he afterwards resigned. It was his second visit, however, and after the death of his greatly-loved wife, which turned his thoughts more and more in the direction of sacred themes. But those pictures do not show him at his best; even as there is a melodramatic note in his " Joan of Arc in Prison," so in his " Temptation of St. Anthony " the assault of the five women partakes of a stage episode. The latter picture is notable for its minute finish and the great variety of its flesh tones. By far the best of Delaroche's work is that in which he treated historical episodes which have been made familiar by romance. And happily this aspect of his art is worthily represented by three pictures : " Edward V and the Duke of York in the Tower," " Cardinal Mazarin's Last Sickness," fxcncb an5 Sritfsb Hrt 117 and " The State Barge of Cardinal Richelieu on the Rhone." All these were first exhibited in the Salon of 183 1, and at that time critics were in- clined to read some political meaning into the pic- tures, but it has been cogently urged that the artist was too true to himself and his art to allow party spirit to influence him in his choice of subjects. " His sympathy with all suffering was deep, and he recognized with enthusiasfic appreciation the martyrs of every country, quite apart from their political bias." In the case of the youthful sons of Edward IV this may be at. once admitted ; their moving story is a legitimate object of cosmopolitan sympathy, and it is depicted in Delaroche's canvas with poignant force. Seated on their bed in the Tower, the one lad leaning in foreboding on the shoulder of his brother, who has paused in his read- ing at the sound of approaching footsteps, the dark tone of the rich velvet hangings seems a symbol of the imminent tragedy: This is a far more pow- erful because more restrained treatment of that pathetic page of history than the picture by Theo- dor Hildebrandt, which introduces a couple of evil- looking assassins on the point of smothering the ill-fated lads. Delaroche was not concerned with historical discussion; he takes no side with or against those who argue about the guilt or inno- cence of Richard III; what attracts him is a story ii8 Ubc Hrt of tbe Mallace Collection of human pathos, a story which shows how near frail humanity may be to glory and power and yet never reach the goal. But in the other two pictures the artist's appre- ciation of martyrdom is surely of a more subtle quality. What was there of the martyr in Cardinal Mazarin? Virtual ruler of France for many years, that Italian of lowly origin was more than repaid in wealth and power for all his services to the state, and when Delaroche elected to depict his dying hour he had perforce to rely upon an implied contrast for his effect. Here, then, in the death- chamber of the powerful minister there are vari- ous groups indifferent to everything save their own amusement. Some are playing at cards, some en- gaged in animated gossip ; all alike have no thought for the dying statesman, the pallor of whose face shows that the end is near, and contrasts vividly with the healthy hue of his heedless guests. The picture is a satire on human pride and glory: to this must the greatest come, to the hour of dimming light and muffled sound, and those who have been the great man's obsequious flatterers, the cringing courtiers among the men and the frail beauties among the women, his toys in hours of health, laugh and jeer beside his bed in the solemn moment of his dissolution. More conflicting still is the surface impression jprencb an5 J5ritisb art 119 created by a first glance at " The State Barge of Cardinal Richelieu on the Rhone." The incident depicted belongs to the close of the merciless car- dinal's career, to the climax, indeed, of the con- spiracy against him plotted by Cinq Mars and con- cealed by his friend De Thou. Richelieu was a dying man, but that did not thwart him from full revenge. So Cinq Mars and De Thou were towed along the Rhone to their trial at Lyons in the wake of the state barge of the great minister. Hence there are two points of interest in the picture, even though most emphasis is laid upon Richelieu and his attendants. When the eye wanders, however, to the two victims in the rear barge it notes with surprise that they are by no means downcast at their position; the defeated man here is not Cinq Mars or De Thou, but the powerful Richelieu him- self. And that perhaps was the moral Delaroche wished to teach. As a pupil of Delaroche it was natural for Thomas Couture to incline towards the historical school of painting, and in so far as he will be re- membered in the years to come it will be by reason of his " The Romans of the Decadence," the pic- ture of 1847 which created so profound a sensation, that he at once became the most popular art teacher of the day. One of his five pictures in this gallery, " A Roman Feast," is specially interesting because 120 Ube att of tbe TRIlallace Collection it was a preliminary study for his famous canvas. This sketch, indeed, is in some respects more sin- cere than the more elaborate picture ; it harmonizes more thoroughly with the poet's lines : " On that hard Pagan world, disgust And secret loathing fell; Deep weariness and sated lust Made human life a hell." For in his large canvas Couture marred his effect by too frigid posing; whereas in this smaller pic- ture, in addition to the seductive quality of the flesh tints, the grouping is natural. The other pic- tures from his brush — " The Young Drummer," " Timon of Athens," " The Duel after the Masked Ball," and " Harlequin and Pierrot " — are excel- lent in drawing and pleasing in colour but not other- wise important. To the same school as Couture, the historico-romantic, belonged Joseph Robert- Fleury, whose " Charles V at the Monastery of Yuste " is his only picture in this gallery. The effect of the canvas rightly emphasizes the spurious- ness of the Emperor's abdication, for it depicts a spacious interior peopled by an audience as stately as though the monarch had not ostensibly aban- doned his regal splendour. In its low tone, too, the picture approaches perilously near the domain f rcncb an^ JSrftisb art 121 of melodrama. But the artist was so careful of his details that it has all the value of a contemporary record. While, as has been seen, many of the roman- ticists sought their lyrical subjects in the moods of nature or in the pages of the poets and historians and mythologists, there were others who elected the unfamiliar scenes of the Orient as their themes. The unusual is with many the equivalent of the picturesque. Thus Holland is the paradise of the amateur photographer ; the quaint houses, the mir- ror-like canals, and the odd costumes of the people enable him to secure unlimited snapshots which have the impression of being pictorial because they are of places and people with which he is not famil- iar. Dr. Muther, however, found a more mixed motive in the enthusiasm of the romanticists for the East. He thought it was accounted for by the travels of Chateaubriand, the verse of Byron, the Greek war of liberation, and the conquest of Al- giers. The painters followed in the wake of the army, and were as much enraptured with what they saw as though the Arabian Nights had become visualized before their eyes. " The bazaars and harems, the quarters of the Janizaries and gloomy- dungeons were visited in turn. Veiled women were seen, and mysterious houses where every sound was hushed.. At first the Moors, obedient to the stern X22 Ube art ot tbe Watlace Collection laws of the Koran, fled before the painters as if before evil spirits, but the Moorish women were all the more ready to receive these conquerors with open arms. Artists plunged with rapture into a new world; they anointed themselves with the oil of roses, and tasted all the sweets of Oriental life. . . . Here the romanticists not only found nature decked in the rich hues which satisfied their passion for colour, but discovered a race of people of that beauty which, according to the classicists, was only to be seen in the Italian peasants." All this left a deep impression on the French art of the day, as is illustrated in the fifteenth gallery in the work of Vernet, Marhilhat, Landelle, Gerome, and Decamps. Of these five the last-named is the most repre- sentative of the Oriental romanticists. The seven examples by Horace Vernet are but so many addi- tional illustrations of his amazing fertility as an improvisator; the solitary canvas by Charles Lan- delle, " An Armenian Woman," has a far more noble style. Leon Gerome is responsible for three pictures — " The Draught Players," "An Arab Soldier," and " The Guard of the Harem " — which are admirably typical of his frigid style and pre- cision of execution. On the other hand, the four pictures by Prosper Marhilhat while lacking in vig- our have a poetry all their own. One, " The Erec- theum at Athens," is a memory of Greece; the ifrencb ant) Britisb Hrt 123 others — "On the Nile," "Palm Trees," and "A Scene on the Nile " — speak eloquently of his love for Egypt, a passion which led him to describe him- self as " Marhilhat the Egyptian." Alexandre G. Decamps was one of the first to succumb to the spell of the East, and from about his thirtieth year onward it was the light and pic- turesqueness of the Orient which dominated his work. Fifteen of his pictures are hung in this gal- lery, the majority being in his Eastern style. The exceptions are a spirited study of " The Witches in ' Macbeth,' " an almost classical " The Roman Cam- pagna," an anecdote " The Bookworm," and a stately handling of " The Villa Doria-Panfili at Rome." In the latter not much of the villa is seen; the proportion of building to landscape is about the same as the amount of Inverary Castle in Turner's picture of that name; but on the right there is a glimpse of the lovely garden terrace, while the bal- ance of the composition is occupied with noble cedars, shadowy woodland glades, the sheen of water, radiant peacocks, and a glowing yellow sky. For the Eastern manner of Decamps one must turn to such pictures as " Arabs Reposing," " A Well in the East," "Asses at Boulac," and "The An- chorage at Smyrna," the latter being an admirable example of the artist's command of light and col- our. The " Well in the East," again, is an excel- 124 tlbe Hct of tbe TKaallace Collection lent illustration of the full body of colour common to the Oriental studies of this artist, and at the same time it exemplifies the somewhat artificial manner in which he secured his light efifect. As a matter of fact, he was not successful in suggest- ing the full glory of Eastern sunshine, simply be- cause he had little command of transparent shadow. His method of portraying high light was to face his scheme by solid shadow, and, consequently, while his colouring sometimes becomes monotonous, he is rather a chiaroscurist than a painter of light. His landscape, too, is always better than his figures, as is shown in such a picture as " Joseph Sold by his Brethren." By far the most famous of De- camps' works will be found among his water-col- ours in another gallery. A charming example of the romantic genre work of Eugene Isabey is provided by the " Court Re- ception at a Chateau," an Old World out-door scene of rare beauty introducing many picturesque figures of a bygone age. In such themes as this he was at his best, for it is in treating such subjects that he " binds together, as it were, a bouquet sparkling with colour, shot with the hues of ample damask folds and heavy gold-embroidered silk." A second example, " The Young Mother," is reminiscent of his miniature style, while the third, " A Promenade by the Sea," represents his later manner. Two ifrencb an5 Britisb Hct 125 more of the romanticists, Camille Roqueplan and Felix Ziem, have but one picture each in this gal- lery, "The Lion in Love" of the former and the "Venice" of the latter. The first-named is an allegory in colour and is suffused with a warm atmosphere; the other picture is thoroughly typ- ical of Ziem's scenic style. The four pictures by Rosa Bonheur do not show that artist at her best. On the other hand, however, the claim of the official catalogue that no public gallery can show so complete a series of the smaller pieces of Ernest Meissonier as the Wallace Collection is thoroughly justified. They are sixteen in number, and include, in the " Dutch Burghers," what is supposed to be the first picture of the artist. When shown at the Salon in 1834 it bore another title and has since been known as " The Visitors." It depicts a couple of burghers calling on the Burgomaster, and the careful manner in which the green table-cloth and the glasses and stone jar are painted is prophetic of the true Meissonier style. In fact, the artist seems to have always been an exceedingly tidy per- son. As a druggist's assistant he had manifested his careful and conscientious nature, excelling in the " preparation of Burgandy pitch, the tying up of neat little packets, the glib utterance of ' and the next article ? ' " How it came about does not clearly transpire, but it is obvious that once he 126 Ube Htt of tbe Wallace Collection found himself he became fired with the ambition to emulate the manner of the Netherlands school. " Every genius," wrote Gautier, " is the son of some other genius, but the artist may be the son of a father dead long before his birth. Terborch, Netscher, Metsu, Brouwer, Mieris, Frans Hals, Van Ostade, and Pieter de Hooch should hang upon Meissonier's walls as portraits of ancestors; but this filiation does not prevent him from being him- self an ancestor. Dutch art is essentially national. Meissonier's originality made it both French and universal." Familiar as many of these pictures are by repro- ductions, it is only when the originals are seen in all the glory of their beautiful colouring and micro- scopic finish that one can appreciate the infinite patience the artist spent upon his work. Such ex- amples as " A Musketeer : Time of Louis XHI " and " A Cavalier : Time of Louis XIH," the latter a remarkably spirited study, would be proof enough by themselves of the infinite patience with which Meissonier informed himself of the costume and other details of his periods, in the pursuit of which, it will be remembered, he became a zealous collector of the relics of the past. What a wealth of detail, too, is shown in " The Print Collectors," with its well-stocked portfolio, its crowded mantelpiece, its pictures on the wall. More simple in treatment is f rcncb anO asrttisb Hrt 127 " The Hired Assassins " with its two tense figures waiting at the door through which their victim will soon emerge. It is full of suspense and exhales a spirit of imminent tragedy. In another key, again, are the " Halting at an Inn " and " The Roadside Inn," the latter being a charming study of bright sunshine filtering through luscioiis sum- mer foliage. Another out-door scene of poetic quality is " The Decameron," a nook in the artist's garden at Poissy, in which a poet is singing on his guitar to a little company of lords and ladies. , In the " Soldiers Gambling " the tragic note is touched once more, for the soldier who has lost has the air of a man from whom violence may be expected. It is a relief to turn to the " Polichinelle " with its infectious humour. The collection is indeed rep- resentative of Meissonier's miniature style and ex- plains why his work was so popular with wealthy connoisseurs. But it is time to turn to those nineteen paintings of the British school which are scattered through the fifteenth gallery. Five artists account for them all, David Wilkie, Clarkson Stanfield, Richard Parker Bonington, Edwin Landseer, and Thomas Sidney Cooper. The best-known of these is Land- seer, whose most characteristic picture is a dog study entitled " Looking for the Crumbs that fall from the Rich Man's Table," his other contribu- 128 Ube Btt of tbe Wallace Collection tions being " A Highland Scene " and " The Arab Tent." Cooper, too, is typically represented by " Cattle," one of those smoothly-painted animal studies which were so native to the artist's brush that they can always be recognized as soon as they come within the range of vision. Stanfield's two pictures, " Beilstein on the Moselle " and " Orford on the River Ore," will be regarded with interest by those who remember that Ruskin once declared that painter to be the " noblest master of cloud form of all our artists," but their somewhat monot- onous colouring will help to explain why his repu- tation has steadily declined since his death. Although the two pictures by Wilkie — " Scotch Lassies Dressing " and " A Sportsman taking Re- freshment " -^ are small in size, they happily belong to his earlier style, the first-named being quite char- acteristic of the peasant genre painting by which he is best known. Founded upon an incident in Allan Ramsay's " Gentle Shepherd/' a poem from which he selected a subject for one of his earliest pictures, the " Scottish Lassies Dressing " displays that close observation of human nature which makes Wilkie's genre studies so enjoyable. The other picture is really a portrait, for the sportsman was none other than the gentleman who commissioned the painting. So far as the British school is concerned, how- jfrencb an& Britisb Hrt 129 ever, the chief glory of this gallery is that it in- cludes no fewer than ten examples of Bonington's distinguished work. That artist is sometimes claimed for the French school on the ground that he received his artistic education at the Louvre, and in the studio of Baron Gros, but Ernest Ches- neau declares that he owed his " aristocratic ele- gance in painting " to his English blood. He cer- tainly did his best to discharge his indebtedness to his French training, for, as will be observed, three of his pictures in this gallery are founded upon incidents in the royal history of France, and they are perhaps the most charming of the ten. Painted in a low tone, the " Francis I and Marguerite of Navarre " shows the king reclining in a chair in an easy attitude while half turning to gaze up at his beloved sister. She is standing at a lovely Gothic window and reading with a puzzled look the satire on her sex which Francis had scratched with a diamond on one of the panes : " Souvent femme varie, bien fol qui s'y fie." It could not apply to her; she had not given him any reason to believe that " Women often vary ; a man's very foolish to trust them " ; and her perplexity may have been due to an effort to guess which of his mistresses her brother had in his mind. But the picture is more than a conundrum; it is a colour poem of inimit- able grace and refined taste. I30 ^be Hrt of tbe Wallace Collection All Bonington's rare gifts plus a vein of satire are illustrated in " Henry III and the English Am- bassador," another superbly-painted regal interior in which that weak and worthless king is depicted in his true character. Another and better trait of royalty is shown in the famous " Henry IV and the Spanish Ambassador," in which the paternal affection of the monarch, as he plays on the floor with his children, is finely contrasted with the haughty pose of the ambassador who has come suddenly upon this family scene. To supplement these historical genre pictures are a Shakespeare theme, " Anne Page and Slender," and several of those French coast scenes and views of Venice which illustrate the artist's command over atmos- phere and refined draughtsmanship. Bonington's work, indeed, has nothing to fear from its close companionship with the best efforts of the French romanticists. CHAPTER VI THE MASTERPIECES OF THE COLLECTION Were there no other pictures in Hertford House than those displayed in Gallery Sixteen the man- sion would still be a veritable Mecca for the art student. For it is in this noble apartment that the most important canvases are hung. There is one exception to its representative character; no ex- amples of the French school find a place on its walls; it was probably thought that such works would have had a disturbing efifect. All the other important schools, however, the Italian, Spanish, Flemish, Dutch and British, are illustrated among the hundred and one pictures which the gallery contains. And, such is the lighting and breadth of the room, they can all be studied under the most favourable conditions. In not a few of the other galleries the lighting is hardly of the best, while the narrowness of several of the rooms makes it almost impossible to view the pictures from a proper distance. When some of Rembrandt's vis- itors inspected his pictures too closely he reminded them that " the smell of paint was very unwhole- ISl 132 Ubc Hrt of tbe MaUacc Collection some." Could he stroll through some of the rooms at Hertford House he would need to repeat that warning. In the great gallery, however, the vis- itor has no excuse for smelling instead of looking at the pictures, while the top-lighting is all that can be desired. Inasmuch as an examination of this gallery in the numerical order of the pictures would entail a constant readjustment of biographical and other data, the wiser plan will be to follow the chrono- logical sequence, especially as such a method will be most instructive for those interested in the de- velopment of art. That being the case it is, of course, the works of the Italian painters which will first demand attention. These are but seven in number, divided among Cima da Conegliano, Francesco Bianchi Ferrari, Bernardino Luini, An- drea del Sarto, and Titian. Three of these artists are represented by but a single picture, but the examples are of first-rate quality. The " St. Catherine of Alexandria " of Cima, for instance, is thoroughly representative of the serious style of that artist. The figure of the patron saint of philosophy and the schools is of full length and statuesque pose, in that harmonizing with the architectural character of the composition as a whole. She stands rigidly on a low pedestal, one hand holding the train of her robes, the other CIMA DA CONEGLIANO. — ST. CATHERINE OF ALEX- ANDRIA. Ube /Masterpieces of tbe Collection 133 grasping the martyr's palm and resting lightly on a segment of a broken wheel. Notwithstanding the more than four centuries which have passed since it was painted, the canvas is in a remarkably fresh condition, its blues and dull crimson having suc- cessfully withstood the flattening efifect of time. The landscape of the background suggests the-love of the mountaineer for the Alpine region in which he was born, for behind the walled town rise the hills he loved. In its tranquillity and dignity, not less than in the somewhat inanimate expression of the saint's face, the fanel is a typical example of Cima's work. In close proximity to this picture is the " Alle- gorical Subject, with Two Nude Figures in a Land- scape," which is the only example of Bianchi's work. He is a little-known painter of the Modenese school and few facts have yet been ascertained of his life or paintings. As will be noticed, even the title given to this canvas is exceedingly vague. Its subject is two nearly nude figures of a man and woman, the latter asleep, and the flesh tint of the female is cold compared with that of the male. The landscape setting is painted with considerable strength, and is thought to aflford a clue to the theme of the picture, which, as the official catalogue suggests, may consist in an attempt to represent an idyll as described by some classical poet. The pic- 134 'Q^be mrt ot tbe Mallace Collection ture is of further interest as the work of the artist who was the earliest master of Correggio. Two examples by Bernardino Luini are replicas so far as subject is concerned, each being entitled " The Virgin and Child," though one is assigned to the artist's early period and the other to his ma- turity. The earlier picture is indeed a good exam- ple of that daintiness which characterized the work of his young manhood, and it is thought that the landscape background betrays the influence of An- drea da Solario. The drawing is distinguished, the red and blue colour-scheme harmonious, while the facial expression of the Virgin is as motherly as that of the child is infantile. In the later example, which is painted in a lower key, the Virgin has a far sadder expression, and yet even she recalls the puz- zle which often perplexed George Eliot. She often wondered, she said, whether those early Madonnas " with the blond faces and somewhat stupid ex- pression, kept their placidity undisturbed when their strong-limbed, strong-willed boys got a little too old to do without clothing." This second pic- ture, however, with its deep blue of the Virgin's robe and the dark yellowish flesh tones, is an ad- mirable example of the tender manner Luini cul- tivated in his prime. One other sacred picture of the Italian school is provided in the important example by Andrea del -■ 1 m * aJ^^ B F4i ^^^^^^ LUINI. — THE VIRGIN AND CHILD. Ube flDastcrpfeccs ot tbe dollectfon 13s Sarto, " The Virgin and Child, with St. John the Baptist and two Angels." Truthfully described as the finest painting of the artist to be seen in Eng- land, it will also appeal to many for its connection with the artist's life. Vasari has told at length the story of Andrea del Sarto's marriage and how his wife became his favourite model for his vari-. ous studies of the Madonna and other women of scripture. " Indeed he rarely painted the counte- nance of any woman in any place that he did not avail himself of the features of his wife; and if at any time he took his model from any other face, there was always a resemblance to hers in the painting, not only because he had this woman con- stantly before him and depicted her so frequently, but also, and what is still more, because he had her lineaments engraven on his heart; it thus happens that almost all his female heads have a certain some- thing which recalls that of his wife." On the the- ory of Browning, economy was a factor Vasari overlooked : " You must serve For each of the five pictures we require; It saves a model." If for nothing else, the " Faultless Painter " would live in the history of art by the romance and tragedy of his marriage. When he fell hopelessly 136 Ube Htt of tbe TKnallace Collection in love with the fascinating Lucrezia del Fede she was the wife of a hatter, and, notwithstanding her lowly birth, was as much distinguished for her pride and haughtiness as for her beauty. When her husband died suddenly, her hand was at once sought and won by Andrea del Sarto, who, how- ever, had many reasons to repent of his infatuation. The one thing that stands to her credit is that she provided the painter with an exquisite model, as is fully demonstrated in the pensive and piquant beauty of the Virgin in this picture. All the fig- ures are of a somewhat unconventional type with the exception of the small monkish St. Francis who is seen in the distance falling to the ground in an ecstasy of delight as he listens to the music of an angel in the sky. The Child and John the Baptist and the two youthful angels have a delightfully naive expression, and the crimson and blue and olive green of the colour-scheme accord perfectly with the spirit of the composition. Browning cred- ited the artist with the boast. " No sketches first, no studies, that's long past," but such a statement does not harmonize with the fact that two studies for the St. John of this pic- ture are still in existence. Each of the other Italian pictures deals with a ' *'vfl^H Ltf* 1 k ifl — ANDREA DEL SARTO. — THE VIRGIN AND CHILD, WITH ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST AND TWO ANGELS. tCbe fl&asterpicccs of tbe Collection 137 secular subject, one, the " Venus disarming Cupid," being for the present without an artist's name. When it hung in the Orleans Gallery it was as- signed to Giorgione, but that ascription has been abandoned as have many other claims of a kindred nature. In explanation of the now nameless clas- sification of the picture the official note says : " It stands midway in style between the work of that master and that of Titian in his Giorgionesque phase. But for all the richness and beauty of the characteristically Venetian colour, for all the noble simplicity and the suavity of the design, it is too weak in the construction of the figures, and, espe- cially in the landscape, too empty in execution, to be by either the one or the other of these great painters. The Venus, the Cupid, and the landscape- background approximate more closely in type to the productions of Titian in his Giorgionesque phase than to the best authenticated works of Gior- gione himself." Another fact which makes against the Giorgione authorship is the un-sensual nature of the Venus and the over-innocent aspect of the Cupid. That unnamed picture of the Venetian school, however, forms an appropriate introduction to the examples by Titian, one of which, " The Rape of Europa," is, nevertheless, nothing more than a copy of that famous painting which is now in the 138 Ube Hrt of tbe Wallace Collection possession of Mrs. John Gardner of Boston, Mass. This replica is on a greatly reduced scale but is remarkably faithful to the original. The Bull and Europa, the two cupids in the air, are all repro- duced in a manner which does justice to the model from which they are painted. The other canvas, " Perseus and Andromeda," is a veritable work from the brush of the great Venetian himself, the interest of which is enhanced by its romantic his- tory. Although well known to Vasari, who said of it that " a more beautiful painting than this could not be imagined," and once in the possession of Philip II of Spain, it was actually lost to sight for nearly a hundred years. Its last appearance in the auction-room was in 1798, and it was only brought to light again when Claude Phillips was engaged in preparing the Wallace Collection for public exhibi- tion. It is characteristic of Titian's work inasmuch as the Andromeda supports the contention that the artist knew neither passion nor desire. " A female body did not signify a woman for him, but a har- mony of form, line and colour. Like his picture of Alfonso d'Este placing his mailed fist upon the bosom of his beloved is Titian's feeling for women." Certainly this Andromeda is not a voluptuous woman; she is hardly beautiful save in a limited sense; had the daughter of Cassiopeia not possessed more charms her mother would hardly have dcr ._; i ^ -' ,'''M 1 V'' \l |r^.^l^ '■'^^^SM^m^ 2 w o g < w 2; UDe TBSasterpteces of tbe Collection 139 dared her more lovely than the Nereids. The pic- ture, too, is painted in so low a key that the entire composition makes perhaps the least sensual ren- dering of the famous myth. And, notwithstanding the fame of Titian, it may be objected by some that the ungainly attitude of Perseus huddled to- gether in the sky hardly makes for abstract beauty. Yet that the canvas was highly esteemed by other artists is proved by the colourable imitations which owe their existence to it. Its chief outlines are followed in reverse by the painting attributed to Paul Veronese, though in that version the Androm- eda is a much more attractive maiden and Perseus is seen wearing the helmet of Hades and the winged sandals which were the gift of the nymphs. Only three painters of the Spanish school are represented in the Wallace Collection, Velasquez, Cano, and Murillo. Eight pictures are catalogued under the name of Velasquez, of which six are in the sixteenth gallery. What is the ordinary lover of pictures to make of them? Some critics wax eloquent over the opportunity they afiford to study the work of the great Spanish master; others as- sert that those who have not seen his pictures at Madrid " do not know Velasquez at all." It is really most confusing. And especially as the Velas- quez cult is of niodern origin. The two sides of the matter may be best presented by a citation of I40 XTbe Htt of tbe XBHaUace Collection the opinions of Byron and Wilkie. Writing in 1817 the poet said : " In Spain I did not think much of Murillo and Velasquez." Nine years later, how- ever, Wilkie in writing from Madrid declared that he felt himself in the presence of a new power in art as he looked at the works of Velasquez. It would seem, then, that the problem resolves itself into the difference between the point of view of the layman and the artist. This is confirmed by the assertion that while the picture-dealers in Madrid can always produce a " genuine Murillo " for sale to the tourist, not one of them shows a " genuine Velasquez." And why? "He knows that at best it could only appeal to artists." In other wgrds, the Spanish master is held to be the artists' artist. And there is another disturbing factor. The critics are by no means agreed as to the authen- ticity of the pictures attributed to Velasquez. One authority assures us that there are no fewer than two hundred and seventy-four of his pictures in existence; another reduces the total to ninety! Again, on the one hand, we are informed that in Great Britain alone there are one hundred and twenty-one genuine works of the master; but, on the other hand, there is the declaration that the number of genuine pictures in the United Kingdom do not exceed fourteen ! Take the case of the six pictures hung in this 4 ^^^^ ^pI^^^I HB^^ ^^\-.' '^^a^^^^Gfl^W ''^ ^IRjjn^Fx^j^nfl #* ^^^I^^^HSH^Rv'^t^v.f '.^jg^^HM^KB 1 'W- % ;:i:'- J 1 — ■ '>K-t;fr'''ir'-,-^-r VELASQUEZ. — DON BALTASAR CARLOS IN INFANCY. ^De /Dasterpteces of tbe Collection 141 gallery. One is frankly described as " after Velas- quez," and two others are catalogued as " ascribed to Velasquez." That leaves three. But concerning one of those three the latest biographer of the artist, Aureliano de Beruete, will not, by any means, admit that it was the work of Velasquez, while of another the statement is made that the authorship is " open to discussion." So the six pictures are reduced to one of unquestioned authenticity ! Even that, however, a portrait of " Don Baltasar Carlos in Infancy," is admitted to contain details not from the brush of Velasquez. The admission is wise; when the visitor endeavours to fix his attention upon the chubby face of the ill-fated son of Philip IV, he at once realizes that the canvas has two distracting points which are fatal to undivided in- terest. These are the aggressive tassel on the right and the equally " loud " hat-plume on the left. So both these are declared to, have been painted " by a brush less skilful than that of Velasquez." With regard to the " Don Baltasar Carlos in the Riding School " it may be admitted that the horse on which the infant prince is seated has a marked affinity to the kind of steed affected by the Spanish master. That is to say, its attitude, with both front feet off the ground, is vividly suggestive of the impossible horses which were painted prior to the days of instantaneous photography. And 142 Ube Hrt of tbe TRnallace dollectfon yet no less a person than Ruskin asserted that " everything Velasquez does may be taken as abso- lutely right by the student." There is a replica of this riding-school picture in the collection of the Duke of Westminster, and they have both been frequently praised as " typical examples of the master." Sir Walter Armstrong, however, in- forms us that he has compared them touch for touch and has come to the conclusion that there is comparatively little of the master's own work in either. He believes, indeed, that they were both the work of that clever son-in-law of the painter, Juan Bautista del Mazo, who seems to have exer- cised his imitative gifts on a wholesale scale. Many, however, will be able to enjoy the riding-school picture for its own sake, so pleasing is its scheme of black and brown and gray, and so admirably are all the details subordinated to the principal figure. The same limited interest attaches to " A Boar Hunt," for it is freely admitted that this is not a genuine Velasquez. But what is to be said about the remarkable " Portrait of a Spanish Lady " ? A writer in the Encyclopaedia Britannica is enthusiastic in his eu- logy of this picture. " It has been remarked that the Spaniards have always been chary of commit- ting to canvas the portraits of their beautiful women. Queens and infantas may be painted and XCbe /Masterpieces of tbe dollectfon 143 exhibited, but ladies rarely. One wonders who the beautiful woman can be that adorns the Wallace Collection, the spkndid brunette so unlike the usual fair-haired female sitters to Velasquez. She be- longs to this period of his work, to the ripeness of his middle period. Instinct with life, her bosom seems to heave and the blood to pulsate through her veins. The touch is firm but free, showing the easy strength of the great master. Rarely has flesh been painted with such a glow, yet with -such re- serve." Not at a first glance, perhaps, will the beauty of this model be so convincing to the ma- jority, and yet it may be granted that the face grows in attractiveness the longer it is gazed upon, while there is no denying the charm of the flesh tints, the ease of the pose, or the harmony of the pre- vailing black and brown hues. And yet one cannot forget that another expert tells us that the author- ship of this portrait is open to discussion! It has been hazarded that the model was Velasquez's daughter Francisca, she who became the wife of Mazo, and that guess starts the disturbing doubt as to whether Mazo himself may not have painted the portrait. But one of the questions which must puzzle non-technical persons as this: If Velasquez were the supreme artist he is claimed to have been, if everything he did was so " absolutely right," if the secret of his supremacy died with him, surely 144 trbe art of tbe TKlallacc (toUectton there should not be all these conflicting views as to which pictures are his and which are not. Can it be that there was a grain of truth in Byron's im- peachment of painting as the most " artificial and unnatural " of the arts, and the art " by which the nonsense of mankind is most imposed upon " ? The freaks of connoisseur ship are at times at least a partial justification for such a view. Although a contemporary and friend of Velas- quez, and an artist who, in the opinion of Fuseli, excelled all the painters of his age with the excep- tion of Velasquez himself, the name of Alonso Cano is known to comparatively few. Examples of his work are rare in England; indeed it has been stated that the picture in the Wallace Collection is the only one to be found in any English public gallery. Yet Cano was called " the Michael Angelo of Spain," and is credited with having produced some of the most beautiful pictures of the Spanish school. He was a man of marked individuality, passionate and arrogant. Whether he did or did not murder his wife in a fit of jealousy or because he wanted to be free to marry another woman has never been decided; but authentic anecdotes show how highly he esteemed his prowess as a painter. To one, an auditor of the court, who claimed that his profession was nobler than that of an artist, he scornfully rejoined : " Yours a nobler profes- Ube /ftasterpieces of tbc Collection i4s sion than mine! Know that the king can make auditors of the dust of the earth, but that God reserves to himself the creation of such as Alonso Cano ! " His opinion of himself has been sup- ported by many writers, one of whom has declared that his eye for form was faultless, and that in rich- ness and variety of colour he has not often been sur- passed. All this lends added interest to his " The Vision of St. John the Evangelist," albeit the ex- pression on the Evangelist's face is of a somewhat agonized nature. It is a curious composition, too, with its hanging of the Holy City in the mid- heaven; but the comfortable and human look of the angel and the mellow tones of the colour scheme give the picture a singular attraction. It is, at any rate, a welcome variant from the usual type of relig- ious painting. Murillo, the third of the Spanish artists, is rep- resented on a generous scale, the gallery contain- ing eight of his pictures and a ninth of his school. Of most of these it may be said that they are char- acteristic of their author. " The Virgin in Glory with Saints Adoring " has not much sparkle in the colour, while the angels would pass muster for cupids. In " The Virgin and Child," however, we have the true Murillo types of mother and child, the most pleasing features of which are the grace- ful posing and the full body of colour in the dark 146 ^be Hrt ot tbe Mallace Collection blue and deep crimson of the Virgin's robes. There is a greater range of colour in " The Marriage of the Virgin," with its whites and browns and greens and blues. This picture is also an admirable ex- ample of Murillo's happy gift for well-balanced composition, while the Virgin is so attractively presented as to lift the scripture story for once into the realm of romance. The same quality of felici- tous composition is also illustrated in the " Joseph and his Brethren " and " The Charity of St. Thomas of Villanueva." The moment chosen for the former is that of Joseph's compulsory descent into the well; the incident of the latter portrays St. Thomas in the act of bestowing alms upon a poor cripple. The St. Thomas picture is treated in a low, brownish tone, eminently suitable to the theme. Something of the naturalism which Mu- rillo irnparted to sacred subjects shines from " The Adoration of the Shepherds," a stable interior of a non-Eastern type in which the figures are well grouped. On the other hand, " The Holy Family " is of the popular Murillo type, and another example of the same pot-boiler order is furnished in '.' The Annunciation." While all these examples may be said to exhale the gentle nature of the artist, and represent that side of his art which he, a genuinely religious man, held most in esteem, it is unfortu- nate that they are all of one class, and that Mu- MURILLO. — THE CHARITY OF ST. THOMAS OF VILLANUEVA. Ube /Dastetpieces of tbe dollection 147 rillo's beggar-boys and flower-girls, etc., which ac- count for so much of his popularity, must be sought elsewhere. But perhaps his once-famous beggar- boys have declined from favour since Ruskin asked whether the artist were profitably employed in giv- ing his time to the painting of " those repulsive and wicked children." Certainly the realism of Mu- rillo, with his careful attention to the dirty feet of his street-urchins, was hardly likely to appeal to Lord Hertford. Some may wonder, indeed, that he had such a penchant for the Spanish master's sacred pictures, and that he actually bid up to more than twenty thousand pounds for the " Concep- tion " which now hangs in the Louvre. Perhaps, then, the visitor will be glad to be spared examples of Murillo's often too-ruthless realism. It is curi- ous that he should have devoted so much attention to the uncleanly anatomy of beggars when to a fellow artist who asked him his opinion of a pic- ture of a corpse he replied, " Friend, it is a pic- ture which cannot be looked at without holding one's nose." . So far as numbers go, whether of artists or pic- tures, the Netherlands schools have a predomina- ting representation in this gallery. While there are but five Italian artists, three Spanish and four Brit- ish, the Flemish and I^tch schools account for a total of twenty-six. The same disprbportion is 148 Ubc Hrt of tbe Mallace Collection true of the pictures; out of the hundred and one canvases the Netherlands schools claim sixty-one as their share. Naturally the Flemish artists make a smaller showing than the Dutch ; they are seven in number and are responsible for sixteen pictures. Several of these, however, are of the highest quality. And others are of interest as examples of the work of painters little known to the general public. Among the latter, for instance, is Frans Pourbus's " Por- trait of a Gentleman," the work of a son of that Pieter Pourbus whose " Allegorical Love Feast " lends so much distinction to the third gallery. This portrait is characterized by a stately pose, by firm drawing, and by the accomplished manner in which the flesh tints are handled. Three artists have but a single picture in the gallery, namely Gonzales Coques, Jan Fyt, and Frans Snyders, the last two being represented by similar studies, namely still life in conjunction with a human figure. Coques, on the other hand, who was often called " the small Van Dyck," owing to his popularity as the painter of portraits of a moderate size, has " A Family Group " of much merit.* Save for the somewhat studied pose of the mother, who has an almost facing-the-camera attitude, the six figures are gracefully arranged, and even the five dogs are so introduced as not to disturb the composition. The Ube /iDastevpieces of tbe Collection 149 landscape setting is admirably painted, while the crimson and brown and blue of the colour-scheme are blended in a pleasing manner. Another Flem- ish artist whose name is ignored by most of the cyclopaedias is Cornells de Vos, whose " Portrait of a Flemish Gentleman " and " Portrait of a Flem- ish Lady " can hold their own even in this gallery of masterpieces. The former has a wonderfully modern appearance; the latter is remarkable for the high relief of the woman's dress and the efifect- ive manner in which she is separated from the back- ground. Each portrait is full of character. Two other Flemish painters are represented by five pictures each; their names are as familiar as household words — Peter Paul Rubens and An- thony Van Dyck, master and pupil. Of the two the latter is probably the more fortunate in his showing in this gallery, for three of the paintings by Rubens belong to his semi-sacred style. The latter include " The Crucified Saviour," " The Holy Family, with Elizabeth and St. John the Baptist," and " Christ's Charge to St. Peter." Save for the agony of the face in the first-named, these pictures well illustrate the warning of Dr. Muther to the eflfect that the beholder must not expect to find very edifying qualities in Rubens's religious pictures. " All the delicate, fine shades of sentiment which the old masters expressed are strange to him. He ISO Ube art of tbe Mallace Collectton has a feeling only for the crude, massive, and sen- sually powerful. Instead of genuine feeling and soul, one finds in Rubens's pictures only aesthetic poses and fat human flesh. All his holy women are so mighty in flesh and have such corpulent bod- ies that one has little belief in their sanctity. All of his male saints are colossal fellows who are im- pressive more by reason of athletic, muscular power than psychic greatness. The spirit of Christianity is so transformed into its opposite that even the old doctrine of the mortification of the flesh is expressed by means of figures of the greatest imag- inable corpulency. . . . Mary, the spotless maiden of Spanish art, here resembles rather the Aphrodite Pandemos. A thick garland of fruit which fat- cheeked sturdy angels wind about the picture heightens the succulent, sensual eflfect. If instead of Mary other saints (Magdalen, Cecilia, or Cath- erine) are painted, the change of name necessitates no change of character. It is always the same voluptuous woman of Brabant, with the decollete clinging silk dress." This glorification of the flesh did not escape the observation of Sir Joshua Reyn- olds, who counted the lack of " elegance " in Ru- bens's female characters as one of his defects. At the same time, however, the English artist declared that in his colouring Rubens was worthy to have it said of him that his figures look as if they fed Zbc /Masterpieces of tbe Collection 151 on roses. Such praise, too, might be bestowed upon the " Portrait of Isabelle Brant," the first wife of the artist, for the colouring glows like the petals of the queen of flowers. No doubt Reynolds would have objected to that portrait that it wanted " ele- gance," for the bust is disclosed in a manner frank enough to have shocked the English painter. Per- haps it was that ample revelation of the flesh which led to the portrait having been mistaken for one of the robust girl who became the second wife of Rubens, though the pointed effect of the face, due to the eyebrows and sharp chin, ought to have pre- vented such an absurd ascription. In the case of the other work by Rubens, the famous " Rainbow Landscape," the purchase-price is for once an indication of its relative value. Rela- tive, that is, to the other pictures by the same mas- ter. Lord Hertford, then, had to pay for the " Rainbow Landscape " nearly twice the sum he spent on the most expensive of the religious pic- tures. The actual amount was four thousand, five hundred and fifty pounds, but as the purchase was made as long ago as 1856 that sum does not rep- resent more than a tithe of the picture's present value, for it is generally regarded as the finest land- scape work by the great Flemish artist. Constable, who called the painter " the magnifi- cent Rubens," was wont to declare that the Fleming 152 tTbe Htt ot tbe Wallace Collection was at his greatest in his landscape work. He often referred to the " freshness and dewy light, the joyous and animated character " which he im- parted to the scenery of Flanders, and noted how he delighted in bursts of sunshine, moonlight, mete- ors, impetuous torrents, and rainbows upon a stormy sky. Once, indeed, in lecturing upon the his- tory of landscape painting he took a " Rainbow " by Rubens as a part of his text, remarking, how- ever, " By the Rainbow of Rubens I do not allude to a particular picture, for Rubens often introduced it; I mean, indeed, more than the rainbow itself, I mean dewy light and freshness, the departing shower, with the exhilaration of the returning sun, effects which Rubens, more than any other painter, has perfected on canvas." Yet the great English landscape artist might have had in niind this par- ticular version of that favourite subject. Time seems to have somewhat subdued its brilliancy, but the lush of nature still pervades the picture, not only in the sleek cattle and plump ducks, not merely in the fatness of the rich corn fields and meadows, but also in the buxom women who are marching down the road in all the glory of robust health. Something of the sparkle of the earth after rain has also evaporated, but for all that the picture pro- vides an illuminating commentary on Constable's glowing text. It is a landscape of that " opu- g s <: 1-1 o s TLbc /iDasterpieces of tbe Collectfon 153 lent comfort" type which appealed most to the artist. From the master to the pupil is a natural tran- sition. And all the examples by Van Dyck are portraits, that form of art by which he is best re- membered, and which was in Cowley's mind when he penned his elegy : " Nature herself, amaz'd, does doubting stand, Which is her own, and which the painter's hand; And does attempt the like with less success, When her own work in twins she would express, His all-resembling pencil did out-pass The mimic imagery of looking-glass." As Van Dyck's fame rests so much on those countless portraits of English royalty and nobility which he painted during his sojourns in London it may be regretted that the portraits in this gallery belong to another class. Yet they are mostly so admirable that they worthily represent his art. The " Portrait of a Flemish Lady " is in a remarkably low key save for the face and hands, but the easy pose and rich eflfect bespeak the master who, even in his early manhood, was scarcely less esteemed than Rubens. The " Portrait of a young Italian Nobleman " is also subdued in tone, the crimson curtain and the face and hands being the only high lights, but it is a good example of the artist's Ital- IS4 trbe art of tbe "BClallace CEoUection ian manner. Another reminiscence of his sojourn in Italy is the " Portrait of the Artist as the Shep- herd Paris," which is a pertinent i-eminder that Van Dyck all through his life was perplexed as to which fair woman he should give the prize for beauty. The noblest of his works, however, are the pair of portraits of Philippe le; Roy and his wife. The stateliness of the female portrait and the dignity of its male companion justify the application to these two canvases of the praise Ruskin bestowed upon a different work by the same artist. For they are indeed painted " with less flightiness and flim- siness than usual, with a grand quietness and re- serve — almost like Titian." It may be added, too, that the portraits bespeak that personal enjoyment of the painter in his work which Ruskin recognized as the sign of good work. Whether one regards the deep blues of the lady's dress, or the care with which her husband*s lace collar was painted, much more the sincerity which is characteristic of the two faces, it may indeed be said that " there is not a touch of Van Dyck's pencil but he seems to have revelled in, not grossly, but delicately, tasting the colour in every touch as an epicure would wine." It is no wonder, then, that these portraits are dis- tinguished amid so much distinction. The Flemish school is fortunate in being represented by such superb examples of its portraiture. VAN DYCK. — PHILIPPE LE ROY, SEIGNEUR DE RAVELS. Ube Masterpieces ot tbe Collection 155 When he turns his attention to the pictures of the Dutch school hung in the sixteenth gallery the visitor will discover that they are forty-five in number, distributed among twenty artists, eight of whom, however, have but a single canvas apiece to their credit. Frans Hals is among this band, but the picture from his brush is not only the best- known example of his art but is also — through its countless reproductions — one of the world's most familiar paintings. It is that glowing piece of colour known as " The Laughing Cavalier," a title which is surely the most absurd, chronicled in the annals of art. Why its original caption of " Por- trait of an Officer " has been superseded by such a senseless designation as " The Laughing Cava- lier " is unexplained ; the official note half apolo- gizes for its preservation, adding, however, that the title " does not quite accurately describe the disdainful half-smile and provocative air which the painter has given to the splendid cavalier posing before him in all the bravery of youth and fashion." The picture has been the subject of many eulogies as a work of art ; it has been described as " a mas- terpiece of dash and of vigorous yet restrained palette," and many adjectives have been showered upon the skill with which the dress is painted. It is pre-eminently a gallery picture, and as such no doubt fully worth the two thousand and forty 156 Ubc Hrt ot tbe TRnallace Collection pounds paid for it by Lord Hertford; but it is hardly a picture to live with. The " provocative " of the catalogue is the right word by which to describe its subject's insufferable self-satisfaction. What a conceit he has of himself! How bursting with pride he is over his good looks and gorgeous clothes! But who could look on all this day by day without feeling tempted to hurl the most avail- able missile at that braggart face ? Even that feel- ing, however, would be a tribute to the artist's genius. Jacob A. Backer, Ferdinand Bol, Claes P. Ber- chem, Cornells Drost, Govert Flinck, Jan Davidsz. de Heem, and Philip Wouwerman are the other artists whose representation here is restricted to a single picture, but in some cases, and notably that of the last-named, the solitary canvas is of great excellence. Perhaps some may feel that there is rather too much landscape in " The Horse Fair " to sustain its title, but with Wouwerman his setting was the important thing, and in any case many will regard the picture with respect when they re- member that it cost more than three thousand pounds. The Backer picture is a " Portrait of an Old Woman," which was once ascribed to no less an artist than Rembrandt, of whom Backer was once a pupil. A similar mistake might easily be made with Bol's " The Toper," for it is an admira- HALS. — THE LAUGHING CAVALIER. ^Dc floasterpteces of tbe Collection 157 ble imitation of the most characteristic style of the master in whose studio Bol also worked. Flinck was a third scholar of the same artist, and his " Portrait of a Young Woman " is sufficient ex- planation of the reason why his work was often taken for that of Rembrandt. And finally, to end with these Rembrandtesque painters, Drost's " Portrait oJF a Young Woman," painted from a model of robust physical development, in its scheme of deep brown bears evident testimony to the mas- ter's example and tuition. The remaining single- picture artists in this gallery are Heem, represented by a highly-finished " Still Life " study, and Ber- chem, whose " Coast Scene with Figures " is a well-composed picture of subdued tone but fine range of colour. Aelbert Cuyp has three more pictures in this gal- lery, all admirably illustrative of that suggestive definition of chiaroscuro which Constable gave in connection with the work of that artist. " Chiar- oscuro," he said, " is by no means confined to dark pictures; the works of Cuyp, though generally light, are full of it. It may be defined as that power which creates space." This quality is eminently observable in the " River Scene with Shipping and Figures," in which the dark shade of the sail on the right creates a sense of space in a remarkable degree. Even its browns and grayish blues add is8 Ube art of tbe Mallace Collection to that effect. Another seascape in which there is a swish of the ocean is the " River Scene with Ship- ping " ; while the " Landscape with an Avenue " is an exquisite example of Cuyp's pastoral work, restful in its greens and browns and warmed with its delightful crimson note. Ruisdael again, an- other Dutch artist greatly admired by Constable, is represented by two characteristic examples of his almost melancholy art. " Ruisdael," Constable noted, " delighted in, and has made delightful to our eyes, those solemn days, peculiar to his country and to ours, when without storm, large rolling clouds scarcely permit a ray of sunlight to break through the shades of the forest. By these effects he enveloped the most ordinary scenes in grandeur." Both the " Rocky Landscape " and the " Landscape with Waterfall " are pictures of this type, each of them low in tone and the latter suffused with the portent of coming storm. A more cheerful note pervades the four examples of Meindert Hobbema, even the " Landscape with a Ruin " giving the effect of a delightful pastoral and being painted with more light than is usual with that artist. To those, too, who are familiar only with those trim and orderly pictures which Hobbema most affected, the " Wooded Landscape " will come as a surprise, for this is quite a tangled bit of woodland and is somewhat distracting until Zbe /Masterpieces of tbe Collection 159 the eye grows accustomed to the uniting influence of the conjunction between the sky and the high light in the little pond. The " Stormy Landscape " is almost in the manner of Ruisdael, but the " Land- scape with a Watermill " is a true Hobbema pic- ture, glowing with the green verdure of nature and connected with the peaceful occupation of rural life by the warm red roof of the mill. By Isack van Ostade, the brother and pupil of Adriaen van Ostade, who is sometimes charged with having been an imitator of Teniers, there are three excellent examples, two of which, " A Market Place " and " A Village Scene," are notable for the warm effect which is secured despite the sub- dued nature of the colour scheme. Isack, it has been well observed, is more serious and objective in his art than his brother. " As he avoids con- strained effects and approaches things as a simple observer, his pictures are more sjmipathetic to us than the others." Of the Dutch school and yet not of it are Jan Both's two Italian landscapes, two somewhat conventional studies ; and much the same is true of Adriaen van de Velde's " The Departure of Jacob into Egypt," though that semi-classical picture is redeemed by the rich effect of its rather limited colour-scheme. The younger Van de Velde has a more characteristic example in his spirited " Naval Engagement." i6o Ube Hrt of tbe Mallace Collection Two of the most accomplished painters of game birds, dead and alive, Mdchoir Hondekoeter and Jan Weenix, are well represented, the former by three and the latter by six studies. And one of the pictures by Nicholas Maes, " Boy with a Hawk," leads the beholder naturally back to those genre works which are more characteristic of the Dutch school. This is a most spirited canvas, particularly enjoyable, too, for the skilful painting of the crim- son doublet and the dark blue hat and light plumes. Of the genre painters, however, only one is rep- resented in the f xteenth gallery, namely Pieter de Hooch. He, it will be recalled, is the artist who receives so high a tribute in Leslie's life of Con- stable. At a time when that great landscape painter was greatly depressed owing to the loss of his dear- est friend, Leslie, as he tells us, thinking to cheer him, sent him " a copy of a small picture by De Hooch, of which a sunbeam, and that alone, may be considered the subject; but it shines through a window on the wall of a clean little Dutch room, from which it is reflected on the return of the wall and other objects with extreme elegance, and a de^, gree of truth perfectly illusive." The choice was a happy one ; that the little picture helped to divert Constable in his sorrow is clear from the note in which he expressed his delight with the gift. " How completely," he wrote, " has De Hooch DE HOOCH. — INTERIOR WITH WOMAN AND BOY. trbe /Masterpieces of tbc Collection i6i dvercome the art, and trampled it under foot, yet how full of art it is. No painter that ever lived could change a single thing in it, either in place, or light or dark, or colour, warm or cold. Such- things are in short quite above the art, and it is a blessing they are done." All that eulogy might be repeated in the case of the " Interior with Woman and Boy " and the " Interior with a Woman Peeling Apples." In each case it is just a " clean little Dutch room " that is depicted, and in each case it is. the magical handling of streaming sunlight that is the chief charm of the picture. There is rich colour, of course, notably in the last- named, the comfortable housewife of which is wear- ing a crimson skirt and a dark blue bodice, while the quaint little child is clothed in yellow and gray. The apples in the woman's basket, too, add a warm note to the scheme, relieved by the white of those which have been pared; but all this is secondary to the mellow sunshine which glorifies everything upon which it falls. And in the other picture the range of rich colouring is also transfigured by the golden sunlight. It is indeed a "blessing" that such pictures exist. One other master of the Dutch school remains — the chief glory of that school — Rembrandt him- self. It is sometimes thought that the appreciation of his art is a product of the nineteenth century. i62 'iTbe Hrt of tbe TRnallace Collection but how false such an opinion is needs no further proof than the citation of that characterization of his work which was written in the eighteenth cen- tury by a forgotten poet, James Cawthorn, who in his " The Regulations of the Passions " indulged in this tribute: " Th' immortal Rembrandt all his pictures made Soft as their union into light and shade: Where'er his colours wore too bright an air, A kindred shadow took off all the glare; Whene'er that shadow, carelessly embrown'd, Stole on the tints, and breath'd a gloom around, Th' attentive artist threw a warmer dye. Or called a glory from a pictur'd sky; Till both th' opposing powers mix'd in one, Cool as the night, and brilliant as the Sim." Reference has already been made to the one land- scape by this master which is included among the treasures of Hertford House; the examples in this gallery are restricted to portraits save for a New Testament genre study. Among these portraits are two of the artist himself, one depicting him in a cap and the other in a plumed hat, the former char- acterized by a mellow low tone, the latter by hot flesh tints. They are reminders of Rembrandt's fondness for posing as his own model and good Zbc Masterpieces ot tbe (Tollection 163 examples of the more than fifty self-portraits which he executed. His commentators have been puzzled to account for this artistic egoism. One is undecided as to how far these numerous portraits are evidence of a desire to make a favourable social impression, or to what extent they may be regarded as " artistic variations." The frequency of military dress in the portraits, as partially exemplified in the plumed- hat example, has been excused by another authority on the ground that Rembrandt probably belonged to one of the militia companies of Amsterdam and was concerned to advertise that fact. But the " Portrait of the Artist's Son Titus," which is but one of many variations of the same subject, is easily accounted for. Titus van Rijn was the only surviving child of Rembrandt's first wife, Saskia, and was the object of his father's unfaltering affection from his childhood to his pre- mature grave. He lives, then, in his father's work at all stages of his life, from his infancy onward, and the Wallace Collection example has this poign- ant interest that it vividly suggests that delicacy of constitution which ended the life of Titus in his twenty-seventh year. The portrait seems to be lovingly painted, from the dull crimson of the cap to the soft, transparent shadows. Two other portraits, those respectively of Jan Pellicorne with his son and Suzanna Pellicorne i64 Zbc Hrt of tbe Mallace Collection with her daughter, have been naturally criticized for their self-conscious air. This is the verdict of the usually enthusiastic Emile Michel : " In ar- rangement they are not especially happy; Pelli- corne dressed in black, and wearing a broad- brimmed hat, sits in an arm-chair and offers a purse of money to his little son, a child of about eight years old, who stands beside him in a gray costume. His wife, who wears a black dress embroidered with gold, and a wide white collar, is seated. She gives a piece of money to her daughter, a red- haired little damsel with small, blinking eyes. The treatment is careful, but somewhat dry, and the drawing of the hands is not irreproachable. The illumination is feeble, and little attention has been given to the chiaroscuro." Although the exact title of the remaining Rem- brandt in this gallery, catalogued as " The Centu- rion Cornelius," is of little moment so far as en- jo)mient of the picture is concerned, there can be no question that the abandonment of such titles as " The Workers in the Vineyard " and " The Un- merciful Servant " is thoroughly justified. The narrative in the Acts fits the picture to a nicety. The venerable principal figure is undoubtedly a: " devout man " and a man of generous nature; while his three servants who have been summoned to receive his orders: to seek Peter not only corre- 1-; W o o 'A o 3 fa H iz; w o w H O < pq a w tCbe Aastetpteces ot tbe Collection 165 spond in number with the narrative in the Acts, but are evidently listening with profound astonish- ment to the story their master is relating of his heavenly vision. One of them, too, is manifestly the " devout soldier " who belonged to the house- hold of the pious Cornelius. As a study of facial expression and intent pose the canvas must always take high rank among the great works of Rem- brandt. How little the work of the English landscape painters appealed to the Marquis of Hertford is illustrated by the fact that not a single canvas of that class is to be seen in this gallery. Indeed, taking the Wallace Collection as a whole its chief weakness is that it is almost entirely barren of that phase of British art. There are, it is true, several small examples of Turner's water-colour work, but there is not a single canvas by Wilson, the " Eng- lish Claude " or by either of the two Cromes, or by Ladbrooke, or Constable; while in his capacity as the " father of English landscape " Gainsbor- ough is entirely without representation. With the exception of one figure study, then, the " St. John the Baptist in the Wilderness " of Reyn- olds, the four artists of the British school whose work is illustrated in the chief gallery are to be judged by portraiture alone. Romney is repre- sented by his familiar " Portrait of Mrs. Robin- i66 Zbc Hrt of tbe Mallace Collection son," one of the nearly fifty studies of " Perciita " which he executed, a piquant canvas of delicate col" ouring which admirably illustrates the artist's power to make his background an essential part of his picture. If it is not true that Romney's passion for painting " Perdita " was accounted for by infatuation for that frail lady, the " Portrait of Miss Maria Siddons " by Sir Thomas Lawrence was undoubtedly inspired by love — such love, that is, as the flirtatious Lawrence was capable of. He paid his attentions to both Mrs. Siddons' daughters and proposed marriage to them in turn, ending by jilting them both. The mother was so convinced that his conduct hastened the death of her daugh- ters that when they passed away she refused to see him again. All this lends a pathetic interest to the portrait of Maria, a bust study depicting her in the charm of young womanhood. The other example of the faithless artist's work is an unnamed " Por- trait of a Lady," the predominant grayish tones of which give it an air of great distinction. It is an early work and has nothing of that formalism which is so marked a defect of later portraits. Among the ten canvases by Sir Joshua Reynolds two belong to the category of family portraits par excellence, that is to say, they were executed pri- marily as likenesses to hang in the family gallery. They are of two daughters of the house of Hert- ROMNEY. — PORTRAIT OF MRS. ROBINSON (" PERDITA "). TEbe /iDasterpteccs of tbe Collection 167 ford, the Ladies Frances and Elizabeth Seymour, daughters of the first Marquis of Hertford. The portrait of Lady Frances is distinguished for the hectic colour of the sitter's face; that of Lady Elizabeth for the careful painting of her cream- coloured bodice and the blue background; neither belongs to the first class of Reynolds' portraiture. Nor can it be said that the " Portrait of Mrs. Rob- inson " is particularly distinguished. It is one of the most shallow of the many likenesses of that erring beauty, a mere silhouette in high colour rather than a presentation of character. But the " Portrait of Nelly O'Brien " is of quite a different order. That beautiful courtesan, who was " a chere amie of Lord Bolinbroke, as well as every- body else," was a frequent visitor to the studio of Reynolds, who painted her many times. This, however, is thought to be the loveliest portrait he achieved. " That exquisite picture," wrote Tom Taylor in his life of the artist, " represents the frail beauty in full sunlight, in an attitude of lazy enjoy- ment, sitting, her hands crossed, with a pet spaniel in her lap. Her voluptuous face, which is raised as if at the approach of one for whom she has been waiting, is lit up, under the shade of the flat Wof- fington hat, by the reflected lights from her dress, a quilted rose-coloured slip with lace over it, a black lace apron and mantilla, and a sacque of blue-striped i68 Ube Btt of tbe Mallace Collection silk." The whole makes a poetic harmony of black aild pink and blue and brown. To the highest class of Reynolds portraiture be- long also the " Portrait of Mrs. Richard Hoare with her Infant Son," the " Portrait of Mrs. Camac," the " Portrait of Mrs. Braddyll," and the " Portrait of Mrs. Nesbitt with a Dove." In the first-named Mrs. Hoare is wearing a cream-coloured gown with a pattern in gold, the hues of which blend charmingly with the flesh tints and hair of the child; the Mrs. Carnac, a full-length portrait, is distinguished for its restrained colour and the mel- low tone of the background; in the Mrs. Braddyll the artist secures his efifect by a harmony of black and brown relieved by the lighter tones of the pearls and powdered hair. All these are not only obvi- ously true portraits but are at the same time " suf- ficient of themselves as works of art." And the inimitable skill with which Reynolds was able to perpetuate the fascinating ways of children is con- vincingly illustrated by the " Portrait of Miss Bowles," the story of which is worth recalling. It seems that the parents of this little maiden had intended that she should sit to Romney, and that when the father was advised to employ Reynolds he objected, " But his pictures fade." On being advised to take the chance, on the ground that " a faded picture by Reynolds will be the finest thing REYNOLDS. — PORTRAIT OF NELLY O BRIEN. Ube /Masterpieces of tbe Collection 169 you can have," Mr. Bowles agreed, and the painter was asked to dinner that he might make friends with his little model. " The little girl was placed beside Sir Joshua at the dessert, where he amused her so much with stories and tricks that she thought him the most charming man in the world. He made her look at something distant from the table and stole her plate ; then he pretended to look for it, then contrived it should come back to her with- out her knowing how. The next day she was de- lighted to be taken to his house, where she sat down with a face full of glee, the expression of which he caught at once and never lost." It is unfortunate that in many monotone reproductions of this por- trait the child has an impish air of a somewhat repellent kind; in the original there is nothing of this, or indeed anything to mar the charm of child- ish joy. But what is to be said about the other child study, the famous " Strawberry Girl " ? This is a puzzle for all who would be honest with them- selves. Reynolds had a high opinion of this pic- ture ; he regarded it as " one of the half-dozen original things " which no man ever exceeded in his life's work; and he made several replicas of the canvas. Some have been content to accept the picture at Reynolds's valuation, and have eulogized it accordingly. Others, however, have confessed that even Reynolds could barely make becoming the I70 tlbe Ert of tbe Wallace Collectton turban-like headdress worn by the little maiden; and there must be many whose sense of beauty has been jarred by the bilious look of the girl, and by her world-weary expression. Lord Hertford, how- ever, must have seen many beauties in the picture, as otherwise he would hardly have spent more than two thousand pounds on its acquisition. Two more portraits remain, and they inevitably recall the rivalry between Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough. The admirers of the latter may be pardoned for relishing that anecdote of Reynolds and Wilson. The story goes that at some social function Reynolds proposed the health of Gains- borough as " the best landscape-painter," where- upon Wilson interjected, " and the best portrait- painter too." And judging by the homage which visitors to the Wallace Collection pay to the superb " Portrait of Mrs. Robinson " by Gainsborough it seems probable that if a vote were taken between the two artists Reynolds would have to be content with the second place. For surely this glorious canvas of the much-painted " Perdita " is the gem of Lord Hertford's art treasures. The ineffable grace of the pose-, the pensive charm of the land- scape setting, the delicacy of Perdita's clinging dress with its light blue ribbons and creamy laces, the soft brown hair and the exquisite flesh-tints and tender hectic flush of the face — all these to- Ube nDastetpteces of tbe Collection 171 gether do not exhaust the beautiful elements of this entrancing picture. The white fox-dog, painted with as much skill as its lovely mistress, seems an inherent part of the composition, and its enjo3mient of a life untroubled by those changes of fortune which make so much of the sorrow of human ex- perience heightens the look of melancholy which shines in Perditji's dreamy eyes. The picture, in- deed, is the story of her life ; the memorial of her beauty and the cenotaph of her blighted dreams. Close by, too, as a proof that Gainsborough's brush could perpetuate the winsomeness of childhood with as much charm as he painted the beauty of a royal mistress, hangs that " Portrait of Miss Haverfield " which can successfully challenge comparison with any of Reynolds's studies of children. In mono- tone reproductions the black cloak is apt to impart a dwarfing effect to the little model's stature; in the original this effect disappears. It is a colour- poem of girlhood, the more notable because painted with so limited a palette. These two are the only examples of Gainsborough's work in the collection, but they are sufficient to justify Wilson's assertion that he was the " best portrait-painter " of his time. CHAPTER VII GALLERIES SEVENTEEN AND EIGHTEEN Although there are no works of the British school of painting in Gallery Seventeen, all the other schools are represented — the Italian, Spanish, Flemish, Dutch and French. Indeed, this apart- ment seems to have been used to find wall-space for the left-overs of the preceding galleries, so that nothing should interfere with the proper display of French painting of the eighteenth century. Hence the pictures are of a miscellaneous character, ma- king it more than ever necessary to examine them in the order of their schools. Of the Italian painters there are but three exam- ples, but two of these are the only pictures by their respective artists in the entire collection. Of Do- raenico Zampieri, better known as Domenichino, there is a characteristic canvas, " A Sibyl," which well exemplifies his somewhat primitive realism and his rather cold and studied manner. Quite different in quality is " The Virgin and Child " of Sasso- ferrato, which is fresher in colour and far better hung than the similar picture by the same artist in 172 ©aiiertcs seventeen an5 Efflbtccn '173 the first gallery. More interest attaches to the one picture by Salvatore Rosa, a " River Scene with Apollo and the Sibyl," which in its semi-classical effect and low tone and well-balanced masses is thoroughly typical of the artist's wilder landscape work. Perhaps it is not fanciful to read into this impressive canvas a reminiscence of those turbulent days when the artist made his home among bandits amid the lonely defiles of his native land. It is an illustration, too, of how he delighted in scenes of desolation and danger and utilized landscape as a vehicle of terror. Turning to the Spanish school, the visitor will find two pictures described as " after Velasquez," namely, an " Equestrian Portrait of Philip IV of Spain " and an " Equestrian Portrait of the Count- Duke of Olivares," both being copies on a smaller scale of the well-known originals at Madrid. In the first-named, as Sir Walter Armstrong has noted, the king is depicted as a gallant cavalier in the prime of early manhood astride a bay Andalusian charger. " He wears gold-embroidered breeches and a bur- nished steel cuirass, inlaid with gold, crossed by a crimson scarf, the ends of which flutter behind him. His right hand grasps a baton. The background, a wide stretch of Castilian upland with the sierra in the distance, forms an appropriate setting for a king who was reputed to be the best horseman 174 fl^bc Hrt of tbe Wallace Collection in Spain." Of the companion picture the same writer remarks that it is one of the acknowledged masterpieces of Velasquez. " The Count-Duke masquerades as a general, waving his imaginary troops down to the battlefield, the smoke of which rises in heavy columns to the sky. The minister had never been in action, and to those who did not love him his military pretensions were a constant source of mirth. He nevertheless looks martial enough, as seen by Velasquez." Much of that effect, however, is created by the prancing pose of the horse, which is painted in the true Velasquez but impossible attitude. Four pictures of the school of Murillo exhaust the representation of the Spanish painters. Only one of these, " The Assumption of the Virgin," is from the brush of the master himself, a crowded composition of sparkling colour with an extremely young-looking Madonna. The other three, all de- picting the Virgin and Child, show that it was not difficult for Murillo's pupils to catch his style or to imitate him in his natural and pleasing effects. The one which introduces a female saint as an extra figure is particularly enjoyable for its mellow tone. Jacob Jordaens and Sir Anthony Van Dyck are the only two Flemish artists represented in this gallery, the former by the one picture from his (Galleries Seventeen anb jEigbteen 17s brush in the collection, and the latter by three cop- ies. Two of these Van Dyck replicas are of royal portraits, namely, " Portrait of King Charles I " and "Portrait of Queen Henrietta Maria;" the other is a version of " The Virgin and Child " which hangs in Buckingham Palace. The portrait of the ill-fated monarch shows him at three-quarter length in his royal robes, but has a less kingly efifect than the famous canvas in the Louvre. More interesting than either of these copies, however, is the example by Jordaens, " The Riches of Autumn," for he is but sparsely represented in the public galleries of Great Britain. That being so it is fortunate that this picture is so characteristic of his full-blooded style, which is so reminiscent of the robust manner of Rubens that he has been often wrongly credited with a slavish imitation of that sensuous painter. This picture has certainly a most opulent effect and is remarkable for its lusty figures and rich colour- ing, but it does not offend by that grossness and vulgarity which sometimes marked the work of Jordaens. Ten painters of the Dutch school add their quota to this gallery, two of whom, Pieter de Ring and Jan Weenix, are represented by those still-life stud- ies for which they were famous. If it were not a contradiction in terms, all these migbt be described as " lifelike." They are certainly still-lifelike. The 176 Ube art of tbe Tiaiallacc Collection example by Ring provides a delightful illustration of his habit of authenticating his pictures by sign- ing them with a beautifully-painted ring. The one canvas by Bartholomeus van der Heist is an im- portant " Family Group " with numerous acces- sories, the latter including a dog, a dead hare, and a bunch of fruit. The mother is somewhat self- conscious, but the father appears to be telling a story in which he at least is thoroughly interested. The colour-scheme ranges from deep crimson through browns and blues to the white silk gown of the woman. Van de Velde the younger is rep- resented by a characteristic " Shipping in a Calm " and Aelbert Cuyp by a " River Scene with View of Dordrecht," the former being a noble canvas of high finish and the latter a mellow and well-balanced composition. Three other artists, Allart van fever- dingen, Jan Hackaert, and Govert Camphuijsen, contribute landscape studies of much charm, the titles of which are respectively " Landscape with Waterfall," " Avenue in a Wood," and " A Dutch Farm at Sunset." Only one genre painter figures in this gallery, namely Jan Steen, with his " The Christening Feast," but this solitary example of the kind of subject so native to the Dutch school is of rare merit. Perhaps a somewhat distracting effect has been introduced by the vivid and mathe- matical manner in which the artist painted the Galleries Seventeen and £igbteen 177 chequer-board pattern on the floor of this cottage interior, but the rich colouring of the many ani- mated figures and the natural and varied posing quickly overcome that defect. Two of the women are busy preparing the feast for the occasion, but one of these has paused to banter the self-conscious father who holds the swathed-up baby in his arms. He looks to be on the verge of resentment, but the mother of the infant, who sits beside the cradle on the left, seems to be taking her new dignity with superb aplomb. Inasmuch as Philippe de Champaigne was a Fleming by birth but followed his art career in Paris, the four examples of his work constitute a natural transition from the Netherlands school to that of France. As, also, they include three relig- ious subjects and one portrait, they are thoroughly typical of his work. It was not long after his ar- rival in Paris that he was commissioned by Marie de Medicis to paint sacred pictures for the churches she founded or patronized, while it was his con- nection with the Port Royalists which had so much to do with his development as a portrait painter. Of his three religious pictures two, " The Adora- tion of the Shepherds " and " The Annunciation," are of huge size, and while the first^named is a noble composition with a striking central light effect the other is somewhat marred by the stilted 178 XTbe Hrt of tbe TOttallace Collection nature of the posing. The third sacred canvas, "The Marriage. of the Virgin," is notable for Hs fine grouping, its fresh colour, the harmony of its blue and crimson and old-gold scheme, and the per- fection of its finish. But the enduring qualities of art are best illustrated in the " Portrait of Robert Arnauld d'Andilly," a truly admirable example of the artist's Port Royal portraiture. The high flesh tones are painted with great decision, while as a whole the portrait leaves the impression of being a " speaking likeness " of its subject. The placing of the head against the wall panel behind accen- tuates the fine modelling. Of the two most famous of the French " prim- itives," Nicolas Poussin and Claude Lorrain, there are but three examples, the former being repre- sented by the solitary " The Dance of the Seasons to the Music of Time." This picture is an example of that " limited material " which Ruskin noted in the landscapes of Poussin, but, at the same time, it illustrates the type of subject in which that critic thought the aTtist was at his best. " His best works," Ruskin said, " are his Bacchanalian revels, always brightly wanton and wild, full of frisk and fire; but they are coarser than Titian's, and infi- nitely less beautiful. In all minglings of the human and brutal character he leans on the bestial, yet with a sternly Greek severity of treatment." Those ©allcries Seventeen an^ jEigbteen 179 traits are exemplified in the present canvas, which has an undeniable sense of movement but certainly relies upon Greek severity. On the other hand, however, the picture is interesting as showing how the grandeur of Poussin's line " inspires his land- scapes with a solemn sentiment " and how he " created a world free from everything trivial and insignificant." His pupil and brother-in-law, Gas- pard Poussin, is also represented by a single can- vas, " The Falls of Tivoli," an example of how he copied the form but missed the spirit of his master. Claude Lorrain's two pictures, " Italian Land- scape " and " Coast Scene with Classic Buildings," are typical alike of his classical stylje and the low key in which he sometimes indulged. They have, too, that placidity which Ruskin marked as char- acteristic of his work. " One would suppose he had never seen scarlet in a morning cloud, nor a storm burst on the Apennines. But he enjoys a quiet misty afternoon in a ruminant sort of way." The same critic, however, praised Claude's seas as the most beautiful in old art ; " for he studied tame waves, as he did tame skies, with great sincerity, and some affection; and modelled them with more care not only than any other landscape painter of his day, but even than any of the great men." The balance of the larger of these pictures is masterly, the mass of dark green being in fine counterpoise to i8o Ube Hrt of tbe Wallace dollection the blue of the lake and mountains. To sum up the merits of this painter, Ruskin reminds us that admiration of his work may be legitimate and ille- gitimate ; the former as regards his sunlight effects and graceful details, the latter in so far as it in- volves " irreverence both for the deeper powers of nature, and carelessness as to the conception of subject." In one matter, however, Claude set an example which all other artists might have followed with advantage. To prevent imitations of his pic- tures being imposed on the unwary he kept what he called his " Book of Truth," a record in which he preserved a sketch of every picture he had painted. If Velasquez and all the other masters so much in favour in modern days had also posted up a " Book of Truth," the pocket of the million- aire and the credit of the connoisseur would be in a better case than they are. Had the Marquis of Hertford admired the Louis Quatorze style of art this would have been the gallery for the display of such specimens as he ac- quired, but the distinctive painters of that school are either not represented or are in, evidence only in that phase of their work which is symbolical of the transition to the Regency and the reign of Louis XV. Thus there is but one canvas by Jean Raoux, " A Lady at her Mirror," a clever study of reflected light, which surely belongs to his Regency style. Galleries Seventeen an6 EiQbteen i8i One picture, too, by Hyacinthe Rigaud, sometimes called " the Van Dyck of France," seems to have been sufficient for Lord Hertford. This " Portrait of Cardinal Fleury " is perhaps more mellow than usual, but is a characteristic example of the pene- trating manner in which he depicted his many dis- tinguished sitters. So frank wt; he in painting what he saw that a lady once asked him in an ag- grieved tone, " Where can you get your colours? " "We both purchase them, madam," Rigaud re- plied, " at the same shop." Neither of these works is t)T>ical of the Louis Quatorze period, but the pompousness of that era is sufficiently illustrated in Nicolas de Largilliere's impressive and oppressive "Louis XIV with the Grand Dauphin." This stately interior and no less stately figures are faith- ful to the almost ludicrous pomp of that stilted age, symbolical alike of the arrogance of that monarch who exclaimed " L'etat c'est moi " and of the frigid formalism of which his very wig was the type. But, as Dr. Muther reminds us, the painters were not to blame. " All things that they portray — swords and shoe-buckles, furs and laces, wigs and fans — they paint exactly after nature. If they appear so pompous and never unlace their buskins, this is not to be ascribed to their art. They paint as they do because the subjects themselves were pompous, stilted, and dignified." i82 Ube Hrt of tbe TRflallace Collection To the last day of his long life and reign Louis XIV kept the art of France a slave to his imperious will. But when he died the reaction came like a flood. " Do not imagine," said Montesquieu in referring to the death of the king, " that this great event hath only given occasion to moral reflections. Every one thought of his own afifairs, and to take advantage of this great change." Thinking to rule even from his grave, Louis XIV had so framed his will as to limit the power of the Regent, but the Duke of Orleans persuaded the Parliament to treat that document as so much waste paper. His, then, was the controlling influence in the state, and the license of his nature was soon reflected in the painting of. the age. " New people need a new art. . . . After they had come to the point of making life pleasant, they wished to see only pictures which proclaimed this gospel of joyful, sensual pleasure. Having freed themselves from the bonds of eti- quette, they also demanded of painting that it should be lively and clever and reflect in elegant lines and dainty colours the life which they saw about them, or as they dreamed it. The theme of the works is therefore the same which Rubens treated in his ' Love Gardens,' except that the place of his full- blooded voluptuous women is taken by dainty ladies with thin wasp-waists, and that the coarse, grasp- ing Flemings are replaced by slender cavaliers with Galleties Seventeen and £igbteen 183 gallant manners. Conscious of guilt, they loved to dream of childhood's happy days ; tired of the city, they dreamed of rustic idylls." And this was the type of French art which most appealed to the chief founder of the Wallace Collection. Without exception, then, the pictures hung in the eighteenth gallery sparkle with the colour and daz- zle with the animation of a life newly released from the thraldom of the Louis Quatorze age. The key- note is struck in the two examples of the work of Frangoise Le Moyne, " Time revealing Truth " and " Perseus and Andromeda," an artist who has been rightly described as the precursor of Boucher. For all his academic training and inclination, Le Moyne introduced a new note into those decorative works for walls and ceilings by which he is best-remem- bered, substituting light and dainty colours for heavy tones and supplanting massive and solemn females by fragile and laughing maidens. These transformations are well exemplified in the two pic- tures above named, the first of which, however, recalls the tragedy of the artist's life. Unsettled in mind by his incessant labours and by disappointment at what he thought was an inadequate royal recog- nition of his work, he committed suicide a few hours after he had completed his "Time revealing Truth." But the painter who, more than any other, is rep- 184 Zbc Hrt of tbe Mallace Collection resentative of the change in the social life of France which set in with the Regency is Antoine Watteau, eight of whose most important pictures are hung in this gallery. His position, as Paul G. Konody has pointed out, is one of unique importance in the history of French art. " He became the founder — and at the same time the culmination — of a new school which marked a revolt against the pom- pous decaying classicism of the Louis XIV period. The vitality of his art was due to the rare com- bination of a poet's imagination with a power of seizing reality. In his treatment of the landscape background and of the atmospheric surroundings of the figures can be found the germs of impres- sionism. All the later theories of ligiht and its effect upon the objects in nature are foreshadowed by Watteau's fetes champetres, which give at the same time a characteristic, though highly idealized, picture of the artificiality of the life of his time. He is the imitator of the Louis XV period, but, except in a few rare cases, his paintings are entirely free from the licentiousness of his followers." The point was put with more brevity and wit by Hous- saye when he remarked that Le Brun tainted French art with the wig of Louis XIV but that Watteau brought back laughter and liberty in his fetes ga- Inntes. Two of the pictures in this gallery, " Gilles and ©alleries Seventeen an^ lEigbteen 185 his Family " and " Harlequin and Columbine," are reminiscent of a youthful experience of the artist which had much influeqce in shaping his art. His boyhood home in Valenciennes looked out on the open square in which the mountebanks of the day gave their performances, and the young Antoine never grew tired of watching the antics of those strolling players. Nay, more; when they departed he was wont to amuse himself by drawing sketches of them on the broad margins of a " Lives of the Saints " which belonged to his father. It has been affirmed that the lad and later the man and artist did not penetrate below the surface of the spangles and gaudy raiment of those itinerant mountebanks. " His eye stopped at the superficial beauties of form and colour, but never penetrated to the soul." But the " Gilles and his Family " is fatal to such a the- ory, for surely beneath the merriment of this pierrot it is not difficult to detect a suggestion of that pathos which plays so large a part in the life of the strolling player. There is another " Gilles," the life-size picture in the Louvre, which remained for so long unsold in a picture dealer's store, an inscription on which stated " Pierrot will be happy if he has the wit to please you." But this version is tiny in size, and the only point of comparison is in the pearly whites of the chief figure's beautifully painted costume. Perhaps it would be somewhat i86 Xlbe Hrt of tbe Wallace Collection fanciful to detect a tinge of the pathos of theatrical life in the " Harlequin and Columbine," but the low tone of this little gem, save for the light on the woman's dress, gives it a pensive quality. The setting is one of those dainty woodland scenes so usual in Watteau's paintings, and the figures have that air of detachment from the serious business of life that is so marked a quality of his art. By far the largest canvases of this master are the " Fete in a Park " and the " Halt during the Chase." For a Watteau the former is notable for its breadth and spaciousness and for the elaboration of the land- scape. With its numerous groups of fair ladies in ravishing costumes and courtly gallants in brave attire the picture has perhaps too many points of interest, but the beauty of the landscape makes amends. The other picture, which was one of the artist's latest works, had to be made larger than he had intended owing to the wishes of the patron for whom it was painted. Notwithstanding its numerous figures, this is a fine composition, and the absence of high colours gives it a mellow eflfect. A careful inventory of the picture was given by M. Burger in the following terms : " It represents a forest clearing opening broadly to the horizon, and exactly in the centre two young couples are seated : one of the women in rose-colours, a half face turned to the right ; the other, in pale blue, turns her back ©aiiertcs seventeen ano EfQBtcen 187 to the spectator. On the second plane of the clear- ing two other couples are losing themselves in the intricacies of the wood. The great forest fills the right corner, but in front of the trees, in a soft half- shadow, is a principal group; they are, for the moment, three; a young woman in yellow, just arriving on a dappled gray horse, and two gentle- men assisting her to dismount. Two other horses are tethered close by ; one of these, a chestnut, not happily drawn nor even coloured, is the weak point of the picture. Among the bushes on the left is a young man with a gun, a dead hare, and some birds hanging up among the branches. This hare is wonderful, and worthy of Chardin or Jan Fyt. On the same side there are five sporting dogs, and some more men with guns." Thus there are more details in the " Halt during the Chase " than in the " Fete in a Park," but they are handled with greater skill and more intimately related to each other. Most of the other pictures are of small dimen- sions ; the one exception is " The Music Party," a variation of a theme often used by Watteau and distinguished for its fuller sense of light. Tiny as is " The Music Lesson," and limited as is its colour- scheme, it is a wholly delightful genre study of quiet happiness. But perhaps the richest, most jewelled example of the master is " The Champs filysees," though when Lord Hertford paid nearly a thousand i88 tCbe Hrt of tbc Wallace dollcctfon pounds for this canvas in 1848 one critic remarked that " it would be the climax of imbecile judgment to say that such a picture was worthy of the sum." But that Lord Hertford was justified in valuing the picture so highly is shown by the present esti- mation of the work of Watteau. In recent years examples of his art have been sold at prices ranging from three to five thousand guineas. It has indeed been declared that if painting consists in inventing with poetic feeling and impressing by colour, then Watteau is the greatest of French artists. Two of the imitators of Watteau, Nicolas Lan- cret and Jean Baptiste Pater, are thoroughly rep- resented in this gallery, the former by five and the latter by ten examples, though in the case of one of the Lancret pictures, " Girl in a Kitchen," the ascription is said to be open to question, " the crisp, sharply-accented touch in the utensils of the kitchen interior not being such as we associate with Lan- cret." If, however, Lancret is not to be recognized in the almost Dutch realism of that kitchen interior, it is easy to recognize Watteau in the " Mademoi- selle Camargo Dancing." For in almost every particular this picture shows how greatly Lancret had been influenced by the style of Watteau, and how little he heeded the advice of that artist to " form himself from the study of nature." Lancret evidently thought Watteau a better model than ©alleries Seventeen an& Biflbtecn 189 nature, and at one period of his career he imitated the Watteau manner so slavishly that the originator of that style took offence and terminated his friend- ship with his too literal copyist. Whether regard he had to the garlanded decoration of the famous ballerina's skirt, or to the gaily-attired lads who constitute her al fresco orchestra, or to the manner in which the landscape setting is composed and painted, this charming portrait study inevitably re- calls the style of Watteau. It may be added, how- ever, that the fascinating dancer — who was the rage of her age and the ruin of many titled ad- mirers — has received from Lancret's brush some quality of his own in the spirited pose in which she is depicted. But Lancret's individuality is more marked in his " Girls Bathing " and " The Broken Necklace," both of which, though low in tone, harmonize in the richness of their colouring with tiheir somewhat sensual themes and invention. The second of these pictures is suggestively s)mibolical, after the man- ner of " The Broken Mirror " of Greuze, that is, it hints at the disaster which may overtake those maidens who dally with the flames of love; the first is a frank unveiling of feminine charms, such as appealed to the licentious age in which it was painted. The bathing^lace is a pool under the shadow of bosky trees, and several of the ladies iQo Zbc Hrt of tbe TRDiallace Collection are in a greater state of nudity than Watteau would have disclosed; while the attitude of the one who is undressing is inartistic, to say the least. This picture and the " Conversation Galante " serve to remind us, indeed, that in depicting the pleasures of happy gatherings in woodlands or on trimly- kept lawns Lancret was apt to make his models indulge in embraces which have a suggestion of Flemish coarseness. As an acknowledged pupil of Watteau there is more excuse for the imitative style of Jean Baptiste Patei:, an artist who declared that the only fruitful instruction he received wag that imparted to him by his whilom master during the last days of his life. Although Pater often indulged in seductive interior studies, and lavished his skill on attractive young ladies and charming chambermaids, the ten examples of his art in this gallery are concerned mostly with open-air episodes. They have, too, a considerable resemblance. Thus two of the pictures are entitled " Conversation Galante," while others have such captions as " Fete Champetre," " The Swing," "The Dance," "Fete in a Park," and " Bathing Party in a Park." In treatment also there is a great similarity, for Pater was not par- ticularly resourceful in invention. Thus in " The Dance " and " The Swing," the composition has little variety, save that in the first-named the left of PATER. — CONVERSATION GALANTE. Galleries Seventeen anb Bigbteen 191 the picture is occupied by a pedestal and a statue of Cupid instead of by the swing of the other canvas. It will be observed also that Pater generally bal- anced his males and females, for it would never have done to suggest that jealousy might disturb the pleasure of his Eden-like glades. And finally the grouping of these pictures betrays their com- mon origin, the poses in every case being suggestive of stages in love-making from gallant compliment to warm embraces. Pater is faithful to his age, however, in that all his pictures have a care-free atmosphere, while in his bright colouring and dec- orative quality he may be at once recognized as a follower of Watteau. Only one example of the somewhat shallow por- traiture of Jean Marc Nattier is hung in the eight- eenth gallery, but that canvas, " A Prince of the House of France," is thoroughly typical of the objective style of his art. This painting indeed has more claim to be regarded as a wardrobe effort than a portrait, so little is there of the man and so much of his clgthes. Nattier was an adept in " painting silk clothes, of caressing light shades of blue, gray, and green, and in pink tones. He had also a fine taste for pretty coiffures, for those simple wavy modes of dressing hair which succeeded the ma- jestic arrangement of the age of Louis XIV. In the application of beauty spots, and the wearing of 192 Ube Hrt of tbe Mallace (ToUectton pearls and delicate diadems, he was a past master." Alkthis, however, is better illustrated in those of his pictures hung elsewhere. Three other artists — Francois Boucher, Jean Baptiste Greuze, and Jean Honore Fragonard — divide between them the remaining twenty-six pic- tures of this gallery, the first-named claiming six as his share. Described by some as " the painter of the graces " and by others as " the Anacreon of painting," Boucher as the favourite painter and clofie friend of Madame de Pompadour is the most typical artist of the Louis Quinze period. His work is admirably characterized by Constable as the best illustration of the absurdity which is reached when art is led away from nature by fashion. " Good temper, suavity, and dissipation," wrote the Eng- lish painter, " characterized the personal habits of this perfect specimen of the French school of the time of Louis XV, or the early part of the last cen- tury. His landscape, of which he was evidently fond, is pastoral; and such pastorality! The pas- toral of the opera-house. But at this time, it must be remembered, the court was in the habit of dis- persing into the country, and duchesses were to be seen performing the parts of shepherdesses, milk- maids, and dairymaids, in cottages, and also brew- ing, baking, and gardening, and sending the prod- uce to market. These strange anomalies were Galleries Seventeen an& lEfgbteen 193 played off on the canvases of Boucher. His scenery is a bewildered dream of the picturesque. From cottages adorned with festoons of ivy, sparrow pots, etc., are seen issuing opera dancers with mops, brooms, milk-pails, and guitars; children with cocked hats, queues, bag-wigs, and swords, — and cats, poultry and pigs. The scenery is diversified with winding streams, broken bridges, and water wheels ; hedge-stakes dancing minuets — and groves bowing down and curtsying to each other; the whole leaving the mind in a state of bewilderment and confusion, from which laughter alone can re- lieve it. Boucher told Sir Joshua Reynolds that he ' never painted from life, for that nature put him out.' " Perhaps it was hardly to be expected that so sincere an artist as Constable would make allowance for Boucher on the ground that he had to please his patron; otherwise he might have ex- cused the superficial nature of his art by remember- ing that it was largely addressed to the intelligence of Madame de Pompadour. Such a picture as the " Shepherd Watching a Sleeping Shepherdess " gives the keynote to Bou- cher's work. The delicately-painted pink nipples of the woman's breasts are repeated in most of his other pictures ad nauseam, while such other exam- ples as " Venus and Cupid with Doves " and " The Birth of Venus " are sufificient indication of where 194 Ube Htt of tbe Mallace Collection the artist's preferences lay. That he was capable of better things is cogently illustrated by the " Por- trait of the Marquise de Pompadour " even though there may be little character in the face. For once Boucher eschewed his favourite pinkish tones and abandoned that between-lieaven-and-earth locality which he so often affected in his other works. Leaning in an easy pose on the pedestal of a piece of sculpture, which is symbolically suggestive of the affected coyness with which Madame d'fitioles met the first advances of Louis XV, Madame de Pompadour faces the spectator in all the glory of a radiant costume and wears an expression more suited to a saint than a courtesan. Yet the portrait is of its period, for in every detail it bespeaks that devotion to pleasure and luxury which was char- acteristic of the Louis Quinze age. Out of the twenty-one pictures by Greuze em- braced in the Wallace Collection fourteen are in this gallery, amply sufficient to enable the visitor to make up his mind on the vexed problem of the Greuze girl. A recent rhapsodist has put the case for her admirers into gushing language : " All the world knows her, and no one who has seen her can ever forget the sweet sting of her beauty. Her eyes are like the fishpools of Heshbon, and many a man has died happy for the kiss of such a mouth as hers." But there are those who have not felt ■/ ' i JE-^ r'\ ^^^;; ^^^'-^ 't-^«V M i^-^immk^mamsmmmm ,::-'"^j^fi ' i \ If inn Ti—i ' . ^ 'is •T / ji., . - ■'' IB '^ V'-'*^'*"' BOUCHER. — PORTRAIT 01" THE MARQUISE DE POMPADOUR. ©alleries Seventeen anb jBigbteen 195 the "sweet sting" of her beauty; those, indeed, who have grave doubts as to her claim to be con- sidered beautiful. The samples here include " In- nocence," " Sorrow," " The Listening Girl," " Girl with a Gauze Scarf," " Girl in a Blue Dress," " Girl in a White Dress," and " A Girl with Doves." The one model from which nearly all were painted is too familiar to need describing, but the frequency of the type suggests the reflection that this is a case where a part may be greater than a whole. It is at least probable that the Greuze girl would be more admired if there were not so many of her. In one guise she is certainly decorative, namely that pose in which her slender hands support her chin and the only nudity she discloses is a portion of a well-mbdelled shoulder. But in those replicas in which her bosom is turned to the spectator and the charms of that bosom are fully revealed the Greuze girl has an unpleasantly " suggestive " ap- pearance, due to the conjunction of a child's face with a woman's body. What a satire these pictures are on the eulogy of Diderot ! " God speed you, dear Greuze ! " he wrote. " Remain moral, and when the moment of your death draws nigh there will not be one of your pictures of which you need to think with repentance." Diderot was no doubt thinking of the domestic interiors, such as " The Father explaining the Bible to his Children," in 196 Zbc Hrt of tbe XRaallace dollection which Greuze at one time indulged; that he could have approved the Greuze girl seems unthinkable in view of his denunciation of Boucher. One of these pictures, however, is connected with an incident which must always make it interesting to lovers of children. More than eighty years ago Constable asked his friend Leslie how he could obtain the loan of Greuze's " A Girl with Doves," explaining that a lady friend of his had lost a dear little daughter, the " image of the soft, lovely girl " painted by Greuze, and he wished to borrow that picture to make a copy for his sorrowing friend. The loan was duly arranged, and in a few months Constable had completed his copy and returned the original to that Redleaf collection from whence it passed into the possession of Lord Hertford. That Greuze could shake himself free from in-? sipidity and insincerity and be direct and simple in his art is demonstrated by the admirable " Portrait of Mile. Sophie Arnould," which is not only far finer in its colouring than his girl studies but is richly suggestive of character and wit. It is said that the Marquis of Hertford was so enamoured of this portrait that he had it hanging in his bed- room, with the Reynolds portrait of " Perdita " as a companion. Great diversity characterizes the five examples of Fragonard's work hung in the eighteenth gallery. GREUZE. — THE LISTENING GIRL. ©alleries Seventeen an& Eigbteen 197 an artist who has been coupled with Watteau as one of the two poet-painters of the eighteenth cen- tury. For one who painted so often in the key of Boucher " The Gardens of a Roman Villa " is un- usually low in tone, and its three curious light patches are somewhat distracting; but "A Lady Carving Her Name " is more typical of his style, while " The Fair-haired Child " is a consummately clever harmony in pink and light blue. Here, how- ever, Fragonard is seen at his best in " The Foun- tain of Love," a singularly spirited allegory. The predominant colours are deep blues and browns, while the technique is of a highly finished char- acter. The fountain on the left to which the amor- ous couple are hastening seems to be bubbling over with life, represented by chubby infants, and it is difficult to decide whether the man or the woman is more athirst to drink from the cup held by one of the cupids in the basin of the fountain. In no other picture are the grace and magic of Frago- nard's treatment of chiaroscuro so well illustrated. And the picture is at the same time thoroughly typical of the part he played in what has been called the decadence of French art. CHAPTER VIII GALLERIES NINETEEN TO TWENTY-TWO When the visitor passes from the eighteenth gallery into Gallery Nineteen it will need no more than a casual glance around the walls to inform him that the pictures displayed here represent the continuation of that period of art he has just stud- ied. In fact, with one exception, the artists whose work is illustrated in this apartment are the same as those whose pictures occupy the previous gallery. Much the same thing applies to the next salon also, and as the two rooms are small and practically con- stitute one gallery it will not entail much passing to and fro to examine the works of each artist with- out reference to their distribution in either apart- ment. Only one additional picture of Watteau remains to be studied, but this is the important " A Lady at her Toilet," which is of great interest as one of the few nude studies by that artist. Few who are merely familiar with the Fetes Champetres of this master would recognize this canvas as from his brush, yet the lady's maid in the background, who 198 TRAGONARD. — THE FOUNTAIN OF LOVE. Galleries IRfneteen to 'ICwentijstwo 199 is 'handing her mistress her clothes, has a certain kinship with the characters of some of his al fresco pictures. The toilet of the chief figure is in its earliest stage, for the woman is seated on a sofa in the act of just passing over head the first of her garments. Notwithstanding the nature of the sub- ject and the complete nudity of the woman, there is nothing of an objectionable nature about the picture; the flesh tones are so quietly painted that there is no suggestion of sensuality ; and altogether the canvas deserves the eulogy of M. Burty as one of the brightest and most powerful pictures of its type. It has, indeed, been truly said that the French painters of the following generation would have conceived such a theme without Watteau's refinement, would have executed it without his ten- derness, and without his science. It is, in short, a telling example of how the nude may be treated with knowledge and delicacy. As anticipated in the previous chapter, Jean Marc Nattier's , skill in surface portraiture and his mas- tery over the raiment trappings of his sitters are admirably illustrated by the four additional exam- ples of his art, which include " Marie Leczinska, Queen of France," " Portrait of a Lady in Blue," "The Bath," and "Portrait of the Comtesse de Dillieres." Because he is known to have painted the Duchesse de Chateauroux, that "brilliant and 200 Ube Hrt of tbe Mallace dollection audacious " mistress of Louis XV who got that monarch into so much trouble when she followed him to Metz, the half-clad lady who figures in " The Bath " as a sultana waited upon by half a dozen dusky slaves has been supposed to have been painted from that frail lady. The graceful model has now, however, been identified as Mademoiselle de Cler- mont, dame du palais to the queen of Louis XV. It is thus in a sense a companion picture to the por- trait of the tactless Marie Leczinska, though the latter is a more straightforward example of the adroitness with which Nattier enhanced the beauty of his sitters. The " Portrait of a Lady in Blue " is a delightful harmony in the colour from which it takes its name, the predominant note of which is heightened by the mouse-colour fur edges of the robe of the model. That Nattier could achieve a far hotter scheme when he wished is well illustrated by the " Portrait of the Comtesse de Dillieres." In one of the five examples by Lancret hung in these two rooms, namely the " Fete in a Wood," the resemblance to the style of Watteau is unmis- takable, but in the " Portrait of an Actress " and the " An Italian Comedy Scene " there is a touch more individual to Lancret himself. Indeed these pictures, taken in conjunction with the " Pastoral Revels," which is painted on copper, justify the characterization of the official catalogue to the ef- NATTIER. — THE BATH (mLLE. DE CLERMONt). (Ballecies "flineteett to tEwcnt^-two 201 feet that this artist had " an exquisiteness peculiarly his own, a colour fresh, clear, and brilliant, a rhythm vigorous and buoyant. Light, gay, humour- ous, with a touch of irony, he, with his deliberate artifice and his comedy-vein throughout, perfectly represents the character of his time. He might fit- tingly be called the Marivaux of painting." Four more paintings by Pater — "A Camp Scene," " Conversation Galante," " Fete Galante," and " The Bath " — are chiefly of interest as show- ing how closely the painter approximated to the manner of Watteau. No doubt the connoisseur will quickly detect, or pretend to detect, a marked difference between the works of the two artists, but there is no getting away from the fact that Pater has often been mistaken for his master. Even in the Petit Trianon a student of eighteenth-century art was met with this substitution in an official way. The student in question was Leon Dumont, who while examining certain pictures was assured by the keeper that they were by Watteau. M. Dumont protested against the assertion ; they were, he said, obviously by Pater. And then the keeper con- fessed. " It is true," he admitted, " but we are accustomed to call them Watteaus, because there are enough Paters in the next room " ! Such a picture as the " Conversation Galante," for exam- ple, is calculated to deceive the elect. It is perhaps 202 Ube Hrt of tbe Mallace dollectfon the best Pater in the Wallace Collection, even though it has that sameness of pose and composi- tion which have been noted as weaknesses in Pater's work. Owing no doubt to the numerous canvases by Boucher, the nineteenth and twentieth galleries have quite a boudoir effect, which is hardly surprising when it is remembered that four of the pictures — " The Visit of Venus to Vulcan," " Cupid a Cap- tive," " Venus and Mars surprised by Vulcan," and " The Judgment of Paris " — are said to have been painted by Boucher for the decoration of the room in which Madame dfe Pompadour used to receive her royal lover. They are admirably suited for such a purpose. The exactness of their sizes is matched by the close similarity of their subjects or method of treatment. They are all alike in sensual effect, each being devoted to the glorification of niide flesh. " The Judgment of Paris " is typical of them all, with its between-heaven-and-earth re- gion, its chubby cupids, its couches of clouds, its frank exposure of female charms, its billing and cooing doves, its predominantly pinkish tone. All these qualities, too, are strongly marked in the other examples by the same artist, including the two huge pictures — "The Rising of the S«n " and "The Setting of the Sun " — which are hung on the grand staircase. There is no denying the assertion Oallertes Vlineteen to Trwenti?«two 203 that " the female nude was the dream of Boucher's life, and to hohour it he set all Olympus in motion." He represents a distinct stage in the downward tendency of the social life of France. The mention of his name is sufficient to call up a vision of Venus and her court. " Tritons blow their shell horns and play with the fair-haired daughters of the sea, approaching upon the backs of friendly dolphins. In all positions the bodies caress and embrace each other, while cupids in the air wave a cloth like a fluttering banner of victory. The heaven gleams brightly as if bathed in the perfume of roses; the bodies of the women arise bright and gleaming from the light blue waves. Such pictures meant for Boucher what the ' Embarkment for the Isle of Cythera ' meant for Watteau. When Watteau appeared the pilgrimage was begun, but now its end has been attained. While his heroine is the lady in silken dresses and Brussels lace who swings her dainty slipper over a world of cavaliers, Bou- cher's is Venus in person — likewise a Venus of the Rococo, not the terrible murdering goddess whom Racine depicted in ' Phedre,' but a courtesan of the grand style, a gay marquise who from the balcony of Olympus scatters fragrant roses through life." This devotion to the flesh breathes from every curve and tint of those huge canvases which depict 204 ^be Hrt of tbe Tmallace Collection the rising and the setting of the sun. The luminary of day is symbolized by a handsome, half-naked youth, who in his ascent is followed by the regret- ful glances of a whole harem o-f houri, just as at the moment of his descent he is welcomed by the lascivious glances and poses of another company of naked women. That all this is decoration of the most gorgeous type cannot be denied, and no doubt many will accept and endorse the eulogy of the official note. " In his most t)rpical productions," that note declares, " Boucher is what the decorator of great spaces should be, a colourist not so much subtle and profound as frank, brilliant, and fresh to the point of crudeness — a designer of astonish- ing freedom, variety, and inventiveness. At his best he must be deemed one of the most brilliant and accomplished executants of the eighteenth cen- tury; and, more than this, in his merits as in his faults, one of the most characteristically French of the French masters. Even at his worst he cannot be said to deserve the unmeasured censure of Dide- rot, who from the point of view of the moralist, covered his conceptions, his works, and his person with ridicule and contempt." It may be that the standpoint of art is not quite the same as that of morality, and nothing more need be added on that matter; but such pictures as these help to explain the genesis of the French Revolution. BOUCHER. — THE SETTING OF THE SUN. ©aucrtes iRineteen to Uwents^two 205 But that Greuze as compared with Boucher should have been hailed by Diderot as a " moral " painter is almost incredible, in view of the further examples of his art shown in these two galleries. In justice to Diderot, however, it should be recalled that even he had nothing but condemnation for one of these pictures, the pretentious " Votive Offering to Cupid." This is a large canvas for Greuze, but it is as artificial as anything he painted. The pose of the worshipper at the shrine of cupid is as af- fected as the attitude of that imp is awkward, while the confused background is as conducive to wan- dering attention as the heap of roses and doves and wine-cups at the foot of the pedestal. A lack of sincerity, too, is the prevailing note of " The Broken Mirror," a picture of that twofold-meaning t3T)e which Greuze so often affected. " Think not," adjured the hortatory Diderot, " that it is over the jug, the mirror, or the bird that they weep. These young girls bewail more, and well they may." This, then, is a " moral " picture ; the broken mirror is a symbol, it seems, of ruined virtue; yet to many it will seem a spurious tragedy because the artist was more concerned with the dress and trinket ac- cessories of his canvas than with an effort to depict unutterable sorrow. And that suggestiveness which mars so much of his work utterly degrades such a picture as "Filial Piety," where the exposure of 2o6 xcbe Hrt of tbe TKnallace Collection the young girl's person is the more objectionable because so gratuitous. That boudoir appearance of these galleries to which allusion has been made is accentuated by the four additional pictures by Fragonard — pic- tures which demonstrate how carefully that artist heeded the advice of Boucher not to take Raphael and Michelangelo " too seriously." Indeed, after his return from Italy Fragonard does not seem to have taken anything seriously save his industry in supplying the kind of picture most in demand in the degenerate days of Louis XV. He himself has' told the story of how he came to paint one of the pictures here, " The Swing," a canvas which would arrest attention anywhere by its audacity and spark- ling colour. " Shortly after the close of the Salon exhibition in 1763," he wrote, "a gentleman sent me an invitation to visit him. When I responded to his invitation he was in the country with his mis- tress. At first he overwhelmed me with praises of the picture I had exhibited, and then confessed that he wished another one by me, the idea of which he himself would give : " I should like you to paint Madame in the swing. Place me so that I can see the pretty child's feet, or even more if you wish to give me especial pleasure.' " The commission was accepted, and the lover must have been greedy indeed if he was not satisfied with the " even more " Oalleries "Winetcen to Uwenti?*two 207 depicted by the artist. There is, however, such an air of gaiety about this glowing picture, such an espieglerie about the charmer in the swing and her adorer reclining in a kind of front-seat pose, that morality is silenced for once. Less daring themes are handled in the " Cupids\ Sporting " and " Cu- pids Reposing," two studies oJE chubby infants which are so much in the Boucher/style that it isj not sur- prising they were once ascribed to that painter. Perhaps the happiest characterization of Frago- nard's work as a whole is that which described his painting as producing the eflfect of a dream, the dream of a man who has fallen asleep in a box at the opera. Seven artists whose work has no representation in the eighteenth gallery contribute to the decora- tion of these two rooms, most of whom belong dis- tinctly to the Louis Quinze period or school. Both the examples by Jean FranQoise de Troy, " The Hunt Breakfast " and " The Stag at Bay," are in what may be called his converted style, for he was quick to recognize the change in artistic taste which followed the death of Louis XIV. and speedily adapted his art to the altered conditions. Two other artists who figure here, Jacques Charlier and Carlo van Loo, were still more closely associated with the Boucher school, the former having been most probably one of the pupils of that painter. 2o8 Ube Hrt of tbe TRIlallace Collection All three examples of Charlier's work, indeed, en- titled respectively " Nymphs and Cupids," " The Birth of Venus," and " The Judgment of Paris," are actual gouaches on a small scale of Boucher originals, and are excellent examples of the work of one who sometimes described himself as peintre en miniature du roi. Carlo van Loo is represented by but a single canvas, " The Grand Turk giving a Concert to his Mistress," a voluptuous and high- colour picture which .explains why the artist was almost as much a favourite as Boucher for boudoir decoration. His namesake and nephew, Louis Michel van Loo, has also but one picture in the collection, a " Portrait of Louis XV in robes of state," a reduced replica of his most famous work. Two minor painters of a somewhat later period are represented in the four pictures by Nicolas Ber- nard Lepicie and Jean Louis de Marne, the pictures by the former being tiny panels of " A Mother Feeding her Child " and " The Reading Lesson." The De Marne canvases, " Women and Soldiers Revelling " and " The Elixir," are almost Flemish in style and admirably illustrate the penchant of that artist for street scenes. The second picture is an animated study of an itinerant quack doctor. Of a more refined if sentimental nature was the art of Louis Leopold Boilly, which is typically exemplified in " The Dead Mouse," " The Visit," and " The ©allcries flinctecn to TTwentij-two 209 Sorrows of Love." Living to the great age of eighty-four, Boilly saw many changes in the social fabric of Paris, and in his work he took the line of least resistance. In the days of the Revolution he painted a " Triumph of Marat," but when law and order were re-established he devoted his brush to the mild pleasures of bourgeois life. As has been noted, his specialty was " little portrait groups of honest bougeois in their stiff Sunday finery. Boilly knew with accuracy the toilettes of his age, the gowns of th6 actresses, and the way they dressed their heads; he cared nothing whatever about aes- thetic dignity of style, but represented each subject as faithfully as he could, and as honestly and sin- cerely as possible. For that reason he is of great historical value, but he is not painter enough to lay claim to great artistic interest." Sometimes his drawing was at fault, as may be seen in " The Dead Mouse," where the mother's body is out of pro- portion, and nearly always his sentiment has a false note, as exemplified in the quasi-heroic scene of " The Sorrows of Love," which belongs to the Sor- rows-of-Werther school, but as documents of the period his pictures, and notably " The Visit," have a value of their own. A couple of portraits by filisabeth Louise Vigee Le Brun exhaust the pic- tures in these upstairs galleries. The " Portrait of Madame Perregaux" is exceedingly spirited and 2IO Ube Hct of tbe Mallace Collection warmer in colour than is usual with this artist, while the famous " Portrait of a Boy in Red " with its natural pose and glowing tints and smiling ex- pression represents Madame Le Brun at her best. For the remaining pictures of the Wallace Col- lection, upwards of seventy in number, the visitor must now make his way to Galleries Twenty-one and Twenty-two on the ground floor of the man- sion. With but few exceptions, these pictures are water-colours of the British and French schools, and in most cases their chief interest is that they are supplementary in the slighter medium of the work of artists represented in the other galleries by oil paintings. There are doubtless some lovers of art who prefer water-colours to oils, but the majority will agree with Ruskin when he asserted that the extended practice of water-colour painting as a separate skill is harmful to the arts ; " its pleas- ant slightness and plausible dexterity divert the genius of the painter from its proper aims, and withdraw the attention of the public from excellence of higher claim." On the other hand, the same authority, who admitted that a modern French landscape could be painted with a pail of whitewash and a pot of gas-tar in ten minutes, has reminded us of the infinite pains and unique skill which the old water-colourists brought to their work. In the hand of the modern artist this medium " drops and VIGEE LE BRUN. — PORTRAIT OF A BOY IN RED. Oallerics Tlineteen to Xi;wcntB*two 211 dries pretty nearly to its own fancy, slops over every outline, clots in every shade," etc., whereas the old masters " could lay, with unerring precision of tone and equality of depth, the absolute tint they wanted without a flaw or retouch." Several of those consummate workmen are rep- resented here, though it is to be regretted that Girtin and Prdut and David Cox are not among the number. The collection of Bonington's water- colours, however, is very complete, consisting of no fewer than twenty-four pictures, which range from such figure studies as " The Antiquary " and " Medora " to such topographical subjects as " The Leaning Tower, Bologna " and " The Church of Sant' Ambrogio, Milan." Here, too, may be seen the artist's water-colour replica of his " Henri IV and the Spanish Ambassador," which by absence of character in the monarch and the diplomat co- gently illustrates how Bonington handicapped him- self by resorting to the slighter medium. Much the same is true, though not to so great an extent, of the impression created by the four examples of J. M. W. Turner, two of which are hunting sub- jects and the others topographical. Perhaps the artist who suffers least is Copley Fielding, of whom a French critic once declared that he is "perhaps the greatest artist after Turner for representations of breadth and atmosphere. He is unequalled," 213 Zbc Htt of tbe Mallace Collection »•- added that eulogist, " in certain effects of mist, which are splendid in their mysterious expanse." Fielding, it will be remembered, was one of the earliest drawing-masters of Ruskin, and was the painter of that Scottish moorland picture of moun- tains and rain which the great critic admired so intensely as a young man. It was his father's first purchase, and the son of the house promptly in- vited one of his friends to call and enjoy the new treasure. He gazed at it blankly for a few mo- ments, and then asked, " But, Ruskin, what is the use of painting such very bad weather?" And it was in reply to that question that Ruskin made his famous answer that " there is no such thing as bad weather, but only different kinds of pleasant weather." It is not surprising, then, that he en- joyed Fielding's water-colours, and praised his art. To him it revealed the depth of far-off brightness and freshness and mystery of the morning air with which the artist was able to invest the ridges of the South Downs, and he revelled in the sense of beauty which he imparted to the cloud- forms pecul- iar to mountain regions. All these qualities are happily illustrated in these five examples of Field- ing's art, in the " Langdale Pikes, Westmoreland," which is in his mountain style, and in " Crowbor- ough Hill, Sussex," which is typical of his South Down manner. If the latter is somewhat more ©allcries "Rinetccn to Uwcnts-two 213 mellow than usual, the " Loch Katrine " is a happy example of the artist's romantic mood. Among the other British artists who have a place in these two galleries are David Roberts, William Stanfield, Henry Harper, William A. Nes- field, James D. Harding, and William Derby, though several of these are represented by pictures in oils. The two water-colours of Stanfield, " A Canal in Venice " and " S. Giorgio Maggiore, Ven- ice," are in his characteristic scene-painting style, and reminiscent of the theatre, but there is more strength and individuality in the five examples by Roberts, all of them transcripts of impressions re- ceived during his Continental tours. The one pic- ture by Harding, " Berncastel on the Moselle," be- trays that mannered and artificial style whjch pre- vented him from attaining any great distinction in the history of art, though he will always be remem- bered as the initiator of those " Harding's papers " so popular for sketching purposes. The three por- traits by Derby are interesting as proofs of the skill which that popular copyist brought to bear on his numerous commissions to execute replicas of the works of greater artists and show how successfully he could catch the spirit of diverse painters. Upwards of a dozen French artists are repre- sented by the remaining pictures, the list including Scheffer, Decamps, Bellange, Roqueplan, Papety, 314 TTbe Hrt of tbe Mallace Collection Vemet, Lami, Pils, and Cogniet. By Decamps there are no fewer than thirteen examples, among which the most notable is a version of his famous " Released from School," which loses something of its vim in this water-colour replica. On the other hand, the water-colour copy of Delaroche's " Death of the Due de Guise " somehow seems to accentuate the pusillanimity of the king as com- pared with the impression given by the original oil painting. The romantic touch of Papety is well exemplified in his two pictures, as is also the kindred spirit of Roqueplan in his charming " Watering Place " and " The Stolen Kiss." And finally, on a screen in the twenty-second gal- lery, the visitor will find six panels by Rubens of unusual interest, inasmuch as they show how that great artist was wont to prepare himself for the execution of some of his most famous works. They are all preliminary sketches, two being of the series designed in glorification of the life of Henri IV, but even so they constitute a not unworthy climax to the paintings of the Wallace Collection. CHAPTER IX FURNITURE Reference has already been made to the fact that the contents of Hertford House have been arranged more in accordance with the principles which prevail in a wealthy gentleman's house than on the system adopted in a museum. The trustees wisely decided that Lord Hertford's various treas- ures would be seen to better advantage and have a more educational value if they were displayed as the furnishings of a noble's mansion than if they were rigidly classified by subjects or periods. It has been seen that this plan has its disadvantages in the case of the pictures, and those disadvantages will become further obvious in the examination of the other treasures of the mansion; but the gain in another direction is so great that the method adopted becomes its own justification. When, then, the visitor turns to the objects of art he must not expect to. find them arranged in chron- ological sequence; if he wishes to follow the de- velopment of styles of furniture, for example, he must be prepared to pursue his quest from gallery 216 3i6 Ube Hrt ot tbe Mallace Collection to gallery. Whichever plan he adopts, whether the gallery order or the historical, he will be richly rewarded for his pains, for the collection includes sufficient specimens of all kinds of furniture to give him an enviable knowledge of the development of the cabinet-maker's art through the chief periods of the history of French furniture. Cowper, it will be remembered, has given us a poetic version of the history of the development of the rudest of chairs to the most comfortable of sofas, and told us how at the dawn of invention " Joint-stools were then created; on three legs Upborne they stood: three legs upholding firm A massy slab, in fashion square or round." To these rough seats succeeded in time more com- fortable chairs, and chairs which were decorative as well as useful. " At length a generation more refined Improved the simple plan; made three legs four, Gave them a twisted form vermicular, And o'er the seat with plenteous wadding stuff'd Induced a splendid cover, green and blue. Yellow and red, of tapestry richly wrought And woven close, or needlework sublime. furniture 217 There might ye see the peony spread wide, The full-blown rose, the shepherd and his lass. Lap-dog and lambkin with black staring eyes. And parrots with twin cherries in their beak." By and by the " cane from India," smooth and bright " with nature's varnish," was pressed into service, or cushions were invented, which " harder seemed " than the firm oak they covered. Then elbows were evolved, the happy thought of an alder- man or a lazy priest " studious of his ease." But still something was lacking. " The ladies first 'Gan murmur, as became the softer sex. Ingenious Fancy, never better pleased Than when employ'd to accommodate the fair, Heard the sweet moan with pity, and devised The soft settee; one elbow at each end. And in the middle an elbow, it received, United yet divided, twain at once. Thus first Necessity invented stools Convenience next suggested elbow chairs And Luxury the accomplish'd Sofa last." Now, of course, Lord Hertford was not interested in primitive and three-legged joint-stools; he was 2i8 ube Uvt of tbc Mallace doUectton quite content to allow them to remain in Cowper's " ancient halls and mansions drear"; the oldest of the chairs honoured with a place in his mansion is of modem construction compared with the simple seat of Cowper's verse. It is generally agreed that the orderly develop- ment of French furniture dates from the year 1662, when Louis XIV appointed the painter Lebrun as director of the royal factory for the production of all kinds of decorative objects, and that from that period onward the styles of furniture may be clas- sified under the names of succeeding monarchs. But, of course, there was furniture in use before the reign of Louis Quatorze. When, however, we go back to the Middle Ages we find that the question of furniture did not greatly trouble the people of that period. Such inventories as survive show that chests, and tables on trestles, and folding beds were the chief articles in use. In fact, in that far-off period life had little stability, and the furniture partook of the nomadic habits of the people. Still, certain kinds of rude household plenishings were in use, and when, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, the life of the community became more settled it was natural that the articles of their homes should partake in the change. Unusual interest, then, attaches to that chair of the early sixteenth century which stands in Gallery jTurmtute 219 Six, for it is at once the oldest piece of furniture in the collection, and an illustration of the fact that in its earliest form the chair had something of the character of a throne. This venerable object is de- scribed as an Ecclesiastical Seat, an attribution sup- ported by the fact that the carving of the central panel has the Annunciation as its subject. Al- though it belongs to the period of the early Renais- sance, the influence of the Gothic style is perfectly pbvious in the constraint and exaggeration of its carving. To a little later in the same century be- longs the imposing Armoire in walnut which stands in the same gallery. With its caryatids supporting nothing, its overplus of decoration, and its adoption of designs more suitable to stone than wood, this cupboard is a good example of the excess which was characteristic of the later Renaissance work. In close proximity the visitor will find a couple of armchairs of carved oak which illustrate the style of the Louis Treize period, thus preparing him for the change which took place in the reign of the succeeding king. Other pieces of furniture which date from the sixteenth century will be found in Gallery Five in an Armoire of carved walnut, and several upright chairs. Here, too, are several sim- ple examples of seventeenth-century chairs, one with a cane bottom and others fitted with modern brocades. 220 Zbc art of tbc Mallacc Collection Inasmuch as Lord Hertford had little liking for the pompous art of the Louis Quatorze period, but a strong preference for the pictures of the following reign, it is hardly surprising that the bulk of his furniture is in the Louis Quinze and Louis Seize styles. What has been well called the " pompous magnificence " of Louis XIV did not appeal to him. In some respects the Louis Quatorze style of fur- niture was near akin to vulgarity in that it de- pended so much upon brilliant and costly materials. That king and his courtiers, as M. de Champeaux has remarked, " abandoned the ancient side-tables and chests made of native products, to which time has given such harmonious surfaces, preferring for- eign woods which the discovery of India and Amer- ica had just introduced into Europe. Rarity of material assumed an overwhelming importance to the detriment of artistic conception, which had till then occupied the first place. Consequently the con- ditions of work changed; and it became necessary to employ costly substances, to treat them with care, and to use up the smallest pieces. These special conditions gave birth to the fine art of cabinet- making, which was the result of this new advance in industry. A gulf was fixed between the old- fashioned carpenter faithful to the carving of native woods, and the cabinet-maker whose care was to produce objects of magnificence." It has been Jftttnfture 221 pointed out also that brilliancy and costliness of material characterize French furniture from the Louis Quatorze period, but in the style of Louis Quinze there is generally a gracefulness of design and treatment which were often lacking in the products of the previous age. Some admirable examples of the blend of the Louis Quinze and Louis Seize styles will be found in Gallery One, consisting of a large sofa and a suite comprising another large sofa and six arm- chairs. While the wooden framework of these pieces is mainly in the Louis Seize style, the tap- estries belong to the previous reign and were all designed by that Jean Baptiste Oudry, whose still- life paintings have been already noticed. As the director of the Beauvais tapestry works he person- ally supplied the designs for the most famous of the furniture tapestries executed there, the suite above-named being decorated with his favourite series depicting various incidents connected with the chase. The central subject of the sofa of that suite is a stag hunt, while a minor detail is a spirited representation of a hawk attacking some wild ducks. The armchairs are decorated by equally vivid tap- estry-pictures of dogs and pheasants, rabbits, wild ducks, spaniels, and swans. But the most dainty piece of furniture displayed here is that large sofa mentioned above, the lines of which are classical 222 Zbc Hrt of tbe Mallace Collection but still decorative. Its chief attraction, however, is its tapestry covering, which belongs to Oudry's series based upon the fables of La Fontaine. The principal subject of the design is the fable of the Monkey and the Dolphin, that ludicrous story of how a monkey ruined his chances of being saved from shipwreck by not knowing whether Piraeus were a place or a man, and it is treated in that animated and decorative manner for which Oudry was so distinguished. Equally ornamental is the minor episode of an owl carrying off a small bird, while the surrounding scheme of floral and other decoration is exceedingly effective and ^harmonious. Another example of Oudry's treatment of the La Fontaine fables is in Gallery Nine in the form of a carved and gilt armchair. Three armchairs which belong by their tapestry to the Louis Quinze period and by their carved and gilt woodwork to the Louis Seize style are to be found in Gallery Ten, and they are of special in- terest because the tapestries illustrate the work of the Aubusson looms. Two of the designs are of dainty little shepherdesses gathering flowers, while a third depends for its inspiration upon La Fon- taine's fables. In Galleries Twelve and Nineteen respectively are displayed a couple of armchairs which will appeal to many on account of their hu- man interest. The first was once supposed to have yurniture 223 been made for Stanislas, the Polish king who was the father of Marie Leczinska, but more careful examination has led to the conclusion that its first owner was Clemens Wenceslaus, Elector of Treves, and that it was made for him' a little later than 1768. The other armchair, which is carved and gilt" and is upholstered in Louis Quatorze silk bro- cade, bears a monogram of the letters " M " and " T " intertwined, and was once the property of the Empress Maria-Theresia, mother of Marie Ah- toinette. In addition to the above there are in Gal- leries Two, Twelve, and Twenty-two three hand- some complete suites of the Louis Seize style, two of which include typical examples of the causeuse, or small cushioned sofa. The third of these suites is notable for the fragile character of its floral carvings. Turning next to the tables the visitor will find more than a score of superb examples scattered through the principal galleries. In date of con- struction they range from the Louis Quatofze to the Louis Seize period, while they represent all kinds of material from marble to ebony. For the latter wood, indeed, the Marquis of Hertford ap- pears to have had as marked a preference as Horace Walpole, to whom ebony furniture was such an attraction that he once travelled sixty miles to an auction at which some was to be sold. " As I came 224 XCbe Brt of tbc Mallace Collection for ebony," he wrote, " I have been up to my chin in ebony." There were many articles in other woods, but his ambition was restricted to the " true black blood." Three of the ebony tables are to be found in Gallery Two, all of them ascribed to the Louis Quatorze period and to the style of the Andre- Charles Boulle atelier. They are alike, too, in their marqueterie of tortoise-shell on metal, save that in one the order is reversed by a marqueterie of metal on tortoise-shell. A more ornate table of the same material is in Gallery Nine, the design of this speci- men including many grotesque figures of the Italian Comedy Type; while in Gallery Sixteen there is another example which is decorated by one of those farcical pictures of monkeys which were so fash- ionable at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Incidents of the chase provide the inspiration of the decoration of a further specimen in Gallery Twenty-one, which is an eighteenth century imita- tion of the Boulle style. In Galleries Two, Sixteen and Twenty-one are displayed several handsome examples of the console type of table, that of the first named salon being of gilt wood and probably of Italian workmanship. The two specimens in the chief gallery are of green marble with frameworks of wood, and belong to the Louis Seize period. In one the central medal- lion has for its subject Juno and her attendant Pea- jfurniture 225 cock, while that of the other is adorned with a bas- relief of Leda and the Swan. But the most ornate of these console tables is that in Gallery Twenty- one, which is made of ebony and is decorated with marqueterie of metal on tortoise-shell. The pillars are finished in lions' heads, the central ornament be- tween them being a mask of a faun. According to the official description, " the top plaque may pos- sibly be of the Louis Quatorze period, but the rest, though entirely in the style of the BouUe atelier, is of later date, and made by a skilful imitator work- ing in the Louis Seize period." A graceful writing-table of the Regence manner is in the vestibule of the grand staircase, the wood being mahogany and the mounts and caryatids of gilt bronze. A larger example stands in Gallery Sixteen, the most striking feature of which is not its combination of satin and other woods but its elaborate decoration of festoons of oak-leaves and acorns. None of these examples have any par- ticular history, but the round table of dark mahog- any in Gallery Nineteen and the oblong table in Gallery Twenty are credited with associations which enhance their interest as pieces of furniture. The first-named, which has mounts of gilt bronze and seven round plaques of Sevres porcelain, was once the property of Marie Antoinette; the second is said to have been the table on which the Treaty 226 Ube Htt of tbe Mallace Collection of Tilsit was signed in 1807. It is of this table, an exquisite piece of furniture in pale-green lacquer and bronze, said to have been, made by J. Dubois for the amazing Catherine II of Russia, that Lady Dorothy Nevill tells the following story. " This table was purchased by Lord Hertford about the year 1867, from the late Mr. Frederick Davis, into whose possession it came in a curious way. Mr. Davis and his son, Mr. Charles Davis, happened to be staying iq a hotel in St. Petersburg towards the end of the year 1866, when an individual brought to them, for sale, a snufif-box with paintings by Von Blarenberghe, refusing, however, to divulge the name of the owner. His curious attitude in the matter excited a good deal of suspicion, and Mr. Davis, at length deciding that the box had been stolen, was on the point of calling in the police when the vendor admitted that it was the property of Prince Kourakin. In order to verify this statement, Mr. Davis and his son proceeded to call upon the magnate in question, at whose house they were shown the famous ' Tilsit Table,' which, after some negotiation, they succeeded in purchasing, Prince Kourakin certifying that the Treaty of Tilsit had been signed upon it, and adding that on the night of the signature there had been a fire, from which the table had very luckily been saved. A few months later the table was sold to Lord Hertford, furniture 227 who was, of course, told its history. At the time Lord Hertford laughed at the story, declaring that he purchased the table more on account of its being a fine work of art than for any other reason; but, nevertheless, he would appear to have made some investigations into its history, for he subsequently told Mr. Davis that he had found his statement to be perfectly correct, and had identified the table as being the identical one upon which the Treaty had been signed. Lord Hertford added that he had been present at Tilsit at the time, and now perfectly recalled to mind this particular piece of furniture having been rescued from the fire." Now, although it may seem invidious to look such a pretty gift-story in the mouth, the fact that the official catalogue makes no mention of this legend begets suspicion. And when one comes to examine the dates given by Lady Dorothy Nevill and con- sider the probabilities of the case, it seems likely that her informant decorated his story with con- siderable romance. For if the table were purchased in 1867 it must have been the fourth Marquis of Hertford who was the buyer, and as that nobleman was not born until 1800 it is hardly feasible that he was at Tilsit in 1807 or had so remarkably vivid a recollection of a fire which took place in his sev- enth year. It is true that a Prince Kourakin did take part in the affair at Tilsit, but even had, he 228 Zbc Hrt of tbe Wallace Collection been the owner of this table it is not probable that he would have included in his baggage so delicate a piece of furniture. It is to be feared, then, that the story must be relegated to the category of things that might have been; that Napoleon and Alex- ander signed on this table the treaty in which they divided the world between them is most unlikely; but happily the table is so notable for its graceful workmanship, its classical decoration, and its ex- quisite mermaid caryatids that it will always arrest attention for its own sake. From the tables to the bureaus and commodes is a natural transition, and the most notable exam- ples of both are appropriately arranged in the chief, the Sixteenth Gallery. Those, however, who are interested in the superb work of the famous BouUe will, no doubt, first seek out the fine bureau table in Gallery Nine, a splendid specimen made of ebony with beautiful marqueterie of metal on tortoise- shell and masterly mounts of cast, chased, and gilt bronze. A still finer example of BouUe's work is the flat bureau or table in Gallery Sixteen, which is also of ebony with metal marqueterie and bronze mounts. In the perfect harmony of its proportions, lines, and curves, as well as in the delicacy and finish of its mounts this table shows Boulle's work at its high-water mark and should be carefully studied by those who are anxious to learn what the Jfurniturc 229 genuine Boulle, or " Buhl," is like. Such a piece of furniture amply proves that Boulle " had eben- isterie in his blood " and accounts for the fact that in addition to Louis XIV his clients included many foreign princes and the chief of the great nobles and financiers of his time. Not far away is another superb example of the cabinet-maker's art, a truly royal large bureau ordered by Stanislas, King of Poland, shortly before his death in 1766, from the atelier of Jean Frangois Oeben. A favourite of Madame de Pompadour, and given the title of Ebeniste du Rot in 1754, Oeben is most famous in the history of cabinet-making for his connection with the celebrated Bureau du Roi, now in the Louvre, which seems to have been designed by him even though it was completed by his pupil, Jean Henri Riesener. There is a modern copy of that remarkable bureau in this gallery, in connection with which it is stated that Oeben began it in 1760 and Riesener completed it nine years later. The Stanislas bureau was also a joint production, for although Oeben received the order he died before the table was finished ; hence the signature of Ries- ener alone on the top of the desk. This bureau, which at one time was among the crown treasures of France, bears a great resemblance to the Bureau du Roi, though it differs from it in the pattern of its marqueterie decoration and in the design of its 230 Ube Htt of tbe Mallace Collection bronze mounts. In it's large and flowing and har- monious lines, however, the Polish king's bureau is as notable an achievement as that made for his royal brother of France. By far the finest of the commodes in the collec- tion are located in Gallery Sixteen, two of the five being in the first rank of artistic furniture. One of these was the work of Charles Cressent, the cele- brated cabinet-maker, who was the most notable of BouUe's pupils and who is regarded by some as the best decorative artist of the eighteenth century. The body of the commode is richly relieved by inlay of different woods, and the ornaments of cast and chased gilt bronze are unusually elaborate in design, the handles being in the form of Chinese dragons. This piece of furniture is generally regarded as the most elaborate Cressent ever produced, and goes far to justify the egotism with which he described himself as the producer of the " most distinguished bronzes " and furniture of the " most elegant form adorned with bronzes of extra richness." So far as metal decoration is concerned, however, Cressent had a formidable rival in Jacques Caffieri, who was responsible for the exquisite ornamenta- tion of another commode in this gallery. Caffieri has been truthfully described as the most consum- mate artist in the style rocaille, "which he con- stantly redeemed from its mannered conventional- jFurniture 231 ism by the ease aad mastery with which he treated it. From the studio in which he and his son worked side by side came an amazing amount of work, chiefly in the shape of those gilded bronze mounts which in the end became more insistent than the pieces of furniture which they adorned." This commode well illustrates the latter remark; it is only a surmise which attributes the design of the woodwork to the brothers Slodtz, while the mounts are unhesitatingly assigned to Caffieri. Those mounts are certainly of a remarkable character, in which, as has been claimed, the brilliance and spontaneity, the siweeping boldness and elegance of line that mark his style at its best, are seen in a perfection hardly exceeded in any other example. There is one other commode, standing in Gallery Eighteen, wl^ich must not be overlooked, . for it combines the superb cabinet-craft of Riesener and the finished metal-work of Gouthiere, arid has be- sides the additional interest of having been made for the beautiful and ill-fated Marie Antoinette, whose initials are in the centre of the frieze. Rich as is the ornamentation of the tables, bu- reaus, and commodes above described^ it is in the numerous cabinets, secretaires. Coif rets de manage, etc., that the lavishness and costliness of French furniture decoration are seen in their most pro- nounced form. Although writing of an earlier 232 Zbc Hrt ot tbe TKHallacc Collection period, the words of Lady Dilke are apposite to the productions of the eighteenth century. " Just as the architect of the palace called to his aid sculp- tors, painters, workers in metal, the architect of the buffet and the bahut gathered together in like manner all the minor forms of the arts. The bahut was, in itself, a little palace. Although sometimes wrought in wood alone, and depending for its charm on the nice elegance of its proportions and the graceful hand of the carver, it more often seems to have exhausted the rich resources of varied colour and material in its decoration. When its fair framework was duly fitted, the Renaissance cabinet might be enriched by the artifices of the goldsmith, by enamels, by inlaid work of precious marble, or by paintings more precious still, so that, just as the chateau had brought into harmonious service all the larger arts, the cabinet became the epitome of the lesser." How lavishly the cabinet-makers of the eight- eenth century decorated their work is cogently illus- trated by the seven upright secretaires which stand in Gallery Eighteen. Three of these examples were made by Riesener, one being of satin-wood richly adorned with marqueterie of various others woods. The metal decorations, which comprise plaques and mounts of chased bronze, have been ascribed to GouthJere, though some authorities believe they RIESENER. — UPRIGHT SECRETAIRE. Jfurniturc 233 were made by Thomire. The two plaques, however, are said to be in the style of Clodion and are be- lieved to have been designed by him. That which adorns the upper panel of the escritoire is an ex- quisite piece of metal low-relief, its subject being the dedication of a child to the god of love, some- what reminiscent of Greuze's " The Votive Offer- ing to Cupid." Although the other plaque is of equally fine workmanship it cannot be said to con- tribute so satisfactorily to the adornment of the secretaire* Surely it would have been far more effective to have left the frieze unbroken; in fact, the plaque seems to interrupt the scheme of dec- oration and to illustrate the evil of over-elaboration. It adds a poignant interest to this piece of furniture to learn that on the back is stamped the monogram of Marie Antoinette with the royal crown encircled with the words, " Garde-Meuble de la Reine." Quite a different effect characterizes the Riesener upright secretaire in marqueterie of diverse natural and stained woods. The two lower panels have the same design in marqueterie, a beautiful vase filled with flowers; the upper panel is adorned with a life-size cock with the wand of Mercury and its customary snakes. The bronze mounts, which are attributed to Duplessis, are of a more restrained character than in the previous example. The third Riesener secretaire is of amboyna wood with rose- 234 Ube Brt of tbe Wallace Collection wood bands, the metal decorations being the work of either Gouthiere or Thomire. In the example by Claude Charles Saunier, which is in marqueterie of various woods, the bronze ornaments are largely of a military character, a scheme which is carried out in the inlay to a considerable extent. Thus one of the lower panels bears a well-drawn picture of a cannon. A further example in the same gallery is decorated with plaques of Sevres porcelain. Two other cabinets should not be overlooked. One, of ebony, is in Gallery Nine, and this is spe- cially notable for its floral panels in inlay of various woods. The character of the ornamental bands and plaques in metal and tortoise-shell support the view that this is an early work by BouUe. To the same famous artist is ascribed without any doubt the armoire in ebony which is in Gallery Twelve. This is an exceedingly dignified piece of furniture, the plaques in the front of a Nymph and a young Satyr giving emphasis to its semi-classical lines. An unusual type of cabinet is illustrated by the car- tonnier by Dubois in Gallery Twenty, which,- like the Tilsit table, is said to have been made for Cath- erine II of Russia. It is of pale-green lacquer with efifective bronze mounts. Like two of the kings of France and several other royal persons, the Marquis of Hertford was a col- lector of clocks, but he limited himself to those of furniture 23s French make. Nor did he care for all clocks of that nationality; the grandfather models in oak cases, which were produced in such large numbers in the northern parts of France, did not appeal to him; he had all the preference of a Parisian for timepieces which were decorative and rich in ap- plied ornament. There are upwards of thirty clocks in Hertford House, few of the galleries being with- out several examples. Within the decorative limita- tion just mentioned, they are of the most diverse types, ranging from the candelabrum variety to the imposing monumental style. The first-named is in Gallery Two, where also two other examples may be seen. The candelabrum clock is of dark and gilt bronze, with a pedestal of white and coloured mar- bles and a modern base of red marble. The clock itself is in vase form, and its chief ornament is a finely-modelled bronze figure of Love, one of whose arms encircles the long stalks of gilt bronze flowers which rise from the vase. Both the other examples are of the monumental type, one being richly dec- orated in the Boulle style of mount which frames a marqueterie of metal on tortoise-shell. In these two timepieces the decorative motifs are respect- ively Love and Time and Diana the Huntress. In- finite variety characterizes the decorative designs of the other models, the themes including figures from the Italian Comedy, warriors and females, a boy on 236 TTbe Htt of tbe TRnallace Collection a dolphin, Michelangelo's Night and Morning, the Three Fates, hawking scenes, Ceres, Nymphs and Cupids, the Signs of the Zodiac, and Clio, the muse of history. The timepiece which is indebted to Michelangelo is an example of the work of Le- pante, the famous Horloger du Roi, who is also represented by several other examples, including the clock mounted in a Sevres vase. The most gorgeous example, however, of the latter type of timepiece is the vase-clock of green oeil-de-perdrix Sevres in Gallery Twelve, which is beautifully decorated with figures of Amorini linked together with festoons. The most imposing example is the monumental clock and pedestal of ebony in Gallery Seventeen, for which Lord Hertford gave the large sum of six thousand pounds. The figures of the upper por- tion include a shooting cupid and groups of war- riors, while the central panel on the lower portion is a fine bas-relief of Hercules easing Atlas of the burden of the world. A smaller but equally notable model is the bracket or chamber clock of bronze with gold gilding, which is supposed to have been presented to a member of the Rochechouart family in recognition of some public service. The design was by Boizot. In Gallery Twenty-one is an ornate musical clock with fourteen bells, the clock being by Eteiille and the bronze case in the style of Du- plessis. jfurntture 237 Among the other examples of decorative French furniture are numerous mirrors, wall-brackets, ba- rometers, pedestals, screens, and chandeliers, etc. The mirrors, one of which is of polished steel and dates from the middle of the sixteenth century, are in various kinds of frames, including green marble, carved woods, Boulle work, and marqueterie of metal on tortoise-shell, while one is decorated with plaques of repousse silver. Several of the barome- ters are in ebony, as also are some of the pedestals. Two of the chandeliers are the work of Jacques Caffieri and are exquisitely wrought in gilt bronze. A curious relic of the sixteenth century is the bel- lows with its spirited carvings of grotesque figures. Another unusual article is the almanack enamelled on copper with coloured pictures of the Signs of the Zodiac, which,, dedicated to Louis XV, was made in 1744. This brief enumeration will be suf- ficient to indicate how crowded these galleries are with unique and invaluable articles of furniture, than which, as is asserted, there is no finer or more complete collection in any private or public gallery in France itself. The Perfume-Burner in Gallery Nineteen, for example, is absolutely unique. The bowl and stand of red jasper are sufficient to give distinction to this lovely brule-parfums, but it is the unrivalled mounting of gilt bronze by Gouthiere which is its chief glory. The satyrs' heads and fes- 238 Ube Hrt of tbe Mallace dollection toons are elaborately chased, while the coiled ser- pent within the legs is executed with equal mas- tery. It was purchased from the Due d'Aumont's sale in 1782 by Marie Antoinette, but while that unfortunate queen secured this marvellous work of art for twelve thousand francs Lord Hertford paid nearly forty thousand francs for it in 1865. Yet at one time it exchanged owners for twelve hundred francs! But what is true of this perfume-burner is also true of more objects than it is possible to describe ; that is, they stand alone in the annals of artistic furniture and would command record prices in the sale-room. It has been well said that the age of Louis Seize stands out as, on the whole, the one consummate era in the history of furniture, and that period can be studied at Hertford House as nowhere else. CHAPTER X BRONZES, MARBLES, PORCELAIN, ETC. Seeing what an important part metal plays in so many of the pieces of furniture described in the previous chapter, it would hardly be an exaggera- tion of the term " bronzes " to include those ob- jects of art in the present section, for a bronze is defined as a " work of art, as a statuette, bust, or model, composed of bronze, whether cast or wrought." Even with the mounted furniture elim- inated, however, the objects which still remain are so numerous and of such bewildering variety that it is not possible to deal with more than a selection of representative examples. To describe at length the countless statuettes, plaquettes, medals, reliefs, medallions, candlesticks and flambeaux, groups, and single figures or por- trait-busts would need a considerable volume, so rich is the collection in examples of all those kinds of bronzes. In one case in Gallery Three alone there are numerous specimens of the various Italian schools of bronze-workers, this group including a gilt bronze plaquette of the Virgin and Child by 240 XTbe Hrt of tbe Mallace Collection Moderno, a high relief profile of Louis XII, a bronze medal of Lorenzo de' Medici by Niccolo Fiorentino, a low relief of the Madonna and Child by a sculptor of Donatello's school, a fifteenth- century bas-relief of the Virgin and Child, a cir- cular plaquette of the Judgment of Paris, numerous medals of the North Italian school, etc., etc. In other galleries, such as the Tenth, for example, the specimens of French workmanship include a bust of Alexander the Great, a statuette of Cupid with his quiver, and statuettes of Napoleon and the Em- press Marie Louise. In Gallery Eleven, again, there is another wonderful collection of Italian and French work, which includes groups of female wrestlers, statuettes of Venus and a wounded youth, Cupid asleep, Tritons, etc. Perhaps the most nota- ble piece in this section is a bronze statuette of a goddess seated upon a throne, the sides of which are beautifully decorated with low relief figures of a Sphinx and Cupid. Wrought by Giovanni da Cre- mona, its rich patina is in fine contrast with the gilt draperies of the splendidly-modelled figure. Another remarkable work is the spirited group of Nessus carrying ofif Deianira, which will be found in the vestibule of the grand staircase. The work of Giovanni da Bologna, a Frenchman by birth but an Italian by adoption and craft, this vigorous rep- resentation of the centaur in the act of abducting Bronaes, /Garbles, IPotcclatn, etc. 241 the daughter of Althaea is a worthy example of Giovanni's power of expressing swift movement and his command of beauty of line. Although ex- ecuted in metal, the contrast between the muscular vigour of the male and the pliant softness of the female body is convincingly suggested. Numerous examples of drawing-room bronzes are arranged in Gallery Sixteen, the majority being of French work- manship. The subjects are largely classical, Venus and Cupid and Hiercules and Pluto and Bacchus, with here and there an amorous theme of a more modern type. By far the most interesting of the bronzes, how- ever, are the portrait busts of two of the kings of France, which are to be found in Galleries Six and Five respectively. That in the first-named salon has for its subject Charles IX, the artist of which was that Germain Pilon who executed the famous tomb of Henry II which is so remarkable for its kneeling figures of the king and Catherine de' Med- ici. The date of the work is unknown, and nothing can be inferred from the countenance of the king, which certainly looks older than the twenty-four years he had completed at his death, but the slight suggestion of a breastplate taken in conjunction with the laurels of victory which crown his head would seem to indicate that it belongs to that flash- in-the-pan period when for a brief time he had 242 tCbe art of tbe Mallacc doUection dreams of making a figure in the world. The sculp- tor, however, took care to underline the royal char- acter of his model by enswathing his shoulders in his regal robes and decorating him with the Order of St. Michael. Justly described as unique for its "concentrated power of conception and technical perfection," the bust is also of supreme value to the psychologist. How far this is the face of a man who was taught by his tutor to " swear, never to speak the truth, and always to disguise his thoughts" must be left to the initiated to divine; the less than regal aspect given to the king's fea- tures makes it easy to believe that such a man might have been capable of permitting a band of thieves to exercise their craft at a state ball. On the other hand, arrogant royalty is engraved in every line of the bronze bust of Louis XIV which stands in Gallery Five. Save for several slight de- tails, this is a replica of the marble bust by Charles Antoine Coysevox preserved in the Museum at Dijon, that work having been a commission to the sculptor in 1686 by the Parliament of Burgundy. Owing to the friendship of Lebrun, Coysevox was greatly favoured by Louis XIV, who gave him numerous orders for statues and decorations for Versailles and the palace of Marly. This court patronage resulted in many other commissions, and he executed portrait-busts or full-lengths of most i ^ Jl|3^m 1^^^ vS^P^^^ ^^f'j^^sl^ ^^^Sl ^^^ w^ •-t:*r-^ m ii m COYSEVGX. — BRONZE BUST OF LOUIS XIV. JBronjes, /Darbies, Porcelain, etc. 243 of the celebrated men of his time. This bronze is said to be at least the equal of the marble in artistic merit, and is described in the official catalogue as " one of the finest extant portrait-busts of the Grand Monarque, who is represented in middle life, with a mien of characteristic arrogance and self-asser- tion. There is no portrait of the king, either at Versailles or in the Louvre, of precisely the same t)T)e, or so admirable in quality of the bronze as well as the breadth and finish of the execution." As will be seen from the illustration, the pompous monarch is wearing his characteristic wig, the curls of which, as well as the delicate pattern of the lace scarf round his throat, are superbly represented. Equally fine is the workmanship of the armour with its unobtrusive decoration. One other bronze must not be overlooked. This is a high relief of a Dance of Maidens which may be found in the corridor of the ground floor. De- scribed as " a free copy, or adaptation, from the celebrated Late Greek or Graeco-Roman Relief in the Louvre known as ' Les Danseuses Borghese,' " with the important difference that the heads of the maidens seem to have been imitatecj from quite dis- tinct originals, this bronze has been the subject of several learned disputations as to its authorship and nationality. The theory that it is an Italian work of the first half of the sixteenth century has been 244 Vbe art of tbe VQlaUace Collection abandoned in favour of the suggestion of Robert Eisler, who pointed out that in 1641 bronze casts of certain antique reliefs at Rome were taken for Louis XIII, among them being a copy of the Dan- seuses Borghese then in the Villa Borghese. The official note states that there are strong reasons for adopting Herr Eisler's theory, though it adds that the relief is no mere copy, but an adaptation by an accomplished artist, who has improved upon his original. Compared with the bronzes, the marbles are but few in number, but in artistic merit or historical interest they are as worthy of attention as anything in the collection. Few visitors can fail to be at- tracted by the three busts on the half-landing of the great staircase, for that of Lady Wallace faces the main flight of stairs, while those of her husband and the fourth Marquis of Hertford occupy prom- inent positions on either side. They are all ad- mirable examples of modern portrait sculpture, that of Lady Wallace being specially distinguished for its refined dignity. Several of the oldest pieces are in Gallery Three, the examples here including an English fifteenth- century high relief in alabaster of the Resurrection, and a handsome Italian chimney-piece of the same period, the latter being elaborately decorated in relief with foliage festoons and figures of sirens, JSronses, /Darbies, porcelain, etc. 245 etc. But the specimen of greatest historical inter- est is the high relief marble head of Christ by Pietro Torrigiano, that fellow student of Michel- angelo who is perhaps best remembered for his ferocious assault on that illustrious artist. Torri- giano made the acquaintance of Benvenuto Cellini, and, one day, when that artist showed him a draw- ing he had made from one of Michelangelo Buon- arroti's cartoons, he told him the story of his youth- ful exploit in these words : " This Buonarroti and I used, when we were boys, to go into the Church of the Carmine, to learn drawing from the chapel of Masaccio. It was Buonarroti's habit to banter all who were drawing there; and one day, among others, when he was annoying me, I got more angry than usual, and clenching my fist, gave him such a blow on the nose, that I felt bone and cartilage go down like biscuit beneath my knuckles ; and this mark of mine he will carry with him to the grave." He did; but there are those who believe that Mi- chelangelo's broken nose was not occasioned by the " banter " of that great master but by Torrigiano's jealousy of his superior skill. At any rate, Torri- giano was a choleric person, a man of " arrogant spirit," as Cellini described him, " with the air of a great soldier more than of a sculptor." Early in the sixteenth century he left Florence for Lon- don, and was engaged by Henry VH to make him 246 Ube Hrt of tbe Mallace Collection a tomb in Westminster Abbey. He remained in England for a number of years, executing, among many other works, that ornate tomb of Dr. John Yonge which is now in the Museum of the Public Record office in London. It is the latter which gives the clue to the marble in the Wallace Collec- tion, for it corresponds exactly with the terra-cotta head of Christ in the lunette of that monument. The design, however, was not original ; " the type of Christ is not Florentine, but based on that of the famous Beau Christ of Amiens Cathedral, a ma- jestic figure of the Saviour belonging to the first half of the thirteenth century, which Torrigiano would very probably have seen on his journey to England." Eight marbles of French and Italian workman- ship, ranging in date from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century, are displayed in Gallery Four, where, also, is to be found a striking terra-cotta bust of Charles Lebrun from the studio of Coyse- vox. Save for size, this is identical with the marble bust in the Louvre which bears the inscription: "Lebrun, premier peintre du roi et chancelier de I'Academie. A. Coysevox, fecit i6'/g, par ordre de I'Academie." It is surmised that this terra-cotta is the actual model submitted to the Academy by Le- brun on his election. The only other portrait-bust here is a white marble of Louis XIV by Coysevox JSronses, /Darbies, porcelain, etc. 247 ■which it is interesting to compare with the bronze bust of the same monarch described above. The other marbles include a statuette of a veiled woman, busts of an African king and queen in black and white and coloured marbles, and heads of a Nymph and the Apollo Belvedere. Four portrait-busts of unusual interest are lo- cated in Gallery Eleven, the beautiful bow-win- dowed dining-room on the ground floor. Two of these, having for their subjects Charles I and Caro- line, the queen of George II, were the work of John Michiel Rysbrack, that Flemish sculptor who made his home in England in 1 720 and gradually won for himself a position as the most fashionable sculptor of the time. He is generously represented in West- minster Abbey by his monuments of Sir Isaac New- ton, Matthew Prior, and other famous people, while he counted among his patrons Pqpe, Horace Wal- pole. Sir Hans Sloane, and many more. As a sculp- tor of portrait-busts in marble Rysbrack is said to have been seldom excelled, a claim which is justi- fied by the admirable likeness of Queen Caroline. But something more than likeness characterizes the other two works in this gallery, each from the chisel of Jean Antoine Houdon. One of these was at one time believed to be the portrait of Madame Elisabeth, sister of Louis XVI, but that ascription has been abandoned. This robs the marble of a 248 Zbc Htt of tbe Mallace Collection certain poignant interest, for the terrible fate which overtook Madame Elisabeth in the French Revo- lution gives a strong fascination to all her portraits. The next guess as to the original of this masterly bust was in favour of Catherine II of Russia, that generous lover of the male sex of whom Houdon is known to have executed a bust. Unfortunately the engraving of that work discloses too marked differences to justify the identification. For vari- ous reasons, then, it has been concluded that the marble is a portrait of Madame Victoire de France, the fifth daughter of Louis XV and the aunt of Louis XVI. Happily the doubt as to the identity of the sitter is of no importance; the marble be- longs to the category of art rather than that of por- traiture. It possesses in a supreme degree that quality which made a Pope say of Houdon's bust of St. Bruno, " he would speak were it not that the rules of his order enjoin silence." And that similitude of life is also most pro- nounced in the bust of Madame de Serilly, who, some twelve years after sitting to the sculptor, was condemned to death during the Reign of Terror, and only escaped the guillotine on the plea that she was with child. Such was not the case, but the fact that this is the portrait of one of those high-born women who participated in the tragedy of the French Revolution adds to the interest of the work. HOUDON. — MARBLE BUST OF MADAME DE SERILLY. JSronses, /iDarblcs, porcelain, etc. 249 Each of these busts is free from that dull loaf-sugar- like surface so common in modern sculpture, the skin texture being polished to resemble the gloss of the human nude. No doubt many will reserve their greatest admiration for the marvellous detail of the lacework on these busts, forgetful that such accessories are usually left to the sculptor's assist- ant. Yet surely those least informed in technical matters must in the end pay their tribute to the genius which has given to enduring marble the appearance of pliant flesh and called to the surface of stubborn stone the very spirit of the human soul. Although working at a time when the pompous art of the Louis Quatorze period had hardly spent its force, Augustin Cayot seems to have caught something of the spirit of the coming change, for it is truthfully said that his group of Cupid and Psyche in Gallery Twenty-one has much of the soft- ness and charm of the Louis Quinze style, though there is a suggestion of childlike innocence in both the figures which is alien from that manner. On the other hand, the two statuettes in the same gal- lery by fitienne Maurice Falconet are sufficiently voluptuous to have appealed to those art patrons who rejoiced in the work of Fragonard and Bou- cher. The Venus of these two works is as youth- ful but as maturely developed as the Greuze girl; and seems to take as much pleasure in chastising her 250 Ube Uvt of tbe Wallace Collection infant Cupid as in fondling him. The statuettes, in fact, are of such a character that it is easy to understand why Falconet received so many com- missions from Madame de Pompadour. One other sculptor of that era is represented by the marble vase by Claude Michel Clodion, the Boucher of marble work. Its chief decoration consists of a group of Amorini at play, an excellent example of the artist's frankly sensuous style. As it was impossible to describe in detail the countless bronzes preserved in Hertford House, much more is it beyond the scope of this chapter to attempt even a catalogue of the still more nu- merous examples of all kinds of pottery. To appre- ciate their varied interest nothing will give the reader a better point of view than a re-perusal of Longfellow's " Keramos," that wonderful poem in praise of the potter's art. Imagining that the song of the potter whom he watched and to whom he listened transported him to the different parts of the world which have been celebrated for their porcelain, he takes his reader in fancy to most of the lands and cities represented by the superb Wal- lace Collection examples, to Delft, to " the bright Majorcan isle " that " lends its softened name to art," to Gubbio, to Urbino, to Egypt, and China, and Japan. And in a few brief lines he hits oflf the outstanding qualities of the different wares. Bronses, /Darbies, porcelain, etc. 251 " Here Gubbio's workshops gleam and glow With brilliant, iridescent dyes, The dazzling whiteness of the snow, The cobalt blue of summer skies; And vase and scutcheon, cup and plate, In perfect finish einulate Faenza, Florence, Pesaro." More vivid still is the poet's picture of the great- est worker in lustred Gubbio Majolica: " Nor less Maestro Giorgio shines With madre-perl and golden lines Of arabesques, and interweaves His birds and fruits and flowers and leaves About some landscape, shaded brown, With olive tints on rock and town." And so he continues his spirit- journey until he reaches the Chinese town of King-te-tching with its three thousand flaming furnaces. And that sight suggested the most beautiful of all his images, a comparison between autumnal leaves and the prod- ucts of the potter's art. " As leaves that in the autumn fall, Spotted and veined with various hues, Are swept along the avenues, And lie in heaps by hedge and wall, 352 Zbc Brt of tbe Mallace Collection So from this grove of chimneys whirled To all the markets of the world, These porcelain leaves are wafted on, Light yellow leaves with spots and stains Of violet and of crimson dye, Or tender azure of a sky Just washed by gentle April rains. And beautiful with celadon." Perhaps the Sevres porcelain is represented by the largest number of pieces, but that the collection is amazingly catholic is proved by the fact that there are numerous examples of Gubbio, Urbino, Pesaro, Faenza, Castel Duranti, Venice and other types of majolica, while Dresden porcelain, and Palissy and Nuremberg ware, and Chinese Celadon are worthily represented. Apart from their gilt bronze mounts, the three vases in Chinese Celadon porcelain in Gallery Fourteen are of rare beauty in their grace- ful lines, while the restrained colouring is most restful to the eye. Greatly to the convenience of those visitors who wish to make a careful study of the porcelain, most of the examples of majolica work are placed in the cases " A " to " F " in Gallery Three, though the last of those cases also contains a collection of enam- els. The specimens are of various forms, including plates, bowls, cisterns, inkstands, tazzas, dishes, pil- grims' bottles, vases, etc., though the majority are MAESTRO GIORGIO. — CIRCULAR DISH OF GUBBIO MAJOLICA. 35ron3CS, flDarbles, porcelain, etc. 253 in the shape of plates or dishes of varying sizes. If it is desired to examine these in a chronological order, then the specimens of Hispano-Moresque ware must be looked for first, for most of these date from the fifteenth century. In the natural ren- dering of plant forms and the use of heraldry these examples illustrate the chief characteristics of the Valencia pottery, as also do the mock arable in- scriptions. A large circular dish in case " A " is notable for the dexterity shown in the execution of the wreath of oak leaves surrounding a shield with a coat of arms. Numerous as are the specimens of lustred Gubbio majolica, there is one piece which cannot fail to arrest more than its proportionate share of atten- tion. This is a large circular dish made by that celebrated worker. Maestro Giorgio, honoured in Longfellow's lines. Described as " perhaps the finest large dish and of the highest quality preserved to us " among the surviving work of Giorgio, and stated to be " one of the most important and sump- tuous examples of lustred Gubbio ware in exist- ence," this piece is remarkable not only for its vig- orous central picture of a group of women bathing but also for the richness and variety of its surround- ing decoration. It shows indeed how applied art may be transformed into abstract art given the touch of a master craftsman. 2S4 ^be Hrt of tbe TKHallace Collection Now and then, but very rarely, the majolica worker introduced as the chief item of his decora- tion a portrait of a woman evidently drawn from life. Such an exception has been immortalized in Longfellow's lines: " Behold this cup within whose bowl, Upon a ground of deepest blue With yellow-lustred stars o'erlaid. Colours of every tint and hue Mingle in one harmonious whole! With large blue eyes and steadfast gaze, Her yellow hair in net and braid, Necklace and ear-rings all ablaze With golden lustre o'er the glaze, A woman's portrait; on the scroll, Cana, the Beautiful! A name Forgotten save for such brief fame As this memorial can bestow, — A gift some lover long ago Gave with his heart to some fair dame." Such a portrait is that which adorns the centre of one of these plates of lustred Gubbio, though the name on the scroll is " Onesta Babassa " and not that of Cana the beautiful. But in the great majority of cases the designs, when not derived — as they seldom were — from scriptural history, owed their inspiration to the legends of classical JSronscs, ^Barbies, iporcelain, etc. 255 mythology. Here, then, Venus appears giving directions to a torch-bearing ' Cupid, or blind Love shoots an arrow, or Orpheus descends into Hades, or Paris sits once more in judgment, or Leda dallies with the Swan. Some of the subjects are treated , in an exceedingly frank manner, but the cases are few in which highly artistic results are not attained. Two exceedingly graceful vases of the May- flower type in Dresden porcelain are shown in Gal- lery Two, the surface being wholly covered with those Mayflower petals from which this pottery takes its name. The surface is relieved, however, by cartels painted after the style of Watteau, while the gilt bronze mounts were made by Caffieri. The countless examples of Sevres porcelain are distrib- uted in Galleries One, Twelve, Fifteen, Seventeen, Eighteen, and Twenty-two, and the collection is so rich in superb pieces that it cannot fail to give infinite pleasure to all who have a preference for that ware. As the specimens include vases of all types, tea-services, flower-stands, inkpots, candle- sticks, ewers, basins, breakfast services, pot-pourri bowls, and toilet-sets, it fully illustrates the infinite variety characteristic of this type of porcelain, while the fact that the pieces belong almost entirely to the eighteenth century is a guarantee of their rare quality. The collection even includes numerous examples of the famous and costly jewelled Sevres, 2s6 Ube Hrt of tbe mallace Collection so called because richly decorated with remarkable imitations of turquoises, pearls and rubies. All the colours famous in the annals of that porcelain, Wew- du-roi, rose-du-Barry, gros-hleu, vert-pomme, etc., are thoroughly represented, and many of the pieces have the added interest of historical association. Thus the exquisite apple-green inkstand in a case in Gallery Twelve was a wedding-gift from Louis XV to Marie Antoinette, while in the corridor are six vases which were made in 1778 for Catherine II of Russia. As may be imagined, this collection of Sevres is of priceless worth, some of the pieces having cost more than a thousand pounds each at a time when Sevres was less valued than now. Although the enamels are not so numerous as the bronzes or pieces of porcelain, they make a representative collection and illustrate the art from an early period. The oldest specimens are in Case N in Gallery Three, these including a candlestick of the twelfth century and several plaques of the thirteenth century. As might be expected, they are archaic in style, and are of an ecclesiastical char- acter. They belong, too, to the Champleve variety of enamel, the plaques of saints showing distinctly how the channels were cut in the metallic base. But each of these is differentiated by having a copper figure of a saint in high relief superimposed on the enamel. 3Bron3es, Garbles, iporcelain, etc. 257 It is in Case F, however, of the same gallery that the bulk of the specimens will be found, and beautiful as these pieces are it is impossible not to agree with Lady Dilke in her remark to the efifect that it is not behind the glass cases of mu- seums that we can justly estimate the spirit of this art. " Like all other objects of a similar nature, enamels lose incalculably in being detached from the frame they were destined to fill. The loss is great, even to those larger forms of the art which have their justification rather in the pleasure than in the service of man, but objects which exist only for use urgently need this frame. The surround- ings, which have disappeared, have possibly carried with them much that would have justified or ex- plained what appear to us defects. Leonard Limo- sin had before his eye as he worked a scale of col- our now unfamiliar to us; he could calculate on the counteracting influence and force of neighbour- ing forms and lines, which we cannot even recall in thought. We have the gem, but it has lost its setting." As these Limoges enamels range in date from the fifteenth century to the first half of the seventeenth century, and include examples by the chief workers, they illustrate the culmination and decadence of the art. The contributions of the chief artists are well characterized by Lady Dilke in this appreciation: "The elder members of the 2s8 Zbc art of tbe Mallace Collection Penicaud family — Nardon and Jean I — are note- worthy, because we catch a glimpse in the pieces which are attributed to them of the state of the art in its earliest moments of transition, whilst Jean Penicaud II, both in colour and design, recalls at a later epoch the original predilections of his pred- ecessors. Pierre Reymond may be taken to stand as the type of those who gave to the process its fullest industrial development; whilst Le&nard Limosin may claim a proud pre-eminence amongst such as withdrew enamel from the narrower serv- ice of a decorative art-industry and made it yield the full results of independent art." The example by Leonard Limosin is a fine portrait in colours of Henri d'Albret, husband of Marguerite de Navarre, while Jean de Court is represented by a dignified portrait of Marguerite de France, a work dated 1555. To Jean Penicaud II is attributed a series of twenty-four plaques adorned with biblical sub- jects, and Pierre Reymond contributes a Last Judg- ment painted in grisaille. Among other miscellaneous art objects the ex- amples of goldsmith's and silversmith's work de- serve special attention. They will be found in Case A of Gallery Four, and in Case C of the same gallery is displayed a small but interesting collec- tion of royal souvenirs. The latter include two jewel cases made for Marie Antoinette, a writing- JBronses, /Darbies, iporcelatn, etc. 259 case of velvet which belonged to Louis XIV, and a despatch box of morocco with silver mounts which was made for Charles II of England. For beauty of workmanship and costliness of material, however, all the foregoing are completely eclipsed by the unique collection of snuff-boxes and sweetmeat-boxes which is arranged in Cases A and B of Gallery Eighteen. They are eighty-five in number, vary in shape from circular to oval and from square to octagonal, and are wrought in gold or tortoise-shell or Japanese lacquer or Sevres por- celain or rock crystal, the majority being of the first-named precious metal. The story is told of George Steevens, the Shakespearean scholar, that he gave up snuff-taking when he lost his box, and if that box were comparable with any of these specimens his change of habit can be easily under- stood, for no one save a millionaire could afford to lose such costly articles. As gold and jewelled snuff-boxes were a favourite gift of kings to those they delighted to honour, it would not be surprising to learn that this wonderful collection represents a harvest of such presents, for there is hardly one unworthy of being a royal gift. Enamel is a fre- quent decoration, taking the form of miniatures after famous pictures, while examples enriched with devices formed of diamonds are frequent. What a gap separates these exquisite boxes from the hum- 26o Ube Hct ot tbe Mallace Collection ble snuff-taker's scrap of twisted paper or the brass or horn box of the ordinary mortal! As the ma- jority of them belong to the Louis Quinze and Louis Seize periods, the philosophical person will perhaps look upon them with a sinister eye and regard them as another proof of the inevitableness of the French Revolution. That they represent a social condition devoted to luxury is obvious from the fact that most of the boxes would realize two thousand pounds apiece if they were put up to auc- tion. But their chief attraction for the majority will consist in their inherent beauty as works of art, in which quality they are in perfect harmony with most of the treasures of Hertford Hoiise. CHAPTER XI ILLUMINATIONS AND MINIATURES Chief among the remaining miscellaneous treas- ures of Hertford House are two collections which are intimately related to each other, namely, the examples of the art of illumination and the minia- tures. Although to-day the word " miniature " is most commonly used to describe a portrait of small dimensions, there was a time when it bore quite a different meaning. For example, in a sermon of the seventeenth century this expression is used: " If the names of other saints are distinguished with miniature, the Virgin's ought to shine in gold." The explanation of that use of the word is that " miniature " is derived from the Latin minium, meaning red lead, which was the pigment used for the decoration of ancient manuscripts. When, then, the pulpit orator of the seventeenth century spoke about the names of saints being distinguished " with miniature," he merely implied that they had been illuminated in red. Again, in the France of the fifteenth century, Jean Foucquet, who to-day would be described as the king's miniaturist, was named 261 262 Ubc Htt ot tbe Wallace (ToUectfon his enlumineur. Exactly when the word " minia- ture " began to be used in its modern sense is not known; Pepys did not employ the word in his many references to Samuel Cooper, the famous min- iaturist of his day, but spoke of him as " the great limner in little." By the time of Horace Walpole, however, the word had taken on its present-day meaning. There is no denying the assertion of J. Lumsden Propert to the effect that " the fashion of painting single portraits ' in little ' undoubtedly took its origin in the grand work of the illuminator — an art which was practised by all nations, both Eastern and Western, from the rubrication of capitals and headings, and occasionally true miniatures found on the papyrus rolls of ancient Egypt, as far back as the Eighteenth Dynasty, down to the magnifi- cent missal in the Rouen Library, completed in the year 1682 a. d. Every collection," Mr. Propert adds, " affords abundant evidence of the introduc- tion of individual portraits amongst the gorgeous surroundings of the general illuminated work. The Flemish illuminator, especially, carried the drawing and colouring of the heads to a degree of perfec- tion which came very near that attained by the greatest masters who subsequently practised the art of miniature painting, as the term is understood in these days." When examined by an experienced f lluminations and /Dtniatures 263 eye, many of the oldest miniatures, especially those of the Italian school, are found to betray the fact that they were the work of men who had been trained in the art of illuminating. No doubt the object of illumination in its earliest form was, as the word suggests, exposition; the pictures were designed to " throw light upon " the text. The Egyptian " Book of the Dead " has been cited as an early example of the illustrated book, the pictures in which were intended to expound the text. In the progress of time, however, the deco- rative element was superimposed upon the explana- tory purpose, leading to the elaboration of capital letters and the surrounding of the pages with orna- mental borders. Perhaps it was the attention de- voted to capital letters which was the real origin of miniature painting. When it was thought well to fill in the vacant space of such letters as G and O and P, etc., what was more natural than that such spaces should be utilized for portraits " in little " ? At first they were probably fanciful, but in time the artist would naturally tend to utilize an actual model. This would be especially the case with those artists who were equally at home in portrait- painting or illuminating. An example of this com- bination of portraiture with decorative illumination has been noted in connection with the work of Cris- toforo de Predis. 264 XTbe Hct of tbe Mallace Collection Now all this lends a suggestive interest to the examples of illuminations displayed in Case A of Gallery Ten. The collection is not large, the speci- mens numbering no more than thirty ; but they are of a varied nature, illustrate the work of the Italian and Flemish and French schools, and range in date from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century. They are, also, both sacred and profane ; that is, the sub- jects treated include biblical and classical themes. Many of the examples are of initial letters, but there are not lacking specimens of pages from mis- sals or from such works as the " De Consolatione " of Boethius. Three of the initials are the work of Niccolo da Bologna, the artist who is responsible for the illuminated missal of 1374 which is in the library at Munich; and the treatment of the re- spective subjects — St. Peter enthroned, the Death of the Virgin, and St. Pa\il — is typical of that delicacy of conception and handling which charac- terized the work of the schools of upper Italy towards the close of the fourteenth century. Much of this was due to that Bolognian Franco who is immortalized in the " Purgatory " of Dante — " With tints, that gayer smile, Bolognian Franco's pencil lines the leaves." Among the other examples of the fourteenth cen- tury are a fragment of an illuminated missal de- Vllumtnations anb /IDiniatures 265 picting St. Stephen and St. Lawr^ce, an illumina- tion on vellum of the Presentation in the Temple, and a Christ in Glory and a Descent of the Holy Ghost. Most of these are of the Tuscan school and are remarkable for their depth of feeling and delicate modelling. As, however, the»art of the illuminator entered upon a new phase in the fifteenth century it is for- tunate that there are some representative specimens belonging to that period. The chief traits of that development are tersely indicated by Sir E. M. Thompson in these words: " The balance is no longer evenly maintained between the relative val- ues of the miniature and the border as factors in the general scheme of decoration. The influence of a new sentiment in art makes itself felt more and more ; the flat treatment of the miniature gradually gives place to true laws of perspective and of figure- drawing, and to the depth and atmospheric efifects of modern painting. Miniature painting in the dec- oration of MSS. now became more of a trade; what in old times had been done in the cloister was now done in the shop; and the professional minia- turist, working for his own fame, took the place of the nameless monk who worked for the credit of his house. Henceforth the miniature occupies a more important place than ever in the illuminated MS. ; while the border, with certain important ex- 266 Ube Hrt of tbe mallace Collection captions, is apt to recede into an inferior position and to become rather an ornamental adjunct to set off' the miniature than a work of art claiming equal- ity with it." Most of the fifteenth-century examples are of Italian workmanship, the best specimens including an initial of St. Agnes and the- Lamb, and illumina- tions of God announcing the Deluge to Noah, St. Stephen in Adoration, the Resurrection, and the Man of Sorrows. To the same period also belongs a Netherlands example depicting the Adoration of the Magi, while of the later Flemish school there is a tjrpical specimen representing the Baptism of Christ. In the two last-named the visitor cannot fail to note a departure from mediaeval traditions, for in each there is a closer observation of nature. All this prepares the way for the greater efflores- cence which characterizes the examples of the six- teenth century, at which time, however, the art of illuminating was drawing near to its decadence. It was the printing-press that killed it. For a time efforts were made to combine the printed and the illuminated page, vestiges of which still survive in the coloured initials which are sometimes used in modern edition de luxe publications; but the effort was soon abandoned and illustrators of printed books contented themselves with emulating in line engravings the ornamental borders and decorative Tllumfnations and Afnfatutes 267 capitals of the illuminator. And the portrait- painter invaded the domain of the miniaturist. For a certain period, however, the miniaturist remained in bondage to the methods of the illuminator. Of one of the earliest of the painters " in little " it is noted that the influence of the illuminators is most marked in his work ; " all the colours used are per- fectly opaque; he employs gold to heighten the effect of jewels, dresses, etc., and his faces present the flat shadowless appearance of the saints of the missal." ' But those very defects are interesting as indicating the origins of miniature painting. Apart from the principal gallery with its superb array of masterpieces by great artists, there is no salon of Hertford House which is so popular with the majority of visitors as Gallery Eleven, where, in Cases B to D, the fascinating collection of min- iatures is displayed. Indeed those portraits " in little " have for many people a greater attraction than the life-size picture, which, as Mr. Propert asserted, is not always a pleasant thing. As he devoted so many years to the study of the miniature and to collecting specimens, he was naturally an enthusiastic advocate of its many charms. " It has no fear of startling us," he wrote, "by too close resemblance to the living, or appearing as the gal- vanized resuscitation of the mighty dead. It is a souvenir, an undoubtedly true reminiscence, an his- 268 Ube Hrt of tbe TRIlallace Collection torical note, possibly signed and dated; an orna- ment with a human history and identification; a cabinet illustration of years long past — the whole art and experience of one of the old masters com- pressed on to the space of a coin of the realm; a domestic treasure disinterred and made useful for our instruction and delight; a volume on a page, a biography on a vignette; a secret whispered in the past, and now revealed with every tone pre- served ; a personal relic, a private possession, to be cherished apart and not necessarily for public dis- play and observation. I confess that a really fine portrait always fascinates me. I feel the complete truth of Walpole's words, ' a portrait of real au- thenticity we know is truth itself, and calls up so many collateral ideas as to fill an intelligent mind, more than any other species of painting.' In gazing upon a collection of miniature presentments of the great, the beautiful, or the base, of past centuries, * collateral ideas ' crowd upon the mind. The page of history with which each is concerned seems to unfold itself again to view. The actors in many a noble deed or many a dark conspiracy, actors and acts which have contributed directly and indirectly to build up the fabric of the modern world, would pass before our eyes, and we seem to live again amidst the chequered scenes of a drama long since past and gone." miumtnattons and /Dtntatures 269 Unfortunately, owing to the fact that so many miniature painters omitted to inscribe their por- traits with the name of the person depicted, quite a number of these miniatures bear no other title than " Portrait of a Lady," " Young Lady," " Por- trait of a Gentleman," etc. ; but there are sufficient named examples to provide much food for reflec- tion for those given to musing upon the history of bygone years. With few exceptions, the miniatures belong to the British and French schools, for once the artists being about equally represented, with the French masters, however, slightly preponderating. It is generally agreed that as between these two schools the pre-eminence belongs to the British artists, for the chief masters of miniature painting, using that term in its modern sense, have been either English- men or painters who exercised their art in England. The latter qualification explains how, in the history of miniature, the first name on its roll of fame is that of Hans Holbein. It is true some authorities have questioned his right to be included among min- iature painters, but apparently on no adequate ground; even if most of the miniatures attributed to him were not of his painting, there are certainly some of undoubted authenticity. Such a claim is made for the " Portrait of Hans Holbein the Younger " which is shown in Case B, and if that 270 Ube Hrt of tbe TRnallace Collection claim be well established it clears up the mystery of the whereabouts of the self-portrait he is known to have executed in the last year of his life, for this miniature is dated 1543, which was the year in which the artist died. Granting the authenticity of the miniature of Jane Seymour, it would follow naturally that this self-portrait is genuine, for the style of the two is so identical that they could hardly have been the work of different men. As Holbein was of German birth he does not belong strictly to the British school, even though all his miniatures seem to have been painted in England. Hence in some histories of British min- iature painting the place of honour as the father of the school is given to Nicholas Hilliard, of whom Dr. Donne testified that " a hand or eye By Hilliard drawn is worth a history By a coarse painter made." He, however, is unrepresented in this collection; perhaps his missal-like style, his pale and shadow- less faces, may account for his absence. His pupil, however, Isaac Oliver, is represented by a typical example, a " Portrait of Sir Richard Leveson," that youthful " admiral of the narrow seas " who . served as a volunteer against the Spanish Armada. Although so early an exponent of the art, Isaac Illuminations an& /Diniatures 271 Oliver takes high rank in the history of the min- iature, this solitary specimen being sufficient to ex- plain why his work is greatly prized. He had a worthy pupil and successor in his eldest son Peter, to whom is ascribed the miniature of " Thomas, Lord Coventry," lord keeper to Charles I. This artist was in great favour with the " martyr king," who commissioned him to make small water-colour copies of the principal pictures in the royal collec- tion. Although so little is known of the personal his- tory of John Hoskins, his beautiful work and his distinction as the tutor of Samuel Cooper are suf- ficient to' preserve his fame in the annals of minia- ture painting. Described as "a very eminent Limner in the reign of King Charles 1," he was " bred a face-painter in oils, but afterwards taking to miniature, he far exceeded what he did before." Two examples of his work are in Case B, one being a " Portrait of a Gentleman of the Time of the Commonwealth," the other a miniature of " Ed- ward, Second Viscount Conway." The latter is one of those likenesses which suggest " collateral ideas " to those who are familiar with the by-paths of English family history. For this Lord Conway was the brother of that Brilliana Lady Harley who made such a heroic defence of Brampton Bryan castle during the early days of the civil war. There 272 Ube Hct of tbe Mallace doUectton are many delightful letters from this Lord Conway preserved among the manuscripts of the Duke of Portland, all of them in harmony with the reclu- sive spirit which shines from the countenance of this miniature. He kept himself aloof from the troubles of the Commonwealth, content if his friends sent him a letter now and then. " Here I live in great quiet," he once wrote, " but if I should not have once a week something to move my thoughts, they would grow as the water in the Mediterranean Sea in a long calm, stinking, and with a green surface like a pond." It appears from other inedited family records that John Hoskins, who is described as a " picter drauer," charged fif- teen pounds for a miniature in 1658, a large sum for those days and a proof of the estimation in which his work was held. Still higher prices were commanded by his nephew and pupil, Samuel Cooper, to whom, as he records in his diary, Pepys paid thirty pounds for his wife's portrait. The famous diarist was not quite satisfied with that miniature ; the " great- ness of the resemblance " was not what he had expected ; but he comforted himself for his expend- iture by the reflection that " it is most certainly a most rare piece of work, as to the painting." It was Pepys too, as has been recalled, who named Cooper " the great limner in little." And that eu- Illuminations an& /ftiniatures 273 logy stands unchallenged to this day. "To this consummate artist," said Mr. Propert, "must be as freely given the supremacy in miniature, as to Van Dyck in large portraits, or to Petitot in enamel. No one ever approached him in iiis power of endow- ing a water-colour miniature with all the strength, breadth, and freedom of oil. It is perhaps too much to say that without a Van Dyck, we should not have had a Cooper. The latter was an original genius, who would have come to the front under any circumstances, but the influence of the great Fleming is apparent throughout all Cooper's work." And Horace Walpole was of the same opinion; " if," he said, " a glass could expand Cooper's pic- tures to the size of Van Dyck's they would appear to have been painted for that proportion. If his portrait of Cromwell could be so enlarged, I do not know but Van Dyck would appear less great by the comparison." A replica of that portrait of Cromwell may be seen in Case B, where also are shown the other two examples of Cooper's work. This Cromwell is a copy by Christian Richter after the famous unfinished miniature in the collection of the Duke of Buccleugh, and is said to have been purchased by Sir Richard Wallace from one of the Protector's descendants. The other miniatures by Cooper are a " Portrait of Charles II " and a " Lady of the Court of Charles II." 274 XTbe Hrt of tbe Wallace Collection Two other miniaturists whose contemporary rep- utation has survived undiminished, Thomas Flat- man and Lawrence Crosse, are represented by single examples. The first-named was a man of diverse gifts, being barrister and poet as well as painter. As a poet he was an early advocate of the trial- marrjage theory, for in one of his verses he con- fessed that a wedding might be a happy experience " If a man might purchase a wife For a twelvemonth and a day; But to live with her all a man's life, For ever and aye, Till she grow as gray as a cat, Good faith, Mr. Parson, excuse me for that." But his verse was little esteemed in comparison with his portraits ; " one of his heads," it was said, " is worth a ream of his Pindarics." His " Por- trait of Charles II " shows how well he painted, and explains why he has been declared the equal of Hoskins and next in order of merit to Cooper. The specimen by Crosse, a " Portrait of a Lady," is a good illustration of that tendency towards idealization which he exercised with such fatal results when he was commissioned to repair a small portrait of Mary Queen of Scots. Being told to make it as beautiful as possible, he lavished all his skill on the work, and so created a type of portrait I [lumf nations an& Afniatures 275 which bears no resemblance to the authentic like- nesses of the Scottish queen. Inasmuch as the work of Richard Cosway has a strong affinity with the art of the Louis Quinze and Louis Seize periods, it is not surprising that that miniaturist is represented by five examples, four of which are in Case B and the fifth in Case D. Appropriately enough, too, one of the miniatures is of " The Princesse de Tarante," a lady in wait- ing to Marie Antoinette. Another is of " Maria, daughter of W. Smythe," a miniature which was, apparently, the first occasion of Cosway's employ- ment by the Prince of Wales. For Maria Smythe was none other than that fascinating Mrs. Fitzher- bert, who was probably the only woman for whom George IV ever had any real affection. As the Regent was nevertheless so frequently the victim of a pretty face he kept Cosway busy with his pat- ronage, so much so, indeed, that the miniaturist is said to have had a private communication with the prince's mansion. The two portraits already named and the " Portrait-study of Miss Crofton," taken in conjunction with the " Portrait-study of a Gentle- man," are admirable examples of that minute finish and breadth of treatment for which Cosway's work is distinguished. Something of the Cosway style is manifest in the " Portrait of a Young Lady in White " by John 276 Zbc Htt of tbe Wallace Collection Smart, a reflection hardly surprising in view of the fact that he was a frequent visitor to Cosway's studio. This specimen is notable for its delicate colour and finish, and not at all " washy," which was a fault Cosway sometimes found with Smart's work. Although all the specimens by Henry Bone are non-contemporary, that is, are copies of old portraits, that miniaturist executed many studies from life, and was enamel painter to the third and fourth of the Georges. His son, Henry Pierce Bone, executed the enamel of the Marquis of Hert- ford, after Van Dyck, which is in Case B. Cosway's influence again is in evidence in the " Portrait of a Lady in a White Head-dress," which is the solitary miniature by George Engleheart, a Silesian by descent, who was a pupil of Sir Joshua Reynolds and a great favourite with George HI. On the other hand, Mrs. Mee, who was responsible for the " Portrait of a Lady in a Jewelled Turban," had quite a style of her own, which, in its early stages, was characterized by admirable drawing and glowing colour. She, too, was in high esteem at court, for in 1790 Walpole wrote that she was at Windsor " painting portraits of all the princesses to be sent to all the princes upon earth." Her pop- ularity was her undoing, for her later work was of poor quality. William Grimaldi, too, whose "John Churchill, First Duke of Marlborough," is f Iluminatfons ant> iDiniatures 277 an example of his work on copper, was favoured with many royal commissions but is little esteemed by modern collectors. One of the last names, and also one of the most distinguished, in the annals ■of British miniature painting is that of Sir William Ross, whose " Harriet, Countess Gower, afterwards Duchess of Sutherland," is an excellent illustration of the charm and delicacy with which he portrayed his female sitters. As popular among miniaturists as Lawrence was among portrait-painters, he is admitted to have had but few rivals in refinement and purity of colour. In addition to the foregoing, there are numerous miniatures of the British school which are without the name of an artist. Few of the painters " in little " were in the habit of signing their work, and it may be that some of the nameless examples which are so plentiful in every collection were produced by masters of the art, just as there are so many Holbeins and Cosways which have no right to the name. It is probable, then, that the lover of the miniature qua miniature will derive as much pleas- ure from inspecting the anonymous specimens as from an examination of those of established au- thorship. They range in date from the seventeenth century, and vary in subject from a young lady attired as a rural haymaker to a grand dame in all the panoply of court costume. Nor is the sterner 278 XLbc art of tbe naallace Collection sex unrepresented ; " Portrait of a Gentleman " is a frequent title, varied by such qualifications as " in a plum-coloured coat " or " in court-dress." If for nothing else, these miniatures are deeply interesting for the pictures they give of the costumes of the past ; that they are as innocent of the names of their subjects as those of their artists makes them more available for imaginary musings. If the British miniaturists have almost as strong a numerical representation as those of French na- tionality, the balance turns in favour of France when totals are reckoned. That is to say, out of some two hundred and fifty examples no fewer than one hundred and eighty-eight are of the French school. This preponderance is naturally most in evidence in Case C, which is given up almost en- tirely to miniatures of the Napoleonic period and the Restoration; but there is a strong seasoning of French work in both the other cases. The oldest of the specimens is the painting on paper of the Dame de Cloux by Frangois Clouet, which, as the catalogue suggests, should be compared with the Mary Queen of Scots after the same artist in the third gallery. Many of the leading French miniaturists are generously represented, there being, for example, nineteen miniatures by Jacques Charlier, an equal number by Pierre Adolphe Hall, and no fewer than fUuminatfons an6 Atniatutes 279 thirty-eight by Jean Baptiste Isabey. The first of these was much employed by the court, but of his royal portraits there is only a single example in the " Portrait of Madame Elisabeth, sister of Louis XVI." Many of his other contributions are min- iature replicas of paintings by Boucher, and others are pictures " in little " of classical subjects of his own invention. Of the three miniatures ascribed to Frangois Dumont one is doubtful ; the Others are of Louis XVII as Dauphin, and Madame Vigee Le Brun. The latter is a spirited full-length of the famous artist, and represents her with her palette beside a vacant canvas. With but few exceptions the miniatures by Hall, who has been called Le Van Dyck de la miniature, are studies rather than portraits, so few of them having any name. At one time it was thought that the beautiful portrait group of two young ladies represented the famous Misses Gunning, but that ascription has been abandoned. An equally exqui- site example of his work is the miniature of his wife with her sister and daughter, which illustrates the lightness of touch and luminous colour for which Hall was distinguished. While the miniatures of the latter are generally innocent of their subjects' names, those by Isabey are for the most part care- fully entitled. He is said to have painted every celebrated character in Europe; what is obvious 28o Ube Htt of tbe TIQlaUace Collection from his work in Case C is that there were few of the Napoleonic family and circle who did not sit to him for their portrait. There are numerous miniatures of Napoleon himself, and not a few of his first and second wives. Here and there, too, are portraits of other royal persons, such as August, Prince of Prussia, varied by presentments of such theatrical favourites as Madame Dugazon and Mademoiselle Mars. Nor are there lacking exam- ples of his " rarest and most recherche " portraits, those, that is, of ladies arrayed in the costumes affected by Madame Tallien, which were designed to give " a view of as much nature and as little covering as was consistent with common decency." Among the other celebrated French miniaturists who are represented by choice examples of their work special mention should be made of J. B. Au- gustine, L. F. Aubry, Jean Sicardi, Jean Guerin, Louis Van Blarenberghe, Daniel Saint, and Jean H. Fragonard. Of the two miniatures attributed to the latter, only one is certainly by his hand, a por- trait-study of a young girl which betrays an un- mistakable likeness to his large paintings. More unique still, however, is the " Portrait of the Mar- quise de Pompadour" by Frangois Boucher, which is one of the chief treasures of the collection. So closely akin to the art of the miniaturist is the work of the modeller in wax that the student Illuminations anb /iDiniatutes 281 of portraiture " in little " cannot fail to be inter- ested in those reliefs and portraits in coloured wax which are arranged in Case H of Gallery Three. This collection, indeed, which comprises some fifty- pieces, is singularly fascinating as representing one of the oldest arts of the world. The student of classical literature is well aware of the various uses made of wax figures in ancient Greece and Rome, and the reader of Vasari will recall that in the fif- teenth century many artists acquired great fame for their skill in modelling wax portraits. The oldest example in Hertford House consists of com- panion reliefs of the first Duke of Guise and his wife, a work dating from the first half of the six- teenth century. The portraits are exquisitely exe- cuted and are rich in quaint detail of costume and jewelry. Another fine example is the profile por- trait of Rudolph II of Germany, which has been ascribed to Antonio Abondio, a famous medallist and modeller in wax of the latter half of the six- teenth century. Many of the reliefs, however, are of classical or biblical subjects, with here and there an allegory. Thus one high relief is an animated treatment of Dido lamenting ^neas, another de- picts the famous interview of the elders with Su- sannah, while a third is a realistic picture of the Magdalen washing the feet of Christ in the house of Simon the Pharisee. While the majority of these 282 Ube Htt ot tbe umallace Collection curious reliefs are of Italian workmanship, there are several examples by French artists, the latter in- cluding companion pictures of " Youth " and "Age." The first is a semi-nude of a beautiful young woman; the second is a repellent picture of a gray-haired and wrinkled old woman. In most of the pieces the colouring is admirable in quality, while the modelling is eloquent of the skill which was once employed in the service of this realistic type of portraiture. CHAPTER XII ARMS Pictures and miniatures, marbles and bronzes, majolica and porcelain do not exhaust the treas- ures of Hertford House; there still remains that collection of arms and armour in Galleries Five to Eight which would in itself be sufficient to furnish a considerable museum. Although it is quite a different field of interest which is opened up to the visitor in those salons, the guiding principle of the entire Wallace Collection is yet in evidence. That is, even in gathering together this unrivalled as- sortment of the offensive weapons and defensive armaments of the past the beauty of the workman- ship was the first consideration. As Guy F. Laking remarks in his learned catalogue, " the European armoury was collected by Sir Richard Wallace chiefly to demonstrate the beauty of the armourer's art of nearly all periods and nationalities, and with no idea of illustrating the various forms and fash- ions employed in armament offensive and defensive. This, to a great extent, will explain the absence of various common types of weapons. ... To 284 ^be Hrt of tbe mallacc Collection compensate for this, it had the advantage of being chosen and, for the most part, collected by a gentle- man — Sir Richard Wallace — of unerringly fine taste and judgment, possessed too of almost un- limited means, without which it would have been impossible to gather together a collection of such universally high quality." Many famous collections of great renown and priceless value have contributed of their best to make this armoury what it is. For example, count- less pieces were formerly the property of the Count de Nieuwerkerke, while numerous other examples are from the famous collection of Sir Samuel R. Meyrick, the author of that " Critical Inquiry into Ancient Armour " which is still of such high au- thority. There was a time when the entire Meyrick armoury was offered to the British government for the moderate price of fifty thousand pounds, but the proposal was declined, and when Sir Richard Wallace purchased a portion of the collection he had to sign a cheque for seventy-three thousand pounds. In the rearrangement of the four galleries under the capable direction of Mr. Laking some attempt has been made to preserve a chronological order in the display of the specimens ; what was not possible, however, owing to limitations of space, was to effect any hard and fast division between the arms arms 28s and the armour. It is clear from the researches of ethnologists that primitive man was first driven to fashion weapons by the promptings of hunger, and that when he took to fighting with his kind he naturally availed himself of the implements he had used as a hunter. The shield and other pro- tective devices would come later. But, granting that arms preceded armour, a far more perplexing question remains. What form did the first weapon take? No final answer is possible. The authorities are hopelessly divided between the claims of the sword and the club. Those who argue in favour of the latter are sometimes reminded that there are swords of wood and even of stone to be found in collections of savage weapons, but their reply is that these are really flattened clubs, and that such modifications of the club have not had any appreciable influence on the form of the sword. Inasmuch, however, as the swords in this armoury are more ancient than the weapons which are allied to the club of the savage, they naturally have a prior claim for consideration. Ranging in date from the tenth century to the seventeenth, and representing the best styles of German, Italian, French and English workmanship, the collection of swords is bewildering in its variety. The oldest specimen, which is in Case I of Gallery Seven, is believed to be of Scandinavian origin and 286 TLbe Hct of tbe Mallace Collection to have been made in the ninth or tenth century. It is a business-like looking weapon, with a crown- shaped pommel and wide blade, and by its very sim- plicity constitutes an admirable starting-point for the examination of those countless other examples which illustrate the evolution of the shape of the sword and the varied styles adopted for its deco- ration. It would be difficult to name any type of that weapon which is not represented, whether the thrusting-sword or the cutting-sword, the single- handed or the hand and a half or the two-handed, the short sword and the long sword, the curved or the straight, the hunting sword or the execu- tioner's sword, the mighty sword of the mailed knight or the dainty rapier of the fop. Of course the chief interest of these numerous weapons centres in their hilts, and they are varied enough to please and inform the most curious. The jrammels are of all shapes, round, and trefoil, and cinquefoil, and conical, and wheel-shaped, and pear- shaped, and mushroom-shaped; the grips are of horn, or leather-covered, or woven of copper wire, or faced with plaques of ivory, or finished in fish skin ; the knuckle-guards vary from the single ring to the basket-shaped pattern; the quillons range from the simple straight type to the most decorative style. In many cases, of course, the pommels bear elaborate designs, sometimes a medallion after the arms 287 antique, anon chased low-relief ornaments, or ta- king the form of a turbaned, bearded head. In- scriptions are of common occurrence, sometimes inscribed on the grip but more frequently on the blade. " Those above confer aid and victory" is the pious admission of one example ; other mottoes include "It is enquired not what is the cause but ■what is the issue of the war," " Take care that vittory is not the cause of death," " The race of mortals is ruled by destiny," " God in thy name make me safe," " Draw me not without reason : Sheathe me not without honour," " Victory is lost by him who ponders not." One of the inscriptions just quoted is from the grip of an example in Case IV, where are displayed the notable specimens of the Italian short sword known as the cinquedea. Mr. Laking calls special attention to this collection as illustrating the type of weapon which lent itself to the richest decora- tion. Some of these short swords have panels of gold inlaying, while plaques of ivory and etched designs are common. Not many of the swords in the collection have their interest enhanced by his- torical association, but there is an exception in Case VI of Gallery Six, which contains the sword of Henry, Prince of Wales, that first-born son of James I whose early death was the occasion of such extraordinary lamentation in the early seventeenth 288 TTbe Hrt of tbe Mallace (ToUectiott century. Surmising that this sword may have been part of the gift of armour, etc., sent to the young prince in 1607 by the Dauphin of France, and no- ting that the blade is damascened in gold with the Prince of Wales' feathers, Mr. Laking describes the weapon thus : " The pommel is large and sphe- roidal, the quillons straight and of oval section, issuing from a central block which overlaps the blade on either face; a formation similar to that of the pommel, but smaller, is at the end of each quillon. The grip is bound with silver wire. The hilt is decorated with circular panels containing heads of Roman emperors, between which are bunches of fruit and flowers, from these, hung by ribbons, appearing trophies of Cupid's masks, etc., thickly encrusted with silver." The appearance of the Prince of Wales' feathers on the blade would suggest, however, that the gift was made later than 1607, for the prince was not given that title until 1610. Another sword of elaborate workmanship which is also connected with a historial personage is to be seen in Case X of Gallery Six. The chief decora- tion on this weapon consists of the series of por- trait busts etched on the blade, which are sur- rounded with appropriate inscriptions. This sword is said to have been presented to Wolfgang Wil- helm. Count Palatine of the Rhine, by Philip III arm£5 289 of Spain. The specimens 'which rank in the cate- gory of curiosities include a combination of sword and pistol in Case XII of Gallery Six and the secret sword in Gallery Five. The former dual weapon is contained in a walking staff; the latter is a sword in a sheath which is released by pressing a spring catch. Closely allied to the sword is the dagger, of which there are numerous examples. With the advent of the rapier there came into fashion what is known as the left-handed dagger, and these related weap- ons are illustrated in great profusion. Many speci- mens are shown in Case IX of Gallery Six, most of them richly decorated. The most notable exam- ple of this type of weapon may be found in Case XIII of the same gallery, in the dagger which be- longed to Henri IV of France. This, which was presented to the king by the city of Paris in 1599 on the occasion of his marriage to Marie de Medicis, has a hilt of russet steel, a flattened oviform pom- mel and is decorated with gold damascening in a design of palm branches, the initials of the king and queen being frequently repeated. There are also twenty plaques of mother-o'-pearl on the hilt and down the face of the blade. A more rare example is shown in Case IV of Gallery Seven, which is of the form frequently illustrated in missals but of which specimens are exceedingly scarce. It is of 290 Ube Htt of tbe XdaUace Collection French make and dates from the middle of the fifteenth century. In the same case is a dagger almost identical with that of Colonel Blood, the hero of the notorious attempt to steal the crown jewels of England. Eighteen specimens exhaust the representation of that type of weapon which has most kinship with the club of savage races. And as they are all of somewhat late periods, the oldest belonging to the dawn of the fifteenth century,, they must not be expected to throw any light on the problem as to whether the club preceded the sword. Judging from the primitive instincts of boyhood, the club would appear to have the advantage. The present writer has a vivid recollection of his youthful years when, in preparation for an anticipated school-fight, he equipped himself with a stout mahogany stick, into the head of which he drove a dozen or more spiky nails! At that time he had no knowledge of the knightly weapons of the Middle Ages ; primi- tive instinct was his only guide; and yet he fash- ioned a weapon which had a startling likeness to some of the formidable maces in the Wallace Col- lection. Several of these maces, and especially two of those which are in Case XII of Gallery Six, bear so marked a resemblance to a wooden club used by the Figi islanders that they might have been Hrms 291 almost shaped from the same model. The differ- ence is in the favour of the weapon of the gentle savage; not having reached the iron age of civili- zation he has to be content with wood for his club; while in weighting its end he seems to be far less murderous in disposition than the knights of old romance who had their maces finished off with vicious spikes or flanges. The former variety of mace is well illustrated by the third specimen in the case last mentioned; it has a globular head bristling with no fewer than twenty-two ominous spikes. Mr. Laking suggests that this might be regarded as an example of the " Morning Star " type of mace, although some authorities reserve that picturesque designation for the short staff to which a spiked ball was attached by a chain. An alternative name for this terrific truncheon was " the holy-water sprinkler," an epithet which sug- gests that its coiner had a grim sense of humour. It adds to the interest of these weapons, besides providing another illustration of ecclesiastical com- promise, to recall that the mace was the arm af- fected by fighting churchmen on the ground that it enabled them to avoid the denunciation against those who " smite with the sword." To give an enemy a battered skull was quite a different matter to thrusting him through with a sword! Somewhat akin to the mace was the war ham- 292 tCbe Hrt of tbe Mallace Collection mer, of which the collection contains three speci- mens. Two of these are in Case I of Gallery Seven, each being of the short-handle type and hence in- tended for the use of mounted men. They are alike, too, in being provided with a terminal spike in addition to the usual beak and diamond-shape ham- mer head, though the latter example, of Italian workmanship in the late fifteenth century, is dis- tinguished from its companion by elaborate dec- orations of medallions, etc. Of the axe, which was such a favourite weapon with the northern nations, there is but a solitary specimen, which will be found in the case last mentioned. It is believed to be of French make, and to date from the beginning of the fifteenth century. All the foregoing weapons were intended for use at close quarters; a transitional form to the arm of greater reach is illustrated by the formidable pole-axe, which, as its name indicates, was the axe adapted to an elongated shaft. As John Hewitt pointed out in his " Ancient Armour and Weapons in Europe," this makes a frequent appearance in the famous Bayeux tapestry. " Not only the Saxon soldiery, but Harold, and even Duke William him- self, are armed with this fearful weapon. Indeed, for a force of infantry, as the English were, con- tending against cavalry, no other kind of axe could have been of much service." Two specimens of Htms 293 this weapon are shown in Case I of Gallery Seven, both dating from the fifteenth century. Another example, displayed in Gallery Five, is interesting as illustrating the influence of gunpowder in mod- ifying ancient types of weapons, for a wheel-lock pistol is attached to the shaft. Although the spear in the strict meaning of that word is practically unrepresented in the armoury, a kindred weapon, the halberd, is generously illus- trated. Of course the tilting lance may be regarded as near akin to the spear, while the boar spear is t)rpical of the use of that weapon as adapted for hunting. There are examples of both kinds: two tilting lances of the seventeenth century and of Italian workmanship may be seen in Gallery Seven ; of three boar spears one is in the same gallery and the other two in Case IX of Gallery Six. Under the general name of halberd may be classi - fied not only the examples of that weapon actually so named, but the partisan, the spetum, the glaive, . and the numerous specimens of what is called the processional partisan. This collection, then, ad- mirably illustrates the development of the halberd from a formidable fighting instrument to its orna- mental uses as a picturesque item in royal, or state functions. For example, the halberd in Gallery Seven, of the late fifteenth century and German ori- gin, was obviously intended for the serious business 294 XT be Hrt of tbe TKaallace Collection of war; its head comprises an ominous axe blade and a threatening beak, and the metal is wholly devoid of decoration. What a contrast is pre- sented by the processional partisans displayed, for example, in Case IX of Gallery Six and affixed to the wall of Gallery Five! The former include ex- amples of the partisans borne by the guards of Louis XIV and the Duke of Parma respectively, and each is richly decorated. The French model is adorned with a figure of Hercules among other designs; the Italian is emblazoned with a gold- plated coat of arms. Even more elaborate is the decoration of that processional halberd which is an example of those carried by the guard of Au- gustus II, King of Poland, for in this the blade takes the form of a double-headed eagle, above which is a flaming sun with a cross in the centre. By the time this was made, namely, early in the eighteenth century, the halberd had ceased to be a weapon of offence and had entered upon its dec- orative mission. All the weapons already named were of course used for hand to hand fighting, but even a mediae- val army was not deemed properly equipped unless it included men so armed as to be able to inflict damage on the enemy before he came within arm's reach. The weapons which could cast missiles to a considerable distance were of several kinds, the Hrms 29S bow and arrow being probably the most ancient. Unfortunately the armory does not contain any specimens of that arm; but in Case I of Gallery Seven may be seen a quiver which is a good intro- duction to the type of weapon of which there are many examples. This quiver was used to carry the quarrels or bolts shot from the cross-bow, and still contains ten of those missiles, four of which have the usual triangular barbed heads. " The cross- bow," remarked Mr. Hewitt in his brief account of that arm, " does not appear to have been recog- nized as a military weapon before the close of the twelfth century. The term balista, by which it is described in monkish annals and other writings, is indeed found at an earlier period ; but there is great doubt whether this earlier balista meant a hand- weapon, or one of those ' gyns ' derived from clas- sic times. The later use of the arm seems con- firmed by the fact that it is not found in pictorial representations till about 1200. There appears to have been an attempt to introduce it at the begin- ning of this century, but it was prohibited by papal decree as unfit for Christian warfare. A council in 1 139 under. Innocent II has: Artem illam morti- feram et Deo odihUem halistariorum et saggittari- orum adversus Christianos et Catholicos exerceri de cetera sub anathemate prohibemus. This denun- ciation was renewed under Innocent III; but by 296 Ube Hrt of tbe TPOlallace Collection this time Richard Cceur-de-Lion and Philippe Au- guste had sanctioned the use of the arm, and the cross-bow was triumphant. Both Guillaume le Breton and Guiart place the introduction of the weapon at the close of the twelfth century; and both tell us that Richard was the first to adopt it, and that Philip followed his example." And Rich- ard Cceur-de-Lion was to be slain by a bolt from the weapon which he so highly favoured! By far the oldest cross-bow in the Wallace Col- lection is the ornate specimen shown in Case V of Gallery Seven. This, which is of German work- manship and is ascribed to the year 1450, has its wooden stock elaborately decorated with plaques of polished stag's horn on which numerous subjects are carved in relief. Three other speciinens are hung upon the wall of the same gallery, one being fitted with the curious loop or stirrup which was so essential to the use of the weapon when the bow was of great strength, its object being to provide a place in which to put the foot while the bow was being strung. There were models, however, which had bows too powerful to be strung by that method, and for such the windlass was invented, an acces- sory of the cross-bow which is illustrated by a speci- men in (jallery Five. All this helps to explain why the cross-bow was accounted less effective than the famous long-bow in the use of which English arch- Hems 297 ers were so distinguished. The long bowman could discharge a dozen arrows while the arbalester was winding up his instrument and fixing a single bolt; and, in addition, while the long-bowman could carry twenty-four arrows with comfort, the cross-bow- man's bolts were so heavy that he could not take more than eighteen of them to the field of battle. Not every cross-bow, however, was intended for the discharge of the heavy quarrels or bolts; there was what was called the " Prodd," a type of weapon for shooting balls of metal or stone which is illus- trated among the specimens shown in Case XVIII of Gallery Five. One of these, of Italian origin and belonging to the middle of the sixteenth cen- tury, is a particularly beautiful example of the prodd style of cross-bow. The top of the stock bears a remarkable carving of a fabulous monster, while the sides are adorned with trophies of clas- sical armour and medal plaquettes of Hadrian, Alexander the Great, Themistocles, etc. Most of the other examples are also notable for their dec- oration. Indeed, it was the latter quality rather than the interest of the weapons as illustrating ancient arms of offence which, as has been said, appealed most to Sir Richard Wallace. An examination of the dates assigned to these various cross-bows discloses the fact that the most modern is ascribed to about the year 1670, by which 298 Ube Hrt of tbe Mallace CoUectton time the use of arbaleste in warfare had practically- ceased. It was doomed to extinction, of course, by the invention of gunpowder, and yet many years passed ere the rivalry between the two types of weapons was decided in favour of the pistol and the musket. Even in the seventeenth century there were not lacking those who contended that the old- fashioned bow and arrow were of greater advan- tage than the new weapons which depended upon gunpowder. " If some defence lie before the en- emy," argued one of those apologists, " the arrow may strike where the bullet cannot. Foul weather may much hinder the discharge of the piece, but it is no great impediment to the shot of the bow. A horse, struck with a bullet, if the wound be not mortal, may perform good service; but, if an ar- row be fastened in his flesh, the continual stirring thereof, occasioned by the motion of himself, will force him to cast off all command, and either bear down or disorder those that are near." Such spe- cious pleas, -however, could not delay the inevi- table; gunpowder had come to stay, and soon men were busy devising weapons for its most effective use. Some of the earliest of those weapons, match- lock, and flint-lock, and wheel-lock pistols and pet- ronels and rifles and arquebuses, are generously exemplified in Case XV of Gallery Five and also sirms 299 in Case XVII of the same gallery. As with most of the cross-bows, so these, firearms are of more interest as illustrating the work of the decorator than that of the gunsmith. Coming into use early in the sixteenth century, the pistol was at first fitted with the wheel-lock, the flint-lock being a later improvement. The earliest of these specimens, however, does not go further back than the middle of the sixteenth century, and notwithstanding the much later date of many of the other examples it is the wheel-lock type which is all along most in evidence. Among such an admirable collection it is difficult to say which is the finer instrument, but Mr. Laking calls attention to an example in Case XVII which is indeed worthy the praise he bestows upon it as " the most remarkable from the point of richness of decoration and fineness of workman- ship." This wheel-lock pistol of Italian make is thought to have been made about 1615, and seems to have been part of a set of weapons of which the wheel-lock arquebus is in the collection of the Czar of Russia. The stock is overlaid with plaques of ivory, the barrel is covered with chiselled low reliefs in which the principal decorations are figures of Bacchus, Mars, and Jupiter. The stocks of the other examples are made of most diverse material, including ebony, walnut, steel, iron, etc. They are all worthy of close examination either for their 30O XLbc Hrt of tbe Mallace CoUectton curious and elaborate ornamentation or for the per- fection of the gunsmith's work. Hardly less varied is the collection of rifles, arquebuses, petronels, etc., which also includes a specimen of the " Dragon " gun, a weapon of un- usually large bore. As foreshadowing, too, the modern use of the bayonet, it is interesting to note the example of the plug bayonet, so called because it was shaped to fit into the muzzle of the g^n. And finally there are several small cannon which are distinguished for their rich decoration. CHAPTER XIII ARMOUR On comparing the dates assigned to the oldest specimens of helmets and shields scattered through the armory it will be found that several of the helmets are more antique than the oldest of the shields, yet it is beyond question that in the devel- opment of defensive armour the shield preceded the helmet. In deciding such problems of priority human instinct is one of the safest guides. If, then, children are watched when engaged in mimic war- fare, it will be found that the child naturally puts up his hand to ward oflf any threatening missile, or seizes the most available object to protect his face or body. All this would indicate that with primitive man the shield in some form or other became the first object of his invention, and such a supposition becomes all the more reasonable when it is remembered that the earliest weapons were those used at close quarters. Homer lends support to this theory. When Thetis prevailed upon Vul- can to provide a new set of armour for her son he first addressed himself to forging " th' immense 301 302 Ube Hrt of tbe maUace (Tollection and solid shield," and not until that was completed did he turn his attention to the helm with " golden crest," the cuirass, the greaves, and the rest. Recognizing this elementary fact, the historian of ancient armour insists that to soldiers deficient in body armour the shield would be of the first consequence. " We find," he continues, referring to the conditions which prevailed up to the eleventh century, " the Northern warrior seldom unaccom- panied by this useful defence. Leader and retainer, horseman and foot-soldier, — all are equipped with the target. Its form was usually round, though in the pictures, being seen in profile, it often has the appearance of an oval. And, as the plump-cheeked hour is of the East were called ' moon-faced dam- sels,' so the round targets of the Teutons were named by the poets ' moony shields.' They were convex, and in the centre was a boss of metal, gen- erally terminating in a button or spike, but some- times without either. The spiked shield was no doubt used as an offensive arm. The buttons are sometimes plated with silver, or tinned, as are the heads of the rivets remaining in the edge of the umbo. Across the hollow of the boss was fixed a handle of wood covered with iron; and by this handle the shield was held at arm's length, the hand entering the hollow of the boss." In its first form, then, the shield or buckler was of moderate size, armour 303 for its chief use was to parry blows in hand-to-hand conflicts. Several of the earliest examples in the armory are of this circular form, both those in Case V of Gallery Seven being of that shape. It is inter- esting, too, to find that although dating from the middle of the sixteenth century each is made of wood, the surface, however, being entirely covered both inside and out with cuir boulli. These shields are also notable as illustrating the application of decoration to such defensive arms, for the exterior leather of each is embossed and tooled with orna- mental panels. Much more utilitarian are the two bucklers shown in Case VI of the same gallery, the shapes of which are quadrilateral and rectan- gular respectively. Instead of elaborate decoration the surfaces of these shields are covered with " bars of semi-circular section at the distance of an eighth of an inch from the surface. These are rivetted in two circles, and with a hook in the centre; they act as sword breakers. Were the point of the ad- versary's sword to pass beneath one of these hooks, a quick upward movement of the wrist would snap the blade." Three of the oldest shields in the col- lection are displayed in Case VII of this gallery, two being of wood covered with parchment, and the third of wood covered with leather and plaster. The latter is a tilting shield ; hence the plaster sur- 304 Ube art of tbe Mallace Collection face, which was used for the purpose of receiving the decoration. The oldest of these shields is of the upright shape. Six highly interesting examples of the rondache, that is, the round shield, are among the contents of Case VIII in Gallery Six. They all belong to the same period, namely, the early years of the latter half of the sixteenth century, and represent the Italian and French workmanship of that period. They are alike, too, in being richly decorated, the principal subjects of the various designs being St. George and the Dragon, an encounter between cav- alry and infantry, a bearded warrior kneeling be- fore a female figure, the second labour of Hercules, the Judgment of Paris, and an episode in the history of Samson and Delilah. Six other examples of the decorated circular shield are displayed in Case IX of the same gallery, most of which are also of Ital- ian origin. If, however, the student of decorated armour would make the acquaintance of the three most superb shields in this collection he must turn to Cases XII and XIII of the sixth gallery. These will illustrate the statement that the " most mag- nificent targets were made solely for parade, and were borne in front of princely personages by their esquires. The broad surfaces they presented for decoration, and the esteem they were held in, in- Hrmout 30s duced even very great artists, like Giulio Romano, not only to design them, but actually to work upon them. It is far from rare to find in collections of drawings by old masters, designs for shields, like those signed Polydore and B. Franco hanging in the corridors at Chatsworth." One of the three shields in question is of French make; the other two are examples of the Italian armourer's art at its best period. The French shield, which is of the circular form, has a delicately embossed circular panel on which is chased in low relief a composition representing the retreat of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, from the city of Paris. " In the dis- tance," says the note in Mr. Laking's catalogue, " are views of various fortified towns and small companies of the conflicting armies, seen between the hills. Of the two angles that form the central panel into its double-circle shape, the top one is filled with an oval crowned escutcheon of the Arms of France, encircled by the collar of the Order of St. Michael, instituted by Louis XI in 1469. This is supported by two nude recumbent figures of boys, and behind them appear griffin-like monsters bound by ribands. In the bottom compartment are two recumbent partly draped female figures, possibly representing Bellona and Minerva, whilst behind and around them are grouped their respective at- tributes." The shield, which was made not later 3o6 TLbc Hrt of tbc MaUace Collectfon than 1590, was at one time enriched with gold and silver overlaying and damascening. Still more elaborate is the decoration of the other circular shield, which bears an inscription to the efifect that it was " made at Bologna by Hierony- mus, Spacinus of Milan." Starting from the spike in the centre of the shield, there are three bands of ornamentation, each divided into twelve compart- ments, thus covering the surface of the target with thirty-six different designs. The subjects are clas- sical, historical, and biblical, the second class rep- resenting incidents of the history of Charles V, and the third various Old Testament episodes from the Creation to the Covenant with Noah. This shield was once thought to have been the target of Charles V himself, but a more critical exam- ination of the style of workmanship has led to the conclusion that it belongs to the last quarter of the sixteenth century. An older example of Italian workmariiship is provided in the superb oval shield which is shown in Case VI. Chased and richly plated in silver and gold, the surface is practically covered with a fine composition representing Scipio receiving the keys of the city of Carthage after the battle of Zama in the year 202 b. c. In its amplitude of detail this design is reminiscent of the elaborate scenes of the shield of Achilles, for in addition to the numerous Hrmout 307 figures there is a vivid picture of Carthage. " This most beautiful shield," remarks Mr. Laking in sum- ming up his description, " made at the period when the Italian artist and armourer worked as one, deserves to take its place as one of the finest pro- ductions of its kind extant. Executed in the spir- ited and broad manner of the Negroli, a grandeur of effect and general design has been attained that is lacking in the more highly wrought shields of a later age." The target is sometimes called the shield of Diane de Poitiers, owing to the fact that it bears the interlaced crescent moons of the famous and beautiful mistress of Henry II. Judging from the photographs of savage races with which the iethnologists so frequently illustrate their works, it seems natural to conclude that after the shield the helmet was the next piece of defensive armour to which man turned his attention. " In an age when missiles were much in use; javelins, arrows, and the stones of the mangona and of the slinger; the soldier would naturally employ his first care to the arming of his head. Consequently we find in the monuments of this period that, even when the body appears to have no defensive cover- ing, the head is carefully protected by the helmet." This sparsity of wardrobe is still illustrated among uncivilized tribes, for the photographs referred to aibove show us many examples of African war- 3o8 TIbe art ot tbe Wallace Collection riors who are absolutely nude save for fantastic head-coverings. It is curious to find, too, that a wooden figure frofti the Hawaiian Islands is adorned with a head gear which bears a striking resemblance to the crested Corinthian type of helmet. Thanks to the vivid imagination of poet and nov- elist, the average reader is likely to have an exag- gerated idea of the head-dress of the warriors of early feudal times, for it was far from being the elaborate helmet usually described. To save con- fusion and give the visitor to the Wallace armory a point of view from which to appreciate the vari- ous forms of helmets shown there, the following brief description from the Encyclopaedia Britannica is worth attention. The head-dress of the dark ages, then, " was a mere casque, or cap with or without additional safeguards for the ears, the nape of the neck, and the nose. By those warriors who possessed the means to equip themselves fully, the casque was worn over a hood of mail. In manu- scripts, etc., armoured men are sometimes portrayed fighting in their hoods, without casques, basinets, or other form of helmet. The casque was, of course, normally of plate, but in some instances it was a strong leather cap covered with mail or imbricated plates. The most advanced form of this early hel- met is the conical steel or iron cap with nasal worn Hrmour 309 in conjunction with the hood of mail. This is the typical helmet of the eleventh century warrior, and is made familiar by the Bayeux tapestry. From this point, however, the evolution of war head- gear follows two different paths for many years. On the one hand the simple casque easily trans- formed itself into the basinet, originally a pointed iron skull-cap without nasal, ear-guards, etc. On the other hand the knight in armour, especially after the fashion of the tournament set in, found the mere cap with nasal insufficient, and the heaume, or ' helmet,' gradually came into vogue. This was in principle a large, heavy iron pot covering the head and neck. Often a light basinet was worn underneath it — or rather the knight usually wore his basinet and only put the heaume on over it at the last moment before engaging. The earlier twelfth century war heaumes are intended to be worn with the mail hood and have nasals. Towards the end of the thirteenth century, however, the basi- net grew in size and strength, just as the casque had grown, and began to challenge comparison with the heavy and clumsy heaume. Thereupon the heaume became, by degrees, the special head-dress of the tournament, and grew heavier, larger and more elaborate, while the basinet, reinforced with camail and vizor, was worn in battle." Later forms of the helmet included the salade or sallet, the 3IO Ube Hrt of tbe Mallace Collection armet, the burgonet, the morion, the cabasset, etc., all of which are illustrated in the armory. No example of the simplest form of the casque is included in the collection, but the basinet in its latest form is illustrated by several specimens. These, with typical sallets, archer's helmets, and armets and tilting helms, will be found in various parts of Gallery Seven. The name " basinet " is so near akin to the " bassinet " still in use for the cradling of infants that it is interesting to note the similar meaning of the two words ; while the shapes of other helmets are so indicative of modern coal- scuttles as to suggest the mundane purpose to which knightly head-gear was put. Several of the oldest helmets are arranged in Case I, including a basinet of the beginning of the fifteenth century, an archer's helmet of about 1450, an Italian sallet of 1470, and a German tilting sallet of about 1500. In Case II will be found an admirable example of the " pig- faced " basinet, a name which well describes the snout-like shape of the vizor which was so often caricatured in the old carvings and illuminations. This is a French specimen of the early fifteenth century. Thirteen helmets of the fifteenth and early six- teenth centuries are shown in Case III, which, though devoid of decoration, are regarded as one of the most interesting groups in the armory. armour 311 They illustrate the sallet, the armet, and the heaume, the solitary piece of the latter type being of extreme importance as a rare example of ,early sixteenth century English fashion and workman- ship. Only nine other specimens of a similar type are known to be in existence, two of which are re- spectively in Westminster Abbey and St. George's Chapel, Windsor. Among the sallets is one which is thought to represent the type of helmet worn by German mounted archers in the late fifteenth cen- tury. In Case IV, again, there are five additional speci- mens, four of which are of the casque type fash- ionable in the sixteenth century. One of these, a Florentine casque, is adorned with a grotesque face and is thus characterized in the catalogue: " This most beautiful helmet — perhaps, as regards design, the finest example of the armourer's craft in this collection — must come from the workshops of the armourer Pirpe, known as Pifanio Tacito. Possibly executed from a design of the Leonardo school, the armourer has lost none of the spirit that must have imbued the original drawing. In- deed so little has the difficult medium of stubborn iron afTected the handling, that a freshness of exe- cution has resulted which is only to be matched in a cire. perdue bronze of the fifteenth century." Another illustration of grotesque design is supplied 312 Ubc Hrt of tbe Wallace Collection in the German sallet which is adorned with a dol- phin's mask. A beautiful specimen of the morion type is ex- hibited in Case VIII of Gallery Six, while in the same case will be found a helmet of the cabasset model, both these being of Italian workmanship. For an example of the burgonet with its low crest or comb the visitor must turn to Case XI, where, too, is an open helmet of Russian make dating from about 1600. Another remarkable open helmet is shown in Case XII, which has a high roped comb and is decorated with medallions representing Leda and the Swan, and Cupid being nursed by Venus. Additional ornamentation includes upright panels of Horatius keeping the bridge of the Tiber and Marcus Curtius leaping into a pit. The price Sir Richard Wallace gave for this helmet — £2,300 — illustrates the market value of such pieces of ar- mour. In the natural development of defensive armour some form of protection for the chest would nat- urally siicceed the evolution of the head-dress. Thus, turning once inore to the evidence of eth- nology, we find that many of the savage races were in the habit of constructing various kinds of cui- rasses for the protection of the breast. In the Gilbert Islands is found a cuirass of cocoanut fibre ; the Indonesians use corslets of hide or woven work ; Hrmour 313 in Borneo the war-coat consists of bark covered with fish-scales. A photograph of the latter bears a striking resemblance to the chain-mail so fre- quently represented in the Bayeux tapestry, sug- gesting, indeed, that chain-mail may have had its origin in an imitation of the skin of ■ a fish. The armory does not include any specimens of that type of body-armour, but the breastplate, either separately or in conjunction with its companion backplate, is exemplified by several examples. One of the earliest is in Case I of Gallery Seven, while two more are in Case VI of the same gallery. An ornate specimen is shown in Case X of Gallery Six, this being decorated in low relief with figures of the Virgin and Child, St. Christopher, etc. In Case XII of the same gallery is a peascod breast- plate with its companion backplate, each being richly ornamented. Other separate pieces of ar- mour, such as thigh-guards, etc., are scattered through the three rooms. Owing to the prominent part it plays in the prose and verse of romance, there is probably no item of knightly accoutrement that can compare with the gauntlet for sentimental interest. In the early days of the history of armour the glove formed a part of the sleeve of the hauberk. This form is copi- ously illustrated in the ancient tombs of rural Engr land, which show how the sleeve terminated in a 314 tCbe Htt ot tbe Mallace Collection kind of mitten without any finger-stalls. Later, in order to liberate the hand, an aperture was left in the centre of the palm; the next change was in the direction of providing finger-stalls, showing that the armourer had become more expert in ma- king his mail-web flexible. " Gloves of leather," notes J. S. Gardner, " were sometimes worn between 131 1 and 1360, as well as others of whalebone, metal studs and splintwork, iron scales and brass. Plate-armour gauntlets first appear towards the middle of the century with articulated fingers and a broad plate for the back of the hand and wrist; whilst a steel cufif, sometimes articulated, was shortly afterwards added. They are at times spiked, or with gads like knuckle-dusters, as in the case of the Black Prince, and frequently richly jew- elled." Of course it was not until the gauntlet became a separate article that it was utilized as a symbol of challenge. That it had taken such a separate form by 1377 is more than probable in view of the legends which describe the king's cham- pion. Sir John Dymoke, as throwing down his gauntlet as the pledge that he was prepared to defend his monarch's title against all comers. Indeed, as providing proof that the gauntlet had been separated from the hauberk by that date the earliest pair in this armory, which is in Case I of Gallery Seven, is ascribed to a date between Hrmour 315 1360 and 1390. " These very rare gauntlets," says Mr. Laking, " are of the highest interest on account of their early date, and are unique in this country. The only pair that in any way compete with these in quality of workmanship are those now in the Bargello at Florence. ... In the Tower of Lon- don there is a gauntlet purporting to be of the end of the fourteenth century, but it is a forgery. The gauntlets hanging over the tomb of the Black Prince in Canterbury Cathedral are of much the same type, but they are entirely fashioned of gilt brass, and of indifferent workmanship." Between these and the pair of shell arms and gauntlets in the same case a hundred years intervene, for the latter are ascribed to the year 1460. Even so, however, those shell arms are described as one of the most inter- esting objects in the collection; such pieces are often seen in tapestries, etc., but actual specimens are rarely met with. An admirable example of the " forbidden gauntlet," otherwise the locking gaunt- let, is displayed in Case V of the same gallery. In this type the plate covering the finger tips was extended beyond them, so that in grasping a sword or lance the plate reached to the inside of the cuff and was locked there by means of a simple device, the effect of which was to render it impossible for sword or lance to be wrested from the knight's grasp. 3i6 Zbc Hrt of tbe TRilallacc Collection Only one of these knightly gages can claim the added interest of historical association, the solitary exception being that right-hand gauntlet in Case XIII of Gallery Six which belonged to the short- lived eldest son of James I. Created a Knight of the Garter at the early age of nine, many of the advisers of the youthful Prince Henry used their utmost endeavours to inspire him with a passion for military glory. A Scottish colonel who was serving in the Netherlands was instructed to pro- cure him a suit of armour in that country, and in expressing his pleasure at being charged with such a commission he added that in addition to the suit of armour he would bring back with him " the book of Froissart, who will show your grace how the wars were led in those days." When but twelve years of age he had developed a strong liking for horseback exercise and was wont to employ most of his time " in tossing the pike, or leaping, or shooting with the bow, or throwing the bar." It was in keeping with his natural bent, then, that the ceremonies connected with his creation as Prince of Wales were brought to a close by a splendid tilting tournament. This gauntlet may not have been used at that tournament, but it was made within two years of 1610, and is thought to have been part of the suit of armour which the young prince ordered from the royaf armourer, William Pick- iarmour 317 eringe. One of the most famous portraits of Prince Henry depicts him in the attitude of thrusting with a pike, and the gauntlets he is wearing have a strong likeness to this ex- ample. Turning finally to the suits, or half-suits or three- quarter suits of armour, it must not be expected that they will provide specimens of the earliest types. Such suits are exceedingly rare. As Oswald Barron has reminded us, suits of plate of the earli- est period may be sought in vain. " The ' ancestral armour ' which decorates so many ancient halls in England is generally the plates and pots which served the pikemen of the seventeenth century militia. It is not hard to understand this scarcity of ancient pieces. In the first place it must be remembered that the fully armed man was always a rare figure in war, and only the rich could engage in the costly follies of the later tournaments. The novelists have done much to encourage the belief that most men of gentle rank rode to the wars lance in hand, locked up in full harness of plate; but the country gentleman, serving as light horse- man or mounted archer, would hold himself well armed had he a quilted jack or brigandine and a basinet or sallet." Still, Mr. Barron admits that armour of the latter half of the sixteenth century is fairly plentiful, and it is that period which is 3i8 Zbc Hrt of tbe TRIlallace Collectfon most fully illustrated by the suits of the Wallace armory. Several half-suits are displayed in Gallery Six, these including one of Spanish fashion dating from about 1540, portions of another of Italian work- manship which has a close likeness to the half-suit in the Metropolitan Museum of New York, and a richly decorated half-suit which belonged to Al- fonso II, Duke of Ferrara. The gold and silver damascening of the latter is still in a remarkably perfect state of preservation. High up on the wall of the sixth gallery, over the Armoire mentioned in an earlier chapter, is a typical three-quarter suit of German make, while in the corner of the room close by are two full suits also of German origin, both of which, on the right side of the breastplate, provide illustrations of the curious lance-rest. One of these suits is also interesting as exemplifying the " Maximilian " type of armour, that is, the fluted pattern which was named after Maximilian II because it came into fashion in his reign. In another part of the same gallery may be found an admirable example of the complete tilting-suit of the late sixteenth century. So far as the indi- vidual items go, this suit will give the student of armour an excellent idea of the various parts which were deemed necessary in such an outfit, for it in- cludes the closed helmet, breastplate and backplate, A CORNER IN GALLERY SIX. Hrmouc 319 ) tassets, shoulder plates, arm plates, elbow plates, fin- gered gauntlets, thigh guards, knee plates, greaves, and sollerets. On the left shoulder, too, is an example of the manteau d'armes, the trellis-work embossing of which was intended to catch the point of the adversary's lance. Another suit of tilting armour may be seen in Gallery Seven, the weight of which — ninety-six pounds — gives a vivid idea of the physical discomfort which fighting in the lists entailed for the knight of the good old times. Such suits as these, with their practically unadorned dazzling surface of steel, recall Homer's picture of the fully-armed Patroclus: " He cas'd his limbs in brass; and first around His manly legs with silver buckles bound The clasping greaves; then to his breast applies The flaming cuirass, of a thousand dyes: Emblazon'd with studs of gold his falchion shone In the rich belt, as in a starry zone; Achilles' shield his ample shoulders spread, Achilles' helmet nodded o'er his head: Adom'd in all his terrible array, He flashed around intolerable day." But for a complete picture of the aspect of the warlike knight at the moment of conflict nothing could be more instructive than the forbidding figure on horseback in the centre of Gallery Six. Surely 320 Zbe art ot tbe THflallace Collection there was no need for Mr. Laking to half-apologize for the " too dramatic " pose of this exhibit ; it is far more interesting and lifelike than the suits propped around the wall. Besides, it is also an object-lesson not only in the flexibility of armour but also in the devices used for the protection of the warrior's horse. And this combination of mailed man and steed enables one to understand why the mortality of olden-days' battles was so insignificant. As Hallam has noted, there was a time when the art of defence outstripped that of destruction. It is sometimes imagined, chiefly by poets and novelists, that the battles of ancient times resulted in terrific slaughter, whereas there are many proofs to the contrary. In one fight between nine hundred steel-clad warriors only three were slain; in another, which lasted from the rising to the setting of the sun, the killed were also but three ! When, however, the invention of gunpowder and the necessity for rapid movement over battle- fields heralded the extinction of body armour it was given a longer lease of life by restricting it to tour- naments and parade. " The great and wealthy," says Mr. Gardner, " have seldom cared to stint in matters of personal adornment, and in days when there were fewer ways in which a taste for extrav- agant expenditure could be combined with a high appreciation of art, fortunes were spent upon the £VCinout 321 coverings of the body. Nothing more sumptuous in applied art exists, in regard either to design or execution, than the work lavished on the armour produced for the French, Spanish, and other mon- archs in the second half of the sixteenth and be- ginning of the seventeenth centuries." For proof of which statement it is only necessary to turn to the elaborate complete suit of armour shown in Case IX of Gallery Six. Made by Jacob Topf, armourer to Queen Elizabeth, about 1575, the whole of the suit is richly decorated by bands and borderings and a scroll design relieved by a zig-zag line. Its interest is greatly enhanced by the fact that it was made for Sir Thomas Sackville, after- wards Baron Buckhurgt and first Earl of Dorset, who played a conspicuous part in the literary, court, political, and diplomatic life of the " spacious days " of the Virgin Queen. He lives in literary history as the planner of the " Mirror for Magistrates " and the author of the Induction to that anthology of stately verse; in history his fame is assured by his many missions for Queen Elizabeth, and the role he had to play in announcing to Mary Queen of Scots her death sentence. And the anecdotes of his life credit him with an extravagance of ex- penditure which is well exemplified by this costly suit of armour. Other examples of knightly foppery are too 322 Ube Hrt of tbe TKHallace Collection numerous to mention; in fact, the foregoing ac- count has had necessarily to be restricted to a few typical examples in each category; when it is re- membered that the Wallace armory comprises upwards of thirteen hundred pieces it will be real- ized that nothing short of an exhaustive catalogue could do justice to its variety. When Shakespeare makes his love-proof Benedick lament the sad, changed state of the love-enslaved Claudio he re- veals him as recalling that in his saner days Claudio would walk " ten mile a-foot to see a good armour," whereas since he became Cupid's victim he would lie awake ten nights " carving the fashion of a new doublet." No doubt the love-sick would find noth- ing to interest them in the Hertford House ar- mory, but the " fancy free " will assuredly admit that it is a rich reward for even more than a " ten mile a-foot " journey. And, as has been indicated, it maintains to the last that distinction of beauty of workmanship and costliness of material which is the hall-mark of all the treasures of the Wallace Collection. THE END. Inbcx Abondio, Antonio, 281. Achenbach, Andreas, " The Ebb-Tide," 63-64. Albani, Francesco, " Venus with Cupids," 67-68. Angeli, Professor von, 38; "jPor- trait. of Her Imperial Majesty the Empress Frederick," 39. Armour, 301-322. Arms, 283-300. Armstrong, Sir Walter, 142, 173-174- Aubiy, L. F., 280. Augustine, J. B., 280. Axes, 292. Backer, Jacob A. " Portrait of an Old Woman," 156. Barron, Oswald, 317. Baudelaire. 62. Bellang€, Joseph, 213; " Cross- ing the Ford," 62; "The Imperial Tent," 62; "The Dispatch," 67^ Beccafumi, Domenico, "Judith with the Head of Holofernes," S2- Bellotto, Bernardo, 71. Benozzo, 78. Berchem, Claes, P., 146; " Ital- ian. Landscape with Figures," 68; " Landscape with Figures," 96; " Landscape with Cattle," 96; " Italian Landscape with Figures," 96; " Coast Scene with Figures," 157. Beruete, Aureliano de, 141. Bethnal Green Museum, 20. Boilly, Louis Leopold, "The Dead Mouse," 208, 209; " The Visit," 208, 209; "The Sor- 323 rows of Love," 209; "Tri- umph of Marat," 209. Boizot, 236. Bol, Ferdinand, "The Toper," 156-157- Bone, Henry, 276. Bone, Henry Pierce, "Marquis of Hertford," 276. Bonheur, Rosa, 125. Bonington, Richard Parker, 127; " Francis I and Marguerite of Navarre," 129; "Henry III and the English Ambassador," 130; "Henry IV and the Spanish Ambassador," 130, 211; "Anne Page and Slender," 130; "The Anti- quary," 211; " Medora," 211; " The Leaning Tower, Bo- logna," 211; '' The Church of Sant' Ambrogio, Milan," 211. Both, Jan, 159. Boucher, Fransois, 105, 109, 183, 192-193. 196. 197. 203, 205, 206, 207, 208, 249, 250, 279; " Shepherd Watching a Sleeping Shepherdess," 193; " Venus and Ciipid wi& Doves," 193; " The Birth of Venus," 193; " Portrait of the Marquise de Pompadour," 194; " The Visit of Venus to Vulcan," 202; " Cupid a Captive," 202; " Venus and Mars surprised by Vulcan," 202; " The Judgment of Paris," 202; " The Rising of the Sun," 202, 203-204; " The Setting of the Sun," 202, 203- 204; " Portrait of the Mar- quise de Pompadour," 280. 324 fn&ei BouIIe, Andrfi-Charles, 224, 225, 228-229, 230. 234, 23s, 237. 'Bqursse, L, " Interior: Woman Cooking," 91. Boxall, Sir William, 20-22. Bronzes, 239-244. Bronzino, " Portrait of Eleonora di Toledo, Grand Duchess of Florence," 50-51. Browning, 135. Brouwer, Adriaen, 126; " A Boor Asleep," 88-89. Biirger, M., 186. Bums, Robert, 4. Burty, M., 199. Byron, J^rd, 44, 121, 140, 144. Caffieri, Jacques, 230-231, 237, 255- Cagnacci, Guido, " Tarquinius and Lucretia," 68. Calame, Alexandre, " A Water- fall in Switzerland," 58. Cambell, 45. Camphuijsen, Govert, " A Dutch Farm at Sunset," 176. Canale, Antoine. See Canaletto. Canaletto, 71, 74-76; " The Giudecca with S. Giorgio Maggiore,"75; "Grand Canal with S. Simeone Piccolo," 75; " A F«te on the Grand Canal," 75- Cano, Alonso, 139, 144, " The Vision of St. John the Evan- gelist,;' 145. Carpaccio, 76. Castelnau, Julia Am^lie Char- lotte. See Wallace, Lady. Cawthom, James, 162. Cayot, Augustin, 249. Cellini, Benvenuto, 245. Champaigne, Philippe de, " The Adoration of the Shepherds," 177; " The Annunciation," 177-178; " The Marriage of the Virgin," 178; " Portrait of Robert Arnauld d'AndiUy," 178. Champeauz, M. de, 220. Champlevfi Enamels, 256. Chardin, Jean Baptiste, 106, 187. Charlier, Jacques, 207, 278; " Nymphs and Cupids," 208; "The Birth of Venus," 208; "The Judgment of Paris," 208; " Portrait of Madame Elizabeth," 279. Chateaubriand, 121. Chesneau, Ernest, 43, 44-45, 129. Chinese' Porcelain, 251-252. Cima da Conegliano, " St. Cath- erine of Alexandria," 132-133. Clodion, Claude Michel, 233, 250. Clouet, Franfois, " Dame de CIoux," 278. Clouet, Jean, "Portrait of the Emperor Charles V, King of Spain," 54. Clouet School, " Queen Mary Stuart," 54; " Francis I," 54. Cogniet, Leon, 214, "Rebecca and Sir Brian de Bois Guil- bert," log. Constable, John, 103, 105, 151- 152. 157-158, 160-161, 165, 192, 193, 196. Cooper, Samuel, 262, 271, 272, 274; " Portrait of Cromwell," 273; " Portrait of Charles II," 273; " Lady of the Court of Charles II," 273. Cooper, Thomas Sidney, 127; " Cattle," 128. Coques, Gonzales, 77; "A Fam- ily Group," 91, Id, 148-149. Corot, Camille, 106; " Macbeth and the Witches," 113-114. Correggio, 109. Cosimo, Angelo di. See Bronzino. Cosimo, Piero di, 46. Cossa, Francesco, 46. Costa, Lorenzo, 45. Cosway, Richard, 276, 277;" The Princesse de Tarante," 275; " Maria, daughter of W. Smythe," 275; " Portrait- study of Miss Crofton," 275; tn^cj: 32s " Portrait-study of a Gentle- man," 275. Couture, Thomas, "The Ro- mans of the Decadence," 119; "A Roman Feast," 119-120; " The Young Drummer," 120; "Timon of Athens," 120; " The Duel after the Masked Ball," 120; "Harlequin and Pierrot," 120. Cowley, 153. Cowper, 13, 216-218. Cox, David, 211. Coysevox, Charles Antoine, 242- 243, 246. Cressent, Charles, 230. Ciivelli, Carlo, " St. Roch," 51- Crome, 165. Cross-bows, 295-298. Crosse, Lawrence, 274-275; " Portrait of a Lady," 274. Cuirass, 312-314. Cuyp, Aelbert, " Halting at an Inn," 84; "Boy Holding a Horse," 84; " Horsemen in a Landscape," 84; " Cattle," 95; " River Scene with Horse- men," 93; " River Scene with Shipping and Figures," 157; " RiVer Scene with Shipping," 158; "Landscape with an Avenufe/' 158; " River Scene with View of Dord- recht," 176. Daggers, 289-290. Daill€, 236. Daubigny, 106. David, Louis, 38, 105, 107, 109, US- iDavis, Frederick, 226-227. Decamps, Alexandre G., 122, 213; "The Witches in Mac- beth," 123; "The Roman Campagna," 1 23 ; " The Book- worm," 123; "The Villa Doria-Panfili at Rome," 123; " Arabs Reposing," 123; "A Well in the East," 123-124; " Asses atBoulac," 123; " The Anchorage at Smjrma," 123; "Joseph Sold by His Breth- ren," 124; "Released from School," 214. Delacroix, Eugfene, "The Exe- cution of the Doge Marino Faliero," 114-115; " Faust and Mephistopheles," 114-115. Delaroche, Paul, 114, 115; " Joan of Arc in Prison," 67, n6; " The Saviour on the Steps of the Temple," 67; "A Mother and Child," u6; " A Child Learning to Read," 116; " The Virgin and Child," 116; " Temptation of St. Aafhony," ir6; "Edward V and the Duke of York in the Tower," 116-117; " Cardinal Maza- rin's Last Sickness," 116-118; " The State Barge of Cardinal Richelieu on the Rhone," 117- 119; "Death of the Due de Guise," 214. Delft Porcelain, 250. Derby, William, 213. Desportes, Alexandre, 67; " Classic Ruins with Flowers and Dead Game," 70. Diaz, Narcisse, " Venus dis- arming Cupid," 112; " The Education of Cupid," 112; " A Fountain at Constanti- nople," 112. Diderot, 195-196, 204-205. Dilke, Lady, 232, 257. Dolci, Carlo, " A Saint Reading," 37-38. Domenichino, "A Sibyl," 172. Donatello, 240. Donne, Dr. 270. Dou, Gerard, 79; "A Hermit," 97; "A Hermit at Prayer," 97-98. Downman, John, 68-69. Dresden Porcelain, 255. Drost, Cornells, 156; "Portrait of a Young Woman," 1^7. 326 ■ffn&ei Dubois, J., 226, 234. Dumrait, Francis, " Louis XVII as Dauphin," 279; " Madame Vigee Le Brun," 279. Dumont, L6on, 201. Duplessis, 233, 236. Dupr6, Jules, 106; " Crossing the Bridge," 112. Eisler, Robert, 244. Eliot, George, 79. Enamelled Ware, 252-253. Enamels, 256-258. Engleheart, George, " Portrait of a Lady in a White Head- dress," 276. Everdingen, Allart van, " Land- scape with Waterfall," 176. Fagniani, Marchioness, 2, 3. Fagniani, Maria. See Hertford, The Third Marchioness of. Falconet, Etienne Maurice, 249- 250. Fede, Lucrezia del, 135-136. Ferrari, Francesco Bianchi, 132; " Allegorical Subject, with Two Nude Figures in a Land- scape," 133-134. Ferrarese School, " Annuncia- tion," 45; " Portrait of an Italian Gentleman," 45. Fielding, Copley, 211-212; " Langdale Pikes, Westmore- land," 212; " Crowborough Hill, Sussex," 212-213; "Loch Katrine," 213. Fiorentino, Niccolo, 240. Firearms, 298-300. Flatman, Thomas, " Portrait of Charles II," 274. Flemish School, " St. Michael," 47; " The Virgin and Child," 47; " Supposed Portrait of Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick,'' 47; " Portrait of an English Nobleman," 47. Flinck, Govert, 156; " Portrait of a Young Woman," 157. Florentine School, "The Na- tivity," 46; "The Triumph of Venus," 46. Foppa, Vincenzo, " The Youth- fid Gian Galeazzo Sforza reading Cicero," 49-50. Foucquet, Jean, 261. Fragonard, Jean HonorS, 192, 196, 249, 280; "The Gardens of a Roman Villa," 197; " A Lady Carving her Name," 197; " The Fair-haired Child," 197; " The Fountain of Love," 197; " The Swing," 206-207; " Cupid's Sporting," 207; " Cupid's Reposing," 207. Franco, B., 305. Furniture, 215-238. Fuseli, 144. Fyt, Jan, 148, 187. Gainsborough, Thomas, 3, 11, 165; " Mrs. Robinson," 27- 28; " Portrait of Mrs. Robin- son (' Perdita ')," 8, 27-28, 170-171, " Portrait of Miss Haverfield," 171. Gardner^ Mrs. John L., 138. Gardner, J. S., 314, 320-321. Gauntlets, 313-317. Gautier, 126. George IV, 5-8. G6ricault, Jean, " Equestrian Portrait of the Prince Re- gent," 38; " Raft of Medusa," 38; "A Cavalry Skirmish," 68. German School (i6th Century), " Portrait of a Boy," 47. G6r6me, L6on, "The Draught Players," 122; " An Arab Soldier," 122; "The Guard of the Harem," 122. Giovanni, Benvenuto di, " St. Je- rome Chastising Himself," 51. Giorgio, Maestro, 251, 253. Giorgione, 137. Giovanni da Bologna, 240-241. Giovanni da Cremona, 240. iinoei 327 Girtin, 211. - Goethe, 79, 80, no. Goldsmith's Work, 258-^260. Gouthi^re, 231, 232, 234, 237. Greuze, Jean Baptiste, 194, 249; "The Broken Mirror," 189, 192, 205; " Innocence," 195; " Sorrow," 195; " The Listen- ing Girl," 19s; " Girl with a Gauze Scarf," 195; "Girl in a Blue Dress," 195; " Girl in a White Dress," 195. " A Girl with Doves," 19s, 196; "The Father Explaining the Bible to his Children," 19s; "Portrait of Mile. Sophie Amould," 196; " Votive Offer- ing to Cupid," 205, 233; " Filial Piety," 205-206. Grimaldi, William, "John Churchill, First Duke of Marl- borough," 276-277. Gros, Baron Antoine, 105, 129, " General Bonaparte Re- viewing Troops," 107. Guardi, Francesco, 71, 76; " A Courtyard in Venice," 68; " The Rialto," 75. Gudin, Theodore, " Coast Scene in Stormy Weather," 62. Gu6rin, Jean, 280. Hackaert, Jan, "Avenue in a Wood," 176. Halberts, 293-294. Hall, Pierre Adolphp, 278, 279. Hallam, 320. Hals, Frans, 126; " The Laugh- ing, Cavalier," 155-156. Harding, James D., " Bem- castel on the Moselle," 213. Harper, Henry, 213. Hauberks. See Cuirasses. Heem, Jan Davidsz. de, 156; " Still Life," 157. Heilbuth, Ferdinand, " The Car- dinal," 58-59. Heine, no. Hehnets, 301, 302, 307-312. Heist, Bartholomeus van der, "Family Group," 176. Hertford, Second Marquis of, S, 30. Hertford, Third Marquis of, 4, 6-11, 32, 41, 42. Hertford, Fourth Marquis of, 11-19, 23-24, 27, 32, 36, 37, 56, 59, 61, 63, 68, 70, 90, 103- 105, 106, III, 112, 147, 151, 156, 165, 170, 180, 181, 183, 187-188, 196, 215, 217, 220, 223, 226-227, 234-23S7 236, 238,^ 244. Hertford, Second Marchioness of, 5-6. Hertford, Third Marchioness of, 1-5, 7-8, 9. ", 14. 18-19, 33, 42. Hewitt, John, 292, 295. Heyden, Jan van der, " Wester Kirk at Amsterdam," 93. Hildebrandt, Theodor, 117. Hilliard, Nicholas, 270. Hilton, William, " Venus ap- pearing to Diana and her Nymphs," 35-36. Hobbema, Meindert, " The Out- skirts of a Wood," 83; "Land- scape with a Ruin," 158; " Wooded Landscape," 158- 159; " Stormy Landscape," 159; " Landscape "with a Watermill," 159. Holbein, Hans, 277; " Portrait of Hans Holbein the Younger," 269-270; "Portrait of Jane Seymour," 270. Hondekoeter, Melchoir, 160. Hooch, Pieter de, 82, 126, 160- 161; "Interior with Woman and Boy," 161; " Interior with a Woman Peeling Ap- ples," 161. Hoppner, John, "Portrait of George, Prince of Wales," 40- 41. Hoskins, John, 274; "Portrait of a Gentleman of the Time 328 1rn^cI of the Cornmonwealdi," 271; " Edward, Second Viscount Conway," 271-272. Houdon, Jean Antoine, 247- 249. Houssaye, 184. Huysum, Jan van, " Flowers in a Vase," 98; "Fruit and Flowers," 98. lUuminations, 261-267. Irvine, Viscount, $• Isabey, Eug&ne, no; " Ships on the Seashore," 62; " Court Reception at a Chateau," 124; "The Young Mother," 124; "A Promenade by the Sea," 124. Isabey, Jean Baptiste, 279- 280. Jackson, Richard. See Wallace, Sir Richard. Jardin, Karel du, " The Smithy," 92. Jordaens, Jacob, 174; "The Riches of Autumn," 175. Konody, Paul G., 184. Ladbrooke, 165. Laking, Guy F., 283-284, 287- 288, 291, 299, 30s, 307, 31S, 320. Lami, 2x4. Lance, 293. Lancret, Nicolas, 201; " Girl in a Kitchen," 188; "Madem- oiselle Camargo Dancing," 188; "Girls Bathing," 189- 190; " The Broken Necklace," 189; " Conversation Galante," 190; "iFtte in a Wood," 200; " Portrait of an Actress," 200; " An Italian Comedy Scene," 200; " Pastoral Revels," 200. Landelle, Charles, 106; " An Armenian Woman," 122. Landseer, Sir Edwin, 59; " Miss Nellie Powers," S7, 62; " Look- ing for the Crumbs that fall from the Rich Man's Table," 127; "A Highland Scene," 128; "The Arab Tent," 128. Largillidre, Nicolas de, "Louis XIV with the Grand Dau- phin," 181. Lawrence, Sir Thomas, 41, 277; " Portrait of the Third Mar- quis of Hertford," 9; "Por- trait of King_ George IV," 42- 43; " Portrait of the Countess of Blessington," 43; " Por- trait of Miss Maria Siddons," 166; "Portrait of a Lady," 166. Le Brun, Elisabeth Louise Vig€e, 184; " Portrait of Madame Perregaux," 209-210; " Por- trait of a Boy in Red," 210. Lebrun, Charles, 218, 242. Lecky, 80. Le Moyne, Franfoise, " Time Revealing Truth," 183; " Per- seus and Andromeda," 183. Lepante, 236. LesUe, i6o-i6x, 196. L6picifi, Nicolas Bernard, "A Mother Feeding her Child," 208; " The Reading Lesson," 208. Limoges Enamels, 257-258. Limosin, Leonard, 257, 258. Longfellow, H. W., 250-252, 253, 2S4- Lorrain, Claude, 178; "Italian Landscap," 179^180; " Coast Scene with Classic Buildings," 179-180. Lo Spagna, "The Assumption of the Magdalen," 52-53. Louis Ttaze Furniture, 219 Louis Quatorze Furniture, 218, 219, 223, 224, 225. Louis Quinse Furniture, 220, 221-223. Louis Seize Furniture, 220, 221- 225, 238. irn6ei 329 Luini, Bernardino, 132; " Child- genius gathering Grapes," 31- 52; "Head of a Girl," 51; "The Virgin and Child," 134- Maces, 290-291. Maes, Nicholas, " The Listening Housewife," 89; " A House- wife at Work," 89; "Boy with a Hawk," 160. Majolica Porcelaui, 250-255. Manchester, Duke of, 30. Marbles, 244-250. March, Lord. See Queensberry, Duke of. Marhilhat, Prosper, " The Erec- theum at Athens," 122; " On theNile,"i23; "Pahn Trees," 123; " A Scene on the Nile," 123. Marivaux, 201. Mame, Jean Louis de, " Women and Soldiers Revelling," 208; " The Elixir," 208. Mayer, Constance, 107. Mazo, Juan Bautista del, 142, 143- Mee, Mrs., " Portrait of a Lady in a Jewelled Turban," 276.. Meissonier, Ernest, " Dutch Burghers," or " The Visitors," 125-126; " A Musketeer: Time of Louis XHI," 126; " A Cavalier: Time of Louis Xin," 126; ,"The Print Collectors," 126; " The Hired Assassins," 127; " Halting at an Inn," 127; " The Roadside Inn," 127; " The Decameron," 127; " Soldiers Gambling," 127; " Polichinelle," 127. Memmi, Lippo, 47. Mendelssohn, 60. Merle, Hughes, "Reading the Bible," 67. Metsu, Gabriel, 82, 126; "Old Woman Asleep," 89-90; " The Letter Writer Surprised," 89, 90; " An Old Woman Selling Fish," 89-90; " The Sleeping Sportsman," 90. Meyrick, Sir Samuel R., 284. Michel, Emile, 164. Michelangelo, 206, 236, 245. "Mie Mie." See Hertford, Third Marchioness of. Mierevelt, 77. Miens, Frans van, 79; "Venus with Cupid and two Amorini," 68. Miens, Jan van, "Lady and Cavalier," 99. Miens, WUlem van, 126; " Old Woman Selling Fish," 92; " Venus and Cupid," 99; " Venus Reposing," 99; " The Lute Player," gg; "Joseph and Potiphar's Wife," gg; " Boy with a Drum," gg; "Nymph and Satyr," gg. Milanese School, "Head of a Youthful Saint," 46. Millet, Jean Francois, 106. Miniatures, 261-263, 26s> 266, 267-280. Mirbel, Madame de, Portraits of J. Fenimore Cooper and Sir Walter Scott, 6g. Modemo, 240. Montesquieu, 182. Moore, Thomas, 6, g. Morland, George, 63; " The Visit to the Boarding School," S6-S7- Mliller, Charles Louis, " An Eastern Woman at her Toi- lette," 66-67. Murillo, i3g, 140, 147; "The Virgin in Glory with Saints Adoring," i4s; "The Virgin and Child," 14S-146; "The Marriage of the Virgin," 146; "Joseph and His Brethren," 146; "The Charity of St. Thomas of Villanueva," 146; " The Adoration of the Shep- 33° 1In5ei herds," 146; "The Holy Family," 146; " The Annun- ciation," 146. Murillo, School of, "The As- sumption of the Virgin," 174; "Virgin and Child," 174- Muther, Richard, 57, 61, 65, 84, no, 121, 149-150, 181. Nattier, Jean Marc, 192; " A Prince of the House of France, 191; " Marie Le- czinska, Queen of France," 199, 200; " Portrait of a Lady in Blue," 199, 200; " The Bath," 199-200; " Portrait of the Comtesse de Dillieres," 199, 200. Neer, Aert van der, " Winter Scene," 84; " A Canal Scene by Moonlight," 95; " A River Scene by Moonlight," 95; "A Skating Scene," 95. Nesfield, WiUiam A., 213. Netscher, Caspar, 82, 126; " Por- trait of a Child," 92; "A Lady Playing the Lute," 92; "The Lace Maker," 92-93; "Portrait of a Lady," loi; " A Dutch Lady," loi. Nevill, Lady Dorothy, 16-17, 226-227. Newton, Gilbert S., "Portrait of a Lady," 63. NiccolS da Bologna, 264. Nieuwerkerke, Count de, 284. Nordau, Max, 106, 115. Northcote, James, 42. North Italian School, " Portrait of a Gentleman," 46; "Young Man holding a Lute," 46; Northwick, Lord, 103. Olben, Jean Franfois, 229. Oliver, Isaac, " Portrait of Sir Richard Leveson," 270-271. Oliver, Peter, " Thomas, Lord Coventry," 271. Ostade, Adriaen van, 126, 159; " Interior with Peasants," loi; " Buying Fish," 101-102. Ostade, Isack van, " A Market Place," 159; "A ViUage Scene," 159. Oudry, Jean Baptiste, 69-71; Papety, Dominique, 213, 214; " An Italian Contadina," 62; " The Temptation of St. Hi- larion," 66. Parma School, " The Holy Fam- ily," 47- Pater, Jean Baptiste, 188, 191; " Conversation Galante," 190, 201-202; " F«te Champfitre," 190; " The Swing," 190; " The Dance," 190-191; " F6te in a Park," igo; " Bathing Party in a Park," 190; "A Camp Scene," 201; " F€te Galante," 201; "Ths Bath," 201. Penicaud Family, 258. Pepys_, 272-273. Perugino, S3- Petitot, 273. Phillips, Claude, 17, 138. Pilon, Germain, 241-242. Pils, Adrien, 214; "The Sur- prise," 67. Platzer, Johann G., " The Rape ofrHelen," 68. Pole-axes, 292-293. PoUaiuolo, Antonio, " Lamen- tation over a dead Hero or Martyred Saint," S3. Polydore, 305. Porcelain. See Pottery. Pot, Hendrick G., " Ladies and Cavaliers at Cards," loi. Potter, Paul, " The Milkmaid," 8s; "Cattle in Stormy Weather," 8s, 113; "Herds- men with Their Cattle," 96. Pottery, 250-256. Pourbus, Frans, " Portrait of a Gentleman," 148. irnt>e): 331 Pourbus, Pieter, " Allegorical Love Feast," 48-49, 148. Potissin, Gaspard, " The Falls of Tivoli," 179. Poussin, Nicolas, " The Dance of the Seasons to the Music of Time," 178-179. Predis, Christoforo de, 263; " Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of MilaB, Praying for Victory," S3-S4- Propert, J. Lumsden, 262, 267- 268, 273. Prout, 2n. Prud'hon, Pierre, 105, 106, 107; " The Zephyr," 108; " Venus and Adonis," ic8; "The Sleep of Venus and Cupid," 108; " Maternity,'^ 109; " The Assumption of the Virgin," 109; " Portrait of Josephine Beauhamais," 109, Queensberry, Duke of, 1-5, 10, 42. Ramsay, Allan, 128; " Portrait of King George III," 41. Raoux, Jean, " A Lady at her Mirror," 180. Raphael; 53, 79, 206. Regence Period, Furniture of the, 225. Rembrandt, 89, 98, 131, 156, 157, 161; " Ideal Land- scape," 86-87, , 162; "A Young Negro Archer," 94; "Portraits of the Artist," 102, 162-163; "Portrait of a Boy," 102; "The Good Samaritan," 102; " Portrait of the Artist's Son Titus,* 163; " Portrait of Jan Pelli- come with his son," 163-164; " Portrait of Suzanne Pelli- come with her daughter," 163-164; " The Centurian Cornelius,'' 164-165. Raymond, Pierre, 258. Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 3, 11, 43. SS, 79. 80, 150-151, 166, 171. 193. 276; " Duke of Queensberry," 41-42; " St. John the Baptist in Uie Wil- derness," 165; "Portrait of Lady Frances Seymour," 167; "Portrait of Lady Elizabeth Seymoiur," 167; " Portrait of Mrs. Robinson,'' 167, 196; " Portrait of NeUy O'Brien," 167-168; "Portrait of Mrs. Richard Hoare with her In- fant Son," 168; " Portrait of Mrs. Camac," 168; "Por- trait of Mrs. Braddyll," 168; "Portrait of Mrs. Nesbitt with a Dove," 168; " Portrait of Miss Bowles," 168-^69; " Strawberry Girl," 169-170. Richter, Christian, 273. Riesener, Jean Henri, 229, 231, 232. 233-234- Rigaud, Hyacinth, " Portrait of Cardinal Fleury," 181. Ring, Pieter de, 175-176. Robert, Ltopold, " The Brigand on the Watch," 64-66; " The Brigand Asleep," 64-66; " The Death of the Brigand," 64- 66. Robert-Fleury, Joseph, " Charles V at the Monastery of Yuste," 120-121. Roberts, David, 213; "The Chapel of Ferdinand and Isabella at Granada," 57. Rogers, Samuel, 71-72. Roman School, "The Holy Family," 47. Romano, Giulio, 305. Romney, 41; " Portrait of Mrs. Robinson (' Perdita ')," 165- 166. Roqueplan, Camille, 62, 213; " An Evening Landscape," 66; " The Lion in Love," 125; "Watering Place," 214; " The Stolen Kiss," 214. 33« ■ffn&ei Rosa, Salvatore, " River Scene with Apollo and the Sibyl," 173- Roseberry, Lord, 31. Ross, Sir William, " Harriett, Countess Gower," 277. Rosselli, Cosimo, 46. Rousseau, Theodore, 105, m, 113; " Glade in the Forest of Fontainebleau, 111-112. Rubens, Peter Paul, 77, 175, 182, 214; " The Crucified Saviour," 149-150; " The Holy Family, with Elizabeth and St. John the Baptist," 149-150; " Christ's charge to St. Peter," 140-150; " Portrait of Isa- beUe Brant," 151; " Rainbow Landscape," 151-153. Ruisdael, Jacob Isaacksz. van, 159; " Landscape with a Blasted Tree," 96; "Land- scape with a Village," 96; "Landscape with a Farm," 96; "Rocky Landscape," 158; " Landscape with Waterfall," 1.58. Ruskin, 72-73, 78, 80, 88, 100, 128, 142, 147, IS4, 178, 179, 180, 210, 212. Rychart, 79. Rystirack, John Hichiel, 247. Saint, Daniel, 280. Saint-Jean, Simon, 62, 67. Sant, James, " Portrait Study of a Young Lady," 63. Sarto, Andrea del, 132, 134-136; " The Virgin and Child, with St. John the Baptist and Two Ang-jls," 135-136- Sassofemato, " The Mystic Mar- riage of St. Catherine," 35, 36; " Virgin and Child," 36- 37, 172-173. Saunier, Claude Charles, 234. Sche£fer, Ary, iio-iii, 213; "The Sister of Mercy," 67; "Portrait of a Child," no; " Gretchen at the Fountain," no; " Paolo and Francesca," no;, " The Return of the Prodigal," no; "Sorrows of the Earth," 110. Schelfhout, Andreas, " Winter in Holland," 58. Schiller, Friedrich, no. Schopin, H. F., " The Divorce of the Empress Josephine," 62. Scott, Dr. John, 24. Scott, Sir Walter, 109. Scott, Sir John Murray, 24-26, 29, 3^-32- Selwyn, George, 1-3, 10, 33, 42. Sevres Porcelain, 234, 236, 252, 255-256. Seymour, Francis. See Hert- ford, Second Marquis of. Seymour, Lord Henry, n. Seymour - Conway, Francis Charies. See Hertford, Third Marquis of. Seymour-Conway, Richard. See Hertford, Fourth Marquis of. Shields, 301-307. Sicardi, Jean, 280. Sienese School, " The Virgin and Child," 47- Silversmith's Work, 258-260. Slodtz, 231. Smart, John, " Portrait of a Young Lady in White," 275- 276. Snyders, Frans, 148. Sodoma, 46. Spielmann, M. H., 20-22. Stanfield, Clarkson, 127; " Beil- stein on the Moselle," 128; " Orford on the River Ore," 128. Stanfield, William, " A Canal in Venice," 213; " S. Giorgio Magglore, Venice," 213. Steen, Jan, 82; " The Village Alchemist," 87; " The Harp- sicord Lesson," 99-100; " The Lute Player," 100; " Merry- making in a Tavern," 100- index 335 loi; " The Christening Feast," 176-177. Storck, Johannes, " Castle on a River in Holland," 96. Strij, Jacob van, 77; " Cattle," 96. Stuart, Gilbert, 63. Suits of Armour, 317-321. Sully, Thomas, "Queen Vic- toria in her Robes of State," 39- Swords, 285-289. Symonds, W. R., "Portrait of the late Su: Richard Wallace," S7-S8. Taylor, Tom, 167. Teniers, David (Elder); 159. Teniers, David (Younger), 79; " The Aseensioo," 69; " The Virgin of the Cherries," 69; " The Woman taken in Adul- tery," 69; " The Mystic Mar- riage of St. Catherine," 69; " The Deliverance of St. Pe- ter," 87; " Boors Carousing," 87-88; "A Riverside Inn," loi; " A Gambling Scene at an Inn," loi; " The Entry pf a Prince or Governor into a Flemish Town," loi. Terborch, Gerard, 79, 126; " The Peace of Munster," 20-22; " A Lady at Her Toilet," 91- 92; "A Lady Reading a Letter," 91-92. Thackeray's " Vanity Fair," 8- 10, 12, 18, 29, 30, 43. Thomire, 233, 234. Thompson, Sir E. M., 265-266. Titian, 17, 79, 132, 137, 154, 178; " Danae and the Golden Rain," 54; "The Rape of Europa," 137-138; " Perseus and Andromeda," 138-139. Torrigiano, Pietro, 245-246. Troy, Jean Franfois de, "The Hunt Breakfast," 207; " The Stag at Bay," 207. Troyon, Constant, " Watering Cattle," 113; "CatUe in Stormy Weather," 113. Turner, J. M. W., 123, i;6s, 211. Umbrian School, " Virgin," 46. Van Blarenberghe, Louis, 280. Van de Velde, Adriaen, "The Departure of Jacob into Egypt," 159. Van de Velde, William, " Coast Scene with Shipping," 84-85; "The Embarkation of Will- iam, Prince of Orange," 95; "Naval Engagement," 159; "Shipping in a Calm," 176. Van der Werff, Adriaen," Shep- herd and Shepherdess," gS- 99; " Venus and Cupjil," 98- 99. Van Dyck, Sir Anthpny, 148, 149, 174. 181, 273, 276, 279; " Portrait of a Flemish Lady," 153; " Portrait of a young Italian Nobleman," 153-154; ' " Portrait of the Artist as the Shepherd Paris," 154; "Por- traits of Philippe le Roy and his wife," 154; "Portrait of King Charies I," 175; " Por- trait of Queen Henrietta Ma- ria," 175; "The Virgin and Child," 175. , Van Loo, Carlo, 207; "The Grand Turk giving a Concert to his Mistress," 208. Van Loo, Louis Michel, " Por- trait of Louis XV in robes of State," 208. Vasari, 52, 135, 138, 281. Velasquez, 92, 139-141, 180; " Portrait of a Spanish Lady," 27, 142-143; " Don Baltazar Carlos in Infancy," 141; " Don Baltazar Carlos in the Riding School," 141-142; "A Boar Hunt," 142. 334 fnOei Velasquez, School of, " Eques- trian Portrait of Philip IV of Spain," 173-174; " Equestrian Portrait of the Count-Duke of Olivdres," 173-174. Venetian School, " Venus Dis- arming Cupid," 137. Verboeckhoven, Eugene, " Sheep and Cows," 63. Vernet, Horace, sg-62, 122, 214; "Napoleon," 60; "Soldiers Playing at Cards," 60; " The Veteran at Home," 61; " The Brigand Betrayed," 61-62; " The Dead Trumpeter," 63- 64; " The Duke of Nemours Entering Constantine," 63- 64. Veronese, Paul, 139. Victoria, Queen, 20. Vinci, Leonardo da, 50. Vos, Cornells de, " Portrait of a Flemish Gentleman," 149; " Portrait of a Flemish Lady," 149. Wallace, Lady, 22-28, 30-31, 244. Wallace, Sir Richard, 10, 18, 26, 28, 30, 32, 33, 56, s8, 244, 273, 283-284, 297, 312. Walpole, Horace, 10, 55, 223- 224, 262, 268, 273, 276. War Hammers, 291-292. Watteau, Antoine, 184, 189, 190, 191, 197, 200, 201, 255; " Gilles and his Family," 184- i8s; " Harlequin and Colum- bine," 185-186; " F^te in a Park," 186, 187; "Halt during the Chase," 186-187; "The Music Party," 187; "The Music Lesson," 187; " The Champs !^Iys6es," 187-188, " A Lady at her Toilet," 198- 199; " Embarkment for the Isle of Cythera," 203. Wax Portraits and Reliefs, 281- 282. Weenix, Jan, 160, 175. Weenix, Jan Baptist, " Coast Scene with Buildings," 96. Westall, Richard, " Venus and Sporting Cupids," 40; " Cy- mon and Iphigenia," S5~s6. Wilkie, David, 127, 140; " Scotch Lassies Dressing," t28; "A Sportsman taking Refreshment," 128. Wilson, 165, 170, 171. Witte, Emanuel de, " Interior of a Protestant Chtirch," 93. Wordsworth, 4. Wouwerman, Philip, 84; " Coast Sc?ne with Figures," 85; "A Coast Scene with Figures," 95; " A Camp Scene," 95-96; "The Horse Fair," 156. Wynants, Jan, "Hilly Land- scape," 83; " Landscape with a Bare Tree," 95; "Land- scape with Cattle," 95. Yarmouth, Earl of. See Hert- ford, Marquis of (3rd). Zampieri, Domenico. See Do- menichino. Ziem, Felix, " Venice," 125.