A Digitized by the Internet Arcliive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/memorandaonfiftyOOrobi Memoranda on Fifty PiBures^ Selected from a CoUeSflon cf Works of the Ancient Mafiers, Memoranda on Fifty PiSiures^ Selected from a ColleBion of IVorks of the Ancient Maflers. With Notices offome Italian^ Spanijh^ German^ Flemijf) and Dutch Painters. •-^^ BY J. a ROBINSON. LO ND ON: Privately printed^ at the Chifwick Prefs, bj Whittingham and Wilkins. 1868. THE GETTY C£NIt^ PICTURES OF THE ITALIAN SCHOOLS, No, I. Lorenzo Monaco y Florence, painted circa C^M.. ieldsy each bearing three maces, — the arms of the Florentine family, Gondi {?) — and in the pediment above is a buft, or half-length figure of our Saviour, in the a SI of benediBion. This piSiure B 2 PICTURES OF THE was formerly at Wolterton^ in the colleBion of the late Earl of Orford, by whom it was acquired in Italy, It is noticed by Waagen (^^ Art Treafures^'* vol. Hi, p, 436), in the follow- ing terms: " Taddeo di Bartolo, The Virgin and Child' an excellent piBure, efpecially in the exprejjion of melancholy in the head of the Virgin, I am not aware to what mafier the pi8ure is here attributed, ''^ Signor G, B, Cavalcafelle, who has feen this piSlure more recently in the pofejjion of the writer, afcribes it moft pojitively to Lorenzo Monaco, No, 2. Giovanni di Paolo ^ (Siena ^ painted circa "T^he Annunciation, Width i //. 6 in,^ height I //. In the centre y the principal fubje5i reprefents the announcing angel appearing to the Virgin, within an elaborate interior of richly- decorated i^th century architecture. On the right, in a feparate compartment, St. Jofeph is feen feated near a fire, and on the oppofite fide in the background, is reprefented the garden of Eden, with the expulfion of Adam and Eve, A highly finifi^ed teinpera picture on panel, probably a com- partment of a predella, — acquired from the late Mr, Farrer, Signor Cavalcafelle notices this picture New Hifiory of Painting in Italy, vol. Hi, p, 80,) as follows : A panel {fmall) by Giovanni di Paolo is (under the name of Gentile di Fabriano) in pojjefiion of Mr, Farrer in London, SubjeEt, the Annunciation and the Expulfion of Adam and Eve from Paradife, In the fame ftyle is an 'Adoration of the Magi, from the Northwick colleSiion, now belonging to Mr, Fuller Maitland,'^ ITALIAN SCHOOLS. 3 No. 3. Sandro Botticelli^ {^Alejfandro Filipepiy Florence, 1447-1 5 15.) The Virgin and Child^ and St. John, 'Diameter nft. 10 in. yf" T'ondo'' or circular panel pBurCy painted in tempera^ retaining its ancient carved and gilded frame of fruit and flowers. The Virgin ftanding^ her countenance marked with an ex^ prejjion of melancholy foreboding, tenderly embraces the infant Saviour, whom f>e holds in her arms* She is clad in blue drapery, and over her head and Jhoulders is thrown a tranf- parent veiL On the left the infant St. John bends forward in an attitude of adoration, Landfcape background, an extended country, with a lake or river and a city in the diftance. Acquired in Florence. No. 4. Fra Bartolommeo {Baccio della Forta^ Florence, 1469-1 5 17.) (3^^ ejl. iq^. T^he Virgin and Child. Panel. Height 6^ in.y width 5^. in. The Virgin, clad in blue and red drapery (a three-quarter figure, feen nearly down to the feet), is feated on a throne be- twixt two pilafters. She holds an opened book, the leaves of which the Infant Saviour , feated in her lap, is turning over with both hands. The deep-toned tranfpare?it colouring 4 PICTURES OF THE and powerful chtar^-ofcuro of the mafter are chara^eriftically difplayed in this work, which is moreover executed in the moji careful manner. Although of unufuallj fmall dimenfionsy it was obvioufy a devotional piSiure complete in itfelf The carved and gilded frame of this piBure is of Spanif? ijth century origin. No. 5. Mariotto Albertinelli^ {Florence, 1477-1520.) Four fmall panels^ united in the fame frame^ fainted in oil on a gold ground. Dimenfions of each^ 6 in. long by 5 in. high. The fuhjeBs reprefent refpe lively ; A Sacra Conver- fazione, — The V irgin and Child feated on a throne ^ with St. Anthony and St. fames ft an ding one on each fide. The Crucifixion y with the Virgin and St, John, The Martyrdom of St. Stephen and the Martyrdom of St, Sebafiian. Thefie fmall pi^ures, painted neverthelefs, with all the breadth of manner of the great works of the mafter^ were acquired in Florence y and the writer has more recently feen in that city feveral other fmall compofitions, which feem originally to have formed part of the fame fieries ; but fome of thefie were by another and infierior maftery perhaps 11 Francia Bigio, All the laft-named pictures y however y were unfiortunately in fio damaged a condition as to render their acquifition undefirable. The fiour now deficribedy on the contrary^ are in their priftine ftate. They appear originally to have formed part of a continuous hand or framework of fmall panelsy furrounding a larger ITALIAN SCHOOLS. 5 devotional pi^ure, probably removed from one of the churches of Florence or the neighbourhood. They are of the mature period of the painter, and they Jirongly recall the manner of his friend and fellow-worker y Fra Bartolommeo ; the phyfw- nomic type of the figures and other peculiarities , however, identify them as the work of Albertinelli. No. 6. Mar cello Venujli, after Michael Angelo. (151 5-76 ; worked in Rome.) The Holy Family y called II Silenzio.'' Panel. Height 6\ in.^ width 5-^ in. The Fir gin is feated on a ft one bench ^ at one end of which is a recejs containing an hour-glafsy her right hand refts on an opened book, and ftje is looking down upon the Infant Saviour, who lies afeep by her ftde, his head and arms refting on her knee. Behind, on the right, Jofeph leans fortvard, his head fupported on his hand, and refting on the raifed back of the bench, and on the oppofite fide the young St. John alfo bends forward with his finger to his lips. This beautiful compofition of the great Florentine Capo Scuola " has been frequently re- peated by his fcholars, both painters and engravers. The original work, by Michael Angelo, was probably a drawing or cartoon, no longer extant. The prefent highly finift^ed little picture offers a typical example of the works of the " little mafiers^^ the copyifts of Michael Angelo, of whom Marcello Venufii and Giulio Clovio ft and at the head. 6 PICTURES OF THE No. 7. Lo Spagna [Umbnan School ; painted circa 1507-30.) The Flagellation of our Saviour. Panel. Height I ft. iQ in.y width i //. 7 in. In the centre of the compoftion, our Saviour, in the nude, the fgure feen full in front, his hands tied behind his back, and with a blue drapery round his loins, is bound to a tall Corinthian column. Two executioners are fcourging him, the one on the right fide of the piSlure, with his back to the fpe^ator, the other on the oppofite fide, a front figure, with a narrow fcarf of crimfon and yellow fl^ot drapery round his loins ; both wear fantafiic caps or turbans, ornamented with feathers and fcroll foliage, of a type feen in many works of Perugino and his fchool. In the background is a portico of three Ionic pilafiers, with circular arches betwixt, in the fpandrils of which are fmall fculptured medallions with equef trian figures. Through the openings of the arches is feen a landfcape background, — a valley bordered with diftant blue mountains, and with fender trees with light open foliage on each fide. This piBure, formerly afcribed to Pietro Perugino, was obtained, many years ago in Milan, by George Morland, Efq., and it afterwards pafi^ed into the colleBion of Lord Northwick. There can be little doubt that it is from the hand of the Spanifio follower of the great Umbrian mafier. The ecleSiic peculiarities of Lo Spagna are indeed manifefied in this work in a very evident manner. Lo Spagna is known to have directly imitated Pietro Perugino, Luc a S ignore Hi, and Rafi^aelle, and in the prefent piBure the Chrift bears an almoft exaSi ITALIAN SCHOOLS. 7 refemblance to more than one Jtmilar figure by PietrOy whilfl the two executioners^ although drawn and painted with greater delicacy and refinement ofi manner, are evidently free imitations of the two ftriking figures in the well-known little piaure of the Flagellation, by Luc a S ignore Hi, in the Br era, at Milan.* The infiuence of Rafil^aelle is moreover to be feen in every part of the piBure, particularly in the beautiful land- fcape background, which is identical in treatment with thofe of Raffae lie's earlier pi^ures, notably with that of the Madonna della Cafa Canigiani at Munich, This piBure, one of the moft highly finijhed productions, on a fmall fcale, of the JJmbrian fchool of the ear lieft years of the i^th century, was in all pro- bability painted in clofe connexion with Raffaelle, whilft both he and Lo Spagna were fellow-ftudents or affifta?its with Perugino. No. 8. Gian-Antonio Boltraffio {Milan. Painted circa 1500.) Panel. Heizht i ft. 1. in., width i //. i in. Bufi portrait of a young man of about twenty years old, with J^-^j^i^^JJ:^%^^ , dark bufi:?y hair, cut firaight acrofs the forehead, wearing a low black cap or beretta, plain black, tight-fitting doublet, /bowing a narrow margin of white linen collar round the neck, the coftume * It is not unlnterejiing to note that the fame finely 'draivn figures ivere adopted again by a great I'jth century majier — Domenichino, for they maybe recognized in the tivo executioners in the celebrated frejco of the Martyrdom of St, Andrew^ by that majier^ in the church of Sant^ Andrea della Valle^ in Rome. 8 PICTURES OF THE indicating the end of the \^th century. T'he background is a leaded light window cajement of round " bulls* eye^^ quarries. This fixture was acquired in Bologna and originally came from the Galleria Ercola?ii, where it was attributed to Francefco Francia. Whiljly however^ the piSlure difplays many points of refemblance with the ftyle of Francia, the influence of Leonardo fo ftrongly ftamped upon it,feems to preclude the like- lihood of its being the work of the former great mafler. The prefent attribution to Boltraffio is made on the authority of Dr, Waagen, who, on recently infpeBing the piSiure, declared his certain conviction that it was by that rare follower of Leonardo, No. 9. Sodoma [Giovanni Antonio Razzi or Bazziy born at VercelUy 1479, painted chiejly in Rome and Siena ^ died i 554. St. George and the Dragon. Height 4 //. 8 in.y width 3 //. 3 in. In the foreground, on the brink of a marjh, fringed with a grove of tall fender trees , the Saint on a war-horfe clad in Roman armour y has jufl transfixed the Dragon with his lance y the f>ivered half of which, encircled by a pennon with a red crofs, refls on the body of the writhing monfter. On the left is feen the princefs kneeling with uplifted hands. The background difplays a wide river or lake, with rocky banks crowned by a city with elaborate buildings. A winding road leads up to it, and on this road, on the towers and ramparts of the city, and alfo in boats on the lake, are numerous fpeBators eagerly watch- ing the combat. In the tipper part of the picture an angel is feen defending from the clouds. ITALIAN SCHOOLS. 9 J» elaborate and highly-finijhed oil piBure on panel From the Alton Towers colleBion / acquired by the late Earl of Shrewjbury in Siena, No. 10. Milanefe School of Leonardo da Vinciy painted circa 1500-10 {afcribed to Gaudenzio Ferrari). The Virgin and Child with St. JohUy in a Land- /cape. Panel, Height 1 2 in.y width 9 in. The Virgin^ feated on the ground at the foot of a rocky contemplates the two children ^ who, feated by her fde, are kijfing each other. In the background a grove of trees , with a winding rivulet bordered by pollard willows. The Virgin is drejfed in a dark crimfon robe and a blue cloak, and a tranfparent veil is thrown acrofs her head and Jhoulders, Her right hand em- braces the Infant Saviour^ whilft her left, outftretched, is ex- tended over the two children; this attitude y and the exprejjion of her countenance, feeming to indicate the joy and furprife with which Jhe liftens to the falutation of the youthful precurfor^ The heads of the kijfing children are in imitation of a famous original defign of Leonardo, of which many contemporary ren- derings by his great Milanefe followers are extant, and the beautiful head of the Virgin is like wife full of Leonardefque character. Never thelefs, in it, and in other details of this compofition, the phyfiognomic type of Gaudenzio, and his peculiar charaBeriftics of ftyle, appear to be recognizable. In any cafe, whether by Gaudenzio or fome other great contemporary mafter, there can be little doubt that this piBure was executed during c lo PICTURES OF THE the lifetime of Leonardo, and that it is one of thoje works pro- duced in the diftriii of Milan, at the period of the enthufiaftic admiration, which the novel and fafcinating manner of the great Florentine feems to have excited amongft the painters, both young and old, of the Lombard fchooL Acquired from a private colleBion in Madrid, where it was afcribed to Leonardo. No, II. Correggio ^Antonio Allegri)^ Parma ^ H93-I534- The In/piratibn of St. Jerome. Canvas. Height 3 //. 6 widthy 3//. 1 1 in. The Saint, an aged man, is reprefented in the nude, with the exception of a fcarlet mantle, which is thrown loofely over his Jhoulders and folded round his loins. The figure is in a momentary forejhortened attitude, feated, but the left knee refts on a fquare ftone ; the upper part of the figure is turned in a fenfe, oppofite to the movement of the lower part. The head, feen almoft in profile ^ is uplifted towards the fky, and both arms are extended — the right one, raifed above the head, holds a large fcroll, which appears to have emerged from a mafs of rolling grey clouds, filling the upper part of the left fide of the piBure — the other arm reaches towards an opened book, which is held out before the Saint by a boy angel. On the ground betwixt the two figures is a couch ant lion. The fingers of the Saint'* s left hand are in the aB of turning over the leaves of the book, the text of which is written in rubri- cated Greek charaBers, The angel is dreffed in a robe or ITALIAN SCHOOLS. II tufik of Jhot or changeable fluff , of Jlate blue and ^ellowijh pink hues, without fleeves, and open at the thigh Sy fo that the arms and legs are naked i the feathers of his wings flight ly tip- ped or tinted in parts with redy yellow^ blue, i^c. In the background is a lofty mafs of rocky blue mountains, with a caftle and trees. On the fcroll which the Saint is receiving is the infcription in finely formed Roman characters : DELI COM And on the fquare flone in the right-hand corner of the piBure, on which he is kneeling, reprejented as if written on a piece of paper attached at each corner with red wax or wafers, is in- fer ibed, in Roman characters : POL{rD)I PR IF AT O. Although the fubjeB or intention of this picture is unmiftake- able, exprefling as it does, in a literal and dramatic manner, the communication of the divine infpiration to St, Jerome, the exaCt meaning of the abbreviated infcriptions is not evident. The compofition is entirely different from that of the famous St, Jerome, in the Mufeum of Parma, yet, whoever has feen that picture cannot fail to notice many points of ftriking refem^ blance. The latter picture was painted in the year 1523, but in the opinion of the writer, the prefent work was executed fome years later, and during the time when Correggio was mainly occupied with the frefcos of the cupola of the Duomo {circa 1 528). The general flyle and arrangement of the com- pofition is that of the Duomo frefcos, and the difficult fore- flportened attitudes difplayed in it clearly owed their origin to Correggio* s previous practice of drawing from clay or plafter 12 PICTURES OF THE models for the pojttions di fotto in fu^"* required by the arrangement of the cupola figures. Careful obfervation of the many red-chalk drawings of Correggio of this period, fill ex- tant, moji of them ftudies for the great mural works at Parfna, by their exa^ refemblance in ftyle and manner of defign, denotes beyond the pojjibility of miftake the author Jhip of this work; points of coincidence, or ftrong refemblance to other eafel pictures of Correggio, may however be fpecified. The colouring, efpecially in the fiejh, exhibits the fame in- imitable morbidezza^^ feen in the Antiope of the Louvre — in the damaged Mercury, V enus, and Cupid of the National Gallery, {the wings of the Cupid in the laft -named piBure form the counterpart of thofe of the angel in the prefent work). The exquifite little Holy Family of the National Gallery^ again, is recalled by numerous admirable paj/ages in the prefent piSiure, notably by the hands and feet of the children, and finally, its refemblance, in general tone and fcheme of colour with the Marriage of St, Catherine, in the Louvre, muft fir ike all who are familiar with that work. The great qualities of art, of which Correggio may be faid to have been almofl the inventor, are all indeed manifefied. His proverbial grace " is refplendent in the beautiful little boy- angel, and the well-known phyfiognomic type of the mafier,fo often repeated in his children or amorini, is pe7feBly repre- fented in the fmiling head of this figure — whilft in breadth and fuavity of light and /hade, local truth, and exceeding power and brilliancy of colouring, this piBure is on a level with the mo ft famous works of Correggio, It has the advantage, moreover, of being in the mo ft perfect poftible ft ate of prefervation. In the early part of this century this piBure formed part of the colleBion of the late Sir Thomas Baring, and with other of his Italian pi8ures, was fold by auBion at Chriftie*s, It after- wards paffed into the poffefilion of a Mr, Leif child, an auSlioneer ITALIAN SCHOOLS. 13 0/ the city of London, in whofe pojfejjion it remained many years. This gentleman, who feems to have eftimated its value at a very large fum, retained it till his death, when his executors fent it for fale to Mejfrs, Phillips'*, placing a high re- ferved price upon it, it was in conjequence offered for fale by auction more than once, but from the laft-mentioned caufe, and the fa^ of its being an undefcribed work, it failed to find a purchafer, and the prefent poffeffor ultimately acquired it, from the owners, through Meffrs, Phillips. No. 12. Bernardino Lanini,{Vercell{j 1 522-1 578). The Virgin and Child and St. John. On panel. Height I ft. in., width 1 ft. li in. The Virgin, feated under a rock, near the ft em of a large tree, holds the Infant Saviour on her lap ; pe is bending forward with a f mi ling countenance towards St, John, who with the lamb is feated by her fide (on the left), and points with one hand towards the Infant Chrift. In the background a tower or cafile, and the horizon is bounded by high-peaked rocks. From the colleBion of the Count Cefare Saluzzo of Turin. PICTURES OF THE No. 13. ParmegianOy [Francefco Mazzuolt^ Parma^ 1503-^540- T^he Repofe in Egypt. Length i //. 4 in.y height I //. 2 in. On the right of the compofitioriy the Virgin is feated on a raifed platform or high Jlep with an arched opening beneath y the Infant Saviour reclines on a pillow by her Jide, and a boy-angel looks down upon him from behind. An ox and an afs bend their heads forward towards this group. On the left St. Jofephy a grandly draped figure y feated on a ftep or baluftrade^ ornamented with a fculptured bas-relief contemplates the Infant Chrifl. The group is placed at the foot of a facade of clajjical architeBurey in the centre of which is an arched recefs or avenuey trellifed with vines. This compofition has all the finijhed elegance and charm of an antique cameo, and it would be difficult to cite any other compofition of Parmegiano, which difplays in a greater degree the proverbial grace " of the mafier, whilfi at the fame time it is free from the exaggeration which fo frequently detracts from his works. Although well finifipedy the picture is painted with great dexterity and eafe, in a fiyle which recalls the fmaller works of Rubens; the thin tranfparent colour and gay lightfome toney indeed y approximate fo fingularly to fimilar charaBerifiics of the great Flemifip painter, that it is difiicult at firfi fight not to be^ lieve it to be one of thofe copies or pafticci from the works of Italian mafiers, which Rubens is known to have made ; ITALIAN SCHOOLS. 15 it isy however y certain that the piSiure is by the hand of Parmegiano. From the collection of S, Rogers the poet, and previoujly in that of Sir Thomas Lawrence, No. 14. Antonello di MeJJina. Born at MeJJina about 1414, died at Venice about 1493. Head of our Saviour at the Column. Panel. Height io§ in.y width 8 in. A cord is tied loofely round the neck, the head is upturned, and the tearful eyes and half opened mouth are exprejjive of pro- found for row y a crown of thorns encircles the brow, which is almojl covered with luxuriant long brown hair, falling in wavy curls on the Jhoulders, The face is painted in the moji highly-finijhed manner, the modelling of the forms defined with extraordinary force of relief whilft the hair is executed with microfcopic delicacy and precifion. The remarkable place occupied by Antonello di MeJJina in the hiftory of art, gives an exceptional importance to every one of his indubitable works ; thefe are indeed, very few in number, but they all bear certain marks of authorjhip, and thus convey the moft perfeSl and definite ideas of the chara^eriftics of the mafter. The prefent work is identical in all refpe£ls of ftyle, local colour, and method of execution, with the well-known portrait from the Pour tales Co lie SI ion, now in the Louvre, and it is of about the fame dimenfions. Allowing for the difference betwixt i6 PICTURES OF THE an ideal head and a literal portrait taken from the life^ the principal charaBeriftics of thefe two works are identical y and it is probable that they were painted at or near the fame period^ ( 1 475). Anton ello probabl'^ painted many fuch forrowful heads of our Saviour, His great prototype y John Van Eyck of Bruges, had preceded him in their production y [vide the picture in the Academy at Bruges^ ; it was a type efpe daily demanded by the particular devotional bias of the i^th century y and which lafted long afterwards, efpe daily in Flanders and Spain. Three others by Antonello are known to exifty one in the National Gallery in London, dated 1465, this however, though very intereftingy is entirely Flemijh in treatment y and it is unfortunately a mere defaced wreck ; a fecond in the S tad el Mufeum at Franckforty this is apparently pofterior in date to the laft-mentioned fpecimen, but is a comparatively coarfe and common work — and it is alfo in bad prefervation ; the third y which the writer has not feeny is at Venice ; it is reported to refemble the one now in quefion. The prefent heady that of the National Gallery y and the one at Franckforty although very fimilar in type are quite different heads y (/. e, they are not repUche*^ one of another^. The prefent piBure is in the moft perfeSi pojjible fate of confervationy and it is eafy to comprehend the powerful imprejjion fo original and charaBei'iftic a work muft have produced at the time of its execution. It was acquired in 1863 from a Jew at Granada in Spainy and had probably remained in the Peninfula Jince the time of its produSiion. There is no record of Antonello having vifited Spainy but the faB of his having lived under the Arragonefe- Neapolitan dynafty feems to point to a pojjtble connection with that country. ITALIAN SCHOOLS. No. 15. Giovanni-Battijia Cima da Conegliano. Venetian School. Painted circa 1490. Head of the youthful Saviour^ or St. John the Evangeliji. Panel. Height io| in.y width 8 in. Full-faced buft^ with long flowing hair ; crimfon tunic with hem or border of gold embroidery, and a mantle thrown over the left Jhouldery of dark green ^ Jhot with yellow and purple. Acquired from the Monte di Pieta, in Rome, 1 860. This fmally highly-flnijhed piSlure^ like Nos. \ and 18, is one of the clafs of works executed for private devotional ufe. The frame, in which ornamental borders cut from an Italian illu- minated manufcript are inferted, is one of thofe defigned and arranged by the Abb ate Celotti, an Italian amateur, who, in the early part of this century y brought to this country an im- portant colleBion of illuminations and manufcripts. No. 16. Bernardo Zenale {afcribed to\ called Bernardo da Triviglio. Milanefe School. Flourifhed during the fecond half of the 1 century and earlier years of the i6th. Chrijl^ after the Refurre£lion^Jeated on the Sepul- chre^ confoled by an Angel. Panel. Height 7 width 5-1^ in. Our Saviour is JeateJ on the edge of an open tomb or farco- phagus^ at the mouth of a cave ; an angel ^ with large wings D i8 PICTURES OF THE Jiands bejide and fupports him, one hand placed on his drooping forehead, the other pajfed round his /boulders, A land/cape back^ ground on the left, with water and a bridge, and Mount Cal- vary with the three crojfes. Day is breaking over dijiant mountains, the fiy and pearly clouds tinged with amber and crimfon. The angel is clad in a crimfon drefs, open at the knees, the Jleeves of pale blue and red Jhot fluff, tight fitting and piffed with white linen, in the fafljion of the fecond half of the i^th century. This highly finijhed little piSiure is refplendent with the gem-like luflre of colour fo chara^leriflic of the early Venetian and Lombard Schools, and like many contemporary works of the Vivarini, C rive Hi, Carpaccio, and others, it ap- pears to have been painted on a gilded ground. Like the Fra Bartolommeo (No. 4), it is alfo a fmall devotional piBure com- plete in it f elf It may be noted that thefe highly finijhed early Italian pi^ures^ of miniature fize, are now of very rare occur- rence, perhaps mainly from the faSt that, their deflination having been as aids to private devotion^ mofl of them have perijhed from aBual ufe or accident, in tranfmiffton from gene- ration to generation of poffeffors, whereas the larger works of the fame maflers have come down to us, for the mofl part, as fixtures in the churches and convents for which they were painted, Thefe fmall works in oil had their counterparts on vellum^ and a few fuch illuminations, by the greatefl maflers, are flill extant. In Italy, from the greater frequency of tempera painting, vellum illuminations were indeed apparently more generally affeSied for private devotional ufe than oil pictures ^ and the production of fuch works as the prefent, was probably at length flimulated in the north, by the importation of the innumerable fmall oil pictures of the early Flemifb School, As may be feen in many early Flemifh illuminations, engravings, l^c, thefe ITALIAN SCHOOLS. 19 /Me devotional works were in almoft univerfal ufe, hung at the tejlers of beds, or on the fide walls, over prater dejks, ^r. The piBure in queftion was obtaified from the Monte di Pieta in Rome, and was there afcribed to Cima da Conegliano, With refpeSi to the rare yet interefting m after, whofe work the writer believes it really to be, little is known. He is ftated by Zani to have died in 1^26, at an extreme old age, and to have been a painter of*^Hiftory and Architecture by the latter qualification, is probably meant that his works were diftinguift^ed by an affe Station of rich architeBure and ornamentation in the backgrounds and acceffories, a fipecial charaBeriftic of many early north Italian painters of the fecond half of the 1 ^th cen- tury. Zenale is quoted in connexion with Leonardo da Vinci as the friendly advifier, who recommended him to leave un^ finiftped the face of our Saviour, in the famous wall piSiure of the Cenacolo, an indication which feems to conned him with the fchool of fipecial admirers and imitators, which Leonardo gathered around him in fio remarkable a manner, during his re- fiidence at Milan. The writer has fieen more than one oil piBure, and alfio fieveral original pen-and-ink drawings, unqueftionably by the fiame hand as the prefient work — all of them are remark- able for an exuberance ofi architeBural detail and ornamenta- tion, and one ofi them, a biftre drawing, fior a portion ofi a com- pofition reprefienting Chrift befiore Pilate, in the colle5lion ofi John Malcolm, ofi Poltalloch, Efiq., is figned, evidently in characters ofi the period, " // Zenale!'' Every prefiumption, therefiore, fieems to point to this artift as the real author ofi the prefent picture. The ebony firame, inlaid with filets ofi white metal, in which the picture is placed, is ofi Florentine origin, circa 1620. PICTURES OF THE No. 17. Giorgione^ {Giorgio Barbarelli ;) Venetian School ; born 1 477, died 1 5 1 1 . Virgin and Child and St. John. Height 2 ft. 6 in,y width 2 ft. The Virgin yfeated on a ftep or dais, clad in dark greenijh blue drapery y and with a white linen fcarf or veil round her head and bofom, holds the Infant Saviour on her knee. Around the waijl of the child {the figure is otherwife in the nude) is tied a white cloth or fcarf which falls down over the knee of the Virgin. The child, in an attitude of infantile playfulnefs, is endeavouring to catch a dragon- fly j which hovers near him. On the oppofite fide, the Virgin grafps the hand of the young St. John, draws him towards her and affifts him to mount the ftep; this figure is clad in white drapery, the arms and legs bare. The background of the piBure is partly occupied by a dull crimfon or moron e coloured curtain. Painted in oil on panel, with rich powerful impafto. This piSlure was probably produced at about the fame time as the fine work in the Louvre, {The Holy Family with St. Sebaftian and a Donor,) as it clofely refembles it in general ftyle and manner of execution and local colouring* The admirable and original power of colour difplayed in this picture is enhanced by a technical execution, which has all the * See Notice des Tableaux du Lowvre, par M, Frederic Villot {article ** Bar- harelli^^), as M. Villot *ivell exprejfesit, II Giorgione ivas the inventor of I idee de cette largeur, de cette abjorbtion des details dans la majfe generate, artifice inconnu auoe maitres anterieurs^^ &c,, both theje piElures may be taken as perfeSi types of tkefe remarkable qualities. ITALIAN SCHOOLS. breadth and fully rich texture of Rembrandt, It never thelefs pojfejfes that peculiar enamelled^^ furface^ charaBeriftic of the early oil piBures of both the Flemijh and north Italian Schools, The fuperiority of the primitive technique over that of the more recent periods ^ even over that of the great I 'jth century Dutch majlers, is indeed well Jhown in this piC' ture^ which, whilft painted with a full brujh and loaded with a great body of colour^ completed y moreover y with final glazings, has retained, even in the darkeft pajfages, its primi' five lujire and tranfparency ; after upwards of three centuries y in fa5ly it remains in an abfolutely perfeB ft ate of prefervation. As has been frequently noticed, the breadth and largenefs of ftyle and vigorous impafted execution, which feem correlative to each other, and are great charaBeriftics of modern painting, were, doubtlefs, mainly due to Giorgione. It was he, at all eventSy who firft confpicuoufty broke ground in thofe directions, and although his great follower and rival, Titian, brought thefe qualities, to their high eft point, it is inftruBive to tiote that he was the firft to abufe them, Titian indeed foon forgot the means in the end. Bent folely on the immediate objeBive refult, he feems gradually to have become carelefs and indifferent to the technical precautions, which the early painters fo fcrupuloufty obferved, and it is inter efting to remark, that the early works of Titian (thofe which in feveral great galleries are afcribed to Giorgione), are, as a rule, found and well preferved, the tech- nique being fimilar to that of the prefent work, whilft there is a gradual and progrejftve deterioration in this refpeB vifible in Titian* s later produBions, — blacknefs and opacity of tint, and the numerous praBical evils fuperinduced by the carelefs ufe of incongruous vehicles and fugitive colours, becoming gradually more and more manifeft until they attain a climax in his laft works, as may be feen in a numerous feries of piBures produced in his extreme old age, extant in the Madrid Gallery. 22 PICTURES OF THE No. 1 8. Titian^ {Tiziano Vecellio^ ^4-77'^ 57^ ! Venetian School. Portrait of an Italian Nobleman. On canvas. Height 3 //. 2 in.y width i ft. 8 in. - A life- fixed ^ half-length figure y ftanding ereSi. He is appa- rently about forty years old, with mouftache and fi^ort beardj and clojely-cut dark hair, drejfed in a doublet of crimfon velvety richly fiajhed and embroidered with gold braid, a fteel gorget and narrow frill ruff round his neck ; a mafiive gold chain in three lengths, hangs down to his waifi, with a loxenge-Jhaped gold medallion pendant from it, and a poignard is attached to his girdle on the right fide ; his left arm is bent at an angle, his hand refting on his hip. Judging from the coftume, and alfo from analogy with other portraits of Titian , the date of this piSiure would feem to be about 1540-50. No. 19. Paris Bordoney born at Trevifo 1500, died at Venice 1571. Mercury and Bellona arming Mars, A portrait group on canvas. Length 5 //. i in,^ height 3 4 Compofition of three life-fize figures feen down to the knees. In the centre. Mars clad in a fteel cuirafs, and draped with a ITALIAN SCHOOLS. 23 r/Vi> crimfon mantle y is receiving a Jhield from Bellonay who, on the right y her ftreaming golden hair confined by a'polijhed fteel morion, and wearing a cuirafs, golden lion^s-head pauldrons or Jhoulder-piecesy and dark blue drapery y bends forward y and is about to buckle the ftrap of the Jhield round the Jhoulders of Mars ; on the oppojite Jidey Mercury y a femi-nude figure y with green drapery, places a golden helmet on the head of Mars, The background is a landfcape with a chain ofdiftant mountains. The picture is figned in Roman characters O . PARIDIS . BORDONL This piSlure is an important work of the beft period of the mafter, and according to the V enetian fajhion {fee note on the piflure of Car let to Cagliari, No. 25), the allegorical fubjeSl has been chofen as a pretext or convenient means for the com- pofition of an elaborate fancy " portrait piSiure. Ridolfi mentions that Paris B or done gained efpecial commendation for the Jkill with which he gave to his portraits the air of hiftorical or fancy pictures. The principal figure y Marsy a young man of twenty -five or thirty years old, judging from refem- blance with authentic portraits^ is a portrait of Ottavio Farnefey nephew of Pope Paul II L and a celebrated military commander of the period of the work [circa 1540-50). The Mercury reprefents a man of forty -five or fifty years oldy and the features have a certain refemblance {probably a family likenefs) to thofe of the Mars. While the Bellona is a beautiful young woman of eighteen or twenty : Jhe has a tendency towards the ufual Venetian " embonpoint y^ with a blonde rofeate com- plexiony and magnificent waved or crimped golden hair. This is the well-known ladyy reprefented many times in the * &tf in particular the portrait of Ottanjio in Titian^spi&ure of Paul IIL and his nephews, in the Naples Gallery. 24 PICTURES OF THE piSlures of Paris B or done {fee her portrait in the National Gallery at the age of nineteen , No, 674.) It is evident that the lady fat " or ** pofed^^ for theprefent and the laf -named portrait at about the fame time ; pe feems to have been famous for her beauty, and not improbably may have been the mijirefs of Ottavio. She is, however, f aid to have been a member of the noble Genoefe family , Brignole, {National Gallery Catalogue, defcription of No, 674,) but this appears to be a mere tradition or fuppofition attaching to the National Gallery piSiure, refting on no fpecial evidence or au- thority, and it feems more likely that a perfonage, who evidently often ferved as a painter* 5 model, was a celebrated courtezan, rather than a young lady of noble family. This pi Bur e came from the Solly Cohesion, No. 20. Tintoretto y {^acopo Robujiij) Venice ^ 1512-1594. ^he Refurre^ion. Painted on copper. Height I //. 5 in,, width i //. i in. Although painted with greater care and completenefs than the majority of the works of Tintoretto, this fmall piiiure Jhould perhaps be claffed as a finijhed fketch, inafmuch as it is a preliminary defign for the celebrated large pi8ure in the Scuola di San Rocco, in Venice. It was laft in the poffefjion of Mr, Garle, a we II -known amateur, efpe daily of etchings by Rembrandt and the Dutch majlers, and whofe colle6iion alfo contained a few excellent cabinet piBures and ancient drawings. ITALIAN SCHOOLS. No. 21. Carletto Cagliari^ called Carlo Veronefe, Venice. Born 1570, died 1596. Sacra Converfazione, with St. Dominic infii- ^^"n^-tJ%L... I'^t^ tuting the Rojary. Canvas. Length 2 //. 4 in.^ height 2 ft. St. Dominic^ with a lily in his hand, holds up his rochety filled with rofes, which he dijiributes to a crowd of kneeling and Jlanding worjhippers ; behind the Saint is a kneeling angel with a bajket of rofes. The Virgin and the Infant Saviour with two boy angel's y feat ed on clouds in the upper part of the compofition, contemplate the fcene. The aSiion pajjes in front of a raifed platform of two fteps^ flanked at each fide by coupled columns on high pedeftals, and in the background betwixt y is a femi- circular trellis work of climbing rofes. The Saint y placed in the centre of the compofi- tionyftanding on the ftep or dais, is bendingforwards towards the eager crowd. The worjhippers, fourteen in number on the right y and fifteen on the left of the compofition^ all evidently reprefent portraits of actual perfonages of the time of the picture. On the right, the principal figures are a Doge of V enice, in hi f rich robes of ft ate, and a cardinal, and on the left, another cardinal and a perfonage in a rich furred robe of gold tijfue, the re- jnainder, men, women, and children of all ages, are all dij^er- ently attired in carefully detailed coftumes of the period, amongft them may be noticed two nuns, a young prieft or deacon, and a negro fervant. This picture recalls, in its general ftyk and intention, the celebrated picture in the National Gallery, E 26 PICTURES OF THE by Paolo Feronefe, in which the clajjical fubjeSi, Alexander receiving the family of Darius, by a piBorial licence , ferves as a pretext for a group of portraits of the members of the Pifani family. In the abjence of any armorial bearings or other precife indications, it is not pof[ible to af certain what particular indivi- duals are here reprefented, but the extreme care, and evidently anxious fidelity with which all the perfonages are delineated, either in their ft ate or official robes, or every -day dreffes, the order of their grouping and other indications, render it certain, that it reprefents a gathering of all the contemporary members of a great Venetian houfe, under the protection of their patron faint, F enetian piSlures of this period, of the comparatively fmall dimenfions and careful execution of the prefent work, are rare, the writer, indeed, cannot call to mind any other example of fo rich and elaborate a compofition on fo fmall a fcale. He be- lieves, that it is a careful reduction, by Car let to Cagliari,from a large mural or other piBure, painted for a family chapel. Both the compofition and the aSiual execution, refemble and are in every refpefl worthy to be the work of Paolo V eronefe and but for certain peculiarities, principally in the general tone of colouring, which point beyond miftake to Carletto, he would have afcribed it to Paolo himfelf ; as it is, he believes it to be a careful reduced copy, by the hand of the fon Carletto, from an original work of large dimenfions, by Paolo, and it may be fairly prefumed to have been a com?niJfon frofn fome one of the per- fon ages reprefented in the pi B tire. Acquired from the late Mr. Farrer, but originally brought from Venice by the late Mr, R, Cooke, R, A,, as a work of Paolo V eronefe. : ITALIAN SCHOOLS, 27 No. 22. Felice Riccio^ called Brufaforci Giovane^ {afcribed to). Verona^ 1 540-1 605. Fainted on black marble or pietra paragona.'' Length 1 5-!^ in.^ height 1 2\ in. The difciples in the Jhip^ on the fea of Galilee^ with Chrift refcuing St, Peter, This pi8ure was formerly afcribed to Daniele da Folterra, and in many refpeBs it difptays great fmilarity to the works of that majier. Brufaforci, however y clofely ftudied the great Florentine mafters of the \6th century, and there can be little doubt, that the prefent attribution is the correal one. No. 23. Cherubino Alberti of Forgo San Sepolcro. Born 1552, died 161 5. Portrait of an Old Man holding an arrow^ or crojs-bow bolt in his hand. Panel. Height i ft. io|- in.^ width i //. 6 in. On the bolt is written the motto or proverb, Buon Sagit- tario di lontan difcerne,'*'* This vigor oufy executed and re- markable portrait, was painted up at once, without any ground or ''priming,^' on a thick walnut wood panel, apparently a fmall 28 PICTURES OF IT J LI AN SCHOOLS, door or Jhutter. At the back, the name of the painter is writ- ten, apparently in a contemporary hand, Cherubino Albertiy of Borgo San Sepolcro^ is celebrated as an engraver y but his piSiures are rare, and in the abfence of the infcription at the backy the authorjhip of the prefent example would doubtlefs have remained unknown. Acquired at Turin, PICTURES BT SPANISH MASTERS, No. 24. Alexo Fernandez, of Seville. Circa 1510-20. }^mOLr FAMILY. The Virgin with XeMl^ Infant Saviour and St. Anne. Painted in oil on panel. Height i //. 8 in.^ width i //. 2 in. The Virgin y clad in a crimjon cloak, lined with b7"ight yel- low {the livery colours of Jrragon), kneels on the floor of a raifed ftone dais, fupporting the Infant Saviour, zvho, in the nude and Jiandingy is carejjing a lamb. Near them^ the figure arranged fo as to form a pyramidal group with that of the Virgin, is St. Anne, clad in a dark green cloak and a brown (^^ pano par do robe, holding an open book in her hand. She is feated on a ftone platform, from which rifes a canopy or throne, reprefented as of maftive wrought ftone work, lined with 30 PICTURES BT a long panel of blue and gold brocade, the background forms a beaut ful land/cape, with buildings and a grove of trees on the margin of a lake bounded by diftant blue mountains. In front, at the bottom of the pi^urejs a Jhield of arms quartering C aft tile and Arragon* Very little is known of the early painters of Spain, and yet the golden age of art in the Peninfula was that of its expanfion into a preponderating power in Europe, under Ferdinand and Ifabella and Ctarles V, and not, as is generally fuppofed, in the fucceeding century^ for then, not- withftanding the pre-eminent fplendour of a few great names, mediocrity and decadence in the arts, as in everything elfe, be- came the rule. In fpite of the pronenefs to negleSl and whole/ale deftruBion, which has fo long prevailed in Spain, there is ft ill a vaft mafs of early works of piSiorial art, fcattered in inmmerable nooks . and corners of the land in the form of retablos '* and other devotional pictures preferved in churches, convents and private houfes. The Vafari of Spain unfortunately flourift:>ed at a period when contempt for early art was almoft univerfal, and, in confequence, the admirable work of Cean Bermudez con- tains but fcanty and uncertain notices of the early Peninfular artifts : — zuhilft hundreds of pages of his hook are devoted to the notice of utterly uninterefting and unworthy mannerifts of the iSth century, a few lines only, in mo ft cafes, are beftowed on the really great artifts of the i^th and iSth centuries. Fortunately, befides the great number of aSiual monuments of early art, the archives of cathedrals and corporate bodies, are in Spain, fingularly voluminous and complete, and a great treafure of information, in regard to artifts and their works, ftill exifts to reward the critical ftudent. The early Spaniftp artifts, moreover, often adopted the convenient plan of affixing their names to their refpe Stive performances, in very con- SPANISH MASTERS, x 31 fpicuous charaBers* and we have thus in many cafes authentic data for the identification of their other works. This is fortu- nately the cafe with the painter of the picture now in quefiion, — Alexo Fernandez, Cean Bermudez gives a fhort notice of this excellent artifiy and alfo of his brother Jorge, both of whom had been previoufiy quoted in the rare 16th century work of Pablo de Cefpedes, The two brothers appear to have worked together chiefly in Seville and Cordova, during the earlier years of the i6th century, Jorge Fernandez has the qualification of Aleman,^ or German, appended to his name, an indication that the brothers were at leaft of German, or rather Flemifh, extrac- tion. An examination of the works of Alexo Fernandez, flill ^' in fitu"*' in Seville, in fa6l, entirely confirms this view. It feems, however, ?iot likely that thefe could have been the pro- duBions of a born Fleming, their ftyle and type of defign being unmiftakeably Spanifh, whilft on the other hand the ** technique*'' is jufi as completely Flemifh of the great V an Eyck following. The truth doubtlefs is, that " the two Fernandez'^ were the fons or other defcendants of one of the numerous Flemifh painters, who fettled and married in Spain, during the latter part of the i^th century — their family name Fernandez, it is fcarcely necejfary to obferve, is Spanifh, but it was the conftant cufiom, efpecially in Andalufia, for fons to take the family name of the mother rather than the father, whenever the mother zvas of higher rank, or for other fpecial reafons, and nothing is more likely than that the naturalized defcendants of an Efpanolifed Fleming, born of a Spanifh ?nother, fhould follow this cufiom, Cean Bermudez fays nothing of the excellent church pictures * See memoranda on this particular praBice of the early Peninjular artijis in regard to Jignatures in an article by the ivriter, on the Early Portuguefe School of Painting,^' in the Fine y^rts ^arterly Revieiv. Vol. i. note, page 388. 32 PICTURES BT of Alexo Fernandez^ ftill extant in Sevllky the writer has, however y carefully noted and examined thefe piBures on the fpoty and compared and identified the prefent work with them, at the moment of its acquifition. He may here ft ate, that this piSiure was acquired in Seville in \ '^6'^, from the colleSiion of a well-known amateur, — the Canonigo Cepero, to whom the creation of the Seville Gallery is due {vide Ford^s Hand-book), The Seville pi^ures are a large altar panel, hmig on the Jcreen of the " trafcoro " of the church of Santa Ana, in the Triana fuburb — a beautiful work, figned ALEXO FERNS,^^ and three very large panels, each upwards of ten feet high, hung in a dark facrifty at the back of the high altar of the cathedral, reprefenting refpeBively the falutation of Joachim and Anna, the birth of the Virgin, and the Pre- fentation in the Temple, Thefe latter are hitherto unquoted, but are moft certainly by the fame hand as the Triana piBure, They are in all probability figned, but the extreme obfcurity of the locality, and the faB of the lower part of the panels being completely covered with the fplajhes from wax candles, depofited during centuries, prevented his afcertaining this faB with cer-^ tainty. It now remains to make a few 7iotes on the pecu- liarities of this early luminary of the Andalufian fchool of painting. It has been already intimated that his piBures unite very oppofite charaBerifiics, that on the one hand, in point of colour and lufirous execution, they are difiinguijhed by all the gem-like brilliancy and tranfparency of the followers of John Van Eyck, whilfi they are executed with the fame fipi- rited and dexterous manipulation — in fiport, in thefe refpeBs they probably cede in nothing to the great efi contemporary painters of Bruges or Ghent ; but^ on the other hand, the fiyle of defign andphyfiognomic type are entirely dijjimilar, infiead of the homely uglinefs of Flemifl^ nature, we have here difplayed a grace and elegance vjhich feem even to have fore-fi:^adowed Correggio and SPANISH MASTERS, Parmegiano, the fuave beauty of the virgins and infant angels of Alonfo Cano and Murillo have, in fa8y been anti- cipated by this early majler. The proportions of the figures are lengthy ^ the hands and feet fmally the faces full of fmiling grace y the draperies have beautiful flowing lines, inftead of the hardffnapped folds of the Flemijh School , whilft the backgrounds and accejfories are gay and beautiful landfcapes and rich archi- tenure. In fhort, in this early mafter we fee the foundation of a dijlin^ local fchool of arty and the churches and convents of Seville and its neighbourhood^ do in faily reveal the exiflence of a fuccefjion of artijls, down even to the end of the laft century y in whofe works the charaHerifticSy of which the firft evidence is feen in the piSlures of FernandeZy may be continuoufly traced. No. 25- Diego Correa. ^ xn ort, difplays in every part that emptinefs, timidity, and want of intelligence, both in the conception and execution of the forms and details, which are infallible marks of the copyift. The National Gallery piElure has fuffered very much from the application of the fatal gallery oil varniftp,^^ formerly applied, and a comparifon of its condition with the perfect and brilliant ftate of the prefent work, which retains its original clear cryftalline covering of fimple maftic varniftp, is alone an evidence of the culpable infatuation which has from time to time determined the fo- called confervation of our national pictures. The National Gallery copy was prefented by Lord Farnborough, in 1838. Smith, writing in 1830, notices it whilft in Lord Farnborough* s pojfeffton, " Catalogue 64 PICTURES BT FLEMISH, Raifonney^ i^c, voL ii, p, 324, No, 121 2 {he was evi- dently not aware of the exiftence of the prejent pidure^y as follows : — landfcape reprefenting a fertile country , of a broken and undulated furface, varied by numerous fmall bujhy trees and a narrow freatn formed to drain the meadows, and obliquely dividing the foreground. In the left fide and front y is a Jhepherd, feated on a Jlone, playing on a pipe, his dog ftands by him, and his flock are browfing near ; beyond thefe are two trees and a little bridge, and fill further ftands a farmhoufe with a tower, and a church is feen in the diftance, A glowing funfet dijjeminates its cheerful light and warmth throughout the fcene, i ft, 8 in, by 2 //. 9 in. Panel, (Worth 600 gs,) Engraved by Bolfwert, " It may be faid generally of this mafter'*s landfcapes, that if they do not fuprife us into admiration, they never fail to create delight when contemplated with patient attention, This delightful example af his pencil juftifies this obfervation. Now in the colle^ion of the Right Hon, Lord Farnborough, a pi^ure very fimilar in defcription to the preceding, is mentioned in Defenfans'' Catalogue in 1802, valued at 105 ^j."* No, 37. Rubens, (i 577-1640). An Allegory of Rome Triumphant. Panel. Width 2 ft. 1 1 in.y height i //. 8 in. The Genius of Rome feated on a throne, underneath a tent. One hand refts on a globe, and the other holds a ftatuette of * Smith ought to have Jiatedthat this lajl-mentioned ivork^ an altogether differ- ent and inferior comtojition^ is now in the Dulivicb Gallery. DUTCH, AND GERMAN MASTERS. 65 Bellona (f) On the right Jide, Fi^ory crowns her with a laurel wreath J and on the other y a li^or holds up a group of ftandards. Beneath in the foreground, are the wolf , fuck ling Romulus and Remus, and a group of naked captives grovelling in fetters at her feet. On the left, at the foot of a trophy, Jland two mana- cled figures of Dacian kings, and on the right. Mars with a thunderbolt in his hand ; behind him a led horfe and a crowd of foldiers with trophies, l^c. This elaborate coloured fketch, in Rubens* moft brilliant ftyle, was, at the end of the laft century, in the colleBion of M. de Calonne; it is mentioned in SmitFs Catalogue Raifonne [No, 702). // was No, 30 in the Calonne catalogue, and is defer ibed as Rome Triumphant, an emblematical coloured fketch, full of genius and finely coloured,^"* The celebrated collection of M. de Calonne, next to the Orleans colledlion, was undoubtedly the moft important gather- ing of pi^ures by the great mafters^ which the outbreak of the great French Revolution threw into this country, Monfieur de Calonne was prime minifter to Louis XV I. : poffeffed of great wealth and refined tafte in art, he had affembled together a fplendid colleSlion in Paris, At the firft outbreak of the revo- lution, in 1789, he fent his pictures to England, and placed them in a houfe in Piccadilly, to which he proceeded to build a gallery for their reception, M, de Calonne, unfortunately for himfelf was afterwards induced to join the emigrant princes at Coblentz, and had to raife money on his pictures. This ultimately brought about their fale by auCtion in London {in 1795). The principal fpecimens, however, zvere then bought in, and a fecond public fale of them took place in 1798. Down to this day there is no better provenance^"* than from the two fales of M, de Calonne' s Collection, 66 PICTURES BT FLEMISH, No. 38. Rubens. Bom ^SJl^ ^^^^ 1640. Meleager and Atalanta in a Woody Land/cape^ Hunting the Wild Boar. Panel. Length i //. 8 in.y height 10 in. A finijhed Jketch in colours. On the left Atalanta has jufi difcharged an arrow at the boar, which is rujhing forward through a marjb or rivulet ; the animal is at the fame time at- tacked by numerous dogs, clambering over and under a prof rate tree. On the oppofte fide Meleager awaits the onfet of the boar, fpear in reft. In the background a foreft with three mounted huntfmen fpurring forwards, Rubens painted this fubjeSi fever al times, and defcriptions of fome of the pictures will be found in SmitFs Catalogue Raifonne, The prefent work may have been a preliminary Jketch for one of the piBures therein mentioned, but the degree of finiftp which it difplays, and its general importance, render it more likely, that it was a fmall repetition of the principal part of one or other of the large works — // is entirely from the hand of the mafter, of his fineft time, and in every refpeB, of inimit- able fpirit and perfeSlion. In 179s it was fold in the colleBion of M, de Calonne,* and was afterwards in the coUeBion of John Humble, Efq. Si 2), and of Lord Radftock. * De Calonne Catalogue^ {in BuchanaJt's Memoirs of Painting), lot 19, defcribed as follows : ^* Meleager and Atalanta bunting the wild boar^ a finijhed Jketch^ full of genius.^' DUTCH, AND GERMAN MASTERS, 67 No. 39. Vandyck. Born i^gg^ died 1641. Sketch in Chiard-Jcuro. Panel. Length i //. 1 1 in.^ height \o\ in. A long frieze-Jhaped compofitioriy in the centre an allegoric cat figure of Juftice blindfolded, feated on a throne. On the left fide of this are three feated figures of Flemifip gentle- men, and on the right, three others and a fourth ftanding behind, all evidently charaSleriftic portraits of actual indi- viduals in the cofiume of perfons of rank of the period. The noble and dignified appearance of thefe grave elderly gen- tlemen, proclaim them ?nagifirates or counjellors of high rank, and there can be little doubt, that this fketch was the project or defign for a great picture, defined to decorate a hall or counfel chamber, probably of the city of Antwerp. It is executed in brown and white chiaro^ fcuro with exquifite fpirit and tafte. There is no record of the picture itfelf having ever been executed. It is evident this Jketch was made in Flanders before Vandyck ca7ne to England, probably before 1629. ISo. 40. "Jacob Jordaens. Born 1594, died 1678. A Family Portrait Group. Canvas. 3 ft. S in./quare. The painter himfelf, and his wife and two children ; life- fixed figures feen down to the knees. On the left, the lady feated, in a black drefs with a wide frilled ruff round her necky 68 PICTURES BY FLEMISH, holds a laughing, golden-haired infant ^ of about a year and a- half old J on her knee ; another child, a little girl, of about three years old, ftands by her fide, and is playing with the other one, J or da ens himfelf, in a black drefs, falling collar, and black fiouched beaver hat, ftands behind on the left, one hand refts on his wife^s ft/oulder, and the other is outftretched, with a geft of difplay, as if calling the attention of the fpeSlator to his handfome children. In the Imperial Gallery of the Hermitage at St, Peterf- burg is a very fimilar portrait group of Jordaens and his family, evidently painted a year or two earlier than the pre- fent work ; for there is in it only one child {the elder of the two here reprefented), when quite an infant, and in the gallery at Madrid, the celebrated family group of life- fixed ftanding figures {which though there called the family of Jordaens, more probably reprefents that of fome Flemijh feigneur) was at all events painted about the fame time, and in precijely the fame ad- mirable manner. Judging from Jordaens* own age, as he is here reprefented {about fix-and-thirty), this piSlure muft have been painted about 1630, and taken in connexion with the two admira^ ble pictures before-named, with which it is in every refpe^ on an equality, it ft:?ows how infinitely fuperior, were the early works of this great painter {thofe produced in immediate con- neBion with Rubens and Vandyck^ to the too often coarfe and vulgar produElions of his after career. Up to a certain period, in fa Si, Jordaens was a worthy rival of his two great contempo- raries, but, unfortunately, he attained to a great age, and foon began to outlive his artiftic reputation. DUTCH, AND GERMAN MASTERS. 69 No. 41. Rembrandt. Born 1606, died 1674. Chriji's Agony on the Mount of Olives. Panel. Length I //. 4f in.^ height i //. 2 in. On a rifing ground, furrounded by a grove or for eft of weird- looking trees, their fantaftic branches emerging from the dark- nefs, through which, depth after depth may be difcerned. Our Saviour is feen kneeling and bending forward, his hands out- fpread in prayer ; a radiant angel kneels before him in an atti- tude of confolation and fpreads his large wings over him. At the foot of a tree, on the right, are the three difciples afeep. The angel is reprefented in white drapery, with lambent flame-like hair, and is in himfelf the fource of light. A ray of light alfo defends upon the group from on high, and is pro- je£ied upon it, and on the ground around, fo that the two figures form the centre of a fupernatural radiance ; from this the light is admirably graduated and refleBed on all furrounding objects. This moft poetical and beautiful fketch may be compared with the celebrated little piBure of Jacobs Dream, in the Dulwich Gallery, and was probably executed about the fame time and under the fame influences. 70 PICTURES BY FLEMISH, No. 42. Nicholas Maas. Born 1632, died 1693, Autumn and Winter^ an Allegory. Panel. Width 2 ft.y height i //. 7 in. A converjation piece of two women. This fubje^ was for- merly defcribed as Vertumnus and Pomona, but it is more likely to have been intended as an allegory of Autumn and Winter. It is, in any cafe, a literal reprefentation of two Dutch women, in the coftume of the period, feated on a ft one bench in a garden; one, an aged perfon with her crutch or ftaff near her, bending forwards and apparently giving earneft advice to a younger woman ^ who, clad in a red drefs and a wide ftraw hat, liftens attentively to her. Betwixt them, in the foreground, is a wicker bafket of fruit. Literal " genre ^^pi^ures of this kind, feem to have been fpecially affeSled, for a ft^ort time, by many of the leading Dutch painters, efpe daily the fcholars of Rembrandt. The prefent work illuftrates, in a moft charac- teriftic manner, the admirable qualities of Nicholas Maas. It is painted with great impafto, and with remarkable breadth and fimplicity of ftyle, combined, at the fame time, with a mafftve power of colour and ft r iking effeSl of light and fhade, not to be furpaffed even by Rembrandt himfelf This piBure is figned and dated as follows: — N. MAAS, 1673, and was therefore painted in the zenith of the painter's career ; probably whilft ftill under the perfonal influence of his great mafter. It was obtained from Lord Northwick^s colleBion. DUTCH, JND GERMJN MASTERS. 71 No. 43. Zorg [Henry Martin Rokes). Born 1621, died 1682. An Allegory of Peace. Panel. Length ift. II in.^ height 2 ft. i in. Peace, reprefented as a beautiful female, clad in a white fatin drefs, is feated on a magnificent throne, elevated on a flight of Jieps, ftrewn over with white lilies. On one fide of her is a child playing with a couchant lion, and on the other a wolf lying down with a lamb ; beneath, in the foreground on the right hand, is a heap of warlike implements, arms and armour, ftandards, drums, l^c. admirably and minutely painted, and higher up behind the throne, mufical infi rumen ts of various kinds, opened mufic books ^ ^c. In front, a crowd of figures approach the deity, and lay offerings before her : in the firft rank are male and female peafants with bajkets of fruit and vegetables, and behind, foldiers divefiing themf elves of their armour and weapons. In the background^ through an opened door, is feen a fmithy with two fmiths occupied in turning weapons of war into fcythes and ploughjhares, and further on in the diftance, a man ploughing, and a feaport with Jhipping. The piBure is figned on the right-hand fidcy " M. Sorgh^^ and on the opened page of a mufic book, on the fame fide, is in- fcribed*'^,fu^, (5^0 *^4^>'' latter infer iption is rather minute and indifiinft) the date 1641, however, feems unmif- takeable, and if Zorg was born in 1621, as there feems no reafon to doubt ^ he could only have been twenty years old, and not fifty-one, at the time of the production of this pi^ure. The 72 PICTURES Br FLEMISH, ftrong refemblance to the Jiyle of Teniers,feen in many parts of the piBure^ moreover^ indicates that it was painted in the earlier part ofZorg^s career, whilji fill under the influence of the former mafter. On the other hand, it alfo fhows a ftrong bias towards the manner of Rembrandt. This very elaborate and highly-finift^ed Dutch picture, was obvioufly one of the mafterpieces of the artift, and it is by far the beft and moft important production of Zorgy which has come under the notice of the writer. It is not impojpble, that it may have been painted to commemorate fome momentary truce, or profpeSl of final peace and profperity, which may have prefented itfelf at the ft or my and eventful period in the affairs of Holland y indicated by the date. No. 44. Jacob de Bray. Born about 1625, died 1680. For trait of Him/elf and his Wife. Panel. Height, 2 ft. 6 in.y width 1 ft. i in. This portrait is a chefd*aeuvre, not only of its particular mafter, but of the great Dutch fchooL De Bray, though but little known in England, occupies a high rank in Holland, where with juftice, his beft portraits are placed on a complete equality with thofe of Van der Helft, which, in fome refpe5ls of ftyle, they refemble. There is, neverthelefs, an important pic* ture by him in this country {in the Hampton Court colleSlion), being a family group of himfelf and his wife, in clajjical cof tume, as Antony and Cleopatra, The prefent picture is evi- DUTCH, AND GERMAN MASTERS, j'^ dently a more mature work than the fomewhat offered pro- du^ion at Hampton Court, and in its dignifed Jimplicity of Jtyle is as remote as pojjible from it. The arrangement of the two half length or buft figures in this pi^ure, is fingU' larly Jlriking and original, the heads being in profile, and conjoined or relieved one upon the other, in the method feen in antique cameos, De Bray appears, in this piBure, to be about forty-five or fifty years old, the date of the work was probably therefore, circa 1670-75. No. 45. Job Berkheyden. Born at Haerlem 1643, died i698» Interior of the old Bourfe at Amjlerdamy with a brilliant Junlight effect. "The quadrangle is filled with a crowd of merchants^ amongfi whom are fever al Jews^ and Turks ^ or Armenians. Signed in the right hand lower corner ^ " J. Berkheyde.'* Panel. Height 9^ in.y width 7-i in. This Jlriking little picture, executed with the breadth and force of Rembrandt, and with a largenefs and fimplicity of manner peculiar to the elder of the brothers Berkheyden, has all the vivid reality of a photograph. Obtained from the Leembruggen colleBion, at Amfterdam. L 74 PICTURES Br FLEMISH, ■ No. 46. Gerard Berk hey den. Born at Haerlem Interior of the Old Church'' at Amfierdamy with many figures. Canvas. Width i 6 in.^ height I //. 3 in. This piBure, formerly afcribed to Emmanuel de Witte, cer- tainly bears great refemblance to the figures of fmilar fubjeSls by that mafter; it is, however, undoubtedly by Gerard Berkhey- den. Both the Berkheydens feem to have been ftrongly influenced by the ftyle of Emmanuel de Witte, who, as the earlier artifl, may perhaps, in a certain fenfe^ be held to have been their mafter. All three painters died within a few years of each other, and were in contemporary practice at Amfterdam. Gerard Berkheyden^s piSiures are often enriched with figures by his brother Job, but the fpirited groups in the prefent work, recall the manner of Adrian Van de V elde, and as it was the frequent praSlice of that great painter to execute figures and animals in the pi8ures of other artifts, it is not unlikely that the figures in this picture are by his hand. AND GERMAN MASTERS, 7S No. 47. ^ry de Voys, Born at Ley den 1641, died 1698. Head of a Young Man. On Copper. Height 6\ in.y width 5 in. Head or half-length figure of a young man, with long flow- ing hairy and a fmall mouftachey placing his hand on his bofom. He is clad in a flate-coloured filk morning gown, with a waijicoat of filver grey tijfue. The animated exprejjion and attitude of this handfome young gallant, feem to indicate that he is addrejfng a complimentary fpeech to a lady. The piSfure is figned in the right-hand upper corner, A. d V ois No. 48. Frangots Mile {or Milet) . Born 1 644, died 1680. Hijiorical Land/cape y with the Flight of Ahab. Canvas. Length 4 //. i in.y height 3 //. i in. This able painter Jhould, in the opinion of the writer, difpute the palm with Gafpar Dughet, as to which was the greater follower of Nicholas PouJJin, and the prefent grand hijiorical Ian df cape is certainly a chefd^aeuvre of the m after. It was defcribed as follows by Dr. Waagen, when in the collefiion of 76 PICTURES BT FLEMISH, Mr, Womb well: The grandeft features of nature — Alps and glaciersy feen under the afpeSl of a thunderftorm—are here wrought up into a very poetic whole: the execution is alfo fpirited and careful,""* — Art Treafures, voL ii, p, 310. No. 49. yehan Clouet {Janet the elder). Died about 154K A three-quarter Portrait of Eleonora of Auftria^ queen of Frangois premier. Life-fize^ on a dull green background. Panel. Height 2 ft. 4.^ in.y width I ft. 11 in. The queen is looking towards the left ; pe holds an orange in her hand. Her coftume is in the Spanijh fajhion, viz, black drefs with wide fleevesy richly embroidered with an inter- laced pattern of feed pearls and gold braid, fajhed and puffed with white fat in. She wears a magnifcent necklace of large jewels, and alfo a rich jewel on each poulder / a firing of pearls hangs down upon her ftomacher. On her head f:)e has a flat black cap or bonnet, with a net or caul of gold tiffue under it ; the cap, which is worn on one fide, is richly adorned with jewels y a very large pendent pearl being confpicuous. A fimilar portrait, wearing the fame drefs, the hands alfo holding an orange, but with variations in the details, exifis in the Magniac collection at Colworth, Beds y and another portrait of this queen, with fiill greater differences, is at Hampton Court. In this I aft -named piBure, the hands are in another pofition. DUTCH, AND GERMAN MASTERS. 77 and hold a letter,* A fmall portrait (15^ in. by 12 in.) was alfo in the Bernal colleBion, No. gz6 {fee engraving in the Bernal catalogue). This laft -named example, although in the main refembling the Hampton Court picture, differs from it in fome details of cofiume. A fourth example of the fmaller fize, but of lefe merit and in bad prefervation, is in the poffeffton of Don Valentin Carder era, in Madrid, From the writer s recol- legion of it, he believes this lafl to be a replica or copy of the Bernal picture. It is curious that in the wardrobe account or inventory of Henry V III.^s poffefjions, made in the firfl year of the reign of Edward VI. (1547) {MS. HarL, 141 9, in the library of the Britifh Mufeum), amongfl the pictures in St. James's Palace, occurs, " A table of the Frenffhe ^eene E Ion or a, in the Spanifh arraye, and a cap on her head with an orange in her hande {fifler of the Emperour^T The mention of the orange fhows that the piBure could not be the one at Hampton Court, and the probability, therefore, is that either the prefent piBure, or that at Colworth, is the work once in St. Jameses Palace. Eleonora of Auflria, daughter of the Archduke Philippe d* Autriche, and fifler of Charles V. was born at Louvain in 1498, married firfl, in 15 19, Emmanuel, King of Portugal, who died in 1521, leaving her with two children. In 1530 fhe was married to Francis L ; this union having been ftipu- lated by Charles V. as one of the conditions of the liberation of Francis from captivity. Becoming a fecond time a widow, in i^^j, fhe retired firfl to the Low Countries, and afterwards to Spain, where fhe died in 1558. Eleonora was niece to Catherine of Arragon, queen of Henry VI 11, and it is reafonable to prefume that this portrait, fup- * The fuperjcription of this letter in the Spanijh language is as follows : *'A la Xpianijpma y muy poderofa fenora la Reyna my fenora.'' 78 PICTURES BT FLEMISH, pojing it to be the one formerly in St, Jameses Palace, was fent as a prefent to the Englijh Court, on the occajion of the marriage, M. de la Borde notices the fmall Bernal piBure in his work. La Renatjfance des Arts a la Cour de F ranee Additions au tome premier, /. 633, and alfo the Hampton Court piEiure ; but he does not feem to have been aware of the exiftence of either this or the one at Colworth. It is interefting to note the curious variations which dijlinguijh thefe portraits one from another. The head is fubjiantially the fame in all of them, whilft the diffofition of the hands^ and the details of coftume, are different. It is probable that the queen fat to Janet for one only of thefe pi^ures, but it appears equally certain, that the rich dreffes and jewels were placed at the difpoftion of the artift, and that he arranged them for reprefentation, more or lefs differently on each occafon. In the prefent in ft an ce it is evident that every detail of the elaborate coftume muft have been leifurely and laborioufy copied from the a5iual objeB placed before the painter. The fuperior fineffe and delicacy of execu- tion and general excellence of the prefent work, gives it, at all events, a good claim to be confidered (in reference to the other portraits quoted) as the original or primary type, Jean, or " Jehan^^ Clouet the elder, was a Fleming, pro' bably from Bruffels ; he fettled in France, and married the daughter of a goldfmith of Tours, became Peintre ordinaire et valet de chambre " to Francois I, and feems to have died in 1 541 . He was the father of the better known, but perhaps lefs excellent portrait painter, Francois Clouet,furnamed*^ Janet ^ Contemporary with Holbein, he occupied much the fame relative poftion at the Court of France, that Holbein did in that of Henry Fill,; and there is every appearance that thefe two great artifts were acquainted with each other* s works, and were mutually influenced thereby. DUTCH, AND GERMAN MASTERS. 79 For information on the Clouet family of painters, fee De la Borde, " La Renaiffance des Arts a la Cour de France, voL /. pp, I to 37, and pp. 79 to 150, and alfo Additions au tome premier pp, 565 to 595, and pf. 629 to 661. Alfo, Cata- logue of the Colworth colleSiion, p, 122, by the prefent writer (privately printed), 1862. No. 50. Frangois For bus [or Four bus) the younger. Born 1570, died 1622. Bujl Portrait of IJabel de Bourbon ^ daughter of Henri Sluatre and Marie de Medicisy when princefsy afterwards firfl wife of Philip IV. of Spain. Height i //. 9 width i //. 6 in. This princefs^ the Jifter of Henrietta Maria {queen of our Charles I.) is reprefented as about feventeen or eighteen years old ; Jhe wears a fplendid court drefs of white fatin, embroidered with gold and large pearls, and is decorated with a profufion of jewelry {pearls and diamonds') : the background is a flat crimfon curtain or fcreen. The younger Pourbus was defended from a family of painters fettled at Bruges, He went to Paris when young, and ultimate^ became the fajhionable painter at the Court of Henri ^atre. Although inclining to hardnefs, his portraits are dif tinguijhed by brilliant lightfome colouring, and patient truthful elaboration, which, as in the prefent injiance, when difplayed in the treatment of celebrated perfonages arrayed in the fplendid coftumes of their day, gives to his works a fpecial intereft and value. From the Bernal colleSiion, Chifwick Prejs : — Printed hy Wh'ittingham and TVil^m^ Tooks Court y Chancery Lane. Stjou ^^^^ ^^^^ CENTER LIBRARY 3 3125 00600 3962 W7 , J j1 , at. p