Sk HORACE VERNET PAUL DELAROCHE g Jb BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME FROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF 1891 , ■A-^.4z:.i....... I - y^A Cornell University Library arV18139 Horace Vernet 3 1924 031 277 233 olin.anx Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tlie Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http ://www. arch i ve . o rg/detai Is/cu31 924031 277233 ILLUSTRATED 'BIOGRAPHIES OF THE GREAT CURTIS TS. *^^;:a;5e:>\ HORACE VERNET. PAUL DELAROCHE. ILLUSTRATED BIOGRAPHIES OF THE GREAT ARTISTS. The foUffwing volumes, each illustrated with from 14 to 20 Engravings, art now ready, price 3J. dd. Those marked with an asterisk are 2S. 6d, SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS, By F. S. Polling, M.A. WILLIAM HOGARTH. By Austin Dobson. GAINSBOROUGH and CONSTABLE. By G. Brock-Arnold, M.A. LAWRENCE and ROMNEY.* By Lord Ronald Gower, F.S.A. TURNER. By Cosmo Monkhouse, SIR DAVID WILKIE. By J. W. Mollett, B.A. SIR EDWIN LANDSEER. By.F. G. Stephens. GIOTTO. By Harry Quilter, M.A. FRA ANGELICO and BOTTICELLI. By C. M. Phillimore. FRA BARTOLOMMEO and ANDREA DEL SARTO. By Leader Scott. MANTEGNA and FRANCIA. By Julia Cartwright. GHIBERTI AND DONATELLO.* By Leader Scott. LUCA DELLA ROBBIA and CELLINI.* By Leader Scott, LEONARDO DA VlNCI. By Dr. J. Paul Richter. MICHELANGELO BUONARROTL By Charles Cl^-MENT. RAPHAEL. By N. D'Anvers. TITIAN. By R. F. Heath, M.A. TINTORETTO. By W. R. Osler. CORREGGIO.* By M. Compton Hkaton. VELAZQUEZ. By E. Stowe, M.A, MURILLO.* By Ellen E. Minor. ALBRECHT DURER. By R. F. Heath, M.A. THE LITTLE MASTERS of GERMANY. By W. B. ScoTT, HANS HOLBEIN. By Joseph Cundall. OVERBECK. By J. Beavington Atkinson. REMBRANDT. By J. W. Mollett, B.A. RUBENS. By C. W. Kett, M.A. VAN DYCK AND HALS. By P. R. Head, B.A. FIGURE PAINTERS OF HOLLAND. By Lord Ronald Gower, F.S.A, CLAUDE LORRAIN. By Owen J. Dullea. WATTEAU. By J. W. Mollett, B.A. VERNET AND DELAROCHE. By J. Ruutz Rees. MEISSONIER.* By J. W. Mollett, B.A. -HORACE VERNET. From the painting ty himself. " The whole world without Art would be one great wilderness." •^©ti Cambio (miscalled ni Lapo), who was born in 1232 at CoUe, in the Val d'EIsa, studied painting under Cimabue, and sculpture with Niccolb Pisano. In 1226 he assisted Pisano in the sculpture in the chancel of the cathedral of Siena; in 1280 he erected the monument to the Cardinal de Braye, in San Domenico, at Orvieto, where he also decorated the fajade of the cathedral : he has left other monuments of his art as a sculptor. But he is chiefly famous as the original designer of the cathedral (Santa Maria del Fiore) of Florence, erected in 1294-1474 on the site of the earlier church of St. Eeparata. He also designed the Palazzo di PodestJ ARCHITECTS. XIX (1254), Santa Maria Maggiore, Santa Crooe, and the church of La Badia. He restored the Baptistery, and began in 1298 the Palazzo Vecchio. He died at Florence in 1310. XLin. Lescot. PiEKKE Lescot, who was born in Paris in 1510, was employed with Jean Go'ujon by Erancis I. and Henri II. upon the Louvre. He erected the southern and western sides of the quadrangle, but the latter is all that now remains of this work ; it is known as the " Vieux Louvre." To Lescot has been attributed the design of the Fontaine des Innocents, deco- rated with nymphs by Goujon, to whom some give the authorship' of the entire fountain. Lescot was Abbe of Climy and a canon 6f Notre Dame. He is said to have been the first French architect who abandoned the old irregular Gothic and adopted the Italian style. He died in 1578. XLIV. Bramante. DoNATO Lazzaki, Called Bkamante, was probably born at Monte As drualdo, near Urbino, about 1444 ; but the time and place of his birth are subjects of much dispute. He began life as a painter, but fragments of frescoes at Milan are all that remain of his work. He practised with much success as an architect at Paenza, Bergamo, Milan, and Pavia. At Rome he studied the ancient buildings, and was appointed architect to Pope Alexander VI., and at his death to his successor Julian II. Bramante built several churches and palaces iii Rome, but he will always be best known as the original architect of St. Petor's. He intended it to be in the form of a Greek cross, covered with colossal domes, and with rounded choir and tran- sept. On the 1 8th of April, 1 50C, the foundations of this magnificent dome were laid, but he did not live to see it completed. He died in 1514, and was buried with much pomp in his unfinished cathedral, Marty architects were subsequently employed on this splendid building. Sangallo' altered the Greek cross into a Roman ; Michelangelo restored it to the Greek; but unfortunately Pope Paul V. caused the nave to be lengthened. The area of St. Peter's, as it now stands, is 26,163 square yards (St. Paul's in London is 13,429), the height cf the dome from the pavement to the summit of the lantern is 403 ft., and 32 more to the top of the cross. XLV. Mansart. Fkanoois Mansaet (also written Mansakd) — the son of an architect, Absalon Mansart, a descendant of an Italian family, Mansarto — was born in Paris in 1598. He studied under his uncle, Germain Gautier. The first XX THE HEMICYCLE. work to bring him into notice was his restoration of the Hotel Toulouse, andsoonafterheexecutedtheportalof thechurchof the ftaiMaJjfe. Then fol lowed the Chateux of Berni, Baleray, Choisy, and Maisons; the last-named is considered one of his best works of a secular character, as the church of the Val de Grace is of his ecclesiastical. He is said to be the inventor of the curb roof, called after him a Mansart, which consists of two planes on each side, a steeper one below and a flatter one above. He died at Paris in 16G6. XLVI. Vignola. GiACOMO BAROzzr, commonly called Vigkola, from his bu'thplace, near Modena, was born in 1507. Sent to Bologna to study painting, he abandoned that art almost entirely, in favour of architecture, and went to Eome to learn by observation the character of ancient buildings. About 1541 he followed Primaticcio to France, where he stayed two years and made designs for Francis I. On his return to Italy he worked awhile at Bologna, then at Piacenza, where he designed the Ducal Palace. He erected the church of the Madonna degli Angeli, at Assisi, and the chapel of San Francesco, at Perugia. Inti'oduced by Vasari to Julius III., he was appointed his archi- tect, and for him he built the Villa Ginlia, one of his best productions, and Sant' Andrea a Ponte MoUe. After the death of Julius, Barozzio was much patronized by the Cai'dinal Alexander Farnese, for whom he executed his masterpiece, the celebrated palace at Caprarola, which was decorated by frescoes by Taddeo Zuccaro and other artists. He was invited by Philip II. to go to Spain and take part in the erection of the Esourial, but he ex- cused himself on the plea of old age and of his appointment as successor to Michelangelo as architect to St. Peter's. He died at Eome in 1573. He is the author of a celebrated treatise on the five orders of Architecture, which first appeared in 1563. Many editions have since been published. PAESTTERS AND ElSrGRAVBIlS. XLVII. Fra Angelico. GtJTDO m PiETKO (Guido, the son of Pietro) was born at Vicchio in the province of Mugello, in 1387. When he joined the Order of Dominicans at Fiesole, in 1407, he took the name of Giovanni, by which he was afterwards known. From his piety he gained the title of " L' Angelico," and hence he is usually known as " Fra Angelico da Fiesole." His life is inseparably connected with the fortunes of the religious society to which he belonged. He painted at Fiesole, Foligno, Cortona, Florence, Home, and Orvieto. He died at Home in 1455, and was buried in Santa Maria sopra Minerva PAINTERS. XXI Florence possesses many of his best works in tlie Academy, but more especially in the Convent of St. Mark, the decoration of which occupied nine valuable years of the painter's life. A Coronation, of the Virgin, in the Louvre, is one of his masterpieces. XLVm. Marcantonio. Maecantonio Raimondi, the most celebrated of Italian engravers, was born about 1475, in .Bologna. He studied niello work under Francia, and probably learned engraving from a goldsmith ; he then commenced to practise the art of engraving, which he was destined to carry to a much higher state of perfection than it ever bad reached before. One of his earliest en- gravings on copper was a plate of Pyramus and, Thishe, after a painting by Francia. In 1508 he went to Venice, and engraved The Life of the Virgin, after Diirer ; in 1510 he removed to Rome, where he engi-aved, after Diirer, Raphael, Giulio Romano, Bandinelli, and other artists, with much success. At the sack of Rome, in 1527, he lost all his possessions, and was forced to leave the city. He returned to Bologna, and continued to work there till his death, in 1534 (?). Art owes much to. Marcantonio, for his graver has done more to diffuse a knowledge of the masterpieces of Raphael and other Italian painters than all the writings of the critics. XLIX. Edelinck. Gerakd Edelinck, who was born at Antwerp in 1640, first studied the art of engi'aving under Cornells Galle, but went in 1665 to Paris, and received further instruction from Fran<;ois de Poilly, whom, however, he soon surpassed. He was much employed by Louis XIV., who gave him a pension, allotted him apartments in the Gobelins, and bestowed on him the honour of knighthood. He died in Paris in 1707. Edelinck was one of the principal engravers of the Flemish school. His works are executed with the gi'aver in a bold, yet finished style. They are chiefly from the works of Rigaud, Le Brun, LargilMre, Mignard, Poussin, and Raphael. L. Holbein. Haws Holbein— sometimes called " the younger," to distinguish him from his father, who was his instructor in art — was boi-n in 1497 at Augs- burg ; he removed to Basle when about twenty years of age. In 1526 he went through Augsburg to England, where he was received by Sir Thomas More, to whose care he had been recommended by Erasmus. With the ex- ception of visits to Basle and Flanders, Holbein resided for the rest of his life in England, where he was most warmly patronized as a porti'ait-painter by Henry VIII., his court, and the nobility generally. He died in London of xxu THE HEMICrCLE. tho plague iu 1543. His masterpiece isThe Madonna of the Meyer Family, in the Darmstadt Gallery, the replica of which is in the Dresden Gallery, where is also his Portrait of Thomas Morrett. As a portrait-painter Holbein has few equals. The private collections of England possess numerous examples of his ai-t. In Windsor Castle there is a fine collection of chalk drawings by him. Of his book illustrations, The Dance of Death is the chief. „ LI. Le Sufiur. EnSTACHE Le Sueuk, the son of a simple artisan named Sueur, never quitted Paris, where he was born in 1617, and where he died in 1655. He was a pupil of Vouet, but his style was influenced by the works of Raphael and of Poussin. For the convent of the Carthusians he produced his principal works, notably The History of St. Bnmo, in twenty-two pictures (completed in 1648) now in the Louvre. lie painted numerous works for the Hdtels and churches of Paris. The 8t. Paid at Ephesm, painted in 1649 for Notre- Dame, is now in the Louvre, which gallery contains many others of his principal works. Some of his subjects are taken from heathen mythology, such as the six paintings of The History of Love, painted originally for the Cabinet de FAmour in the Hotel Lambert^ Paris. LII. Sebastiano del Piombo. Sebastiano (di PrancesCo) Luciani was born at Venice. in 1485, and studied under Giovanni Bellini and Giorgione, to whose influence he owes his powerful colouring. About 1512 he went to Eome, and was employed in the Farnesina, whei'e he painted scenes from Ovid's " Metamorphoses : *' he also rendered assistance to Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel, and his style gained much from the influence of that master. In 1531 he was ap- pointed Keeper of the Seals, which, being of lead, caused him to be known as " del Piombo." He held the office under Paul III. until his death, which occurred at Rome in 1547. Luciani's masterpiece is The Baising of Lazarus, in the National Gallery, painted in 1517-1^ for.Giulio de' Medici. He is also famous for his porti'aits, of which the best is that of Aiid/rea Doria, in the Palazzo Doria, Rome, where many of his principal works are still to be seen. The National Gallery, London, has Portraits of Sebastiano del Piombo cmd the Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici, a work which was once ascribed to Raphael ; and a Portrait of a Lady as St. Agatha, said to represent Glulia Gonzaga, LIII. Orcagna. Andeea di Cione is commonly known as Okcagna, a corruption of the sobriquet, " L'Arcagnuolo " (the Archangel), given him by his cotem- PAINTERS. XXUl poraries. He was born at EJorence, it is thought, about 1308, studied under his father, was registered in the Painters' Guild in 1343, and received the mastership nine years later. He was the greatest of Giotto's followers, and executed many worlis of note. With his brother Nardo (Leonardo), he painted representations of Heaven and Hell, in Santa Maria Novella, which are still preserved. He worked in Santa Croce, and other buildings in Florence, in which city he died, it is supposed, in 1368. He also painted in the.Campo Santo, at Pisa, though his share in its decoration has been the subject of miich dispute. The National Gallery possesses a. valuable polyptych of The Coronaiimi of the Virgin, &o., by him. Orcagna was also celebrated as a sculptor and architect. LIV. Durer. Albkecht DBkek, the chief painter of the German school, was born at Nuremberg, in 1471, studied first under his father, and then with Michael Wolgemuth. He further improved his Itnowledge of art by four years' travel in South Germany and in Italy. With the exception of the years 1505-6, spent at Venice, and 1520-21 in the Netherlands, Diirer resided chiefly at Nurem- berg, where he died in 1528. His works are found in most Em-opean gal- leries. We may note St. John, St. JPeier, St. Faul, and St. Mark, painted in 1526, and now in the Pinakothek, at Munich ; Christian Martyrs in Per- sia, 1508, and Adoraticm of the Holy Trinity, of the year 1511, both in the Belvedere, at Vienna. He was also very successful in portraiture. His en- gravings on copper and wood are as important as his paintings. Of his woodcuts the best known are The Apocalypse, 1498 ; Life of the Virgin, 1511 ; and The History of Christ's Passion. Of his copper-plate engravings, St. Hubert ; St. Jerome ; The Knight, Death and the Devil, and, above all, his mysterious Melancholy. Diirer wrote treatises on Human Proportion, Geo- metry, and other subjects. LV. Leonardo. Leonabdo da Vinci, the natural son of Ser Piero, a notaj-y of Florence, was born at the village of Vinci, near that city, in 1452. His first instructor in art was Andrea Verrocchio, a painter and sculptor, with whom he worked for about two years. In 1472 I^onardo was made a member of the Guild of Painters, at Florence, where he appears to have lived — ^painting occasionally — till 1482, when he went to reside at Milan, at the Court of Lodovico Sforza (II Moro). There he remained for about eighteen years, during which time he made a model of an equestrian statue of Duhe Fran- cesco Sforza — of which no trace is now left — and painted his well-known XXIV THE HEMICXCLE. masterpiece The Last Sapper, in the refectory of the convent of Santa Marin dello Grazie. In the year 1500 Iiodovico Sforza was attacked by Louis XII. of France, taken prisoner, and sent to the castle of Loches — and Leonardo's public career at Milan came to an end. In 150.3 he returned to Florence, where he painted the celebrated Fartrait of Mono, Lisa and the Vierge aux Roehers, both now in the Louvre ; T}ie Madonna, Infant Christ, St. John and an Angel, now at Charlton Park ; and many other works which have been lost. In 1516,whensixty-foiu-yearsofage, at the invitation of Francis I.,Leonardo went to reside at Chateau Cloux, near Amboise, where he died in 1519. He ■was buried in the Koyal chapel in the castle of Amboise. LVI. Domenichino. DoMENico Zampieki, commonly known as Domenichino, the son of a shoemaker, was born at Bologna in 1581. He first studied art under Dionis Calvaert — ^a Fleming who had settled at Bologna — but soon entered the schools of the Carracci (where Guido Eeni and Albano were his fellow-work- men), and ultimately became one of their most eminent pupils. His most celebrated paintings are Ihe Communicm of Saint Jerome, now in the Vatican at Home ; Saint Cecilia, in the Louvre ; The Martyrdom of St. Agnes, at Bologna, and The Ma/rtyrdom of St. Stephen, a fresco in Santa Maria degli Angeli, at Rome. After an unhappy life, Domenichino died at Naples in 1641 : some say he was poisoned by rival artists. LTIT. Fra Bartolommeo. Baetolommeo di Pagholo del Faitokino, commonly known as "Fra Bartolommeo" or "Baccio" (the shortened form of Bartolommeo), was also called "della Porta," because he resided in his youth near the gaie of San Pier Gattolini (now the Porta Bomana), Florence. He was born in 1469, probably in the village of Soffignano, near Prato. In 1484 he entered the studio of Rosselli, and there made the acquaintance of Albertinelli, which ripened into a friendship only broken by the death of the latter in 1515. In 1498-99 Bartolommeo, whose style was influenced by study of the works of Leonai-do and Michelangelo, painted the celebrated fresco of The Last Judgment in Santa Maria Novella, the lower part of which was executed by Albertinelli ; it is now in the hospital opposite Santa Maria. A warm disciple of Savonarola, Bartolommeo eutered the convent of the Dominicans of San Marco at Floi-ence in 1500: hence his name, "II Frate." About 1514 he went to Home, where he resumed the acquaintance of Raphael, whom he had known when that artist visited Florence in 1506. The friendship could not but have had a good effect on the manner of Barto- PAINTERS. XXV lonimeo. Keturaing to r]oi"ence,he died tlie'.'e in 1517. Florence possesses many of his best works. In the Pitti Palace is his well-knowu figure of St. Marie, and he is well represented in the Academy, and in the Uffizi. In the Louvre, Paris, are a Madonna and Saints of the year 1511, and an Annun- ciation of 1515. LVIII. Mantegna. Andkea Mantegna, who was bom at Padua in 1431, was the child of poor parents ; and a shepherd-boy. The painter Francesco Squarcione took him under his care, and quickly developed the genius of the youth, who so rapidly improved that he soon took his place .among the leading painters of the day. He married Nicolosia, a sister of Giovanni and Gentile Bellini, and joined the early Venetian school. Among his masterpieces are The Madonna and Eight Saints, in the church of San Zeno, at Verona; the nine tempera paintings on cloth, called T7ie Triumph of Julius Cmsar, in Hampton Court Palace ; The Madomia delta Vittoria (painted for his patron Lodovico Gonzaga, Marquis of Maatua), in the Louvre ; and a Virgin and Holy Child enthroned, in the National Gallery. Besides being a painter, Mantegna was a sculptor, engraver, and architect. He died at Mantua in 1506. LIX. Giulio Romano. GitTLio Di PiETKO Di PipFO (Filippo) de' Giannuzzi {i.e. Julius the son of Peter, the son of Philip Giannuzzi) is commonly known as " Giulio Eomano," and sometimes as " Giulio Pippi." He was born in Eome in 1498, and became the most eminent of the pupils of Raphael, whom he assisted in many of his works. He painted frescoes in the Villa Madama and in Santa Trinita de' Monte. After Eaphael's death in 1520, Giulio and his fellow- pupil Gianfrancesco Penni finished the frescoes in the Sala di Costantino, in the Vatican. Giulio, in 1524, entered the service of Federigo Gonzaga, 'Duke of Mantua, for whom he decorated the Palazzo del Te with the cele- brated frescoes of The Defeat of the Gia-nis, and scenes from The History of Cupid andFsyche. He established a school of art at Mantua, and had many pupils, among whom was Primaticcio. Giulio Pippi died at Mantua in 1546, on the eve of his departure for Eome ! he had accepted the post of architect to St. Peter's, as .successor to Sansovino. Of his easel-pictures we may note T7ie Martyrdom of St. Stephen, in San Stefano, Genoa; The Holy Family, " au IBassin" in the Dresden Gallery ; and The Infancy of Jupiter, in the National Gallery. LX. Raphael. EArrAELLO Sanzio, the Prince of Painters, was born in the town of CrbinOj not far from Florence, in 1483. His father, Giovanni Santi, was a painter of some fame belonging to the Umbrian school, but not ranking XXVI THE HEMICYCLE. among its best masters. He died when Rapliael was eleven years old, and the boy was then placed, by his uncles, with the celebrated painter Perugino. In 1504 Raphael first visited Florence, where he enjoyed the friendship of Francia and Pra 'Bartolommeo, and made acquaintance with the works of Leonai'do and Michelangelo — new influences which considerably affected his style. With the exception of short visits to Perugia, Bologna, and Urbino, he resided in Florence. until 1508. In that year he went to Home at the invitation of Pope Julius II., and was for the rest of his life continually in the employment of that pontiff and of his successor Leo X. Raphael died at Rome on his birthday, the 6th of April, 1520, aged thu'ty-seven years, and was buried in the Pantheon. His most celebrated pictures are The Mwniage of the Virgin, in the Brera, Milan, and The Madonna del gran Duca (1504), in the Pitti Palace, Florence ; La Belle Jardiniire (1507), in the Louvre ; Madmma di Fuligno (1511), in the Vatican, Rome; Madonna della Sedia (1516), in the Pitti Palace ; Madonna di San Sisto, in the Dresden Gallery ; and The Tram- figuration, his last work (1519), in the Vatican. His fresco paintings in the four rooms, called the Slame, of the Vatican, began in 1508 and finished by his pupils after his death, are among his most I'enowned achievements. His designs for tapestries, known as The Cartoons of Saphael, brought to England by order of King Charles I., and now in the South Kensington Museum, are invaluable examples of the grand style of this great master. LXI. Perugino. PiETUo VANNncci, called Pebdgiho, was born at Citti della Pieve in 1446 ; his popular name arose from his residence in the neighbouring city of Perugia, where he acquired the rights of citizenship. He studied under Andrea Verrocchio, at Florence, and his earlier pictures were painted in that city. He also worked at Siena, Vallombrosa, Naples, Borgo San Sepolcro, and Bologna. He was one of the painters summoned by Sixtus IV. to adorn the newly-built Sistine Chapel ; his three frescoes there were begun in 1480, and he was employed in Rome for about ten years. After again visiting Florence he returned to- Perugia ; many memorable scholars sought his in- struction, and in 1495 he received among them the young Raphael, then twelve years old. From Perugia he removed to Castello di Fontignano, where he died in 1524. One of his most celebrated paintings is an altar- piece of The Virgin adoring the Infant Christ — No. 288 in the National Gallery. LXII. Michelangelo. MiCHELAGNiOLO BuoNAKKOTi, commonly called Michelangelo, was born at Castel Caprese, near Arezzo, ia 1475. In 1488 he entered the PAINTERS. XXVU school of Ghirlandajo, where his precocious abilities soon attracted the notice of Lorenzo de' Medici; and until the death of that prince, in 1492, Michelangelo worked under his especial patronage. For many years he confined himself almost entirely to sculpture, and some of his greatest works in that branch of art were executed before he undertook his first considerable painting. This was the Cartoon of Pisa (soldiers bathing in the river Arno)^ finished in 1508, and intended as a design for a mural picture to face a battle-picture by Leonardo in the Council Hall at Florence. During its progress he had broken off to visit Eome, and execute some sculptural work for the Pope ; and, in 1508, he went to Rome again to begin the great achievement of his life— the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel. The paintings of the ceiling illustrate the Creation and the Fall of . Man, together with other scenes and figures typical of the Redemption. The middle part of the ceiling is divided into nine compartments, containing representations of the Creation of Eve, and other subjects from the Book of Genesis. Between the windows, at the springing of the vault, are grand seated figures of the Prophets and Sibyls who foretold the coming of the Saviour. They are arranged alternately as follows : — Jeremiah, Persian, Sibyl, EzeTciel, Erythrman Sibyl, Joel, Delphic Sibyl, Isaiah, CnrruEan Sibyl, Daniel, Libyan Sibyl ; Jonah and Zaohariah are placed one at each end of the chapel, between the historical compositions at the angles of the ceiling. These frescoes were finished towards the end of the year 1512. For the next twenty years Michelangelo did little or nothing in painting, he was more busily occupied as a sculptor ; but, in 1533, he began the car toons for the fresco of ITie Last Judgment in the wall behind the altar in the Sistine Chapel. The picture was finished in 1541. Two frescoes in the neighbouring Pauline Chapel, The Conversion of Sc&nt Paul and The Omoi- fixion of Saint Peter, which were finished in 1549, were his last paintings. He had accepted, in 1547, the position of architect of St. Peter's, stipu- lating that his services should be gratuitous. He continued to carry the building forward, altering materially the original design of Bramante, until his death, which took place in February, 1564. His body was taken to Florence, and buried in Santa Croce. Michelangelo painted very few easel-pictures, and of those most are in dis- temper. One, a Holy Family, is in the Uffizi at Florence ; and our National Gallery possesses two genuine examples, a Madonna and Child with Angels, and an Entombment, both tmfinished. It was as a sculptor that Michelangelo reached his highest fame. The colossal figure of David, now under cover in the Academy of Arts in Florence, finished in 1504; the statue o( Moses (1517), in the church of San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome ; and the tombs of Gfiuliano de' Medici, the XXVni THE HEMICYCLE. younger son, and Lorenzo, the grandson of the great Lorenzo " il Magnifico," finished in 1332, in the new sacristy of San Lorenzo, Eloreuce, will always be considered the grandest triumphs of the sculptor's art, and next only to the works of Phidias. LXIII. Masaccio. ToMMASO (di Giovanni di Simone) Gdidi, of the family of the ScHEGGiA, was born at Castel San Giovanni, in 1401. He was called "Masaccio" because of his untidy habits. He was the pupil of Masolino, and undertook, as his first important work in painting, to continue the series of frescoes which his master had begun in the Brancacci chapel of the church of the Carmine, in Florence. Masaccio's work in the chapel was completed in about four years, from 1423 to 1427 ; and the paintings he pro- duced, marvellous for so young a man, were studied as models by all the greatest painters, down to the time of Raphael. Besides these frescoes, the only undoubted work of the master is the Italian Trinity, in Santa Maria Novella, at Florence. In 1427 he left Florence for Rome, where he died in the foUovring yeai-. LXIV. Andrea de) Sarto. Andeea d'Agnolo is commonly known as Andrea del Sarto, from the profession of his father, who was a tailor. Till lately, he has been miscalled Vannucchi. He was born at Florence in 1487, and was apprenticed first to a goldsmith, but subsequently studied under Barile and Piero di Cosimo. But the works of Masaccio, Ghirlandajo, Leonardo, and Michelangelo had more influence on his style than the precepts of his instructors. Among his best works are The History of St. John the Baptist, in the " Scalzo " (the con- vent of barefooted monks), in Florence ; The Life of St. Fili/ppo Benisui, in the court of the church of the Santissima Annunziata, Florence j and the famous Madonna del Sacco, in the Cloisters. In 1518 Andrea was induced to go to Paris, where he was much patronized by Francis I. He returned, in 1619, to Florence, and died there of the plague in 1531. His works are best seen at Florence. Especially to be noticed is the Madonma di San Francesco of the year 1517, in the Uffizi. The Louvre has a Charity of the year 1518. In the National Gallery there are a Holy Family and Andrea's own Portrait. LXV. Cimabue. Giovanni Cimabue, who was of a noble family, was born at Florence in 1240, and is believed to have been the pupil of Giunta of Pisa. His colossal Madunma, painted for the church of Santa Maria Novella, at Florence, and still preserved there, excited such enthusiasm among the citizens to whom it was exhibited, that it was carried in solemn public procession from the studio PAINTERS. XXIX to its place in tlie'church. He executed other important woi'ks at Florence and Pisa, and was the painter of some of the frescoes in the upper church of San Francesco, at Assisi — amongst others a medallion on the ceiling, representing St. John the Evangelist. In 1302 Cimabue was engaged on a mosaic in the Dnomo of Pisa. He appears to Iiave returned to Florence shortly after this time, and to have died there. LXVI. Giotto. Angiolotto Bondone — known as Giotto (the shortened form of Angio- lotto) — the son of a burgess of Florence, was born in thedistrict of VespignanO; near Florence, in 1266. It is said that he was employed as a boy in watching sheep, and that he was one day discovered by Cimabue, as he was sketching one of his sheep upon a stone. The painter, surprised at the promise shown by the lad, who was not more than ten years old, took him to Florence, and made him his pupil. Giotto's earliest works were executed at Florence, and at the age of twenty-two he had already attained such fame that he was invited to Rome by Pope Boniface VIII., to take part in the decoration of the ancient Basilica of Saint Peter. The Navicella mosaic which he there executed, representing the Disciples in the Storm, is preserved in the vestibule of the present St. Peter's. This visit to Rome took place in 1298; soon afterwards we find Giotto engaged on his frescoes in the chm'ch of San Francesco, at Assisi. In 1306 he painted the fine series of frescoes in the Arena Chapel, at Padua. After finishing these works he is said to have gone to Avignon, and to have returned to Florence in 1316 ; but some writers doubt if this journey was really undertaken. Important works by Giotto are found in many other places besides those mentioned above, including especially Naples, Ravenna, Milan, Pisa, and Lucca. He was the first of the moderns who attempted portrait painting with any success; and some most interesting examples of his skill in that branch of art have been preserved. In 1840 discovery was made, in the chapel of the Podesta's palace, at Florence, of a series of portraits painted by Giotto ; and among them was one of his fi-iend, the poet Dante. Giotto was not only a painter. As a sculptor and architect he was equally great. The Campanile of Florence was built by his scholar, Taddeo Gaddi, from the designs which he left behind him, Giotto died at Florence in January, 1337, and, was buried with public solemnities in the cathedral. LXVII. Poussin. Nicolas Poussin was born in 1594, at Andelys, in Normandy, where ha received instruction from Quentin Varin. He went to Paris without friends, and almost without money. After studying there for some time under XXX THE HUMICYCLE. L'AUemand and other masters, and from works of the Italian painters, he was at length enabled to go, in 1624, to Rome, where he was influenced by the style of Domenichino. Raphael and Giulio Romano were also favourite models with him. After several years of hard labour he was patronized by Cardinal Barberini, and shortly after a successful career opened out to him. The years 1640-42 he spent in Paris, but he had little sympathy with Court life ; and, returning to«Kome, he lived and worked there till his death in 1065. As a historical-landscape painter Poussin is almost without a rival. He has been called, with justice, " the Prince of the French school." There are no less than thirty-eight works by him in the Louvre, and almost all masterpieces. Of his religious compositions the best are Eleazer and Bebecca, Moses saved from the Water, The Judgment of Solomon, St. Faicl caught up mto' Heaven, and The Israelites gathering Marma in the Wilderness : to this class also belong his Foiir Seasons — Spring (or The Terrestrial Paradise), Summer (or Jtuth amd Boaz), Autumn (or The Return of the Spies from the Promised Land), and Winter (or 2%e Deluge). Of his mythological works the best are Orpheus and Bhrydice, and The Triumph of Flora; of his pastoral subjects, The Shepherds of Arcadia; and, lastly, his own Portrait, painted at Rome in 1650. The National Gallery has several good works by Poussin, A Bacchanalian Festival, A Bacchanalian Dance, and others. HORACE VERNET. CHAPTER I. 1780—1828. Joseph and Carle Vornet— IiiHiienco of the devolution upon Cavla Vernet— Birth of Horace Vernet — Family troubles — Early evidence of genius — Court favour — Change of circumstances at the Restoration in 1815 — Kefusal to admit Horace Vornot's pictures to the Louvre — Private exhibition — Restoration to Court favour — Horace elected member of the Institute. HORACE VBRNBT was a painter by inheritance. For three generations the name of Yernet had occu- pied a prominent place in the history of art. To go no further back in genealogical chronicles, his great-grand- father, Antoine Vernet, who never left his birthplace, Avignon, became known as an artist far beyond the limits of his native province. More ambitious for his children than himself, he sent his son Claude Joseph to complete his education in Rome. Twenty years later, when Claude Joseph returned from Italy to his native land, his reputa- tion as a marine and landscape painter was so great that E 2 HORACE VEtlNET. he was invited by Louis XV. to the Louvre, and commis- sioned by him to undertake a series of paintings repre- senting the principal seaports of Prance. These paintings were fifteen in number, and, with many more from his easel, are preserved in the Louvre. A most characteristic anecdote is told of Joseph Vernet. It is related that, upon his return to France from Leghorn, the vessel in which he was crossing encountered a storm so severe and threatening that the worst was anticipated. ■The painter, absorbed in his contemplation of the elements, refused to leave the deck, and, finding himself in imminent danger of being washed overboard, induced a sailor to lash him to the mast, whence, palette and brush in hand, he calmly gazed upon the storm-tossed waves around.' No wonder his successful paintings proclaimed the fire and energy of his own nature. "WTien, in the course of time, Joseph Vernet became sen- sible of the diminution of his powers, his ambition centred in the future of his youngest son, Antoine Charles, usually called Carle, who was destined to follow his profession. At the very outset of the young man's career^ it appeared as if all the ambitions views of his father were likely to meet with failure. Carle Vernet conceived a romantic at- tachment for a young Parisian. In the vain hope that travel in a foreign land might accomplish that which parental counsel and appeals to nascent ambition had been powerless to efiect, Joseph Vernet sent his son to Rome. ' His celebrated grandson, Hokace, who resembled him in character as well as genius, has immortalized this act upon canvas : Joseph Veimet lashed to the Mast. Salon, 1822. 2 Carle Vernet, who was born in 1758, obtained the first prize for painting in 1 782, with his pictui'e The Prodigal Son. HIS BIRTH. 6 Once in Italy, however, Carle's grief took a direction little anticipated by his anxious parent. He turned for consolation to the Church, and was upon the eve of taking the irrevocable vows of a monk, when his father, hear- ing of his intention, hastened to his side. Forcing him to return with him to Paris, Joseph spared no pains to arouso his son's artistic ambition ; and, by the help of his friends, so worked upon his mind that the young man, with the same impetuosity which had marked his earlier Dfianhood, now devoted himself to art. At the aga of twenty-nine, he was admitted to the Academy after the exhibition of The Triwnvph of FomIus Bmilms, which excited universal admiration. He was especially successful as a painter of horses and battle-pieces, and his career continued as brilliant and successful as his father's had been. The troubled times of the Revolutiolti — when men's minds quailed before the impetuous outburst of a people's wrath — developed his genius, and assisted him in throwing off the trammels which at this time were so detrimental to the progress of true art. With all the impetuosity of genius, he rebelled against the pedantic and frigid classicality of the school of Louis David ; and, in his later pictures more particularly, showed a defiance of established rule which was to be carried still further by his celebrated son. Carle Vernet married, in 1787, a daughter of the well- known designer of Vignettes, Jean_Michel Moreau: their son, Emilb-Jean-Hobace, was born in his grandfather's apartments in the Louvre on June 30, 1789, when the dis- content of the people was reaching its height. The child was little more than three years of age when the impatient populace, upon the terrible 10th of August, rushed to the 4 HORACE VERNET. deaunciation of their sovereign. Carried by hS father across the courtyard of the Tuileries, little Horace had his first experience of war in the bullets that fell around him. Shocked at the excesses of his countrymen, Carle Vernet, like many others, wished to leave Paris; but in his own family a tragedy was to be enacted, the very horror of which kept him in the city. His beautiful and accomplished sister had married the architect of the Duke of Provence, and her husband had followed the exiled prince to Brussels. The public mind at this period was impassioned to the highest pitch. The unhappy wife was proscribed for her husband's fidelity to the unpopular cause of royalty. She was arraigned before the revolutionary tribunal as the " wife of an aris- tocrat," and condemned to the guillotine. Carle Vernet, in his despair, appealed to David, whose influence with the popular leaders was so great that a word from him might have saved her. That word he refu.=ed to speak, and the unfortunate victim of popular fury was executed. This terrible event overshadowed the childhood of Ho- race, and left upon his mind an indelible hatred for the leader of the classic school of painting, which probably had some influence in the formation of his own style in later years. Before he was eight years old the boy showed all the precocity of genius. His bright and happy disposition won him many friends, whilst his quickness and power of witty repartee made him the darling of his father's associates. Many anecdotes of his boyhood are current, one of which is well authenticated. Brought prominently forward by his parents, he frequently accompanied his father to the Oafe Foy, then a general rendezvous for artists and their friends. Upon one occasion, EARLY INDICATIONS OF GENIUS. 5 ■when a number of his father's aoquaintances had been passing a merry evening, a champagne-cork hastily drawn struck against the newly- decorated ceiling. The proprietor of the cafe was sadly bemoaning the damage, when Horace, seizing a palette and brush which lay upon a table near, and mounting a pair of steps left by the workmen, ex- claimed that he would soon remedy it. In a very short time he had sketched and painted in a flying swallow,' which entirely concealed the stain. Horace completed his education at the " College des Quatre Nations," and, long before he left it, was an acknowledged artist. At the age of thirteen he could command orders enough to suffice for his own support. His drawings sold for six francs apiece, and his small paintings realized twenty. Thanks to the teaching of his father, whose love of the natural had rescued him from the dominion of established art rules, Horace early threw off the restraints of the classic school. The influence of David's style is only per- ceptible in his first exhibited picture, Tlie Talcing of Glatz, and in a few fanciful female heads. Horace lived, moreover, in stirring times, and was early brought into contact with the stern realities of life. The heroes of the glorious victories of the Consulate and Em- pire were his familiar friends ; and his acquaintance with the prosaic side of their lives made him keenly alive to the bloodshed and misery which underlie the glories of a vic- torious campaign. The.origin of much of the reality of his later pictures is to be found in his early familiarity with the pitiful incidents of a soldier's life, the scenes of sorrow '' Although the cafe is now pulled down, Horace Vernct'S fli/ing: swallow has been carefully preserved. b HORACE VEB.NET. and the bitter sufferings, which were the greater in con- trast to the brilliant results of victorious achievement. His knowledge" of the details of camp life gave rise to the belief that he himself had been in the army. With the exception, however, of a few days' service in the de- fence of Paris in 1814, and of several months' fighting in the Revolution of 1848, his only knowledge was that of observation. His tastes were martial ; he adopted the style and mode of expression pteculiar to the officers of his day. He habituated himself to military brevity of speech, and certainly was never more at home than when representing on canvas the vicissitudes and adventures of a soldier's career. Horace was only twenty years of age when he married Louise, the daughter of Abel de Pujol, and from his charm- ing letters' to her we gain our best idea of his character as a man. Full of business, and crowded with interest as his life soon became, home ties were always the strongest ; and wherever his restless spirit of activity carried him, he could always find time to think of those left behind, and to write them letters full of descriptions and of longings for the time of his return. Horace Vernet was at the height of youthful fame in the last year of the Empire. King Jerome and Maria Louise overwhelmed him with patronage, and gave him orders faster than he could execute them. In 1814 he received the Cross of the Legion of Honour, and every tribute of success was showered upon him. Patronized by the Court, his pictures were the fashion. His caricatures were much sought after, and, somewhat strangely, did not create ' See " Hiirace Vernet : His Life and Works/' in the " Fine Arts Quar- terly Review," 1864. HIS STUDIO. 7 enemies for him ; but they were conceived rather in the spirit of good-humoured irony than of bitter satire. He was largely employed in illustrating the '' Journal des Modes," and contrived to throw the life and fire of his genius even into that commonplace publication. The royal favour, to which he had grown accustomed, was lost to him upon the Restoration in 1815, and his prosperous career received a momentary check. In the same year several pictures sent by him to the exhibition of the Louvre were rejected by the Committee, upon the ground that they had political significance. Keenly wounded at this repulse, Vernet, with his father, left Paris, and accomplished a walking tour, dur- ing which they visited, amongst other places, Avignon, the birthplace of their ancestors. Their reception, both there and in the larger towns through which they passed on their way, was enthusiastic enough to atone for the want of appreciation shown by those in authority in Paris ; and no doubt tidings of the welcome accorded them reached the capital, for upon their return the tide had set strongly in Horace's favour. An able article in the " Consti- tutionnel " drew attention to the rejected works of the younger artist ; following up the enumeration of the pictures sent' for approval with a most favourable criti- cism of their merits. Adopting a suggestion contained in this notice, Horace Vernet determined to exhibit the de- spised paintings in his own apartments, and threw his studio open to the public. To a small room of an upper story in the Rue de la Tour des Dames, all the rank and fashion of the capital thronged. The rejected paintings, which, indeed, bore only an imaginary anti-royalist interpretation, at once became patriotic efibrts ia the eyes of the people. 8 HORACE VERNET. The ill-advised refusal to admit The Bwrrier of Glinhy and The Battle of Jenvmapes to the walls of hte exhibition was productive of a higher triumph for the artist. No better idea of the sight which met the gaze of the admiring Parisians can be conveyed than that given in a picture of his studio by the artist himself. To quote from a German authority,* it was "no classic, no romantic, but in every respect a military studio." The walls were covered with recollections of the glorious achievements of the French arms. The soldier of the Empire was to be seen in every possible attitude, in every conceivable situation. He was pictured in the garrison, on the field, in the bivouac, or review, before or after the fray. Every rank had its representative : infantry, cavalry, artillery, in turn claimed attention, or passed in review before the sharp gaze of the " Little Corporal," as, in grey paletot or green uniform, he bent his eagle eye upon his beloved troops. At intervals upon the walls hung trophies of the great victories, arms, and uniforms of every regiment and nation ; whilst upon horses, living or modelled, figured the ex- temporized facsimile of some glorious general or hero. Artists, amateurs, and dilettanti, with their fashionable acquaintances, thronged the room. Friends met as at a rendezvous, whilst art critics pointed out faults and merits, or stopped to admire or condemn a pose or study. Ofllcers of the old army and subalterns beginning life gathered round to recall the scenes of past triumphs, or to gloat in fancy over coming honours. A livelier scene could not be imagined — more suggestive, perhaps, of the barrack than the studio ; of an armoury rather than the retreat of a great ' PiETSCH, LuDWiG : " Horace- Vemet Album." ,1S6+. PRIVATE EXHIBITION. SJ artist ; but teeming with life and interest. Whilst some were deeply engaged in contemplation of the scenes depicted on canvas, or listened in rapt attention to the anecdotes of bivouac or camp, others sang. and frolicked; while one energetic young man played the flute, another performed to his own satisfaction upon a trumpet. In the centre of this circamacribed space, a boxing match would be carried on, with blows given and taken iu right good earnest ; while in the midst of all the tumult and unrest, the artist who had attracted elements so varied around him painted assiduously and worked with enthu- siastic pleasure at the great pictures which, in the follow- ing year, were to delight the Parisian public. Horace delighted in the excitement, and possessed the enviable faculty of shutting his ears to all that did not concern his immediate occupation. From this fact the idea arose that his pictures cost him no effort of thought. This, however, was a mistake ; as he himself remarked ; " People praise my facility ; but they are not aware that I spend twelve or fourteen nights without sleep in thinking out the picture I am going to paint." The paintings which in this extemporized exhibition were most true to the higher principles of art were undoubtedly those which might be aptly classified as historical genre. Of these Tlie Trumpeter's Horse, La Vcdlette's Oath, The Soldier of Waterloo, and The Death of Foniatowsld are univer- sally known. The attention bestowed upon The Battle of Jenvmoupes was due quite as much to the fact that it had been pro- scribed as to its intrinsic merit. Every one pressed round to criticize, to applaud ; but in every artistic essential it was far inferior to Carle Vernct's Battle of Marengo. The 10 HORACE VERNET. ordinary accompaniments of a battle-scene were introduced ; a group of staff officers, brilliant in uniform and impres- sive in appearance ; an exploded shell, rearing and frightened horses, a house on fire, and abundance of smoke, made up a mise en scene which was effective without being in reality more true of the battle to which it owed its name than of any other. No such criticism applies to The Barrier of Clichy, a picture which appeals to the heart of every beholder. The realities of war are clearly brought home to us in this de- fence of the barrier by a handful of gallant men. The names of most of them were familiar to the Parisians, from Marshal Moncey, who is giving orders to Colonel Odiot, down to many of the soldiers who were known to the painter. In the foreground the desolation of a family is foreshadowed in the drooping figure of the woman, who, having been driven from her home, has rescued her goat, and now, seated upon a remnant of her house- hold goods, soothes and warms the child nestling in her arms, whilst her heart aches for the wounded lad whose life-blood is fast ebbing away. The engraving of this pathetic picture is perhaps more striking even than the original, for it lacks the harshness of colouring which in all Horace Vernet's earlier works is a conspicuous failing. La Barriere de Clichy bears the date 1820. The year of his private exhibition was a busy one in the life of the energetic painter. He produced in rapid succession. The Battle of Hanwu, TJie Battle of Montmirail, The Defence of Swragossa, The Battle of Valmy, and Napo- leon on the Bridge of Areola. With the exception of the last, which concentrates the interest of the painting upon one heroic action, these pictures represent the movements PATRONAGE OF CHARLES X. H of vast armies ; of entire battle-fields, filling the per- spective far as the eye can reach with bodies of troops. But the painter has in every case so arranged his plan that the eye is at once arrested and interested in life-like groups which carry on the action of the piece in the fore- ground. Four of the paintings of this year narrowly escaped the destruction which overtook so many of Vernet's produc- tions in the burning of the Palais Royal, upon the 24th of February, 1848. They were pierced with bayonet thrusts, but were found capable of reparation, and are now in the Hertford Collection, Always popular with the Opposition, Vernet owed his restoration to royal favour to that very popularity. Fore- most among his patrons was Philip, Duke of Orleans, who never tired of having his portrait painted by his favourite artist, and who figured in every imaginable scene ; he was introduced now in the Battles of Jemmapes and of Valmy; now amid the Swiss mountains ; or in the act of saving a priest's life at Yendome. The position of the restored family was still insecure, and Charles X. observed with growing uneasiness the attentions lavished by his cousin upon the popular artist. Becoming, moreover, alive to the fact that it is folly to persist in the persecution of genius, advances were made to Horace Vernet in the shape of a request that he would paint the King's portrait. The grand historical painting now at Versailles, in which the King is represented re- viewing the troops in the Champs Elysees, was the result of this command, and was so satisfactory to his Majesty and the Court that the artist was at once commissioned to undertake another likeness of his royal master. This 12 HOEACE VERNET. time tte liioment was otosen wliere Charles X., accom- panied by the Duke d'Angonleme and the Duke of Orleans, is reviewing the troops at Vincennes — one of Horace Vernet's most successful paintings. In this picture the grouping of the horses is excellent, and the artist has suc- ceeded in combining the dignified attitudes befitting the royal personages with the perfect ease of accomplished riders. These signs of a return to Court favour were sufficient to open the doors of the Louvre to Horace Veruefc. He was asked to undertake a vast mural painting, having for its subject Leo X. directing the works at the Vatican. In 1826 he was elected member of the Institute, and took the seat — next his father — which, created in 1795 for Louis David, had been left vacant by Le Barbier. In the same year he received the Cross of an officer of the Legion of Honour, in recognition of his large painting. The Fare- well to Fontainehleaii, The Salon of 1827 was rich in varied works from his brush. There appeared The Battle of Boiwiiies, which is now to be seen in the Palace of Versailles ; Julius II. conferring with Bramante, Baphael, and MixheloMgelo, a design for the Louvre ; and a large painting which, as illustrative of a particular phase of the artist's development, deserves a lengthened notice, viz., Edith seeJdhg the body of Harold after the Battle of Hastings. At this time the contest between the followers of David, as the representative of the classic school of art, on the one hand, and those of the romantic school, variously repre- sented by Delacroix, Gericault, and Ary Soheffer, on the other, was at its height. The reaction against the rigid for- mality of the classic style had resulted in an equal exagge- "EDITH ON THE BATTLE-FIELD." 13 ration of fclie realism of its opposers. The first blowatDavid's supremacy had been struck. by G6ricau.lt with his Baft of the Medusa ; and Delacroix, in successive exhibitions, had declared and maintained his resolve to dethrone the leader of the classic school. Vernet, whose love of truthful re- presentation led him to sympathize in a measure with the rising influence, was too true to himself to be led into the somewhat unrefined bohemianism of Delacroix. Tet, in many respects, his Edith seeldng the body of Harold was scarcely less sensational than one of Delacroix's own compositions. Heine, in a powerful ballad, imagines " Edith of the swan's neck" as an old woman, seeking on the battle-field the corpse of a lover of earlier days ; but Vernet has repre- sented the Anglo-Saxon princess as young and fair, with swan-like neck, white arms, and red gold hair, which, pushed back from the temples, falls in billowy waves around her. Her expression of horror and fear, as, accompanied by monks, she flits hastily across the blood-stained field, is terrible, and almost revolting in its truth. Amid the heaps of groaning, dying, and the dead, guided by the sure instinct of her love, she seeks her lost one ; and, despite the linen cloth which shades his face, recognizes the body of her kingly lover, which, half despoiled of its royal gar- ments, is stretched before her in the rigour of death. The pious monks are busy as they lay the dead in qniet resting-places, or seek to call back the fluttering breath of those who linger yet upon the borderland. The composition is in a high degree dramatic; and whilst it is open to the charge of exaggeration in its de- tails, its merits are also of a high order. Edith's expres- sion of concentrated agony is startlingly effectiye, and the 14 HORACE TERNET. chiaroscuro is exceedingly well managed. The reality of death 13 sternly shown 'in the kingly corpse. The half- naked form which occupies a prominent position is mar- vellous in the accuracy of its drawing and in anatomical proportions. The painting, which was too realistic for the moderate school, and not sufficiently exaggerated for the more extreme realists, excited great interest, and evoked much discussion among critics, but was not favourably re- ceived by the public. There was an element in it which was foreign to Horace Vernet's more popular style, and as it was his first highly-realistie painting, so was it also his last. CHAPTER II. 1828 TO 1836. Vernet offered the Directorship in Eome — Pictures painted in Italy — Mendelssohn's visit to Horace Vernet — Accession of the Duke of Orleans — Disturbances in Kome — Return to Paris in 1835 — Continued patronage of Louis Philippe — Pall of Bona — Joni-ney to Africa — Scenes of Arab life — JRapid painting — Journey to Biissia. THE CoTvt, auxiotis to make amends for former depre- ciation of tlie most popular genius of Prance, offered Vernet the Directorship of the Academy in Eome ; and, in 1828, he entered upon his duties in that capital as the suc- cessor of Pierre Guerin. The many well-known pictures painted during his stay in Italy attest the influence of that country upon Vernet's genius. For the most part, his com- positions at this time sprang directly out of the scenes by which he was surrounded. He quickly sent for exhibition The Bandits of Terraama and The Confession of the Bandit. Nowhere was Vernet's genius more at home than in such scenes as those which he now executed. He entered with keen zest and de- light into the spirit of the brigand life ; whilst he threw all the energy of his genius into the fighting scene at Terracina, he reached a greater height of pathos and true passion in the confession of the dying brigand chief, 16 HOEACE VERNET. The same Exhibition of 1831 contained The Procession of Leo XII f earned hy /ii's Siviss Gtmrds to St. Peter's. In this work Vernet's genius triumph^ over one of the greatest clifficulties of &t;,he succeede<^ in raising the picture of a ceremony which, in its ■ pageantry, could scarcely fail to appear monotofious, to the height of an elaborate artistic production, rich, not only in historical truth and the speaking and life-like portraits of the members of the pro- cession, but also in the elaboration of all the details which lend vitality to such a scene. His Raplmel and Michelangelo crossing tJie Gourt of tlie Vatican and his Judith and Holof ernes were attempts ia a dif- ferent direction , and, by the very nat ure of his geni us, 1 ess suc- cessful.' Herewas no longeraquestion of effect merely; both the subjects were surrounded by a halo of romantic legend which called for ideal treatment. Criticism was loud in con- demnation when they appeared. In the first-nanied painting Vernet attempted the illustration of a current legend, which relates that Michelangelo, encountering Raphael in the court of the Vatican, attended by his many pupils, sneer- ingly remarked, "Toa walk with the retinue of a Prince." To which Raphael is supposed to have given the somewhat uncourteous reply, " And you alone, like an executioner." To add an interest to the scene> Vernet has introduced an episode which is somewhat theatrical in effect, He repre- sents Raphael as pausing — struck by the grace and attitude of a young Roman mother, who, seated among the waiting populace, nurses her child — to transfer to canvas by rapid touches the outlines of some future picture of the Madonna. Much of the effect of the painting is sacrificed to an arrangement which is sufficiently inartistic. The aged Buonarroti, with his single attendant, who carries o < o El, o X H < R IN ROME. 17 before him his painting-gear, issues from a room above, at the head of the stairway ; while the younger artist stands in contemplation of his improvised model below. The figure of the aged painter is thus only half given, and the artist has shown a personal depreciation of his great fore- runner which is not commendable. He has so portrayed Buonarroti that he appears as the malign and spiteful spectator of the success of a younger rival. His attitude lacks dignity, and the want of harmony between the two natures seems to find reflection in the somewhat strained attitudes of the principal actors in the scene. It was an artistic mistake to attempt to perpetuate the failings of a great and gifted nature, or to deduce so much rancour from an ill-authenticated legend. In Jud/ith and Holofernes we notice the great effort made by the artist to liberate himself from the conventional treatment of Biblical subjects. The sleeping Assyrian and infuriated Judith are both alike modern. The whole rendering of the picture, in its vivid colouring, realistic striving after effect, and elaboration of costume, is thea- trical, and its popular success was largely owing to that clever rendering of essential detail which was one of "Ver- net's great characteristics. The first years of Vernet's stay in Rome must have been very delightful, — they were full of pleasure and ex- citement. Settled with his family in the Villa Medici, he gave a series of brilliant f^tes, and his home was the centre of the best society of the capital. His father had accom- panied him, and thus the artist was surrounded by all who were dearest to him. His only daughter, the beautiful and accomplished Louise, assisted her mother in doing the honours of the house, and an extract from a letter written 18 HORACE VERNET. by Paul Delaroche to a friend, upon Lis first acquaintance ■with her, gives us an idea of the estimation in which she was held. " No doubt," he writes, " it would be more humble and proper if I were to tell you that Mademoiselle Louise's attractions have been exaggerated by her many admirers ; but, in truth, I find her ' spiriiudle, tonne, et jolie.' " In 1835 Vernet had the great happiness of seeing his beloved daughter united to the man who had shown so just an appreciation of her. An interesting reference to Horace Vernet during his stay at Rome is found in one of Mendelssohn's letters.' He says : — " Tou ask me about Vernet ; and this is, indeed, a pleasant theme. I believe I may say I have learned some- thing from him, and every one may do the same. He pro- duces with incredible freshness and facility. When a form meets his eye which touches his feelings, he instantly adopts it ; and while others are deliberating whether it can be called beautiful, and praising and censuring, he has long completed his work, entirely deranging our aesthetical standard. Though this faculty cannot be acquired, its principle is admirable, and the serenity which springs from it and the energy it calls forth in working nothing can re- place " In the midst of the gardens of Villa Medici stands a small house, in which as you a.pproach you hear a tumult, shouting and wrangling, or a piece executed on a trumpet, or the barking of a dog. This is Vernet's atelier. The most picturesque disorder prevails everywhere — guns, a ' " Mendelssolin's Letters from Italy ami Switzerland," translated by Latly Wallace. Mendelssohn's letter. 19 hunting horn, a monkey, palettes, a couple of dead hares or rabbits, the walls covered with pictures, finished or un- finished. The Investiture of the National Cockade — an ec- centric picture which does not please me, portraits recently taken of Thorwaldsen, Eynard, and Latour-Maubourg, some horses, a skoteh of Judith, and studies for it ; the por- trait of the Pope, a couple of Moorish heads, bag-pipers. Papal soldiers, Gwln and Abel, and, lastly, a drawing of the interior itself — all hang up in his studio. "Lately, his hands were quite full, owing to the number of pictures bespoke of him ; but, in the street, he saw one of the Campagna peasants, who are armed and mounted by Government, and ride about Rome. The singular costume caught the artist's eye, and next day he began a picture representing a similar peasant, sitting on his horse, in bad weather, in the Campagna, and seizing his gun in order to take aim at some one with ,it. In the distance are visible a small troop of soldiers, and the desolate plain. The minute details of the weapon, the peasant peeping through the soldier's uniform, the wretched horse and its shabby trappings, the discomfort prevalent throughout, and the Italian phlegm in the bearded fellow, make a charming little picture. And no one can help envying him, who sees the real delight with which his brush traverses the stretched canvas — at one time putting in a little rivulet, and a couple of soldiers, and a button in the saddle, then lining the soldier's great-coat with green. Countess E. asked him to allow her to be present when he was at work ; but when he darted on it as a hungry man does on food, her amazement was great. The whole family, as I told you, are good people ; and when old Carle talks about his father Joseph, you must feel respect for them," 20 HORACE VERNET. Meantime, affairs in France had undergone a change. The Kerolution of July, 1830, which overthrew the Bour- bons, called to the throne Vernet's old protector and patron, the Duke of Orleans. A revolution which, in Paris, was so favourable for tjie artist, was less auspicious for him in Rome. He was appointed diplomatic representative of France in that city; the members of the Legation, being ad- herents of the Bourbon family, all retired to Naples. The Roman population were hostile to him, and he was con- stantly annoyed by anonymous and threatening letters. Unpleasant as his own position was, it was even more annoying for his family. His wife and daughter were forced to remain secluded in the Villa Medici ; and a feeling of expectation and dread possessed the whole city. Horace Vernet, at this difficult juncture, maintained an attitude of quiet dignity, which compelled the respect of the disaffected populace, and obtained for him the approval of his home .Government. Replaced by M. Ingres, on January 1, 1836, he left Rome, and, no doubt greatly to his own satisfaction, returned to Paris, where Louis-Philippe received him with a cordiality which enhanced his former popularity. The king's mind was fully occupied with a scheme worthy of his elevated position. He desired to perpetuate within the walls of Vprsailles the great achieve- ments of the French armies in modern times. No fitter artist could be found than the author of Gliolvy and Jem- mwpes. Vernet, immediately upon his return from Italy, had presented his royal patron with a magnificent picture, representing The Airival of ilw Duke of Orleans at the Palais Moyal on the SOth of July, 1830. No one could better appreciate the talents and resources of the popular artist than the reigning king. Entrusted JOURNEY TO AFRICA. 21 with, a painting, The Fall of Bona, which had taken place in 1832, Vernet entered upon the first of his African jour- neys, and travelled far and wide, penetrating into the interior, in search of truthful details for this picture. This journey, like all that followed it, was prolific of the greatest results. Nothing more unlike the stereotyped historical painting than the large picture of The Fall of Bona can be conceived.- The French fleet lies at anchor before the beleaguered city, whilst the walls are lined with the Arab troops, who, having resisted the attack of French artil- lery, and the forces brought against them, have succumbed to famine. Clearly enough is their condition indicated in the avidity with which the Mahommedans seize the bread held out to them by the victorious Frenchmen ; whilst, upon the beach, the armed sailors, impatiently await an entry into the citadel. The sunny atmosphere of the South, the bright rays of the tropical sun, the breeze which seems languid from the heat, are fitly represented, and lull the very senses of the beholder, suggesting a quietude in nature in sharp contrast to the restless human hearts so full of bitterness and strife. The many new impressions which Vernet gathered up in his African journey found expression in the life-like pic- tures of the inhabitants which lined the Exhibition walls. Their Eastern characteristics completed the artist's eman- cipation from dogmatic rule. There is a freedom and breadth in all his later paintings which are wanting in his earlier works. First in order, we may name A Wild Boar- hwnt in the Saha/ra Desert, a scene full of life. The fiery exultation of the successful dogs as they run down their prey, and the superior enjoyment of the huntsmen, who, smiling in the face of danger, wait the result, are 22 HORACE VERHET. very true to nature. Th.e Matommedan chief, wko calmly points a pistol at the raging boar, is no other than the re- nowned Tusuf himself. The whole arrangement of this picture is more life-like and real than its companion, A Lion MvmL Superior, perhaps, to either is that which brings before us The Listening Arabs, as, seated in front of their tents, they lend a willing ear to a tale which is told them ; whilst exceeding all three in true pathos and appeal to the universal human heart is The Arab Mother's Lament over the Death of her Child. Vernet's acquaintance with Arab life had a somewhat singular effect in directing his choice of subjects to those scenes from the Bible with which the world had so long been familiar. He conceived the idea of presenting the subjects of Scripture tales in their national costumes and with national characteristics. He himself, in a paper which he read at the Institute, relates how this idea first occurred to him. He says : — "One day, upon an excursion in the neighbourhood of Bona, I was lying in my tent reading the Scriptural account of Rebecca with her pitcher upon her left shoulder, and how she moved it to the right to allow Eleazar to drink from it. This description appeared to me a little difficult of comprehension, when, raising my eyes, what did I behold? A young woman, giving drink to a soldier in the precise way which it had seemed to me so difficult to conceive. From that moment the longing seized me to trace the con- nection between the customs of the people, which had sur- vived all innovations, and those described in Holy Writ." Vernet's knowledge of the Scriptures was very deep. It formed, indeed, apart from painting, his principal study ; it was his constant habit to work with an open Bible on BIBLE PICTURES. 23 his table, and lie never travelled without one about him. He carefully elaborated the idea, the birth of which he so graphically describes ; and, in a wonderful painting, faith- fully copied the living models. In his HAecca at the Well, he attained a height of artistic success which exceeded all his preceding efforts. The enthusiastic reception accorded it by the public outweighed the animosity of the few critics who sneered at the attempt to give an Arabic interpreta- tion: of Scripture. Yernet was singularly indifferent to criticism ; willing, indeed, to admit it when it was just, but ignoring it when he conceived it dictated by personal animosity or ill-will. His wife suffered more in such respects than he, and, in reply to one of her letters, he says : — "In the only note I have received from you, you are full of anger with the papers. What importance have their remarks for me, if they are wrong ? And if they are in the right, what better course is open to me than to bow my head ? I do my best, and when I leave my studio to rest, I do so with the purest conscience. . . . Do not vex yourself about the cries of those who like to lower a repu- tation J let them talk, and don't let your mind be disturbed by paying any attention to them." Again: "Just criticism," he writes, "has taught me much : unjust criticism has invigorated me." The painter had opened up a new sphere of labour, and, like many another, he never excelled his first effort. When, in due course, his Hagar expelled hij Abraham, Tamar and Jvdah, Judith and Holqfernes, The Samaritan, and Joseph and Ms Brethren successively ap- peared, and each in its way justified his popularity, not one among them excelled the Belecca in simplicity, 24 HORACE VERNET. grandeur of design, and adherence to the Old Testament history. Three large designs undertaken by Vernet for Ver- sailles, upon his return from Africa, were each intended to represent some glorious event in the life of the great Napoleon. These were the battle-scenes of Jena, Fried- land, and Wagram, in each of which some episode connected with the victorious general claims the attention. They far exceed in dramatic interest the earlier battle-pieces, and in the workmanship there is a marked advance. For ex- ample, in The Battle of Friedlcmd, the time is chosen when the setting sun throws its beams over the figure of the emperor, and, lighting up his face, bathes in its rays the generals near him, whilst the shade which envelops the standing masses before him is lightened by the reflection into the warmest chiaroscuro. The Battle of Fontenoy is less effective, and appeals less either to the imagination or to the heart. The time-worn arrangement is followed — the king, surrounded by his suite, occupying the central position, whilst the prisoners and wounded are on either side. The introduction of the incident of the young officer's exultation at the decoration he has received is out of keeping with the tragical sur- roundings of the piece. This composition, although it was not exhibited till the year 1836, was in reality commenced at the instigation of Louis XVIIL ; and to this fact the differeface in the treatment and style of the subject may be attributed. It is scarcely conceivable that all these works, with the exception of the last, were begun and completed within two years. Vernet's marvellous celerity, and the fertility of his imagination, accomplished feats which appear in- >• o M H O H H n a 8 BETTERS FROM THE EAST. 25 credible. Gifted with extraordinary powers of perception and a most astonishing memory, he was of so methodical and orderly a character, that his friend Gericault aptly compared his mind to a well-stocked bureau, and said that Vernet had but "to open a drawer in it to find what he needed." It is related of him that a single glance at a model was sufficient to tell him all that was necessary for the most minnte detail of appearance ; and he himself narrates that, after a lapse of twenty years, he painted from memory a scene which he had only casually noted in his travels. He was an energetic and most enterprising traveller, and his correspondence is sufficient proof of his enjoyment of his journeys. Thus, from Damascus he writes : — " I have had a pleasant day, for I have seen many new things — many and varied, indeed— which are all subor- dinated, in my mind, to my one idea of making a picture of them. This country certainly has no epochs. , . . Pharaoh, pursuing the Israelites in his chariot, raised the same dust in the desert as Mehemet AH with his artillery. The Arabs have not changed." Writing to his wife, he reflects upon the constant change of thought afforded him : — " Two hours later we are at Bethlehem ! These are the events which constitute the charm of a journey. Scarcely has one emotion passed, when a totally new one succeeds. Reaching the summit of a mountain, one per- ceives, all at once, on the opposite side of a profound ravine — Bethlehem ! I see but shepherds, magi, poor infants massacred, and a cradle, destined to change the face of the world. . . . This little mined village touches the heart far more than the grand pyramids, which merely 26 HORACE VERNET. astonish the eye." He appears, indeed, not to have been greatly struck by the Pyramids, for he remarks that " to admire them it is necessary to recall the difficulties which must have been overcome in the construction of these enormous monuments ;" but behind them is " ce grand coquin de desert," which is imposing after another fashion. Tireless and full of life, he had scarcely settled down to work after his African journey when he was off to Russia. In 1836 he paid his first visit to the Court of St. Peters- burg, in pursuance of an order he received from the Russian emperor for four scenes from the Turkish-Russian war of 1826. For each of them an honorarium of 50,000 francs was promised him. He proceeded to a rapid study of the localities which were to be represented, and in less than twelve months the first of the series, The Stormvng of Varna, was exhibited in Russia. Unfortunately for his European reputation, his works during his stay in Russia remain in St. Petersburg, and have not been reproduced by engravings. CHAPTER III. 1837 TO 1863. Keturn to Paris — Journey to North Africa — Paintings for the Con- stantine Hall — Incomplete Painting of Battle of Nezib — Journey to Egypt — " The Slave Market " — Another Journey to Bussia — Recep- tion by the Czar — Return to Paris — Journey to Algiers — " La Smala " — Scenes from Desert Life — Death of his only child — Decoration of Hall of Deputies — Last portrait of Louis-Philippe — Character of his genius — Second marriage — Death. ALMOST immediately upon Vernet'i3 return from Russia a new undertaking resulted in a fresb. journey to Africa. In October, 1837, the French, arms had taken Constautine, in North Africa. The King now placed at the artist's disposal a great hall in Versailles, desiring him to cover the walls with a series of large paintings illusti;ative of the glories oi this last campaign. Early in 1838 Horace Vernet started upon his journey, and in the space of little more than twelve months he had accom- plished the almost incredible production of the three largest of the proposed paiatings. These three paintings represented the operations of the siege from the 10th to the 13th of October, 1837. The first gave the dispersal of the Arab forces from the heights of Ooudiat-Ali, which command the town ; the second, the attack on the trenches, investing the inner circle of the 28 HORACE TERNET. city; and the last, the assault upon the principal part of the city itself. These colossal pictures, each complete in itself, are perhaps the most wonderful productions of Yernet's genius. The' knowledge of national character, the keen perception of the spirit which animated the actors in the fearflul scenes depicted, the truth and life- like reality of the soldiers, both French and Arab, and the introduction of endless episodes and incidents which familiarize the mind with the action of the piece, all com- bine to place the Constantine pictures foremost among the stupendous efforts of Horace Vernet's life. In. life-like reality of detail, and in the fulness of those minute touches which bring the whole scene before the beholder they are unequalled. Their interest is heightened by the speaking likenesses which the artist's facile brush has perpetuated. The warlike spirit which animated alike the highest general and the meanest drummer-boy or private appeals forcibly to the nation for whose glory they- were painted. These three pictures are wonderfal in still an- other respect, and in that particular unlike the succeeding paintings of later years. Crowded as each is with episode, every incident is subservient to the main interest of the siege, and while each of the three is in itself a-perfect work, all are so allied that they make up one harmonious whole. In design, execution, and vivid colouring they illustrate a height of attainment upon the part of the artist which later works were, indeed, to equal, but which was never surpassed by him. Another colossal work, undertaken by Vernet at the in- stance of Mehemet Ali, The Battle of Nezih, was destined never to be completed, although in preparation for it the painter undertook a journey through Assyria and Egypt for "THE SLAVE MARKET." 29 the collection of materials. The failure of the project is the less to be regretted as, from the gigantic proportions pro- posed for the picture, it could have scarcely been more than a piece of decorative painting. This commission rescinded, Vernet was at leisure to throw himself with renewed ardour into the work sugges- ted by his time-honoured patron, Louis-Philippe. Smaller pictures for the Constantine Hall, and larger representa- tions of various scenes of French triumphs were entrusted to him. Amongst them we may refer to The Grossing of the Teniah Pass, The Passage of the Iron Gate, The Occupa- tion of Anaona, Entrance of the French Fleet into the Tagus, The Surrender of Antwerp, &o. Into each picture the artist has introduced some telling incident, some thrilling episode which reflects glory upon the French arms and appeals to the nlartial spirit of the nation. To the year 1838 belongs a painting of a dififerent class which is preserved in the Wagner Gallery in Berlin, The Slave Market. In this another spirit breathes. The kind heart of the artist had been deeply touched by his visit to Cairo, to " that odious market, where poor little negroes, male and female, are put up together on a ragged square piece of cloth, like apples — five a penny." The harrowing details of the unholy traflic, the saddening and degrading results of the slaves' condition are brought prominently forward ; whilst the genius of the artist finds expression in the varied beauty of form and face of the Circassians, or in the stolid and submissive appearance of the lower negro women. The scene is painful, not because the artist has so willed it, but because its every detail is so true to life, and so characteristic of the debased natures which alone can participate in such a traffic. 30 HORACE TERIfET. Theatrical in conception and verging npon the exag- gerated realism of Edith on the Battle-field, a painting of this period claims notice. In Judith and Holofernes, the horror of the picture is almost repulsive, and its merits rest solely upon the force and energy of conception, and the harmony of the vivid colouring. In 1843, fresh orders received from the Czar resulted in another journey to Russia. Upon this second visit the artist was overwhelmed with honours and gifts. Tho Emperor received and treated him as a personal friend, and the sums which awaited the execution of his pictures were fabulous in amount. At every review or parade the Em- peror claimed his company, and when the imperial visit to the Caucasus was arranged, Vernet accompanied the cor- tege in the character of the Emperor's companion. During this excursion what stores of incident and anecdote were gathered by the artist, our knowledge of his memory can suggest. The best-known results are the gigantic painting of The Storming of Tola, representing the posi- tion of the attacking army in the village of Vola; and a small composition known as The Sledge Drive. The latter, in spite of its small size, is one of the most perfect of Yernet's productions, and is well known through en- gravings. The scene represented must have been very familiar to him during his Russian travels. The fiery horses bearing the noiseless sleigh through the snow-laden air; the traveller immersed in furs, bending before the coming storm; the immovable" driver, erect in his place, guiding his willing steeds, are each as true and life-like as the storm-birds swooping before the wind, and the utter desolation and stormy aspect of the surrounding atnio- "LA SMALA." 31 sphere. This little picture is, in itself, one of the highest efforts of modern genius. '- Returning from Russia rich in every attainable honour, the friend of royalty and the idol of the people, Vernet had scarcely time for repose before he started upon a new journey in search of incidents for the painting of yet an- other scene in the drama of French conquest. This time he penetrated to the valley of the Atlas, and immortalized the valiant action of the Duke d'Aumale, who, with his 600 followers, had taken the Smala of Abd-el-Kader in the desert near Algiers. By desire of Louis-Philippe this painting was to exceed in size all the foregoing pictures, and was to measure 66 feet in length, and 16 feet in height.' The scene to be represented was one which offered almost insurmountable difficulties, over which the genius of a Vernet alone might hope to triumph. The place chosen by Abd-el-Kader for the security of his wives, his slaves, flocks, and treasures of every kind was an entrenched camp in the heart of the Desert. Here were collected a population of over 20,000 souls, of which 5,000 were fighting-men. In the fullest security, and unprepared for any -danger, the surprised camp was at the mercy of the weaker force of the foe. Vernet brings before us on his gigantic canvas the scene of confusion and of horror which ensued — the panic among the men, the horror of the women, the terror of the awakened children, intermixed with the confusion of the alarmed animals, all reduced by the artist's genius to an elaborate series of incidents, which one after another awaken the interest of the beholder. We can believe with truth that Vernet stood bewildered before the vast stretch ' At Versailles. 32 HORACE VERNET. of canvas whicli was prepared for Hm as lie commenced his nndertaking. Tet from Ids memory he drew such stores of recollection, snch vivid realization of the locality and the event, that the work grew like magic under his brush, and in less than nine months the wonderful repre- sentation was co&plete. In spite of the short time devoted to it, no single portion betrays a hurried hand ; each sepa- rate incident is complete in the minutest detail, and leads on naturally to the next, forming an harmonious whole. Vernet's skill as a colonrist, his innate comprehension of the passions which he was destined to portray, his intense sympathy with the military details of the scenes, were all-powerful in his attempt to bring vividly forward the striking incidents of a late French triumph. It was unavoidable that so large a picture should be in a measure open to criticism as a decorative painting, but the appreciation which Vernet met with from the public was as warm as ever. The- master was at once overwhelmed with similar commissions, and amongst others he undertook the representation of the triumph of the French arms at Isly, under Marshal Bugeaud. Follow- ing his usual custom Vernet commenced by a journey to the scene of action, and set out in 1845 for the field of Isly. In the following year the picture was ready for exhibition, and in comparison with La Smala was small, and want- ing in lively interest. But its merit lies precisely in the absence of that which a more ordinary mind would have selected as incident, whilst the interest culminates in a charge of the French column at the right, which appears as if rushing from the background of the picture forward upon the beholder. The dust and smoke-begrimed soldiers, who, advancing with all the dash peculiar to the French, are yet in so compact and uniform a mass, impress one with THE POST IN THE DESERT. From the painting by Horace VerneC. DEATH OF HIS DAUGHTER LOUISE. 33 tlieir breathless eagerness ; and the clash, and whirr of their weapons as they push forward are almost felt. The work bestowed upon this one regiment is equal to the elabora- tion of the Oonstantine pieces. Scenes from desert life occupied the painter's leisure moments. The versatility of his genius found relief in most varied expressions, and whilst his mind was at one moment filled with the exultant delight in French success which glows in his battle-pieces, at another his brush found occupation in quiet scenes which brought him little less fame than his Versailles paintings : of such are The Pod in the Sahara, The Prayer m the Desert, and The Oaravan. The year 1845 brought a shadow upon Horace Vernet's life which for a time diminished his artistic activity. His only child Louise, who ten years earlier had married his great friend and artist-companion, Paul Delaroche, died, after a lingering illness, The sympathy felt for him was universal. Inquiries were continually sent from the Tuileries duiing the last days of Madame Delaroche's illness, and shortly after her death King Louis- Philippe sent for the artist to the palace, and personally assured him of his deep sorrow. Vernet's gloom and depression were not easily dis- persed ; he fancied "his star" had deserted him, and his grief for a time so overwhelmed him as to give him a dis- taste for his profession, and closed the more active period of his life. It was only after a lengthened seclusion that Horace Vernet was induced to undertake another work of magni- tude for the Louvre, for which he had in earlier years prepared the design. He was to decorate the ceiling of the Hall of Depiities. In part historical and in part alle- 'Si HORACE TEKNET. gorical, the central design comprised a large nnmber of the principal painters of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, as Bramante, Raphael, Michelangelo, &c. ; whilst in the side pieces scenes of industry were to be symbolically repre- sented. Little in accordance with Vernet's gifts as such an undertaking appears, he threw into its completion much of the zeal and energy of his earlier years. In 1847, he painted a last picture for his faithful patron Louis- Philippe — a portrait of the king on horseback. The Revolution of 1848 had disastrous results for the artist. Through it he lost a sincere patron in the de- throned and exiled monarch, and many of his best paint- ings were burnt by the revolutionists. Vernet was so keenly troubled by the political events of the year that he relinquished the home which had been one of the greatest interests of his life, and in which he had collected together treasures of every kind, and the luxuries of every country. He condemned all his most valued possessions to be sold, and retired to a small apartment in the Institute, which was in striking contrast to the refinsments and appoint- ments of his former habitation. He was not, however, to remain long inactive. In 1849, the President of the new Republic gave him a commis- sion for another glorious record of French success. He was to paint The Siege of Bome. In search of the accu- rate details needed for such an undertaking he went to Italy, and in 1852 the picture was exhibited. The plan was not artistically conceived, and the painting was open to graver objections than those urged against La Smala. Through a wide-spreading landscape the walls and bastions of the city loom in the background, whilst a series of episodes incidental to the siege of a fortified THE EXHIBITION OF 1855. 35 city are introduced in the foreground, with but little con- nection between them. From a distance the whole appears an incoherent mass of confusion. The same remarks may be applied in a measure to Tlie Storming of Vola, a gigantic painting undertaken at the instance of the Emperor of Russia : the surging masses of troops, the countless dying and dead, fill the beholder with an amazed surprise, and admiration for the brain which could imagine and convey such a scene to canvas ; but there is little in the picture to satisfy the requirements of true art. It is a relief to turn from these to some smaller works, which attest the unimpaired power of the master's genius : Joseph's Brethren, a representation of the Scriptural sub- ject. The Wild Stag Hunt in Morocco, The Gatirup in KahyUe, and the picture of Brother Philip, which exacted an ap- plause as enthusiastic as any earlier work, although, per- haps, less deserved. The Universal Exhibition of 1855 contained twenty -one of Vernet's pictures, which in themselves would serve to illustrate the character of the man. The immense fertility of his genius, his incomparable memory, his inventive faculty, his power of rapid observation and of seizing the striking point of any scene or person, with the variety of objects which in turn were portrayed by his brush, all reflect his singular powers, whilst the very nature of his versatile gifts precluded that finished workmanship which makes the enduring charm of greater masters. The productions of his prolific brush were too rapid, too brilliant, too modern in conception and execution, to bear comparison with the laboured and painstaking productions of those great men whose works have lived through centuries. But it is essential to a fair estimation of BTorace Vernet 36 HORACE TERNET. tliat Lis works should be judged as a wliole, for it i3 unquestionable that whilst other contemporary artists may have exceeded him in every separate branch of paint- ing, no one has excelled him in every branch of art. His studies of the nude were inferior to those of Ingres ; his Scriptural subjects less successful than those by Flandrin; in historical painting he was surpassed by Gerard, and he could not compete with either his father or Gericault in the painting of horses : but he could say of himself with truth, " Inferior to all my competitors in each particular part, I surpass them on the whole." He must be judged by the effect of his works, rather than by their intrinsic merit. He was wanting in depth of conception, because his own nature was in a degree superficial. He insensibly reflected the popular feeling, and free from any strong biaiS, was patronized successively by royalists and republicans. Political rancour was impossible to him, and his paintings perpetuate the triumphs of all parties. In a work like the present the most remarkable only of his productions could be selected for notice, but a fair idea of his peculiarities both as an artist and a man may be gathered from them. During the ten months which he devoted to the great painting of Tlie, Oojphure of "La Smala,'' he occupied his evenings in drawing designs for 500 illustrations intended for a " History of Napoleon," which are as spirited in conception as any of his larger works. He drew numberless ironical sketches for the lithographic publications of his day, and was well known and appre- ciated as a caricaturist. It was not his habit to study the subjects of his paintings deeply. An idea once con- ceived, he seemed impelled by his genius to dash off the entire picture at the utmost speed, and in a manner which 2 ^ LAST YEARS. 37 was invariably effective. Memory and imagination went hand-in-liand, and the results were so karmonions that he seldom or never effaced a scene or person after the first rough sketch had conveyed his meaning. His own imagination was so vivid that he left nothing to be filled in by that of others ; he was so imbued with the spirit of his subject that he impressed by the mere force of his own enthusiastic conception. Essentially French in cha- racter and genius, his military pictures appealed to the martial spirit of his countrymen, and to them in a large measure his triumphant success must be attributed. Whatever the verdict of prosperity upon his miscellaneous works may be, his battle-pieces will hold the highest place so long as military glory is dear to the nation whose triumphs it was his greatest pleasure to perpetuate. " Vernet's pictures," said Sir Edwin Landseer, " sur- pass those of all his rivals, because, in addition to their own merit, they proceed only from himself and from his observation of nature." The last years of Vernet's life were saddened by domestic loss. His wife's death in 1856 was a severe blow from which he suffered deeply. In 1858 he married again, a widow, Madame de Boisricheux, the daughter of General fuller, an Englishman. She nursed him with deep devo- tion through the sad months which preceded his death. During his last illness the Emperor somewhat tardily sent him the cross of " Grand Officier de la Legion d'Honneur," with a letter expressing sympathy with his sufferings. But it was then too late. Vernet possessed at Hyeres a beautiful estate called " Les Bernettes," and it 38 HORACE TERNET. was thither he wished to go. " Sun ! sun ! " he cried in his delirium, " I will not die here; I will die in the sunshine !" But all was in vain. He expired in his apartment in the Institute on. the 17th January, 1863. He had attained the highest honours possible in his profession, and was the last and most successful of the artist family of Yernet. The Academy, as a mark of respect, decreed that they would not appoint his successor until after six months of mourning. CHAPTER IV. ANECDOTES OF HOKACE VEENET.^ MANY anecdotes prove Vernet's kindness of heart, and the little animosity which even the malice of his critics awoke in him. He was extremely sensitive, and could not see suffering without an effort to relieve it. At a sham fight near Smyrna, which had been arranged to give him an exact idea for one of his paintings, two of the artillerymen were wounded. Vernet wrote to his wife : " In spite of my warlike enthusiasm, my heart is heavy. Imagine that two of the artillerymen have had their arms carried away ! They say such a thing happens at every manoeuvre of the kind ! . . . . All that I would fain have written to you has escaped me ; I can think of nothing but these poor wretches ! " # From Constantine he writes of the little orphan girl whom he has rescued from the Arabs, and whose future ' Many of these anecdotes are taken from an article by M. C. H in the "Fine Arts Quarterly Review." 40 HORACE TERNET. he is so anxious to make tappy that he at first thought of bringing her home to his ■wife ; but afterwards decided to place her under the protection of Madame Adelaide. # His kindness to the young men who thronged his studio is atill most gratefully remembered by^ many of thorn. He declined to receive any payment for the instruction he gave them, and assisted many of them in their profession. He obtained many favours for others which he w"uld never have solicited for himself. When one of his pupils was drawn for the conscription, Yernet painted a pigture for him, in order to enable him to procure a substitute. # Wishing to obtain, for an old brigadier of Gendarmerie, whose acquaintance he had made in Algeria, the cross of the Legion of Honour, he represented him in his painting of the Smala with the decoration on his breast. When the King came to see the picture, Vernet said : " I have put the cross on. that old soldier of the Empire, but it appears that he has not got it; I must, therefore, take it ofT." " Do nothing of the kind, Horace," said the King; " I give it to him." ' . # When on a visit to Paris from Rome, while he was director of the Academy there, Vernet called on his friend Lagrenee, who was an artist of but moderate abilities, chiefly employed in drawing patterns for the silk-weavers and carpet-makers. Finding that he was away from home — he had gone to be present at a fete given by the mana- ANECDOTES. 41 facturers of Lyons in Hs honour — he went to the Home Secretary, and, by arguments and entreaties, obtained the Legion of Honour for Lagrenee, and went with it to Lyons, where he was just in time to deoorate him at the end of the banquet. PEIITS! PETITS! PETITS! rOKAGING IN AN ENEMy's CODNTET, From the Drawing by Horace Vemet. Once, when he was in Algiers, he met with a young English artist with whom he was but slightly acquainted, who had been studying at Paris, and who was just going to return thither, as his funds were exhausted — a fact which Vemet had ascertained on advising him to visit Italy. With his usual liberality and kindness of heart, he 42 HORACE VERNET. exclaimed ; '' I am director of the Academy at Rome ; you must go there with me: I will be your banker." The young artist went, and, thanks to Vernet's introduction to art patrons, soon earned sufficient to enable him to stay and study there, to his heart's content. # At the time of the inundation of the Loire, a lottery of objects of art was got up for the benefit of the sufferers. Vernet contributed a picture, A Zouave slcinning Bats. The winner was a lady from Blois, charitably disposed, but quite ignorant of art. When she had examined the picture with no critical eye, Yernet said : " If you were offered 500 francs for my Zoume, you would accept them, I am sure." " I am not a connoisseur of paintings," she replied; " but with 500 francs many misfortunes may be re- lieved." " Agreed," said Vernet, "for I see you will part with it ! Then T was right in selling it yesterday to Goupil. There is a letter for him, madame, and he will give you 14,000 francs." This amount was spent in- found- ing an orphan hospital. The following tale also testifies to his kindness of heart, and his great facility of execution : — A cuirassier in full uniform one day entered Vernet's atelier. " What is it you want, my friend ? " said the painter. " Well, I want my portrait done, to send to the old mother down in Auvergne; and I want to know what your price is." "Eh Men, and how much money have you?" "Thirty sous," said the soldier, diving his hand into his pocket and ANECDOTES. 43 holding out the money. Vernet, with a few strokes of his brush, made an excellent sketch of his military friend, and, in a few minutes, handed it to him. The cuirassier expressed his best thanks, and triumphantly showed the portrait to a comrade who was waiting outside for him, saying : " I ought to have bargained with him, though ; perhaps, after all, he would have taken twenty sous." Gratitude, too, was not among the least of his virtues. Jerome, King of Westphalia, was the first to pay him well for a painting — a portrait of himself — which was much admired in the Salon of 1812. Vernet always remembered this kindness. In 1855 he refused to sell to Prince Napo- leon The Battle of tlie Alma, and gave it instead to the Emperor's uncle. He wrote thus to the Emperor ; " It is to the King of Westphalia that I owe my first success. His Majesty in 1812 showed me a kindness which I have never forgotten ; and, as a proof that I remember it, I beg the Prince Jer6me to accept the homage of a painting in which I have had the pleasure of representing his august son gaining his first victory." # Tlie Battle of the Ahna was one of the pictures which were shown by Vernet in the Paris Exhibition of 1856. He was much hurt on hearing that the Director- General of the Exhibition considered the painting by Ingres, whose style he disliked, superior in merit to his own, and that the artist ought to be recommended for the highest distinc- 44 HORACE VERNET. tioa. Suppressing his jealousy, Vernet warmly supported Ingres for ttis honour. In the end, Vernet, Ingres, Delacroix, and Decamps were bracketed equal. A GKENADIKlt. From a Drawing by Horace Vernet. CHRONOLOGY OF HORACE VBRNET'S LIFE. Pape 1789. Born in his father's apartments in the Louvre, June 30 . 3 1809. Married Louise de Pujol ... ... 6 1814. Eeceived the Cross of the Legion of Honour for his sei'vices in the defence of Paris 6 1822. Exhibited his Pictures in his own Studio .... 9 1826. Elected Member of the Institute 12 1826. Keceived the Cross of an Officer of the Legion of Honour . 12 182S. Made Director of the Academy in Rome . . . .15 1830. Appointed diplomatic representative of France at the Papal Court 20 1835. Returned to Paris 20 1835. First Visit to Africa 21 1836. First "Visit to Russia 26 1838. Second Visit to Africa 27 1839. Visit to Egypt, Holy Land, and Syria . ... 29 1843. Second Visit to Russia 30 1844. Visit to Algiers . . 31 1845. Death of his Daughter Louise (Madame Delaroche) . . 33 1855. Sent twenty-five Pictures to the Universal Exhibition 35 1856. Death of Madame Vernet 37 1858. Married Madame de Boisrieheux 37 1863. Died, January 17 38 LIST OF HORACE VBRNET'S PRINCIPAL WORKS. Salon, 1812. Taking of Glatz. Interior of a Cossack Stable. Interior of a Polish Stable. Portrait of an Officer. Interior of an Old Castle, serving as Stable for Polish Cavalry. Salon, 1814. Portrait of an Officer. Interior of a Polish Stable. Salon, 1817. Battle of Toloza. A Halt. Surprise of the Vanguard. Death of Poniatpwski. Portrait of Col. C A Battle. Salon, 1819. Massacre of the Mamelukes. Ismayl and Maryam. Ambuscade. Combat of the Advanced Post. Portrait of the Duke of Orleans. Hospice of Mount St. Gothard. Interior of a Cow-shed. Sea Piece. Druid Priestess. Love's Folly. Death of Poniatowski. Eeview of the 2nd Grenadier Begiment. Sea Piece. Moliere consulting his Servant, &e. &c. Salon, 1822. Joseph Vernet lashed to the Mast. In the Aktibt's Studio, 1822. The Battle of Jemmapes. Defence of the Barrier x)f Clichy. The Young Druidess. The Mad Woman of Bedlam. Grecian Sea View. Sea Piece. Portrait, General Morillo. Portrait, M. Dnpin. Portrait, M. Chauvelin. MM. Madier de Montjau, father and son. General Drouot. View of Vesuvius. Portrait of Napoleon. LIST OF PRINCIPAL WORKS. 4,7 Death of Poniatowski. Hospice of Saint Gothard. An Odalisque holding an Hour- glass. The Penitent Magdalen. Vignette portrait of Mrs. Smith. Tlie Soldier of Waterloo. The Soldier at Work. The 2nd Regiment Royal Grena- diers. Camoens saving his MS. from Ship- wreck. Scenes from Molifere's Works. The Route of Kabrunn. A Sea Piece. Portrait of Anisson - Duperron, junior. Defence of Huningue. Portrait of Duke of Orleans. A Guerilla Ambuscade. PoHsh Lancers attacked by Gue- rillas. Portrait of the young Duke of Chartres, born 1810. View of Boulogne during Public Preparations. Scene of Spanish fanaticism. Interior of a Cow-stall. Massacre of the Mamelukes by order of Mehemet Ali. A Capuchin Monk meditating. Duke of Orleans reviewing the 1st Hussar Regiment. A Mill near Genoa. A Sunset at Sea. The Boats of the Pilots. Sunset on the Shore. Portrait of M. Gabriel Delessert. Equestrian portrait of M. Machado. The Studio of Horace Vernet. Portrait of a General, full-length. Salon, 1824. Equestrian portrait of Duke of AngoulSme. Full-length portrait of Marshal Saint Cyr. Portrait of Madame la Comtesse deC . Portrait of Madame S. M. Salon, 1827. Last Hunting-party of Louis XVI at Eontainebleau. Salon, 1831. Battle of Valmy. Battle of Jemmapes. Arrest of the Princes of Conde and Conti and Duke de Longueville (destroyed in the Revolution, Feb. 24, 1848). Pope Leo - XII. carried to Saint Peter's. 1829. Judith and Holofemes. Portrait of Vittoria d'Albano. Peasant of Aricia. Confession of a Brigand. Combat between Brigands and the Papal Guard. Starting for a Hunt ir the Pontine Marshes. Portrait of M. I. Salon, 1833. Raphael in tlie Vatican. Duke of Orleans arriving at the Hotel de Ville in 1830. Portrait of the King. Portrait of Marshal Molitor. Portrait of a Lady with her Child. Portrait of Madame Fould. 48 LIST OF PRINCIPAL WOPJCS. Portrait of Marquis of Latour- Mauborg. The Three Friends. Salon, 1834. AiTival of the Dake of Orleans at the Palais Eoyal on July 30, 1830. Arabs in their Tent listening to a Tale. Salon, 1835. Taking of Bona. Kebecca at the Well. SaloS, 1836. Battle of Fontenoy. Battle of Jena. Battle of Friedland. Battle of Wagram. Hunting in the Desert of Sahara in 1833. Salon, 1839. Siege of Constantine, 10th of Oc- tober, 1837. Heights of Cou- diat-Ati. Siege of Constantine, 13th Oc- tober. Columns prepajring for the Assault. Attack upon Constantine by the Market Gate, 13th October. Hagar sent away by Abraham. Lion Hunt. Salon, 1843 to 1852. Judah and Thamar. 1843. Portrait of Duke Pasquier. 1844. A Russian Sledge. 1844. Journey in the Desert. 1844. Taking of the Smala of Abd-el- Kader. 1845. Portrait of Count Mole. 1845. Portrait of Frfere Philippe. 1845. Battle of Isly. 1846. Portrait of a Child. 1 846. Judith. 1847. Portrait of the King. 1847. The good Samaritan. 1848. Portrait of General Cavaignac. 1849. Portrait of Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte. 1850-51. Siege and Fall of Rome. 1 852. Salon, 1855. Taking of the Smala of Abd-el- Kader. Battle of Jemmapes. Battle of Valmy. Battle of Hanau. Montmirail. Episode in the French Campaign of 1814. The Barrier of Clichy. Attack on the Gate of Constantine. Battle of Isly. Campaign of Kabylie, in 1853. Cholera on board the" Melpomene.'' Judith and Holofernes. Mazeppa. Mazeppa with Wolves. Return from a Lion Hunt. Wild Boar Hunt in Africa. Portrait of Frfere Philippe. Portrait of Marshal Vaillant. Rendezvous of the Hunt. Interior of Studio. Battle of the Alma. LIST OF PRINCIPAL "WORKS. 49 LITHOGRAPHS From M. de la Combe's Catalogue. Poriraiis. Madame Feri'egaux. Portrait of Cyrus, son of Marshal Gerard. Boyer, President of Hayti, Carle Vernet. Vignette. Carle Vernet. Fidl length, signed H. Vernet, 1818. The little Birdeatoher. 1st May, 1818. Louis Pierre Louvel. Maurocordato,Head of the Govern- ment in Greece. Chauvelin. 1823. Dupin, senior. Mehemet Ali Pacha. H. Vemet, 1818. El General Quiroga. 1820. Death of Prince Joseph Ponia- towksi. 1817. Sinna, a native of Sahara. Ferlet in the part of Begnaudin in "La Maison en Loterle." H. V. Talma in the paa-t of " Sylla." General Foy. The same. M. de VerdiSre on Horseback. Portrait of General Sebastian. Comte Muraire. Madame Macdonald. Vignette. M. Brnzzard. 1828. Pierre GiTgrin. 1830. Pius VIII. 1830. Prince Edward Gagarine. 1832. Brod, Eirst Hautboy at the Aca- demy of Music. Lancer of the Old Guard. 1816. Orenadier of the Guard. 1817. Napoleon standing on a Cape in Elba. 1817. Grenadiers seated upon dibris in the midst of a Battle. French Wounded attacked by Cossacks. "AlaGracedeDieu!" Mathilde and Malek-Adhel. 1817. The Farewells. The Military Kitchen. 1817. The Kitchen in Bivouac. Tomb of General Moncey. 1818. Death of Tancredi. 1818. Crossing a River. Scene in Auvergne in 1812. French Bivouac. 1818. A Stage Coach. 1818. Don Quixote. Peasant Gh-l tending Cattle. Artillery Officer addressing Soldier. Infantry Ambuscade. Three Men in a Boat. 1813. Two Tipsy Soldiers embracing each other. 1818. Grenadier Sentinel in the Snow. 1818. Procession returning to a Convent. Signed H. Vernet, 1818. E 50 LIST OF PRINCIPAL WOKKS Tui-k and his Mistress surprised by Assassins. Young Grivet leaving for tlie Army. Military Outfit of Young Grivet. Bouts to Naples. Family of the Hussar in Bivouac. Conrad saving Gulnare from the Flames. 1819. Wounded Soldier. Young Soldier playing Flageolet. Greek seated near his Mistress. A Shore. A Fight of Infantry. Monk in Meditation. Lazarone standing. Lazarone leaning on a Stick, Manfred and the Hunter. 1820. Russian Escort. Soldier, I mourn Him ! Disembarkation of Armed Sailors. The Sister of Charity. General Maurice G erard at Kowno. 1813. Historical Scene at Barcelona. Hunter on Horseback. Fetits! FetiisI FetUs! Hold Fast. Leicester and Amy Eobsart. Shipwreck of Don Juan. English Post-horse. Slave Merchant, Dutch Fish Merchant. The Bride of Abydos, &c. &e. AMcan Hunter. 1818. Peasant speaking to a Hunter. 1818. Dog's Head. Hunters at Best, &c. &c. BIBLIOGEAPHY. HoKACE Vernet. By Charles Blanc. In "Sisioire des Fdntres." Paris, Hobace-Veknet Album. By Lndwig Pietsch. Berlin. 1864, HoBACE Veenet : His Life and Woeks. By M. C. H. In " Fine Arts Quarterly Beview." London. 1864. INDEX TO HORACE VEBNET. (TAe names of pamiings are printed in iiaUcs.) Page Anecdotes of Horace Vernet , 39 Arab Mothe/fs Lament, The . . 22 Arrival of the Duke of Orleans at the Falais Boyal .... 20 Bandits of Terraoina, The . . 15 Barrier of Clichy, The . . 8, 10 Battle of the Alma, The ... 43 Battle of Bouvimes, The ... 12 Battle of Fontenoy, The ... 24 Battle of Friedland, The . . . 24 Battle of Sanaa, The .... 10 Battle of Jemmapes, The ... 8 Battle of Marengo, The ... 9 Battle of Montmirail, The . . 10 Battle of Valmy, The. ... 10 Boar-hunt in the Sahma Desert . 21 Boisricheux, Madame de . . 37 Cafe Foy, The 4 Charles X., Portrait of . . . 11 Confession, of the Bandit, The , 15 Constantine Hall, Pictures for the 29 Oroising of the Teniah Pass, The 29 David, Louis 3,12 Death'of PoniatowsJci, The . . 9 Defence of Saragassa, The . . 10 Page Delaroche, Paul 18 Edith seeking the Body of Ewrold 1 2 Entrance of the French Fleet into 29 Fall of Bona, The ... . Farewell to Fontainebleau, The Erench Exhibition, 1855, The French Kevolution, The . . Gu&in, Pierre Hagar expelled by Abraham , Hall of Deputies, The . . Joseph and his Brethren Judith and Holofernes . . Julius II. conferring with Bra- mante, Baphael, and Michel lo 21 12 35 4 IS 23 33 23 16,23 " La Smala," The Capture of La Vallett^s Oath .... lAoa Hunt, A Arabs, The . . . " Mendelssohn's Letters " 12 31 9 22 22 18 52 INDEX. Napoleon oit the Bridge of Areola Ocoupation of Ancona, The Passage of the Iron Gate, The . Philip, Duke of Oi'lea,us . . . Procession of Leo XlT., The . . ',10 cross- ing the Court of the Valiccm . Behecca at the Well .... ritam, The School, The Classic and Koman- tic Siege of Constantine .... 10 29 29 11 16 16 23 23 Sia/e of Borne, The . . Slave Market, The . . Sledge Drive, The . . . Soldier of Waterloo, The . Storming of Varna, The . Siorming of Vola, The . Smreiihder of Antwerp, The Taking of Glatz, The . . Tamww and, Jvdah . . . Trumpeter's Sorse, The Page . 34 . 29 . 30 9 . 26 30,35 . 29 5 23 The 3 9 Vernet, Antoine . . . Vemet, Antoine Charles Vernet, Claude Joseph . PAUL DELAROCHE. Fro,n the fainting by himself. PAUL DELAROCHE. ^W^ CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. 1797 TO 1837. Page Birth of Hippolyte Delaroche — Early taste for art — First exhi- bited picture, Joan of Aro — Vincent de Paul — Salon of 1831 — Admitted member of the Institute — Stay at Borne — Mar- riage — Pictures from English History 57 CHAPTER II. 1837 TO 1845. The Hemioycle — Second Visit to Rome 6* CHAPTER in. 1845 TO 1856. Death of his wife — The Infant Moses exposed by his Mother — The Young Martyr — Religious pictures — Mmrie Antoinette in the Conciergerie — Portraits— Death 75 List op Delaeoche's Paintings . .... 8* Index ... .... . . 88' Brief Notices ob the PainterSj Sculptors, and Aechi-. teots included in the Hemictcle .... i 56 CONTENTS. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Page PaMiJiAaxcK^i {from, the painting by himself ) . Prmti^iece 53 Kichelieu towing Cinq Mars and De Thou 58 Assassination of tlie Due de Guise 62 Charles I. insulted by Cromwell's Soldiers 66 Deposition from the Cross 78 Mother and Child. The painter's wife and their son Fhilippa {from an etching) 82 The Hemicycle of the Palais des Beaux Arts, Paris . . . xxx PAUL DELAROCHE. CHAPTER I. 1797 TO 1837. Birth of Hippolyte Delaroche — Early taste foi- art — First exhibited picture, Joan of Arc — Vincent de Paul — Salon of 1831 — Admitted member of the Institute — Stay at Rome — Marriage — Pictures from English History. HIPPOLYTE, or, as he usually called himself, Paul, Delaroche, was born in Paris upon the 16th of July, 1797, when the glory of the French army was at its zenith, and the nation had been stirred to the heart by the great Revolution. He grew up in the midst of scenes which teemed with suggestions and inspirations. His father was a well-known valuer of art treasures ; and Paul's recogni- tion of the truly beautiful amongst the numerous objects brought under his notice gave early proof of his genuine art feeling. He had none of those obstacles to encounter in the shape of poverty and discouragement which, whilst they appear to thwart, in reality stimulate youthful am- bition. The only check to the immediate realization of his wish to follow historical painting as a profession arose from 58 PAUL DELAROCHE. the fact that his elder brother Jules had already selected the same field of action; and at the time that Paul's career was to be determined, his father, whilst according him permission to be an artist, stipulated that he should avoid selecting the same branch of the profession as his brother. For a while, therefore, he was forced to content himself with the study of landscape painting, under Watelet. Whilst in that master's studio, he contested, unsuccess- fully, for the Grand Prix of 1817. To his great joy, his brother, after a short experience of an artist's life, relinquished his profession; and Paul was at liberty to follow his own inclinations. After a short course of study under a master now no longer remembered, named Desbordes, he entered the studio of Baron Gros. Gros was one of David's pupils, who had broken loose from the trammels of the antique and classic school, and was active in inspiring French art with new vitality. For four happy years Delaroche painted on in this congenial atmosphere, producing no work of any remarkable power, but from time to time employing his talents upon Scriptural subjects which gave promise of future excellence. He was twenty-four years of age before his Jehosheba sa/timg Joash was exhibited in the Salon of 1822 : attention was at once attracted to it, almost as much on account of its faults as of its merits, for both proclaimed a revolt against the rigidity of the classic school. The principal figure was so enveloped in shadow that no critical exami- nation of detail was possible, and the attitude and expres- sion were alike forced. Still there was an energy in the conception and vigour in the execution which proclaimed an ambitious hand. Artists of critical acumen spoke of it o < FRIENDSHIP WITH G^KICAULT. 59 as promising', and Delaroche was fortunate enough one day to overhear the commendatory remarks bestowed upon it by Gericault, the well-known painter of The Baft of the Med/ma. Delighted at this recognition of his talents by so quali- fied a judge as Gericault, Delaroche could not rest until he obtained a personal introduction to the great master, and the next day found him drinking in with eager haste the . .suggestions and instructions which Gericault was equally ready to give. The friendship thus happily begun no doubt contributed largely to Delaroche's future success, and probably he owed to it his escape from the exaggera- tions into which another contemporary was falling. Simul- taneously with Delaroche's Jehosheba, Eugene Delacroix had exhibited his Dante and Virgil in Hades, a composition which excited universal comment and severe criticism, set- ting, as it did, all the established rales of David's school at open defiance. It was followed by The Massacre of Scio — a painting so antagonistic to all recognized theories, so dramatic in conception, and so exaggerated in detail, that the tumult of praise and blame it evoked probably did even more to convince Paul of the folly of extremes than all Gericault's counsels of wisdom. In 1824 Delaroche exhibited Joan of Arc and Vincent de PomI, which, in comparison with Delacroix's productions, appeared moderate, but which fell far short of any high standard. Probably they owed their popularity quite as much to the contrast they afibrded to the exaggerations of The Massacre of Scio as to their own intrinsic merit. No greater proof could be afibrded of the fact that Paul Dela- roche was no genius in the true meaning of the word. He was not inspired. In his earliest, as in his latest works, 60 pauj\ delaroche. we find no trace of that creative'' power whieh in true genius forces itself through all trammels, in spite of all obstacles. We might almost say that he had no inven- tion, but he possessed in an eminent degree the faculty of intuition. In chgosing his subjects, he never lost sight of the limit of his own powers. He knew what he could do, and estimated his own productions at their true value. He had an uncompromising sense of the duty he owed to himself; and no applause or approbation contented him unless he himself endorsed the commendation which others bestowed upon him. This knowledge of himself saved him from mediocrity. When, in 1827, his Death of Elizabeth took the public by storm, and elicited applause and enthusiastic admiration from the multitude, he himself, perhaps for the first time, recognized how little of true art there was in the picture. With the sole exception of the dying queen, with her pathetic expression of despair, and the anguish of a dis- appointed life, in the deeply-lined face and agonized eyes, the painting was merely a well-assorted collection of stuffs, velvets, and jewels. The remaining figures in the scene answered simply as pegs for the exhibition of elaborate workmanship, and the whole conception was wanting ia imagination. Delaroche's conviction of his own shortcomings is suffi- ciently proved by a painting of the same year, undertaken for the Oonseil d'Etat. The Death of President Dv/rcmti is a wonderful work : the arrangement of the group, the varied expressions of the several actors in the'scene are so true to life. The tragedy is enacted on canvas as it may have hap- pened in life : everylihing is natural, and the more tragic from the absence of any effort to make it appear so. In it SALON OF 1831. 61 Delaroche laid the foundation of future success. Himself the severest critic of his own productions, he strove, and strove successfully, to observe a middle course between the rigid and lifeless propriety of the classic school and the glaring radicalism of its opponents. He originated a style of his own, and became the recognized leader of the eclectic school of French painting. In the Revolution of 1830 the last remnants of respect for the formality of David's style were swept away, and Delaroche, with his instinctive appreciation of popular feeling, became the idol of the French people. Singularly happy in his choice of subjects, he selected those scenes from history which were familiarly known in romance. His dramatic instinct en- abled him to seize the right moment for the denouement, whilst the accuracy of eVery detail of costume and appoint- ment attracted and satisfied those who sought in a paint- ing the real rather than the ideal. The Salon of 1831 was enriched by four remarkable contributions from Delaroche — Tlie Princes in the Tow&r, The Beaih-Bed of Mazarin, Eichelieu fowing Cinq Man's ' and Be Thou in the ivahe of Ms Bmrcje, and Gromioell opening ' the Coffin of the martyred King. Contemporary critics sought some political meaning in these productions of Paul's brush, but very unfairly. Delaroche was too true to himself and to h's art to allow pirty spirit to influence his choice of subjects. His sympathy with all sufferijig was deep, and he recognized with enthusiastic appreciation the martyrs of every country, quite apart from their polii;ical bias. His aim was to represent with accurate fidelity the passions of the actors in the scenes he selected. Take, for example, his Bichelieu. The minister reclines, according to a chronicle of the day, upon a bed hung with 62 PAUL DELAROCHE. taffeta velvet upon the deck of the barge which, he had expressly ordered for the occasion. At poop and prow numbers of his guard are congregated in their scarlet cassocks, embroidered in gold and silver, and silk. Many nobles of the Court accompany him, and courtesans with their flippant laughter are not wanting. Behind the barge, in a small boat, in charge of several officers of Riche- lieu's selection, are his two prisoners. Contrast the com- posed expression of his, victims with the malignant scowl and look of vindictive hate which characterize the great minister. Again, in the scene of MaaairvrHs death-hed, the expiring agony of the dying minister is all-pervading. The tragedy is enacted in the midst of all the revelry and frivolity of Court life. Surrounded by the women who have been his toys — by the laughing beauties who care nothing for Death until he claims them as his prey^ — irritated in his last moments by the disconnected sentences which reach his dying ear as the political intriguers await the moment of his dissolution, he seems to feel as he gazes that the silver cord is about to snap. Imagination pictures the succeeding moment when Mazarin dead will no longer command even the semblance of respect. Still more suggestive is the attitude of Cromwell gazing upon the body of his martyred king. Here the subject was fraught with difficulty. How was it possible to portray the covert action of the Protector in such a way as to redeem it from unworthiness ? Delaroche succeeded triumphantly. The expression of Cromwell's face, as, having raised the coffin- lid, he stands supporting it with his gloved hand, is admi- rable. It conveys at once sorrow for the need of such a martyrdom, and disguised satisfaction at its accomplish- I SALON OF 1831. 68- ment. It suggests the idea of Cromwell's perfect convic- tion of the justification of the deed of blood, and of his stern yet lively faith in the inspiration under which he endorsed the death warrant. The figure of Cromwell was in itself sufficient to bring the story home to the multitude. How easy of recognition the stern features of the regicide ! how familiar the worn doublet, the spurred and travel- soiled appearance of the stern Protector ! how homely the face in which sorrow and satisfaction struggle for the mastery ! Still more dramatic in conception and yet more forcible in treatment is I'lie Assassination of the Bug de Guise. In it Delaroche attained the greatest possible force of contrast. There is a suggestion of absolute comedy in the expression and attitude of the craven king Henri and in the forward anxiety of the murderers for his approbation of the bloody deed, to which their drawn swords testify. Deepest tragedy reigns in the prostrate figure of the duke. The outstretched limbs, rigid in the composure of death, the stifiened features never again to relax, the expression yet lingering on the martyred face, convey an irresistible con- viction of the nobility of the victim. The cowardice and malignity of the wretched king are tenfold enhanced by the comparison. Such subjects as these were peculiarly suited to Dela- roche's powers : in his treatment of them he attained a certain, originality. Although more than one of his con- temporaries might have excelled him in passion or pathos, no modern painter could so happily have dramatized the exact moment for the representation of the scene. In this intuition lay his power — a power which largely influenced the public mind, and enabled him to lead, and in a mea- sure educate, the taste of the people. fc>4 PAUL DELAKOCHE. The familiarity of the scenes he depicted came home ti> everyone, and no small share of his popularity was due to his skill in the treatment of accessories. People appre- ciate largely any appeal to their latent knowledge, and Delaroclie rendered the actors in his dramas life-like by their dress, and intelligible by the detailed accuracy of the mise en scene. In 1882 he was admitted member of the Institute, and in 1833 he was made Professor of the School of Fine Arts. Closely following upon these events came another, which must have been in a high degree gratifying to the artist. A question of the decoration of the Madeleine arose, and the undertaking was offered to Delaroche. When we re- member that he was essentially a modern painter, and that he had paid very slight regard to religious art, the selection appears singular. He himself probably entertained grave doubts as to his own efficiency, but, after some hesitation, he accepted the commission. Having done so, he at once devoted himself to the proper accomplishment of the task. His acquaintance with the works of the great masters was oonSned to the specimens afforded by the Paris galleries. His sympathies had never led him to the study of the Italian painters. The works of the Flemish masters, or of Holbein and Diirer, had greater attraction for him than the masterpieces of R^jphael and Da Vinci. He had a singular fear of degenerating into a copyist, and sought in evoiy way to foster such originality as nature had bestowed upon him. Bat indulgence in such theories was no longer possible when once he had accepted the re- sponsibility of the decoration of the Madeleine. He decided upon visiting Italy, and determined to devote a year to the study of the grand religious paintings. But, as a safe- JOUENEY TO ROME. 65 guard against the possibility of allowing himself to borrcw ideas whilst studying the technicalities and earlier style of the divine masters, he arranged hisplans, and even sketched many of the subjects he proposed to amplify before he entered npon his jonrney. He left Paris in the month of June, 1834, accompanied by two friends, M. Edonard Ber- tin and M. Henri Uelaborde, and by one of his pupils. After remaining a short time at Florence and other Tuscan cities, the travellers proceeded to the quiet convent of Camaldoli, which is situated upon the highest point of the Apennines. The months spent here were devoted to study, and Delaroche sketched and re-sketched with keen pleasure and enthusiasm. He and his friends must have brought new life into the monotonous round of convent existence : the brothers of the order sat to him for their portraits, and many of these remain to testify to the friendliness and skill of the artist. In 1835 the friends continued their journey to Rome, where Delaroche, with his usual ardour, pursued the course of study he had laid down for himself, more particularly that of the nude. During his stay in Rome the painter met and married Louise, the only daughter of Horace Vernet. The young couple returned to Paris in all the joyful anticipation of a bright, unclouded future. A disappointment awaited them. Upon his arrival, Delaroche found that the Administration had confided a portion of the decorations he had undertaken to another artist. Keenly annoyed, Paul withdrew from the under- taking, and insisted upon returning the sum of money he had received for preliminary expenses. He contended that the work, although made up of various portions, ought to 66 PAUL DELAROCHE. be intrxisted to one hand only, and that if any other course were adopted it must be spoiled. Whether his objection was justifiable or not, his con- duct was clearly disinterested ; for he relinquished a sum of money which, at the outset of his married life, must have been of value to him, as he had no private income. Little trace of his Italian journey is to be found in the next productions of his brush : Charles I. insyited by Orormvell's Soldiers, and Strafford on Ms way to the Scaffold are both, in the most modern sense, historical pictures. In the first, the arrangement of the group is not happy ; the figure of Lord Falkland alone redeems it from medio- crity : the attitude of the King is uneasy, and wanting in that dignity which Charles I. never failed to call to his aid in moments of trial and insult. The picture, as a whole, is unequal to either Cromwell or The Death of t]ie Duo de Gvdse. Strafford on his way to the Scaffold is familiar to everyone, through Henriquel-Dupont's beautiful engraving. The moment chosen for the representation — as the aged bishop, extending his tremulous hands through the prison bars, utters the promised blessing, and Strafford, pausing on his way to the scafibld, kneels to receive it — is dramatic in the extreme. In it, as in The Execution of Lady Jane Grey, Delaroche has conveyed the deepest tragedy : in the latter, the moment of martyrdom has actually arrived ; the Lady Jane has covered her eyes with the kerchief, and, as in the words of the chronicle, is feeling, with outstretched hands, for the block. In her expressive face we read the courage of her innocence, and the steadfast nature of her trust in Him to whom she commends her spirit. But Delaroche was now to be .called to a yet more nro 1-1 w o O H 3 o w H >< a « s ^ a tj; H U COMMISSION FOR THE HEMICYCLE. Ql minent position. He was offered a commission to deco- rate the semicircular apse or Jiemicycle of the " Palais des Beaux Arts." After a slight hesitation he undertook it, and for four years devoted himself to the task, with the conscientious painstaking which was natural to him. CHAPTER IL 1837 TO 1845. The Hemicyclft^Second Visit to Eome. FROM th.e outset of his career DelarocLe had spared no pains in the elaboration of his conceptions. His con- viction of his own powers impelled him to construct and re- construct until he had satisfied his ideal. It was no unusual ihing for him to make twenty dif- ferent studies for one single figure, and then to model it in wax. More than once, when, after infinite painstaking with the sketch and model, the subject was at length transferred to canvas, and every essential detail with regard to light, shade, and effect arranged, he would con- demn it by his final verdict, and, scraping it out, recom- mence the earliest sketch. The work of the Hemicycle having been once undertaken by such a man, it was equally certain that every power of the artist's mind would be beni to its success. Delaroche's powers were taxed to the utmost. First of all arose the serious consideration as to subject. It was not easy to select one alike suitable to the room for which it was destined, and satisfactory to critics accustomed to THE HEMICYCLE. 69 regard mythological and allegorical representations as the fittest for mural painting, Delaroche was true to himself. Carrying out once more his own system of refined idealism, he conceived the idea of representing the great leaders of art in all ages, in their proper characters. He aimed at combining historical accuracy and poetic sentiment, and succeeded in a measure probably impossible to any con- temporary artist. This vast mural picture contains no less than seventy- five figures. In its execution Delaroche was assisted by four of his pupils, one of whom at least, Mr. Edward Armi- tage, has since then become famous. In the first instance the master sketched his plan, and, confiding it to his assistants, it was outlined upon the walls upon a greatly enlarged scale. This preliminary sketch occupied a month. At the end of that time, Delaroche altered and re-altered until the design entirely answered his views, and his pupils then proceeded to colour the principal figures from a carefully prepared sketch. At the end of a year, when the whole was painted in, Delaroche joined his pupils, and they worked together day by day until the colossal undertaking was completed. Delaroche himself was perhaps the most severe critic of the result of so m.uch toil. At the last moment he was anxious to condemn much of the finished work, but fortu- nately the Administration declined to give the necessary prolongation of time. This large work may be divided into three portions. In the centre, elevated as upon a throne, are the three great masters of antiquity. Ictinus, worthy associate of Oalli- crates in the architecture of the world-famed Pantheon • Apelles, the greatest of Greek painters, who lives immortal 70 PAUL DELAROCHE. in the renown of his Venus Anadyomene, and Phidias, the unsurpassable master of Greek sculpture — judges, as it were, awarding the prizes, which Glory (the only strictly allegorical figure of the entire work) is waiting to bestow. Tour female figures — ^two on the right hand of the judges, representing Greek and Gothic art, and, two on the left, typifying Roman art and the Renaissance — appear to assist in the distribution. Upon our right hand, as though pausing before the portico of fame, architects and illustrative artists appear to con- verse. Sansovino, architect. of the library of St. Mark's in Venice, lends a willing ear to the designer of Strasbourg. Cathedral ; the French Delorme, rapt in thought, con- structs, in fancy, castles grander than that which won the admiration of his, contemporaries. The famous Inigo Jones confers with Brunelleschi, the architect of Florence, with Lescot, the French designer of the Louvre, and with Bramante, the designer of St. Peter's at Rome. The great masters of the Italian and German schools, each attended by those who have followed and copied them, admit into their circle, in happy acknowledgment of the spirit which vitalized his works, the Frenchman Lesueur. The leaders of sculpture listen with respectful attention to the teaching of the two old Italian masters. Nicolo Pisano and Luca della Robbia, the inventor of enamelling. In another group we recognize the illustrious painters, who hearken tp the teaching of Leonardo da Vinci — true monarch of art. On the one hand Diirer bows before the greater master ; on the other, the youthful Raphael listens enchanted to the counsels of his forerunner ; whilst alone in the multitude, bowed with age and worn with work, Michelangelo holds himself aloof in silent contemplation of those who, THE HEMICTCLE. 71 sines ins death, have owed their inspiration to his genius, Poussin, perhaps gloating in fancy over some terrible scene, maintains an attitude of expectancy. A wonderful harmony pervades the diversified groups. Although each of the original masters form, as it were, the centre of a group composed of his imitators and disciples, Delaroche, by his intuitive perception of their leading characteristics, has so harmonized their natures as to present the idea of diversity in unity. All are in some degree alike, yet each has an individuality so marked that the least acquainted with the leaders of art cannot fail to recognize them. To our left of this vast Hemicycle stand the sculptors and colourists. The eye greets Claude Qel6e, of Lor- raine, the Dutch Raisdael, and Paul Potter, illustrious painter of animal life ; whilst around Titian — ^who stands, and with dignified mien imparts the secret of colouring — listen with rapt attention Velazquez and Rubens ; and even Rembrandt, in all his obstinate self-opinion, gives heed to the discourse. Last of all, to the left, we have Paolo Veronese, Correggio, and Murillo, with Antonello da Mes- sina, representative^ of Fancy, Poetry, and Delight ; las Poussin, at the opposite extreme, suggests the dignity and severity of Wisdom. Like some beautiful poem, the painting of the Hemi- cycle forms an harmonious whole, broken, as it were, into stanzas, each complete in itself, yet each no less a necessary part of the entire work. The glory of divine art in human form has never been more fully illustrated. In 1865 this wonderful work narrowly escaped destruc- tion at the hands of an incendiary ; fortunately, the progress of the flames was stayed, and the damage repaired under 72 PAUL DELAROCHE. the superintendence of the artist himself. Henriquel- Dupont spent eight years upon his engraving of this master- piece. It was impossible for the task to he carried on in the Palais des Beaux Arts, and Delaroche's pupils made a small copy of the original, which the master retouched. In order to do so efficiently, Paul worked for four weeks in the depth of a severe winter before the original. When at last the Hemicycle was thrown open to the public, adverse criticism was not wanting. To this, how- ever, Delaroche was well accustomed. The same year that witnessed the commencement of the Hemicycle had been bitter to him in many things. In the Salon of that year, his Sainte Cecile had evoked such a storm of abuse from art critics, that the artist, hurt and annoyed, vowed never again to exhibit. This resolve he kept, and probably the quiet years spent in the Palais des Beaux Arts confirmed his dislike of the notoriety which malignant criticism obtained for him. He was himself, as we have shown, no lenient judge of his own performance, but his own words are sufficient proof that he believed in the possession of still greater capabilities than he had as yet shown. " If," said he, " I were permitted to efface my work and begin it afresh, I would consent with all my heart to being shut up for another four years in this hall, which I leave to-day, little elated with what I have done, but taught by experience, and at least prepared for better things. As my work stands, I think it is presentable ; but as I see it in imagination, with all the higher qualities which I now feel capable of giving it, I take it simply as an evidence of progress in sentiment, and of increased power for the future." A YEAR IN ROME. 73 In 1842, a proposal was made that he should decorate the Great Hall of the " Palais de Justice." This project, however, was not carried into effect ; and the knojwledge and experience he had gained were to be spent on smaller works. In 1838 he had passed a few months abroad in search of historical details for two pictures, which had been ordered from him by the Musee of Versailles. They were to have been The Baptism of Clovis and The Coronation of Gliairlemagne ; but after every preparation had been made for them, Paul Delaroche withdrew, and declined to paint, them. His conduct was attributed to political feelings, and it was urged that his dislike to the Bourbon family suggested his refusal ; but more probably he felt no sym- pathy for the subjects proposed to him, and he was very un- likely to devote hiniself to subjects which had no interest for him as an artist. In 1843 he decided to go abroad once more, and this time revisited Rome, He remained there for a year — a year spent in hard work and fruitful in occupation. The immediate results were his .Eepose of the Holy Fa/mily and Portrani of Pope Gregory XVI. The influence of this stay in Rome is clearly to be traced in all his later works. During the fifteen years which elapsed between the completion of the Hemicycle and his death, very few of his pictures were seen even by his most intimate friends. His greatest work was his last public undertaking ; but since his death, a fuller acquain- tance with his later pictures has suflSciently demonstrated that the last years of his working life were as prolific of advancement as the first. G 74 PAUL DELAROCHE. A perceptible progress is discernible in the paintings of each succeeding year^an improvement due, not only to truer and broader inspiration, but also to that deepening of character which comes with a great sorrow. CHAPTER III. 1845—1856. Death of his wife — The Infant Moses exposed by his Mother — Tlie Young Martyr — Eeligiuvis pictures — Marie Antoinette in the Oonciergerie — ■ Portraits — Death. IN 1845, after ten years of most happy married life, Paul Delaroche lost Ms idolized wife. The daughter of Horace Vernet had inherited her father's love of art, and was possessed of rare beauty and accomplishments. Her influence over the somewhat reserved and melancholy character of her husband was most happy. Paul, in his beautiful B.ead of an Angel, has immor- talized her features,, and her letters which have been pre- served give us a high conception of her character. Fond of society, she was the centre of the delightful coteries of talented and distinguished guests who frequented Dela- roche's home in the Kue de la Tour des Dames, and her loss was keenly felt beyond the limits of her own family. When, in 1843, the artist went to Italy, he was accom- panied by his wife and their two children. Madame Dela- rochetook the deepest interest in her husband's paintings, and in her letters constantly refers to them. In one of these a.ddressed to a friend, and dated Naples, August 16, 1844, she alludes to the Fortrcdt of Gregory XVI., which was '7S PAUL DELAROCHE. then in progress, and which it was her husband's intention to present to the Qaeen upon their return to Paris. This gift was accepted by her Majesty, and as an acknowledg- ment, Madame Delaroche was asked to accept a magnificent set of emeralds. In another letter Madame Delaroche playfully alludes to the artist's devotion to his work, and says : " Paul, I believe, will work up to the very moment of bur leaving." In June, 1845, Madame Delaroche's health had already become so bad that her friends tried to persuade her to try the efficacy of the waters at Swalbach,but this she steadily refused to do. A stay in the country with some friends, so far restored her strength that she writes : — " I am really much better since my stay here. Could my mother see the improvement she would certainly en- dorse my wish not to go farther away. The children are as much improved as I am. Paul, after suffering for eight or ten days with his eyes, has settled down to his Oenoi." Returning to Paris with the delusive hope of re-estab- lished health, old habits were resumed by Madame Dela- roche, and the pleasant evening receptions recommenced. But it was soon evident that the improvement was only temporary, and upon the 15th of December all was over. A letter written some few months before her death is very illustrative of the high tone of her character, and ex- plains the influence which her memory exercised over the artist in the lonely years that followed. After deploring the inevitable fact, that in the education of boys the time comes when the authority and teaching of the mother are no longer sufficient, she adds : " Everything must now depend upon the example set by a father. Words are of no use, opinions and sentiments are valueless. Professions must KELIGIOUS PAINTINGS. 77 be carried out in action, and no member of a family has a right to dispense with the outward ceremonies imposed by the Church. . . . God, indeed, is the only judge of con- science. He alone can tell the belief of each individual ; but as He has clothed each soul in a body, He accepts certain outward forms as manifestations of the inward faith." After his great loss Paul became more and more reserved, devoting himself to his art and to the education of his two sons, over whom he watched with more than a father's devotion, and the works succeeding this year of trial show a depth of feeling which had hitherto been wanting in his compositions. The Infant Moses exposed by his Mother is a great ad- vance upon his earlier paintings, both in the colouriag, which is clear and limpid, and in the beautiful and life- like expression of the infant's face. In this, as in The Young Martyr, the accessories play a subordinate part. Upon the turbid waters of the Tiber, in the darkening gloom of oncoming night, floats the lifeless body of a martyred girl. In all the utter helplessness of one of God's most defenceless creatures, she is borne onward by the current. The death agony is over ; the serenity and peace of victory are hers. A last triumphant smile lingers upon the discoloured lips ; the hands, fast bound with the " bracelets of martyrdom," are seen above the water, in which, unless the Christians passing by on the rocky shore above obey her silent appeal for Christian burial, she will shortly be submerged. The light upon her face comes directly from a circlet of glory, which is descending over her, and which throws into strong relief tho gathering shadows of the gloomy night. 78 PAUL DELAROCHE. None but a poet at lieart could have so conceived, so painted, and so idealized tlie subject. The religious paintings whicli now largely occupied Delaroche's brush are marked by the same inspiration. Had he given nothing to posterity but four little scenes from the Paasion, he would still have found a foremost place among modern painters. In them he reached true pathos, entering, indeed, into the inner life of the actors. TheEniomhment of Ghrist,in which we have the outstretched corpse of the Saviour, tenderly supported and swathed in linen by those who loved Him, yet had not been able to spare Him one detail of his dying anguish, is so innately true as to appeal to the heart of every beholder. In the Virgin with the Holy Women Paul Delaroche sought to penetrate behind the scenes. He imagined the humble house where the mother and loved disciples of the Lord await the passing of the procession. In a small room lighted by but one window, through which the Virgin Mother watches for the coming of the condemned Son, and from which, as yet, only a glimpse of the soldiers' spears and the writing destined for the Cross foreshadow the coming tragedy, are assembled the best loved of the Saviour's friends. How keen the suffering of the kneeling mother, the sorrow of the holy women who desire in vain to comfort her ! how great the contrast between the passionate, self-condemning grief of St. Peter and the tenderness and self-forgetfulness of the beloved disciple's despair! The artist has succeeded in conveying to the Virgin's face at once an expression of matronly dignity and of unqualified adoration of the Son who is her God. The third scene shows us The Virgin Mother, as, the last act of the agonizing drama over, she contemplates with anguished heart the crown ^' ^>* :i.--N . -t i » ^ if) '! 'A > S / ' 1 J r " * £iL>» ^^f Eh ^ P -s En ■^ O ■» A. •«; M -» ■ ^ HISTORICAL PAINTIjVTGS. 79 of thorns yet wet with the blood of the crucified Son. In the last, we have T]ie Eeiuiti from Oolgotlm, when^all need for self-control over, the Virgin swoons in the arms of her sympathizing friends. Two historical pictures, painted towards the close of his life, still remain to be noticed. In The Grirondins, he has succeeded in throwing into an event too recent to be veiled in the glamour of romance so much dignity of individual character, so much force of tragedy, that it must rank amongst his niost successful efiforts. In it he attained to a picturesqueness of light and shade of which he had given no previous example. In Marie Anihinette in the Conciergerie, he brings before us in lifelike reality the royal widow, whose head, at thirty-eight, is blanched with trouble, but not yet bowed beneath the indignities and insults which are heaped upon her. Her calm and dignified bearing, as with upright carriage she precedes the guard in attendance, contrasts admirably with the angry and excited faces of the crowd who struggle to gain sight of her. In the faces of two of the spectators, Delaroche has conveyed the contrast of diverse natures : in the malignant scowl of satisfied re- venge on the one face, and the pity that at the sight of so much woe struggles in the mind of her neighbour, and for the moment softens her expression into one of womanly sympathy. The same qualities which distinguished Delaroche as an historical painter are found in the numerous portraits from his brush : they show the same steady progress. There is a marked advance in those executed in his later years ; and when, after his death, his collected works were exhi- bited, none excited greater admiration than his portraits. 80 PAUL UELAROCHE. During his lifetime two only had been exhibited — one in 1827 of the Bug d'Angouleme,aiidi. one oi Mdlle. Soniag in 1881. After his return from Rome he was in great re- quest as a portrait painter, and most of the eminent men of his day sat to him. Among the most successfal of his likenesses are those of M. de Berrmsat, of the Due de Nocdlles, Prince Adam Gzartoryshi, M. de Salvandy, and M. Thiers. In the portrait of M. Emile Pereire, which was his last, he has i-hown a fidelity to truth almost equal to that of Holbein. He brings before us the man, not as he might have wished to appear, but as he was. It is as though the painter's own intense individuality of character imbued him with a concep- tion of that of his sitter. In all his portraits he seizes upon the character of the subject, and assists the realization- of it by a minute attention to detail, and by what at times amounts to an almost exaggerated realism in the acces- sories : this is notably the case in his portrait of M. Pow- talesMorgier, who stands before us surrounded by art relics, which are brought as prominently into notice in his picture as they frequently were in his conversation. Delaroche was forced into somewhat more active life by the Revolution of 1848. Not only were his sympathies enlisted in behalf of his many friends, whose losses were greater than his own, but he. was forced to consider his own position. He at one time thought of leaving France, but as he was now past fifty years of age, it was a serious step to take. "Writing upon the 18th of July to M. Labouchere, he says : — " The future is even more dark to me than the present. Disturbances are far from being over, and I am unfortu- nately one of those who can produce nothing good but in DEATH. 81 peace and quiet. It would be impossible for me to be a painter amid such scenes, yet I must live and bring up my children." Increased apprehension andmelanoholy appearin another . letter of a later date : — " I can do nothing but think of the future. The folly of men has reached such a pitch that it would be absurd to attempt to understand it or to presage what may come of all this chaos. I think too little of men to hope .... Formerly I held opinions like others, but now I no longer allow myself to do so, events are too rapid for my intelli- gence. I am content to live from hour to hour." His friends opposed his ideas of leaving Prance to settle in America or Russia, and he remained in Paris until the health of his eldest son obliged him to travel. He was much pleased and touched by the reception accorded him in Germany, and in writing to his friend enlarges upon the welcome given to him., " as if," he says, " I were a prince before the time of republics. I did not know I was such a great person." The artist settled for a while at Nice, but there new sorrow awaited him in the death of his brother. For a time it seemed as if this new grief had re-awakened all the agony of his wife's death, but by degrees he became more resigned, and in a letter of sympathy which he wrote some- what later to his friend, who was in like grief, he says : — " If your tears are bitter now, later you will learn that they will be sweetened by the reflection that you mourn the loss of one whose life upon earth was an example of devotion." Paul Delaroche was not destined to long life. His death, which took place upon the 4th of November, 1856, was 82 PAUL DELAROCHE. unexpected by his friends, but not by himself. He had suffered for a long time from an affection of the liver. Two days before his death his friend M. Labouohere was with him, and Delaroche remarked, " We all think that we have a long and beautiful life before us, but the day will oome when God wilLsay to each, ' Tou can go no farther.' " One of his pupils sat up with him the night before his death. Paul asked for 'his hand, and begged him to re- main near him. He slept easily, and in the morning was moved into the room where, eleven years before, his wife had breathed her last. At three o'clock in the afternoon he died without a struggle, at the age of fifty-nine, after a life which in its uniform success has had few equals. Few examples can be found of men who, with ability not in the least approaching to genius, have been so true to themselves, so true to the art to which they have de- voted their lives, and so little biased by the judgment of others, as Paul Delaroche. Pioneer though he was of the eclectic school of paint- ing in Prance, he can hardly be said to have founded it. Although many distinguished names are to be found among his pupils, none of them appear to have derived any marked peculiarity from their master, if we except the graceful arrangements and adherence to historical truth which characterize their compositions. His life was so fully devoted to the cultivation of such powers as he pos- sessed, and he was so little content to rest satisfied with the laurels he had gained, that he had no opportunity of laying down stringent laws for the guidance of others ; and his sense of his own shortcomings obviated all desire to force his own principles upon his pupils. Facsimile of an Etching by Paul Delaroche. CRITICISMS. 83 We cannot better conclude our sketch of this most popular of modern artists than with a quotation from his able biographer, M. Henri Delaborde : — " Paul Delaroche had the good fortune to please alike the critical few and the many. From his first entrance into public life to its close, success attended him. But far from pluming himself upon applause, and imagining him- self at the goal whilst he was yet upon the road thither, he exacted more of himself in proportion as he was more favourably received. Far from speculating upon his ac- quired reputation, he invariably acted as though he had still a name to make." LIST OF PAUL DELAROCHE'S PRINCIPAL "WORKS. Ckiejh/ taken from the Catalogue of the Exhibition of his Paintings Drawings, Water- Colours, and Engravings at the Palais des BeoMX Art^s in 1857. Salon, 1822. Joash saved by Jehoslieba. Descent fi-om the Cross. Salon, 1824. Filippo Lippi. Joan of Arc. Saint Vincent de Paul preaching before Louis XIII. Saint Sebastian. Gallekt Lebkcn, 1826. Death of Agostino Carracci. Salon, 1827. Flora Macdonald. The Result of a Duel. Deafh of President Duranti. Death of Elizabeth (now in the Louvre). Young Caumont de la Force saved by Du Verdelet (in the Museum of Konigsberg). Taking of the Trocadero. Salon, 1831. Children of Edward V. (now in the Louvre). > Cardinal Richelieu towing Cinq Mars and De Thou (in the pos- session of Sir Richard Wallace). Cardinal Mazarin on his Death - Bed. Portrait of Mademoiselle Sjntag. A Reading Lesson. Crumwell opening Charles I.'s Coffin (now in the Museum at Nismes.) Salon, 1834. Lady Jane Grey's Execution. Sainte Amalie, Queen of Hungary. Galileo. Head of Camaldoline Monk. Ditto. Two Heads. Salon, 1835. Assassination of the Due de Guise. Head of an Angel (not exhibited). LIST OF PAINTINGS. 86 Painted 1836. Portrait of Horace Vernet, in crayon. Portrait of M. Henriquel Dupont. Napoleon in his Study (in the pos- session of Lady Sandwich). Portrait of M. Guizot. Salon, 1837. Strafford on his way to Execution (in possession of the Duke of Sutherland). Saint Cecilia. (This was the last year in which De- laroche exhibited at the Salon.) 1837. Portrait, M. le Marquis de Fitz- james. Portrait, M. le Baron Mallet. 1838 AND 1839. Portrait of A. G. Aub6. Portrait of M. Achille Pould. The Besiegers of the Bastille. 1841. Hemicycle of the Palais des Beaux Arts (commenced 1837 : en- graved by Henriquel Dupont). Portrait of his son, Horace Dela- roche, aged five years. 1842. Pico della Mirandola (in the Mu- seum at Nantes). Portrait of General Bertrand. The Pilgrims at Rome. The Virgin with the Vine (de- stroyed by fire). 1843. A Mother's Joy. Herodias. Crayon Porti'aitofBaronessHallez- Claparfede (study for Herodias). 1844. Young Girl, Portrait of Gregory XVI. The Prisoners. The Little Mendicant. Portrait of M. Lamartine. 1845. Young Girl on a Sec-saw (in the Museum at Nantes). Portrait, Dae de Noailles Portrait, M. de R^musat. Napoleon at Pontainebleau (now in Leipzig Museum). 1846. Portrait, M. de PourtaIfes»Gorgier. Portrait, M. de Salvandy. Christ in Gethsemane. Portrait of M. le Baron Mallet. 1847. Portrait, M. Pranyois Deiessert. Portrait, Doctor Clomel. 1850. Portrait, M. Schneider. 1851. Bonaparte Crossing the Alps. Marie Antoinette after her Con- demnation. _ Portrait of Horace Vernet. Portrait of Philippe Delaroche. 1852. Napoljon at Si. Helena. 86 LIST OF PAINTINGS. 1852. Last Prayer of the Two Little Princes. Mater Dolorosa (in the Museum of LLfige). 1853. Moses exposed by his Mother. Flight into Egypt. Entombment of Christ. Mother of Moses. Portrait of Prince Adam Czar- tbryski. Christ carrying his Cross. 1854. Italian Mother and Child. Madame Elizabeth separated from her Family. Mary Stuart's Last Communion. 1855. The Cenci led to Execution. The Young Martyr. Christ in the Garden. Portrait of M. Emile Pereire. The Virgin with the Holy Women. Christ protects the Afflicted. 1856. The Girondins. 1857. Madame Elizabeth conducted to the Scaffold. Marie Antoinette at the Concier- gerie. Virgin contemplating Crown of Thorns. Portrait, M. Thiers. Return from Golgotha. Virgin and Child {Design). A Mother with her Child (Eii- CHRONOLOGY. 87 CHRONOLOGY OF THE LIFE OF DELAROCHE. Pago 1797. Born in Paris, July 16tli 57 1822. First exhibited in the Salon 58 „ Friendship with G^ricault 59 1832. Admitted member of the Institute 64 1833. Made Professor of the School of Fine Arts . . . . 6-t 1834. Visited Italy 65 1835. Married Louise Vernet, at liome 65 1837. Began to paint the Hemicyole 68 1843. Second visit to Rome ........ 73 1845. Death of his wife 75 „ Visited Germany 81 1856. Died, November 4th 81 BIBLIOGRAPHY. Blanc. Paul Delaroche. By Charles Blanc. In the " Histoure des Peintres de toutes les Ecoles." Paris. Delaboede. CEuvre de Paul Delaroche reproduit en photngraphie par Bingham, acoompagn^ d'une notice sur la vie et les ouvrages de Paul Delaroche, par Hem'i Delaborde; etdu catalogue raisonn^ de I'oeuvre, par Jules Godd^. Paris. 1858. M. C. H. Paul Delar'oche. In the '-Fine Arts Quarterly Beview." London. 1864. MiRECOHRT. Les Contemporains : Paul Delaroche. Par EugSiie de Mfrecourt. Paris. 1856. 88 INDEX TO DELABOCHE. INDEX. • {The Names of Paintings me printed, m Italic.) -t, Pag" I ^ Page Angoulhne, Due de, Portrait of | Infant Moses exposed hy his Mo- the 80 ! ther, The 77 . 58 Armitage, Edwaxd Assassi/naiion of the Duo de Gidse 61 Bertin, Edouard 65 (Maries I. insulted hy Cromwell's Soldiers 66 Qromwell opening the Coffin of Ohmiesl. 61 Csa/rtoryski, Prince Adam, Por- trait of 80 Death of Elisabeth 60 Death of President Dwranti , . 60 Death-Bed ofMasa/rin, The . . 61 Delaborde, Henri 65 Delacroix, Eugene . . . . 59 Dupont, Henriquel .... 72 Entombment of Christ, The . . 78 Execution of Lady Jane Grey . 66 GMoault 59 Giirondins, The 79 Gregory XVI., Pope, PoriraM of 73, 75 Grros, Baron 58 Head of an Angel 75 .Hemicycle, The 68 Henriqnel Dupont 72 .69 j Jehoshdia saving Joash Joa/nofArc 59 Laboiielifere, M 82 Madeleine, Decoration of the . 64 Marie Antoinette in the Gonoier- gerie 79 Noailles, Due de. Portrait of the 80 Pereire, M„ Emile, Portrait of . 80 PmirtaUs- Gorgier,M.,Portraitof 80 the Tower, The . . 61 Bimusat, M. de. Portrait of . 80 Bepose of the Holy Family . 73 Betv/mfrom Golgotha, The . . 78 Bichelieu towing Cinq Mars and De Thou 61 Sainte C£cile 72 Sontag, Mdlle., Portrait of . . 80 Strafford on his way to the Scaf- fold 66 Vernet, Louise 65 Vincent de Paul , ■ . . . 59 Virgin Mother, The .... 78 Virgin, with the HoVy Women, The 78 Yoimg Martyr, The 77 ^ mmssmmmsm w m ^ mKf* ^